Satruday Recap

Yes, it's another Saturday where Anthony has two high school soccer games and he only played in one. Only two more Saturdays like this one for the year! This one started like the ones before. Patrick dropped Anthony off early, at about 7am, at the Benny's Tacos place across the street from his school. He was meeting some of his soccer buds for some breakfast before the games. Patrick then came home. This time he brought home some Starbuck's for his frappucino-obsessed wife and some scones for his scone-obsessed little boy. This time, instead of taking the whole family back to Anthony's school for the games, he dropped off Alex at his debate competition at another school. That lasted until about 2pm, but in the meantime, Patrick met us at the game.

We were happy to see Anthony play the entire second game with the "B" team. The "A" team tied and the "B" team won 1-0. Anthony posted on Facebook about how maybe his coach should switch the players on the "A" and "B" teams. *WINK* We're a little biased.

The first part of the first game was wet and windy. The rest of the games were sunny and windy--very windy. Because of the weather, Natalie and Eric stayed in my car most of the time. Eric did get restless and needed to come out of the car a few times. During one of the times we were walking back to the car, we were near the goal when Anthony's team scored the only goal. That was exciting!

Natalie, on the other hand, was content to finish reading her book. She's been rather obsessed with reading some of Alex's Rick Riordan books lately. It's like a switch has turned on and she is now constantly reading. She's read the last books in the series now, so hopefully she'll find something else to read.

After returning from his debate competition, Alex got to work on his homework. I barely knew he was here since he was holed up in his room. He apparently has lots of it due this week. He has learned his lesson from the last time that he should work on what he can on the weekend so his week can be a little more relaxed. As a reward, we let him play Call of Duty on the PS3 for the first time in probably close to two weeks.

This evening, Patrick drove Anthony back and forth to a birthday party on the other side of town. That party was the reason why we couldn't go to church today. We're envisioning the time when he can drive himself to these things. We'll probably still be busy worrying about him being out there driving.

No pictures of Natalie today, either. She played with her neighborhood friend LL for most of this afternoon. His father and brother were gone last night, so his mom decided to treat him to a movie. He asked if he could take Natalie. How sweet is that? Natalie didn't get home until around 9:30pm last night. I was asleep before she got home. Is this what we have to look forward to also? *GASP*

Sorry for the random post. I'm not feeling up to organizing tonight!

Swim Practice Routine

I forgot to mention in my last post about something else that happened on Monday. Patrick and I have been talking about going back to Disney World to celebrate my 45th birthday in December. We booked our rooms on Monday! We had to get two rooms because our family of six puts us over the one-room limit. Luckily, they were offering a discount so it was cheaper to get two rooms than to get one room where the discount couldn't be applied. I'm excited, but this is definitely NOT "something for nothing"!

Anthony had an away game tonight. He was very upset yesterday when his coach told him that he wouldn't get to go to the game. The coach was only planning to take 20-plus kids out of a 30-plus JV roster. Anthony didn't understand how his coach could designate him the "captain" of the "B" team but not even take him to this game. Anthony even asked him what he could do to get more play time. The coach didn't really give a good answer, but maybe he thought about it a bit more last night, because this morning he told Anthony that he was going to be able to go to this game. He ended up playing about 10 minutes in the last part of the first half.

So, since Anthony had an away game, I drove straight from work to pick up Eric at school. We picked up some popcorn chicken from Sonic for Eric to share with Natalie and I also picked up some shakes for Alex and his friends. From there I picked up Alex from the local middle school then went home. Natalie stayed at a friend's house for half an hour or so to allow Patrick to leave for Anthony's game before I got home.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are Natalie's swim practice days. Patrick and I trade off on who takes her. Usually Eric is part of the package. Our routine is to leave at 5pm after some sort of dinner. Sometimes it isn't much and Natalie will often eat something else when we get home. This week it's been HEB Extra Thin Crust Pepperoni Pizza. Today she ate the more substantial meal with the popcorn chicken and a chocolate shake.

(Note that she looks a little red in this picture because behind me is a big digital time clock that is next to the lap pool and that casts a big red light on everything around it.)

Our routine is that when we get to the gym, she goes to the family dressing room and I take Eric to the child care area. I then meet her back in the dressing room to help her put her swim cap on, then I sign her into swim practice. After that I go upstairs to use the elliptical machine. More often than not, I get called by the child care area because Eric has pooped and they don't change poopy diapers. Well today, I was on the elliptical machine for only 4 1/2 minutes before they called me. I had just changed Eric's diaper before leaving home.

Of course after I change his diaper, Eric didn't want to go back and play in the play area. He wanted to "go with Mama". That was the end of my hope to exercise. Natalie still had 30 minutes of practice, so we just went to the pool to watch her. There were about six kids there today. It's nice that she gets more individual attention here than she did at the first place we signed her up. Natalie was sitting on the side of the pool because she said her stomach started hurting (see photo above). I knew it was because of the shake. I guess I won't spoil her right before her practices anymore. I'll have to spoil her after practice instead.

