Alex Banana

Alex has been volunteering for PE Camp again this month, and tomorrow is his last day. They traditionally go to Landa Park on the last day (which is actually on Thursday), but it's not required and he doesn't want to go. This past weekend, I bought Pepperidge Farm cookies because they were on sale at Target, and I anticipated making banana pudding again soon. When Alex saw the Chessmen cookies, he immediately thought of the banana pudding I made last month for his birthday, so he asked me about it. He then requested that I make it for his last day, so he can invite friends over for some banana pudding.

He has been bragging to them that my banana pudding is the best. That makes me feel good, but all I do is follow Paula Deen's recipe for "Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding" (the lightened version), so it's not like it's my own personal recipe. Alex LOVES bananas and he eats upwards of five a day when we have them, so his love for banana pudding is not a surprise.

Alex was also interested in helping me make the banana pudding, even going to HEB and shopping for the ingredients with me. He wanted Patrick to give Eric his bath tonight so we could start making the pudding, although I went ahead and did that first.

I gave Alex the job of layering the cookies across the bottom of the dish, then cutting and layering the bananas on top of the cookies. He was cracking me up the whole time. First of all, he commented on how I had bought the Spring version of Chessmen cookies, so there were flowers on them instead of chess pieces. Then, he was eating the bananas even while he was cutting them for the pudding. He said, "What else am I going to do with the ends of the bananas?" I thought it was humorous that he felt like he couldn't put the end parts of the banana in the pudding. It's not like anyone can tell what shape the bananas are when it's all put together.

Alex was almost dancing during the process, also taking pictures with his phone after each step, so he could put it in his "Story" on Snapchat. At one point he was saying that he was cutting bananas "like a master" just before he hurt his finger with the butter knife because he wasn't paying attention. He laughed at himself for that one. I was also amused when I told him how to "fold" the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture and he likened it to "yin yang". I had to agree that the motion is similar to the "yin yang" symbol. He tried to do the "folding" himself and he didn't do a great job, but I was pleased that he tried. After I put the pudding mixture in the dish, he finished it off by layering the Chessmen cookies in a pattern.

When he heard that the pudding had to set in the refrigerator for a few hours, he yelled up to Natalie to tell her not to eat any banana pudding until he gets home from PE camp tomorrow afternoon. I also reminded him that he had to save some for me also, for when I get home from work. He told me not to worry, but you know what damage teenage boys can do!

Legos and King of the Mat

The magic is gone! Today, when I got home from work, Eric didn't rush up to me to give me a hug to welcome me home. He was upstairs reading to Natalie and didn't want to lose his place in the book. When I went upstairs, he wouldn't even get up off the floor to give me a hug because his finger was pointing to the exact spot in the book where he had left off. Sigh. My baby is growing up. A few months ago, he had a scrape or cut on his leg that he was very concerned about. When I asked him if he wanted a band-aid, he replied, "Why, it's not going to help." He is so practical now.

Some things that he still gets excited about, though, are dinosaurs and Lego sets. We've been looking for this one set for a couple of weeks or so--the Lego Jurassic World Raptor Escape set. It's sold out in the Lego online store. It doesn't even state a ship date like some of the other sets, like "will ship in 30 days". It only says, "Sold Out".  Patrick took the kiddos to the Lego Store at North Star Mall last Friday. He had been calling and found out that they would be getting a shipment in that day. No Lego Jurassic World in that shipment, but the manager did give Eric an extra raptor named "Blue". Eric was very excited when he got that.

The retail price is $39.99 and occasionally I would see it on Amazon for $60. Finally, I found it at the Walmart on Walzem, near Alex's school, so I was able to get it on Monday. Eric was SO excited. The manager at the Lego store had said that he thinks they'll have plenty of sets by mid-August (because of the lag time of making more sets). Luckily, this boy doesn't have to wait.

Something else that Eric has been very excited about lately is his jujitsu class. I was finally able to take him to class yesterday (Wednesday) because I got home early enough and because Patrick wanted to stay home and watch the USA vs. Jamaica CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal game. I snapped a quick photo of him in his uniform right outside the Brazilian Jujitsu place where he has class.

It was cool to be able to watch Eric grapple kids around his age. He was definitely one of the smaller ones, but he seemed to hold his own. On Monday, they had played a "game" where they would grapple each other and if they won, they got to stay on the mat. Apparently, Eric defeated maybe five or six of the kids and almost won "King of the Mat". That was class #4 for him! It's definitely a great physical activity for my iPad-loving Eric. It didn't take him long to start sweating.

That is what's up with Eric. I'll try to update about the other kids in the next few days.

Selfie Sunday Lunch

We went to church on Sunday morning instead of the evening because Patrick wanted to be back to watch CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer in the evening. Alex had a friend sleep over on Saturday night, and we didn't want to make his friend go with us, so Alex stayed home with him while the rest of us went to church. I decided that I wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch after church, so that also meant that Alex couldn't go.

Natalie has gotten in some silly moods lately where she'll say something that sometimes is sweet but sometimes not so sweet, but she will follow it up with a "sweet smile". She'll even say that she has a "sweet smile" and that she could "probably get away with anything" with that smile! She just cracks me up.

