Halloween 2009

For us Halloween being on a weekend means that we have soccer like every other weekend. We started out today with two soccer games, both at 8:30AM. It was in the 40s, clear and COLD! I was asking the other parents, "Now why am I doing this again?" It's because the kids love it, of course! DD and DS#2 both lost their games, unfortunately. They both said they enjoyed playing and that's what matters.

This is the only photo I took of DS#1 today. He also had a soccer game today at 2PM. I stayed home because DS#3 badly needed a nap or he wouldn't make it through to the Halloween festivities so I didn't get to see that game. They were playing the team who is ranked second in their division and they lost as expected.

As you can see from the picture, DS#1 is wearing his "costume". He told me this week that he was going to be a "ninja". When I asked him what he was going to wear, he replied, "Ninjas don't let anyone know that they are Ninjas." :) He did, however, invite four school friends over to hang out and watch movies. They decided on our house because they determined that we have the biggest TV. DH and I loved that at least we would know where he was and what he was up to. They did wander around the neighborhood for a bit before coming home and watching a movie and eating pizza. A couple of other neighborhood friends from middle school came over also. They were surprisingly quiet and the our other kids surprisingly left them alone.

In the previous picture, DH put DS#3's conductor hat on to try to entice him to put his hat on, as you can see, it worked--at least for a few minutes. He at least finally agreed to wear the overalls. We had to tell him that if he wore the conductor overalls, he could go outside and get candy. That worked like a charm. We also turned the house upside down to find his Thomas the Tank Engine pail. I was just happy I got a picture of him in the whole ensemble.

The first thing we did was get DS#3 a chocolate tootsie pop. He didn't end up really eating any dinner, unfortunately, but DH and I have decided to choose our battles. Our cul-de-sac has a Halloween party every year located outside at the entrance of our cul-de-sac. We've been fairly lucky with the weather in the last eight Halloweens and it's the one day of the year that most of our neighbors meet and get to know each other. There is always kid-friendly food (hotdogs or burgers) as well as something like chili for the adults.

We didn't start trick-or-treating until around 6:30. DH stayed behind to keep an eye on DS#1 and his friends. I took the other three with friends and their two boys. DS#3 rode in a stroller most of the time, only getting up to go to the doors. This was easier for me because then we could actually keep up with the bigger kids. At first, DD or DS#2 held DS#3 by the hand to help him get to each door. After a few stops, DS#3 was practically jumping out of the stroller! He even started saying, "Trick or treat"!

We were out for almost two hours and we probably walked for around a mile. DD started complaining about her feet hurting. DS#2 even said that he didn't need to go to every house because he was going to get "plenty of candy". When we got back home and I let the kids eat some of their loot, DD also said excitedly, "The people of our neighborhood spoiled us!" So, that ended another fun Halloween!

Halloween Preview

After another exhausting day at work, I came home to frozen pizza baking in the oven. I only had about 45-60 minutes before we headed to DD's soccer game. She played goalie for the second half. She played a little more aggressively today, although her team lost once again. They have been playing only boys' teams and older girls' teams since there are no other U8 (under 8 years old) girls' teams at their soccer club. They've lost pretty much every game but at least DH and I can see some improvement in how they're playing.

After the game, we rushed home so we could go to a Halloween party given some friends (who are the parents of DD's and DS#2's good friends). DH really wanted to dress up in costumes for Halloween this year, especially since we were going to be going to a party. We only ordered our costumes last Sunday and they got here yesterday. He had trouble finding costumes that were small enough (lots of large adult costumes out there) and I was having trouble finding costumes big enough (since most adult women's costumes seem to be low-cut or short). I picked short since I figured I could always wear tights/leggings. As you can see, we both decided on a pirate theme.

None of our three boys had gone to the soccer game. DS#1 stayed home with DS#3 during the soccer game and the party. DS#1 didn't feel like going to either function. We didn't want to take DS#3 out in the wind and mid-60s temperatures and the costume party would have been too overwhelming with all of those strangers, especially near his bedtime when he is most sensitive. Since the game started at 6PM and that's the time the Halloween party started, we arranged for DS#2 to walk to our friends' house at 6PM. He was anxious to start playing with his friends plus there was supposed to be a scavenger hunt for the kids starting early and he didn't want to miss it. DH, DD, and I didn't get there until almost 8PM.

Our friends' decided to wait for DD to arrive before starting the scavenger hunt, wasn't that incredible of them? They gave out little ribbons and prizes for best overall costume, cutest costume, funniest costume, and scariest costume. For some reason, DD got the "funniest costume" prize for her doctor costume. I think it was just because her good friend shouted out her name when they were "voting". I thought DD had the funny expression ON HER FACE when they were having the kids all stand up and walk across the room to show off their costumes. She looked like she was both embarrassed and showing off at the same time, if that makes any sense.

We left after only about an hour of being there. DD and DS#3 both have 8:30am soccer games that DH and I are not looking forward to getting up for in the morning. It might be in the 40s during those games. I know that's not "cold" for some of you who play soccer in the snow, but it's cold enough for us! It should warm up a little, but it'll still be good trick-or-treating weather. I hope to post some pictures of the other two kids tomorrow.

Now, For A Little Something Different

What do these two things have in common? Nothing at all, except that I didn't want to take two pictures so I put them in one picture for my picture of the day. I'm trying to balance some of the subject matter for my Photo of the Day pictures. I take a lot of photos of DS#3 since he is still changing so quickly and is usually so agreeable with photographs, but I need to also document my other children. The deodorant is DS#2's. In the last couple of weeks, he has started using deodorant. For a few months at least, I could smell his body odor at night when he gives me a hug before I sing bedtime songs to him. I think I'm the only one that can smell it, but DH was not surprised. DS#2 has always seemed to have more body odor than the other kids. I can smell this odor even after he has just taken a bath which meant one of two things, either he doesn't clean himself like he should during his showers or it was time for deodorant. It's probably a combo of both but he really does smell so much better since he started using deodorant.

