Halloween Spooktacular

After Anthony's track meet, we drove straight to Lifetime Fitness to go to their Halloween Spooktacular. Our gym has these types of events every so often where we buy tickets and they have food and activities for the kiddos. Luckily we bought tickets for this ahead of time, because they "sold out". There were some irate parents and disappointed kids.

The first activity we did was pretty simple. The kids had to look in a pile of popcorn (held in a small inflatable coffin) for a black plastic pumpkin. For that they got to choose from a bucket of non-candy treats. Most of the treats were pencils, stickers, and trinkets like necklaces and whistles. We do not need more candy in our house.

We then waited in a line for the lady who made balloon animals. There were only two kids in front of us, but her balloon creations took some time to achieve. When it was Eric's turn, I asked her if she could make a car. I was happily surprised when she said she could make Lightning McQueen. Eric was SO excited! The balloon didn't look like a car per se, but the whole idea of it made him tremble with excitement. Next, Natalie asked if she could make a shark. The lady replied that she could make mermaids, princesses, etc. I laughed to myself because the things she suggested were all girly things and Natalie wasn't interested in any of it, even if she is wearing a gown for her Halloween costume. Then Natalie asked if she could make a monkey. The lady said she could make just the monkey or a monkey in a tree. Natalie replied, "Yes, just the monkey (pause) in a tree." She wanted a red monkey, of course. Her pause made us think she was going to say "just the monkey" but no, she wanted the whole thing.

Most of our time was spent in one of the two bouncy houses. One was a "regular" one and the other had a slide attached. The slide was so high that all the kids had to bounce up several times in order to be able to get high enough to get on the slide. Eric had gone in first and it was impossible for him to bounce up that high. I had to call Natalie over to help. When it was her turn, she had a hard time jumping high enough to get t the slide. There was a very sweet boy who was around Natalie's age, or maybe a little older, that tried to pull her up. Later, he tried to help Eric. If I had seen his parent(s), I would have told them what a good boy he was.

We had to pay extra for lunch, but $7.50 for lunch for the three of us was a pretty good price. We had hotdogs, punch, I had nachos, and the kids even had ice cream. They also played "Monsters vs. Aliens: Pumpkins From Outer Space" on a big screen for the kids to watch.

There were a few simple crafts and games, but the kids weren't too interested in those. They had a lot of fun with the few thins they did. We stopped off at the nearby James Avery store to get my niece a birthday gift then it was back home again. Meanwhile, Patrick dropped Alex off at home then went to pick up Anthony at school. We finally all met up at home by around 2pm.

Kids At Cross Country

I had some trouble uploading photos to the computer last night and it was getting late, so I decided to post the photos starting today instead. Yesterday Anthony and I left the house around 5:30am to get him to school by 6am. Ouch! I didn't learn until later that he was going to be running with the JV at 10am instead of 9am with Varsity. That meant that he wouldn't be able to be at his 10am soccer game at all. I went by the grocery store on the way home. The store was amazingly empty at 6am on a Saturday morning.

The kids were already up by the time I got home. Patrick and Alex left the house around 7:30am for Alex's soccer game. The little ones and I left the house around 8:30am to have breakfast at Starbucks. Eric can take a good half hour to eat, but this time it only took him around 10 minutes. We had time to play at home before we left at 9:30am for the track meet.

The kiddos have never been to one of these meets before. We had to park on the grass at the side of the road. When we got out, Eric got upset because we weren't bringing chairs to sit on. We only had to walk a short distance before we got to the starting line where Anthony was already lined up, but I almost had to drag Eric along. He did finally say "hi" to Anthony.

This is just a picture of Anthony with a friend of his, C.S. who is also on the school soccer team. I was happy that I was able to capture a moment from the start of the race since it's usually a mass of bodies and it's hard to focus on just Anthony.

The rest of the time Natalie and Eric found a shady spot under a tree to play in the dirt. They barely wanted to stop to see Anthony running by a second time and then across the finish line. At least they weren't complaining and at least they didn't get filthy.

Anthony finished in around 20:25. I don't know what the official time was, but that's the time on the big digital timer at the finish line. Anthony didn't feel great about it. He hoped to do better, but at least that's about a minute faster than the last time he ran this course.

As we were leaving, Eric asked why Anthony was "all wet". Natalie explained to him that Anthony had worked very hard and that he was sweating. I was amused, as always, by Eric's unique perspective.

I took a lot of photos and we did a lot this weekend, so I'll post them slowly over the next couple of days. Our next stop was the Halloween Spooktacular.

Finally Friday

Today Eric was supposed to dress up as a "wild thing" for school. Personally, I think four-year-olds can be "wild things" even without a costume, but Eric wanted to wear Natalie's "dragon hat" that we bought at last year's Octoberfest. This is after Patrick had already made some last minute repairs on a Tiger costume that I made for Anthony many, many years ago. This included actual sewing and ironing and Patrick said he felt all "domestic".

Part of feeling domestic included washing Eric's bedsheets, pillow, two comforters, and his mattress pad. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky--in a way. This is the first time Eric has wet his bed since being potty-trained two months ago. Still, that's a lot of bedding to wash and it took Patrick all morning and some of this afternoon. He took a "break" around noon to volunteer at Natalie's school. They were having a fund-raising field day type of activity.

My day, in contrast, went fairly smoothly. Anthony was walking to a friend's house after school so I didn't have to hang around after work to pick him up. Instead I went to the nearby middle school where Alex's bus drops him off. He brought a friend P.L. home with him. This was so we could give P.L. a ride to the mall this evening. They were meeting some friends and we didn't see them pretty much from the time we arrived at the mall. Patrick did see Alex walking with his arm around a girl. We try not to call attention to him because he doesn't want it, but I wish he would share a little more with us. I took this photo without Alex knowing about it. He would never have allowed me to take a picture.

Anthony went downtown for dinner and then to a haunted house with some friends. Patrick had to go pick up Alex from the mall around 8:45 and then Anthony at his friend's house at 9:30. Both boys have some early morning athletic activities, so they need to get some rest. For that matter, Patrick and I need to get some rest to keep up with them.

Midweek Update

I snapped this photo of Eric today. I was postcall so I made some brownies for the kiddos. Eric started cutting his brownie with a fork. First of all, Patrick and I were amazed that he was using a fork to eat his brownie. Second, we were amazed that he was cutting it! His brothers and sister just use their bare hands and they're not very neat about it either. Alex will walk around eating food, leaving crumbs everywhere. This is just more proof about Eric's OCD...

I don't update this blog much during the week when we're doing our usual routines--meaning boring to write and read about. This week has been especially tough for the big boys. They have both had massive amounts of homework. Alex even stayed home from soccer practice on Tuesday to do his homework and he was doing homework in the car on the way to soccer practice tonight. Keep in mind that he gets home around 4:30pm and leaves for soccer after 7pm. He's not that efficient but that's a lot of homework. Anthony had so much homework on Tuesday that he probably should have skipped soccer practice also. He went to bed at 12:30am. Poor thing--I woke him up before 6am to take him to cross country practice and I didn't see the note on his door that was supposed to tell me that he wanted to skip cross country to get extra sleep. Since I already woke him up, he went ahead and got ready and I took him to school.

