Finally...Some Work Is Done

I haven't been posting update photos of our kitchen remodel because there hasn't been anything going on. They really only worked a couple of days last week. They did some more stuff to the shower area to convert it from the bathtub and they completely took apart the kitchen island. I want some drawers instead of cabinets in the kitchen island to help me organize my bakeware and other pots and pans more easily. I also wanted it all one level instead of having the raised bar area, to give me as much counter space as possible.

Notice the dryer in the breakfast area. That means we're on week three of not having a washer and dryer--definitely more inconvenient than not having a kitchen. I had planned on not having the kitchen but I hadn't anticipated the lack of a washer and dryer.

On Friday of last week (Oct. 4), the painters came. They were supposed to show up in the morning, but they didn't show up until around 1pm. Then, the paint they had wasn't covering the old paint, even after three coats. Notice the paint colors on the side at the bottom of this window. That's the old paint color--a dark blue red. The new paint is a brighter and slightly more orange red. The painters came back this week, but not until Wednesday. No one came on Monday or Tuesday.

They painted the kitchen and the laundry room. The laundry room is the same golden color as the bathroom will be. They haven't painted the bathroom yet. All they did in there was take off the light fixture above the bathroom mirror and apply texture to the wall.

I took this picture today. After working yesterday and today, they pretty much finished the tile in the kitchen and laundry room. The laundry room has only the plain big tiles and not the smaller charcoal tiles that are in the kitchen. They still have to add the grout and do the tile work in the bathroom. I'm just happy to be able to see some work actually getting done.

The family seems to be holding up okay. I'm worried that I'll gain a bunch of weight from all of this eating out and I'm looking forward to visiting my mom this weekend and getting some of her delicious home-cooked food. The kids enjoy eating out, so they haven't really complained about that.

Eric here is trying to weave his big car in between the furniture in our tiny living room. I'm also testing out my new camera. I finally figured out how to change the settings on it and how to get the pictures off the camera and into the computer. Eric will be busy starting next week (and so will we). He will be starting both soccer (with practices on Tuesdays with games on Saturdays) and piano lessons (on Thursdays). Our weekends will be busy again. We've been planning on soccer and piano for Eric since school began and we finally signed him up. It's ironic that when this kitchen remodel is finally finished, we'll be busy and won't even get to spend much time in it.

Art a la Carte

A number of years ago, I think around the time Anthony was in first or second grade, they did away with art class at our nearby elementary school--budget cuts. Some time since then, the PTA bought a program called "Art a la Carte" and relied on parent volunteers to "teach" art in school. I helped in one of these classes a few years ago for Natalie's class. The other mom was the one who figured out the lesson and I helped her set up and teach the class. It wasn't any real instruction besides showing them how to put together an art project.

This year, the PTA was able to pay for a part-time art teacher. Each class has art once a month, usually on a Wednesday. The art teacher said she sometimes comes in on Friday also to mount some of the artwork. Parents hang the artwork in the hallways. It looks very cool to see all the different art projects from each class as you walk in the school hallways.

I missed Eric's first Art a la Carte class this year. By the time I found out the schedule, I couldn't switch my days off. I was able to get yesterday off, so I volunteered for the art class. This time was so different from the first time. The art teacher had a really great way of explaining to the first graders how to draw pumpkins. She had them draw circles around their spread-out hands. For the taller, skinnier pumpkin, she had them close their hand and draw around that. Some of it seemed a little beyond what some of the kids seemed to be able to understand, but some kids were definitely able to understand and follow along. For example, she was using oil pastels and she showed how you could start with a lighter color then when you layer a darker color on top of the lighter one, you could blend the darker color and make it lighter. Some kids really got that and drew the lighter color first then the darker color. Honestly, I was a little surprised that even some of the boys followed along. Eric just colored all over, using what colors he liked, not really trying to layer any colors or anything. The art teacher even taught them a little about Art History and how Cezanne drew still life using apples.

