My Mall Penguins

Doesn't this sight just make you smile? We were at the mall and Eric would alternate holding my hand and holding Natalie's hand. I never get tired of seeing my kids get along. I don't know why but sometimes I just want to go to the mall. I had a couple of stores I wanted to go to, but my main reason was to get out of the house. Going to the mall brings back good memories from when I used to go there with Alex and Natalie when Patrick and Anthony were at karate.

First we had lunch. The kids had Chick-Fil-A. and I had Chinese food. They both ate their kids' meals quickly despite Natalie complaining that she wished they still had McDonald's there. Eric even ate some of my rice. Eric associates going to the mall with getting "chichen and ice keem" (chicken and ice cream). So, after some shopping we went to Haagen-Dazs. Natalie wanted "just chocolate". Eric asked for "chokit" too but he is used to Patrick getting a combination of their Belgian Chocolate Chocolate and Coffee Ice Cream and then sharing it with him, so I asked him if he would share with me and he nodded his head. Then he asked, "Are you getting coffee, too?" He is such a creature of habit. Of course he had to have his own spoon.

I took this picture mainly so y'all could see our bags. I got the kids these animal pillows they were selling at one of the small kiosks. Eric immediately wanted the penguin one. Natalie liked the penguin one the best too, but I told her I wasn't going to get two of the same type, so she chose the monkey. They were both so excited about them that they willingly carried the bags through the mall. They were too cute holding them in their laps when we were at Gymboree.

They willingly posed with their new pillows once we were at home. These sweet smiles show that this purchase was worth every penny.

Simple Sunday

I've been staying up late to do some scrapbooking so I crashed and burned on Thursday and Friday. I didn't even have enough energy to post on this blog! Luckily I was able to get some great sleep the last couple of nights. This is the sight that I saw when I came downstairs this morning. Natalie had turned on the TV "for Eric". She lost her privileges on Thursday because of a lack of effort in her school work, so she wasn't supposed to be watching TV. Of course she turned on one of her favorite shows, "Wonder Pets".

Eric can be quite the acrobat. He routinely likes to jump from the sofa to the La-Z-Boy chair and then back again. This isn't the greatest picture, but I thought I would post it to document him in a full body jump. Also notice Natalie holding onto his foot to try to hold him on the sofa. I quietly pointed out to her that this would not prevent him from jumping, but it might prevent him from getting to the chair but it would also cause him to fall short and hurt himself.

Now, you might think that this is just a bunch of junk in the entryway. Actually, this is all the stuff that Alex brought to the house across the street when he was invited there for a sleepover birthday party last night. Patrick had to go get him so he could help him carry this stuff back home. In that pile there is a pillow and sleeping bag, his jacket, and party favors (the bag and the balloon toy). Those aren't too unusual. There are also swords (foam), his big Nerf gun, and two Wii controllers. He was planning to have lots of fun! He must have had fun because he could barely stay awake today. He did take a short nap and then went to bed by 7PM.

Because Alex had the sleepover, we didn't get to go to church until the 11AM mass. After that we headed to The Cheesecake Factory. The Cowboys were playing the Vikings starting at noon, so the game was already underway by the time we got there. Anthony and Patrick kept looking over this high wall to see the TV in the bar area next to us, so Eric wanted to look too. Even when he stood up, he still couldn't see over the high wall, so Patrick indulged him and lifted him up.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Patrick was watching football while playing games and surfing the Net on the computer. Anthony was doing the same thing plus texting when he wasn't playing with Eric outside. Natalie was playing in the backyard. When Alex got up from his nap, he asked to play on the PS3, so Patrick accommodated him by moving upstairs. He called this his "Man Cave" because he had rearranged the chair and ottoman to face the TV. He sheepishly admitted that he even brought a snack up there.

When the younger kids went to bed, Patrick, Anthony, and I started watching some of our DVR'd shows from the past week. It was just another simple Sunday in our household. :)

Flaming Hot Cheetos

My kids all love Flaming Hot Cheetos, even Eric. Here he is having his dessert after not really eating lunch but then eating almost two hotdogs for dinner. He didn't like the way it stained his hands. After he had finished all of the Cheetos on his plate, he tried desperately to wipe off his hands so he could pick up his milk cup, but when he couldn't, he was unhappy. Luckily I convinced him to let me wash his hands completely before drinking his milk.