I took call in OB for the first time yesterday. This Labor and Delivery ward isn't nearly as busy as ones I've worked in before, but I hadn't taken call there before so I was a little apprehensive. I didn't get called at all during the night. Yay! That meant that I could actually have a "day off" today instead of spending the day napping. Because of that, I made the brownies I mentioned earlier plus I made some Jello, one of Eric and Natalie's favorites. Ever since my mom came for a visit a couple of months ago and they made Jello together, the little ones have asked for Jello continuously. I can't say that I mind since it's one of the least sugary and fatty desserts/snacks that they have.

Tomorrow is Friday and the kids have some social plans. Hopefully I'll be able to take a picture or two so I can post them tomorrow.

Gooooaaal!

We went our separate ways this morning as Anthony had a soccer game at noon at a field about half an hour away and Alex had a soccer game on our home field closer to us at 1pm. There aren't that many Division 2 teams in Anthony's age bracket (96 Boys)--two to be exact, so they've been playing the younger teams (97 boys). Today's game was against a younger team.

They came out shooting and got two goals pretty quickly at the beginning of the game. Then I'm not sure if they fell apart or the other team really stepped up, but we spent a whole lot of time near our goal with lots of corner kicks and shots on our goal. Luckily, we kept it at 2-0 at the half. The second half was much better. Our team scored two more goals in the first part of the second half and we spent most of the time in front of the other team's goal.

One of those times the ball got punted back toward the midfield. Anthony was right there in the left midfield and his intention was to kick the ball back toward the goal in the box so his teammates could try to score. Instead, the ball sailed all the way over the goalie's head and into the goal--from midfield. It was a beautiful goal and I was so busy watching that I didn't take a picture. I was so excited. It isn't often at all that one of the defenders gets to score and today that defender was my son! :) They won 5-0.

To make it easier, Patrick took Natalie to Alex's game and I took Eric to Anthony's game. I figured that way Natalie and Eric wouldn't start arguing about whatever, and if I needed to, I could let Eric watch on the iPad and Natalie wouldn't be trying to take it away from him. Instead, Eric played with the little three-year-old brother of one of Anthony's teammates. They saw each other right away and it was like a moth to a flame. I had brought four vehicles for Eric, and the other boy brought an airplane and a big 18 wheeler. They played by making car noises and crashing noises. They dug the vehicles into the dirt and they made them eat Cheetos by smashing the Cheetos with the wheels. They also dumped dirt onto and into the vehicles. In short, they both got filthy but they were entertained for the entire game. Gotta love little brothers!

Halloween Hoopla

We started out the morning with Alex's soccer game. They didn't play well at all and the other team beat them 0-12. Ouch! Despite the lopsided score, the other team's parents made a big deal out of certain calls, like an offsides call that they weren't even in good position to see. The other team's kids did dramatic things like complaining when they were pushed a little even when they did a lot of pushing themselves. Alex wasn't happy with the other team either.

I didn't get any pictures because nothing interesting really happened to take a picture of, and I would have been shooting into the sun. We went home, got some rest, then Patrick headed out again for Anthony's soccer game. They played a younger team and beat them 0-2.

I didn't go to Anthony's game because it overlapped with a neighborhood Halloween party. The party coincided with the grand opening of our new playscape. They re-did the whole area and put put mulch down instead of little rocks. It wasn't as big as I thought it would be, but they did have additional little areas to play, like this car that bounced and tilted from front to back. Eric really liked riding in the car, the other two were two shaped like a rhinoceros. He of course wore his new Lightning McQueen costume.

When we first arrived, Natalie saw a friend of hers, A.S. leaving with her mom. They were there to check out the new playscape but her mom had to run some errands so she let us keep A.S. with us. This meant that Natalie had someone to play with and I could focus my attention on Eric.

They had some games, sidewalk chalk, and face painting. Eric wanted to decorate cookies, and he promptly ate his creation (he actually only ate half of it). I didn't realize, but he said that he "loves candy corn", one of the toppings available for his cookie. They also had bone-shaped sprinkles, and gummy bears. One other activity was decorating a foam pumpkin with foam stickers. Eric's favorite activity by far was playing in the playground, especially the swings and the slides, which we did once again before heading home.

We met Anthony and Patrick at home. When Patrick referred to the neighborhood even as the "Halloween Hoopla", which is what the organizers called it, Eric corrected him by saying, "No, Papa. It was a Halloween PARTY." Eric sometimes just feels the need to correct you, even if you're right.

Santa Halloween?

Eric really likes wearing his "bones pajamas" recently. Yesterday I thought it was ironic that he was wearing those "bones pajamas" while wearing a Santa Hat. This is a new hat from Hallmark that sings "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" when you press a button while the top of it moves around. Eric is holding it because it moves fast and furious enough and the hat is big enough that the hat will fall off if he doesn't hold onto it. He also sings along with the hat. I love hearing him sing. Too cute!

This weekend he came to me wanting to sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" but he couldn't remember the words. I showed him the video of him singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" last year when he was three. He sang along to the video while making his stuffed animal dance to the music. He's been into that song again lately and wants me to sing it for him at bedtime almost every night.

Dollar Scoop Tuesday is part of our routine now. We make sure the kids eat dinner early on Tuesdays, around 4:30pm since we leave the house by 5pm. That way we can go straight to Baskin-Robbins after Natalie's swim team. Eric had the orange sherbet tonight. He saw the bright orange color and said he wanted "this one". When we said it was "orange sherbet" he said, "That's not orange sherbet." Sigh--he's very opinionated and he thinks he's always right. Anyway, he was in a silly mood and when I had my phone out to play with a new photography app, he started posing for me. He's such a ham! He actually reminds me of Alex at this age!

Album for Lola

I've been busy this weekend putting this album together. I can be a perfectionist but I was trying to remember that all that Lola (my grandmother) cares about is the pictures, not the other frilly stuff. Still, I had to send photos and talk to my sister Cynthia to get her approval. :)

I used the group photos from my trip to NJ last week and then I sent messages to the cousins that weren't there, or at least the ones I had contact info for. They all came through for me. I also scanned a couple of the photos we received last Christmas. I'm pretty happy with the mix of photos inside. Every child, grandchild, and great-grandchild is represented in this album except for one grandchild and the family members who are in the Philippines. Many of the photos were taken on the same sofa that Lola sits on daily. I hope that even if she forgets some of us some day, she'll at least see that she was in the photos with us.

I even took a video so I could show my mom and sisters the final product at a later date. It's all packed up and ready to be mailed out tomorrow. I hope it gets there in time for Lola to be able to take it with her.

Cars 2 Eric

Eric and I bought this costume when we were at Target last Thursday. Whenever he sees a piece of clothing or toy from one of the Cars movies, Eric has this funny way of announcing which movie the item is associated with. I'm not even sure what the distinguishing factors are, since I haven't seen Cars 2 yet, but he announced that this costume was from Cars 2. He is excited about anything to do with either Cars movie, but he gets especially excited about Cars 2. I would have bought him the costume from the Disney store that is three times more expensive than this one from Target, but he's happy with this one.

