iPad Boy

I had to post this picture right away because it's so stinkin' cute. Eric is playing on an iPad app called "Drawing Pad" where he can draw with different media (markers, crayons, stickers). His spread eagle position is just hilarious! He was so quiet that I had to call to him and ask where he was. He replied, "I'm right here! I'm playing on the iPad!" :)

Popcorn and the (Theme) Park

We got two large tubs of popcorn yesterday when we were at the movie theatre. I knew that Natalie and Eric would still eat popcorn even when it's stale, so I brought the rest of this tub home. This morning, while I was making the usual banana chocolate chip pancakes and turkey bacon for breakfast, they started eating the popcorn. Eric ended up eating some fruit (strawberries and blueberries), and then went back to eating popcorn. He ate quite a bit before we made him stop. He also ate quite a bit of pizza for lunch and then dinner, so this popcorn didn't seem to hurt his appetite for the rest of the day. He looks rather cute sitting on his little stool, doesn't he?

The forecast still had rain, but my sister, niece and nephew really wanted to go to Six Flags today. They mostly did water rides. NB also went on the big rollercoaster called Goliath where your feet dangle. He had to take his Crocs off in order to ride the coaster. They wouldn't even let people take bags on the ride.

We all went, but Eric started acting tired as soon as he got there. Patrick had to carry him in from the parking lot and he was carried for almost all of his time there. Here he is being carried back TO the parking lot. He fell asleep in the van on the way home and stayed asleep for a couple of hours.

I love these photos from behind. It was just me and my boys today. We left the park early while CB stayed with her kids and Natalie. She left for home with them this afternoon and the rest of my family and I went to church and then dinner. It felt a little weird to do that without our little princess with us, but she sounded pretty happy when we called her to wish her goodnight tonight. I love you, Natalie!

Activities For An Almost Rainy Day

It was supposed to rain all day today, so instead of going to Six Flags, we decided to go see the new movie "Despicable Me". First, the boys played on the computer for a bit. NB opened his birthday gift from us, a pair of remote control cars that can shoot at each other. As you can see from this picture, Eric was very interested. Alex has this toy and Eric loves playing with it too.

We all enjoyed the movie, except maybe Eric. He wanted to be held and he rested his head on my shoulder or chest, both sure signs of his being tired. We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch after the movie and he had a meltdown when we left because he wanted to play in the play area. We had to get home, though, because the boys had an afternoon soccer camp to go to.

Because of the forecast for rain, the soccer club had rented an indoor soccer field for this soccer camp today. It was really only when they left for the camp that it started raining. The rest of the day was only overcast. We could have gone to Six Flags after all! After the camp, we ate dinner at home and then the kids all piled on or near the living room sofa to watch our DVR tape of Thursday's episode of "Wipeout". I loved seeing all of those mesmerized but happy faces so close together.

My sister changed her plan for going home tomorrow morning. We'll try to go to Six Flags tomorrow, if the weather holds up. Of course, it might rain now that we actually have plans to be outside tomorrow. At least the kids had a lot of fun together today.

Cousin Visit

My sister C arrived with her two kids this afternoon. Thankfully, I had a shorter work day than I had anticipated so I was here when they arrived. Patrick came home with Natalie and Eric soon after, and then brought Anthony and Alex home from their conditioning training some time after that. As soon as Natalie arrived, she disappeared into her room with my niece AB. My nephew NB stayed downstairs to watch our DVR tape of the Germany vs. Spain World Cup game. Eric was sitting in the La-Z-Boy and moved over so NB could sit with him. Isn't this photo of Eric with NB just precious?

After a quick dinner of sandwiches and leftovers, Patrick took all the kids with him to the neighborhood pool and left my sister and I at home to chat and watch TV. Even though he was at home with the kids by himself all day (doing a lot of cleaning up), he still volunteered to do this. Isn't he a sweetie?

After they got home and took their showers, NB and Alex played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II on the PS3. I tried to take some photos of the two of them looking mesmerized by the game. NB is used to his parents always taking photos, but I think I kicked it up a notch. Even Alex reassured him that I was taking a photography class and told NB to basically ignore me. I was fine with that. :)

I wasn't able to get a good photo of the two boys together, so I took separate photos. This is a photo of Alex totally ignoring me. :)

It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow so Patrick and CB talked about what to do with six kids on a rainy day. My sister's original reason for visiting was so her kids could use their coupons for free admission to Six Flags that they got from school. Right now, the weather is not expected to cooperate.

