Natalie and Soccer

For some reason, the date cutoff for soccer is August 1st instead of September 1st, like it is for school. That means that Natalie misses the cutoff and instead of being the youngest in her group, she is the oldest. She is technically in the U7 group which means that she was "under 7 years old" as of August 1st of last year. In the Fall season, she "played up" one year, meaning that she played with girls who were also in the second grade at school. That team was U8 or under 8 years old as of August 1st. They did away with that team and those girls were split up and moved to the next group up (U9 or under 9 years old). Natalie wanted to "play with the big girls" and not the girls her own age. This meant that during this Spring soccer season, she "played up" two years. Because of the rules they play under, she couldn't play in games, except for when she played games in her own club. Despite this, she still wanted to play with the "big girls" and we only had three of her games to go to for this Spring season.

Tonight was the last game. Natalie's coach has a U9 and a U10 girls' team. Tonight, her U9 team (Natalie's team) played her U10 team. This meant that Natalie was as much as three years younger than some of those girls on the opposing tram. Patrick wanted me to take this picture of the size discrepancy. Notice also that Natalie is pushing that much larger girl. Natalie wasn't very aggressive during most of this game, except for this instance and another time when she managed to kick the ball despite being almost on her knees.

I had to post this picture too because she was caught "in the act" of scratching herself. She has eczema, and often gets dry skin patches, especially on the back side of her legs. She's obviously itchy on her head too. Scratching herself is such a routine act that she doesn't even realize she's doing it anymore. When I showed her this picture, she just gave me her embarrassed face.

In other news, we got an iPad today!!! I typed this blog entry on it. Anthony thinks it's cool and keeps asking to touch it. :)

Pigtails

I haven't been very good at blogging this year, at least compared to last year, so I might try to throw in a couple of extra posts today or in the next week or so. I'm off from work today, part of the perks from having 12 hour shifts instead of the previously typical 9 hours with the recent renovations of our operating rooms.

Whenever I'm home in the morning, Natalie usually requests that I put her hair into pigtails. She decided a couple of months ago that she was going to start growing out her hair again and it's not quite long enough for a ponytail, but it is long enough for pigtails. I'm never happy with the lighting in my house for taking pictures, but I do love this picture of my Princess Natalie. Her front upper right incisor is growing in and she doesn't have the cheesy smile that she sometimes gets.

Of course when Eric saw that I was taking a picture of Natalie, he had to get in there too. I took this picture with the flash, and I'm never happy with how flat everything looks when I use the flash, but until I figure out my camera settings better or get better lighting in my house, this will have to do.

This little boy has hit the "Terrible 3's" now. Patrick and I have always thought that the "3's" were worse than the "2's". He knows more of what's going on and he can communicate a lot better, but he still doesn't understand why he can't watch just "one more" show when it's already bedtime. Luckily, thanks to his new Thomas "banket" and sheets, I was able to distract him into getting into bed last night with just a few tears and thankfully, no screaming.

Shopping With Kids

I had to work late tonight, so I only had time to give Natalie and Eric baths and then put them to bed. No time to take pictures, so I'm going to recount something that happened on Sunday.

After our morning outside on Sunday, I took all the kids shopping at Old Navy and the Gap. I ended up spending $200 total. I think the list of items is telling as far as what the kids are into, so I'm going to list them here:

There was a basket of different types of balls and Eric kept taking out balls and handing them to me. In the end, Eric settled on a red football with a snake design on it. Alex helped him choose when he said how cool it was. Eric liked the football, but I think Alex liked it even more. I also bought Eric a soccer T-shirt.

Natalie got two pairs of shorts. I was so frustrated with her because she said she needed new shorts but almost all of the shorts were either a color or a design she didn't like. Sigh! When did she get so picky with clothes? She also got a pair of flip-flops. She was picky about which flip-flops to get too.

Alex got the most clothes. He got four T-shirts (all with soccer designs except for maybe one) and one swimsuit (Black and white with snakes) plus a pair of sunglasses and a pair of flip-flops. He picked all of that out himself.

Anthony tried to buy more shorts, but he only ended up with two pairs. Either the other available shorts were a color he didn't like or they were too big. Still, I was happy that we were able to at least get a couple of pairs because last year's shorts are now too small or too short (for his liking).