Then I thought that I should get a picture of Natalie too. Alex wouldn't have stayed still for a photo. He gobbled up his Flaming Hot Cheetos pretty quickly anyway, and then left the table. You may not be able to tell, but Natalie is holding that Cheeto in her mouth and holding it there until I took the picture. She's such a poser!

Speaking of Natalie, she has been in trouble a lot recently. Yesterday, she snuck some M&Ms for a snack without asking and got grounded. Today she presented her Reading Log to Patrick. This is something he asked about at the beginning of the quarter but that she denied all knowledge of. Well, now it's due tomorrow and she hasn't been writing down any of her times. Ugh! She's grounded again. Patrick didn't feel right writing down times that may or may not be accurate. We know she is reading but we didn't keep track of how long she's been reading. After all, that's what the reading log is for--to keep track. So, he wrote a letter to her teacher explaining the situation. Hopefully she'll still get a decent grade but if she doesn't, we hope she learns a lesson from this.

Now, on to happier themes. Before we found out about the Reading Log, we gave Natalie and Eric their baths. After their baths, they were running around the bathroom. Eric had put on Natalie's headband with bling on it. He got mad at her when she tried to take it off. Patrick doesn't like girly items on his son but he was busy taking down the Christmas Tree with Anthony. I settled them down to watch "Go, Diego, Go" so I could go take a shower. Don't they look happy? Doesn't Eric look quirky in that headband? I have to admit that although he looks adorable, I don't like that "look" for him either. Luckily, he took it off on his own. If he hadn't, then it would be Patrick's turn to throw a fit. ;-)

Putting the Ornaments Away

I haven't taken any pictures since last weekend. Since Patrick put away all the Christmas ornaments today, I thought I would take a picture of the three large boxes that house the ornaments. I figured I would put Eric in there to compare sizes. He's "playing music" with Anthony and he's doing this sort of "gallop dance" that was stinkin' cute to watch. I also took a video. That's a noisemaker in his hand so Alex was getting a little annoyed because this interfered with his watching American Idol tonight.

I took this picture last Friday when we went to Fuddrucker's for dinner. I got off of work a lot earlier than I had anticipated (I was on late/backup call) so we got to go together as a family. This picture has nothing to do with ornaments but I liked it because it shows the size discrepancies between the kids. Also, they don't really play with Guitar Hero at home anymore but there at Fuddrucker's they had to play Guitar Hero. Go figure.

I finished this page tonight and I had to post it right away. This is from a sketch and color assignment from the online class I'm currently taking. The class is called "Design Your Life" and it's being given by Cathy Zielske. She provided the topic--we were supposed to compare and contrast two things and I chose to compare myself to my Mom. She might not agree with some of these things but Patrick did help me come up with the lists.

Alike:
--love to bake (and cook)
--more productive at night
--passive-aggressive
--loves to feed people
--similar facial features

Different:
--Mom has never used haircolor.
--Mom has more shopping stamina.
--Obsessive-compulsive in different ways
--I'm more technology-oriented.
--Mom has grandkids to play with and I hopefully won't for a very long time.

At the bottom I added some additional journaling:
I see a lot of Mom in me, good or bad. She's done such a great job raising my sisters and me, though, that I would love to follow in her footsteps. Love you, Mom!

The black and white photo was taken on January 1, 1968 and the color photo was taken on May 13, 2007. I think it's time I get another photo with you, Mom. :)

Lessons Learned

This title would probably be appropriate for many of my posts, but I think it's especially appropriate for today's post. I'm short on time so I'll put this in list form.

1. I should always have a blanket in the back of my car.

I didn't check my calendar and I only found out at around 10AM when Patrick called me that Anthony had a JV soccer game today at 4:30PM. I wasn't dressed for being outside for an extended period of time so luckily it was in the 50s by the time I got off work to go to his game. It cooled off to the high 40s/ low 50s by the end of the game, though, and I wasn't frozen but I could have used a blanket.

