Second Annual Halloween Party

We were invited to the house of Alex and Natalie's friends for a Halloween party. I'm not sure how many years they've been having this party, but this is our second year of going to it. They did a great job decorating the outside and inside. In this picture, Eric is eating his Chick-Fil-A nuggets while sitting on their "Yellow Brick Road". Their theme was "The Wizard of Oz". Natalie's friend and her mom were witches. Alex's friend was The Tin Man while his dad was The Scarecrow. Their grandmother was Glenda the Good Witch, and their grandfather was The Lion. I just thought it was cool that they all dressed in the same theme.

Patrick and I never used to wear costumes, but last year we did because costumes were "required". Patrick and I got "matching" costumes from Target this year, both in a nautical theme. The lighting wasn't great for photos, so I'll have to get pictures of the costumes on Halloween.

Even though costumes were supposedly "required", Alex wore his usual T-shirt, shorts, and hoodie instead of a costume. Despite that, he got the awards for "Best Boy Costume" and "Most Epic Costume". Here he is, too busy texting to look up for me to take this picture of him with his awards.

Natalie again got the "Funniest Costume" award for her firefighter costume. She got it last year for her doctor costume. I'm not sure any of those awards were appropriately awarded, but they were all awards for the kids and they seemed to have fun with them.

Even though he took a two hour nap today, Eric still looked very tired (see first photo above). Natalie even said she was "ready to go home" at around 8:15pm (after we had only gotten there around 7pm). She doesn't usually ask to go unless she's tired, so we left soon after that. It was a great party, and I hope we get invited again next year. :)

Natalie's First Project

This is Natalie's first project. It's for the Contemporary Festival next week but it's due tomorrow. It turned out pretty well, didn't it? Patrick helped her A LOT. He even bought some music stickers from Target. I was impressed. *WINK*

She picked out the subject and he had her read some items on "Philip Glass". She wrote down the things that she found interesting about him, and that's what Patrick typed up and put on the poster board. She especially loved that Philip Glass wrote the music for several movies and TV shows. Patrick bought the red poster board because he knew that red is Natalie's favorite color. This is one of the few projects in this house that I haven't had any hand in at all. Thank you very much, Sweetie!

Pyramid Update

Remember Alex's Pyramid Project that his mama and papa worked so hard on? He got a "94" on it, which he says is the highest grade that anyone got on it. His project was one of 14 selected as the best in his class. I took a picture of his "Outstanding Pyramid Award" today, but I don't want to post it since it has his school and full name in big letters. I'm so glad "we" did so well on "our" project. :)

Alex also received an award for being one of the "Top 5 Students in English" for the "1st Nine Weeks" grading period. They presented awards for all the core subjects, so Anthony of course had to tease his little brother, "Why didn't you get an award in more than one subject?"

On the subject of projects, Natalie has her first project ever due this week. It's a project for the "Contemporary Festival" that her piano teacher wanted her to enter. She has to do it about something in music from 1900 to the present. With Patrick's help, they chose the composer Phillip Glass and she'll be putting some pictures and other information on a poster board. We're trying to keep it simple for her because otherwise it would be us doing the project, not her. We weren't too crazy about the project part of this Festival (she also has to play a piece that she has memorized), but we figured that this was a low pressure way for her to learn how to do projects. I'll take a picture of that one when she finishes it.

Recent Eric Stories

It's a typical Monday evening, with no new photos. I went to work. The kids went to school. Patrick and Eric had "fun" together. Instead, I'm going to use this picture from this weekend and I'm going to relate a hodgepodge of "stories" from this weekend and from today. Eric loves to look at pictures on the iPad (shown), our phones, the computers, etc. When he looks at pictures, he loves to identify the people in the pictures. We discovered this weekend that he has my sisters, Melissa and Cynthia, mixed up for some reason. Last night he got it right when we asked how Emily's mom was, and then Aly's mom, but we'll see if it sticks.

I also found it interesting that in the pictures that Patrick was in, he said, "That's my Dad." He still calls Patrick "Papa" but I think since the kids and teachers at school will say, "There's your Daddy (or Dad)", he's picked up on that and has conformed. Patrick loves that our older kids still calls him "Papa".

Today while Patrick was going to rest after taking some allergy medication, Eric didn't want to go to bed but wanted to give his new beloved bear to Patrick to sleep with instead. That was sneaky. Later, Eric was with Patrick in bed when he decided to tickle Papa. He obviously remembered that Papa is ticklish under his arms. Patrick didn't trust Eric to be by himself since he had already drawn all over the refrigerator earlier in the day. Of course, this all meant that Patrick didn't get any rest.

I have one more "story" that isn't about Eric. Apparently, Alex has a "girlfriend". She's someone he knows at school that he's been talking and texting with. He asked her to the after school dance (3:30-6pm) at his school that is scheduled for this Friday and I'm told that she told him that she "likes" him. He's changed his Facebook status from "single" to "in a relationship". I wish they would stop growing up so darned fast!

Build-A-Bear Party

My niece Emily had her birthday party yesterday at Build-A-Bear, which is a really cool place for anyone who loves stuffed animals. Since Eric loves stuffed animals more than his siblings ever did, I was sure he would love it, although it didn't start that way at first. The travel and staying at his cousins' house resulted in a boy who really needed a nap by 3:30pm when the party was scheduled. My dear sister Melissa, the "Party Mom" carried him and put him in her lap for a good part of the party. Thanks, Melis!