The other item in the photo is my newest gadget. I love gadgets, especially scrapbooking gadgets. This one is called the "Gypsy" and it's basically a portable container for some of the cartridges I use for my Cricut electronic die-cutter. With it I'm able to see what the machine will cut before I cut it plus I can manipulate the images to some extent. I bought this one on Monday but I only got to play with it yesterday. As I discussed with DH, I didn't really "need" it, but I'm happy now that I decided to buy it. :)

This is DS#2 working on a project that he has known about for a month but that he only started working on this weekend. He has to make a ten-panel comic strip about a book that he read. I was amazed at the fact that his teacher won't allow stick figures. DS#2 has many talents, but art and drawing is not one of them. He does okay, but nothing compared to DS#1 (remember THIS?). In any case, I took a picture of him because, despite having tables and desks to sit at, he chooses to do homework on the floor. Sometimes he does homework while sitting on his bed, too. This time he also used his sister's pink lap desk that I bought on sale at Michael's earlier this year. He has a blue one but I'm sure he doesn't know where it is.

Of course, we still take plenty of pictures of DS#3, which I could have easily used as my photos of the day. DH posted a couple of those on his blog so at least they're posted somewhere.

Winning Points

When I got home from work and picking up DS#1 today, DH was busy in the kitchen making "Easy Lasagna Roll-ups", a recipe from our local grocery store "magazine". It's basically a mixture of ricotta cheese and jarred pesto sauce rolled up in lasagna noodles and baked in sauce and mozzarella cheese. He did a fantastic job and I was so happy I didn't have to worry about dinner!


Thanks to my wonderful husband, I'm also able to upload this video that I took this evening. I've been promising DD that I would take her to Hobby Lobby so she could buy some stickers. I took her tonight because we actually don't have activities scheduled on Mondays plus stickers are on sale for half off. Of course DS#3 wanted to go too. He immediately found these car stickers and he was so excited that he was doing his happy dance. Later he found some Thomas the Tank Engine stickers too. :) DD bought $6 worth of stickers that she paid for all by herself. She was short on the tax (about $0.35 which went ahead and gave her) but she enjoyed buying her own stuff.

DH also did a ton of laundry today amidst power fluctuations at home which may or may not have been related to the steady rainfall we had today. I think he's a keeper, don't you? ;)

Weekend Recap in Pictures

How much sleep do you think this little girl got the night before her cousin's birthday party? The birthday girl didn't stay the night but DD spent a lot of time talking to her other cousin. My mom said that they were still talking at 11PM and they got up before 7AM!

As soon we got to the party DS#3 ran up to my sister and gave her a hug (so cute!), without any prompting from anyone. He then sat in one of the stools next to his cousin A. Then, I think he noticed all of the new faces and started clinging to me. There were chairs for other people like parents to sit at, but DS#3 not only refused to participate in the party with the other kids, but he refused to sit in the chairs. Instead he preferred to sit on the window sill. I figured it was because the sill was just the right size for him to negotiate on his own. He did much better at this cooking party than his sister's cooking party, however. He played with his trains, drank lemonade, and stayed close to me and DS#2.

As you can see, DD started to "wake up" later during the party. I didn't realize until I uploaded this to the computer that she is putting that plastic knife right where her missing teeth are. She was licking the knife after icing her cupcake, something I warned her was dangerous to do. The recipe they made was a "wreath" made out of crescent rolls (for wrapping around the filling), and then a mixture of chicken, yellow bell pepper, broccoli, condensed cream of chicken soup, and cheese for the filling. DD refused to eat it because of the broccoli, so I ate it and found it very tasty.

After the party we went to my sister M's house and opened the gifts. The girls played for a bit before we went to church. Instead of spending the night there, the birthday girl E decided to spend the night at her cousin A's house. There are the girls right before bedtime. They kept chatting until probably around 10PM so my sister M separated them and DD ended up sleeping on the floor of the room DS#2 slept in.

I took this photo this morning. DS#3 looked so funny with the huge Guitar Hero guitar around his neck. He was also singing some song that I didn't recognize. DD is ever the "ham" here with her posing. Both of them looked pretty cute playing together.

We probably left for home around 9:30AM and we had an uneventful trip for the most part. DS#2 was such a big help with all the preparations to leave. He made sure his luggage and his sister's luggage were packed and brought downstairs. He took it upon himself to fill the cooler with drinks and he packed the extra snacks that my mom offered. I was so proud of him!

We were home for a short period of time before we headed to DS#1's soccer game. This game was a pretty physical one. The referee didn't control the game as he should have and a fight broke out during the last few minutes of the game. Unfortunately, my son's team lost 2-0 but they played well against a team that apparently usually scores many more goals during each game. We went out to a local burger joint with some of the team and then came home to get ready for tomorrow. It was a fun trip, but it's great to be home!

Poopy Saga

This is DS#3 enjoying "arroz caldo" or rice soup courtesy of his Lola. He has been sitting at the table for about an hour now feeding himself the broth from the soup. He has a napkin tucked into his shirt because he gets quite messy. You see his tongue licking off every last drop of broth from his lips. I took a few pictures of him and he barely noticed that I was there. I love just watching him. :)

Okay, I was about to post about how DH met me at the parking lot of DS#1's high school, and how we ended up taking a side trip to pick up my niece so that my sister would not have to drop her off at my other sister's house where my parents where going to watch her. Instead I ended up having a Poopy Saga. DS#3 finally said he was done eating right after I wrote the above post. I was just over there taking pictures of him but when my mom went to clean him up, she found that almost his entire back was wet with poop. Ugh!