2. I shouldn't wait until the last moment to get my contract requirements done.

This is an ongoing problem with me, but I have to go take Basic Life Support tomorrow because my certification expires at the end of the month. I still have a couple of weeks to go, but it's stressful especially when they changed the rules on me and I can't take the class at work anymore. I have to go somewhere else.

3. Remember the basics and be more aggressive.

Basically, Anthony learned this at the soccer game today. He only played in the last four to five minutes of the game but he learned through his teammates errors that they should remember to pass the ball and not hold onto it too long. They learned that they need to get after the ball and not just wait for it to come to them. All of these things and more are key in soccer and many other sports as well as life in general.

4. You shouldn't wait until the day before an exam to study for the exam.

Anthony has always been a good student. Frankly, school is very easy for him, despite his "Pre-advanced placement" classes. He has an Art History exam to take tomorrow and when the study guide wasn't available online like it was supposed to be (when he looked for it this weekend) he didn't email or try to contact the teacher. Instead, he waited until today to get the handout and he left other handouts with important information in them at school. Tonight we didn't get home from soccer until almost 7PM. He ate dinner and started studying. He is just now taking a shower and going to bed--it's almost midnight. He is very unhappy with himself for waiting and not studying. Patrick told me that Anthony is "stressing out" about this exam. Although he has artistic talent (when it comes to drawing), he doesn't know that much about Art itself. This is actually something that isn't easy for him. It's a new experience but we hope that he learns from this. At least he's learning the lesson now.

Dry Skin

Last year I was doing a photo a day project and I have to admit that sometimes I miss it (although I don't miss the time involved). Today my photo of the day would have been of the various skin lotions that we use. This is the time of year when everyone in my family gets dry skin, some more than others. Natalie probably has the worst case, and sometimes she scratches so much that her skin breaks. It's just horrible! We thought Eric had escaped it, but recently he has had dry enough skin that we had to start putting lotion on him regularly too. Alex escaped it for a while, or so we thought, but really it was because he wasn't telling us. Anthony does his own hygiene now, so we have to trust him, although I just reminded him and his answer made me feel unsure about that trust.

This week is finals week for Anthony. He is making 98 and above in all of his classes except for Physics where he is making a 91. Hopefully, he'll be able to bring that "low grade" up. *WINK*

Game Day

I dropped off Anthony at soccer this morning at 8:15 then went to IHOP and Starbucks to pass the time before his game at 10AM. I didn't want to have to drive 20 minutes home and then back before the game. I was actually outside in 25 or so degree weather watching the game. I normally would ask Patrick to go instead, but I really wanted to see Anthony play, or at least his team. Thankfully it wasn't windy and it was sunny so it didn't feel so bad. Of course I had three layers on plus my coat although my fingers and toes still got cold. Anthony was wearing a couple of layers underneath so he said that even though he didn't get any play time today, he wasn't too cold standing on the sideline.

Patrick met me there at halftime with the kids. Of course I immediately focused on Eric. I couldn't believe that he actually wore this old coat that his two older brothers used to wear. A month or so ago I tried to put it on him he told me, "It's too big." Yes, it's too big, dear, but it's warm and it doesn't matter if it's too big! He also allowed Patrick to put on his mittens and he could barely drink his milk with them on but he managed.

Patrick and the other two kids went to the US Army All-American Bowl today. Alex had gotten some free general admission tickets at school and he really wanted to go. Natalie, surprisingly enough, wanted to go too. They left shortly before the end of Anthony's game. Later, they told me that they had received some other tickets from someone else and those tickets put them about eight rows up on the 40 yard line. All of them seemed like they really enjoyed themselves, even Natalie, who doesn't really know anything about football.

Eric and I stayed a bit at the end of the game waiting for Anthony to emerge from the locker room while I talked with the opposing team's coach. He is married to one of my study buddies from med school, and I've known him for almost 20 years, although we really haven't seen each other for several years. They have two boys and a girl that are all about our kids' ages (except for Eric, or course). I was a little sad that Anthony didn't end up going to that school. Gil could have been his coach!