I had taken Eric to Build-A-Bear a couple of times in preparation for the party. I wanted him to choose a stuffed animal that he wanted and not one that his sister or anyone else wanted. He is still impressionable at this age and usually goes for what his sister wants. After a few changes in his choices, he settled on this blue bear. After a lot of time thinking, he seemed to have made up a name. He said the bear's name was "Dannon". He still pronounces it "Dennen" or "Denna" sometimes, so I'm still not positive about the name. He started "waking up" after we found the soccer outfit for Dannon, complete with soccer ball and shinguards. Before that he couldn't seem to make any choices.

Natalie was more definite in her choices, but instead of changing her mind as to which stuffed animal she wanted, she kept adding to her list instead. As soon as we got into the store before the party, she already wanted one of the "Small Frys" mini-stuffed animals, a monkey she wanted to name "Abby" after one of her friends. Her cousin Aly had told her that she and Emily had the same monkey. They love to match with each other at this age.

When I had taken Eric and Natalie to Build-A-Bear to look at the stuffed animals, she had decided on a panda bear then, and at first she only wanted that little monkey. Well, she couldn't fight the urge and decided she had to have both. She would have been within her spending limit but then she decided she had to have the karate outfit for her panda, just like "Kung Fu Panda". Her cousins got different bears, but they both decided on the wizard costumes. Aly in particular, loved reading the Harry Potter books and wants to dress up as Hermione for her school's "dress as a book character" event this week.

Emily, the birthday girl is turning nine this week. She chose a "candy corn bear" for her stuffed animal. I think she was the trendsetter, because five other girls at her party chose the same bear. Since this is Halloween week, that bear was on sale, which gave each girl that much more money to spend.

To me, Emily has noticeably changed to a young lady instead of a little girl. She has her height from her father and her beauty from her mother. She also has her mother's fashion sense and has definite opinions about her personal style. She reminds me a lot of her mother.

Build-A-Bear doesn't have a party room (although they should) so we headed to the mall Food Court for Chick-Fil-A nuggets, juice, and a cookie cake. Chick-Fil-A is usually a crowd favorite, and Natalie and Eric ate well. It was interesting to watch Eric eat his cookie cake with a fork. He can be quite fastidious!

That napless state caught up with this little boy. He fell asleep on the way back to Melissa and Emily's house. I knew he would awaken as soon as I tried to move him from the car, and since the weather was nice, we stayed in the car for about 15-30 minutes before I tried to move him. Yes, he did wake up as soon as I moved him.

We opened presents there then Natalie spent the night there with her girl cousins. Eric usually sleeps in the girls' room but since they were at Emily's house, he stayed with me in my room. We went to church this morning pretty early and got back home by 1pm. It was a nice weekend with family, as usual, and I left wishing we could live even closer to each other.

Build And Grow

My niece Aly loves to do the free Saturday kids' activities at Lowe's called Build And Grow, so that was our morning activity today. They were making these cool bats. Eric was only interested in watching. My opinionated little girl wanted to place her nail in a place opposite of where I wanted to put it, resulting in two pieces that weren't nailed together because the nail wasn't long enough. She was supposed to go from the opposite direction. You would have thought she would start listening to me after that.

I was holding the wooden pieces together while she stabilized the nail with her left hand and hammered with her right hand. Every so often, she would look over at what her cousin and aunt were doing--while she was still hammering. I must have told her at least 5-10 times to stop hammering when she wanted to look elsewhere. Finally, I just knocked her up on the side of her head hoping she would listen to me. That girl can tune my voice out so easily!

I remember this summer during one of her swim team meets, I called out to her. All her little friends that were around her turned around to look at me, but she kept talking. Her little friends had to tell her that I was calling her. She can totally tune out my voice. *Insert eye roll here.*

Cookie Play

The little ones and I made the trek to visit my family in Houston today. It was such a stressful day at work that the stress of rushing home to pack the car and drive off was nothing in comparison. It's usually challenging to travel with just the little ones. They both sit in the back seat and I can't reach them. The cooler with the drinks and the snack bag are back there too. Eric usually drops something out of reach that he can't seem to live without.

Eric and Natalie argued and made lots of noise for the first hour plus. Then, after they had their snack I encouraged them to play on the iPod Touches. I was able to drive in peace in quiet for a few minutes, anyway. Eric fell asleep for a few minutes right as we were getting close to my sister Cynthia's house.

Cynthia is very good at planning fun kid activities. She took out this "Cookie Play" set with cookie dough that looks like Play-doh. The kids had a blast shaping their "playdoh" cookies. Natalie made single balls of one color each. Nick made a space shuttle. Emily and Aly had combinations of colors. Eric just liked playing with the dough.

The little ones are currently "sleeping" in Aly's room being very loud. I just hope they get enough rest to function tomorrow. They don't get the best sleep here (because of the temptation to play) and it's stressful to drive here without the rest of the family. They have so much fun with family though, that it's totally worth it.

Lego Love

We're already starting to get toy catalogs in the mail. Too many catalogs just clutter up the house, but I like to use them to get ideas of what the kids like. Eric was particularly interested in the Lego catalog, specifically the new Toy Story 3 Duplos and also the Cars-themed ones. He also liked many of the regular-size Lego sets that make transportation vehicles like a big red train, an airplane, a helicopter, etc. The common theme is obviously transportation. The regular-size sets are a bit advanced for him right now (ages 6-12), but I'm sure it'll just be a matter of time before he can build those all by himself.