A Little Mother-Daughter Time

I felt like spoiling myself today so I got a pedicure at our local nail salon. I felt like having some mother-daughter time, so I took Natalie with me. She got both her fingernails and toenails done in alternating bright red and bright pink colors. The cost for both of us was $22--not bad, I thought. Then, we did a little grocery shopping since the nail salon is right next door to the grocery store.

My sister C is coming for a visit tomorrow with my niece and nephew, and she will take Natalie back home with her on Saturday. In the spring, we signed up Natalie and her girl cousins for a weeklong summer camp together. I'm sure she'll have a blast hanging out with the girls and I didn't think she would miss us very much. After all, she totally ignores us when her aunts and her girl cousins are around. I thought I would also be okay with her being gone. She can be a little aggravating, after all, with her constant questions and chatter, not to mention her whining and her ignoring me when I call her name. Now that the camp is next week already, I'm not so sure. She's been telling me that she's going to miss me next week. I've been telling her that I'll miss her next week. So, I cherished this little bit of mother-daughter time today. Yes, I will definitely miss my little princess next week.

Scrapbooks

It's nice to see these two enjoying our scrapbooks. Natalie has actually memorized some of the journaling. The other day she saw the first tooth that Anthony lost on one of the pages. I didn't reveal any "secrets" on the page, so I think she still believes--for now. I guess it's a good thing I haven't scrapped the first tooth that she lost yet...

I love seeing Eric smile and hearing him laugh as he looks through the old scrapbooks. He always thinks he's in the pictures, even if it's Anthony or Alex when they were his age. Now he sometimes asks who the people are in the pictures because he's not sure. I haven't done much scrapping in the last few months. Maybe I'll do it again soon...

Sedate 4th

Since I was on call yesterday, I wasn't too energetic this morning. We went to 9AM mass then I promptly fell asleep when we got home, even before I had lunch (and even though I was hungry). After I woke up, Eric and Natalie had a snack, then we went to the pool. Anthony and Alex were only interested in playing their video games, so they stayed home.

Eric likes to "swim across the pool" with either Patrick or me holding him and with him kicking and moving his arms. We like it because he gets tired out more easily this way. We'll take him from one set of steps (in the shallow end) to the other. When we get to the other side, he "rests" by putting his hands together next to his cheek as if he is sleeping. After a short second, he is ready to "swim" back across the pool.

This is a picture of Eric telling me "no more pictures"! He didn't actually say that but when he saw me with my camera, he turned his face away and wouldn't look back even with some coaxing. I don't think he understands that I have to practice for my photography class. *WINK*

We watched a couple of movies this afternoon/evening, one that we had rented from Netflix ("9") and one on cable TV ("X-Men: Wolverine"). Patrick grilled burgers on the grill, a new "recipe" that included barbecue sauce mixed inside the burger. He even provided crackers and garlic and herb cheese for appetizers. What a great husband! :)

Patrick had planned on taking the older kids to see fireworks near Six Flags Fiesta Texas, but by the time he realized that the fireworks show started at 9PM, it was too late to go. The kids didn't seem too disappointed. Eric had already put himself to bed a little after 9PM. Natalie and Anthony wanted to go outside and socialize with the neighbors. Alex had already decided that he wanted to stay home and watch fireworks on TV with me.

I was playing around with my camera, as is the norm these days, and I took this picture of Alex while we were watching one of the movies. I've been kidding with him that he has "Justin Bieber" hair, just because it's something that some comedians have joked about lately on TV. In case you don't know, Justin Bieber is an "overnight teen sensation" who got a record deal after his YouTube music videos became popular. He has the same hairstyle as a lot of boys nowadays--long and in their faces. Alex hates it when I tell him he has "Justin Bieber hair". He says, "Justin Bieber's voice is higher than mine and he's 16!" He also says, "A lot of people have hair like this, Mama!"

So, we didn't do too many traditional 4th of July stuff today. If I had been more awake this morning, I would have at least made the kids all wear red, white, and blue and taken a picture. Oh well, maybe tomorrow...

Haircut Day

Taking a photography class has really made me dislike the photos that I get from my point-and-shoot camera so much more. This is a picture of my big boys playing Planets vs. Zombies on the iPad while Eric is getting his hair cut. Anthony and Alex LOVE this game and they were excited about teaching their father how to play. Natalie hasn't played the game but she likes to tell people who are playing the game how to play it. Eric likes to hum the tune that plays in the background while the game is playing.

