Happy 4th of July!

The morning started with some negotiations. We were going to go to the neighborhood parade/get-together, and DH and I wanted everyone to wear red, white, and blue. DS#2 had been wearing an orange shirt, but he finally changed into one of his sport-type shirts. DD had been wearing a new navy/turquoise shirt that she just loved, and she didn't want to change her shirt at all. When she found this cute little cheerleader outfit from Gymboree that we just bought yesterday, then she gladly changed her clothes. DS#3 was wearing something red, white, and blue that had buttons down the front so that it could be removed without having to be pulled over his head. We've had some containment leaks lately...


I managed to get a photo of the family in their red, white, and blue clothing (obviously unposed). We walked to the parade site. The weather was already hot and steamy at 10AM. The parade consisted of two fire trucks followed by a couple of cars sporting large flags waving in the back, and then the rest were people walking, riding bicycles, and pulling wagons/pushing strollers. We really only went around the block, and near the end, DD started complaining that her legs hurt. At least by then I was able to entice her by telling her that they were offering popsicles at the end of the parade. They also had cookies and bottled water, but DD had three popsicles.

After lunch, we went to the pool. DS#3 has been enjoying the pool more lately, and he kept busy this time playing with balls. He has a cute way of throwing them so that they actually end up going backwards. We did manage to enjoy the pool for a few minutes before it started raining. The rain really didn't bother us too much, although the rain itself was cold, especially when I wasn't physically in the water. It started raining so hard, however, that they closed the pool.

DD and I made chocolate cupcakes. She's been wanting to make them ever since we bought the red, white, and blue cupcake liners at Hobby Lobby last week. In the evening, DH grilled steaks. Shortly before 9PM, DH took the older three to see fireworks at the nearby Six Flags. He actually parked in the mall parking lot close to the park, and apparently this was not an original idea. It was still a good idea, however, since this year, it didn't take him long at all to get back home after the fireworks.

I hope everyone else is having a very enjoyable and very fun Fourth of July!

The Genius of Leonardo

The Genius of Leonardo is a touring exhibit that has made it's US debut at the Witte Museum here in town. The press release can be found HERE. Basically it's "the world's largest interactive exhibition" of Da Vinci's inventions and "features 40 life-sized and operational machines constructed from in-depth studies of Leonardo's designs."

The exhibit not only had the "machines" but they also had written explanations about what the machines did and their applications to subsequent technology. One of these was the "Ornithopter" which means "a machine designed to fly by flapping its wings". In this particular ornithopter, the pilot acts as the engine. By moving the various ropes, he would cause the wings to "flap". The modern day application of this is the helicopter. Of course, the "Ornithopter" was never built, but the reason why Da Vinci is so impressive is that he was able to think "outside the box" and came up with so many potentially workable ideas.

One machine that could have been potentially useful was this contraption that you can see DH helping DS#3 to operate. The circular motion of the wheel (which ideally could have been powered with water) turns into the up and down motion of the blades that were used to cut the logs.


This photo shows one of the smaller exhibits that brings into action one of Da Vince's drawings where a machine converts a revolving motion into a one-way motion, or a "rack and pinion" mechanism. This mechanism is "often used today in "automobile jacks, windshield wipers, and 'rack and pinion' steering."


There was also a area in the exhibit called "Leonardo's Workshop". DD had fun in the area where they used small catapults to propel ping pong balls toward a picture of a castle. DS#3 also enjoyed this exhibit, although he just played with the balls and he didn't much care for the catapult. DS#2 built a domed structure out of styrofoam blocks, and built an arch out of fake "stones". DS#1 and DH put together this rather cool structure called "Leonardo's Bridge". The ladies who were building it right before us took a rather long time, but DH and DS#1 took only a few minutes. The structure looks very delicate but in reality was quite sturdy once finished.

I hope I explained all of this well enough. If this exhibit happens to come to a neighboring city, go see it! It was truly worth the price of admission! :)

My Little Chatterbox

When I was younger, I remember my parents describing my younger sister as talkative. I also remember my mom telling me, after one of the first times DH met my parents, that he was rather chatty too. In other words, I don't know which side it comes from (probably DH's side *WINK*), but DD is quite the chatterbox. The last time my youngest sister and her kids were here, she heard her DD tell my DD to be quiet (she was trying to read). My boys are always telling DD to be quiet. Even DH gets tired of her constant chatter.

Yesterday, DD and I were shopping when she saw some Jibbitz (those are the decorations that people put in the holes of their Crocs). She was chatting about how there were soccer balls for her brothers and how they were only $7.99! :) A woman that was standing next to us looked at me, smiled, and told me that DD "talked like a 25-year-old" and that she had to do a double-take. I just laughed and told her about how DD will even ask, "Is it on sale?" Sometimes she'll even say, "It's on sale, Mama. Can I get it?" You see, I tend to tell her that I won't buy something if it's not on sale.

Then, there are the recurring themes. Remember the bubble tape conversation I had with DD that I blogged about HERE? Now, every time we go to Michael's, she'll see the bubble tape again and mention it. Recently, she asked if she could get bubble tape for her birthday. This just cracked me up so much that I had to tell her that if she didn't get bubble tape by her birthday, I would get her bubble tape for her birthday! Now, every time she sees bubble tape, she reminds me that I said that. ;-)

Sunday Recap

I was so sad last week when DH and the kids went to SeaWorld without me, so we decided to go with the whole family today. We got there right around 11AM when the Lost Lagoon waterpark opened. The baby and I stayed at the Li'l Gator kids' area while DH and the other three kids had fun on the various rides. I've never been a big ride person, mostly because it combines my fear of heights and my motion sickness. I have to admit that I had fun just watching DS#3 toddle about, in and out of the water, up and down the baby slides, and just walking, walking, walking around. I couldn't take any photos because well, we forgot the camera, but also because there would have been no way to take photos without getting the camera wet.

After a while, DH came back with DD. She wanted to go with me to the wave pool, so DH stayed with DS#3. DD couldn't wait to show me how DH taught her how to "use her arms" when she swims--basically a freestyle-type stroke. She looked pretty cute turning her head from side to side so she could take breaths. I don't recall the older boys ever swimming this well when they were this age. She just loves the water where they were a bit more timid. She did quite a bit of swimming back and forth just so she could practice using her arms. I was amused that she thought it was such a cool new thing to actually use her arms when she swims!

While we were at the wave pool, the older two boys joined us. I have to admit that at first, I didn't recognize DS#1 as my child. I just saw this big kid/young adult. He has changed so much lately! He was goofing around and screamed in a higher-pitched voice than I'm used to hearing coming from his mouth. I told him that I was amazed that he could get his voice that high. He answered that he just had trouble with the middle register, but that he could go higher and of course, lower. I also watched him goofing around with DD. They were having so much fun with each other. What mother doesn't get warm tinglies from watching her kids actually getting along? Later this afternoon, DS#1's good friend (maybe even "best" friend) called and asked him to spend the night at his house. He's there now--I miss that big kid!

DS#2 also had a fun time. His swimming has really taken off since he first took lessons a couple of years ago. He was just loving life and loving the water. I just feel bad that he didn't have his big brother around this evening. That kid worships his big brother! We were just lounging around this evening watching the Olympic Trials. I really only watched a few races and I was just amazed at the World Records! I'm really looking forward to watching the Olympic Games in August.

We left Sea World after 1PM and ate at the nearby Rudy's BarBQ. I just love their creamed corn! I had a taste of their peach cobbler a month or so ago and I've been dreaming about it since. I had to have it with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla, of course! Yum! We didn't do too much after we got home, but I think we had already had a pretty full day!