Learning to Clean Up

I told Natalie not to get her brother all riled up before going to bed and this is what they do, play with swords. Of course, when I tell Eric it's time for bed, he throws himself and his swords to the ground. *SIGH*

They were in the gameroom when this picture was taken. Notice that the gameroom is fairly clean, meaning that you can see the carpet and you can walk around without hurting yourself. That is not usually the case. One of Eric's favorite pastimes is to take one of the kids' games, open it, and play with the contents. He isn't very neat and orderly when he does this. He also doesn't put away one game before opening up the next one. This means that for most of the week, the gameroom is a huge mess. Even if we try to clean it up, as soon as he's left alone, the gameroom is a mess again. When he walks into the gameroom, he almost always says, "The gameroom is a mess!" as he carefully steps around the stuff strewn all over the floor. His siblings are getting tired of cleaning up his messes. Patrick and I are trying to teach him to clean his own messes. Until then, the gameroom will be a mess.

Growing Phases

I was going to post that Patrick went with us to Baskin-Robbins again today for Dollar Scoop Tuesday, but then I realized that just two weeks ago I posted about the other time he came along. Anyone who reads my blog regularly would probably think that we love ice cream, and they would be correct.

Alex loves ice cream too, but he always misses Dollar Scoop Tuesday because of soccer practice on Tuesdays. When he hasn't had soccer and we've gone to Baskin-Robbins, he's opted to stay home a couple of times. When that happens, I tend to look at him and ask what he's done with my "real" son. Last Saturday night, Patrick and I went out to eat with just Eric and Natalie. Anthony was out to dinner with friends, and Alex again opted to stay home. The reason is that he usually wants to play on the PS3. Putting our foot down and making him come with us usually just makes him unhappy we all get in a bad mood. Maybe this is just one of those pre-teen phases when he's trying to separate himself from his family. I hope he outgrows it.

We didn't have to do that tonight, and as anyone can see in the picture above, we were in a silly mood. Patrick was joking with Anthony about how he needs to stand up straight. I'm not sure why he felt like he had to grab Anthony's head to make a point, but I took pictures anyway. I'm still amazed at how tall Anthony is almost on a daily basis. He isn't growing much in height anymore (although he himself is still hoping for another inch or two).

Eric is definitely not tall, but according to his checkups, he is still growing, at least in height. He jumped on our bathroom scale the other night, so I took the opportunity to weigh him. He still weighs only 29 pounds! Chances are that he won't be as tall as his brothers. He has the same "determination" as his brothers, though. The picture above is of him ignoring me because I'm taking pictures of him. I hope this is just a preschooler phase. :)

Panera Bread

One of the nice things about being off during the day (even when I have to work at night) is having lunch with Patrick and Eric. Since it was a beautiful Fall day and Panera Bread has shaded outside seating, plus I've been to Panera Bread only one other time, so we went there for lunch. I had their Asian Sesame Chicken Salad. Patrick had their Cuban sandwich with chicken, ham, and cheese. Eric had the grilled cheese sandwich which included drinkable yogurt and he also had chocolate milk. Patrick also bought some chocolate chip cookies. Eric ate all of his food and was even trying to eat every last crumb of his sandwich (except for the crust).

Eric has been on a "no pictures" kick and he mostly refused to look at me while I had the camera in my hands. I was happy that he looked up this one time and gave me one of his mischievous little grins. Unfortunately I'll have to look at this picture wistfully now that we are currently at home and he is throwing a little fit complete with fake crying. Lunch was enjoyable, anyway!

I updated this post to include one of the pictures I took of him hiding under his "desk" in the office. He was fake crying and I couldn't help myself but I had to document this! Of course now that I'm ignoring him, he slinked off and now he's playing quietly in his Cozy Coupe.

Brooks City Park

We had two games at Brooks City Park this weekend. The field is half an hour away, but unfortunately, we couldn't combine the two trips. Alex's game was on Saturday at 3:30pm and Anthony's game was on Sunday at 10:30am. We've had some bad experiences at these fields for both Alex and Anthony, so we weren't excited about being there. The fields are usually badly managed, with uneven surfaces, long grass, and frequent ant piles. The referees usually either don't call any fouls or their calls seem very one-sided. We were braced for the worst.

Luckily, the worst didn't happen. Sure, there were still problems with the field. I got several ant bites on Saturday even though there were no visible ant piles. They were just everywhere. I wore closed shoes on Sunday and I did okay. Patrick however, stood in an ant pile on Sunday and got 20 bites. The referees for both games still didn't change our preconceived idea about the referees at that field, but at least the teams held their own, for the most part.

For example, see this picture of Anthony with a boy from the other team pushing him from behind? After this photo, the boy ended up pulling Anthony's shirt out quite a bit. It was a minor violation and he didn't really slow Anthony down or impact the ball play, but he got called for a foul. On the other hand, the referee called for a couple of free kicks at the end of the game, one of which resulted in a score for the opposing team. The final score was 2-2. They should have won that game, but at least they didn't lose.

Alex's team ended up losing with a score of 0-1. We were pretty happy with that score because both of their main scorers were missing (one due to a family reunion and one due to an illness)). We were expecting to be crushed. Thankfully, the boys all played well, which frustrated the other team, who were all used to making more goals.