After two pictures he had enough, but he looked down on me from the second floor balcony. When I asked him if I could take some more pictures, he wanted me to take pictures from downstairs. When I said couldn't see his whole body, for example I couldn't see his feet, he stuck his feet out from in between the rails. When I said I couldn't see his ankles, he said, "I don't have any ankles." I guess I should learn to be happy with what I get.

Anthony left this morning. Patrick told me that it's only one night and that it's the same as when I'm on call on a weekday. I'll see him that morning I'm on call then I won't see him again until the following afternoon when he gets out of school. I told him that the difference was that he was hundreds of miles away. I'm going to be a wreck when he leaves for college.

When Patrick was dropping Anthony off for the college trip, the other kids woke up and wandered into my bedroom. We watched one of our "X Factor" tapes. Alex wandered in around 7:30 and asked why no one woke him up for his 8am game. When I told him that his game wasn't until 10am, he was bummed that he had gotten up too early, and then he stayed to watch the show with us. When Patrick got home, he found out that the game was cancelled due to the rainy weather. That really opened up our day. Natalie has her friend A.S. over to play. Eric is playing by himself. Alex is playing Call of Duty: Black Ops on the PS3 as usual. Patrick is taking a nap. Isn't this what weekends are supposed to be like?

Sweet 16

Today is Anthony's 16th birthday! We gave him the early morning birthday present of waking him up early to go to an 8am soccer game. Unfortunately, we didn't find out until we got to the field that the game was cancelled due to the rainy weather and the likelihood of more bad weather. On the plus side, when we got home, he almost immediately started playing on the PS3 and he played for most of the day. I think he only stopped to let Alex play a little before Alex's game.

Because of Alex's game, we couldn't go out for Anthony's birthday dinner until 8:30pm. Natalie was exhausted from having spent the night at a friend's house. Eric was exhausted because that's way past his bedtime. Anthony's choice of restaurants was El Mirasol. He wanted to have the Tampiquena but he also felt like having rice and beans and flour tortillas. He said that even HE wouldn't be able to finish both, so he opted for only the Tampiquena. When we got home we had some of the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake that we bought at The Cheesecake Factory yesterday. We haven't been big on "birthday cakes" in the last few years, so we didn't bother with the candle or the "Happy Birthday" greeting written on the "cake". Still, chocolate anything is sure to be a hit with this family. Alex is the only one that doesn't care for cheesecake, so he didn't have any. Don't worry--Alex has had enough sweets today to make up for not having cheesecake.

There's always a special place in your heart for your firstborn, even if he wasn't always easy to take care of. Anthony came out 3 1/2 weeks early, just to show that when he was ready he was ready. He chose to drink from a bottle instead of nursing just to show us that he was going to do things his way. He used to ignore me when I would come home after being away on call overnight and his grandparents when they would leave us to go home, just to show that he was in control. Tomorrow morning he is leaving us for his first look at a college. His school group is going to see Texas Tech in one of a few such trips this year. It'll be a good experience for him, especially with several of his teachers as chaperones. I'm going to miss him terribly, but he's showing me that he's ready and that he is taking control of his future. I've got to give him credit for that.

My Big AND Little Helper

Today instead of exercising at the gym during Natalie's swim team lesson, Eric and I went to the nearby Target. He was talking about how he likes "to help people". He also likes to say that he is "big". As we were walking to registers, I said to him, "So, you're Mama's Little Helper?" He replied, "I'm your big AND little helper." He also insisted on carrying one of the shopping bags, which was a little big for him. I didn't want him to drop it in the parking lot on the way to the car, so we compromised by my holding his hand and the bag while he was still holding the bag too.

Dollar Scoop Tuesday is pretty much our weekly routine now. Natalie and Eric also routinely want to "run around outside" after they've had ice cream. Unfortunately, for the last couple of weeks, Eric wants to run around for much longer than Natalie does. I can't blame her. After all, she swims hard for an hour before getting ice cream. Tonight, as usual, Eric got upset when his sister doesn't do his bidding, so he started crying. That's a buzz killer for all of us since it's a sign that it's time to go home. Luckily, Eric had snapped out of his funk before we got home and the rest of the evening was uneventful.

Did you hear sucking sound? That's the sound of lots of money funneling out of our bank account. Patrick just bought tickets to his sister's wedding in November today, and I just bought tickets to go to Colorado to visit Grandma and Grandpa for Spring Break 2012. We haven't seen them since last Spring Break, but I'm still hoping they'll be able to visit us before then.

NHS Induction

We're back to the old routine today! I waited around after work so I could pick up Anthony and then Alex around 5pm. Anthony had a Model UN meeting and Alex had his UIL Spelling Club. We picked up Chipotle on the way home.

I used my Chipotle iPhone app for the first time--very cool app. It had an easy step-by-step menu for each burrito/burrito bowl. I stored everyone's individual order since each of us has our preferences. I could have paid in the app, but I wanted to pay when I arrived at the store. All I did was walk in, the order was ready, and I paid. Cool!

Anthony ate in the car in the 10 minutes it took to get home from Chipotle. That way he could change when we got home (while Patrick and I ate) and we could leave 15 minutes later to go to his National Honor Society Induction Ceremony. We didn't stay long afterwards since we had to get home to get the little ones in bed!

Tomorrow we get back to our usual Tuesday evening routine--swimming, soccer, and Dollar Scoop Tuesday. :)

Home Again

This is the family photo we took last night. I really enjoyed my visit and I was so thankful that all of my family took the time out of their busy lives to visit us during our short stay. My mom, my sisters, and I went home this morning. My plane trip was much smoother this time. We even arrived early.

Patrick had planned to pick Alex up from his sleepover and then come pick me up, but the order was reversed since my plane arrived a half hour early. Alex looked pretty pooped when I saw him, but I was happy that he actually greeted me and asked me how my trip was. The little ones seemed happy to see me when we got home. Anthony greeted me even though his friend A.O. was there for a visit. For the first time, A.O. had driven himself to our house--pretty cool to not have to worry about pick-up or drop-off.

I unpacked and rested for a bit before heading to my friend N.S.'s house with Natalie. Natalie swam and played with N.S.'s daughter while I tried on clothes and shopped. After that we went home, had dinner, and just hung out together. It's good to be home.

I'm Happy To See You Here

When my sisters and I got up this morning, my aunt (who went to bed after us) had already gone out to get a selection of bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. Cynthia and I had just eaten when Melisaa came out all dressed for a workout. She wanted to go for a walk. Cynthia and I were both a little reluctant, but we wanted a chance to see the neighborhood and get a little fresh air and exercise.

At first we were laughing so hard for various reasons. I joked about how I didn't have the bladder control I used to after having four children. Cynthia and Ialso didn't want to really exert ourselves since we had just eaten. Melissa started jogging just to get her heart rate up, even though she wasn't going very fast. We probably walked for around an hour with a stop for me to go to the bathroom. We enjoyed looking at all of the different types of houses and all the beautiful, tall trees. We especially enjoyed the cooler weather (low to mid 70s and cloudy).