Eric was totally bored, especially since I wouldn't let him play with the little puddles of water around the pool. He said, "Mama, I'm tired" a couple of times before he started laying down on the pool floor. I let him lay there since tonight was a "bath night" anyway.

For the first couple of swim practices, Patrick and I let Natalie take a shower there at the gym after practice. Since then we haven't let her do that because she takes so long, so we went straight home. Natalie and Eric got baths and we watched a little American Idol before sending them to bed. In the meantime, Patrick arrived home with both boys. Alex gets a ride to soccer practice and Patrick usually picks him up.

Tomorrow, the boys have plans with their friends again, although Anthony will also be working on a group project. I'm sure I'll take a few more photos of the little ones tomorrow that I'll share here.

Something For Nothing

I had the phrase, "You can't get something for nothing" repeating in my head over and over again today. First of all, I got a text from Patrick this morning about how he discovered an extra $192.07 in charges on Alex's phone. We're still not quite sure how it happened, but somehow, he bought Facebook credits and other things from his phone. Luckily, the AT&T Customer Service representative was very helpful and gave us a credit so we don't have to pay those extra charges. She said that she handles about 10 situations like this one EACH DAY, so she knew exactly what to do. Patrick put a "purchase blocker" on Alex's phone. Patrick had a long talk with Alex this afternoon about being more careful about giving out his phone number.

I got an email last night about how my favorite scrapbook store in town, Scrapbook 911, is closing--something about new building owners not allowing them to continue their lease. Their closing sale started today and since Patrick generously gave me a gift certificate for my birthday in December, I wanted to make sure and use that as soon as possible. I left work early and got to the store before 3pm and some of the shelves were already empty. Luckily they still had plenty of items that I wanted to buy, but I was sad as I walked around the store. Pretty soon they will be selling lots of things for close to nothing just to get rid of it.

I went back to pick up Anthony from soccer practice. As I waited in the parking lot, one of the other parents waiting to pick up his son from soccer practice came up to my car and pointed out that my right front tire was flat. *SIGH* I went to the trunk to get the stuff. It's been a few years since I changed my own tire, with the help of a helpful co-worker, and I couldn't even remember how to get the spare tire down and out from underneath the car. Luckily, this wonderful man changed my tire for me. He was even reading my manual on how to use the equipment that came with the car. I told him that I couldn't even figure out how I could repay him. He was definitely a bright spot today and he definitely gave me something for nothing.

As soon as we got home, Patrick left again to go buy some new tires. We definitely did not get those for "nothing"! He ended up buying four new tires. The front right tire also had the potential for a blow-out due to damage in an area that isn't easily seen or checked. Luckily I had the flat tire in that parking lot as opposed to driving around on the freeway.

I was imagining this blog post in my head along with the "something for nothing" phrase. That phrase definitely summarizes the events of today!

Falling Leaves

We have lots of trees to cool down our yard and house in the summer, but it's a pain to gather the leaves that fall pretty much all year long. In the last week or so, all of the remaining dead leaves on our trees have fallen and were replaced by new green leaves.

Natalie and her friend LL gathered the leaves into piles so they could jump into them yesterday. We had at least three or four piles in the yard and about the same on the deck. Today Eric jumped into a couple of the piles of leaves, but he mostly played with the leaves, gathering them into his bucket and transferring them from pile to pile. He was so busy, but not busy enough that he didn't notice me taking pictures. He kept saying "no pictures"!

I had to include this picture of Natalie with her friend M walking into our backyard. Look at what my dear daughter chose to wear today to play--a pink dress and sandals. She usually prefers pants, a T-shirt and sneakers, but I guess she felt like dressing like a girl today.

A Girl, A Boy, and A Cart

Anthony played about 15 minutes in the JV A game and all of the JV B game this morning, which we were happy about. This picture pretty much sums up the results. Look at Anthony working hard to hit that ball. Notice how all of those players around him are from the opposing team and how none of them are from his team. He said that he thought they played relatively well, but they lost both games 0-3.

It's interesting that I took about 130 photos this morning and I kept only about 30. Anthony was in less than half of that. Granted, good sports photos are difficult to get, and I usually snap away hoping to get some good shots later when I check them on the computer.

Eric found this wheeled cart way on one corner of the soccer field behind a tree. It's used to make the lines on the field with chalk, except that it was empty and a very tempting toy for a wheel-crazy little boy. At first we were going to make Eric stop playing with it, but we decided that it was harmless enough for him and for the cart plus it kept him happy and occupied, at least for the most part. In this picture he is telling his sister to push the cart faster. That was fine for a little while, until she wanted to take a break. He got very upset.