Constant Motion

Now I know why I've been exhausted this summer even though we don't have a bunch of soccer practices and such to go to! We were at Blockbuster Video this morning and I was following DS#3 around while DH was picking out movies to rent. He was constantly in motion! I would have loved to have just watched him from a comfy chair, but he was also getting into everything so I had to follow him around. Before that, we were at the public library and it was the same thing. Last night we were at the work party and he only sat for a few minutes when I fed him some fruit. He was walking around the rest of the time! I think I'm going to take a nap with him now...

Cooking and Golf

I haven't been inspired to blog this week, but I thought I would at least let my family know what we were up to this week.

Monday
--This was DD's first day at the Young Chef's Academy (9-noon from Mon-Thur). She was SO excited! She was telling me all about the dishes she had made and how she ate this one but not this one. The theme was International Cuisine in honor of the Olympic Games coming up.
--In the evening, DS#1 had his last swim meet. It wasn't as hot as the last one, because of cloud cover. DS#3 kept wanting to go into the water, so because of this plus the lateness of the day, DH took him home early, and DS#1 and I walked home after the meet. He wasn't feeling well at all but he wanted to finish out the meet. I think it was just a mixture of being overtired from his cousin's visit this weekend and environment allergies.

Tuesday
--DS#2's first day at golf camp (9-noon from Tues-Fri). I guess he enjoyed himself. He started talking about getting different golf clubs after one day!
--After DD's camp, which she is attending with friends of the family, she apparently didn't want to go home with DH. She wanted to go to her friends' house! Since those friends are doing both the cooking camp and the golf camp, DH works out a deal with drop-offs and pick-ups of children.

Wednesday
--After the camps, DH and the kids went to Sea World with some good friends. Apparently, DD was whooping it up on the rides. She even went on a "big" coaster called Journey to Atlantis. DH thought that maybe she was actually too short to go on it still, but they let her through and she loved it! She also went on another water ride and she was chanting that she wanted to get wet. She was actually laughing and cheering when she did get wet!
--In the afternoon/evening, we watched our tape of the Germany vs. Turkey European Cup Soccer game as a family. Later we watched that new "game show" Wipeout. We had fun with both, so it was a family "veg" in front of the TV kind of night.

Thursday
--DS#2 was all psyched that he saw Michael Finley, who plays for the San Antonio Spurs, at the golf course he had his golf camp at. He was also very proud when he told me that today he hit the golf ball farther than he had hit it before, although he didn't know exactly how far that was (he only knew how many poles away).
--DD brought home a very sugary concoction that she made at her cooking camp in honor of her last day. It involves putting chocolate and rice krispies in a cone and then covered with a fruit roll-up. Apparently it was supposed to be a "torch". She's been excited about it all week, but tonight, she really didn't want to eat it and chose ice cream instead!
--DH and DS#1 went to his soccer practice and then to their favorite--Scholtzky's for dinner. The middle two had take out McDonald's at home while I fed DS#3 with some "rice soup" that my Mom made for him this past Sunday.

Plans for Friday
--This will be the last day of DS#2's golf camp.
--In the evening, we will be attending the Pre-deployment party for a couple of my co-workers at the Department Chief's house. We'll probably have a decent time, but it will still be a "work" party, after all.

Birthday Continued

DS#2 has been having what seems to be a birthday celebration week. We had his photo shoot on Tuesday after which he got taken out to Coldstone Creamery where he got a chocolate and banana ice cream shake. He received his new Nintendo DS early, and got to play with it for much of the evening. On his actual birthday on Wednesday, DH took the kids to the Fiesta Texas water park. We went to one of our favorite restaurants, El Mirasol, for dinner (DS#2 got to pick), followed by ice cream at our favorite ice cream shop, Brindles. DS#2 ordered his favorite, a Dreamsicle ice cream shake. He also got to play almost unlimited video games that day.

Today was his "party". He only wanted to invite one friend whose cute little face I've intentionally blurred in this picture. He really likes this boy and would have been very disappointed if he hadn't been able to come. Actually, we probably would have rescheduled the party to a day when this friend could make it. As it is, he had a swim meet this morning, so we couldn't have the "party" this morning. My nephew and DS#1 were the other boys in the group and they all went to Lazer Quest. DH was so proud of himself, because on their second time through, he got the highest point total out of everyone participating in the "mission". After Lazer Quest, they again went to Brindles where DS#2 had another Dreamsicle shake.

We love to spoil our kids, don't we? :)

Happy 16th Anniversary

We went to The Lodge Restaurant for dinner tonight. The Lodge Restaurant provides a very unique dining experience, from the location to the menu itself. DH and I decided to opt for the eight course meal, with accompanying wines included with DH's meal. We had never done anything like this before, and I was a little apprehensive about how much food that would entail, but we were open to a new experience. Yes, it was a lot of food, and yes, I was more stuffed at the end than I wanted to be, but we were both happy we chose this. We were impressed at how the combination of flavors in each course really complimented each other. I don't remember every part of each course, but here's a list I've reconstructed based on the sample menu they have on their website. The dish names with quotation marks are straight from the menu while those without quotation marks are as close as I can remember. Comments are enclosed by asterisks (*).

Pre-first Course
Orange slice on Blackberry Sauce topped with Beet and Thai Basil
*This is definitely not something I would have tried otherwise, but it was surprisingly tasty.*

First Course
Seared Scallop on Brioche with Lemony Sauce
*I love scallops. What else can I say?"

Second Course
"Mixed Green Salad with Tart Apples, Candied Pecans, Goat Cheese and Champagne Vinaigrette"
*I don't usually like nuts in my food, but the pecans were toasted and sweetened and really worked well with everything."*

Third Course
"Maple Leaf Farms Duck Confit with Orecchiette Pasta, Sweet Corn, Parsley, Parmesan and Toasted Garlic Breadcrumbs"
*This was another dish where the flavors of the different ingredients really complemented each other.*

Fourth Course
"Grilled Texas Bobwhite Quail with Creamy Blue Cheese "Farrotto", Butter Baked Apple, Basil Oil and Pear Salsa"
*If I had seen this on a menu by itself, I don't know if I would have tried it. The basil oil was green and surrounded the rest of the dish but I didn't let that stop me from trying it, just like in 'Green Eggs and Ham'. The pear was colder than the rest of the dish but it made the different textures in the dish interesting and very tasty.*

Fifth Course
Raspberry Sorbet with Vermouth
*I don't care for the taste of liquor at all, so the vermouth really interfered with my enjoyment of the otherwise yummy sorbet.*

Sixth Course
Pan Seared Halibut on Ravioli on Oven Dried Tomato, Artichoke Hearts, and something else on the side
*I love seafood, but the tomato and artichoke made the taste more interesting.*

Seventh Course
Cast Iron Seared Beef Tenderloin with Yukon Gold Potato "Rosti" and Arugula
*I couldn't finish the seventh and eighth courses because I was so full that I was close to exploding. I really enjoyed the "seared" part of the meat, because it was more crunchy but the inside was very tender. On our first visit to The Lodge Restaurant, we were informed that the chef would not cook a steak more than "medium" and the implication was that cooking the steak more would ruin it.*

Eighth Course
"Nutella and Dark Chocolate "Souffle" Inspired Cake with Caramel, Banana Fritter and Peanut Butter Mousse"
*I didn't care for the banana fritter, and the peanut butter mousse tasted just like peanut butter from a jar although it was probably smoother and sweeter. DH had the fantastic idea to combine the chocolate cake and peanut butter mousse and the taste was spectacular! I would definitely order this one again!*

Happy 9th Birthday!

Today, DS#2 turns nine! I remember going to the doctor on the morning of Friday, June 18, 1999. I was 38 1/2 weeks pregnant and on my exam the week before I was dilated to 4 cm. That day I was hoping that my doctor would put me in the hospital and induce me. Well, I was at 5 cm, so she decided to do just that, but the hospital was full and we didn't go in until 3PM. I could only have clear liquids until then and I was SO hungry! Jello never tasted so good! We didn't get into a room until 4:30PM. I had felt some non-painful contractions starting around 3PMish. When the doctor examined me at about 4:45PM, I was at 6 cm just before she broke my bag of water. The nurse didn't start the Pitocin until around 5:30PM. The contractions started hurting soon after that, and I had DS#2 at 7:34PM without ANY pain medications. That wasn't exactly done on purpose, and boy, did I feel every bit of that 8 pound 11 ounce, 22 inch body coming out, especially that big ole head!