After shopping we went to Brindle's for ice cream, of course. Anthony got the Raspberry Truffle in a small waffle cone. Alex wanted a shake but he settled for Dreamsicle in a kid's cone. Natalie and Eric both got the kid's cups, Chocolate and Dreamsicle respectively. Eric still picks his ice cream by color with Dreamsicle being "owange". :)

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

The weather was beautiful this past weekend--70s, sunny, and breezy. I don't go outside very much except this time of year, and Sunday morning was a great day for the whole family to go outside. Natalie and Eric love these bubble guns that they got from my sister at Easter. I love the pure enjoyment in Natalie's face in this picture so much that I cropped it for my blog header above.

This picture is so fun! Natalie is chasing after Patrick and he's pretending to run away. He was trying to be funny by running backwards. She apparently "shot" him in the back because after this I noticed a wet spot in the middle of his back. Notice that she is again wearing skirts (skorts) to play outside. On Saturday she was going to wear a dress to play and Patrick convinced her to change into shorts.

Eric often mimics his beloved sister. Look at those happy, happy faces! I enjoyed just watching Eric loading up his bubble gun. He dipped it into the bubble solution for what seemed like a very long time, then he would watch the bubbles just floating up and away. They went through that bubble solution pretty quickly.

Alex loves to play outside more than any of my other kids. He was absolutely loving the fact that his father and brother were both playing basketball with him. The three of them played "HORSE" with the kid (TD) across the street. I got a lot of great action photos of Alex jumping, but not Patrick and Anthony because they don't jump up nearly as high as Alex. Anthony, however, tried to kick/handle the ball like he would kick a soccer ball. Patrick thought TD was going to win because he practices playing basketball a lot more, but Patrick ended up winning.

I had to request that Patrick, Anthony, and Alex stand together for a picture, otherwise the only other pictures I have were of them standing apart on different sides of the basketball goal. I can't believe how tall my boys are! I don't get nearly enough photos of them, so I was glad I was able to get this one. I think Patrick looks pretty proud of them here.

There were other kids out playing too. One of them was AP, who was riding on various motorized vehicles. Another one was MD from across the street, who is only four months older than Natalie and a whole head taller. They were in the backyard when we saw this rabbit hopping through. Natalie insisted that I put a picture of the rabbit on my blog, so here it is. Eric was there too and they got him to say that it was the "Easter Bunny".

I have to work next weekend so I really enjoyed being able to "play" with my family this weekend.

"I Spillt My Name"

Eric and I were playing with some magnetic letters on our refrigerator this afternoon. I asked him if he could spell his name. He nodded, but had trouble figuring out which letter his name started with, so I showed him the "E" and told him his name started with "E". I was surprised when he then said the next letter was "r", which I found and put next to the "E". I asked him what the next letter was and he pointed to the "c" and said "c". I helped him with the "i".

When I told Patrick about this, he said that they had been working together on spelling Eric's name. I didn't know that they had been working on it. Eric is also starting to recognize the different letters. He found the "R" and put it next to the "r" and then we found the "I" and "C". He was so proud of himself and I was proud of him too (and Patrick for teaching him)!

Last Games

Today was the last game for Alex's team. We got to travel to Fort Sam Houston for this one. Thankfully, even with all the construction on post, all the parents were able to find their way to the field. The boys didn't play too well and they lost 6-0. Last night, Alex started complaining of a stomachache and when Patrick told him to eat a light breakfast this morning, he decided that Pop Tarts were "light". So, he started not feeling too well during the game and he sat out for longer than he usually does, but he still played a good portion of the game. He was able to take a nap during Anthony's afternoon game, and he felt better after that.

We only had about an hour at home before heading off to Anthony's game. Eric loves to play on the floor with his various vehicles. Here he is playing with his Lego trains. Just when you think you have all the Thomas trains, they go and make new ones. I got down on the floor to take this shot as well as some others. I love hearing him make train sounds and I love seeing how much he is concentrating on his beloved trains.

Anthony's game was at Brooks City Base on the south side of town. This was the location of Alex's mud bowl games last year. Can you imagine this little guy daring to push my big guy around? Unfortunately, our team still lost 2-5. Most of their goals were after corner kicks. Our boys held their own for most of the game, but they had problems scoring and they let some bad calls affect their play. They had a substitute coach since their regular coach was out of town. At least this one didn't yell at them for losing. Anthony's team actually has one more game next Saturday, but that was one that was rescheduled from last Saturday when it was raining very hard. I'm working next Saturday, so I'll miss that one, so this one was the last soccer game of the season for ME.