When it came time to color in the "sky" or "ground", or even the pumpkins, Eric showed that he didn't care about coloring in the lines or trying to cover up the background paper with color. It was a little hard for someone like me who likes to stay in the lines, but I let him have fun with it. She was trying to get the kids to put down a pretty solid block of color from the oil pastel crayons. Eric wasn't interested. Some of the moms tried to color in some of the backgrounds. I let go and let him color the way he wanted to color. He really enjoyed the art lesson, and he seemed to really enjoy that I was there. In the end, his picture turned out better than I originally thought it would. The pumpkins sort of looked like pumpkins, even. Great job, Eric!

Happy 18th Birthday, Anthony!

For the second year in a row, Anthony was away from home on his birthday. I told him last year, when he was on a school field trip to Texas Tech, that he was breaking me in for this year. I made him a video of Eric and Natalie singing "Happy Birthday" to him last year, so I had to do it again this year. It's a pretty cute and I wish I could share it here, but I can't seem to upload it to this blog, so those of you that are on Facebook, go to my wall and the video is there.

Alex and Patrick stayed up until 11pm Central Time (our time) so they could be the first to send Anthony their birthday greetings to him. That is the same as midnight Easter Time (Anthony's time). I think Patrick beat Alex by a second, mostly because Alex was sending the video I made to Anthony and that took a little longer. I thought it was sweet that Alex wanted to stay up just so he could greet Anthony "Happy Birthday".

I was surprised when I got a text from Anthony last night with this picture in it and with the caption "Buffalo steak from Boynton Restaurant"--no other details. I had to ask him questions. I asked, "Are you out with friends?" He replied, "No, I'm sitting in a restaurant alone in the corner crying softly to myself." What a goofball!

Next, he sent this picture and said that the table in back of him was also with him and that the person who took the picture left one person out. They all walked to this nearby restaurant. The weather was great for walking but apparently "slightly chilly" when they walked back. Of course that was because my little 18-year-old goofball didn't bring a jacket. He'll be wearing a jacket and some soon enough.

I was really happy to get these pictures. These two are a whole lot more than I got last year from him--nothing. Even though we couldn't be with him, at least he shared a piece of his birthday with us. Next year, maybe he'll get someone to record his friends singing "Happy Birthday" to him and send that to me. I can only dream.

First Meet of the Season

Natalie had her first swim meet of the short course season today. She hasn't been in a meet in two months--that's the longest period of time she hasn't competed in a meet since she started competitive swimming last October. The time standards go down as the kids get older, so Natalie didn't have qualifying times in the 50 and 100 yard breaststroke events since turning 11 two months ago. Her coach also put her in the 200 IM where she does have a "B" standard time, probably because the 200 IM was "open" event that anyone could enter. We feel like it's more worth our time to go to a meet when she swims in at least three events anyway. Below are her times for today:

100 yard Breaststroke--Seed time= 1:46.01; Time today= 1:40.49

50 yard Breaststroke--Seed time= 47.19; Time today= 45.69

200 yard IM--Seed time= 2:55.33; Time today= 2:53.76

They've been practicing basic skills at swim practice since they started back up in September (one month ago), so they really haven't been doing anything besides freestyle and maybe a little backstroke. When she swam her first event, the 100 yard breaststroke, I asked Patrick how she looked since he's the expert in our family. He replied, "She looks like they haven't been working on the breaststroke." Apparently, among other things, she was diving too deep with each stroke instead of going forward. Honestly, we had no expectations for this meet. We just wanted her to swim in a meet again for the experience. Because of that, of course we were still pleased that she dropped time in all of her events. She understood that, but she still has higher standards for herself than we do. She wanted "B" times in the breaststroke and so naturally she was a little disappointed.

Natalie's best friend Margot came to this meet. That was super nice of Margot, since she has no personal interest in swimming. I went early for warmup with Natalie, and Patrick brought Margot when he came with Eric just before Natalie's first race. Having Margot there really helped Natalie relax and have a little fun. The rest of her swimming friends were either at another meet or not at a meet at all.

I hope to have more pictures to post here after I figure out how to get pictures off my new camera.

CSI: The Experience

We went to the new exhibit at the Witte Museum today, called CSI: The Experience. Here's the description from the museum website:

"Can YOU crack the case?