Today, DS provides DH and me a lot of happiness mixed in with a little frustration. You see, DS is like an open book. He calls it like he sees it. Sometimes, that info comes out at us very rough and unfiltered. In other words, sometimes what he says seems a bit rude and disrespectful, but he doesn't usually mean to offend. As I stated before, he just calls it like he sees it. That's when he actually talks. Often, he has trouble expressing himself verbally whether it's out loud or in writing. DH and I are trying to help him with at least the writing part of that this summer, but that belongs in another blog entry. He is also like many 9 year olds in that he doesn't listen to instructions very well. He tends to be stuck in his own reality, whether it's in the video game he is playing, the TV program he is watching, or even the book that he is reading.

At least in the last year or so, DS#2 has developed a firmer grasp on what activities he enjoys. He loves playing more competitive soccer in the same club that DS#1 plays. He has continued with Cub Scouts and really seems to enjoy all the scout activities. He enjoys the camping, the skills teaching, and even won the Pinewood Derby for his den this year. He also, like many boys his age, loves video games and has been logging in lots of playing time on the Nintendo Wii (his favorite) and his brand-new Nintendo DS. DS#2 enjoys games of all types, whether it is board games, laser tag, or simply playing in the pool. However, despite being a social animal that likes to be around others, he is still very shy.

Speaking of social, DS#2 still claims he does not like girls. He wouldn't even watch the female American Idol contestants. The girl that liked him three years ago is still fond of him, but he claims that he doesn't care. He grumbles and turns away from kisses on TV, and flees from kisses and hugs from me, at least in public. I can usually "bribe" him to let me kiss him in public, or better yet, "bribe" him to kiss ME in public. The latter occurs when he wants me to get him a shake at one of the local ice cream shops (yes, he loves shakes that much). He knows now THAT is my price. ;-) At night he still wants his parents to sing to him before bedtime, and he lets me hug and kiss him then. Last night, without any prompting, he even told me, "I love you, Mama" as I left his bedroom. I think that just summarizes what DS#2 is all about. He is still my cuddly child, but he's trying to grow up. Happy Birthday, Baby Boy! :)

Reluctant Photo Shoot Subject

I love the way this picture turned out! DS#2 is my reluctant photo shoot subject. DS#1 and #3 tolerate me and DD eats it up, but DS#2 always tries to run away. Today, he gave me the best present--cooperating with a photo shoot at The Picture People. I have a three photo frame from DS#3's first birthday photo shoot back in April, and I would really like similar photo frames for each of the other kids--to be taken near their birthdays this year. Sorry for the bad photos, but I just wanted to show what the baby's frame looks like, and then DS#2's frame that I just got today. DH already has the baby's frame up in the hallway to the gameroom, and I think these frames of all of the kids will look great once they are all there!



DS#2 really is very photogenic. He doesn't have that cheesy smile like his sister and little brother sometimes do. His "reward" was to get one of his birthday presents today--a Nintendo DS. He and his older brother were playing together on their DSs while I picked out photos and waited for them to be printed. We were at the store a total of one hour. Pretty good, I'd say!

Father's Day 2008

We started out by giving DH his present. It was something I had picked up on my spa weekend with my sisters. When I had my pedicure, they put this warm neck thing on me, and I enjoyed how it relaxed my neck and shoulder so much that I bought one for DH. Later in the day, DS#2 warmed it up just so DH could use it already warmed. He can be such a sweetie sometimes!

We started out at church and then we went to La Madeleine for lunch. DS#3 had some Mac and Cheese there, and later, when we got home, he kept picking up the Kraft Mac and Cheese box from the pantry and handing it to me or to DH. I guess he liked it!

After lunch, I took the older three kids to see the movie Kung Fu Panda. That was such a cute movie, and for the first time, DD actually sat still during an entire movie at the theatre. She didn't even ask how much longer at all, so you know she must have enjoyed it.

The boys also got some video game time with a promise from DH that he would play some video games with them. I'm not sure what the appeal is, but the boys really enjoy playing video games with their Papa. Maybe they feel like they can play really well when they can beat their Papa at a game, or maybe it's because they want to beat Papa at a video game--who knows why. I took the above photo when the three boys were all on the couch together. No, DS#3 isn't playing video games yet, but he sure loves to be on the couch when his brothers play video games! I had been sitting on the couch with him, but he pushed me off so he could have more space!

For dinner, DH actually prepared and grilled steaks instead of being taken out to eat. He said that he wanted steak and he enjoyed his steaks more than anyone else's. The kids also enjoy his steaks more than anyone else's, so we all enjoyed DH cooking on his day.

In the evening, I turned on the Tony Awards, and the first performance was The Lion King. The kids loved it and even though we don't usually watch awards shows, they loved watching all of the musical performances, so we continued to watch the Tony Awards until their various bedtimes. DS#3 was hilarious because he kept trying to dance to the music. Sometimes he would try to walk and dance, but eventually, he was so tired that every time he stood up, he would fall less than one step after. He didn't resort to crawling, though, so I guess that means that he is officially walking! He also officially loves to try on everyone else's shoes. Here he is enjoying his Papa's new Crocs. Happy Father's Day!

Hot, Hot, Hot!

It was quite the scorcher today (upper 90s), and we spent a good three hours of it outside "enjoying" DS#1's swim meet. I missed the first one because I was in the middle of that two weeks where I had four overnight calls in less than two weeks. We had a full day that day, the swim meet was elsewhere that we weren't familiar with, and I was exhausted. Today, I was determined to see my son swim!

The meet started at 8:30AM. DH and DS#1 left early (they took the van), and I stayed at home to feed the kids breakfast and the plan was for me to walk to the pool. We didn't start walking to the neighborhood pool until about 8:30AM, so we ended up missing DS#1's first race. He swam freestyle in a medley relay in which his group placed second. He had four other races, breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke, and freestyle relay in the next three hours. It was a very long three hours, but DS#1 placed from second to fourth in the various heats, and we were very proud of him, especially when he shaved some time off his backstroke.

DS#3, being a baby, was a handful most of the time. He is such an active boy, and there were SO many people there. I tried to "entertain" the three kids, at first, by feeding them concession stand food. That only went so far, unfortunately. DD was being very needy and whiny and at one point, and I was at the end of my rope! She stood there helpless when the baby climbed into her pool lounge chair and "knocked off" her hotdog. She didn't even pick that hotdog up! If she had been sitting next to the hotdog like I had told her to (a few times), DS#3 would not have been able to knock off the hotdog onto the ground! Ack! At this point, she stayed over by DH for the rest of the meet.

We had a whole weekend's share of sun exposure. I tried to keep DS#3 in the shade of his stroller when I could, but he would never sit there for long. Luckily, he seems to tan as well as his siblings, even with the SPF 50 that I used on him (and even reapplied). After the meet was over, we all rode home in the van, took our showers, and DS#3 and I napped for 2-3 hours!

Personal Shopper and Bubble Tape

What do personal shoppers and bubble tape have in common? Read on and you'll see! :)

After I got home from work today, I took DD and DS#3 to the mall to go shopping. I took DD because she really wanted to go, and I took DS#3 for three reasons:

1. I have ongoing Mommy guilt and I didn't want to get home just to leave him again (he always greets me with a big hug when I get home).
2. I wanted to let DH get some stuff done that he wanted to get done.
3. DS#3 was just too cute to leave home.