School Holiday

The kids were off from school today so besides the monthly haircuts this morning, we mostly hung out at home. There was also a little "parade" in our neighborhood in honor of the Battle of Flowers Parade that was going on in town today. Patrick, Natalie, and Eric did a lot of walking during the parade. In the afternoon, Alex arranged for a couple of school friends to come over, while Natalie played with her usual neighborhood friends.

Anthony went to a movie with his friends in the late afternoon, while the rest of us headed to the mall for dinner and ice cream. Eric was in a silly mood and started making faces at himself in the mirror at the Haagen-Dazs shop. He was also dancing to the music. Then he very dramatically took the next spoonful of ice cream.

I've had some days off this week. I didn't have to go in on Wednesday until 2PM then I got Thursday off because I got called back in on Wednesday night. Today was a planned day off. I wanted to do "more" but the kids were happy mostly just hanging out at home. With the weird schedule at work, I'll get more days off like this with the kids, and that's a good thing.

The Boy In the Pink Jacket

Today we played Alex's game that was cancelled from last Saturday. The temperature was nice in the low 70s but because of the strong breeze, it felt a little chilly. I grabbed Natalie's jacket on the way out, but I couldn't find Eric's jacket. He decided that he was going to wear Natalie's jacket. At first Patrick tried to talk him out of it, but Eric insisted. He also insisted on zipping it up. Most of the parents at the soccer field just smiled and laughed. One father actually thought he was a girl, at first, when he was pulling the hood over his eyes, but quickly found out he was wrong when he saw Eric's buzz cut. This boy makes me smile. :)

Why Trips To Target Take So Long

I was in one of the aisles at Target and when I turned around to face my cart, I saw this. If Eric only did this once, it would have been fine, but he kept doing this and also trying to sit on that bottom tier while I was trying to push the cart. Alex and Natalie also wanted to shop for themselves, so with all three of them with me, this shopping trip took almost two hours.

Soccer Cancellations

It's been raining all week, so the kids' home soccer fields were already soggy. In fact, Natalie's game last night (Friday) was cancelled because of rain. Alex had a game scheduled for 8:30AM. When we left the house at around 7:30AM, it was raining pretty hard. We still had to go because if our team didn't show up and the other team did, we would have to forfeit the game. So, long story made short, the referee ended up cancelling the game by around game time because the rain was still heavy and the puddles on the field just kept getting bigger and bigger. By the time we left, the thunder and lightning were starting. Most of Alex's teammates still went out there and played in the rain. He was soaked but happy.

Natalie and Eric had stayed home with Anthony while we were at the soccer fields. Some time after we got home, Natalie was reading to Eric. It was so cute that I had to take a picture. Of course, Eric saw me and had to ham it up for the camera.

I love seeing my kids reading to each other. Now I'll have to dig out a picture of Anthony reading to Alex. I don't think I have any other photos of different combinations of kids reading to each other, but that would make a fantastic scrapbook page. :)

Since Anthony's game at 4PM was also cancelled, he made alternate plans to spend the night at his good friend A's house. He had already made plans to go to a semi-formal dance at the school our kids used to go to, which is also the school that his good friend A still goes to. When Patrick went to drop Anthony off, I took Natalie and Eric to the mall. I had two Gymbucks to redeem at Gymboree. I was surprised that Natalie actually wanted to buy a dress, and I was even more surprised that she wanted to buy this hat and boots. I'm not sure the ensemble all goes together, but she looks pretty darned cute in it. She hasn't been wearing dresses lately, and she has always refused to wear boots--until today.

Here's Natalie's new dress. She is also wearing her Hannah Montana sunglasses, even though it was still cloudy outside. I'm not sure if she was trying to be fashionable or what because we were indoors for this picture and it was definitely not bright in there. We went to Pei Wei for dinner after church and I thought the three of them looked cute sitting on the chairs waiting for our turn to order.

The weather had cleared up this afternoon, as you can see from this picture. When we were walking to Brindles for ice cream after dinner, I noticed how well the kids' outfits matched each other. As usual, even though our plans changed today because of the weather, we still found a lot of things to do today.

Three Year Old Stats

Eric had his three-year-old checkup today. He was 29 pounds and 36 3/4 inches tall (3rd and 25th percentile, respectively), so he's a little guy but at least he's growing and developing normally. He was so good at the doctor's office that Patrick "rewarded" him with lunch at Fuddrucker's. He ate most of his meat and a little bit of the bun--pretty typical. I didn't take a picture today, but this was a picture from a week or two ago. The little stinker was climbing on the outside of the stairs and giving me a little attitude. He's a cutie, isn't he?

