New Year's Eve 2013

I'm having technical difficulties posting remotely from my sister's house. First I had to reconfigure the WiFi from my camera so that it would send photos to my phone. I was originally going to edit the photos on my computer, but I wasn't able to and that is a whole other story. From my phone I sent the still unedited pictures to my blog, but Blogger's iPhone app messes up the formatting and I don't know enough about HTML code to fix it. I decided that I could let go of perfection when it comes to processing my photos before posting here.

This first photo was taken in my sister's living room. I'm not sure why Alex has his hood over his head, but it may be because he knew I was going to take a photo and he had not combed his hair yet.

It's been a relaxing day for most of us. My sister Cynthia was working pretty hard to make sure everyone was fed. She and her husband John made breakfast for most of us. She already made the pumpkin bread. John made the pancakes and she made the turkey bacon. They only made enough for those of us that were already up. That meant that the big boys went without. That was okay though, because by the time they got up, lunch was pretty much ready. Cynthia got some Chick-Fil-A nuggets for everyone plus made pasta and reheated the quesadilla leftovers.

My sister finally arrived by 2:30-ish with her daughter Emily and the girls were off to Aly's room to play. I'm not sure where this idea came from, but they came downstairs asking for aluminum foil. They wanted to make foil caps to enhance their ability to read each other's minds. I got in a little too close in this photo, but there is foil connecting the two caps on Natalie's and Aly's heads. Emily was the one that fashioned the caps. I'm sure it wasn't really a surprise when they found that having the caps on their heads really did not help.

The boys stayed on the sofa on their electronic devices for the rest of the afternoon. My parents had driven to my sister Melissa's house, so she went to go pick them up and bring them to Cynthia's house. My mom said that the drive to Melissa's house is easier for her. They arrived around 5:30.

At one point, we told Anthony that Lola had brought Flan and that it was still warm. Anthony loves Flan, but he merely turned to me and said, "Oh"--a bit of an underwhelming response. The same thing happened when we told him that the Shrimp Ring was out and ready to eat. Anthony also loves shrimp. He was finishing watching a show on his computer and wanted to finish it first. When he was done, he went over to eat some shrimp. John had put the three or four tails on the side of the Shrimp Ring when he ate, but Anthony went and got a plate, obviously because of the number of shrimp he was planning to eat. After a few minutes, Alex got him a chair to sit it. What a great brother!

When it came to the Flan, I got some on a plate for me to eat and I went over to where Anthony was sitting on the sofa to feed him a couple of pieces. He willingly ate it, of course. I knew he could get his own, but I guess I felt like feeding my baby boy. He and Alex ate quite a bit of food today. My sister Cynthia and I said that we were pacing ourselves for eating the rest of the night.:)

John is monopolizing the big screen TV with college football (especially the Chick-Fil-A Bowl with Duke vs. Texas A&M). Cynthia and Melissa are watching Star Trek Into the Darkness on the TV in Cynthia's room. So, we're all doing our own thing, but having fun being together as a family. I'm not sure how long we're all going to be able to stay up, but it doesn't matter because we're together and that's what counts. Happy New Year, Everyone!

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

Patrick's mom, dad, and "little brother" Geoff arrived last Sunday, December 22nd. I was on call at the hospital then, but apparently they arrived some time after Natalie's swim meet. This was the first time in three years that we'd seen Geoff, the last time being three years ago when he came with his parents for Christmas also. He lives in Alaska, so traveling to see him is cost-prohibitive plus I don't like cold weather.

This time Geoff played with the big boys on the PS3. He also watched with a few of the movies we own, like Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2, complete with Eric dancing to the musical numbers. They also rented a movie that they kept saying was really bad. I was at work so I was spared having to watch it. Geoff even went with Patrick and Eric to one of the local parks and played with Eric on the playground equipment. On Christmas Day, Geoff said that Eric was the only one that was fun to shop for. He got him a remote control car that Geoff himself played with. The rest of us got gift cards to the movie theatre--fun gifts but understandably not as fun to shop for.