All of the kids got haircuts this morning. I let the boys decide when to get their hair cut this summer instead of me automatically making an appointment for them every 4-6 weeks. They finally decided to get their hair cut this week after 2 1/2 months! *GASP* Natalie has been asking to get her hair cut, but since she is trying to "grow out" her hair, she didn't mind waiting so they could all go at the same time. Eric gets his hair cut at a different place (where he can ride on Lightning McQueen while getting his hair cut) and he did so well that it only took 10-15 minutes. No tears or tantrums this time. He's getting so grown up!

After Eric's haircut, we all went to see Toy Story 3 as a family. We don't see many movies at the theatre and now we remember why. It cost $42 for matinee movie tickets. Ouch! We all enjoyed the movie, though, and Eric sat very still for the whole movie, very much unlike his big sister did at this age. He did sit on my lap or Patrick's lap the whole time, but he didn't wiggle much at all. We think that meant that he loved the movie too.

Summer Shows

We really need more seating in our living room. Here we're all crammed onto the couch to watch a DVR tape of Wipeout. Patrick usually sits in his La-Z-Boy while the rest of us sit on the couch. It's not very comfortable and one or more of us usually ends up on the floor or on the stairs. Still, I love watching TV with the whole family.

We've been watching movies rented from Netflix like "Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" and "Aliens in the Attic". We've also been watching TV shows like "Wipeout" and "Mythbusters". We've also started watching a new kids' mystery-type show called "Unnatural History" which involves some teenagers that go to high-school inside a museum and stumble upon and then solve somewhat historical based mysteries. Alex keeps hoping that ABC will start airing a show called "Superstars" again this summer. It's a reality show where celebrities and athletes compete against each other and it was fun to watch last summer, but I don't think they'll put this one on this summer.

I started taking a photography class that started last week and that will continue until the end of August, so I've been practicing with my camera--a LOT. I should have probably read my camera manual by now, after owning this camera for a few years, but I'm more of a hands-on learner. I took this picture tonight (and many others) and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I didn't even edit this one at all. I finally figured out about the white balance on my camera (without reading the manual *WINK*) and some of the other settings so that I could take this picture without a flash. Yay me!

Don't Underestimate Alex

Alex has been joking about all of the reports on Hurricane Alex. He loves the lines on the TV screen that say "Don't Underestimate Alex" and jokes about how all of those reporters are trying to "track" him and talking about how "strong" he is. I couldn't resist taking a picture of him in front of our TV during the local newscast.

Patrick and Alex are always butting heads. They just don't see eye to eye on a lot of things. In many ways, they seem to be alike. Both are a bit stubborn and won't change their opinions so easily. Both love playing games, although obviously, Patrick's grown-up sense of responsibility usually takes over while Alex's immaturity is still apparent. They're very different in a lot of ways, of course. One of the ways was causing us some trouble this morning. Alex tends to ask for a lot of things, and we might agree to all of them, but when we finally say "no", it doesn't matter how many things we already said "yes" to, he automatically makes it seem like we never say "yes". Hopefully he'll outgrow this and realize how lucky he is as he matures.

Alex has been pretty obsessed with video and computer games this summer. Because of our discussion with him this morning (see above), we told him he couldn't play with any electronics today. He found other things to do. He actually played with Eric. He actually did his chores. He actually asked to go to the pool instead of complaining that the rest of us wanted to go to the pool and he didn't. We'll see if he still remembers our discussion later this week.

Home Improvements

After all of this time we've lived here, we finally put some new plants in the front and back yards. It's hard to imagine exactly what it will all look like once these little plants "grow up", but I'm hoping for the best. It's going to be better than what it used to look like.

This picture shows a view of the fountain area as well as the front of the house. I have some other closeups of some of the plants but I didn't post them here. We put a couple of magnolia trees in the front, just because Patrick and I both like the way they look. I'm hoping that it will all look better when the plants get bigger.

This is a view of our backyard from the street that runs on the side of the house. This is a larger area with more plants so I'm able to imagine the final result a little better than I can for the areas in the front. We figure that we can also always add and change plants later. We had some really heavy rains last night so the ground was nice and moist for removing the old plants and adding new ones today.

We're also trying to improve the inside as well as the outside. Our hall closet was getting out of control again. The kids seem to store shoes there and then forget to remove the ones they've outgrown. At least we finally found Eric's sandals that I bought him this spring. We'll see how long it stays neat in there.