Meanwhile, my Uncle Boy started cooking and kept cooking for a couple of hours. We heard that people were coming over, but we had no idea how many.

We counted about 28 people total, including small children. There were five small children that really added to the chaos. This is a picture of a mere few of the photographers. These were the ones that took pictures of my mom, sisters, grandmother, and I. My cousin Matt took the big family photo that I'll share later when I get home. It was hilarious watching him piecing together a "tripod" to support the camera so everyone could be in the picture. It was chaotic but this is the type of thing that makes me want to live closer to all of them so that we can get together more often. My family is just FUN to be around.

I knew that I did the right thing in coming here this weekend when my grandmother said several times, "I'm happy to see you here."

Throughout the day, Patrick texted updates on Anthony's (1-1) and Alex's (0-6) soccer games. He was especially upset about how badly Alex's teammates played today. As of this writing, Alex is at his friend's sleepover birthday party, and Anthony is at the Homecoming Dance. Natalie and Eric should be in bed sound asleep. It's been fun here, but I'm really looking forward to seeing my family again.

Lots of Stories

This is a picture of the pretty sunrise I saw while I was at the airport waiting for my delayed flight. Apparently the flight crew got in really late the night before, so they weren't allowed to fly out before 10am. The original departure time was 8am. That meant that instead of arriving in Newark before my mom and sisters, I got in over an hour later. My wonderful Uncle Fred waited at the airport for all of us. I also got a little sick when the plane was landing (long, turbulent landing) so they all waited a little longer until my stomach calmed down. He even took us out to eat after that.

When we got to my grandmother's house, I was a little surprised at how much she's aged since I last saw her three years ago. She apparently doesn't eat very much, although she does get some needed nutrition from Boost, one of those enriched drinks. She's much thinner than I remembered, but she is just as loving as she has always been. She was ready with hugs and kisses, and she still remembers all of our names. They're planning a birthday party for her when she's in the Philippines, number 97.

The rest of the time we spent showing pictures (this iPad really came in handy) and telling stories. One of the most interesting ones involved my great-grandmother (my maternal grandmother's mother). One of my uncles used to sleep in her room, and he said that she used to get up at 3am to pray. She had a cross in her room made of ivory with Jesus apparently looking "alive" instead of "dead" with jewels in his eyes. This was significant because they said that he looked like his eyes were following you as you walked around the room. That was from a kid's perspective, of course. My uncle also said that she would light a candle every time it was someone's birthday, so he would awaken when he saw the light and ask who's birthday it was (there were ten kids in his family and he is the youngest). My mom said that when she got married to my dad, her grandmother took him to her room and made him kneel in front of this cross. She then told him that he had better treat my mother right or she would come back from the dead to haunt him.

Right now I have two uncles, an aunt, my grandmother, and my aunt's cousin living in this house. Sometimes my cousin comes home for a visit (he lives in New York). When the second uncle came home after 8pm, they told more stories and I showed my pictures once again. My Unvle Fred had gone home to his own house by this time. That's when we ate our second dinner.

We talked about how Anthony had gotten his learners' permit and about driving. Apparently my mom knew whoever gave my Uncle Boy his license. As he put it, my mom "knows everyone". All he had to do was go to this person, he didn't even have to take a test. My Uncle Diotay said that when he took his test, he was given the answers. This was in the Philippines.

They also talked about how the driving situations were vastly different there. No one really stays in the lanes. Everyone is honking their horns constantly to tell you that they're moving into your lane. Uncle Boy said that he didn't see anyone coming to a complete stop at stop signs until he came to the U.S. He also said that in the Philippines when they flash their lights at you, that means that they're going to go ahead while here flashing your lights means that you're letting the other car go ahead.

My sisters and I were pretty pooped by the time my aunt came home from work at 11:30pm. They probably ate dinner again as is their usual routine,but we were ready to go to bed. I'm sure there will be more stories tomorrow.

Hand-Me-Downs

Recently, Patrick took some of Alex's old clothes from storage (deep in the recesses of our bedroom closet). We gave some of his toddler clothes away, thinking we wouldn't need them anymore. We still have a few size 4 and up clothes that Eric can now fit into. Eric wore the same shirt today as Alex wore in these pictures, so I asked Eric if I could take a picture of him. I also showed Eric this page. He noticed that Alex was sitting "criss-cross applesauce" which is what they call what we used to call "sitting Indian-style". Of course he wanted to sit the same way. He also noticed that in the other picture, Alex's legs were in the shape of a number "4". He didn't want to sit like that. Who knows why?

I couldn't get him to smile more naturally, but I was still happy to get a photo. One of these days I'll do a scrapbook page with Eric wearing outfits that Alex and maybe even Anthony wore. Notice also that Alex was three years old when he wore this same outfit, but Eric is four years old. They're most definitely built differently, but both are adorable.

Tonight I'm packing to go visit my grandmother in New Jersey tomorrow. My Mom and sisters will be going too. I know Patrick can handle everything, but I still feel a little guilty for leaving him alone with all of the kid activities. Alex has an after school party tomorrow, so he has to cart the little ones around with him while he picks up Anthony then Alex then drops Anthony off at a football game then he has to leave them at home with Alex when he picks up Anthony again, etc.

I'll try to provide a few updates this weekend, but chances are that I won't post any photos until Sunday or Monday.

This Week's Schedule

This is the sight that greeted me when I got home from work this morning. Isn't he a cutie? These skeleton PJs are a little small on him, but he insisted on wearing them anyway. He calls them his "bones" pajamas. He also insists that they're not too small.

I picked him up from school a little early today so we could go have a snack at Starbuck's before picking Natalie up for her piano lesson. I got him the usual and I also got Natalie her usual. Patrick said that the reason why the kids always want ME to pick them up is that I buy them nice treats. He also said, "Can you pick me up, too?" :)

This is going to be another busy week, made busier by my going out of town on Friday through Sunday. My mom, sisters, and I will be visiting my grandmother next weekend. The rest of the week is below:

--Every morning, Anthony has cross country practice at 6:45am.
--Today, Natalie had piano lessons at 3:30pm. Alex also had UIL Spelling Club after school until 5pm, so Patrick picked Anthony up after school, fed him, then picked Alex up before coming home.
--Tomorrow, is the usual swim team for Natalie at 5:30-6:30pm, soccer practice for Anthony at 6-7:30pm, and soccer practice for Alex at 7:30-9pm.
--Wednesday, Anthony has a National Honor Society meeting after school.
--Thursday is a repeat of Tuesday.
--Friday, Patrick will drop me off at the airport after dropping Anthony off at school. Anthony is also going to the Homecoming football game at 7:30pm.
--Saturday, Anthony has a soccer game at 9am and Alex has one at 2pm. Eric was invited to a birthday party at 1pm, but there is just no way Patrick can do all of that by himself.
--Sunday, I return home at 12:30pm.