On Saturday, these two didn't have to go to Alex's game because Anthony stayed home with them. They usually prefer to stay home if given the choice. We had to take them with us today (although Alex stayed home to finish homework). I love this picture because they actually look like they're getting along. Notice how Eric's legs are crossed in the same way as Natalie's legs. They're laughing and enjoying themselves. Of course, a few minutes before, they were fighting over the iPad that is on Eric's lap. He didn't want to share with Natalie. Later, when he wasn't playing on the iPad anymore, I let Natalie play. He wanted to play again and I wouldn't let him because he didn't share earlier. He was very vocal in his displeasure at that decision.

It may not seem like it, but this was actually a fairly relaxing weekend. We had to go to Sunday night mass because of the times the games were scheduled. We watched TV together tonight ("No Ordinary Family") and relaxed at home when we weren't at the games. We had a pretty good weekend. :)

Penguin Pajamas

I bought these super cute red penguin pajamas at Gymboree last weekend. Natalie has been saying recently that red is her favorite color plus she has always loved penguins. It doesn't hurt that her grandma loves the color red and penguins too. Eric seems to enjoy wearing pajamas that match his sister's, so I got him his own set. I finally got a picture of them this morning. They got up before dawn--again. Why do they have to be awakened on school days but on the weekends they get up even earlier all by themselves?

Coldstone Coupon

I signed up for birthday coupons from Coldstone Creamery a while back, so every time someone has a birthday (except for Patrick since adults have to sign up separately and he didn't), we go to Coldstone to "use our coupon" for free ice cream. Of course that usually means that we buy ice cream for everyone else, but it's just an excuse to go out. Today was really hectic at work and the coupon expires today (one week after Anthony's birthday), so I wanted to treat everyone to some ice cream.

That meant that Natalie couldn't have any ice cream since having dessert is a privilege and she has no privileges after "the incident". Patrick was going to keep her at home with him because he thought it would be cruel to make her watch everyone else have ice cream and not let her have any. She wanted to go out with us, though, and there was the possibility of visiting Target afterwards, so she went with us.

This is just a picture of Eric telling Anthony what a big ice cream cone he had. :) Since Anthony wanted more ice cream than what the free ice cream coupon was for, I gave the free ice cream to Eric. It included a "mix-in" so I got him a separate container of gummi bears. This was a much bigger helping that he usually gets, so since he chose banana ice cream, one of Alex's favorites, Alex was all over the leftovers.

We didn't end up going to Target. The boys wanted to go to the Gamestop next door and it was already after 8pm, so we headed home. Natalie did pretty well, she didn't look or act deprived or anything, but we still discussed (again) why spitting in someone's face is a bad thing.

As a followup, Alex filled out some paperwork at his school today to officially report the stolen items. We don't expect we'll see those items again, unfortunately.

Disbelief

I got this outfit for Natalie last weekend. I was pleasantly surprised when she picked this outfit out herself, including the frilly skirt and animal print shirt, but I was happy to buy girly clothes for my little girl. She loves this outfit so much that she's worn it twice since we bought it.

So, as I'm looking at this picture of my dainty little girl, I am in disbelief at what this dainty little girl did today. I worked late tonight, so Patrick texted me when Natalie got home and showed him the note from her teacher. Apparently, she spit in a boy's face! I was horrified! She said the boy was listening to her group discuss a project they were working on--that's all! Patrick promptly took away all her privileges including no desserts, but we wondered what more we could do to keep her from doing such a thing again.

At almost the same time I received that text, Patrick also texted me about Alex's backpack being stolen from his locker with his phone, my old iPod, and his house key in it. I was in disbelief again! When Patrick spoke to one of the school administrators this evening about this, the administrator said that Alex was so upset when he told him, that he could barely say his name. When Alex called Patrick about it, he was in tears. Poor Alex! Luckily we have insurance on his phone and Patrick had it turned off immediately, but we felt terrible about Alex having to go through this!

Wendy's

Eric and I brought Natalie lunch at school today. Patrick brought her lunch from Wendy's just last Thursday too, so her friends all talked about how she got lunch from Wendy's again. Her favorite meal right now is Wendy's Spicy Crispy Chicken Nuggets with a Chocolate Frosty, and when she eats that, Eric wants his own order. They both ate all of their nuggets, although Natalie kept asking Eric if she could have some of his since he eats a lot slower than she does. One of her friends really wanted her Frosty and all of them were giggling. She told me that "Wendy's" is what they say when someone "toots". I'd never heard that before, but then I wondered if that was one reason why she liked getting food from Wendy's so much. ;)

A New Lens

I got my new lens today! I wanted to take a picture of the new lens on the camera, but of course, that meant using an inferior camera to take a picture of an awesome lens. ;)

I didn't really have time to take any photos of the kids with my new lens earlier, so I was stuck with Alex, or rather, he was stuck with me. He tends to be an uncooperative little bugger when it comes to photos. Look at that expression. He just wants to look like he's mad, but he wasn't. I interrupted his Dawn of the Dragons game on Facebook. He was trying to squeeze in some game time after soccer and his shower, and before his 8:30pm bedtime. That boy is addicted to Facebook games, that's for sure. He still wants me to sing to him before he goes to bed, which is sweet, and I love it, so I'm going to leave this post short so I can go do that. I'll take more photos tomorrow when I'm off of work and Eric is home.