I say "Poopy Saga" because several frustrating things happened:

--His poop, although wet was already dry on part of his back, so I had to practically scrape it off.

--I couldn't lay him down on his back so I had to clean him up standing up.

--Since some of the poop was dry it flaked off onto the bathroom floor. Luckily my mom gave him a bath so I could clean the floor.

--I had to go looking for Lysol so I tried the master bedroom except for that the door was locked because a certain three little girls were in the master closet trying on Taekwondo sparring equipment and they couldn't hear me pounding on the door. I finally found some Lysol under the kitchen sink.

--My sister recently got a new front-loading washing machine, and when I tried to figure out how to use it, I couldn't figure out how to add soap. Luckily again my mom offered to hand wash it. Thanks, Mom!

Soon after this saga I took my shower because I knew I would have to lie down with DS#3 to get him to sleep. It was almost 10pm before we did that. I thought I was going to get up again to finish this post or to make sure DS#2 went to bed (DD was already in bed). I didn't wake up until a little after 6am when DS#3 woke up screaming--but that's another story.

Going Away

I'm so used to posting every day that it was weird not posting last night, but I was way too tired last night. I need more sleep than I usually get so I'm worn out by Thursday. We didn't even have soccer practice last night. I didn't even take any pictures yesterday!

It was raining most of last night and yesterday morning, so I knew that I would not be parking in the usual parking lot at work because of what happened the last time. The rain did stop around lunchtime and then the sun came out. The weather was absolutely beautiful with the temperatures in the mid 70s with a cool breeze.

When I picked up DS#1, he still hoped that soccer wasn't cancelled but really the fields were still too wet. Because all of the kids were home, DH and I took the opportunity to go out to eat by ourselves. We went to a nearby Italian restaurant that we haven't been to yet and that a co-worker recommended. He had the Veal Parmagiana and I had some sort of mixed seafood dish with liguine and "spicy" marinara. That's how the menu described the sauce but in reality it wasn't spicy at all. We enjoyed ourselves and we will definitely go there again.

Because soccer was cancelled, the kids had time to pack. I'm taking the three youngest kids with me to Houston this weekend. My dear niece E is having her birthday party. Only DS#1 has soccer games this weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday so he will stay at home with DH. The other kids are taking the opportunity of this soccer-free weekend to visit our family. I can tell that my mom is already chomping at the bit to see DS#3. We may stay at one of three different houses (my parents' and my sisters' houses) this weekend but she doesn't care which one as long as DS#3 is there. I hope he behaves for her!

I told DS#1 that I would miss him (and DH too *WINK*). I saw him last night and we said "goodbye" to each other and I won't see him again until Sunday. I am going to be such a wreck when he goes off to college!

You Gotta Wear Shades

DS#2 and DD had Red Ribbon Week at their school this week. It's basically a "Say No to Drugs" type of program. The thought behind the sunglasses is that "Your future is so bright--gotta wear shades". DS#2 and DD just loved wearing their sunglasses to school!

DH was kind enough to take a picture of them this afternoon. I had to work late tonight and it was dark and rainy when I got home after 7PM. Poor DS#1 was stuck at school until I was able to pick him up around 6:45PM. Things were very busy at work and then when I was first ready to leave, we had an emergency and I couldn't leave just then. DS#1 spent the time in Mr. V's Survey of Design classroom where they use computers and computer programs that most people can't afford. After that he chatted with a few friends and then he got hungry and headed off to Wendy's for a light "dinner". DH had gone to Schlotsky's after DD and DS#2's Faith Formation classes (i.e., church school or CCD) and DS#1 was looking forward to eating again when we got home.

DH had left the house for DS#2's guitar lesson soon after DS#2 and DD had gotten home from school at 3PM and he got home some time after 6PM from the Faith Formation classes which are at 4:30-5:30PM. He also ran some errands during the day. Some time in there, he found the time to get this flower arrangement. He had it in a vase all ready and everything by the time I got home. This and the scrappy package from my friend J made my day so much brighter! :)

Grands!® Taco Melts

I know I have to work on my food photography (as well as other kinds of photography) but DH and I tried this new recipe tonight. It's really easy and the kids actually ate it! I had to post this because maybe we'll actually find some new recipes to enjoy and DH and I will actually cook instead of take out/eat out! This is from the Pillsbury website. I didn't use the taco seasoning because I have the simplified way to make taco meat using chili powder and salsa plus the mix is usually a little salty. I even got out a couple of Pampered Chef products that I haven't used since I got them a few years ago.



INGREDIENTS
1 package (1 oz) Old El Paso® taco seasoning mix
2/3 cup water
1 1/2 cups Old El Paso® Thick 'n Chunky salsa
1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef, cooked, drained
1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® refrigerated biscuits (any variety)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese or Mexican cheese blend (4 oz)
1 cup sour cream, if desired


DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375°F.
2. In medium saucepan, cook taco seasoning mix, water, 1/2 cup of the salsa and cooked ground beef until thickened.
3. Press each biscuit into 6-inch round. Fill each with taco mixture and 1 tablespoon cheese. Fold dough over filling and press to seal. Place on greased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 9 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with remaining salsa, cheese and sour cream.