When Anthony got out we went to PF Chang's. I had a hankering for one of their lamb dishes that we had the last time we were there on my birthday. Anthony ate almost all of the Sichuan from the Sea (spicy shrimp and scallops) and half of the Chang's Spicy Chicken plus dessert! We came home and he had some friends over to finish a school project. Despite Patrick's and my doubts that they were actually going to get stuff done, they did finish their project. They just have to print it out when they get to school.

Because they were in the office, I didn't get to print out photos and scrapbook like I had wanted to, but I did go back in there when they finished and I was able to finish another page. I've been able to finish at least one layout per day in January so far. Yay me!

Inviting Friends

Alex has been asking all week if he can have a friend sleep over tomorrow. He really likes the idea of sleep overs and he hasn't had anyone over since his birthday summer. Patrick was a little hesitant to consent because I'm on backup/late call tomorrow and so he would likely be picking Anthony up from school, for one. For another, Anthony has a soccer game early on Saturday, and since I'm on backup call, I always have the potential to get called in and it's "dangerous" to leave the kids with me. Well, he went ahead and told Alex he could have a friend over but the friend that Alex chose didn't want to sleep over because he doesn't get any sleep when he sleeps over at someone's house. I don't think I've heard of a ten-year-old that didn't jump at the chance to sleep over at a friend's house but there you have it. Alex would normally have wanted to invite a "second choice" over but he and Patrick had talked ahead of time about how he didn't want Alex to say, "Well, so and so couldn't sleep over so I invited you." Alex hasn't yet learned what he should and shouldn't say to other people.

Tomorrow evening, Anthony is inviting his group of high school friends over to study and so they can work on one of their projects together. Their final exams are next week. This is all new for us because our kids have always studied alone, especially Anthony. We also don't usually have the kids' friends over in the evening. We did stipulate that his friends have to leave by 10PM because they most certainly won't be quiet and we don't want to keep the younger kids up.

The kids are growing up and expanding their horizons. Patrick and I are also "stretching and growing" and getting used to the kids doing things they didn't used to do. We always prefer when their friends are here at our house anyway because then we know exactly where they are and what they're doing.

Remember the Alamo

Patrick uploaded some of the pictures from his sister Lisa's and his brother Geoff's cameras into his computer today so I thought I'd post some pictures from their visit. He and his siblings went to the Riverwalk on the day after Christmas because they had never been there before. We usually joke around about how we only go to visit the Alamo when people come to visit because they always want to go there and well, you can only visit there so many times...

Goeff had a blast playing the kids and their Nerf guns. You might say that he liked it a little too much. ;-) He also played with Anthony and Alex on the Playstation 3. He was basically like one of the boys.

As you can see here, he REALLY enjoyed playing with the Nerf guns. Yes, they were chasing each other around outside too and enjoying the great weather we had that week. This week, of course, is another story. We're expecting a hard freeze for the next three nights.

First Day

I don't know when Patrick will get around to posting on his blog, so I'll go ahead and post here. This morning, he took Eric to daycare before taking Anthony to school. The daycare is just down the street from our neighborhood and his older siblings used to go there. Anthony said that Eric was excited about going to daycare. He was even doing his happy dance. He apparently went into his room fine--until he realized that Patrick wasn't staying and he was. He started getting clingy and wanted to be picked up and that's when his teacher picked him up and Patrick left. After Patrick dropped Anthony off at school he treated himself to a snack at Starbuck's to make himself feel better. Apparently he treated himself to lots of snacks since he didn't have to worry about a little boy seeing him and wanting a snack too.

After Alex and Natalie got home from school, Patrick left with Natalie to go pick up Eric. When they arrived Eric was crying while at the table because it was snack time and he didn't want to be sitting. He wanted to go play. He did fine during "free play" but when he was supposed to be sitting with the other kids he did not like it. There was even a time when they had him sit by himself while crying because he was SO loud. He's used to doing his own thing, playing all the time and only eating when he feels like it. This is one of the reasons why we put him in daycare twice a week, so he gets used to more structure. Eventually he'll need this to do well in school.

I was thinking about him all day and he did fine. Patrick did fine without him too. I just need to take some deep breaths and just accept that my baby boy needs to grow up.