Starbucks Ritual

I'm on call today so I'm using an old photo from this past week. I've probably taken around 200 photos since the beginning of this month, although by tomorrow I'll have deleted at least almost half of them, so I had plenty to choose from. I took this photo at Starbucks on Friday. Patrick had taken Alex to school with the carpool, and I had taken Anthony to school to allow him to sleep in on his birthday. We were going to need separate cars to go to the Witte Museum for Natalie's field trip anyway, so we met at the Starbucks near Anthony's school.

Eric and I shared a blueberry scone, but he was still hungry and he insisted on having another "cone". He's been eating well lately, and he was eating even the last scone crumbs, so I went ahead and got him something else. I got him a blueberry muffin instead of a scone for variety, though. I think he looks absolutely angelic in this photo, with the sunlight coming in through the window behind him. That wasn't how he acted the rest of the day, but for this moment he was an angel.

Patrick and I have met at this Starbucks about three times now. The other times were when I was post-call just getting off work. We had the option to meet last Thursday when I was post-call but Eric goes to daycare on Thursdays and it just wouldn't have been the same without him running up and greeting me excitedly. The same goes for tomorrow since Eric goes to daycare on Tuedays too. I'll be sad next year when he goes to preschool full time, but for now I have to remind myself to cherish this new little ritual.

Mall Rats

I've been spending a lot of time with the two little ones this weekend. That's usually the case because the older boys tend to do their own thing and hanging out with their mama usually isn't their thing. I've also been going to the mall a lot. I realized this afternoon that I've been to the two nearby malls three times this weekend, one trip each on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Before I go on, I just wanted to comment on this picture of Natalie. She had just gotten her hair cut on Friday and I let her play on my iPhone while we were waiting for the older boys to finish their haircuts. Even though she claims to not be so girly, she still looks pretty girly with her sparkly headband and crossed legs. She even let me buy her a skirt AND a dress on Saturday, but I'll describe that in more detail later this week, hopefully with some pictures.

Eric made himself at home all curled up with my iPad on one of the hairdresser chairs. He was quiet and content, which was key since we spent almost an hour and a half there with the three kids getting their haircuts.

I went to the mall with Eric on Friday after we went to the Witte Museum. I didn't plan to do any shopping there, but we went because I knew I could get him to leave the museum without too much fussing if I offered to take him to the mall to eat. I didn't want to eat in the food court so I took his Chick-Fil-A with us "to go" and I picked up some Chinese Chicken Salad at The Cheesecake Factory (one of my favorite dishes). My main purpose in going to the mall was to pick up some Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake to have for Anthony's birthday. When he and Patrick got home from the movie on Friday, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Anthony and then had some cheesecake. Everyone had a piece except for Alex who isn't really into cheesecake.

On Saturday, I took Natalie and Eric to the mall so I could redeem my Gymbucks at Gymboree. I was very surprised when Natalie let me buy one of their Christmas dresses. I was also happy that Eric agreed to let me buy the matching boys' shirt for him to wear. I'll try to get them to put the outfits on later this week so I can get a picture. I'm sure they'll look wonderful. We also got a few other things for Natalie. She's quite the shopper and she doesn't take long to decide whether or not she likes something. I like that about her. We certainly don't need another indecisive shopper (like me) in this family. She was a really big help to me with Eric being cranky. She's not usually so helpful, but I really appreciated her on this trip.

Today, Natalie, Eric and I went to the "outside" mall or LaCantera for the main purpose of dropping off Anthony. As soon as Anthony finished his game (which they lost 1-2), the four of us rushed home so Anthony could take a shower, and then we took him to the mall to meet up with his friends. Patrick was still at the soccer field with Alex for Alex's game (which they unfortunately lost 1-6). Anthony's plan was to meet his friends at the mall and then Patrick would take all of them out to Olive Garden for dinner and then everyone would get picked up except for Anthony's best friend who is going to spend the night at our house tonight.

This isn't the best photo, but it was the only one Eric would let me take. As you can see, he is holding his burp cloth against his face while he was walking around at the mall. Yes, he was tired and cranky. Yes, most of the time he rode in the stroller. Still, we managed to do a little shopping and then had dinner in the food court. Natalie got to shop at her favorite store, Bath and Body Works. I bought her some of the Midnight Pomegranate bath and shower gel that she has been relentlessly bugging me to get for her.

Three mall visits in three days--I think that's a record for me. I have a 24-hour call tomorrow, so I guess I felt like I needed to "go out" this weekend to make up for being cooped up in the hospital all day and night tomorrow.

Watching Eric Eat

I was on call last Wednesday, so Patrick and I took the opportunity to go out for lunch (since I didn't have to go to work until 3pm). The weather was beautiful, so we went to Paesano's 1604 because of their nice patio sitting area. They also have a couple of water features that include fish, and soon after we sat down, they gave us some fish food so Eric could feed the fish. Whenever we go to this restaurant with the family, Natalie and Eric love feeding the fish. Anyone can tell when they see the fish that they eat pretty well (they're all pretty large). This time, Eric decided that he should feed himself some fish food too. Soon after I took this photo, I had to tell Patrick (who was behind Eric and couldn't see that he was putting fish food in his mouth) to make Eric spit out the fish food. I was too alarmed to take any photos of the event.