Tomorrow is another busy soccer practice day except that DS#1 has to go to his school to choose electives for next year already, so he will probably miss practice. I hope to have more exciting pictures to show tomorrow. :)

Another Loss

As I mentioned last night, DS#1 met some friends at Laser Quest last night. He was the one who organized the "event" but he didn't plan on the fact that Laser Quest is pretty busy on Saturday night. They all got to play, but they had to play at a later time so they didn't finish until after 10PM. A friend of his stayed over with us last night since he leaves across town. This friend, A.O., has spent the night over many times before and DS#3 really enjoys him. A.O. really enjoys him too and it's cool to see a 14-year-old boy enjoy a 2-year-old like that. This morning I told DS#3 that A.O. was here and he rushed downstairs and gave him a hug. So cute!

This is a picture of DS#1 reading to DS#3. I love seeing my kids interacting like this--so sweet! DS#1 and his friend got to watch DS#3 and DD this afternoon when we went to DS#2's soccer game. The weather was beautiful today. It was about the same temperature as yesterday (mid 70s) but there was more of a breeze during the soccer game, making it a much more pleasant experience than usual.

This is a picture of DS#2 in his blue "away" uniform. I'm a little biased, but I really think he's a cutie. DH is the team manager, so he talks to the coach a lot. The coach seems to think that DS#2 is his best player and it's nice to hear that after last year when it seemed like DS#2 was always getting less play time and less respect as most of the other players on the team.

The game today was pretty rough. DH knew the referee from previous encounters and thinks he's a good referee, but he "lets the kids play". Apparently this means that he'll let the kids foul each other as long as it's not unsafe play (where someone might get hurt) or as long as it doesn't affect the outcome of the game. As you can see from this picture, this one kid is almost mauling my son. Luckily, DS#2 is pretty big and tough and handled it pretty well. Another time another kid jumped up and almost hit DS#2 "where it hurts" and we were pretty happy that the referee called a foul on him plus also gave him a talk on the field about unsafe play.

Unfortunately, DS#2's team lost 3-0 with one of those goals being an "own goal" meaning that one of DS#2's teammates inadvertently scored in the wrong goal. The other team was just more aggressive. They went to wherever the ball was and generally handled the ball better than DS#2's team. The good news is that they won by a smaller margin than their last meeting just 15 days ago. Even their coach made a comment about how much better DS#2's team played than their last game. Sadly, this was another loss. I hope things turn around. It's getting a little discouraging with loss after loss. DD's team keeps losing too. It would be a nice morale booster if both of their teams would win just one game!

Oh The Drama

No, the drama wasn't even from DD, or at least not most of it. This morning, DD couldn't find her white soccer socks. Because she was whining about it, DH and I both tried looking for it, but when we couldn't find the socks, she resigned herself to wearing her black soccer socks.

The drama mostly came from DS#3. DH left around 7:30AM with DS#2 for his warmup before his game so he wasn't there to help. I was hoping to leave by 8AM, but between looking for soccer socks and DS#3's drama, I was a little late. I had hoped that I could leave DS#3 with DS#1, but of course DS#3 just loves to go to the "socca feel" (soccer field). At first we couldn't find his "tennis shoes" as he calls his sneakers. I had bought him a new pair of sneakers (Cars sneakers that light up) but he has refused to wear those. When we finally found his older pair of Cars sneakers, we embarked on a search for trains.

I was trying to pack up his "choo choo ba pa" (Thomas the Train Engine backpack) with trains to play with. When I asked him which ones he wanted to bring, he said "James", but of course "James" was nowhere to be found. I had awakened DS#1 by this time for some help. I asked him to go ahead and put DS#3 into the car, but when I got out there, DS#3 was still crying. I pulled out of the garage then I asked him if he would rather stay home and play with his trains. He said "Yes" so I took him back inside to DS#1. Apparently after I had already left with DD, DS#3 grabbed two other trains (still no "James"). Then he said he wanted to go back to the car. Argh!

I've decided that I'm going to try to post more pictures on my blog, so here are a few. I didn't get any great action shots today, but here's a picture of DS#2 in his nice white uniform. Recently even though he may not have gotten much taller yet, he just seems longer to me. Maybe that's because he's thinning out a little, but I know for certain that his face is changing.

This is what happens when you get to close to someone with a big zoom lens on their camera. DD and I were watching DS#2's game and I was trying to get some pictures. She kept getting in front of me so I decided to get this extreme closeup of her missing top front teeth. She is still saying "phone" and giggling. :)

DD played goalie for a little while during her game, which followed DS#2's game. I took this picture of her kicking the ball during a goal kick. There's not much force behind that kick as opposed to when her older brothers kick you can see their whole body getting behind the kick. Her team lost pretty badly. Her poor coach was watching two teams at the same time (on different fields) plus she was having a hard time getting DD's team to play their positions.

We got a chance to eat lunch at home and then we headed off to DS#1's game. DH and I had to make sure the youngest three were entertained during the game because none of them seemed interested in watching the game. DS#2 played with DH's IPhone and he played with a soccer ball. DD, as you can see from this picture, mostly played on my IPhone. She is trying to stay in the shade of that chair so she can see the IPhone screen better. It was pretty bright and sunny, although the temps were "only" on the high 70s. All in all it was nice weather for the soccer games.

This evening, after church, DH took DS#1 to meet some friends at Lazer Quest. We felt that it was great that DS#1 was actually socializing instead of staying at home reading or playing video games. The youngest three stayed at home with me. Here is DS#3 finishing off 1 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He has been eating a lot lately. On Friday he ate a hotdog at home and then ate four Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets at the mall. After that he wanted his own ice cream. DH and I always hope that he'll grow big and strong like his big brothers. Hopefully it won't be with a lot of drama. :)

Two Front Teeth

I was reminiscing tonight about DS#2 when he was missing his two front teeth around Halloween three years ago and he was still able to bob for apples (see the layout HERE). DD lost her other upper front tooth this morning when DH pulled out her tooth. She has this cute little toothless grin except I don't think she would be as effective at bobbing for apples because her mouth isn't nearly as big as her big brother's. ;-) She was so funny this evening when she tried saying "phone" and it didn't sound right. Of course that just made her say "phone" over and over again followed by little giggles.