Notes From Today

I've been taking an online class from Cathy Zielske at Big Picture Scrapbooking. She provided the sketch and color combination to use as well as a downloadable journaling block. Without this assignment I would never have thought to put my thoughts down today about DS#3 starting daycare tomorrow. I was sad but I didn't realize exactly why until I wrote this. Here's the journaling:

Dear Eric, your toddler face is all too quickly transitioning to a little boy face. Once, one of my coworkers, after hearing that there was a 5 ½ year gap between you and your sister asked me if you were a surprise. I merely replied that you were the one we waited for. At the time I meant that after two miscarriages, Papa and I were so happy that you finally came along. Later, however, Papa and I realized that your presence finally made our family feel complete.
Except for a couple of months when you were less than a year old, you’ve been at home with Papa all of your life. Papa did a great job of teaching you your numbers and colors and how to be a good boy.
Now on the eve of your going to daycare two days a week, I’m feeling sad. I know that Papa is the one that will miss your company during the day when I’m at work, but at least with you at home, Papa could tell me everything that you did, and he might have even taken a few pictures. At “school” someone else will be keeping tabs on what you’re doing. I won’t get the same stories or pictures. Still, I know it’s time for you to play with other kids and learn a few new things. At home I’ll still enjoy playing with you and looking at your adorable face. I don’t want to forget you at this age.

Here are the other two assignments that I've completed so far:
This one has photos from when DH's parents, sister, and brother were here visiting for Christmas. I really regret not getting photos of my BIL, but the rest of the photos turned out well.

The big picture here is what I used for our Christmas photo card last year. I still really love that picture!

I'm just happy I've started scrapping again.

Gotta Love Bendaroos

DD loves her new Bendaroos that she got for Christmas from her grandparents. She's been playing with them consistently since Christmas. In case you don't know what these are they're colored sticks that look like yarn except they're stiff and tacky and you can bend them any way you want, sort of like pipe cleaners.

Today I guess she was looking for something new to do with them, so she stuck them on her bedroom door. She actually knows how to spell her name, but by the time DH took this picture, some of it had already fallen off. She took the rest of it down later this evening. As for the "room of doom" part, does she have big brothers or what? :)

First Scrimmage

DS#1 had his first high school soccer game today. Apparently it was a bit informal with each half only being 25 minutes long. DH was the only one that got to go because the game was played 40 minutes away and then DH still had to pick up DS#1 from school. DH was gone for a good 3 1/2 hours.

The Varsity team played two games and Junior Varsity played one. DS#1 didn't start the Junior Varsity game, but he played the most of anyone else coming off the bench. DH told me stories about how DS#1 showed amazing speed on the field. I still wonder where that speed came from since my family are all "non-athletes". He has a lot of upcoming games, so I hope I'll be able to at least see some of them. I hope DS#1 continues to get a lot of play time no matter which team (JVA or JVB) that he plays for.

On a side note, knowing how difficult it is to get good pictures during a soccer game, I asked DH if he could at least get a picture of DS#1 in his uniform. DH wanted to get one without embarrassing DS, so he used the big zoom lens quite a bit. I think he did a great job getting this picture for me. Thanks, Hon! :)

All Because of My Clock

The day started innocently enough. We woke up at my sister's house in Houston. Everyone stayed the night except that my sister M had to go home at 9:30AM because her ex-husband was picking up my niece E for the weekend and E wanted to be picked up at her house. We met her later at church and she came back to the house to spend more time with us before we left for home. The kids were still playing well with each other. In this picture, DS#2 and my nephew N are playing "Finger Foos" on the Iphone/Ipod Touch. I thought it was so funny that they were huddled on this small couch together doing that. We left for home around 2:20PM when DS#3 showed signs of being tired enough to take a nap. Sure enough, he fell asleep in the car and he stayed asleep for most of the trip.

This evening, after unpacking, I decided to try to plug in my new iHome alarm clock that DH had given me for Christmas. This is one of those alarm clocks where I can dock my IPod and/or IPhone to recharge it or to play music. To do this, I had to unplug the old alarm clock. DH and DS#1 were moving the bed away from the wall so I could do this when suddenly we heard a loud crack and DH starting saying "Ouch!" What happened was that part of the wood on the bed broke off where the bed rails attached onto the headboard and part of it landed on his foot. Luckily he was wearing shoes. What else could we do but take the bed apart to see how we could fix this?