You’ve seen the award-winning television drama. Now it’s your turn to crack the case!

Created in cooperation with the hit CBS franchise, "Crime Scene Investigation," this exhibition lets you step into the world of cutting-edge forensic science and investigative techniques. Examine the evidence then solve the crime!

Imagine entering a crime scene and being the one responsible for noticing and collecting every trace of evidence. The pressure is on: you know the analysis of your evidence must be scientifically sound to crack the case. From DNA and firearms analysis to forensic anthropology and toxicology, visitors will be immersed in hands-on science in an exciting multi-media environment with dazzling special effects direct from the CSI TV series.

-Examine "crime" scenes to identify and record evidence

-Enter the "laboratories" to conduct scientific testing

-Visit the "autopsy" rooms for pathology analysis

-Report to the "office" to build a case, based on the scientific evidence"

Doesn't that sound cool? The first photo is of Eric looking through a microscope during one of the "members only activities" only available during the opening weekend, which is this weekend. He is looking at some fibers "from the crime scene" to see if it matches some sample pieces of cloth. There was also a fingerprinting section but he didn't seem that interested in that.

The exhibit itself had three separate "crime scenes" and you follow the cases through from the evidence gathering to the analysis and then conclusions. We picked Crime Scene #3 only because the sign was in the color red. I'll give you one guess as to which child picked that color. Eric seemed very interested. They had computer stations that were interactive and he wanted me to read everything. We'll have to go back when it isn't so crowded, so we can do one of the other crime scenes.

Natalie brought her friend Margot and they looked like they had fun, but they seemed indifferent, for the most part. They did each station then rushed off to play in the HEB Treehouse that is a permanent exhibit at the museum. We discovered them making this structure out of wooden blocks. Natalie only posed for a picture because Margot wanted a picture taken. Eric is always good for the camera.

Eric also played on this big grid on the floor that had flashing lights on it. There were games you could play like "dodgeball" where you had to avoid stepping on the colored lights. He enjoyed that for a while with three other boys. He also played on one of the computers where you could learn how to dig up dinosaur fossils. The last thing he wanted to do was the rock climbing wall.

He had to put on this safety harness so he could get strapped onto the rope. He cracks me up sometimes--in this picture he is waiting for his turn. I asked him to step forward so I could get the climbing wall in the background for a picture. For some reason, he decided to look at me over his shoulder instead of just turning around. I took a video of him actually climbing. He got up about 10 feet or so before deciding that was high enough. He didn't look scared or anything, he just seemed like he didn't want to try anymore. He got to go up twice and then he was done and ready to go.

We picked up some Sonic for lunch then headed home. Patrick and I are getting really tired of eating out. I feel like I'm gaining a lot of weight. I haven't been updating the blog with pictures of the kitchen because pretty much nothing happened this week. I'll describe more in an update in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, Natalie's first swim meet of the season is tomorrow. I'll have pictures on the blog in a day or two.

Tacky Thursday

For those of you that are tired of seeing pictures of my demolished kitchen and bathroom, I have a treat for you today. Last week Thursday, Alex said it was "Tacky Thursday" at school. On the way home from school on Wednesday, he looked up the definition of "tacky" so he could pick out the perfect outfit. I had to laugh at how he is still very OCD in his own way, even though he gives this front of being laid back and not caring. Here's the definition:

tack·y [tak-ee]
adjective, tack·i·er, tack·i·est.
1. not tasteful or fashionable; dowdy.
2. shabby in appearance; shoddy: a tacky, jerry-built housing development.
3. crass; cheaply vulgar; tasteless; crude.
4. gaudy; flashy; showy.

The above photo is what he had laid out on his messy bed the night before. He even told me that I could take a picture. He's my only child that thinks about what he is wearing the night before and lays it out.