It's been a couple of days since I posted a photo of DS#3 so I've got to give the grandparents a little baby fix. For more photos of DS#3 from the zoo today, check DH's blog. Here DD is playing a game called "Sally Spa Lite" on my IPhone while DS#3 is playing "Wheels On The Bus". DD isn't much of a gamer. She barely plays with her Nintendo DS, but she seems to really enjoy playing on my IPhone. My dear sister recommended "Sally Spa" and DD is finally trying it out. Tonight she begged for the full version of the game. I managed to get a few kisses for that one. :)

DS#3's favorite games on the IPhone are "Wheels On The Bus" which is an interactive version of the song by the same name, and "iBlow!" which is an application where he blows virtual bubbles by blowing at the IPhone screen. I don't want to get my kids addicted to video games, but it's nice to provide them with distractions every so often.

Oh, by the way, my car worked fine today. No problems at all!

Car Troubles?

This afternoon after work I tried to start my car. The car would start and then turn off. One of my fears is having car trouble somewhere where no one will help me. Although there were other people in that parking lot, I didn't know any of them and they were all in a hurry to get home. I called DH, and he said he felt helpless on the other end of the phone line. Finally, I tried again and it started and stayed on. Then certain lights came on as you can see in the above picture but they stayed on and they weren't supposed to. I had to look through my manual, but I still didn't really know what the lights meant--something about traction control? Luckily, the car seemed to drive okay and I went to go pick up DS#1 from school.

My car key had come apart before I got to my car in the parking lot. This is a picture of the key after I got home. DH speculated that the car not starting had something to do with some ignition lock thingy related to the car alarm system, which was controlled by this key. Meanwhile, I was afraid to turn the car off, so I waited in the car for about 30 minutes (with the air conditioning on) until DS#1 came out. We stopped to get gas close to home. Just in case the car wouldn't start again, at least DH would be closer and he would be able to pick us up. The car started fine, but those lights were still on.

I got home a few minutes before DH. When he got home, he tried his key. The car started fine and the above mentioned lights did not turn on. He also tried my key again (temporarily put together) and the car started again without those lights turning on. Now we're a little puzzled, but a little relieved that we don't have to take the car into the dealership, at least not yet. I sure hope that my car starts tomorrow!

Dining Out Should Be A Treat

DH doesn't like to cook and I don't have the energy to cook by the time I get home from work, especially since I've been picking up DS#1 at school and not getting home until 4:30PM. Today DH didn't really have time to cook even if he did want to. After DD and DS#2 got home on the bus at 3PM, DH took them to DS#2's guitar lessons. When that was over, he took them to their Faith Formation classes (also called church school or CCD) and we picked them up at 5:30PM. We decided to go out and eat for dinner tonight. DH always likes to joke about how that's the way he "cooks".

When we got to the restaurant, there was a fire truck outside. Some people waiting outside informed us that they were out there because the power was out. Apparently the power was out all over The Rim shopping area. We only found out just a few minutes ago that a transformer blew and that the power is still out. Thank goodness we decided not to wait there and instead we decided to go to Chili's instead.

We had a nice dinner there but of course we were a bit rushed getting the kids to bed when we finally got home. It was already 7:30PM, which is DD and DS#2's bedtime. DD hadn't practiced her piano today yet and her lesson is tomorrow, so we had to do that. We also had to bathe the youngest two. Rush, rush, rush! I have a coworker that has grown kids and she tells me that I'll miss all the rushing around when the kids are grown. I know I'll miss the kids, but I'm not sure I'll miss the rushing around!

Scraggly Smile, Reading Dora, and Middle Schools

DD lost her top front right tooth today. The top front left tooth is very loose and might come out in the next day or so also. Because it's loose, her smile is very irregular and it looks like there's another tooth missing on top. She also has a bottom tooth that she lost a few weeks ago and that is now growing in. DH had to exchange another dollar coin for a dollar with one of the boys. It's a good think they haven't spent any of those dollar coins or DD would be getting just plain old paper dollar bills!

This is the sight that greeted me when I got home today. DD was doing her daily reading and so was DS#3. No, he can't actually read yet, but he was talking while looking at the book just like he was reading. He was talking about how Map was telling Dora to go over the "bidge" (bridge), then the "lake", and then she would be a "Play Pock" (Play Park). His speech is getting clearer and clearer, and he can talk quite a bit sometimes, although never as much as DD. ;)

Tonight we went to the middle school that our area feeds into to hear their presentations about available electives. It's the middle school that DS#1 went to last year and it's the middle school that DS#2 insists he will go to next year. We're trying to get him to be open to going to one of the magnet middle schools that seems to be right up his alley as far as being geared toward engineering/science/math, but he really wants to be with his friends who are all going to THIS middle school. DH and I can't believe that the school already wants the fifth graders to pick out their classes but DS#2's choices are due next week.

Muffins and More Muffins

Not too much has been happening in the last two days, but I thought I would update the grandparents. We were supposed to have a nice weekend, sunny to partly sunny with the highs in the mid-70s. Instead we got cloudy and rainy, even though the temps were as promised. That meant that DD's soccer game yesterday, that had been rescheduled from Friday (because of rain) was cancelled again. I took some time to go shopping by myself. While I was out, I met a mom and daughter who belonged to the same soccer club as the kids. They drove all the way to Austin for a game (1 1/2 hours away) before finding out that their game was cancelled, so I felt very lucky that all we had to do was check the club website to find out that our game was cancelled.