Speaking of Eric, I couldn't resist taking a picture of this sleepyhead. He fell asleep while eating his Easy Mac dinner. He kept trying to stay sitting up but his little head kept bobbing forward and sideways and every which way. Every time his head would move, however, he would wake up a little. I thought he might want to go to bed so I kept asking him if he was finished with dinner. To that, he kept answering an emphatic "NO!" I had Alex video the incident and Anthony ended up posting the video to Facebook. It was hilarious! Despite Eric's protests, I finally just moved him upstairs so I could wash him up and change him into his nightclothes. Unfortunately, after a few minutes in bed, he woke up completely.

Championship Meet Results

I'm going to list out Natalie's Championship Meet results, not so I can brag (although I'm quite proud of her) but so I can record them for later:

Freestyle Relay (2:06.48) - Her team got fifth place. Interestingly, for her other three meets this summer, she swam with three different girls on a freestyle relay team. For some reason she was placed with the younger (and slower) team for this meet, but the other team got disqualified. Although I find that disqualification surprising, this is just affirmation of my belief that God has a reason for everything. If Natalie had been on the team that she had been on, she might have been disqualified. We were so proud of her because she gained pretty significant ground during her leg of the race (third leg).

Freestyle - Natalie got ninth place which I'm proud of for two reasons. She beat her "seed time" (23.33 sec vs. 24.47 sec) by over a second and all of the other swimmers who placed before her were eight-years-old except for one other seven-year-old.

Backstroke (28.14 sec) - Natalie tied for fifth place.

Breaststroke - This was the one she was most concerned about since it's her newest stroke. She got ninth place, which was last place. That's quite a bit slower than she swam last week (42.93 vs. 37.57 sec) but we're happy that she did the stroke correctly and didn't get disqualified.

We were at the natatorium from around noon to 4:30PM. There were four swim teams in our division and apparently ours "won" the meet. Even though there was a lot of waiting and her usual friends weren't there to play with in between races, Natalie loved it.

A Calm Saturday

For the first time in a number of weeks, we didn't have a swim meet or anything to get up early for on Saturday morning. Of course I was on call last night so I did get up early, but when I got home, everyone was still there either sleeping or playing quietly (Eric and Natalie). I decided to go ahead and make the traditional chocolate chip banana pancakes and turkey bacon. Here Eric is staring intently at the bag of chocolate chips on the counter. He looked so cute with his head on his folded arms that I had to take a picture.

He has been so attached to this stuffed dog lately. I posted another picture on this blog earlier in the week. He carries M the dog everywhere. Here, Anthony put the dog on the sofa so she could "watch" Eric eat some lunch. The dog totally looks like she's watching him, doesn't she?

Eric has also been doing more things "by myself", from picking out and putting on his clothes, to getting his own milk cup from the refrigerator. If we try to help he gets upset. Here he decided to get his own cheese stick while I was cutting up his hotdog. I took a picture as future proof of his climbing into the refrigerator. I really only mind when he gets into the freezer because he's not very fast and I'm worried that everything will defrost. We're encouraging the independence up to a point. I just wish he would be independent-minded enough to use the potty by himself!

Three of the four kids had friends over today. Here Natalie is reading with her friend from down the street. AR's mom and I joked about how we paid $100 (swim team fee) for our kids to meet each other, even though they just live around the corner. They have family in Mexico and they'll be leaving for a 3 or 4 week visit on Tuesday. Natalie has been trying to play with AR a lot before she leaves.

What else did we do today--watch the World Cup of course! We were disappointed that Ghana defeated the US today, but it was still fun to watch the game. Anthony's good friend AO spending the night. At the time I took this picture, Alex also had a friend AE who was sitting out of view of this photo.

Tonight Patrick and I went out to celebrate our anniversary. We went to the Lodge Restaurant that we've gone to for the past couple of anniversaries. Our actual anniversary was last Sunday but because of Father's Day/ Alex's birthday, we moved the celebration to tonight. I took pictures of all of the entrees this time (except for the one I forgot) and I'll try to post that in the next day or two. Tomorrow Natalie has her last swim meet of the summer.

Summer Kid Activities

I don't think I've talked about the various activities the kids have this summer, so I'm just going to summarize them here:

Anthony has soccer "strength and conditioning" from 7-8:30AM Monday to Thursday for this week and next week. He actually wanted to get up that early! He also wants to have a few private training sessions with his club soccer coach. Then, starting July 12 from 7:30-3PM for three weeks (M-Th) he'll be a "camp counselor" at his school. That's the freshman camp that he went to last year except that he will actually be helping out this time. He is required to volunteer for 30 hours per school year and he doesn't have any hours recorded yet, so this will allow him to catch up a bit.