After a while he would forget and they would play again. Here Natalie is giving him some hugs and kisses and he is asking her to tickle him in his armpit. Of course the next step was that she did it and he laughed, then she asked him to do the same to her, which he did also. That was followed by more giggles and laughter.

Then he decided he wanted some juice. Unfortunately, we had asked Natalie to pack snacks including juice since she and Eric would be the ones that would be asking for them. She packed a couple of muffins but forgot the juice. Eric got very upset, as you can see from this picture, and he wouldn't accept that we didn't have any juice and there weren't any concessions to buy juice from. Later, when we were at home, he wanted salami, bread, and a cheese stick. We only had the bread. Alex had finished the salami and there were no cheese sticks. He got very upset then too. Life is so hard when you're three years old!

Tonight, Patrick and I are going to see the musical "Wicked" here in town at the Majestic Theatre. We missed out on getting tickets last year, so we made sure we got them this year. We're looking forward to it. The kids will be at home having some of those HEB extra thin crust pepperoni pizzas for dinner (see last post).

Pizza Love

I took these pictures yesterday with my iPhone using an app called "Hipstamatic". "Hipstamatic" makes the pictures look more stylized and "artsy". The first picture is of the pizza I ordered and ate at our gym. It was a good pizza, but this picture makes it look really good.

This one is a Marguerita pizza with basil, tomatoes, and cheese. My family's favorite pizza is pepperoni pizza, especially the local store brand (HEB) extra thin crust pepperoni pizza. Alex raves about it--that it's the sauce that makes it so delicious. In the past, one or more of the boys will pop one in the oven after returning home from soccer. They usually hold back their eating during dinner so they won't get sick at soccer practice, which means that they're hungry when they get home.

For the past couple of weeks, Natalie has been hungry coming home from swim practice. She doesn't eat nearly as much as the older boys, of course, but she she usually eats at least two pieces and she can eat up to four. I myself usually eat three or four in comparison. The boys usually eat at least four (half) to eight pieces. We try to keep our big freezer well stocked.

I could have had something else for dinner yesterday (I took a nap instead of eating dinner), but I felt like having pizza. I also ordered one of the smoothies for me. Eric has gotten used to the kid-size smoothie and frequently asks for his own. I took a picture of my smoothie cup next to his. This is his "no pictures" look. I also got a picture of him hiding under the table to keep from being in the picture. One of these days he's going to get so used to me taking pictures that he won't notice me anymore--wishful thinking.

Indoor Play Place

I don't remember when we bought these playhut/tunnel things, but they have been put to good use. This was the set-up in our gameroom this past weekend. If you look closely, you can see Alex's legs sticking out of the tunnel. He is trying to "get" Eric who is in the purple playhut. Natalie and Eric had set up the purple playhut and the tunnel. When Alex got up, he set up the last playhut. Eric gets really spoiled by his siblings.

Patrick came in to "play" with Eric. Eric was trying to hide from the camera as usual. I did manage to catch a couple of photos of him smiling, though. This one is my favorite because he looks so happy and Patrick is in there playing with him too. It was a little tight in there when Alex and Patrick were each playing with Eric, and I enjoyed watching them squeezing through the small openings. I don't know why they didn't just lift the playhuts up and go out that way!

Goodbye

We found out last week that Natalie's piano teacher is moving to Colorado. She took the news a lot better than we thought she would. Her last lesson was on Monday and she gave her teacher lots of hugs. That look on her face is priceless--so goofy but so genuine.

Natalie has been doing better with her piano practice at home lately, but maybe that's because Patrick is usually the one at home when she practices. Still, it has helped that he's made it a routine that she practices when she gets home from school, before getting to play or read books. We've talked about her continuing with piano at least until middle school. Then she's interested in maybe joining band (maybe even playing the flute) like her mama.

She starts lessons with her new teacher next Monday. He seems like a good teacher. We hope this will be a good fit for her.

In other news, last night Alex was caught sneaking in some computer time in his room after he was supposed to already be in bed. This was after he was caught doing the same thing last week and Patrick gave him a warning then that he would lose all privileges if he did it again. This was also after he missed soccer practice partly due to a homework assignment that he received last week but that he didn't work on until last night. This means that he doesn't get to do the fun movie night at his school this Friday. This means that he doesn't get to play on the computer or on his beloved PS3 this week and through the weekend. *SIGH* Kids always have to test their parents, don't they?

I Want To Go To Starbucks

On Sunday night, I told Eric that I would be home with him on Monday and I asked him what he wanted to do. He replied, "I want to go to Starbucks." I had to laugh. I've written on my blog in the past about how much he likes getting blueberry scones and Strawberries and Creme Frappucinos at Starbucks. I still think it's hilarious that he actually requests to go to Starbucks now.

I took Eric with me to take the boys to school and then we stopped at Starbucks. We both got our "usual". When I got my camera out to take a picture of his drink and scone (hoping to get him in the picture too), he of course said, "No pictures!" When I said that I only wanted to get a picture of his food he said something like, "I'll be in the picture too." I was happy to get this one.