Patrick's mom's birthday is today, December 30th--her 80th. They weren't going to be with us on her actual birthday, so we celebrated on Christmas Eve night instead. After church in the afternoon, Patrick prepared some brisket for dinner and then we sang "Happy Birthday". She didn't want the fuss of a candle, but it did make it more like a birthday in the fact that she could blow out a candle. She definitely didn't want 80 candles. :)

Patrick had texted his sister Lisa to ask what her favorite cake was. In the end it was good that he didn't get an answer until after he had gotten this chocolate "Tuxedo Cake". Lisa had said that carrot cake was Mom's favorite, but Mom said that it wasn't. She seemed quite pleased with this cake. She had a couple of pieces of it before they left and talked about how much she enjoyed it.

On the night of December 26th, they took us out to eat at Paesano's. We came back and took this photo in front of the tree. Mom and Dad are actually looking at the camera, which makes it a very rare photo. :) They left the next morning after I had already gone to work. Patrick was good about taking a few photos before they left, but Anthony and Alex got up just to say goodbye and Alex's gravity-defying hair proved it. I didn't have the heart to post one of those photos here.

We'll see Mom and Dad again for Spring Break. As with every year, I hope we can see them more often. I'm very lucky to have wonderful in-laws like these.

Christmas Cheer

On Christmas Day, Patrick and I woke up around 7am-ish and heard Eric and Natalie downstairs with Grandma and Grandpa. They were busy playing with the items in their Christmas stockings. I got up by around 8am to make pound cake waffles. We didn't have any fruit or whipped cream, only chocolate chips. Grandpa and my brother-in-law Geoff put butter on their waffles, while everyone else had chocolate chips. Surprisingly, Anthony and Alex were up by around 9-9:30. They ate breakfast, and then we opened presents.

I didn't take a picture of the kids in Santa hats in front of the tree the last couple of years, but I love this picture and I need to remember to do this every year. As opposed to last year when they hung out all day in their pajamas, they all got dressed in their "day clothes" before we opened presents. Alex was better dressed than he was for church on Christmas Eve, complete with his red and green sneakers. Both he and Anthony came downstairs already dressed.

They all look good in red, but then red is my favorite color. Eric doesn't really care what color he wears, but recently he's favored the shirts with the "minion" theme. He's wearing a shirt that says, "I tried to be good, but I got distracted" with a picture of a minion looking guilty.

Natalie and Eric divided up the gifts, and then they all started opening. I didn't take a before and after photo this year, just photos of the ongoing action. Eric's pile was again the biggest, but mostly because his gifts were bigger. Anthony and Alex are much harder to buy presents for than Natalie and Eric, so they tend to get "smaller" gifts like gift cards. Each year, Grandma and Grandpa get them "art folios", i.e., Sports Illustrated Swimsuit calendars. Grandpa usually handwrites a little note about how he hopes they enjoy their "art folios".

This year they also each got checks inside a puzzle box. They had to solve the puzzle in order to be able to open the box and get their checks. Both of them solved it pretty quickly and then, just for fun, they tried to open their boxes again. It was fun to see them enjoy themselves with the puzzle boxes and I have to say that I was a little proud to see them solve them so easily.

Anthony bought his own presents for his siblings this year. We've been so proud of him taking it upon himself to get a job at school. We were expecting to support him fully until he graduates.

He gave Eric this Darth Vader voice changer mask. When Eric turns it on (yes, it needs batteries), he sounds like Darth Vader. We took a video of Eric saying, "Anthony, I am your brother" just like Darth Vader in Star Wars says, "Luke, I am your father." Natalie got shark socks. Patrick and I got WPI "Dad" and "Mom" shirts. Anthony gave Alex a Whataburger gift card. There is a Whataburger near Alex's high school, and that will surely come in handy. He also gave the gift card inside a Tinkerbell card, complete with fairy stickers--very creative and very funny.

Right about the time we were finishing up opening our presents, we heard the doorbell ring and then when I looked towards the door, I saw the USPS carrier set a box down next to the front door. I couldn't believe it--the post office delivered a present on Christmas Day! I would not have believed it had I not seen it for myself. The present was from my parents to Eric. My mom was going to wait to give it to him when we came to visit for New Year's, but she thought why not go ahead and send it. She got him Minion pajamas and Angry Birds Star Wars Telepods, which are toys designed to incorporate specific characters into the iPad game--very cool concept. Eric loved both presents and used them right away. We got many more presents, but I won't list them all here.