The good thing was that the kids played relatively well together. Here they are in DS#2's room. Just a few moments before this photo was taken, DS#1 was texting while playing Stratego with his brother. DD is being very silly here, but it was nice that she was watching her brothers play. She really does look up to them even though they just think she's bothersome and talkative. DS#2 is playing Stratego and Legos at the same time. Just a few moments AFTER this photo was taken, DS#1 tried to bend his legs up over his head so he can kick his sister while saying that he would have been able to do it if he was as flexible as DS#3. While he tried to do this bending, he let out a little toot, which of course sends DD into a fit of giggles. DS#2 tells him that he is "like a dog" for emitting those sounds while bending his leg. Sometimes video would have been better than still photos. ;)

Today DS#2 and DD were over at our house with a couple of friends apiece for most of the day. The misty weather cleared up, although it remained cloudy, so they all played outside for a little while too. I had a couple of muffin recipes that I've been wanting to try, so I took the opportunity to make them. The kids should have lots of muffins to choose from for breakfast tomorrow. :)

Muddy Mess

Because of the rain yesterday, I knew soccer was going to be messy today. We had almost back-to-back games today. DS#2's game was at 11:30AM, DD's game was at 12:30PM (on the same field), and DS#1's game was at noon (completely different field). DH is DS#2's team manager, so that meant that I took DS#1 to his game. DH will post about the other two games on his blog eventually. In any case, DS#1's game was a muddy mess! The field was all muddy and at first I was going to stay in the car with DS#3 since I had a decent view of the whole field, but I wanted a better view and I wanted to be social. I carried DS#3 over the muddiest parts, but in the end both of our shoes were caked with mud.

See that ball that DS#3 is running after? It's supposed to be YELLOW. We all had so much mud on our shoes that I felt like I was standing on crooked ground even when I wasn't. I should have taken a picture of our muddy shoes, but I didn't.

DS#3 was pretty good for a while, but he was playing with his trains by running them across the ground, which meant that I was constantly trying to clean them off. He didn't seem to mind the mud at first, but when it got on his hands, he threw a fit. It was in the mid-50s and not too windy, so I didn't mind the temperature when I had my jacket on. DS#3, however, decided that he didn't want his jacket on and then wanted to get on my lap (with his muddy shoes on) so I could keep him warm. That's when I decided that at halftime we would go to the car and stay there to watch the game. In the car, DS#3 threw another fit when I took off his muddy shoes. I just wanted to watch the game so I cleaned off his shoes the best that I could and let him wear them. Unfortunately he kept getting the seat muddy, but I was easily able to wipe that off. The fields that DH was on today apparently drained better and the other two kids didn't get nearly as muddy.

I wanted to include a few other pictures in today's post. Since the kids all had soccer practice on Thursday, DS#1's birthday, we went out to eat last night after we found out that DD's game was cancelled due to the rain. DS#1 decided to have Tres Leches cake for dessert and as I was taking a picture, he decided he was going to take a picture of me taking a picture of him. I'm glad he is putting his new camera to good use. I had to laugh when he took a picture of his plate before and after he ate the cake. He also made a smiley face using the salsa and butter bowls and after dinner mints, and took a picture of that, too.

This is a hilarious picture of DS#3 at breakfast this morning. I guess he just wanted to show how flexible he was. He asked me to make "pan-cay-nks" this morning, so how could I refuse? Unfortunately he got tired of waiting and had a banana first. That meant that he didn't eat all of his pancake but he did eat some turkey bacon and from the looks of this picture, he was pretty happy about it. :)

This is another hilarious picture of DS#3 tonight. I took the younger kids to Baskin-Robbins while DH took DS#1 and a couple of his friends to see the new movie, "Zombieland". DS#3 had eaten almost all of his PB&J sandwich for dinner and he was eating almost all of his sister's Rainbow Sherbet. DD let him have the rest of it while I got her another one of her own. DS#3 had a lot of fun eating his own sherbet. He kept trying to spoon out the minute amount of melted remnant in that cup until I finally took it away from him and told him we were going home.

And the Rain Came Down

Actually, the rain only came down for a few hours, but with the recent rains, there was a bunch of debris and some water already in one of the creeks near the army base where I work. That meant that the nearby parking lot, that I was parked in was in danger of being submerged. It wasn't raining when I parked in the lot at about 5:45AM. I knew there was a chance that I would have to move the car, but that lot is the most convenient for me (closest to the hospital, the first stop on the bus route, straight shot to get back to the freeway so I can pick up DS#1 after work). So, when they made the overhead announcements some time after 8AM that the Archery Range parking lot was starting to flood and that everyone had to move their cars, I was both worried and amused.

We're not supposed to wear our scrubs outside of the hospital, but I decided that that was the best way to go because then I could change clothes when I got back from moving my car. I did also take off my socks and use my Crocs (that I wear at work) so I could more easily dry my feet and have dry shoes and socks later. When I got outside to where the buses where picking people up to go to the Archery Ranger parking lot, there was a long line of people. I waited for a bit with some other people until the line got a little smaller. It was raining after all, and although it was maybe high 70s to 80 degrees out, being wet made it feel cold. Luckily when I did get in line, a nice man with a big umbrella let me share his umbrella. Actually I just positioned myself underneath his umbrella while asking if he wouldn't mind sharing, but he was nice enough to hold it over me.