As for the rest of the day, we went to the Riverwalk and Rivercenter Mall for lunch because Eric also requested to go to "the mall next to the river". We took a long walk there and he got to play in their play area. Patrick and I were hoping that with all of that walking, he would fall asleep on the way home--no such luck. I did, though, and I was the one that took the nap when we got home.

I woke up in time to take Natalie to her piano lesson. I'll talk more about that tomorrow.

Crafts

Natalie has a Craft Fair at school this week. Kids from Kindergarten to Third Grade are supposed to bring in handmade items to sell. They will be allowed to buy items later this week. Natalie wanted to make bookmarks (one of their suggestions). I had visions of using patterned paper, stamps and maybe even stitching, then I realized that other third graders would be buying them and they would only have $1 to spend. I immediately thought of using my embossing folders--easy peasy. Natalie was happy with them and they didn't take long. The longest part was trying to figure out what ribbon to use. I wanted to make some of them more "boyish" but it was difficult. I hope what we chose will appeal to some of the boys.

As with the "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" story, since I was had taken out my ribbon stash to find some matching ribbon for the bookmarks, I decided to do a little reorganizing. I have ribbon in several different places and I wanted to try to centralize them. I've been trying to get all of my embellishments sorted by color, so today, I moved some of the ribbons from the ribbon boxes to my color drawers. This involved taking many rolls of ribbon off their original rolls and putting them in bags inside the drawers.

Speaking of Ms. Natalie, she was outside playing for most of the day yesterday with various neighborhood friends. I was upstairs in my bedroom when I saw her in the backyard with LL. They play together quite a bit. He is about six months younger and I found myself wondering if they would still be as good friends in a few years as their interests change. Also, notice all the leaves on the ground. I think all of the remaining dead leaves have finally fallen off the trees all at once, it seems.

I'll post tomorrow about what I did today on my day off.

A Misty Saturday

I don't think I've ever said that I had a "fun night on call", but I can say that about last night. The residents had a mock oral exam today and all got the night off. Instead I got to be on call with two staff members, one of which was a good friend. It wasn't too busy a night, but I ended up staying up just talking with my friend. I'm exhausted today but I have no regrets.

I took a nap when I got home then we went to Anthony's soccer game scheduled for noon. He only got to play in the last eight minutes. His coach basically subbed out the whole team at that point. Patrick and I are still wondering what his strategy is, since they were losing 0-2 at that point. They played well, but they weren't able to make up the deficit in such a short period of time. Anthony played well and was instrumental in stopping a goal. The ball had bounced off the goalie and he kept the ball from going into the goal.

It was a misty, wet, breezy day--not a nice day to watch soccer at all, so Natalie and Eric stayed in the van during the game (Eric did watch part of the first half outside). I didn't even try to take any pictures because of the misting rain. We picked up Alex from his sleepover after the game. He was exhausted too, having stayed up until 3am, but he had a lot of fun.

We didn't have much time at home before we had to leave again to go to Natalie's piano recital. We just found out a few days ago that her beloved piano teacher is moving to Denver because of a job opportunity for her husband. He is apparently already there and she had planned on moving this summer, but then their house sold quickly and now she's moving this week. Natalie was very upset when we told her, but she handled it well. Today was the last recital, and Monday will be her last lesson. Her teacher hand-picked new teachers for her students, however, and Natalie's new teacher is someone who she had a couple of years ago when her teacher was on maternity leave. It'll be a period of transition for us, but I hope she'll get adjusted easily and quickly.

This is a picture of Natalie during the recital. I wanted to take this picture because it shows her stretching out her legs in order to be able to reach the piano pedals. For the first time, I was pretty much hands-off when it came to her learning her piece and memorizing it. She did okay, but she clearly forgot part of her piece and had to pause very briefly. I'm glad that she didn't seem nervous (although I'm sure she was) and she didn't make a big deal out of her mistake. This performance experience will only help her in the long term.

Natalie's teacher got a quick group picture and individual photos with each of her students at the end of the recital. Luckily we were close to where we go to church because we were already late. After church, Natalie got to choose the restaurant we ate at--Chili's for their Grilled Salmon with Garlic and Herbs. She ate more than half of the full adult entree, including the broccoli. I ate the other half.

After dinner, it was my choice to go to Brindle's for ice cream. It was packed in there tonight and we only found one table for Natalie and Eric near the front window. Alex went straight to Half-Price Books next door and didn't even order his own ice cream. He did end up with Eric's Dreamsicle leftovers, however. Anthony and I ate right outside where Natalie and Eric were sitting. I thought this made an interesting picture with them sitting underneath the neon sign. Of course Eric said "no pictures" just after I took this photo.

After ice cream, we went home, everyone bathed, and now almost everyone is in bed--another busy family day on a misty Saturday.