Our first stop was Ann Taylor Loft, one of my favorite stores, because I had a 30% off coupon. ;-) As soon as we walked in, DD picked up a shirt and told me, "Why don't you get this one, Mama. It's nice." I looked at it and I wasn't that interested, but I was tickled that she was helping me shop. Later, I asked her for her opinion on a shirt I was trying on and she would either say, "That looks nice" or "That doesn't look nice". She was totally adorable! :)

You see, this all started a couple of weeks ago. We were shopping, and I wanted the shirt in one color, but she picked up the same shirt but in a different color and told me that she liked that one better. I went ahead and got the one that she liked! Ever since then, I've used her to resolve my indecisiveness. For those of you that know and love her, you know that she's quite opinionated! Well, today when I went into the dressing room for the second time, I saw that shirt that DD had pointed out initially, in the room I was in. I went ahead and tried it on just because it was there. I was a little surprised that I actually liked it. I decided that I'm going to have to ask for DD's opinion more often! :) Wouldn't you know it, that shirt must have been a favorite of a lot of other people, too. By the time we left the store about a half hour later, all of those shirts were gone from that rack at the front of the store!

As for the bubble tape, we were at Michael's checking out and she saw the bubble tape (bubble gum shaped like a roll of tape and rolled out just like tape). DH had refused her request to get bubble tape earlier when they were at the grocery store. She really wanted that bubble tape! She was quite upset that I wouldn't buy it for her. We don't usually let her chew gum, and she gets just enough in the various goody bags she gets from parties and school and such that we don't ever buy it for her. So, on the way home, she was chattering away about the bubble tape and she asked, "When I'm older and in college by myself, can I get bubble tape?" Eventually, this turned into the statement, "When I'm in college, I'm going to get bubble tape." She was cracking me up! I bet that if someone gave her bubble tape for her birthday coming up in August, she would be excited beyond words! ;-)

Fourteen Months

It's been a while since I posted about the little man's milestones. The biggest milestone so far is that he is walking. He puts his hands above his head (just like when he's holding our hands while he walks except our hands aren't there) and walks awkwardly--sort of "Frankenstein-like". He's not doing this as his primary form of transportation yet--that is still for crawling, but he's walking farther and steadier every day. (Sorry about the light/dark lines in the photo to the left. The blinds were still open and the sun was coming through.)

It's amazing what a combination of traits DS#3 has in common with his older siblings. We think he looks most like DS#1 at this age. His hair is light brown/dark blond, fine and straight, just like DS#1's was. He is on the thin side, but with some "baby fat", also like DS#1 was. The biggest "resemblance" lately has been his love of books. He will pick out a book, give you the book, and then sit himself on your lap so you can read to him. Then, he will actually let you read the book. DS#2 and DD were older when they finally settled down enough to read books. DH and I think reading is key to developing young kids' minds and we're delighted that DS#3 is interested in reading even at this early age.

As for DS#3's similarities with DS#2, he is "action boy" like DS#2 was. He is always on the go. He loves to go on the slide in DD's room, and gets on it by climbing up from the bottom then sliding down on his tummy. He also loves balls and wheeled toys like DS#2 did. It's so adorable to see him carry a huge soccer ball only to fling it across the floor so he can chase it. He also climbs like DS#2 (but explores like DS#1--which makes things "interesting"). DH saw him hang off the bannister on the second step of the stairs so he could lean back and grab the closet door handle to open it. Last week, DS#2 saw him in the bathtub with the footstool next to the tub. The little stinker had climbed into the empty bathtub!

DS#3 also shares similarities with his only sister. Both are affectionate--both in receiving as well as giving affection. Both love music and love to dance. Yesterday, I shot a video of the two of them on the sofa watching Dora the Explorer. Both were dancing to the intro music. Interestingly enough, DS#3 actually loves playing with DD's play kitchen more than his sister!

Isn't it interesting how similar but how different your children can be from each other? :)

Family of 14

I was surprised when we first checked in and they said, "You're with the group of 14, right?" Wow, I hadn't thought about that before, but yes, I guess we have 14 in my family now. How cool is that? If you can imagine that at my cousin's wedding a couple of weeks ago, we had a photo taken of my Mom's side of the family. Five of her brothers, their children, and their children's children were there. The photographer was amazed!

We had a fairly successful photo shoot today. DS#3 wasn't smiling in any of the photos, but at least he wasn't crying or frowning, so I was pretty happy with that, and most importantly, my Mom and Dad were both happy with how the photos came out. The photo above was one of the ones my parents now have framed and hopefully will soon have on their wall (thanks to DH!) along with one photo of my parents and their three daughters, and one photo of my parents and all of their grandkids. We tried to get a photo of just the grandkids, but my sisters and I weren't happy with the composition of those photos, although the kids looked okay in them. That means we'll have to try to get another photo of just the grandkids at some other time.

My Dad's party went well. We only used one candle for his cake, of course. I think 77 candles would have been a little too many! He looked SO happy being surrounded by his family singing "Happy Birthday" to him. My youngest sister's DD had made a little "scrapbook" of our trip to my cousin's wedding, and she presented that to my Dad. She's taking after her mother's footsteps! I'm just glad to see my parents both so happy! :)

Family Time

I've been working nights for the past two weeks and the fatigue has caught up with me. I usually get less sleep than I need anyway, but I'm able to "catch up" with a nap on the weekends. Since I worked last weekend, and we were out of town the weekend before, I haven't had a chance to "catch up" yet. I also don't make it easier on myself. I try to do stuff after the kids are in bed, but I'm so tired that I don't really get anything done--then I end up going to bed at the usual time and I don't get the extra sleep that I need. Why oh why do I do that to myself? On the up side, I feel like I've been spending more quality time with the kids.

With no nighttime commitments, I can read books with DD and DS#3. DD is getting so good at reading. For example, the other day, she was able to sound out "impossible" all by herself. I was so proud of her! Gone are the days when she would take forever to sound out a word--then when she came to word again, she'd be sounding it out again. Now she sounds it out the first time and then remembers what it is the second time. That is SO much better! DH and I have noticed lately that DS#3 is very interested in books and reading. We remember DS#1 being this way, but his younger siblings were more "action" than "sit and read" type babies. DS#3 is definitely an active baby, but surprisingly, he loves books and reading. We're so happy about that and we're hopeful that he'll be as smart as his older siblings.

DS#3 will have a chance to impress my parents this weekend with his love of books and his developing talent for walking. Yes, he is taking more and more steps at a time, although still not more than about 5 feet at a time. We're at my parents' house now. I hope that I can catch up a little on my sleep, as I mentioned earlier, since I can usually at least sleep a little later here, thanks to my Mom. We're here for my Dad's birthday party tomorrow. His actual birthday was on Thursday, when he turned 77. He asked to have a birthday party this year. I'm not sure why he picked this year versus any other, but DH and I knew we had to come. Dad's fondest wish is to get a picture of his whole family, so we're going to the Picture People tomorrow. We'll also try to get a picture of all of the grandkids. With so many people involved, especially a 14 month old, wish us luck!

School's Out For The Summer!

We celebrated the Last Day of School yesterday. I still fondly remember one time when my Mom took my sisters and I out for ice cream on the last day of school, so I always try to do the same thing with my kids. We also went out to eat at Fuddrucker's (after some discussion, that's what the kids finally all agreed to). All the kids ate quite a bit, even the baby, even though we had all had big helpings of ice cream just two hours before!

I don't even know who sings that song, "School's Out For The Summer!" but I was still surprised that the boys knew the song. Apparently, it's one of the many songs they learned in Guitar Hero III. In any case, today was supposed to be the last day of school for my kids. Instead, DD's last day was last Friday, because that's when she had her Kindergarten Graduation and they weren't planning anything else for the last two days of school. DS#2's last test was also last Friday, so he didn't have too much to do yesterday, but he went to school because DS#1 went to school. DS#1 technically had exams up until today, but since he had Music and Lunch during those periods (Music didn't have a final) he didn't have to go to school today either. I had today off, originally so I could be around for their last day of school, so we were all off today. I had such great plans that we would all do something fun today.