In other news, Natalie had her "Achievement Auditions" today. She memorized 2 two-page pieces for this. Up until yesterday we were still working on maintaining the same tempo throughout, especially during an eight-measure section in one of the pieces. She would suddenly slow down to half the tempo for that section. I know that I'm probably her worst critic, but she must have fixed it, because she got a "Superior Plus", which is apparently the highest rating. Interestingly, she didn't want her piano teacher to be in the room when she warmed up. Maybe she does get a little nervous after all. I'm so proud of her!

Weekend Fun

I wanted to show some pictures of what else we did this weekend. This first one is of Alex stuffing himself in my niece E's old car. My sister M gave E's old car to Eric since E has now outgrown it. My nephew N also stuffed himself into the car when we visited them the weekend before. It must be a ten-year-old thing.

Ahh, iPhones are wonderful for keeping the kids busy and quiet. I love that they're so easy to use that even a three-year-old can use them. Natalie had so much fun with my niece A this weekend. Eric had fun too, especially since A was always trying to help him. He's the little brother she's never going to have.

I took Natalie and Eric to Lakeshore Learning for the free Crafts for Kids this past Saturday. My sister C took my niece A to Lowe's for crafts there but Natalie wasn't interested. They later also tried to go to Lakeshore but we ended up missing each other. Surprisingly, Eric didn't want to do crafts nor did he want to play with the kitchen and other toys there. Luckily we found this puzzle. What I love about Lakeshore is that they have some really great (and durable) educational products like this. We also spent some time on the number/letter rug that can be seen in the background. Eric knows his numbers very well, but we still need to work on letters.

The kids got these cool battery-operated bubble guns from my sister for Easter. This is why Natalie and Eric get along so well--they like the same things. They both like playing school and playing with Play-Doh, and they both like to blow bubbles. It doesn't seem to matter if it's a squirt gun, Nerf gun, or bubble gun. Eric has been taught to point it at someone. Older siblings are useful that way.

This was taken Sunday night after almost everyone left our house, except for G, Natalie's godfather. As I mentioned in the previous post, Natalie stuck pretty close to him. She kept hugging him and sitting on his lap. Eric just does what his sister does. He also knows that he's supposed to smile when I take a picture. Natalie, however, is oblivious and has this habit of putting her hands up to her face and mouth. I love this picture though, because it shows us just hanging around with G. Thanks for coming to visit, G! Miss you!

Natalie's First Communion

Natalie's First Communion was yesterday. She wore the same dress that her godmother wore to her own First Communion. She's been so excited about wearing it since Grandma showed it to her when we were in Colorado. I was a little hesitant at first because it's more off-white and looks more "vintage", but I was happy that Natalie understood the meaning behind it. She hasn't been too keen on wearing dresses lately, so I was also happy that my little girl was again excited about wearing a dress.

Both sets of grandparents were here, as well as my sister C and my niece A. We were so thankful that Natalie's godfather G was able to make it too. The mass was at 5PM and despite all the people we packed into two mini-vans, we actually arrived early. Eric was fairly good during mass (I was able to get him to take a nap thanks to his car burp cloth and his new Thomas blanket), although my sister witnessed how mischievous he can be. He was shoving his sister over for some unknown reason, and when I tried to separate them by moving him to the other side of me, he shoved his way back over next to her. C got to see that Natalie is not always the instigator of "fights" between the two.

G is a wonderful godfather. He flew without his family for this short trip just so he could be here, and he's not even Catholic. Natalie was stuck to him like glue for most of Saturday and today. A short time ago, when she was a baby, she wouldn't even let him touch her. What a difference a few years makes! He seemed to relish the attention. :) He gave her a beautiful cross necklace and while at first it seemed that she was more excited about the gold wrapping paper and big, brightly colored bows, she wore the necklace today and plans to wear it tomorrow, too.

We went to one of our favorite restaurants, El Mirasol, after mass. For G and Grandma and Grandpa, a visit always includes a dinner at El Mirasol. Natalie opened some presents there, and then chose to go to Brindle's Ice Cream for dessert. We then went home to open more presents. Besides the necklace, she received a rosary from my favorite aunt and uncle (Lolo's brother and his wife), and a ring from Lolo and Lola. My sisters and I gave her a James Avery sterling silver bracelet with a butterfly charm, something we plan to repeat for her two cousins who will be receiving their First Communions in the coming weeks. She also received a rosary from Grandma and Grandpa that they bought while in Italy this past fall.