Being Social

It's been the usual hectic week and there hasn't been anything interesting to take pictures of. This is a picture I took a couple of weeks ago. Anthony is so good with young kids, especially Eric. They like to climb on him and he lets them do pretty much whatever they want, as long as he can text or play on the computer at the same time. He'll often roughhouse with them as well. I thought it was so cute how pleased Eric looked, riding on his brother's back with his hands clasped tightly around his neck.

I'm on call again tomorrow, and Patrick is stuck driving kids around by himself. Alex has a sixth grade dance after school, and then he has a sleepover at the friend's house. Anthony has a party to go to as well, a friend's birthday party, so it'll mostly be Patrick and the two younger kids at home in the evening. Even though it can be very inconvenient for Patrick and me to get the kids to their various social activities, we love that they get a chance to "hang out" with their friends. (I'm no longer "allowed" to say that they "play" with their friends--apparently I'm supposed to say "hang out" with their friends.) I remember spending many days and nights at home when I was younger. I never went to dances or sleepovers--I didn't want to. I'm happy to let my kids be social. I'm happy that they want to be social.

Valentine's Day

Patrick was so mysterious this weekend about dinner for tonight. He wouldn't tell me what he had planned. We did talk about using my fondue pot that I just got for my birthday and making chocolate fondue, but I hadn't expected anythin else. When I got home from picking Anthony up from soccer practice, Patrick had finished making "tocino", using a mix that my mom got me a while ago. It's one of my favorite dishes and uses thinly sliced meat that is browned and a little sweet. He also made the chocolate fondue using one of the recipes from the booklet. He did a great job!

Eric said his usual "no pictures" after I took this photo, but I love it because he's looking at the camera and everyone else is so busy serving themselves some chocolate fondue. Alex even has his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Natalie and Eric preferred the strawberries without chocolate, which was fine with me since it's healthier. The rest of us couldn't get enough chocolate!

Patrick's present for everyone was the dinner and fondue. My present to Patrick was this pair of red mugs from Starbucks. I love the pretty red color and the sentiment on them. We have never made it a tradition to exchange gifts at Valentine's Day, since we're so good about buying gifts for ourselves already, but it was nice to feel a little spoiled. :)

Mall Outing

This is what I saw in Natalie and Eric's room this morning. I'm not sure whose idea this was, but I heard Eric ask Natalie if she wanted to play school. The stuffed animals (and the Lightning McQueen car) are all arranged in front of the school set "board" like they're in school. School is one of their favorite things to play. Usually Natalie pretends to be the teacher and Eric is the student. They're both lucky to have each other to play with.

It was a beautiful day today. The temps were in the 70s, sunny with a breeze. Winter weather like this almost makes up for our crazy hot summers. We wanted to be able to spend some more time outside (as if yesterday wasn't enough). Interestingly, Anthony was the one that wanted to go to the mall today--the "outside" mall, as Eric calls it. All weekend he had been looking for a friend to go with and this morning, he finally got one of his friends to agree to meet him there. I was going to take him and bring the little ones along, but I also convinced Patrick to go with us, for the company and to spend time outside.

Alex only went with us because Patrick gave him the ultimatum that he had to throw away his favorite shoes because they had holes in them, and Alex wanted to find a pair to replace them. Alex did find some shoes at Payless. At $26, they were much less than the $50+ pair that he liked at the Puma store. Natalie was all excited because she found a pair of shoes she liked at Payless too, so we could take advantage of their "Buy One Get One Half Off" deal. When she told Patrick, he told her that she has plenty of shoes, whereas Alex doesn't, so he didn't care so much whether or not she found shoes. He was relieved that Alex found shoes.

Anthony went shopping with his friend, and he even bought himself a shirt. Eric got to play in the play area. We all got some fresh air. It was all good.

Family Day

The day began at 6AM when Patrick woke up and then got Anthony up. They left at around 6:30am to drop Anthony off at the Benny's Tacos place near his school. He was meeting some of his soccer buds there for breakfast before warm-up and their games.

Patrick came home and picked the rest of us up. We left at 8am for the IHOP near Anthony's school to have breakfast. The couple of times that we did this last year, Alex elected to stay home. We didn't give him that option this time. We wanted this to be a Family Day.

The first Junior Varsity game started at 9am, but Anthony did not play in this "A" game. He did start the "JV-B" game at 10:30am, however. In fact, he was one of the "captains" that did the coin toss.

Despite having had breakfast an hour before, I took the three kids to Starbucks right before the 10:30 game so I could go to the bathroom and so the kids could get drinks and a snack. Natalie tried their Strawberry Smoothie and Alex tried their Strawberries and Creme Frappucino. Eric insisted on getting a blueberry scone, but at least he shared with Alex and return, Alex shared his drink with Eric.