I did start out with making the breakfast that I usually reserve for Saturdays--banana pancakes and turkey bacon. DH and DS#1 missed out on this breakfast this past Saturday because of a swim meet, so they were happy to get it today. It's nice that there are a few things I make that the whole family gets excited about. The rest of the day, the boys had fun playing their video games and playing with a new laser gun toy that DS#2 bought today. Even DH participated at one point. It was hilarious seeing him run after DS#2! DD, DS#3 and I went shopping, and that actually took more of my time than I had intended. DD kept talking about going to Libby Lu again. Remember our first and only Libby Lu visit? She basically made me promise to take her again just so she would stop asking! I also spent a lot of time reading to DD and DS#3. Overall, we had a lazy day on the First Day of Summer Break!

June Kits Plus

I was on call last night for the fourth time in less than two weeks, so I'm a little tired. Hopefully I'll get to post more tomorrow, but for now, here are the pages I did last month using the June Scrapaddict Kits. I still have one kit assignment for July and then I'll be taking a leave of absence from my design team position there because life continues to be way too hectic.

These two pages are made from the When the Wind Blows Kit and have pictures from last Easter. My whole family came for a visit because I was due to deliver DS#3 any day (and as it turned out--I delivered the NEXT day).



These next three pages are done using the Ain't No Cure Kit. The first one is from 2005 when DS#2 finally took swim lessons from a lady who was also his Spanish teacher at school. She ran a well-organized operation from her home. The last two are from 2002 when DS#1 was only 7 years old, and DS#2 was only 3 years old. Weren't they adorable?




The following are some more pages I did early in May for the Scrapaddict National Scrapbook Day Crop. I used Scrapaddict sketches for all of these, so I was able to get a lot done. The one below uses photos from Easter 2006.


With the page below, I can finally say that I've scrapped all of Easter 2007's photos. Yay, me! :)


This last one is just a simple page with a photo taken at Thanksgiving last year. I just love this photo of my kids and their cousins. Aren't they all such beautiful children, especially when they're laughing and enjoying themselves?

Okay, that's it! I was productive during the first part of May and then I got nothing done at all the rest of the month! Today was the last day of school for my kids. More on that later...

Graduations

Today was DD's Kindergarten Graduation. The ceremony began with the kids coming into the hall in two lines to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance. The program started with the Pledge of Allegiance, then the Star Spangled Banner, and then Texas Our Texas. Next, they recited the Our Father in Latin and then in Spanish. I remember DS#2 doing that when he was in Kindergarten. It was amazing then as it is now that they can teach these 5 and 6 year olds how to do say all of those words. Next they sang a few songs and then each child walked up and received their certificates from their Headmaster. After the ceremony came the "celebration" according to DD. They had a nice spread, with wraps and sandwiches, Chick-Fil-A nuggets, chips, and veggies. They also had these cute cupcakes topped with chocolate covered graham crackers to make them look like mortarboards.

This afternoon, DS#1 achieved his own graduation of sorts. He was offered a position on the "Super 2" soccer team. For those of you not familiar with soccer speak, this means that he will be moving up to a more competitive level. Basically, his coach (who will be coaching this "new" team) said that, although DS is probably not quite at that skill level yet, he has shown his dedication by being at almost all of the practices and games. DS's coach knows how he plays better than anyone else, and it was a nice vote of confidence that he asked DS to "move up". Sadly, because they are moving a few of the boys from DS#1's current team up to the more competitive level, there aren't enough boys left to field a team. There are eight boys (from DS's "old" team) who won't be offered any spot for the Fall season. Still, we're very proud of our two new "graduates".

Another Long Travel Day

Wow, we had another long travel day yesterday. We left for the airport yesterday at 7AM and we didn't get home until 3PM. What made it worse was that we were on the plane during all of the time that might be considered "lunch". Since airlines don't provide "real" food anymore this was not fun, especially for the baby. We made do with snacks, but all of us were so hungry by the time we got home.

Something to note--don't leave an unattended drink when your baby is on your lap. He'll take it, drink it, and spill it on your lap despite the lid on it. When you try to clean it up, you'll end up tilting the tray table and spilling the crackers he was eating all over the floor. Overall, I have to say that flying with the baby has been like that drink experience. DH and I aren't looking forward to the next time we're cooped up on a plane with him.

I don't have too much else to say, except that it's so good to be home!

Our Last Day

Yesterday, we started out the day with out "free hot breakfast" again. I ended up staying there for about an hour as various family members left and were replaced by other family members. My cousin S and her DH were there. She is 4 1/2 months pregnant with her first child and it was cool to hear how excited they were. I missed their wedding almost six years ago because I had just given birth to DD.

Eventually everyone ended up in my Mom and Dad's room. My sisters and their families were there, along with three of my uncles and their families, and my Lola. My uncles and their families and my Lola were all checking out of the hotel that day and this was just their gathering place. My Dad's brother and his wife and son were there but they were planning to go to a Broadway show with my sister. The rest of us went to my Uncle P's house--the family of the groom. We spent the rest of the afternoon there getting reacquainted with the cousins and uncles. DH and I always have such fun with all of them. They're all such fun people and I always feel so blessed to get along with my family so well.

Some other highlights include the following:
--DH found out that my cousin S's DH enjoys the Dungeons and Dragons stuff that he enjoys and they had a great conversation.
--We found out that the bride and groom (who stopped off at the house very briefly) were headed to New York to get more photos taken. She actually slept carefully so her hairdo wouldn't get too mussed. What a way to spend a wedding night!
--My cousins A, R, and G (siblings) stopped by with their kids. Cousin R just got chosen to be the Chairman of his department at a university in upstate New York. How cool is that? Cousin A goes to church with Kobe Bryant back in California. That was cool too, but not in the same way.
--The boys played video and computer games in the basement almost the entire time with my 16-year-old cousin A. Their second cousin Z was there. All of these boys love computer games, but my cousin A is the biggest game freak of all!
--DD played with her cousins all over the house. When she wasn't playing with her cousins, she was playing with her second cousin L who is 18-months-old. He is apparently very social and she was treating him just like she treats her baby brother!
--DS#3 impressed everyone with his knack for climbing stairs AND coming down safely. He started this new "trick" of stopping on the stairs, turning, and waving. He had the cutest smile, too! He also loved sitting in this "clip-on" high chair that was attached to their kitchen counter. He really enjoyed sitting there being alternately fed by my Mom and my Uncle B. He also practiced "sharing" with his 18-month-old second cousin--that is, fighting over the same toys!

We went back to our room fairly early and got ready to travel today. We were exhausted, but so happy that we got to spend all day with family once again.

M&M Wedding

Lots of stuff happened yesterday, so I'm going to list the various events below, mostly so I can remember them later for one of my scrapbook pages. I'll try to post pictures later this week.

We had a "free hot breakfast" where our favorites were the french toast and waffles. The french toast was yummy enough to eat without syrup. Other favorites were mixed fruit and bacon. My Mom and Dad were already there when we got there, so my Mom was available and willing to feed DS#3. We were all able to sit at this one big table that seated 10.

After breakfast, the kids all went to my sisters' room and watched the movie Enchanted. DH took a short nap with DS#3, and I wrote in my blog. After DS#3 woke up in a good mood, I took him to visit my Mom and then my grandmother's room (who I call Lola, which is Filipino for "grandma"). My uncle B takes really good care of Lola. He also loves to feed everyone, and he had bought some jugs of milk specifically for the kids. He also brought fruit and various Filipino pastries. DS#2 was with me, and he started out eating a mango, an orange, a banana, and finally, a "mamon" which is a sponge cake (very tasty and one of my favorites). Everyone else eventually ended up in Lola's room.