I'm going to miss the kids a lot while I'm gone, but in the end it'll be a good bonding time with my mom and sisters and a good visit with my grandmother.

Race, Party, Game, and a Recital

I didn't have time to put this post up last night, so here goes!

We started the morning as we have the previous two Saturday mornings--with a cross country track meet. Anthony had to be at school at 6am. This time I thought it was a little unusual, but they ran on the grounds of a nearby psychiatric hospital. It was certainly very "cross-country", but I wondered why they didn't have somewhere else they could hold the meet.

Anyway, Anthony finished the 5K in 21:20. He wasn't very happy with his time, which was far slower than his last two times. He said he got a stitch in his side early on that slowed him down and by the time it was gone, it was too late to make up time. He's doing so well for his first time running. After all, he hasn't been running for even a month yet!

He was originally running at 8:30, but that was changed to 9am. That meant that even when he finished by 9:30, there was no way he could even make it to the last half of his club soccer game in San Marcos (45 minutes away) that started at 9:30am. On the up side, he was able relax at home the rest of the day and watch Eric while his parents ran around doing other things.

The first activity for me was to take Natalie to her friend's birthday party scheduled for noon at the local taekwondo place where where we used to train. They really run a fun, active party for kids. One of the games they play is "Dodgeball" where they try to hit the kids with a ball and if they get hit, they're "out". They did a few variations on the game for the whole hour and a half.

Meanwhile, while we were at the party, Patrick and Alex went to Alex's first soccer game of the season at 2pm. They actually tied 2-2 in a game that Patrick thought our team dominated. I thought it was an improvement that they even scored. Hopefully they'll get better and better.

Meanwhile, I had to pick Natalie up from the party early so she could go to her piano recital. The party included a sleepover and they were "about to do something really fun", so Natalie had her "piano face" for the first hour or so after I got her because she really wanted to stay at the party.

She did great in her performance itself. Her teacher did have one tip. She didn't bow at the beginning or at the end of her performance. To me that meant that at least he was happy with her performance. This is just a picture of her "embarrassed look" that she gets whenever she performs. Most of the other kids didn't have their pieces memorized and had to read from music. I think it really magnified the ones that knew their pieces well. Natalie had her piece memorized.

We had less than an hour and we had to go to the 5:30pm mass at church since I'm working today. Natalie went straight back to the party in this fancy dress and she's there now. It's still weird when the kids have a sleepover and their rooms are empty in the morning.

Today won't be so busy for the rest of the family, thank goodness.

Bewitching

Natalie is invited to a birthday party tomorrow, so we went to our local family-owned toy store to get a present. Eric loves that place because they have the most complete Thomas the Tank Engine selection around here. Each time we go, he looks at all of the trains hanging on the wall and tells me things like, "I don't have Dash" or "I don't have Ferdinand." He'll often say that he wants this or that for his birthday. Sometimes he demands that his birthday be sooner. He knows when his birthdate is, he just doesn't understand why he can't change that date.

I have devised various ways to get him out of the store. This time I bought him some Thomas wall stickers. We applied the stickers to the wall next to his bed tonight. I'll try to take pictures later.

After the toy store, we went to the Hallmark store next door. They both love to browse and turn on various seasonal novelty items. Today they both enjoyed this hat the most. When you press the button, it sings a little song and the tip moves up and down. The last line says, "Do you find me (pause) bewitching?" followed by a sinister laugh. They were enjoying it so much that I bought it. They played with it on the short car ride home. I loved hearing Eric repeat the last line, especially "bewitching", a word that most four-year-olds usually don't say. He had the biggest (and cutest) two-dimpled smile, too.

Yup, it's that cuteness that keeps him alive...

Thursday Update

I really haven't felt like taking pictures or posting on my blog lately. Life has been pretty routine and uninspiring to write about. This is just a picture of the little ones walking along the rocks to get to our car after Natalie's swim team lesson today.

Eric has been in rare form lately. He wanted to come with me to the gym tonight, but when we got there he sat down on a bench just inside the door and fussed when I told him to stand up so I could take him to the Child Care Center there. When I mentioned that maybe he should have stayed home instead, he got upset. He only calmed down when I told him that next time I would leave him at home. When we were leaving, he insisted in going out for ice cream. Since we already went to Baskin-Robbins on Tuesday, I refused. He got upset and said he wanted to go to the ice cream place near the gym (Coldstone Creamery) as if it mattered that he wanted to go somewhere different. He only calmed down when I told him that I wouldn't take him out for ice cream anymore if he continued to fuss. This picture was after all that. He happily went back to running on the rocks.

Anthony was tired and sore today from lifting weights during his soccer class, plus training for the cross country meet this weekend. He didn't feel up to going to soccer practice tonight and we didn't want to make him. He really has been working hard and needed a break. He has a busy Saturday, after all.

Alex stayed home from school on Tuesday because he had been running a low-grade fever. He felt better after taking some ibuprofen so he spent the rest of the day bored. We don't allow sick kids to play video games, even if they feel better. He stayed up late last night catching up on homework. It seemed like the later he stayed up, the less focused and more talkative he was. He was in the office with me and he kept talking instead of working on the computer. Speaking of talking, his voice has been cracking more lately. He's always had a relatively deep voice and I'm curious to find out what his "grown-up" voice will sound like.

Natalie had her first GT (Gifted and Talented) class yesterday. She wore her shirt that says "Creative Genius" shirt to school on purpose. She found out that her best friend M.E., who is in third grade despite being only one month younger, was one of only two kids from the third grade who made it into GT. That means that M.E. will be in Natalie's GT class with her. Exciting times!

One of the reasons I've been busier lately is that I've been participating in a LOAD challenge or Layout A Day challenge over at Big Picture Classes. I wanted to post two of my favorite pages so far.

This first page talks about how Natalie didn't start out wanting autographs from the Disney characters (from our January 2009 trip) until she saw her cousin Emily get an autograph from the Fairy Godmother. This picture was taken on the morning after they got their princess makeovers, and we had let them keep their hair and everything intact instead of bathing them and washing their hair the night before. Natalie wanted an autograph book of her own and we spent a lot of time after that getting in long lines to get autographs.


This is just a page about how the weather turned cold during the week we stayed at Disney. That didn't stop the kids from wanting to play in the sand. They were fully clothed with their jackets on, and they were the only people outside, but they were enjoying themselves so we let them play. I took a couple of photos then retreated to watch them from inside the resort--where it was warmer.

I'll try to update on Saturday after all of the activities, but first I want to give a shout-out to my dear sister Cynthia. Happy Birthday, Cynthia! I love you and I hope you had a wonderful day!!!