She was also in a selfie mood (again) and wanted me to take a picture of the both of us. How could I refuse my daughter wanting a picture with me? Patrick and Eric were sitting facing us, so of course we had to take a picture of them too.

We took our leftovers home and Alex had Eric's leftover pasta alfredo for lunch, and Patrick's Chipotle Chicken Pasta for dinner. He was happy with that consolation. Later, in the afternoon, he wanted to go to the gym. After such a high calorie meal, I couldn't refuse. Natalie didn't want to go anywhere, so she stayed home with Eric while Patrick went with Alex and me.

The rest of the day was pretty low-key, and a nice ending to our weekend.

Summer Saturday Activities

We did a lot of stuff today, so I thought I would share that along with some pictures. Eric has gotten a little spoiled when it comes to breakfast. I'm afraid I started it when I made something for breakfast almost every weekday I'm off work, and on most Saturdays. This morning, when I asked him what he wanted for breakfast, he replied, "I'd like something special like Starbucks or maybe waffles." At the time, Patrick had taken over the kitchen for brisket preparations (see below), so waffles were out of the question--that meant Starbucks.

Patrick was busy and Natalie was "feeling lazy", although both of them gave me requests on what to bring back for them from Starbucks. On the way, I was telling Eric that I needed to get a picture of my new car before it rains. He said, "What if it rains today?" It wasn't going to rain today, but he had a point, so I went ahead and got a picture of the car with Eric in front of it when we got to Starbucks.

Isn't it pretty? It's a 2012 Lexus RX350 that we bought from Carmax this past Wednesday. I've been driving my old 2004 Lexus RX330 since the car accident in February. Patrick finally said it was okay to get me another car after we paid that tuition bill for Anthony recently.

At about 10am, I went to Lifetime Fitness by myself. Originally, Natalie had planned on going with me. She is still on her exercise kick and has gone to the gum almost every day (except for the day she had physical therapy). She had a headache, and felt guilty for letting me go by myself, but she really wasn't up to it. I knew that I must be dedicated to my own current diet/exercise kick, because I actually went to the gym by myself. I hate going to the gym by myself, but I really wanted to go to the Cardio Kickboxing class this morning. No regrets.

Alex was up by the time I got home, and his friends had gone home. Patrick did some more brisket prep (again, see below), then we went to see the new Ant-Man movie at 1:30pm. We all really enjoyed it, and I have to admit that I got almost more enjoyment watching the kids' reactions to parts of the movie than watching the movie itself. We've seen a lot of movies in the theatre this summer and I enjoy it every time. This is probably the first time where we didn't get any snacks, though. Alex's friend Jeremy works at the theatre we saw the movie at, and we got to say hi to him.

The above photo is that brisket I was talking about. Patrick started prepping it last night, and continued this morning then afternoon. At about 5pm, it was done, and it was good.

Alex had another friend come over tonight, Andrew, so we had some help eating the brisket. Meanwhile, Patrick was watching the CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarterfinals game between the US and Cuba. He was happy that he didn't miss the first 15 minutes of the game this time. We had missed the first 15 minutes of the Women's World Cup Final between the US and Japan and missed the first 4 US goals. In this game, Patrick got to see two goals in the first 15 minutes.

Now for an explanation of these last two photos. Natalie came to me and said that she really loved her outfit that she was wearing today, and asked if I wanted to take a picture. My first thought was, "Who is this child?!!" My daughter would never come to me asking for me to take a picture of her. Heck, none of my children would ever ask me to take a photo of them, even Eric, who at least humors me by smiling when I take pictures of him.

Natalie insisted that she really loved her outfit and wanted a picture. All the items were recent purchases except for the sweater, which I bought for her last year from Hollister. My answer, "Of course!" I didn't want to scare her away by pulling out my big DSLR, so I used the far less intimidating and ever available iPhone. When Patrick saw us taking a picture (he had been in the background watching the soccer game), she gave him a hug and of course I took that opportunity to take a picture of both of them. Love these two!

Eric's First Jiujitsu Class

Patrick took these photos at Eric's first jiujitsu class last Monday. We're trying to find a sport that Eric is interested in. We have put him in team sports in the past, but none of them really clicked. He enjoyed baseball, for example, but he really only liked the practices--not the games. He enjoyed gymnastics, but he was fine with quitting gymnastics for the summer. He seemed interested in trying out martial arts, but we waited until after swim team was over, since swim practices were every day.

Apparently, there is no place to sit in the actual room that the kids practice, so Patrick had to take this from the doorway. Eric mostly watched during his first practice, but he was really listening and paying attention. Since then, he has only gone to two more practices, which are usually on Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays. He couldn't go last Friday because we went out of town to Houston. He didn't go on Wednesday of this week or today because the owner/instructor and his wife were having a baby. One way we could tell that he really enjoyed jiujitsu was that he was trying to convince us last Friday to find a way to let him go to practice even though we were leaving town. He was also disappointed that he couldn't go this Wednesday and today. He clearly seems to love jiujitsu right now.