Eric ate pretty well (some of Patrick's noodles) so we allowed him to share our desserts. He was only interested in the red sauce (raspberry maybe?) that was swirled all over my plate under the actual dessert. If he had thought of it and I had let him, he probably would have literally licked that plate clean. He had his hand on his head and he was concentrating on that plate so much that Patrick and I were just fascinated just watching him. He's been eating more than usual lately and when that happens, we always hope that he is about to have a growth spurt.

Patrick has been saying that next school year he'll be putting Eric in preschool full-time (since he'll be four years old), so when I'm off of work next year, I won't be able to have lunch and play with the little man like I can right now. All the more reason to savor these moments right now.

Happy Birthday, Anthony!

This post will end up being posted on Saturday the 9th because I was too tired to do another post last night. It took Anthony a while to organize his birthday celebrations. Tonight he went to see the movie "The Town" with some of his school friends. It's rated "R" so Patrick had to go to the movie with them. Even though Anthony got a camera for his birthday last year, he barely uses it at all, especially since he got his iPhone this summer. Patrick took this photo with his iPhone, after a little request by me. I hope Anthony realizes that he will appreciate these types of photos a few years from now when he and his buds go to different schools across the country. He has another gathering with a different set of friends on Sunday.

I still remember when I could hold this "little" boy on one forearm because he was so small and light. I can't believe my baby is now fifteen!

First Field Trip

Natalie's class went on a field trip to the Witte Museum here in town. Patrick usually likes to volunteer to chaperone, but he usually can't when the trip falls on a Friday because he has Eric at home on those days. I was off of work today, so the timing worked out perfectly. I wanted to be able to "hang out" with Natalie's class too, and since we have a family membership, I took Eric with me. At first Eric was out of sorts. He wanted to see the dinosaur exhibit that he must have seen the last time he was there with Patrick, but they didn't have that exhibit anymore. Instead they had a bug exhibit that had giant models of bugs (called "Backyard Monsters"), which Eric emphatically did not want to see. That meant that we really didn't get to "hang out" with Natalie since her class started out with that exhibit. We were up in the "HEB Science Treehouse" when Patrick texted me to tell me that Natalie was going to ride the "Skycycle". Eric was acting pretty tired and withdrawn up until that point. He really enjoyed watching his sister from the window and he became more interactive with the hands-on exhibits after that.

Because of the window, I couldn't frame the photo any looser, to include the bottom part (the counterweight) of the "Skycycle". The Witte website describes it as follows:

The counterweight on the bottom of the cycle lowers the center of gravity making the cycle stable. The weight below the cycle is heavier than you are and pulls the cycle firmly on to the rail.

In other words, Natalie was well balanced on that tightrope.

Eric spent quite a bit of time building and stacking these cool shaped wood blocks. He kept wanting to stand the circular ones upright, sometimes getting frustrated when they wouldn't stay upright. I told him that was because the sides weren't flat enough. How else was I supposed to explain to a three-year-old why a flat circular object will not stand up on its side?

To my chagrin, Eric spent a lot of time with each exhibit. We were on the second floor of that HEB Science Treehouse for a long time. Natalie even came up there for a short while before going outside again, but I couldn't convince Eric to leave. Finally when we did, it was because I kept saying "outside" and "water" and showed him the exhibit I wanted to go to. When we got out there we spent a lot of time out there. This photo is of an "Archimedes Screw" that can carry water uphill. Eric seemed to be putting his whole weight into turning that handle, although when I did it, it was so easy. Notice the tongue hanging out of his mouth too. He spent a lot of time just watching the water moving from one "machine" to another, including a water wheel.

There were a few of these binoculars for people to be able to see the river and wildlife down below. Of course Eric was too short to be able to reach them, but he insisted on doing this himself. He only let me lift him up once to look through the binoculars, and that was to see some baby ducks in the water below. Otherwise, I wondered what he could be looking at up in the sky. We ended up on the third floor with some musical pipes and a metal drum before I convinced him that we should go eat somewhere else (since they didn't sell any food at the museum). He kept insisting that he wanted to eat at the museum. It was noon by then, we had been at the museum for three hours and I was hungry!

I almost forgot to post this picture of the cool two story tree house. The description from the website reads as follows:

In the water works area, a real two-story treehouse, created by Carlos Cortes, is made with concrete to simulate wood. The treehouse overlooks the San Antonio River and is connected to the main H-E-B Science Treehouse by elevated walkways. Outdoor water exhibits feed directly from the San Antonio River and include an Archimedes screw, diversion gates and water wheels.

The Pyramid Project

Today, Alex agreed to let me take a photo of him holding his pyramid project before he turned it in today. Of course that meant that I had to take the picture before Patrick took him to school and the light just isn't very good at 7:30AM. I got one photo of him with a glum face--his usual expression for photos nowadays. He got a text while I was taking the picture and after he read it, he was going to give me that glum face again, but I decided that this photo is more true to life. Not only is he looking down at his phone reading a text, but what he is wearing is also a "slice of life" of what he is like right now. I just bought this jacket and shirt for him this past weekend from Target. He likes to wear clothing that is loose for him and he picked these out totally on his own. I was elsewhere at Target getting other things.