After we opened our presents, we just relaxed at home. I was glad to capture this shot of everyone enjoying videos together on the computer. There is a popular video for Volvo that has Jean-Claude Van Damme doing the splits while balanced between two big trucks. There is a parody of this video starring Channing Tatum, and then now there is a new video of a digitally created Chuck Norris doing the splits while balancing between two airplanes and having a bunch of guys above him in a Christmas tree formation--all very entertaining. Anyway, I had the windows open to the videos on my computer, so Patrick went and got my computer and showed Grandma, Grandpa, and Geoff. The kids had all already seen them.

We don't get to see Grandma and Grandpa very much and we almost never see Geoff, so it was nice to have them all here for Christmas this year. My next blog post will have a few more details about their visit.

Merry Christmas!

I've been spending some time with my family as well as Patrick's Mom, Dad, and brother Geoff, who arrived last Sunday when I was on call at the hospital. I have been mostly staying away from the computer since then. I wanted to at least share this photo from today. Amazingly, the USPS mail carrier dropped a package from my parents off at our front doorstep this morning. In the package was this Minion pajama set and Angry Birds Star Wars Telepods--all for Eric. I got him the Minion slippers.

One of the first toys he started playing with were those Angry Birds Star Wars Telepods. There is a way to use that toy with the corresponding app on the iPad to "unlock" those characters. Patrick thought that was a brilliant marketing ploy. The kids all just thought it was cool and started playing on the iPad.

This evening, after his bath, Eric wanted to wear the pajamas even before they were washed. I took the photo so his Lolo and Lola could see how happy he was with his Minion gear.

I'll try to post some more before the new year--probably back-dated. Until then, I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Winter Wonderland Meet 2013

I'm post-call today, so I'll probably be actually finishing this blog post after today. This is mainly a "for my own records" type of post anyway, so most people are not going to be interested in reading this.

Natalie had a swim meet this past weekend, called the Winter Wonderland Meet, at her home natatorium. She swam in nine events over three days. Unfortunately, she got her period this past week and she felt crampy during most of her races, even after being medicated with ibuprofen. Cramps and swimming don't go together, so she ended up adding time to her personal bests in almost all of her events. That meant lots of tears of disappointment. 

She was disqualified in the 50 yard backstroke a month ago, and that was the only event this weekend where she actually took time off of her personal best. She was still disappointed, however, because her time for that was 34.34 seconds, and when she was disqualified, she said that her time had been 33-something seconds.

Below is a summary of her events and how she did in each of them:

Friday
200 IM--Seed Time 2:53.76, Time Swam 2:59.99, Change + 6.23
50 Free--Seed Time 31.17, Time Swam 31.46, Change +0.29
Saturday
200 Free--Seed Time 2:37.26, Time Swam 2:39.75, Change +2.49
50 Back--Seed Time 35.34, Time Swam 34.34, Change -1.00
100 Fly--Seed Time 1:23.94, Time Swam 1:28.32, Change +4.38
100 IM--Seed Time 1:21.53, Time Swam 1:21.64, Change +0.11
Sunday
100 Free--Seed Time 1:09.43, Time Swam 1:10.96, Change +1.53
50 Fly--Seed Time 33.86, Time Swam 35.65, Change +1.79
100 Back--Seed Time 1:15.70, Time Swam 1:16.71, Change +1.01

Patrick and I feel like they also haven't been working on their endurance in practice the last few months, so Natalie got noticeably tired especially in the longer races. Hopefully this will change in the next month or so as their workouts get harder.

On the plus side, Natalie sat near her friends Aspen and Ally, so they cheered her up when she felt down. Ally was doing really well at this meet and apparently Aspen was not. When we were leaving the meet on Saturday, I bought Natalie a small panda stuffed toy that was the smaller version of the one she got from Aspen from her birthday. I also bought her a small turtle that she could hand on her swim bag. She got a similar one, a dog, to give to Aspen to cheer her up. That's what friends are for.

I told Natalie on Saturday to hug the panda on Sunday when she's sad, because I was going to be on call on Sunday and not be able to be there to give her a hug. Yes, I was using retail therapy to cheer her up, but she's my daughter after all--she agreed that retail therapy does help!

He's Home!