The next day was the Athletics Sausage Supper, so I saw him with all of that stuff on while at school. This picture doesn't do him justice, of course, since you can't see his bottom half. He is wearing the three pairs of athletic shorts you see in the top picture, the orange one at about waist-high then the red one a little lower and finally the black one pretty much under his butt. He is wearing mis-matched socks and Crocs on his feet. Apparently, earlier in the day, he was wearing Natalie's old purple tulle tutu that she maybe wore once when she was about six years old. That would have been a sight--he wore it on top of his head. The balloon hat is from his Aunt Linda who lives in Albuquerque and sent us that hat several years ago. Most people apparently agreed that he did indeed get the "tacky" part right.

In other news, Patrick went to the laundromat today to do our laundry for the past week when we haven't had a washer and dryer. Some of our neighbors offered their washer and dryers, but he didn't want to impose plus he could get more done more quickly with the large industrial machines at the laundromat. He texted me saying that for the past week, Natalie only had one shirt in the laundry and several pairs of socks--no underwear. We shuddered to think where she could have put her dirty underwear.

Patrick glanced quickly in her room and didn't see clothes on the floor. We've been yelling at her lately because she constantly has clothes on her floor, both clean and dirty clothes. Well, when I got home, she was hand-washing her uniforms and other clothes in our bathroom. Patrick made her hand-wash them. The worst part? She put the dirty clothes under the bedspread on the bottom bunk in her bedroom, which is why Patrick didn't see them. Sigh. He keeps saying that I might find one day that she is missing since we have four children and we can spare one child anyway.

Tearing Out

For most of the week, the workers have been tearing stuff out. I took this photo after the first day (Monday) when they moved the refrigerator out of the kitchen and into the formal dining room. They removed the kitchen sink and placed the old one in the spot where the refrigerator used to be. I'm not sure why they kept the old sink as we are getting a new stainless steel one, but there it is. They also removed all the countertops. That was done on the second day, which turned out to be on Wednesday. For some reason they skipped Tuesday, without telling us they were skipping Tuesday. We had expected better communication, but at least they showed up and did their job the rest of the week.

There was wallpaper in the laundry room and the bathroom. They removed all of that and they removed all of the flooring. That took a couple of days, between removing the flooring and removing all of the adhesive underneath the flooring. They spent some time redoing the connections to the washer, because it had been stripped and might not fit well when they put the washer back. Unfortunately, because they removed the washer and dryer so they could work in the laundry room, that means that we are also currently without a washer and dryer. The laundry is piling up!

This is another view of the whole kitchen with all of the countertops removed. Apparently they add the granite countertops last, because of the possibility of dropping a tool or something on the granite and causing damage. We have three large slabs of granite on hold for us that match each other. It would not be ideal if they needed more than that.

The most dramatic change has been in the bathroom, where they removed the whole bathtub and the tile on the walls surrounding the bathtub. We decided to go with a shower only in there instead of the bathtub and shower, so they will tile the floor as well as the shower in the bathroom. By Friday, they finished the half wall of the shower and they moved the location of the shower head. They raised it and re-centered it. I can't wait to see the progress on this shower because, honestly, it looks scary to see it like this, with the inside of the walls all exposed.

This is a view of the bathroom countertop that was removed and the medicine cabinet that was also removed.

Patrick has been the one communicating with the contractors, since he is the one that is at home during the day. On Friday, they finished applying the wall texture on the walls that had wallpaper. They also finished up some plumbing in the laundry room and bathroom. This coming week, the plan is to do all the painting and then install the tile. We're not sure if they will be able to do all of that in one week. The contractor told us that he expected the work to be done in three weeks, but he was going to tell us four just in case. The third week will probably include the changes to the kitchen island and adding the granite countertops. We're crossing our fingers that it will be closer to three weeks than four!

Our New Norm

Our remodelers arrived on Monday morning (Sept. 23rd). The first thing they did was put up plastic sheeting to separate the kitchen/breakfast room/bathroom from the rest of the house. That meant that we could no longer enter our house through the garage. Although we parked in the garage that night, we had to come in through the front or back door. The workers came in through the garage or the back door to the garage to get to the kitchen. It was kind of eerie to see the plastic move back and forth depending on when the air conditioning was blowing or not.