The pyramid itself is nothing really special to look at, at least in my opinion. I posted a photo of him with the first version, made out of cardboard, a couple of weeks ago. This one seemed like it was the same size, based on the templates he brought home to cut out the base and sides, but he insisted that the dimensions were "different", whatever that means. In Science they calculated the dimensions of the pyramid and made the templates. In Math they wrote down the calculations that they did in Science (I'm not sure what the difference there is, but I'm basically quoting Alex). In Social Studies they made the warning signs in hieroglyphics and talked about the three items he placed inside the pyramid that a pharaoh would bring to his afterlife. It was convenient that Alex owns old "toys" that he used for the artifacts, a plastic ring that looked like something a pharaoh would wear, a weapon, and a Lego person he wrapped up like a mummy that was supposed to signify a favorite "servant". Apparently, a pharaoh sometimes killed a favorite "servant" so that he could retain the services of the servant even in the afterlife. I forgot to take a picture of the stuff inside the pyramid. I'll have to remember that later. In English, they wrote a myth, which isn't directly related to the pyramid project, but still along the same lines.

This time Alex chose foam board that was 3/16" thick for the base and sides of the pyramid. We found some sand-colored foam board that he wanted to use so he wouldn't have to cover the sides with paper, although the inside was still colored white. He used his templates to trace the sides and base and I cut the pieces out using an Exacto knife. At first Alex put the pyramid together with only tape and with the white core showing. Patrick and I, being "Type A" parents, thought this would not do at all, so I tried to bevel the edges with the Exacto knife, not an easy task, so the pyramid would fit together without the white core showing. That didn't work well, so Patrick got out his power sander, which worked very well. As you can see from the picture above, the pyramid came together pretty well after that. Patrick and I pointed out to Alex that his way was probably adequate, but we wanted to make it just a little bit better (and satisfy our obsessive-compulsive tendencies.)

I have lots to post about this week so I might have to double up on a couple of days. I started trying to separate my topics for easier reading which has resulted in more posts. Today is Anthony's birthday. I realized that I didn't get any photos of him on his actual birthday, so I'll have to make up for that this weekend.

Big'z Burger Joint

It's been such beautiful weather here, so we've tried to do a lot of outdoor activities, including eating out. This is pretty much the only time of year we like to do this. On Sunday we decided to try out a place called Big'z Burger Joint. Anthony has had a soccer team get-together there before, but the rest of us didn't get to go.

They have a large patio area (covered and uncovered) right next to a big play area covered in turf. Interestingly, we've had to convince Eric to go outside to play recently, which is odd because he used to be the one who always wanted to go outside. I had to tell him I would go with him before he decided to play with some of the available play equipment. After he got started playing with one of the footballs and throwing a frisbee with his siblings, he had a blast.

He looks a little funny in this picture, but Patrick had just tried to show him how to throw a frisbee, but he still tried throwing it overhand like a ball. Of course that meant the frisbee didn't go very far, but at least he could grab it again easily since it would fall just beyond his feet.

At first Eric threw the football like he threw the round balls--over his head with both hands. Anthony showed him how to throw it with one hand and he got the hang of it. He wasn't great at it, of course, but enough to play a decent game of catch. Catching was another matter. Here I happened to take a picture while his eyes were still open and his arms were extended. Usually he would end up closing his eyes and retracting his arms just before the ball got to him. He still had a lot of fun, though.

This weather is supposed to last all week. I really hope it holds up for the soccer games this weekend. We started out expecting two games for each of the boys' teams for a total of four games. A couple of them were rescheduled, so we'll see what happens.

A Manic Morning

This is Alex's project that we were working on this weekend and that is due today. Notice that I only took a picture of the project and not Alex with the project. I was trying to take a picture of him with his project, but I waited until about four minutes before he was supposed to leave for school. He couldn't be in the picture because he was looking for his school binder--the one that has everything in it. It has his notes, handouts, assignments, etc.

Patrick and I have told him many times to put the binder in his backpack. His backpack only has a few items in it, his phone, keys, and I don't know what else, but his backpack is very empty. There is plenty of room for a big binder. He has refused to put his binder in the backpack, preferring to carry it separately. Patrick and I helped him look for the binder. We couldn't find it anywhere in the house or the van. Finally, about 8 min after Alex was supposed to leave for school, Patrick realized that he was supposed to be the one to bring Alex and his friend to school. Usually when he is the one to bring them to school, he leaves five minutes early. That put them almost 15 minutes behind schedule plus, since Anthony wasn't ready for school yet (since Patrick thought he would be able to bring Anthony separately and at a later time since Anthony's school doesn't start until 20 minutes after Alex's school starts), I had to take Anthony to school with Eric in tow.

We still haven't found the binder. I hope it was either in Alex's locker at school or he left it on the bus and they have it somewhere we can pick up later. Meanwhile, I had to put Alex's name on his project. He hadn't done that yet. In the confusion, he almost forgot it.

Oh, and this project was supposed to incorporate at least three "simple machines". There is a "trap door" a the top (machine #1) that the little Lego person is supposed to fall through and land in the wheeled cart (machine #2) and go down the ramp (machine #3). The end of the cart is supposed to give way and fling the Lego person down into the "spikes" (which is actually an old baby brush). At least I think I've named the parts correctly. Patrick and I thought he could done a more elaborate job. We prefer that the kids go above and beyond what they need to do, to show some effort in their work. We're "Type A" like that. We're hoping he gets a good grade on it, because he did work pretty hard this weekend. I just hope he finds his binder.