Unfortunately, we discovered that the bed had not been put together correctly when the movers that moved our stuff 7 1/2 years ago put the bed back together. Instead of bracing the metal rails that were holding together the bed with screws and metal wires, they used nails (that came off very easily) and the height of the metal rails wasn't even. It was just a matter of time before this bed collapsed and came apart. DH talked to DS#1 about how when he goes out into the workforce as an adult, he should always try to do things the right way, not the easy way.

One of our neighbors is a woodworking expert, so DH plans on asking him if that piece of wood that broke off can be repaired and still hold the weight of the bed. Until we're able to fix that part, we'll have to sleep on just the mattresses. DS#3 came in and when he saw the bed, he looked a little confused. He tried to look underneath the mattresses, but of course the mattresses are now on the floor. At least he can climb on much easier--which might not be a good thing. All of this because I wanted to use my Christmas present. :(

Happy New Year!

We had a pretty relaxed day today. I know I keep saying it, but it's nice to be with family. A summary of activities from yesterday and today follows:

--My sisters, their kids, DD, and DS#2 left for Houston before 10AM. DS#3 really wanted to go with them, but DH was able to talk him out of having a complete meltdown.

--DS#1 at soccer practice yesterday morning (9-11AM).

--I got off early from work, around 2PM and headed home to pack the car. We were on our way by 3:30PM and we got to my sister C's house by 6:30PM. DS#3 slept in the car for most of the way.

--The three girls have been playing so well together and with DS#3. They even helped him build some train tracks for his trains to ride on then they played trains with him. He loved all of that attention. DS#3 has been playing non-stop with nephew N's old trains and he loves visiting my sister C's house for this reason.

--The kids didn't get up until closer to 7-7:30 AM. Not bad for them. My sister C fed them cinnamon rolls and chocolate banana bread. Yum! She is such a wonderful hostess and we really appreciate all of her hospitality.

--My sister C and I went shopping at Hobby Lobby, Target, and then some outlet stores (Ann Taylor Loft, Gap, Coach). Her shopping style is much more suited to mine. We didn't spend more than a few minutes at the Coach store, for example. We looked around, didn't see anything we had to have, and left.

--My niece E used her new nail kit to give the girls pedicures. DD also took her fingernail polish off so she could put green nail polish on instead of the bright pink she had on there. She also had her toes painted in different colors while the other two girls chose alternating colors.

--We played Apples to Apples again tonight. The girls could play on their own but none of them are confident enough. Their preference for answers was hard to predict. We also played Scrabble Slam, a new word card game.

--DS#1 introduced DH to Mafia Wars, a popular game on Facebook. I thought it was interesting that DH was asking DS#1 a whole bunch of questions about how to play. They played on their laptops side-by-side. I also brought my laptop so I could surf the web and refer to my blog so I can finish up the journaling for my Project 365 2009 album.

--We set off a few fireworks outside. DS#3 was so tired that all he could do was cuddle with my sister M. It was also rather chilly with a good breeze that made it difficult to light some of the fireworks. DS#3 was fascinated with the fireworks despite his sleepy state. His cousins hovered over him--so cute! Even before we finished with the fireworks, DS#3 wanted to come inside to warm up and after his bath, he actually asked to go to sleep. It didn't take him long to go to sleep.

--DD was getting wild and kept getting too close to others with her sparklers. We think she was a bit overtired--not so cute. We all had so much fun with the fireworks. They've been banned at home for so long because of the dry conditions that we really have never had much chance to do fireworks at New Year's or the Fourth of July.

--We watched movies including "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", "G-Force", and "Night At The Museum".

--DD asked to go to bed around 10:30PM, even before the "G-Force" movie was over. She was exhausted! Everyone else stayed up until midnight.

I'll post pictures tomorrow when we get home. We'll be counting down to midnight here shortly. Happy New Year to All!

**Edited to add a few pictures and few more details. We missed the ball dropping in Times Square. Oh well, we still had fun!