Over-scheduled

Sometimes if I wait long enough, I'll have the perfect photo of the day. Anthony came up to me this evening to show me his graphing calculator. He asks, "Do you have any idea how hard that was to do?" I have to admit that I had to tell him, "No, I have no idea." This is what my very intelligent child does for fun. He finds formulas on the Internet to graph cool stuff like a heart on his graphing calculator. He's a little nerdy, but cute. :)

My wonderful boy is a bit over-scheduled this coming weekend. He has a track meet here in town at 8am. If he runs in the Varsity race, he'll be done as early as 8:30am. He has a game in San Marcos (45 minutes away from our house) at 9am. He also has the first "Model U.N." activity/competition at 9:30 to noon here in town. I don't think he's going to be able to do it all. Alex also has a soccer game at 2pm on his home field. I'm on call on Sunday when Anthony has another soccer game. This is just a small glimpse of what our schedule will be like this fall. I think I'll be like Eric and wish for "summer days" again instead of "school days".

Gearing Up For Monday

Are you ever too old to be sad when your parents leave? I suppose when you're young you don't really notice how well your parents take care of you, but I love that I feel so pampered every time my parents, specifically my Mom, comes for a visit. I didn't appreciate it as much as a kid living at home but boy do I appreciate it now. Thanks Mom and Dad!

I'm only going to post a few things about what tomorrow will be like. Anthony will be at school early again for cross country practice. He has a "Model U.N." meeting after school so he won't be ready to be picked up until 5 pm. "Model U.N." is an activity where they get assigned a country and an issue and they have to figure out how that country views that issue. Alex is starting a UIL (University Interscholastic League) Spelling activity after school so he won't be done until 5 pm either. UIL just means that he would be also participate in competitions. I am on late call so I probably won't leave work until at least 6 pm. Meanwhile Natalie will have piano lessons after school and Patrick won't be able to pick the boys up until after 5 pm. It's just another manic Monday for us. :)

Cooking and Cross Country

Natalie had been Lola's little helper. Yesterday she helped make some chicken empanadas. She rolled out the dough, filled it, then crimped the edges with a fork. Lola mixed up the filling mixture and did the baking, of course. These little meat pies are Patrick's favorite, so Natalie said she was making them for him. :) He kidded with Natalie that Lola was teaching her to cook so she could start cooking for all of us.

This morning, I had to take Anthony to school at 5:45am so he could take the bus to his track meet. When I got home I went back to bed. While I was sleeping, Lola and the little ones made breakfast. She was impressed that Eric wanted to help too. All the kids (and adults) love these filled crescent rolls. They're so easy to make too. Patrick took this picture for me. Yes, he can be trained. ;) There was only one left by the time I got up. Apparently Eric ate five of them. Lola thought for sure he would have a stomachache but he didn't.

Anthony was running with the Varsity today. That meant his race was supposed to start at 9:35am. Patrick and I heard different conflicting locations for the meet. We were told UTSA and the website that lists all of Anthony's track meets says UTSA. The only map of the campus is from 2009 and there's been quite a bit of construction since then. When we went to the campus we drove around for quite a bit before we finally found someone that told us that the meet was in a completely different location. There were SO many cars and people and there wasn't a lot of parking. By the time we got there, the race had already started.

I felt like I had to walk a mile just to see Anthony cross the finish line. We were rushing just to be able to do that. We got to the finish line a few seconds before he crossed it. The course was supposedly around 5K this time, or around 3.1 miles. He finished in around 20 minutes. We're so proud!

Kid Updates

I should do an update on the kids' activities every so often. I write a lot about what Eric does, but sometimes I don't spend any time talking about the other kiddos. I haven't taken many pictures or posted a lot lately because I've actually been doing some scrapbooking. I'll try to share those pages on a future post.

Anthony's cross country meet yesterday was cancelled. He missed his last class to travel with the team, then when they got there, the coach decided that there were too many holes on the race course. I was at work on call, but I was glad to hear that the coach is making sure his team doesn't get injured from an unsafe course. The good part is that at least Anthony had more time to do the mountains of homework he's had lately, because he got home earlier. He is now apparently on the Varsity team. The bad part is that because he's on the Varsity team, he had to be at school this morning by 6am (instead of the usual 6:45am) because the Varsity team was taking a bus to a nearby park to run there instead of around the school. His next meet is this Saturday.

Alex has been trying to decide what afterschool clubs to sign up for. He showed me the list of available activities, but when I asked him what he was interested in, the only answer I got was that he was interested in a few but that he wanted to talk to his friends so they could sign up for the same activity together. Alex is still all about the social aspect of his extracurricular activities. Because of this and because he hasn't really clicked with his club soccer teammates, he has talked about quitting club soccer. He says that he doesn't have much time to socialize with his friends between the mountains of homework he's had lately and his soccer practices and games. Patrick and I don't know what to do with him.

Natalie was over the moon when she found out yesterday that she is back in the GT program (Gifted and Talented Program) this year. She was very upset last year when she didn't get in, mostly because she loves the GT teacher SO much. Mrs. A is a pretty cool lady and this year Natalie is going to get to spend one whole day a week with her. GT starts next week.

Tonight was Natalie's swim team class at the gym. I was watching at her swimming the backstroke so effortlessly and I felt compelled to text Patrick that I was a little biased and that I didn't know that much about swimming but that I thought she looked really good. He texted back that was biased too but he thought she was an excellent swimmer. I showed her the texts after practice and she just smiled and said she agreed.

I guess I'm going to write three paragraphs on Natalie tonight. Recently she's become very obsessed with the Harry Potter books and movies. She even played with a school friend who loves Harry Potter. Now Natalie wants some of the Harry Potter Lego sets just like her friend. On Tuesday during our car trip to swimming class, she was reading the seventh and final book. She said that she was close to where the first Deathly Hallows movie had ended. I asked her, "Then are you going to talk to me?" I asked her that because she was concentrating so hard on that book. She replied, "Yes, then I'll say 'hi'." She is going to be so excited when we see Harry Potter World in Florida as part of our Disney trip.

Eric has been enjoying/manipulating his grandparents. He was supposed to be cleaning up his cars and my Dad was there in the gameroom with him. Eric looked at his Lolo and said, "Lolo, you're not helping." He also threw a fit yesterday when Lola wouldn't make jello for him. He finally settled for some chocolate pudding that was ready made. Of course Lola made some jello for him today. It's not all bad, he did tell Lolo that he was ready to play with him and took Lolo's hand to go upstairs.

We learned today that Eric's class will be performing a play tomorrow afternoon. They are "performing" the book "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" and apparently, Eric plays the mouse. When the other kids heard that they all wanted to go. Unfortunately the play is at 3:30pm so Alex, Anthony, and I won't be able to be there, so Patrick is planning to videotape the event for us. I'm sure he'll be adorable.

Swim Lessons

I've been taking photos with my iPhone lately, instead of my big camera. I've just been too lazy to carry that big thing around. I have to sacrifice picture quality for convenience, but then my shoulder doesn't ache so much. This picture, for example, is terrible quality. It's blurry, dark and very grainy. I took it on Sunday morning. Patrick was off at the store buying donuts as is his tradition on Sunday mornings. The younger kids climbed into bed with me. I didn't have my big camera, of course, but I had my iPhone, so I snapped a photo. Despite the poor quality, I love this anyway because all three of us look like we're having a great time.