Dollar Scoops with Papa

I worked late, so I didn't get home until around 6:30pm tonight. I wasn't sure I wanted to go to Baskin-Robbins for Dollar Scoop Tuesday, but Natalie and Eric were so excited about it, and Anthony needed a study break, so we went. Patrick even decided to go, just to hang out with us (he didn't get any ice cream). Eric always gets up on the rail in front of the ice cream containers so he can see the ice cream without having to be carried. I'm usually trying to juggle trying to order while taking photos, so I usually don't take photos while we're ordering, but Patrick was with us today.

Natalie and Eric both had the Rainbow Sherbet this time. Anthony had his usual World Class Chocolate in a waffle cone. His two dollar scoops and then the waffle cone for $1 costs as much as the rest of us combined. Natalie finished her ice cream very quickly and she then proceeded to help her little brother with his ice cream. Luckily, he willingly shared, he even fed her some from his spoon. She was getting just a little bit greedy, though.

After we had ice cream, Eric and Natalie ran outside for a bit. The weather has been gorgeous here this week and I enjoyed that little bit of outside time. Alex was at soccer practice tonight, so he missed out. I told Patrick that it isn't the ice cream that I enjoy during Dollar Scoop Tuesdays as much as interacting with the kids and watching them enjoy their ice cream and then running around outside playing. Even after a long day, it was worth dragging myself back out for this.

A Lola Birthday

My mom won't be with us for Anthony's birthday at the end of this week, but she brought his present with her this weekend. She also brought a present from my sister Melissa and her daughter Emily, (Emily even made a cute birthday card with her "trademark" on the back) so we had a separate birthday celebration so she and my dad could see him open his gifts.

Since we were gone to various activities yesterday and my mom stayed home with the little ones, she made a brownie cake and topped it with some chocolate pudding. Natalie is always ready to help in the kitchen and Eric always loves watching anything going on in the kitchen so they both "helped" their Lola decorate the cake.

The kids wanted to put sprinkles on the cake. Unfortunately, Natalie used the big hole and a large amount of sprinkles poured out all at once. She tried to redistribute the sprinkles, but would have been tedious. Instead they just put more sprinkles on the cake. It was cute to see her pour some sprinkles into Eric's hand and he would dump everything in his hand onto the cake.

We didn't get a chance to go to church on Saturday as per our usual, because of Anthony's soccer game, but we did go out to eat at El Mirasol, which was Anthony's choice. After dinner we came home to have some of Anthony's cake. He didn't mind the extra sprinkles at all.

Someone suggested using the birthday party hats that were left over from a previous party (I think they were even from one of Alex's parties a long time ago). Eric and Natalie both loved wearing the hats and everyone else was a good sport about it too. Anthony broke two straps trying to put the hat on himself so Patrick ended up putting the hat on him. He had to reach up quite a bit to be able to put the hat on his much taller son's head.

We sang "Happy Birthday" and then Anthony cut his own rather large piece of brownie cake. With all of the pictures I was taking, Mom asked if she and Dad could have a picture with Anthony. Of course I was willing to take a picture! Look at how much taller Anthony is.

Eric "helped" Anthony open his presents. Mom and Dad got him some shirts and shoes and a travel shaver--his first shaver ever. Melissa and Emily got him some nice shirts, with specific instructions to wear the T-shirts under the button-down shirts that were supposed to be worn unbuttoned. That's my sister--always looking out to make sure my family is fashionable and presentable. Thanks, sis!

My parents left this morning as the rest of us were heading off to church. I grew up wishing my grandparents lived in town like my friends' grandparents. They got to do fun stuff with their grandparents all the time. Because of all of the kids' activities, it's tough to try to visit my parents, and it's getting harder for my Dad to travel, so it's tough for them to visit us often too. I really cherish these times we do have together.

The Bribe

This picture may not mean anything to most people, but to me it shows Alex being more aggressive. There's a fine line between being aggressive on the field but still maintain control and be sportsmanlike and it's been tough trying to teach them that. Alex can be aggressive, but usually only during practice or when he plays against Anthony (for fun). Alex's coach has even told him to play like he was playing against Anthony, but still doesn't. Today, Patrick and I decided to "bribe" him.

Alex has two projects due next week, one on Wednesday, and one on Friday. He did not inform us of this until Thursday night, after having three early dismissal days from school for parent-teacher conferences when he basically had three "free" days to play video games. Because of this, his game privileges were suspended until he completes his projects.

At first, Patrick offered Alex $5 per goal scored (by him), but that didn't get much rise out of him. What he really wanted was video game time, so after some thought, we offered him a half-hour of game time for every goal he scored. Even though his game privileges were suspended for the weekend, he could still "earn" some game time. One of his team's key defenders was not at the game, however, and Alex became a defender instead of his usual "center midfield" position. This meant that it was very unlikely that he would be in a position to score.

Patrick and Anthony were in San Marcos for Anthony's game. Patrick and I kept each other updated with each other's game events. Alex played more aggressively today. As the photo above shows, he would push back at the other team in order to get the ball. He played well today, and even though his team lost 0-3, we thought he deserved a little reward.

I told him he could get an hour of game time to use when he needed a break from working on his projects. Tonight he used a half hour. He also worked pretty hard on his projects today. I don't know if bribing was the right thing to do, but so far, the bribe had the intended result. We'll see what happens next week.