This is the leftover evidence this morning that Anthony is home. His best friend Alejandro came by late last night when I was already in bed asleep. They apparently made one of their sweet dessert concoctions, probably involving ice cream and the various treats they left out on the counter--different types of chocolate including truffles, Milano cookies, and Pop Tarts. Patrick said he left them alone to enjoy, so he didn't take a picture. I found all of this out when I came downstairs this morning to get ready for Natalie's swim meet (more on that later).

Anthony's flight was supposed to get in a little after 7pm, but there were a couple of delays and he ended up coming in at around 8:30pm last night. The good thing was that Patrick was able to see Natalie's two races at her swim meet last night. Eric and Alex went to the airport with Patrick. Natalie and I had just gotten home and I stayed with her.

They got home and Patrick commented on how Anthony's voice was very low and very different. My poor baby has a cold and he is coughing and sniffling up a storm, and that includes his voice sounding a lot lower than usual. I hugged him a lot, and each time Patrick kept saying, "Be careful. He's sick." He had his last final exam on Thursday, and he stayed up until about 3am on Friday celebrating with friends. His Aunt Lisa took Anthony and a friend of his to the airport this morning. The first leg from Boston to Atlanta was on time and uneventful. The second leg home was delayed for some reason. He texted us from the Atlanta airport to let us know that he was out of cash so he was going to charge his dinner at Chick-Fil-A on our Discover card. He had not had Chick-Fil-A since he left San Antonio in August. Because of that, Patrick got Chick-Fil-A in his head and brought Eric and Alex to Chick-Fil-A for dinner before coming to the swim meet.

Anthony spent most of the day resting/sleeping on the living room sofa after taking medications. Last night when he first arrived, he plopped into his usual spot--the La-Z-Boy reclining chair in the living room--it was like home again. He is sitting there now with his laptop on his lap, with his earphones in and chatting with a friend of his (maybe playing Borderlands with Alejandro?) and I'm enjoying just letting him do his usual thing. It's as if he never left--except that I keep feeling the urge to give him hugs. Welcome home, Anthony!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Many years ago, when I was an anesthesiology resident, my birthday was on a weekend and I was on call that Friday and Sunday. That was 48 hours spent at the hospital on my birthday weekend. I swore then that I would always request not to be on call on my birthday. In the last few years, I've also requested to be off on my birthday. This year, however, we had someone new doing the December call schedule, and I didn't want to request anything unless I absolutely needed it. The result was call on the day before my birthday, which meant that I was on call last night.

I knew that I was asking for trouble because I wanted to get sleep and nothing invites being busy on call more than wanting/needing to sleep due to planned activities the next day. In addition, it was a full moon last night. Luckily, it didn't turn out too badly in the end, but I still didn't get much sleep (but it was my fault for not going to bed early).

Maybe I was motivated to do things just because it was my birthday, but with only about two hours of sleep, I was able to stay up until after lunch. The first picture above was the Spicy Lamb Meatballs Pizza that Patrick and I shared for lunch. This second picture is a piece of the Dark Chocolate and Nutella Torte that we had for dessert. Yum!

After that yummy lunch, I took a shower and that created the perfect conditions for a nice afternoon nap. I woke up after Natalie got home. When I called to Eric, he came in and wished me a "Happy Birthday" as did Natalie. They both gave me nice hugs, even while I was still in bed. Loved it!

Natalie didn't go to swim practice tonight so we could go out for dinner. Alex still had soccer practice after school, however, so when Patrick left to pick Alex up, Natalie and Eric and I went ahead to the mall so we could meet them there. Natalie wanted to do a little shopping for Christmas gifts for her friends. We proceeded to The Cheesecake Factory when Patrick texted that he had Alex so that we could get on the list, if needed.

There was no wait for a table at The Cheesecake Factory, so we waited for Alex and Patrick to arrive. Eric was goofing off and I took this picture. After I took this picture, he asked if I would be able to turn him into a Minion on my phone. At first I was thinking that he must have heard of some new app where you could turn yourself into a Minion. That explained the goofy expression on his face in this photo--he was trying to look like a Minion!

We were so full after dinner (they have such large portions) that we took our dessert home. Alex was very happy with his pasta dish because he liked the taste and because they gave him a huge "Alex-size" portion. He finished all of it and he didn't have to order a second entree, which is something else he's been doing lately when we go out to eat.