Speaking of having a great time, this is Eric at his swimming lesson this morning. He wasn't by himself this time, but he was still enjoying it. They took turns swimming with a float then scooping their hands like they were scooping up ice cream for their arm strokes. He has exaggerated kicks and he can't float for more than a few seconds, but he was smiling and laughing during most of the half hour lesson.

After swimming, just like last week, he got a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. Since last night he has been asking if he can just stay home after the lesson and not go back to school. He asked it again when we picked him up, and he asked the same question again after his lesson. Patrick told him that he could have a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch and then he would go back to school to play for a little while and then Patrick told him he would pick him up a little early, before Natalie gets home on the bus. He was okay with that plan.

My mom and dad just got arrived for another visit. They were going to visit later in the month but since my mom is going to be going to visit my maternal grandmother with me and my sisters, they moved up their visit to this week. It's a good thing too, because we found out on Monday that Anthony has another cross country meet tonight after school and I'm on call. This way, Patrick can leave the younger ones at home while he goes to watch Anthony. Apparently he's going to compete in a relay. Instead of running three miles like the last meet, he will run two miles with two other boys in a relay. Either way, it'll be a lot hotter tonight than it was on Saturday morning.

First Cross Country Meet

Anthony's high school soccer coach, who is new this year, wanted all of the soccer kids to also train with the cross country team. That way they could get some conditioning before soccer season. A few of the boys are good enough not only to train with the the cross country team, but to actually compete with them. Anthony is one of those kids.

Today was Anthony's first cross country meet. We only found out about it this week, so we didn't know what to expect. Even Anthony didn't know what to expect. He didn't know, for example, if he was running with the Varsity or the Junior Varsity team. All he knew was that he had to show up at the school by 6am this morning.

I came home from dropping off Anthony and made breakfast for the rest of the family, after swinging by Starbuck's for a treat for me and the grocery store for turkey bacon and other items. Patrick and I got to the meet after the Varsity boys had already started running (at 8am). We found out then that Anthony was running with the Junior Varsity Heat 1, so his race started at 9am.

Patrick met the cross country coach and chatted a little about how Anthony sometimes runs so hard that he throws up. He said that Anthony was doing pretty well despite that. Patrick went to pick up Anthony from school just now, so I might hear differently when he gets home, but even though there were a lot of other boys that finished before Anthony, he seemed to be the first one from his high school to finish the Junior Varsity race. Patrick's unofficial iPhone time was 19:22 for approximately 2.9 miles. He seemed to be really hurting at the end. (This picture was taken about 600 meters from the finish line. Don't ask me why they switch from miles to meters.) While most of the other boys were sprinting at the finish, he did not. I hope he's feeling okay. His social schedule is booked for this evening. :)

Social Time

This is Alex with his gaming headphones on. He takes over the middle of the living room when he plays on the PS3 because these headphones aren't wireless. At least we don't have to hear gunfire anymore. Also notice his "jewelry". He's got two silver necklaces on and a bunch of rubber bracelets. He wears those all the time. He shows his personality without having to say a word. Actually, he doesn't say many words at all, especially when he plays on the PS3, except for when you say he can't play. Then he'll have a few words to say, although hopefully not the kind to prevent him from ever playing on the PS3 again. I don't really mind that he likes to play video games, but I wish he spent more time with his friends. I have to remind myself that Anthony didn't spend much time with his friends when he was in middle school. At least Alex "talks" to his friends all the time on Facebook and via texting.

Anthony has a busy schedule this weekend. Tonight he stayed after school to go to the volleyball games because his good friend is on the school team. Tomorrow I get to take him to the school at 6 am so he can go to his first track meet. Tomorrow evening he is going to his high school's football game. I love that he can do well in school and sports and still spend time with his friends.

Keeping Up

Our Tuesdays and Thursdays are booked solid. Today I got home with Anthony around 4:40pm. Patrick got home with Alex just before we got home after picking him up at the nearby middle school where his school bus drops him off. I chatted with Patrick briefly while I ate and while Natalie and Eric were eating so I could leave at 5pm with Natalie and Eric to Natalie's swim team class at Lifetime Fitness scheduled for 5:30pm.

Patrick meanwhile left the house by 5:30pm to get to Anthony's soccer practice at 6pm. He then went home to get Alex. They left by around 7pm to get to Alex's 7:30pm practice. I usually get home around the time Patrick is home but today I took the kiddos out to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream since we didn't go on our usual Dollar Scoop Tuesday trip. I got home by 7:30pm and gave Eric a bath, brushed his teeth, and cut his nails while Natalie took her shower and stuff.

Meanwhile, after Patrick dropped Alex off, he went to pick up Anthony, whose practice ends at 7:30pm. He got home with Anthony by around 8pm as I was trying the get the little ones in bed. Patrick again left to get Alex whose practice ends at 9pm.

At work I was scheduled to take call next Tuesday, but I switched it to Wednesday because there is no way one person can do all of this by himself, even if he is as awesome as Patrick. :)

By the way, I took the picture above near Baskin-Robbins. The kids like to run around outside after getting ice cream. They love chasing each other and I love watching them just be kids.

Also, after my post the other day about not being able to see my grandmother, my sister Melissa suggested visiting with Mom. I booked my flight tonight. I don't like traveling by myself, but it will be easier in the end. My non-stop flight cost almost $450 for two days. Ouch! Still, I won't regret this opportunity to see Lola again.

Swimming Again

From last October to this past June, Natalie was in the swim team class at our gym, Lifetime Fitness. Since she wasn't chosen for the competitive swim team that she tried out for, we signed her up for Lifetime Fitness again. She had her first session tonight. According to her coach, the team has grown this year, and now they're competing in meets. We were happy to hear this, as Natalie will have more individual attention in this atmosphere than the competitive team. She was very attentive tonight and seemed to make the changes in her strokes that her coach suggested. She was definitely happy to be back with her old coach, and the feeling seemed mutual. God does work in mysterious ways, and there IS a reason for everything!

We also signed Eric up for swim lessons there, with lessons every Wednesday at 10am, starting tomorrow. He seems excited about getting to swim, although I did sense a little hesitation in his voice. He is in the "Ripples 301" class. Apparently, that's the highest class in his age group since he is floating, he puts his face in the water, and he's not afraid of the water. Patrick will be there, so I'll hear all about it tomorrow afternoon.

Cuteness

We were at the mall (again) today. This time Alex was meeting some of his friends there. Going to North Star Mall always means a stop at The Disney Store for Eric to memorize all the different Lightning McQueen toys. The die-cast cars were his favorite. He held up "Rod Torque Redline" and started telling me about how the car had this expression on his face--then he showed me the expression. Patrick and I have this running joke about how the kids have a certain "cuteness" that keeps them alive for a few years despite any difficulties we might have with them. This one certainly has that "cuteness".

Eric likes to boss around his siblings (and often his parents). He also likes to repeat what his parents say when they are disciplining his siblings. He likes to speak his mind, that's for sure, although sometimes "speaking" involves screaming. We were waiting for Alex before leaving the mall. He and Natalie were running around to expend some energy. I was waiting for them on a bench nearby. Eric ran back to the bench and pretty much plowed into the elderly lady sitting next to me. I was horrified, but she said she was okay. A minute later, he let out a scream which was a distance away but because it was in the mall, the sound carried and was piercing, even for my ears which are more immune than others. That was it--I called Alex and told him that we would wait for him in the car.