For lunch, we went to the local mall because it would be quicker and everyone could choose what they wanted to eat. My aunt and uncle (my Dad's brother) met us there and we all ate together. When we left after 1PM, we just barely had enough time for all of us to get ready for the wedding, which was at 2PM. Luckily, everything was located close to each other this weekend. This is different from previous family weddings here where it seemed like we had to drive an hour between the various places.

The wedding was beautiful, of course. My younger sister (the one who just turned 40) looked amazing in her dress, and she wasn't even part of the wedding. She remarked on how all of the bridesmaids were skinny and the dresses really flattered them. I told her that after seeing her in her dress, she herself shouldn't ever complain that she is fat ever again! I will definitely try to post photos of my sister in that dress! The bride looked amazing (and very skinny) in her dress too. The "best" part of the wedding was the father of the bride and the aunt of the groom singing a duet with the father of the bride playing the guitar. That was such a sweet moment.

Poor DH stayed at the back of the church or even outside the church for almost the entire ceremony. He realized too late that he might have been more efficient if he had gone back to the hotel room and gotten DS#3 to take a nap. The wedding was smack dab in the middle of nap time. After the ceremony, we stayed for the traditional family photos, including a photo of the extended family. It's usually a very impressive photo and each time the extended family just gets bigger and bigger. Ours was the last photo, of course, and we headed back to the hotel to allow DS#3 to get a nap since the cocktails didn't start until 6PM and dinner wouldn't start until 7PM.

When we got to the reception at around 6:30ish, we had some hors d'oeuvres and sodas--we were all quite hungry. We were seated at the same table as my youngest sister and her family were seated at the same table. We had plenty of time to mingle before any food was served. My Mom took the baby for most of the night. She fed him, she played with him, and eventually he fell asleep. When she had to go to the bathroom, she would hand him off to her brother or her sister-in-law's sister.

Some highlights of the reception include the following:
--The groom and the father of the bride sang a duet for the bride--so beautiful. The groom then sang two songs that he had written himself. DH and I were amazed at his talent.
--I told the boys that if one of them caught the garter, I would give them $10. DH guess correctly that I just wanted the photo op so I could scrapbook it. He was right! ;-) Well, DS#1 almost got it but it bounced off his fingers (and off the fingers of the guy standing next to him who really seemed to want it too), it fell on the floor where I saw DS#2 dive for it, but someone else eventually claimed it.
--DD and her two cousins danced the night away. They were on the dance floor when no one else was on the dance floor. Some of the time, my cousin's 18-month-old boy was out there too, relishing all the attention from his female cousins.
--DS#1 spent most of the time talking with his second cousin Z who is around 6 months older than him. Z's mom remarked to me that she is amazed that the two of them only see each other once every two years and each time they start talking and playing like the best of friends. At least this time they exchanged email addresses so they can keep in touch.
--There was a "money dance" where people would contribute in a basket to dance with the new couple. I was with DD when she danced with the groom. He is such a sweetie anyway, and she looked happy to be dancing with him. Unbeknownst to me, my DS#1 went to dance with the bride after originally saying that he didn't want to. I asked him who gave him the money to dance with her and he said, "We were supposed to give money?" He said this with a huge sheepish grin on his face showing his newly straightened teeth. Oh well!
--No Filipino wedding reception would be complete without line dancing to include "The Electric Slide". The boys actually went out there with me and it was a lot of fun once I finally learned the steps. My aunt talked me through the steps and then I tried to talk DS#2 through the steps but he never seemed to be listening--what a surprise!

We finally left at around 10:30PM. We all had so much fun that it was actually hard for us to leave, but DS#3 had been sleeping for a while already and we really needed to get him to bed. By the way, both the bride and groom's first initials are "M", so I thought it was cute when they left personalized M & M's candies on the tables for their guests. Tomorrow, I'll talk about today's events.

Plane or Road Trip?

Yesterday, we travelled from Texas to NJ. We left the house at around 9AM and didn't get into our hotel room until almost 7PM. What a long day! Our flight was non-stop, which was convenient from the standpoint of not having to get off the plane and roam around some strange airport looking for our connecting flight with four kids in tow. Three and a half hours, however, is too long to be on a plane with at 13 month old! At first I thought it would go well. We got on the plane and after 5-10 minutes (it felt endless) of wrestling with the little man, he went to sleep. He was asleep for a little more than an hour, and he seemed happy, at first. He ate the leftovers from my Chicken Caesar Wrap from lunch. He drank his milk. Then, he started getting upset when he had trouble pulling the window shade open and closed. He got upset that he couldn't roam around the plane cabin like he wanted to. DH thought he was tired again, so he tried to get him to sleep. After an hour and a half or so of wrestling, he stopped trying. Sigh--he needed more sleep.

At the end of the flight, DD and DS#2 were feeling sick and had the barf bags poised and ready next to their faces. Luckily, although I'm prone to motion sickness also, I felt okay, so I took the baby in my lap while DH tended to the middle two. Why is it that the only child who isn't prone to motion sickness is the one who doesn't like roller coasters? The middle two love rollercoasters, but unfortunately, they inherited this little problem of motion sickness from me. So anyway, that part of the trip wasn't very fun either.

We got off the plane, picked up our checked luggage, then headed to the car rental place. Since we have so many people in our family, we have to rent a mini-van whenever we go anywhere. That really drives up the price of travel for us. The first mini-van that they gave us had the "check oil" light on, so we had to get another one. All of this just made the trip that much longer. When we got on the freeway on our way to the hotel, which was about 50 or so miles away, there was bumper-to-bumper traffic. Ah, the joys of traveling in the Northeast.

Some time during the driving part of our trip, DS#3 ran out of milk and was very unhappy about it, so we exited where one of the signs indicated that there was a McDonald's--except that after a mile or so there was still no McDonald's, so we pulled into a KFC. Did you know that KFC doesn't have milk? *SIGH* So, we pulled into the Burger King next door. We give DS#3 the milk, he takes a few big swigs of his sippy cup, and then he throws the cup to the floor. ACK! Oh well, at least we're on our way again, after the boys take their potty break and DH gets himself an iced coffee drink.

After we checked into our hotel, we went to the place where my cousin and his bride were having their rehearsal dinner. My Mom's family is close enough that whenever they have a child getting married, the whole extended family is invited to the rehearsal dinner. There were probably at least 100 people there. It was really very heartwarming to walk into that big room and immediately be greeted by all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Of course, I was carrying DS#3, so they were probably drawn by his cuteness. ;-) The rest of the night, he was being entertained by my sisters or my Mom.

DD was playing with her cousins (my sisters' girls) dancing on the dance floor (even when there wasn't any music). They also loved dancing with their 18-month old second cousin. The older boys mostly played with my nephew. The kids all sat at one table and DH and I sat at a table with my sisters, brother-in-law, and my favorite aunt and uncle with my grown cousin. Everyone at the dinner remarked on how tall DS#1 was, even his 16-year-old second cousin, who was only a couple of inches taller. Everyone remarked on how good-looking DS#2 was, and how pretty DD was, and of course, how cute DS#3 was. We left when DS#3 started screaming more frequently from being so tired. It was a very long day, and still, DS#3 fought going to sleep. This day just made us wonder if traveling by car or by plane would have been easier. We'll have to see when we make the trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa this summer.

Tomorrow--details from the wedding...

Spring Concert

This week my kids had their school Spring Concerts.  The music program at their school is really quite good.  They take non-singers and make the group sound beautiful.    Every child in the school is one of the various choirs, which makes for large audiences at their concerts.  Grades 3-12 had their concert on Tuesday night, PreK and Kindergarten had their concert on Wednesday at 11AM and Grades 1-2 had their concert on Wednesday at 1PM.  Thankfully, we only had to go to two concerts, but even those made a big dent in our week's activities.