Alex doesn't usually order anything at The Cheesecake Factory, believe it or not. This time he decided he would get the Banana Cream Cheesecake. He put Dulce de Leche ice cream with it and shared it with Eric. They finished almost the whole thing, but Alex said that he liked the ice cream more than the cheesecake and didn't think the banana taste went well with the cheesecake taste.

Eric also had a little of the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake with Patrick and Natalie. Natalie would have wanted her own piece, but we went ahead and bought a whole cheesecake for when Anthony gets home on Friday. I had wanted to send him one for his birthday in October, but as of earlier this year, The Cheesecake Factory stopped shipping their cheesecakes. That will be a nice homecoming dessert to share with my oldest son.

My sister Cynthia called on Face Time to wish me a "Happy Birthday". As we talked, her family started doing things behind the chair she was sitting in, and she took a picture of them. The way Face Time works usually puts your photo in a small box in the corner, so I took some screen shots of my phone to send to her. We talked a little about my blog post last week about how her husband John had brainwashed the girls (including Natalie) into liking his alma mater Texas A&M University. He said that he calls it "enlightening" instead. It's always fun to hang out with Cynthia and her family--despite the subliminal brainwashing. ;)

My new laptop arrived today!!! I was actually the one who signed for it when the package came to the door. I didn't know it was coming today, but when Patrick saw it he said, "You were supposed to be asleep." The package came in the morning before my nap. :)

I bought my own birthday gifts, for the most part, except for the laptop. Patrick wasn't going to buy me a laptop without okaying the specs with me first. I bought this cool laptop cover that makes my laptop look red. The kids even remarked that the you can even see Apple symbol light up through the translucent case. Natalie asked why I bought myself my own presents (which Patrick wrapped so I would have stuff to open). Patrick told her, "So she knows she'll get what she wants." I have to say that even though I knew what was in the packages, I was still excited about opening the presents and getting to use them! I'm using my new laptop now to type out this blog post--awesome! I also got a bluetooth earphone set.

I also received a package from my parents today with pajamas. Yay, I can always use another set of warm PJs. Cynthia sent me a package as well, with a beautiful handmade card. She got me a Starbucks gift card and a scrapbooking desk calendar--cool!

I totally didn't get any Christmas prep stuff done today, so that will be on my agenda for tomorrow. For today, I couldn't ask for a better birthday--a loving family surrounding me and giving me hugs, a delicious lunch and dinner with yummy desserts, beautiful weather outside (even though I didn't get to enjoy it), and even birthday phone calls from my sister and her family, and one from my beloved son who I haven't seen in four months. Happy Birthday to me!

December Art a la Carte

This past Wednesday was Eric's Art a la Carte class. I took this "selfie" photo of Eric and me while we were having lunch. His teacher, Mrs. B came up to us as I was taking the picture and asked if I wanted her to take a picture of us. I replied that I wanted it look like a "selfie"--the expressions are more fun and not so posed.

I texted Anthony during lunch with Eric. We had another instance of fraud on our Discover card, so we had to close the old account and open a new one again--the third time in two years. Anthony had just received his card and I was texting him about activating it. I told him that I was having lunch with Eric and that I would take care of activating the card when I got home. When Eric heard that I was texting Anthony, he said "Hi" so I took a short video of him saying "Hi" and sent it to Anthony. He also said "Nine days!" Eric has been counting down the days (as have I) until Anthony comes home. This was on Wednesday, December 11th, and Anthony is coming home on December 20th. Every day Eric tells me how many more days (as if I don't already know).

Today's art lesson involved adding black and white paint to yellow and red paint to make different shades and tints. Then the kids also mixed some of the red and yellow colors to make new colors. This was a potentially messy lesson because of all of the paint mixing involved, especially because there was a boy at Eric's table that was a little out of control. During the first half of class, Mrs. B kept a constant watch on LaSalle, taking his paint brushes away so he would not spread paint all over everything while the art teacher was telling the kids what to do next. I tried to help her with this, but I was also trying to help some of the other kids. Mrs. B was relieved by Mrs. M, who "co-teaches" with Mrs. B. Mrs. M then kept a constant watch on LaSalle, but she was not as vigilant so I really had to pay more attention. It was exhausting, to say the least.