It seemed appropriate that the page I made this morning used photos of Eric's cute little baby face when he wasn't even one year old yet. These photos were taken in Colorado for Easter Break in 2008. His cheeks were dry and chapped and he is drooling all over the place. What a cutie! That cuteness has kept him alive so far!

Cherish

I'm doing this Layout A Day (or LOAD) challenge for the next four weeks and this is one of the pages I've done so far. I'm not in love with the page design or the papers, but that doesn't matter. I felt compelled to get my feelings down on paper. A couple of days ago, I was talking to my Mom on the phone. One of the things we talked about was how my grandmother will be moving back to the Philippines next month. It really hit me that I might never see her again.

She'll be 97 in November, and she needs someone to be with her constantly. My maternal aunt in the Philippines seems to be the one most equipped to do that, because she can take my grandmother to her shop with her during the day and then of course home at night. As I looked through my many pictures, I realized that the last time I saw Lola was three years ago, at my cousin's wedding. That's when these photos were taken. Then I was sad because I didn't try harder to see her in the past three years.

I'm glad that at least she got to see all of the kids. Eric was just one year old at the time. The kids didn't have time to really get to know her, but she was starting to not really be herself then. I haven't scrapped these photos yet, so I put them on a page so at least I can remember that last visit.

On a much lighter note, this is what my son does at the mall. He buys fake mustaches with his friends MF and AO and he goes to the Apple store, uses one of the Macs to take pictures, and then uploads them to Facebook. At least he took pictures, but he didn't save any copies for himself. I downloaded the photos from Facebook and I'll be doing a page about them in the next day or so. I love Anthony's sense of humor. :)

Bribery

Anthony met some of his friends at La Cantera Mall this afternoon. After I dropped him off, I did a little shopping on my own. Along the way I discovered a gelato place that one of my co-workers had just told me about, called Paciugo. I love going out to get frozen treats, even when my own freezer is well-stocked with frozen treats, and I usually like to take one of the kids with me. This time I was by myself, but it was just a hot day and that was a good enough excuse to go. I had the Coffee Vanilla flavor. Yum!

As I was enjoying my gelato while sitting outside, I texted Anthony about how I found the gelato place that I had mentioned to him earlier. He asked where it was and before I knew it, he had plopped himself in the chair next to me. I was in the middle of texting him that if his friends let me take a picture of them, I would buy them some gelato.

I'm always bugging Anthony about how he should take more pictures of himself out with his friends. I've always wished that I had more pictures of myself with my high school friends. Besides, that way he can show me faces to match the names of his friends he is always talking about.

Of course they agreed to pose for a picture! They're a good-looking bunch, aren't they? They took a while to decide what flavors to get. The girls ended up sharing one even when I offered to get them their own. Anthony and AO both decided on three flavors each--they got the large cup. At one point, Anthony dropped a dollop of his S'mores gelato on the floor. I exclaimed how that was such a waste and I saw him contemplating the gelato on the floor. Then suddenly, he quickly picked it up off the floor and ate it. He said later that the only part of it that had touched the floor was the melted part that was still on the floor, as if the cell layers were totally separate from each other. Patrick said later that picking it up off the floor was how you build up immunity. Can you tell that my whole family loves their frozen treats so much that they make excuses not to waste it? I would have done the same thing.

I got my picture and they got some gelato. You can call it bribery, but it works.

Spoiling the Kids

After I had spent my post-call day with Eric on Wednesday, I told him that maybe we could go to Sea World some time when I'm off. He turned that into fact when he found out that I was off today. Again, Patrick took him to school so we could get stuff done at home and so he could get used to going to school every day.

We picked him up around 11am so we could have lunch and then head to Sea World. When he saw us, he immediately headed for Patrick (passing me up) and acted very excited, then he came to me to hug my leg. How could we not love that kind of reaction?

We decided on the Panera Bread located near Sea World because I like their Asian Chicken Salad. Eric requested a grilled cheese sandwich. I was watching him eating everything except the crust on his sandwich and I got my iPhone out to take a picture. He asked me if I was taking a picture of his milk, then he asked me if I would take a picture of his milk. I took this picture (I cropped out the milk). I love that expression on his face. I'm just a little biased, but I think he's so handsome in this picture. :)

He finished his whole grilled cheese sandwich and two yogurt tubes that came with the kids' meal, but he barely touched his chocolate milk.

The first thing we saw when we got to Sea World was a small stingray "exhibit". Supposedly when the new Sea World waterpark called Aquatica opens in March 2012, they will have an area where people can swim with stingrays. Eric didn't actually touch the stingrays in the little pool, but he did seem fascinated.

Eric always asks to see Shamu when we visit Sea World, except that there were only two shows scheduled, one at noon and one at 3pm. We didn't get to the park until 12:30pm, so we missed that first show. After a lot of negotiating, we convinced Eric to go to the 1pm "Azul" show, which features Beluga whales and bottlenose dolphins. Natalie used to really love this show when she was Eric's age.

Before the "Azul" show started, there was a guy that was doing some pre-show entertainment involving some water spouts and getting the audience wet. Eric asked what he was doing and Patrick told him that the guy was trying to make people laugh. Eric replied in a serious tone of voice, "Why is he trying to make people laugh. I'm not laughing."

At least when the show started, he seemed to be interested, until it got to be about 20 minutes or so into the show and he said "this show is long". We knew that was our cue to leave. Patrick asked me who I thought would be the first one to fall asleep in the car, me or Eric. My answer is always, "Me." Sure enough, it was me. :) Eric didn't fall asleep at all on the way home.

Natalie came home and we found out that she didn't make the cut for the competitive swim team that she tried out for last week. I was very disappointed. She didn't seem disappointed at all, however, so she made it very easy for me. She seemed almost excited about the idea of training with her previous coach at Lifetime Fitness. Patrick is going to try to talk to the head coach next week (he wasn't there this afternoon) to find out what she can at least work on. It seemed like they didn't accept that many new kids, so a lot of the kids that were on the team last year probably came back.

I still felt bad about it when we went to pick up Alex from the school bus, so I gave each child whatever drink they wanted--all from different places, of course. Natalie has been asking about getting an Icee from the corner grocery store, so I stopped off there to get her one. Alex wanted a chocolate banana shake from Sonic, so I stopped off there to get him one. Eric wanted a Strawberries and Cream Frappucino from Starbucks, which was my fault because I myself wanted to stop there to get my beloved Mocha Frappucino.

Patrick picked Anthony up from school then went to a big stadium parking lot to practice driving. That's still a work in progress. They picked up Schlotzky's for dinner (Anthony's favorite) and Cinnabons for breakfast tomorrow. We then watched the fourth Harry Potter movie, "The Goblet of Fire", something Natalie has been requesting to see. She started reading all the books and now she's watching all of the movies. I guess spoiling my kids made me feel better.