From Books to Manicures to Swords

It was a drizzly, cloudy day today. Of course, since there are no windows at work, I really didn't see that until I left work to go home. My family apparently spent most of the day at home, although my sister M took DS#2 and my nephew N to Target to exchange her gift for DS#2. Meanwhile the girls played at home all day. I saw this picture in my sister C's camera. I guess the girls must have set up a little play area on the stair landing. DD doesn't read as much as her big brothers, so it was nice to see her reading along with her baby brother and her cousins.

When I got home, we went out for dinner at Pei Wei. My sister M really wanted to get a manicure and she had mentioned that to the girls earlier, so they were very excited about it. They were also excited about the fact that we had only girls (6 of us) in my sister C's van, while DH had only boys (5 of them) in his van. The girls basically only got their nails painted, while M decided she wanted a spa pedicure instead. For some reason, my niece A and DD messed up their nails before they were dry and had them redone again (DD's nails were redone twice and she still messed up her thumb nail again). If we had more time, my sister C and I might have joined in. We'll have something to look forward to on future "girls only" outings.

My sister C treated "the girls" to ice cream at Baskin-Robbins and then we headed home. Earlier I mentioned that DS#2 had exchanged his gift from M. He ended up getting some foam swords instead of the Apples to Apples Junior game that she had gotten him originally. We had given my nephew N some foam swords for Christmas also, so with all of those swords and various other "weapons" that we have at home, all the kids staged a "sword fight". All the kids struck a pose for my dear sis C for this hilarious picture. I think this just shows the many varied interests of "the girls"--from books to manicures, to swords.

Second Wave of Visitors

My sisters are here! They got here this afternoon when I was at work. My sister M did her Christmas shopping later than my sister C and I, so she gave her presents to my children today instead of at Thanksgiving when my sister C and I gave our gifts. One of her gifts to DS#3 was another Duplo Thomas the Tank Engine set, and this one included "James" the red engine. Here DS#3 is getting a closer look at James, Thomas, and Stanley and my sister C is bending down close to the ground to get to his eye level. What a great moment between the two of them!

DH's sister L is still here and all of us played DS#2's new game, Apples to Apples. Actually, I was just watching at first, but then DH had to go grill some steaks for dinner and I took over his turns. Thanks to me (*WINK*) DH and I won the game! It was a really fun party game and one we will definitely bring with us when we visit Houston for New Year's. We're planning on doing a "game night" on New Year's Eve so games like these will be really fun with the whole family playing.

Goodbye Dinner

My in-laws are leaving tomorrow, so it's usually our tradition to go out to eat on our last night together. They wanted to go to Paesano's, another of our favorite restaurants. After a long nap today, DS#3 was in a great mood, so I made the grandkids pose with their grandparents for a picture before we even got our dinner, just in case DS#3 got cranky later on.

DD has been all over her aunt L since she got here on Christmas day. L is really great with kids and she has always been great with my kids. DD tends to favor women anyway, but she especially loves all of her aunts, whether they're my sisters or DH's sisters. L has been sleeping in DD's room and DD has been excited about that too. Poor L has been awakened rather early a few times, but at least she's from the Eastern Time Zone.

Even DS#3, who usually prefers men, was bonding with L at dinner. He was even chatting with her and we were all enjoying hearing him talk. That was some great nap he had today!

L is staying until Tuesday but Grandma, Grandpa, and G are leaving early tomorrow. My sisters and their kids will be arriving some time tomorrow morning and we'll have a full house again. I'm so glad that I enjoy my family so much because this holiday season has been such a wonderful time for me with all of my family coming to visit!

Soccer Cones

After the flurry of activity this past week, today was very relaxed. The two youngest were still up by 6:30AM, and DS#3 was very needy, but most of us got to stay in bed (or at least go back to bed) until at least 9AM. That's when I got up to make the usual banana chocolate chip pancakes and turkey bacon. Then Grandma and Grandpa ran off to meet with a realtor. We're still hoping that they will sell their house in Palm Springs so they can move here. I got to run off to Target and Michael's to buy more batteries and to see if there was any Christmas stuff left that I wanted to buy--there wasn't. DH ran off to the Riverwalk and the Alamo with his siblings. His brother G has never been there before and the weather was in the low 60s and sunny by then--just beautiful.