In case you can't tell, Eric's picture is supposed to be a vase of flowers. His vase is a little misshapen, but I have let go of my need to "help" him to make it better. He enjoys himself in that class no matter what anyway. I learned a little about mixing paint and I would have loved to join in the lesson. Alas, they really needed me to help with the other two volunteers. I'm really enjoying these art classes with Eric. I've already arranged to have the day off for his January Art a la Carte.

Natalie Update

I was going to just post about Natalie's last swim meet that took place last Sunday (Patrick's birthday), but so much more has happened to her besides that. First of all, she said her ear hurt some time Friday night, when we wouldn't be able to get a doctor's appointment. For the last week or two she had complained about not being able to hear out of her right ear. Patrick just thought it was because she didn't clean her ears, so we got some drops for that. When she started having the ear pain, though, it seemed like something else. On Sunday morning, after I got her up to go to the swim meet, she said that she had not slept well because of her ear pain. She also said that it hurt whenever anything touched that ear--including her swim cap. Great. The bad thing when your child doesn't complain is that you don't realize how serious it is until it's serious.

So, the swim meet was rather interesting. Natalie almost didn't warm up because of her ear hurting, especially when she did the breaststroke. Of course the 100 and 50 yard breaststroke were two of the events she was going to be swimming in that meet. After warmup she was to the point of tears, saying that she didn't want to swim in the meet. Luckily I listened to my experience instead of listening to what she was saying because she ended up wanting to swim after all. After discussion with Coach Anderson, who was covering for her coach, we decided to let her swim the two breaststroke events and just skip the last event, which was the 200 yard IM. She automatically looked relieved after we made that decision. The ibuprofen Patrick had given her before we left home probably had something to do with it as well.

She also complained about her head and stomach hurting. This has been an ongoing complaint before each of the last three or four meets. Natalie says it's nerves. I still can't believe that after a year of competitive swimming she is just now starting to have the physical manifestations of feeling nervous. A friend mentioned that maybe she feels more pressure now that she has been doing it for a year or maybe because she turned 11 and the time standards are more stringent. I hope she learns to cope with this if she is to continue swimming competitively.

As we expected, she didn't do well in her events. Her seed time in the 100 yard Breast was 1:37.72 but she ended up adding time with a time of 1:40.29. In the 50 yard Breast she had a seed time of 44.31, and she actually had the fastest seed time in the meet, but she came in with a time of 44.51. Patrick wasn't there because he had to take Eric to church school from 10-11am. The meet was running just a little ahead of schedule and he got there with Eric just after Natalie raced in her second and last event.

On the plus side, she clearly started feeling better before she swam in her events. She was sitting with her friend Maddie and I was sitting with Maddie's mom Jen. Jen said she knew right away when Natalie started getting really chatty--her normal self. Natalie was really disappointed with her times, but she handled it well. That was a sure sign that she was feeling better.

Patrick took her to the pediatrician on Monday, and sure enough, Natalie had an ear infection--Swimmer's Ear, her first ear infection ever, that I recall. She has antibiotic ear drops now and her ear pain is slowly going away. She still had some pain this morning, so no swimming until that is gone.

It is just as well that Natalie has to stay home from swim practice, because she had her Winter Band Concert last night also. I didn't bother bringing my big camera as she keeps trying to hide from me anyway. I was so thankful that I was able to get this photo of her before the concert. I tore Eric away from playing Angry Birds on the iPad, so he wasn't happy either. At least he can still smile on command. Natalie can only muster a non-frown. She played on the xylophone first then the snare drum then the big bass drum last. The entire "Beginners Band Concert" was only about 15 minutes. Thankfully for the parents, they were the first ones to perform and then we were allowed to leave so that the next set of parents could come in and sit down for their kids' concerts. That was just as well too, because Patrick had to leave right after the concert to pick up Alex late from his soccer practice.

I also have some other miscellaneous Natalie facts. Last night when I was about to take the picture above, one of her band directors walked by and said, "Is that your brother? He looks just like you!" Several people have said that to her in the past and she usually makes some face showing her dissatisfaction. Eric looked pleased. She started using my pair of black slouch boots this weekend and the boots have not made it back into my closet. Apparently she's been wearing them to school every day since then. After the swim meet, I was ordering a AAAA sweatshirt and T-shirts for me and for Patrick (AAAA is her swim club). She asked for a Texas A&M sweatshirt and T-shirt so she could wear it on Fridays when they are allowed to wear college gear at school. Patrick commented that he could have gotten her a Rice University sweatshirt (our alma mater) instead. I think Uncle John has successfully brainwashed her and her girl cousins (Texas A&M is his alma mater).