Before she even opened her presents, Natalie turned to me and told me, "I feel awesome!" She was grinning from ear to ear and all I could do was smile right back. :)

Thomas the Tank Engine Third Birthday

I had so many great plans to do fun things with Eric today for his birthday. I had a super busy night at work last night and I had enough energy to drive home and eat breakfast. Then I crashed and burned. I did wake up in time to get some McDonald's for lunch for Natalie and Eric and then head to the elementary school. Yesterday Eric said he wanted to visit his siblings' elementary school for lunch. I'm not sure if it was because he wanted to go to their school or because he wanted a cheeseburger from McDonald's. Either way, I wanted to do what he wanted for his birthday.

Natalie's class was having a "Teddy Bear Picnic" where they got to bring their teddy bears outside while they had lunch. It was a great day for it--sunny with a nice breeze. Natalie and Eric both ate well, although I was fascinated with how Eric was eating his burger. First he stripped his meat off the bun (with much of the cheese still stuck to the meat). He ate most of the meat before eating most of one of the bun halves. I'll have to do a layout about that, one of these days.

I should have just titled this "Train Third Birthday", because Eric loves all trains, but he is most familiar with the Thomas variety. He started off the day wearing his Thomas pajamas from last night. I was only able to convince him to take those off because I had his Thomas T-shirt to change him into. After lunch, I myself was excited about the trains that I had bought him, so Patrick and I gave him one of them to open. The train he opened was "Stanley", who he has the Lego version of, and he was so excited when he saw it.

We had to wait until almost 7PM for my parents, my sister C, and my niece A to arrive. We ate dinner then again, we continued the train love with a Thomas the Tank Engine cake. He was more excited about the toys on the cake than the cake itself, but we expected that. He blew those candles out this year like a pro.

It was getting late so we quickly proceeded to the opening of the gifts. Since he was expecting trains for his birthday already, it was rather fun when he took out everything from the gift bags from both sets of grandparents and neither contained any train toys. They did have various types of transportation (including trains) on T-shirts that he showed some interest in, but no train "toys". Eric looked a bit surprised. Of course, he got plenty of other train toys. One of them was a set with "Bill" and "Ben", which are two twin engines. I asked him to show his Papa (who was videotaping) and he got up very close, as you can see in this picture. I loved seeing all the family behind Papa smile and laugh when they saw Eric do this. Very cute!

This is the last present that Eric opened. This is the one that he had asked for a few months ago. I asked him to hold the box up so I could take a picture of him with the toy, but instead of just holding it in front of him, he actually held it up over his head. We all laughed because it seemed like such a big, heavy box and he lifted it excitedly over his head.

All day Patrick and I were trying to convince Eric that he was three years old today. Every time we asked him how old he was, he would still reply "two years old". The funny part was that even when we corrected him and told him that he actually turned "three" today and that he was no longer "two", he still insisted that he was "two years old". Finally this afternoon, he started saying that he was "three". He's learning, and growing--too fast. Sniff, sniff...

Potty Time

The older boys were not potty trained until they were over four years old, so we didn't expect much from Eric. Apparently he stayed dry all day at daycare today! He even pooped in the potty! Of course, he was wet when we picked him up, but that was after naptime. I had to convince him to go to the potty when we got home, but he did it so I was able to promptly put him in a clean diaper. He's been enjoying his reward of M&M candies too. Wish us luck with the potty training!

Tomorrow, we'll be celebrating Eric's THIRD birthday! I can't believe he's growing up so fast. He apparently told his Uncle J this past weekend that he will be getting trains tomorrow. He must have been paying attention when I went shopping with him last week. :)

Up To Mischief

This is the sight that greeted me on the upstairs landing when I got home today. I was upset and Patrick immediately yelled from downstairs that he already knew about it but he had left it so I could take a picture.

Patrick also came upstairs to show me this particular spot. Apparently, he had told Eric that he shouldn't color unless it was on one of our blue trays (that we use to protect the house and furniture). Then, he discovered that Eric had covered up the crayon mark with some stickers.

This is Mr. Mischief himself, climbing on the OUTSIDE of the stairs despite my telling him not to. Of course he gave me a sly little smile as he got back on the outside of the stairs and started climbing back up there and he gave me this "in your face" expression when I took the picture.

It's a good thing he's cute!

Happy Easter 2010

Since we weren't with extended family this Easter Sunday as we have been in the previous years, I didn't feel motivated to get a photo of everyone dressed up for church. We got up for 7AM mass so we could avoid the crowds. We then went home for a little while, then went to The Cheesecake Factory for brunch/lunch. After that, we just relaxed at home. As you can see from the photo above, the boys played video games.