When we got to the parking lot, there wasn't any buildup of water, but the real danger, of course, was that the nearby creek was almost up to the bridge over it. I was a bit unsure because the recommended alternate parking lot that was announced overhead was one that I had never parked in before, so I didn't know exactly where it was. I went ahead and went to a different parking lot, one that I had parked in before. Luckily, there were lots of spaces there and there was a bus waiting to pick up passengers. Unfortunately, the bus was stopped right next to a huge puddle, so I got the most wet trying to get ON the bus. I had my own umbrella this time, since I had left it in my car.

When the bus went by the Archery Range parking lot, there were only a few cars left. I heard the chatter over the bus radio about how they were speculating that some of those people might be in surgery and unable to come get their cars. That's when I started wondering if any of our residents were parked in that lot since they were in the operating rooms and most likely could not hear the overhead announcements. Later, when I was back at work, they made more overhead announcements except they called specific names. Sure enough, they named one of our residents. He missed the rest of his case because it took some time to go there and come back (it probably took me about 45 minutes or so). The buses weren't ready and waiting for the "stragglers" as they had been during the earlier rush. He said that by then the bridge over the creek was covered and the water in the parking lot had risen to cover a bit of his wheels.

The trip home was another adventure. Since the route the buses usually take to the various parking lots goes over that bridge that was now under water, they had to go around to a different entrance. That meant that the trip took at least twice as long. On the way into that alternate entrance, there was a long line of cars waiting to get out. Someone had told me earlier that it sometimes takes half an hour just to leave by that gate. I was a little worried because I didn't know how to get out so I could pick up DS#1. I did have a route in mind, but it would have taken me way out of the way and then I would be late picking up DS#1. The bus driver told me of another route that seemed more straightforward. It turned out later that she told me the wrong way to turn out of that alternate gate. Luckily, since I don't have GPS on my car, I was able to use my IPhone's "Google Maps" feature to get back on track. I love my IPhone!

Everything turned out relatively well, but now we're expecting more rain for next week. I don't think I'll be parking in the Archery Range parking lot next week. Hopefully today was just a "dry" run for what I'll be doing next week. At least now I know which way to go!

Happy 14th To My Oldest Son!

Fourteen years ago, I became a mother for the first time. It was an exciting but scary time, and sometimes I'm still excited and scared at the same time. He's turned out to be an extraordinary young man that DH and I are very proud of him on a daily basis. As you can see from this picture, he was kind enough to share blowing out his candle with his baby brother. Actually, his baby brother blew out the candle all by himself before I even had a chance to get the camera out. This picture was Take Two.

I love this picture of DS#3 because he is looking at his biggest brother with the most adoring eyes! :) DS#1's birthday cake was a Godiva Chocolate Chocolate Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory and we gave DS#3 his own piece. He ate more cheesecake than hotdog, but we decided that was okay for today.

I included this picture just for Grandma. Yes, we got the present and he loves it! We were afraid that DS#3 would ask for his own presents to open again like he did for DD's birthday. Luckily, he was content to help open DS#1's presents and DS#1 was fine with sharing, of course. Some time soon, I'll have to post the contents of the birthday card that my dear sister sent with her gift. She talked about going to Hollister and Abercrombie to buy DS#1 his present--hilarious! :)

Later when DS#2 and DD were at soccer practice with DH, DS#3 got to watch several episodes of Dora and Diego. Ever since he was sick last week, he has been watching Dora and Diego, his old standbys, instead of Thomas. Tonight I guess this was his preferred TV watching position. He has been jumping from the sofa to this La-Z-Boy chair and back, which I dislike immensely since my heart always skips a beat when he does that. He always smiles when he does it, though. What a little stinker!

Random Things

This has been a weird week. I was on call Sunday and tonight which meant that I was at home on Monday and Tuesday AND Wednesday (during the day) and tomorrow too. As a result, I've gotten to spend lots of time with DH and DS#3. On Monday and Tuesday we exercised and then went shopping. Today I decided to skip the exercise and go to Target with DS#3. I asked him if he wanted to go shopping and he told me that he "like go shopping". I was so amazed that I had to laugh. :)

Some other random things from the last few days:
--I was shopping for lingerie and although DH was in the store, DS#3 ran through the store and away from DH so he could catch up to me so he could go with me into the fitting room. I was a little bummed that I couldn't be myself, but I was tickled that DS#3 wanted to be with me so much.

--I was on the sofa reading a magazine while DS#3 was watching Dora or Diego when he decides that he has to be right there next to me. DH has a picture on his blog but I'm at work so I can't get to any of the pictures. So, I awkwardly held the magazine with one hand while DS#3 was laying on the other arm.

--Speaking of Dora and Diego, DS#3 has been watching quite a bit of those two shows since last week when he first got sick. I've been letting him but mostly because he at least interacts with the shows and he looks so darned cute when he dances to the theme songs.

--Last Friday, DS#2 won a Blockbuster gift card so he kept bugging me until finally I took him there yesterday. He really wanted to buy a video game for the Playstation 3. He narrowed down his choices but at the same time saying that he wished that his big brother was there to help him decide. I kept telling him that he didn't have to spend all his money during that one trip. We could come back some other time. He decided on the $50 used game, but I told him that if he was going to spend that much then he should just get a new game. He finally decided on the $15 game but at first he said he was going to spend his own money so he could save the gift card. What? Does that even make sense? Finally, he spent the gift card and the game ended up being only $10. He had a lot of fun playing with that game after returning home.

--DS#1 is back to school this week after being out last week. He was at soccer practice yesterday and he ended up throwing up a little at the end of practice. DH and I have told him to drink plenty of fluids and to not overdo the activity since his body is still recovering. DS#1's coach was telling him the same thing but DS#1 told him that he really wanted to play. DS#1 said that his coach liked that he always gave it his all. DS#1's teachers have also apparently commented that they are amazed that he has already caught up on all the work that he missed last week.