Alex really doesn't have anything scheduled yet. He has a club soccer practice next Monday and a couple in July. Both older boys have club soccer practices starting in August.

Natalie has had swimming in May and June, as I've so frequently mentioned. She has also had group piano lessons in June. That means that her lessons are 1 1/2 hours long once a week and she has lessons at the same time as other kids. They play duets and do flash cards together and such. She doesn't have lessons in July and then she picks up again with her individual lessons in August. She has had Vacation Bible School this week from 9-12 every day with a neighborhood friend of hers. She's really been enjoying the crafts and games they play.

Eric was going to "school" (aka daycare) twice a week until school ended. Since the older kids were going to be home, we thought he would rather stay at home with them. He doesn't have any other activities scheduled as of yet.

Bug Bites!

I'm going to apologize for this gross picture, but Eric has had quite a large amount of bug bites on his legs in the last couple of days. They started out small although very plentiful, but yesterday we noticed these huge erythematous areas around each of them. He doesn't seem to be bothered by them so Patrick and I don't want to call attention to them (at least in front of him) and that's why I took this picture while he was sleeping, but he must be rubbing his legs on his sheets when he's sleeping or something to make them expand so much. Oh, and by the way, we put bug spray on him whenever he's outside for any length of time, but because this is so bad, we're wondering if we should put it on him in the morning and throughout the day even when he's going to be inside the house? My poor baby! :(

Little Obsessions

I've posted many things about Eric and Natalie. I don't often post about Alex. Ever since school ended, this boy has been almost obsessed with video games. He has been constantly on the PS3, the iPad, or the computer/Facebook. We've been pretty lenient with all of them but this afternoon, Patrick and I said, "That's enough", or at least for today. He was mopey after that, wondering what else he could do. He got this toy gun and started playing with it.

This little boy saw me taking a picture of his brother and asked me to take a picture of his stuffed dog. Natalie received this stuffed dog from her school bus driver as a birthday present (ahead of time). She gave it to Eric and he named it after her good friend M who Patrick and I are convinced he has a crush on. ;)

When Alex left his gun on the sofa so he could get a second dessert (we didn't allow it--he's been a little obsessed with dessert lately too), Eric of course decided to pick it up and play with it. What is it about boys that makes them gravitate towards playing with guns? Eric's favorites are Alex's gun that shoots foam discs and any kind of water gun.

Speaking of water, we went to the Six Flags waterpark this afternoon. Today was a day off for me, and it was nice to have some fun with the family. It's back to work again tomorrow.

My Little Fish

I've talked too much about Natalie's swimming already, but I didn't have anything else to take a picture of for my picture for today, so here's another photo of Natalie swimming. That yellow thing between her legs is a sponge that her coach used to train her to keep her legs together while swimming the breaststroke. He only worked with her and a boy about her age on the breaststroke, so she got lots of attention today.

I feel very proud whenever I see her on the starting block. She looks so good, like she really knows what she's doing--until she actually dives from the starting block and then I realize that she's only seven, because she sort of just falls in the water. Her start isn't as polished (yet) like those swimmers you see on the Olympics, not that I expect that at this point, of course. Even though it was unbearably hot and humid (I almost said "impossibly hot and humid"), I really enjoyed watching her swim. She just makes it looks so easy, and when she looks over at me to see if I'm watching, I get a warm feeling (in a good way this time) and I give her a big smile back. :)

Father's Day 2010

I already posted about our early morning activities. Well, around 10:30, I took all the kids with me to Target, their favorite store, so that Patrick could relax at home while watching one of the World Cup Soccer games (Italy vs. New Zealand 1-1). We came home and had lunch, then we went to the pool. After coming home to watch the DVR tape of the Brazil vs. Ivory Coast (3-1) game, we went to Patrick's favorite restaurant, El Mirasol. After dinner, we came home and watched the new Cartoon Network series, "Unnatural History" that the kids have taken a liking to. Patrick prefers low-key celebrations and I think he was pretty happy with how we celebrated today. :)

I ended up taking a few photos of the kids individually with their father, mostly because I couldn't get them to come together for another group photo, although I'm pretty pleased with the one above. This one is of Patrick with Anthony in the office. I made a comment to them about how I wanted to document the two of them sitting next to each other while playing games on Facebook.