Natalie and Eric watched her new "Princess and the Frog" DVD from her Aunt C. The two of them were adorable lying together on the sofa upstairs. Eric has a funny way of laying sort of half on and half off of the couch (and his bed at night), a habit that has started recently. He refused to take a nap so Patrick and I took our naps without him.

Eric maintained his good spirits for most of the day, even without the nap. He was singing songs with his microphone in hand and Natalie was "playing" on her Hannah Montana guitar. His shorts were a little big and they kept falling as he was running around. I would pull up his shorts then immediately he would run around trying to get them to fall off. Of course when they did fall off, he and Natalie would burst out laughing. The rest of us had to admit that it was pretty hilarious.

Patrick made some salmon for dinner and we watched TV together. We had some great times even without extended family around. We have a busy week ahead. Both sets of grandparents, my sister C and niece A, and Natalie's godfather G will all be here for her First Communion. We'll also be celebrating the Little Man's THIRD birthday. I'll be taking lots of photos then. :)

Egg Hunt

We packed in a lot of activity today before we left for home. First, my dear brother-in-law (BIL) made pancakes and turkey bacon for breakfast. We then watched home videos with my parents who spent the night last night. When my other sister M arrived, my sisters and my Mom and I all took off for the outlet mall. We had so much fun shopping together. We didn't even have to spend a whole hour in the Coach store! ;)

When we got home we had lunch and then Natalie, my niece A, and Eric dyed eggs. We had expected the girls to dye eggs, but Eric wanted to do it too. C bought some cotton swab-looking sticks that had dye already in them. The kids were able to use different colors to draw on the eggs. Eric used the same one the whole time, but he had lots of fun doing it. :)

While they were busy doing that, my sisters and I hid some "cascarones" or confetti eggs in their backyard. The older kids found their allotment of eggs in no time at all. Eric got off to a slow start because I was still putting on his shoes when the "hounds were unleashed", so everyone helped him find the leftover eggs.

The fun part for the kids was actually breaking the cascarones over each other's heads. There were the usual complaints of eggs being broken on heads with too much force and unwanted eggs broken down people's backs, but in all everyone was willing and everyone had fun. Eric didn't even try to break any eggs on anyone else but himself, at first. I reasoned that was because that his was the only head he could reach. I summoned his biggest brother at one point and Anthony willingly allowed Eric to break a cascarone over his head.

Unfortunately, the fun had to end and we quickly packed up the car and left for home. Luckily, we'll be seeing my sister C and her DD A along with my parents next week for Eric's birthday and Natalie's First Communion. We missed Patrick and Alex and it felt great to be home.

Spacecenter Houston

My sister drove us to Spacecenter Houston today. We left Eric with Lola since we couldn't all fit in the car. He was also acting very tired and would likely have slowed the other kids down. My sister and I stayed with the girls and Anthony stuck with my nephew N. There was a big play place that they enjoyed as well as some other hands-on interactive type exhibits like remotely driving a Mars Rover, building a space station, and using a flight simulator to land a plane.

In all, we spent less than two hours there. The drive back and forth was longer than that, partly because of traffic. That's one thing I definitely don't miss about Houston. In this case it was okay because my sister and I got to chat. The kids got to watch "Kung Fu Panda". Anthony and N played on N's iPod Touch. Since my sister graciously drove both ways, I also got to nap and obviously, so did Natalie.

Tomorrow we get to spend more time with the family before we head home. Hopefully my sleep-deprived children will get some rest in the car.

Good Friday

I don't think it's appropriate to say "Happy Good Friday", but in a way it is. The kids are blowing bubbles outside. It's supposed to rain later, so the kids are enjoying the outdoors now. Now my niece A is helping Eric play on the swing. It's so sweet to see the interactions between the cousins. Anthony just got up and he's enjoying some of the treats that Lolo and Lola brought today. He really doesn't get to sleep in very much, so he enjoys the opportunity when it comes. I was chatting with my sister last night while we split up the Scenic Route Paper Co. stuff that she bought online for the both of us. We love scrappy stuff, especially new scrappy stuff! As I'm typing this, my niece E just got here. She gets to spend the day with us too, while her Mom is at work.

We have to remember the meaning of Good Friday, the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. Appreciating all of God's gifts is a part of that. He has blessed my family today as he does everyday. :)