Natalie and Alex kept asking to stay in the car, but we made them "suffer" outside. The morning started in the mid-30s and went up to the mid-50s while we were out there. Natalie and Eric mostly played with each other and with their soccer balls. Alex mostly texted and played on the iPad, although he did play with his own soccer ball a little.

I think Anthony might have preferred to have been chosen to play in the "JV-A" game, but he played the entire "JV-B" game, which he was happy with. They played well as a team, but they still only tied with a 1-1 score.

After we spent about three hours outside watching both games, we came home to have lunch and to rest for a bit before heading back out. Anthony had planned to go bowling with some of his school friends at 2:30pm and Patrick and I decided that would be a fun activity for the rest of the family as well.

We assured Anthony that he didn't have to bowl in the lane next to us or even make it seem like he knew us, except for when it was time to go home. Eric didn't bowl, but instead he wandered around the bowling alley making us guess his location. The farthest away he strayed was the games area where he was playing with the steering wheel of one of the driving games.

Patrick started off the first game with two strikes in a row and finished with a score of 142. The rest of us didn't do quite as well, although we all got at least one strike. I took this picture right after Alex got a strike. Even though he wanted to stay home instead of go bowling, he ended up having a great time. He got some PS3 time before going bowling, or else he probably would have been more restless to go home.

We went straight from the bowling alley to church. Eric had a full day and fell asleep in the car on the way. You can't tell in this picture since he is wearing his sunglasses, but he is asleep. His head and body were a little slumped, but I knew for sure he was asleep when he didn't tell me "No Pictures!" when I snapped this photo! He was doing that all day long because I was taking so many pictures.

After church, Alex wanted to go home, of course, but instead we went to eat at Fuddrucker's. We have such spoiled children that complain even when we're taking them out to eat. They had this new Coke machine that supposedly dispensed 106 kinds of Coke products. This made Alex happy because he could then try different drinks.

We came home, got the littlest two bathed and in bed. The big boys watched "The A-Team", our current Netflix movie, with us before they went to bed. Lots of family activities and togetherness today! Thankfully, Patrick and I both got short naps in today. It was exhausting but really the most fun day we've had for a while.

No Haagen-Dazs?!!

It felt like time for a trip to the "inside mall" with the little ones. This has been a tradition for me since we moved here. First it was Alex and Natalie. Now it's Natalie and Eric. We go to eat in the Food Court then we get Haagen-Dazs ice cream. Sometimes we also shop. It almost didn't happen.

I was originally going to come home from work with a stop at the nearby middle school to pick up Alex from the bus stop. I was delayed at work partly because of some paperwork, so Patrick went in my stead. As I was driving into our neighborhood, he called me and said that he had been waiting for 20 minutes (it was aroud 4:30pm) and Alex's bus still had not ARRIVED at his middle school. It was supposedly stuck in traffic and we had no idea when he was even supposed to leave there, let alone arrive at the nearby middle school. Patrick had planned to leave to pick up Anthony around 4:30 so he could get there by the end of the shortened practice, around 5pm. So, he dropped off Eric and Natalie at home so I could take them to pick up Alex. Patrick was going to pick up Anthony, get him home to take a shower and so he could change for the dance he was attending tonight. Confusing, isn't it?

I dropped Alex off at home since he didn't want to go to the mall. He wanted to do his homework because he knew that he wouldn't get to play video games until he finished his homework.

Natalie and Eric ate very well. They both wanted the Spicy Crispy Chicken Nuggets from Wendy's. Natalie ate two orders while Eric ate one whole order (five pieces each).

After dinner we saw that the Disney Store was closing for three months so they could do some remodeling. They were selling everything they had left (mostly stuffed animals and a few other toys) for 50% off. Eric immediately saw "Nemo" and asked if he could have him. We looked around and I knew he would be partial to some of the dogs. He chose "Penny" over "Bolt". He was so cute hugging on those two stuffed animals. At one point he had one tucked under each arm. It was difficult getting good pictures because he didn't want pictures, but he looks so happy playing with Penny in this photo.

We were planning on shopping at Gymboree before getting ice cream, but we passed by the Haagen-Dazs shop and we only saw this big white wall covering where the Haagen-Dazs was supposed to be. We were at that shop around two weeks ago and there were no signs then about them closing or remodeling or anything. There were no signs now about what happened or if they were coming back. What a letdown! Patrick had thought about meeting us there for ice cream after dropping Anthony off at his dance, but he didn't want to if there was no Haagen-Dazs.

Natalie and I got the idea of taking pictures of the white wall to show Patrick the missing shop and so we could remember them fondly. She's a girl after my own heart. What can I say? :) She willingly posed, but Eric was in constant motion. At the time he had put on his jacket, leaving it unzipped but with the hood on his head. He looked so adorable, but this picture is as close as I could get to catching him ALMOST facing the camera. He looks like the "running man"!

Don't ask me why they felt compelled to lying down on one of the chairs, but they did. Again, Eric is avoiding the camera.