This is a picture of Eric in his borrowed gi on his first day. We have since bought him his own. He had a choice of a black one or a white one, and he chose the white one, maybe because it has some cool patches on it. I'll have to get a better picture soon.

Patrick says that he seems to be picking it up fairly quickly, because he is really taking it all in and paying close attention. I just love that he seems very passionate about this sport so far. This month was a trial run for us, but Patrick will now be signing him up for a whole year. We'll see how it goes, but look at that smile. He loves it!

Happy 76th Birthday!

Today is my Mom's 76th Birthday. We went to Houston this past weekend to celebrate with her a little early. This is a picture of her with her birthday "cake" and the grandkids. Anthony is missing, of course, since he is still in Worcester this summer. Aly had to leave for a Bat Mitzvah, so she is not there either. The other kids did a great job smiling, and so did Mom. She usually tries to not smile so much for pictures, but I'm glad she did. She just looks happy. I worry about her getting tired emotionally and physically from taking care of my Dad, so I love seeing her happy.

Per her request, we ordered takeout and brought to her house. She originally wanted something a little different, food from Pappadeaux, but in the end, we ordered from our usual dishes from Kim Son--Vietnamese Fajitas and Fried Pork Dumplings. For dessert we had this delicious fruit tart from La Madeleine.

Dad was napping when we first arrived at their house, but he awakened and was able to interact a little with us. He is so thin, but at least he has gained a little weight back with some concentrated effort from my Mom.

Even though she wasn't supposed to cook, Mom still had to cook some "fish maho" when Eric asked for it. She had ordered some "arroz caldo" from her friend so she didn't have to make that. Dad's caregiver Letty was there, and she made some fried bananas (bananas dipped in sugar and wrapped in lumpia wrappers then fried) that of course Alex loved.

I can't even remember why she is laughing in this picture, but I love it. I don't often catch her laughing so heartily in a photo, but for me it's a nice reminder to how beautiful my mom is. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Going to the Gym

Something is going on with Natalie right now. For the last three days, she has gone to our gym daily, by her request. On Friday or Saturday, she mentioned wanting to go to the gym, and Patrick thought she meant going this week, but she meant on Saturday. He was busy with plans to use his new smoker and getting that ready, but she wanted him to show her how to use the machines. We thought he would do a better job with explaining that to her instead of me, so it had to be him. That, and I had already told Eric that I was taking him to the pool. So, he exercised with her, and I took Eric to the pool. After they finished, she went to the pool to meet us, and Patrick went home to get the food ready for dinner and to take Alex to his friends' house. Natalie swam a few laps of each stroke in the lap pool. They were easy laps, but it was great to see her swimming laps again.

On Sunday, she asked me to take her to the gym at 7:30am. We had talked about it on Saturday, so I was prepared, and I was up at that time on Sunday anyway, so we went. I have never been to the gym when there were so few cars in the parking lot. There were rows of treadmills that were empty! She did lower body weights with Patrick the day before, so we did upper body weights plus cardio on Sunday. What did she want to do after exercising? She wanted to have breakfast at Krispy Kreme. They almost always give you a free glazed donut when you walk in. Natalie didn't do what Eric usually does (since I allow him to). He likes to eat the free glazed donut plus his "usual" two chocolate iced donuts. Natalie usually eats the glazed, so she had her free glazed donut and she only wanted me to buy one more glazed donut for her.

This morning, she wanted to go the "Yoga Basics" class at 9am. We got there earlier so we could do some cardio first, then we met one of her old swim buddies Kate, and Kate's mom Cheryl, and took the class together. After class, we went to Starbucks and chatted for a while. Kate also used to swim at Lifetime Fitness when Natalie was there, and moved to Northside AAAA when their coach, Coach Kris, moved there. Like Natalie, Kate also quit Northside AAAA recently, although unlike Natalie, Kate quit because she was moved up to the high school team (she is a year older than Natalie and will be going to high school in the fall), and there was no way she would be able to make it to the earlier swim practice on time and still have time to eat and do homework. We plan on getting them together this summer to swim laps together.

Natalie is planning to skip the gym tomorrow morning because she has physical therapy at 9am, but she is already asking me if I can take her to the gym again on Wednesday. She says that her plan is to go to the gym regularly for strength training to help her with her endurance, so that when she starts swimming again, she will at least have that.

Something else is happening to Natalie. She now smiles when I take photos of her. After our workout yesterday, we were stretching, and she was silly and put the towel on her head, I did what I usually do and I quickly snapped a photo before she had a chance to hide. I didn't even look--I just took the photo. She asked if I saw her smile. I was shocked. I took another, better photo (the first photo above) with her cooperation. She does have a pretty smile! She even told me that I had to put that photo on my lock screen on my phone, so I did!

Natalie took the second photo herself when we were in the car driving to North Star Mall for lunch and shopping last Friday. She actually took a series of selfies with her little brother in the background to send to her big brother in Boston. She made a variety of faces, but I loved this one because of her smile and Eric's hilarious pose.

Patrick and I have been trying to eat better and exercise regularly, and this newest kick of Natalie's is helping a lot!