The boys sang on Tuesday night starting at about 7PM.  Unfortunately, the Headmaster started the concert by making a speech.  That man doesn't know how to be brief.  Also, as is the tradition at our school, our parish priest led everyone in an opening prayer.  DS#2's class was up first.  I was happy to see that he was actually singing.  In the past, he just seemed like he was trying to move his lips as little as possible. He has a decent voice--not good enough to brag about, but pleasant enough to listen to.  He's usually easy to spot since he's one of the tallest, so he's usually on the top row.

DS#1 didn't perform until closer to 8PM.  He was in the "Middle School Treble Bass Choir" specially formed this year for those boys whose voices are changing.  DS#1 used to have a decent voice, but this puberty thing has really cut down on his range.  So, Mrs. M, one of his music teachers talked about how before this choir was put together, these boys would just hum along or try to keep up with the regular Middle School choir and usually end up not really participating.  I have to say that this seemed like a good idea.  Once their voices were done changing, they would go to one of the Upper School choirs, depending on how good their voices were.  Anyway, I think they did a great job, although DS#1 looked a little uncomfortable at times being one of a small group of 12 or 15 or so boys.

After DS#1 performed, I had hoped that we could leave early.  Parents aren't really supposed to leave before the end of the concert, but really, it was getting so late that DH and I had to worry about the younger two.  I convinced him that we had to go get the younger two, who were in the babysitting room.  Unfortunately, all the kids were supposed to sing in a Finale, so we couldn't get the boys out yet, but I took the younger kids to the car.  The walk to the car killed some time and kept the two busy, especially the baby who walked almost the whole way holding onto me with one hand.

DH and the boys didn't get back to the car until 9:15ish.  When we got home, we quickly got everyone ready for bed.  The baby had fallen asleep in the car and he didn't wake up when DH changed his diaper and put him in bed.  What a long night!

Oh, and I didn't mention that DH and I were a little apprehensive at first leaving the younger two at this babysitting area that was provided.  There were only a handful of teenage boys and well, let's just say that we know how irresponsible teenage boys can be.  We were fairly satisfied, however, since one of them basically followed the baby around as he pushed one of the little chairs all around the classroom.  He even changed his diaper.  That's why DS#3 was crying when we got there to pick him up.  He couldn't believe someone had just changed his diaper! :)

A Mama's Homecoming

We met my family at 9 AM mass this morning.  We were a few minutes late because we decided that I would go get the car and pick everyone up with their luggage plus we took some last minute pictures in the hotel lobby.  DH suspected that we would be late, so he picked a pew near the back of the church.  There was an empty pew directly in front of us, and DS#3 was making his way to the empty pew as we got there.  When he saw me, he had such a big smile on his face, and he walked all the way around that long pew to the right side and then back to our pew straight to me.  He gave me a big hug and just lay there on my shoulder.  What a perfect greeting for his Mama! :) DD was sitting next to me and she gave me kisses too.  The boys just looked in my general direction, but I like to think that they had still missed me. :)

We went to brunch at La Madeleine then went home.  It was great to be home!  My sisters relaxed a bit then headed for home.  I told my dear sis that I wanted her to feel pampered and she said she was! :)

This afternoon/evening was all about end of season soccer pool parties.  DS#2 and DD had parties scheduled at about the same time.   DD's party was at the home of our good friends (and DS#3's godfather).  I spent much of my time in the hot tub with DS#3.  He hasn't enjoyed our neighborhood pool very much, we think because of the cold water.  He was still hesitant in the hot tub despite the warm temperatures, but he eventually started kicking his feet, then splashing the water with his hands while bending down, then finally, after a few hours, he started walking along the side of the hot tub.   DH and DS#2 went to this party after their party was over, so we all ended up at the same party.

It was still great weather today, and the family togetherness was a great end to my weekend!  I have to say that I had a fabulous time with my sisters, but I feel happiest when I'm with my DH and dear children. :)

Spa Day

This morning we all had pedicure appointments at 9AM. I got into my head, however, that the appointments were at 9:30, so we were almost late. This was my first pedicure, and from this experience, I would certainly have another one. First, I got a nice warm whirlpool bath for my feet. Next, she put some lotion on my feet and wrapped them up in towels. The rest of the pedicure included a foot and ankle massage and removing the dried skin from my feet. I joked about how I only got foot massages from my DH when I'm pregnant, and since I didn't plan on getting pregnant again, this was a nice treat. She finished off by putting polish on my toes. It felt so nice that someone else was doing my toenails, and doing it much better than I do, too! :) My sisters later both remarked on how I was chatty with my pedicurist. I really enjoyed talking with her and that just added to the whole experience for me. After our pedicures, we went back to our room and there we took some pictures of our feet. We were laughing so hard at one point because we thought this was silly that we were taking photos of our feet!

We went to the Cracker Barrel Restaurant for brunch/lunch. We've been to other Cracker Barrels, but I'm not sure if we'll be going back to one any time soon. We waited a short period of time before they had a table ready for us. Usually the hostess will tell the person seating you what table to seat you at, right? Well, she didn't, and the lady showing us to our table thought there was only two of us and not three, and she didn't even know what tables were even available. The table she finally took us to hadn't been cleaned yet, and my chair was sticky. I ordered milk, and our waitress brought me two 8 oz. cartons of milk and a glass. I started pouring the first carton into the glass and I was horrified when it was chunky! The expiration date was the 18th of May, but there was no way I was going to drink this milk! I opened the other carton that was dated the 27th of May. It tasted a little "off" and I'm not sure there was anything wrong with it, but I couldn't drink this milk either. I ordered orange juice instead! The rest of the meal was fairly uneventful, except for our waitress forgetting to put blueberries on my pancakes as I had requested.  Thank goodness that was all!

We went back for our afternoon spa treatments. The birthday girl got an outdoor massage. She said it was nice, but she kept thinking, "But it's outside!" It was a great weather day, at least. My youngest sister and I had facials. I had never had one of these, either. I have to say that it was a pleasant, relaxing experience, but I wasn't crazy about it. I almost felt like she was pushing the products.  I didn't like closing my eyes in a strange place.  I like knowing what is going on around me.  After our treatments, we congregated in the Women's Lounge and chatted for a bit, then we shopped in their little store.  My youngest sister and I even bought our DH's their Father's Day gifts.  I can't reveal what those are, of course. ;)

After the spa treatments, would you believe that we went shopping?  That's what the birthday girl wanted to do, after all.  We went to the big outdoor mall here in town.  We mostly shopped at Ann Taylor Loft, Ann Taylor, the Gap, and the Children's Place.  We had such great weather-- the high was in the 70s, I think, but there was a nice breeze and it was dry.  That's as good as it gets here.  Dinner was at the Kona Grill.  We split three dishes so we could get tastes of everything.  On the way back to the resort, we stopped at my favorite ice cream shoppe.  We were on our way back again and we ended up doing some more shopping at Payless Shoes and Target.  Even when we were supposed to be doing this "spa day" to pamper ourselves, we couldn't help but think of our families--and shopping for them! :)

We were pretty exhausted when we got back to our room, but we did a little scrapping before going to bed.  What a fun day!

For My Sister

My dear younger sister is turning 40 next week. She wanted to do something extra special, so she made reservations at a local spa/resort so that we could have a girls’ weekend. Originally, she had wanted to do something like a weekend in Las Vegas or New York, but decided that a weekend visiting me here would be more practical.

I have to admit that I was a little reluctant, at first. I always welcome the opportunity to spend time with my two younger sisters, but I would be away from my family. I have a lot of mommy guilt already from all the time I spend away from my family because of work, and this was additional time away from them. I have some "wife" guilt too, since DH does so much for me already, and here I am leaving him for two nights. We also have a trip over the Memorial Day weekend next week for my cousin’s New Jersey wedding. The weekends are my only extra time to get caught up with stuff at home, so this "getaway" would be cutting into that also. I've also never had any "spa" type treatments, so this was a new thing for me. Still, I love my dear sister, so what else could I do? As the time got closer, I got more excited about just spending time with my sisters.