We decided to leave the mall to go to Baskin-Robbins instead. That's close to home, so Patrick and Alex met us there. It was nice, but I really wanted some Haagen-Dazs ice cream. Hopefully it will only be gone a short while, but in the meantime I'll be remembering all of those great times at the "indoor mall" getting dinner and then ice cream.

Dog, Dog, Dog, Killer Whale

Eric loves stuffed animals more than any of the other kids did. His all-time favorite is Maya the Dog, but lately he's been sleeping with Snoopy too. I bought Snoopy at Hallmark when we were picking out ornaments this past Christmas and I've never regretted that purchase. This morning, Eric crawled into bed with me with Maya the Dog and Snoopy. When it was time to go downstairs, he also brought along Scooby Doo and Shamu. I wanted to get a picture of him with all of them in his arms, but I was too late. He was willing to be in a picture with his stuffed animals, but he said they "wanted to sit" and so he put them all on the floor while he sat in his chair.

I was up against the front door for the first picture, so I showed him how I could barely fit the animals in the picture. He pushed his animals about 3 feet back so they were right in front of the closet. Then he sat down next to them. He looks all "business" and serious in this second picture, but I like that one the best. I'm going to miss this cute kid with all of his stuffed animals tonight when I'm on call, but I'm looking forward to meeting him at Starbucks for our post-call routine tomorrow.

From Snow to Sun

This cozy coupe takes up a lot of space inside the house, but Eric spends so much time playing in it that it's worth it, especially when he can't go outdoors. Eric also loves putting his stuffed animals and lots of other things in the shopping cart. He made a little modification to both toys this weekend. He used an old string that's been laying around and attached the two. Then he proceeded to motor around the house in the cozy coupe with the shopping cart dragging behind. I am amazed by his imagination.

After all the freezing temperatures, snow and ice this week, the weather this weekend was gorgeous. This is the time of year when it totally pays off to live in San Antonio. Both older boys had soccer practice yesterday. The younger kids played outside in the backyard. We all got some quality outdoor time.

We have a playhouse in the backyard and this is a picture of Eric climbing in through the window. Don't ask me why he did that, but I enjoyed watching him. We have to remember to appreciate these little moments and be thankful for little things like being able to enjoy fantastic weather because you didn't get called in during your weekend on call.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Patrick and Natalie went to the "Daddy Daughter Dance" at our gym last night. I had an ACLS Certification class all day, but luckily I got back in time to curl the Princess' hair. My mom gave her this pretty sparkly headband that really dresses up whatever she wears it with. She also loves this hand-me-down dress from her cousin Emily especially because it's her favorite color--red.

While they were there, I went to Chick-Fil-A with the boys, or as Patrick termed it, a Mother-Son-Son-Son outing. Alex had wanted to stay home, as usual, but I made him come with us. After dinner I dropped Anthony off at a friend's party. He was told that the party ended at midnight, but Patrick didn't want to be out at midnight picking him up. A friend of mine said that "nothing good happens after midnight", but Anthony was still a little pouty when we said "no".

Natalie made some crafts at the party (a Valentine's type picture frame and mailbox) and got a heart-shaped bucket with some treats and favors. She got a wreath-thingy with butterflies (that she could put on her head/hair) at the door and got a crown at their table. The carriage rides were sold out by the time Patrick bought tickets to the dance, but Natalie didn't seem disappointed.

They had an actual dinner this time, as compared to when they last went a couple of years ago. They had meat and vegetable lasagna, Chicken Parmagiana, salad, macaroni and cheese, pasta. Patrick had the lasagna and Natalie had chicken tenders. There was also a dessert table with some petit fours and a chocolate fondue fountain.

They got home a short time after we did. Natalie was excited about getting this red balloon monkey. Her first choice was actually a panda, but the balloon guy didn't know how to make that. She had a BLAST at the dance. Patrick doesn't get to spend much time with his daughter and this was a nice way to stay connected. We both know that she will grow up all too soon into a young lady.

When Patrick picked Anthony up a little after 11pm, the agreed upon time, he and his friend AO (who was going to come spend the night with us) were among the last ones there. So much for his expectation that the party would last until midnight.

Snow Day

The kids had a snow day off from school yesterday. At the time the buses would have been running, the roads were not safe, so I'm glad the kids didn't have to venture out there. That meant that I was the only one that had to leave the house to go anywhere. When the sun came out, the kids went out and played in the snow. I love this photo here because it shows Natalie and Eric having a blast "sledding" down our neighbors driveway {which slopes downward towards their garage) on their makeshift "sleds". One was a disc sled and another was a Tupperware lid that our neighbor found for the kids to use. Sorry for the weird colors on the over-exposed photo. Patrick tried his best to take some photos for me, but I had left the camera on indoor settings.