--Speaking of bugging me, DD has been bugging me to take her to Payless Shoes ever since she heard that they were having a sale. Ever since she was a toddler, I guess she always heard me say that I wasn't going to buy something because it wasn't on sale, so she often asks me if something is on sale so she can ask me to buy it for her. Even with my "days off" the timing hasn't been right to take her to Payless. Either I'm still napping or she goes off to her piano lesson or Faith Formation class. I'm going to have to try to take her tomorrow.

Eat More Chichin

Before I go into today's story, I thought I'd show a picture of the office area I'm moving to. That area in the corner that is closed off with a door is going to be converted into three more cubbies, one of which will be mine. It's quite a bit smaller than the space I have now, but hopefully I'll get another bigger office again when the new building is finished in a couple of years.

Today it was supposed to rain, so DH, DS#3, and I went to the mall for lunch. DS#3 had already eaten most of a hotdog and two cheese sticks, so we didn't expect him to eat there, too. Well, when he saw "Chick-Fil-A", my little guy decided he wanted some "chichin" too. While we were eating, DH and I noticed that the Chick-Fil-A mascot, who is a cow, appeared from inside the store. At first DS#3 didn't see him because the action was happening behind his back. DH and I were afraid to mention the cow since DS#3 has been known to freak when seeing people dressed up as these characters.

When DS#3 did see the Cow, he sat and stared at him as if to check him out. Luckily, the Cow did not try to approach us but instead waved from afar. DS#3 seemed fine with that. Of course, I had to try to get a picture, so I got one with the Cow in the background. I figured that would tell the story of this stage in DS#3's life without sending him into a frenzy of tears and fearful crying.

As for the rest of our mall trip, I got to indulge in some retail therapy. I seem to be indulging in a lot of retail therapy lately. My favorite retail therapy today was sharing some Haagen-Dazs ice cream with DH. DH and I also played with DS#3, pretending to chase him and vice versa. I made a comment about how I wanted to remember how fun DS#3 can be at this age. DH said that it was all fun. I told him that I would remind him some time when DS#3 was cranky just how NOT fun that was. ;-)

More Bonding with DS#2

DS#2 has been bugging me almost daily about going to Spirit Halloween, a seasonal store that sells all things Halloween. Since I already got DD and DS#3 their Halloween costumes, he was anxious to get his.

These pictures are of him trying on all sorts of masks. He had already picked his costume, which I will take a picture of on the first chance that I get. Now he was just having fun freaking out his Mama with the most hideous looking masks. I was freaking out because of how icky they looked but also because he was putting them all over his head--who knows who wore those masks before him! Thank goodness he didn't pick the hideous ghoul costume that looked like he was covered in this mossy looking stuff. He really wanted the Freddie from Nightmare on Elm Street hand with the knives sticking out from it, so he picked a generic black hooded figure for the costume. I couldn't believe that cost me almost $50 with tax!

He was SO excited about the costume, though, so it was worth it to me. He and I also got to chat a bit also as he was trying to decide which costume and as he was trying on masks. He was also very appreciative again. I like how he seems to be taking to heart the last talk that DH and I had with him about how lucky he is and how he needs to start appreciating it.

DH did some bonding with DS#2 later when they went to the neighborhood movie night. One of our neighborhood families (whose kids are good friends with ours) was organizing this event to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society since he is a survivor of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. We like to support them because they are such great people and because we are thankful that he is in remission.

They had a raffle at the movie night and DS#2 won! He got this little gift carrier with a $20 gift card to Blockbuster, two sodas, Skittles, Sno-Caps, and popcorn. He was telling me all about his plans to eat the candy and drink the Sprite tomorrow. He also plans to use the Diet Coke for another Mentos experiment. He had a lot of fun at this function and he really deserves it since he is the only well person in a family full of sickies!

The other kids stayed home since they were sick. DD and DS#3 are still having fevers. Hopefully tomorrow DH won't have to load up on ibuprofen to make it through the day. DS#1 hasn't been eating well at all but then he ate a little something this afternoon and that ended up coming up. That poor boy really has gotten the worst of this flu.

And Then There Was One

DS#1 had a fever again this morning, so DH had to take him to the doctor since three absences requires a doctor's note in our school district. DD was there too because her fever was over 100 this morning. She still doesn't really "look sick", but she stayed home from school. Our pediatrician, Dr. M told DH that they had the "flu" as we had expected and that those with the "flu" in our area overwhelming have the H1N1 variety. He didn't test for which kind of flu, however, because he said the tests weren't that reliable and the treatment is only supportive in both cases. Either way, he said that the earliest that both kids could go back to school would be Monday.

He also joked about the "sledgehammer test" which was that if the child looked like they'd been "hit" with a sledgehammer then they had the flu. He also said that this flu has been hitting teenagers the hardest. He said that they're growing so fast and they usually don't get enough sleep, so they're susceptible. DH and I had to admit that DS#1 has definitely been hit the hardest while DD barely looks sick. DS#3 is up and down in his mood as well as his fever but generally not doing too badly.

I went back to work this morning. I felt very alert when my alarm rang despite not getting much sleep last night. I thought that feeling might pass as the day wore on, but it didn't. Then I wondered if I had been able to store sleep since I've been sleeping so much in the last couple of days. Either way, I still have a cough but I haven't had to take any medications today.

DS#2 has still been untouched by this illness. In fact, he was playing with me this afternoon. Every time I would get near him he would run away and say, "Oh no! It's the Mama!" He is definitely feeling like himself. :)