DS#2 and DD had their friends A and M over. DS#2 played with various toys, including his new Nerf Vulcan Blaster and Nintendo DS Scribblenauts game. DD played with her new toys but then went outside and started playing with the soccer cones we have back there. DS#3 was in such a good mood by then that in the picture above he is yelling at the top of his voice, "La la la! La la la! I'm loud." I got a few other great pictures of them having fun, but these two probably tell the story the best.

We went to church when everyone got home and then DH grilled lamb kebobs and veggies for dinner. Both DD and DS#3 asked to go to bed some time before 8:30PM and were asleep about five minutes later. I don't think I really did much today compared to yesterday, but I'm tired too. I guess we're all catching up on rest from Christmas.

Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas, Everyone! I spent a lonely day at work yesterday, but my dear family did come for a visit at dinner time. That totally made my day! I got home around 7:30AM and everyone was still eating breakfast. Apparently, DD and DS#3 both got up (and went to Grandma and Grandpa's room downstairs) around 4AM. They both apparently fell asleep again, thank goodness. When I got home I insisted on taking a picture of the kids in front of the tree before they could open gifts. I'll do what it takes to get pictures of my adorable babies! :)

We have this tradition of distributing the gifts before everyone opens anything. DS#3 didn't know this, of course, so he started opening as soon as there was a gift in front of him to open. Grandma bought him this musical guitar. He loved it so much that he didn't play with anything else for quite a while. In fact, everyone finished opening all their gifts before he even opened the second gift. More on this later...

DS#1 had lots of "little" gifts--"little" in size and not price. He got lots of video games--"Assassin's Creed II", "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2", and "Borderlands". He got an ITunes gift certificate, shirt, and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar from his grandparents. Look at that smile on his face from holding onto that calendar! He also got a Wendy's gift certificate from my sister C and that brought a big smile to his face, too!

DD got lots of clothes and Hannah Montana gifts. This is a Hannah Montana guitar from my mom and dad that she just loved! We joked about how she and DS#3 could play duets together on their guitars. Then we joked that since DS#2 plays guitar, they could even play trios. After church, DD spent the rest of the day playing with some of the crafty gifts she received. She made jewelry, stickers, and played with her Bendaroos.

Look at that wall of presents! When I told DS#2 that I wanted to take a picture of him with his new toys and gifts, he made this wall for some reason. It took him a while to do it too, because he was trying to stand all of the presents up. Where DS#1 had the "little" gifts, DS#2 definitely had the "big" gifts. His favorite was probably the "Scribblenauts" game for his Nintendo DS. He has been talking about this game for a good month or so. DH and I HAD to get it for him.

Speaking of "have to get" gifts, DS#3 just "had to get" Thomas the Tank Engine gifts because he loves trains SO MUCH. He opened the presents from my dear sis C next, and only because DD had quickly finished opening her gifts and she didn't seem to like seeing other unopened gifts lying around. She got him a radio control Thomas and one of the Duplo Thomas sets (we got him one too). He played with this one for a long time too. He enjoyed just watching the trains move by themselves. He didn't even try to "control" the trains, he just wanted them to keep going. At one point he was just watching Thomas drive around in circles. He clutched the Duplo Thomas during the whole time at church and he had to have Thomas and Stanley at the dinner table with him.

One side note about the food--for the first time ever, I baked a turkey and it turned out really well. Yay me! I picked some simple side dishes since I knew I would be working on Christmas Eve--cornbread stuffing from a mix, turkey gravy from a jar, frozen premade dinner rolls, and green bean casserole. Grandma bought the cranberry relish from our local grocery store, although I had bought some canned cranberries.

My dear SIL L arrived just before dinner and while Grandma and Grandpa were talking about how cold it was here (30s to 50s), she and my BIL G were talking about how warm it was here (she came from Boston and he came from Alaska). We had such a great family dinner. It is SO good to be able to see them all since we see them so rarely. After dinner we watched had ice cream and some also had cake (German Chocolate that my in-laws bought) then we watched Elf. More family activities tomorrow but for today, a really wonderful Christmas. I hope everyone else out there had a really wonderful Christmas too!