He got some photos with better colors later. The snow was already melting (I think the temps got up to the 40s). Natalie and Eric played with a snow pile that was on the street. They were throwing the snow at each other and chasing each other around with it. It was all fun and games until Natalie did a really smart thing (not!) and put snow down her little brother's back. He did not have fun after that and they had to go inside.

After this, they're REALLY looking forward to visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Colorado next month!

So Close

Empty, closed freeways covered with snow and ice. That is what I had to face on my daily trek to work this morning. I didn't have any idea how to get to work without using a freeway, but thankfully, I had my iPhone to show me. I used the walking icon on my iPhone's GPS app. The estimate for walking time was 2 1/2 hours. I thought I would get to work way before then since I was in a car and not walking. I was so wrong!

So close and yet so far. It took me about an hour taking the side streets to get to the I-35 feeder road one traffic light away from my place of work. Then it took me another 2 1/2 hours to get to that light. I was sitting on that small stretch of road at almost a standstill during that time. The only movement was from cars getting out and taking some other unknown route. It's illegal to text and drive in San Antonio. I figured that I wasn't driving. I was parked. So, I spent that 2 1/2 hours calling work and work colleagues, surfing the internet and playing games on my iPhone. Meanwhile, my family was at home, safe and sound--and warm.

Goodbye, Grandma

Patrick took these pictures this morning. He did pretty well, didn't he? The kids said goodbye this morning. Grandma's plane was supposed to leave around 2:20pm, but then the winter storm came. The temperatures here dropped to the 30s with a strong wind and then down to the 20s tonight. Her plane was supposed to be coming from Dallas, but supposedly they closed down. Luckily, she got a later flight out, but because of the distance from the airport to their house, she won't get home until around 10:30pm. The temperature in Denver is supposed to get up to zero degrees and it's colder in the mountains. We hope she has an otherwise uneventful trip home and we hope we'll hear from her by tomorrow.

Patrick took a series of photos that were a combination of Eric being very silly and Grandma being very amused by his behavior. This one is my favorite because Grandma has a big smile on her face. Usually she is either talking or she looks unhappy to be in the picture. Here she just looks happy to be with Eric. I love that!

Goodbye, Grandma! We'll see you in about six weeks!

Family TV

It seems like I'm always taking pictures of my family sitting on the sofa watching TV or playing video games. Tonight at least I got a picture of Grandma with everyone. They do look a little cramped on the sofa, but we don't have a lot of seating in the living room.

They all look very concerned/serious because we were watching the TV series "V" and the scenes were getting graphic. Notice Eric burying his face in Maya the Dog. We were worried about Eric getting scared, but his siblings love that sort of stuff. Notice also that Scooby Doo and Snoopy are also "sitting" on Eric and Grandma's laps. That part is pretty cute.

We have a number of favorite TV series: Wipeout, No Ordinary Family, Human Target, Tower Prep, Mythbusters. Alex also likes to watch "Chase" with me (no one else is interested). Natalie watches "American Idol" with me. Sometimes Alex will watch too. Patrick, Anthony, and I will watch "Bones" and "Chuck together, and sometimes "CSI:NY". Patrick and I have our favorites too, but I'll describe those another time.

I have to finish with a cute story about Eric, of course. This morning, Eric dressed himself. He picked out a San Antonio Spurs T-shirt and jeans. The jeans already had a small hole in the right knee. Grandma was folding laundry when she noticed that the hole was much bigger than before and he had pulled his leg out through the hole. She tried to take a picture, but of course he did his usual "No pictures!" She changed him out of those jeans and now all we have is the evidence.

Relaxing with Grandma

This just cracks me up but a picture is worth a thousand words. Alex is playing on the PS3, but Anthony and Natalie are reading books next to him. The kids love reading books and we love that. Natalie looks like she's concentrating so hard. When certain members of this family read books, it's like they're in another world and it's hard to get them to come back. Anthony is sneaking a peek at Alex's game. I love that the two of them at least have this in common. Their age difference isn't so great when they have some things in common.

Speaking of doing things together, Grandma has been doing lots of things with Eric. She's been reading to him mostly, but she also does puzzles with him and plays with him. The weather was beautiful today and they even took a couple of long walks together. It was so cute that both of them were wearing sunglasses too.

Patrick grilled some delicious steaks this evening and we watched some of our taped TV shows. We introduced Grandma to some of our favorites and she seemed to enjoy them too. I know she enjoys our big screen TV and our ability to fast-forward most of the shows we watch. She was going to help clean up but Patrick reminded her that the boys have to earn their allowance. We give the kids 50 cents per year of age, and Alex made a smart comment about how Grandma would have a pretty high allowance.

It's been nice to have Grandma here this past week. She seems more relaxed than she has been before. Usually we see her at her house and she's busy trying to take care of us. I'm lucky to have a mother-in-law like her. I just hope that they sell their house soon so they can move here. The kids have really enjoyed her company this week.