Happy Birthday, Patrick!

Patrick and I have not been in the habit of buying each other gifts for our birthday for quite a few years. The reason is usually that we know what we want and we buy it ourselves. For me, I'm usually very specific about what I want and it's easier to get it myself rather than risk getting something I don't want. Still, it's nice to be able to open something on our special day. I don't necessarily set out to buy birthday presents for Patrick, but if I see stuff I think he'll like, I'll buy them.

This year we had the additional "problem" that Anthony wasn't with us on Patrick's birthday for the first time. I was pretty happy with the gifts I got for Patrick, so I wanted Anthony to share in the fun of watching Patrick's face when he opened the gifts. We got Anthony on Skype. I took this first picture when Patrick opened the first present. This was a gadget that Natalie and I first saw at the Hallmark store in July when we were in Corpus Christi for the A Championships. It's a button that you press and there is a recorded voice that has different ways of saying "NO!" All of them are quite emphatic. Patrick LOVED it! He laughed so hard and so did the kids every time he pressed that button and heard the "NO!" Even the kids couldn't keep their hands off it. Patrick said that he would really enjoy using that button every time one of the kids asks for something. :)

This is the collection of gifts that Patrick received for his birthday. Natalie and I picked up the Doctor Who T-shirt and bookmark when we were at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago. They had a big table with different Doctor Who themed books and other gifts. Patrick always remarks on how many comments he receives on all of his Doctor Who shirts. He's been a fan for years but it seems like nowadays there are lots more fans. Even Natalie's eleven-year-old friend Ally says she loves Doctor Who.

The Doctor Who ornament was encased in bubble wrap and it took Patrick a few minutes with some scissors to free the box. Since this year was the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, celebrated with an international TV special and everything, I felt like it was the year to get Patrick a Doctor Who ornament. It's glass so I hope nothing will happen to it. The kids and I pick out ornaments every year, but Patrick hasn't picked his own ornament for the tree before, so this is a first.

The kids actually cooperated with this photo, I couldn't believe it. I'm sad that Anthony isn't in the photo, but I know he is there in spirit. He'll be here in person in TWELVE DAYS!!!

Minions, Malls, and Museums

I've been meaning to post these photos, but this week has been super busy. Not only does Natalie have swim practice every night from 6-8pm, but Alex has had high school tryouts every night (except Friday) until 6pm. That means that I go home from work, I'm home for an hour at most, then I leave again with Eric in tow to get Alex. I also had a work-related function at 6pm on Wednesday night so luckily Natalie decided not to go to practice so Patrick could go get Alex. On Thursday, I dropped Alex off at home so I could leave right away again to take Eric to his piano lesson.

So, back to Thanksgiving week--Lola knew how much Eric loves Minions, so she got him a little mini one. She also got the girls Minions too, picked out by Emily. Eric loves the Christmas Minion that Alex gave to him. He carries that one everywhere and took it to Houston when we visited for Thanksgiving. In this picture he is watching TV with his Minions.

One morning, Eric set up his two Minions on the table under the TV at Lola's house. Later, he put Alex's cap on the big Minion and carried him around like that. On Friday, Alex's friend Brandon spent the night at our house and Brandon was speaking Minion to Eric--very cute.

On Wednesday morning last week, we took a short trip to the Galleria Mall in Houston. Alex wanted to do some shopping and we were meeting my sister Melissa there so she could go shopping with Alex. Meanwhile, we walked around a bit and Eric loved looking at the big tree in the middle of the ice rink. He said, "That tree must be 100 feet tall!" I tried asking a mall employee how tall the tree was and she didn't know.

Melissa took a while to meet us. Cynthia was running errands before picking up Emily. Natalie had spent the night with Aly at Aly's house and Emily wanted to join them. While we waited for Melissa, Alex shopped at a few stores and we stopped for lunch at La Madeleine. The mall was packed and we had to wait for a while just to order lunch. We were lucky to be able to get a table to sit. When Melissa got there, we left Alex with her and Patrick and I took Eric to the Health Museum.