This photo and the others below were taken at El Mirasol and at home. I think they show how happy Patrick is with each of his children. He told them how each of them is very different from the others and that he learned a lot from each of them. I know he thinks he's a pretty lucky father. :)

Buddy Bucks

This morning, Eric and Natalie went with me to the grocery store for the traditional Sunday morning doughnuts. Usually Patrick makes the run, but since it's Father's Day, I took my turn. Both kids were already up, of course. They helped me pick out the doughnuts, then when we checked out, Natalie asked for some HEB Buddy Bucks. Buddy Bucks are something our local grocery chain gives to kids. They can play on these machines for free. The machines give out stickers with a certain amount of points. When they collect enough points, they can trade them in for free stuff. After they got their stickers, we got a couple of free balloons that they always have near the checkout lines. Natalie picked a red one and Eric picked a blue one. There were suckers tied on the ends to weigh them down. I had to smile as we were leaving the store. I had two very happy kids and a pleasant trip to the store. :)

A Swimmer Just Like Her Papa

I've probably taken too many photos of Natalie with KD, but I like to show how much bigger some of the eight-year-olds are than my little Natalie. The eight-year-olds are of course, her competition in all of her races. She really held her own today, though.

Here she is swimming in the 25 meter Breaststroke. She placed fifth overall out of five swimmers. She came very close to getting fourth place and she is only one out of two breaststroke swimmers in our neighborhood. The other swimmer is KD in the above picture. Patrick and I think she is doing great for having only learned breaststroke a couple of weeks ago.

Some other boring facts (or at least boring to other people who are not her parents):

Girls 7-8 25 Freestyle-- She got 6th place. She was fourth out of the eight freestyle swimmers in our neighborhood. The three ahead of her are 8 years old.

Girls 7-8 25 Backstroke-- She got 5th place. She was second out of the seven backstroke swimmers from our neighborhood.

Girls 8 and under 100 Freestyle Relay-- Her relay team got 2nd place, but they only missed 1st by 0.05 seconds Natalie gained on the third leg.

She beat her previous race times by as much as five seconds (that was in the breaststroke).

When I told her about all of the above, Natalie looked so pleased with herself. She is really excited about swimming and we'll be checking into year-round swim teams soon. Next Sunday, she swims in the "Championship Meet", which is a swim meet with all of the other swim teams in our group. I really love that she loves swimming so much and Patrick, having coached and having been a competitive swimmer, loves that one of his children finally loves swimming too.

Alex's 11th Birthday

Today, Alex turned 11. Patrick got some muffins for breakfast and Alex got to play as many video games as he wanted. I even let him "control" who got to play with the iPad, although after his friends got here, he either played with the PS3 or he wasn't playing video games. He wanted to open presents this morning, so here he is with one of the World Cup Soccer jerseys that he got from his Aunt M. He wore it during the USA vs. Slovenia game, then he changed into the Spain jersey because he preferred its red color. He said he preferred Spain except for if they went head-to-head with the US.

I missed the USA game because I took Natalie to swim team practice. I took Eric with me to the playground, but after a few swings and slides, he wanted to go home. He loves to play at the playground, but Patrick reasoned that this little boy was plain tuckered out from his late bedtimes and early risings lately. Here he is at the pool (which was the start of Alex's party--more on that later). He wouldn't even look at me when I was trying to take a picture. I thought he looked cute in his goggles, especially since he was even wearing them while eating a snack.

With the goggles on, however, he let Patrick and me take him "swimming" across the pool. Basically, I wouldn't move forward unless he was kicking his legs so he could "swim" across the pool. Sometimes he would purposely stop kicking just so we would stop moving. At the steps he would pretend to "west" (rest) by putting his hands up to his face like he was sleeping. Totally off the subject of Alex's party but too cute!

After we spent a couple of hours at the pool, Alex wanted to go to his favorite ice cream shoppe (and ours), Brindles. Here he is just before he dripped quite a bit of his Dreamsicle ice cream all over his Spain jersey. He wasn't very cooperative with the photo, as usual. Patrick thought it was amusing that we brought 8 kids into the ice cream shoppe for ice cream. Besides Alex's three friends, he invited his friend's little sister, who is a good friend of Natalie's. He figured that Natalie wouldn't be bothering him if she had a playmate.

We let Alex be in charge of what he wanted to do at his party, so after ice cream, we came back home. We watched "Planet 51" then we had pizza for dinner. One of his friends (the one with the little sister) went home around 9PM. His friend doesn't like to sleep over at friend's houses because he doesn't get any sleep. Smart friend. :) Since the movie until now they've been playing on the PS3. It's seems like a perfect party for this 11-year-old!