This afternoon, my dear sisters arrived in town to pick me up at my house. DH left for DS#2's last cub scout den meeting for the school year. It was a pool party, so all of the kids were going to be swimming. I did some last minute packing of some scrap supplies. My youngest sister loves to scrap, and my younger sister had just received a scrapbook as a "prize". Anyway, after I was done, we left for the resort. As we drove up to the property, the gate guard asked my younger sister's name to put on a placard to put on the car dashboard. He had the hardest time spelling her last name (my maiden name). It took him three times--despite us telling him how to spell it. My other sister and I were the ones that got upset by this, even though we didn't have that last name anymore.

It's funny how people can be particular about what they want to pay for. We decided to self park instead of valet park. As we were walking up to the hotel, my younger sister complained that we should have valet parked. My youngest sister and I just laughed since she had wheeled luggage--I mean, how hard was it? :) After we checked in, we unpacked and went to dinner. On Friday nights they have a seafood buffet, and we were very hungry. We had such a great time at dinner. We chatted and laughed, and we indulged in the great food. We shared some of the desserts, mostly because we wanted a sampling. After dinner, we went for a nice walk on some of the nature trails. It was such beautiful weather. They had some exercise stations. We stopped at the leg lift station and my youngest sister took a goofy photo of me doing the exercise. Afterwards, we washed up and my youngest sister and I started scrapping. The birthday girl had forgotten to print any photos, so she couldn't use her scrapbook prize. We're all enjoying ourselves and we're looking forward to tomorrow's fun.

Proud Parents

We received a letter from our kids' school yesterday. They had given all the seventh graders the Catholic High School Placement Test and apparently, our DS#1 did very well. He scored in the 99th percentile in most of the categories, with a 98th percentile in Reading and 94th percentile in Language. This is in comparison with eighth graders. So, I read this and I'm thinking that my DS has already skipped one grade and he still does better than kids one more grade up! :) That's not all. The next sheet of paper talked about how our parish is going to be celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary, and they're offering scholarships to their high school. They offered DS the largest scholarship--$10,000 for four years!

I showed DH when he got home with the kids. He wanted to play a trick and tried to sound mad at DS when he called him to tell him about the letter. He couldn't keep a straight face! :) All he could manage was to "yell" at him (while trying to hold back laughter) for getting a "low" score of 94 in one category! DS did later say that he did think DH was mad at him, although he quickly realized that wasn't the case.

We feel very privileged to have such a smart boy. At the same time, however, we're sad because we will be turning down that offer. That high school has a lot of potential, but it's still so new that DS#1 won't be going there, no matter what. We would like him to have more options for electives, and more opportunities for extracurricular activities. We also want a more experienced guidance counselor that will help us place our firstborn in whatever college he wishes to go to. These are just some of the reasons why we'll be going to a different school, next year and beyond.

Still, we're pretty proud of our boy! :)

Young Chef's Academy

Yesterday, DD went to the Young Chef's Academy with her Daisy Girl Scouts group. One of the other moms brought her there from school. I went straight there after work. When I got there they had already made the filling for their calzones. They were kneading the dough and then rolling them out with rolling pins. Then, they filled them and folded them over and put the fork pattern on the outer rim. The adult chefs did the baking then the girls all got to eat their creations. It was pretty good, except that I prefer mine with more sauce. DD's calzone also looked pretty good, if I say so myself. Some of the girls had very flat and wide calzones. :)


I realized that I forgot to take photos of DD actually eating her calzone. She really only ate about a quarter of it, then complained of a stomachache on the way home. I'm not sure if it was the calzone, or (more likely) that she has some illness since she came home from school today with a low-grade fever. All in all, it seemed like a good experience for her. She wanted to go back there again right away, of course. I guess I'd better start letting her help me in the kitchen! :)

Mother's Day 2008

This morning, DS#2 came in and said he wanted to give me something. He seemed very proud of it. It was a rosary that he made at school and they all had them blessed by our parish priest. He said that he was almost finished with the first one when the string broke. Then, DD came in with her gift bag and envelope for me. In the bag was a frame that said "Princess" that she had painted. The envelope had her card in it with a teapot shape on it, a teabag and a cute printed poem.

A cup of tea to say thank you
For all the things you have done
Enjoy, relax and have a day
Of happiness and fun

After they had presented me with their treasures, I let them both climb into bed with me. I've always let them do that, mostly because I have fond memories of climbing into my parents' bed on the weekends. DH doesn't like it, however, because he is such a light sleeper that he can't get any rest when they're there. Well, DH had gone out for his usual Sunday morning run to get donuts, so he wasn't there, so I got to cuddle with my two middle children. It was nice. :)

I got to take an afternoon nap. I slept for two hours with DH and DS#3. I guess we all needed it! Some time after I had awakened from my nap, the kids showed me the poster they had made for me. I was so tickled to receive it. I got the idea that DS#2 was the instigator, and that made it even more precious for me because he's usually the one who runs away from me when I try to kiss him.

Last night he was asking me what I wanted for Mother's Day. I told him that I just wanted them to do as I asked them to and to show me they appreciated me. He seemed to be pushing for something material, but I just repeated what I had said. I can only imagine that he took this to heart and that's why he did this. What a sweetie! As you can see from the photo, DD made me her own little note.

We also went to a nice brunch after church and for dinner, DH grilled salmon. After the kids were in bed, I got to scrap. It was a wonderful Mother's Day! :)

Looking for a Break

DS#1 had a friend from school sleep over last night. "A" is the youngest of three children and he just turned 13. I don't remember if I blogged about this before, but "A" went home after one of these sleepovers and he started asking his parents if they could have another baby. They were tickled at the thought and asked DH jokingly what sort of ideas we were feeding their child while he was staying with us. :) Well, "A" is pleasant to have around because the older boys all play video games together plus the younger two enjoy his company, too. The baby even reaches up at him asking to be carried. I guess he's like one of the family.

We had our usual banana pancakes (some with chocolate chips) and turkey bacon for breakfast this morning. DH loves this meal and I enjoy the fact that the kids actually ask for it (unlike anything else I usually cook). I was wondering today, though--why is it that I've been making this for Saturday morning breakfast every week for probably a couple of months now and I can remember the ingredients, but I can never remember how much without looking at the recipe. I guess it may just be something that I don't have to commit to memory, so I don't. I've got to save room in my head for all of those important things like what activity to take the kids to, when they have to be there, and where to take them.

Speaking of places to be, I'm looking forward to a little break from soccer. Today was the last game of the Spring season, and it was DD's game. All of the parents were relieved when the game ended, and not just because it was the last game. It was blistering hot and humid today, especially at 2PM when her game was played. DS#3 finished his milk lickety split. We filled his sippy cup with Gatorade and he finished that too. I took this photo this morning when everyone was still fresh and clean. The baby was playing with a box that I no longer needed. DD was just trying to get in every photo.

DS#1 still has two practices a week until the end of the month and DS#2 still has practice this week. I just want to not have to be somewhere every day of the week. We also only have one more Daisy Scouts meeting--yay! I'm secretly hoping that DD won't want to be in the Brownie Girl Scouts next year. I'd like to get her into some sort of dance class or maybe even piano lessons. The only way we'll have time is if she trades one activity for another.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. We'll be going to a brunch after church and then DH says he will take the kids out somewhere while I stay home and relax, if that's what I want, that is. I'm not sure. I would love to have time to play with my scrapbooking supplies, but I rather enjoy going out and doing something fun with the kids. I guess it's a good thing that I do enjoy being with the kids, since I have to spend so much time at all of their activities, huh? :) I'll have more time when their activities slow down for the summer anyway.

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and my DH's Mom! We love you! Oh, and this is a photo I took earlier in the week so I could show off DS#3's haircut. Isn't he handsome? ;)