In contrast, the Health Museum was very empty. When we first walked in, there was a section with case scenarios of individuals getting sick, a description of their symptoms, and the workup to find out what was making them sick. The first one involved an outbreak of E. coli food poisoning. I thought for sure Eric would be bored but he loved it. He wanted to visit every single station.

Next we went through the Human Body exhibit. We started in the mouth and there were stations where you could find out a few facts about each body part as you went through all the different body parts. I remember visiting this museum many years ago when it first opened. There were a few broken exhibits now, but Eric stopped at all the stations he could. That boy amazes me with his thirst for knowledge. He reminded us a lot of Anthony at this age.

We spent the rest of the time with family, but it was also nice to spend a little time "sightseeing". Houston has a lot of great museums and places to visit.

Fun Photos

I wanted to post some of the fun things we did on Thanksgiving. We got to Face Time with Anthony. He was over at my sister-in-law Lisa's house for Thanksgiving. Eric always likes to make faces into the phone, or iPad in this case, and Anthony couldn't resist making a face back at him. I took a screen shot at that moment and got this great photo of them enjoying each other. Last night, Eric told me, "I wish Anthony were here so I can give him real hugs--instead of fake iPhone hugs." Yes, me too, Eric. Sixteen days until Anthony comes home.

After watching Iron Man 3 on Thanksgiving day, the kids were upstairs when we heard that they were making a suit for Eric out of aluminum foil. Cynthia was worried that they were going to use up her aluminum foil. It turns out that they only used a small piece of foil that was at most two feet long--not nearly enough to cover Eric, so instead they started making other things with it. First Alex tried to wrap it around Nick's head. I'm not really sure what look he was going for there.

Next, Alex made Eric a T-Rex. Here I am practicing with my new flash again. You can see the shadow on the wall. This T-Rex didn't last long before it fell apart.

Then, Alex decided to make a mustache and put it on Nick. He held the mustache onto Nick's face for a while before Nick finally started holding it himself. Fun times.

Alex had to try out the mustache himself, with an added goatee. This picture was tough to get because Alex was purposely moving around to avoid me. This photo really captures Alex's fun personality, though, and I love it.

Of course, Aly had to show me the "trick" that they were teaching Eric--how to bend over backwards. Aly and Emily can do this also, and so Eric wanted to do it too. Natalie doesn't really even try. Ouch! He is certainly flexible.

Thanksgiving Day

I got a new external flash for my camera and I finally got it out to play with it on Thanksgiving. This post is made out of some of the photos I liked and a little about what we did on Thanksgiving day (besides eat). I was practicing on Alex and he was obliging me just a little by letting me take this photo without running away. What a wonderful boy!

We got to Cynthia's house before noon because she had said that the ETA for the turkey was "noon-ish". Melissa arrived soon after with Natalie and Aly, who had spent the night at her house with Emily. Emily was picked up by her dad at around 9am. I had not seen Natalie since Tuesday night after the Potted Potter show.

When the turkey came out, my brother-in-law John's parents Bill and Linda, who were visiting from Oklahoma, helped out with the carving of the turkey and with making the gravy. I don't know if I would normally have taken a picture of this, but I was practicing with my new flash and I liked how this picture turned out.

Meanwhile, we snacked on some chips and salsa, yummy sweet Chex mix that Cynthia makes, and a sweet cream cheese mixture with crackers. The kids and my sisters played a game using Aly's iPad mini. It was nice to see them all gather around, laughing and enjoying each other's company.

I snapped this quick one with my phone because I almost missed the moment as it was. Eric was giving my nephew Nick a hug and Nick had his arm around his dad, too. It seemed like Nick wasn't growing at all before, but he added a few inches recently, so that he is still taller than his sister.

After eating, most of us sat down on the comfy couch and watched our Blu Ray of Iron Man 3. John's parents complained that it was too loud, but we were taking advantage of the great surround sound and huge TV. We had originally thought of going out to see a movie, but we were all too stuffed to want to go anywhere plus this was a nice theatre experience already.

I want to give lots of thanks to my beautiful sister Cynthia for making an amazing turkey and other goodies and for hosting all of us in her house. It was really awesome not to have to cook and almost as awesome that Patrick and I didn't have to worry about leftovers. I miss all of my family already.