On Tuesday morning after all of this was put up, I had to walk out through the back door that you can see in this first picture, and into the back door of the garage. Of course the sprinkler system is set to turn on Tuesday mornings, so my shorts got a little wet. It was dark and I used the flashlight on my iPhone to walk across the yard. I also had trouble unlocking the back door of the garage, since we usually just keep it locked and don't bother unlocking it. We realized after this that we should just keep one of the garage remote controls in the entryway, so we can just go out through the front door and into the garage.

Our refrigerator and all of its magnets was moved to the formal dining room and the dining room table was moved to the side. We put some supplies on that table, as well as laundry baskets to contain the laundry, since we couldn't use the washer and dryer, either. Patrick also put the drawer of eating utensils on that table, but we didn't have a good way of washing those regularly, so we started using plastic utensils. We also started using paper plates and cups.

Our breakfast table was now sharing the living room with the sofa and TV. We put some paper supplies on that table, as well as the bread stuff and peanut butter. On the opposite side of the room is the fireplace, where we put the convection oven and toaster. We put the cereal and snacks on a chair. I now put my purse and bag that I take to work on one of the reclining chairs. We've been eating out, mostly, but last night I heated up some frozen mini-burritos for Alex and me in the convection oven. I thought about bringing home my microwave oven that I have at work, temporarily, but decided that wasn't worth the hassle. When the workers leave each day, we could enter the kitchen through the garage and use the microwave, if we wanted to, but so far we haven't done that. The hardest part for me is the extra clutter in these rooms. The hardest thing for the rest of the family is having to run upstairs when they need to wash their hands or go to the bathroom.

This is our new norm for the next few weeks.

Before the Kitchen Remodeling

Warning--this is a very photo-heavy post. We are starting our kitchen remodel this week. I took these photos on Sunday before the work was scheduled to begin on Monday, September 23rd. I'll try to share photos of the progress as it occurs.

This first photo is of the refrigerator and countertop next to it. We're getting a new refrigerator. This one is almost 16 years old. We bought it when we bought our first house. Eric has covered it in alphabet and dinosaur magnets. We also have our invitations on it as well as magnets from a few places we've visited. The new refrigerator is stainless steel and magnets will not adhere to it.

The countertop next to the refrigerator used to hold mail when it comes in, which means mostly junk mail. This is the cleanest it has ever been. We gets lots and lots of junk mail, and I usually don't have time to go through it all on a regular basis. Why don't I just throw it away? I don't just throw it away because I accidentally threw away a check from Patrick's publisher once. I also want to be able to recycle the paper and Patrick doesn't want our address still on the envelope. I'm still not sure why...

This second picture is, of course, our kitchen sink, with the plant that has stayed alive the longest of any plant we've ever had. This one is older than Eric. We're replacing the sink with a stainless steel one with a stainless steel faucet that is bigger on one side instead of 50/50 like this one. Our remodeler told us about a type of kitchen faucet that you can turn off and on just by touching it, which sounded super cool, but practical too. The spray thing also hasn't worked in years, so it'll be great to have one that works.

This is our kitchen island. Our kitchen isn't very big and I've always lamented the lack of counter space. We're replacing this whole island. I wanted sliding drawers to better organize the baking stuff and other things that are stored in this island. In order to do that they are building us a new one because putting sliding drawers inside these cabinets as they are now would really cut down on our storage space. Hopefully drawers will be better.

They are also expanding the counter top and making it one level, so it will be like one big table. That will enlarge the counter space and hopefully keep us from storing stuff on top of part of it, like we do now on the bar area.

The cooktop and vent hood will also be replaced. We have an electric cooktop and we're getting one just like it. We had wanted a gas cooktop, but we weren't able to find a gas house with a gas cooktop when we were looking for houses 11 1/2 years ago. The countertops are all laminate now but we will be putting in granite countertops. I'm excited about how pretty that will look.

Notice the cabinets under the cooktop versus the cabinets right next to them on the right. Because of the way the cabinets are made, with the doors that meet, we are going to get sliding drawers inside those cabinets to the right. I had sliding drawers in the cabinets at our last house and I loved them.

We're also adding a tile backsplash because right now the wall sometimes gets wet near the sink and the paint is peeling--not attractive at all. The backsplash will be a lighter color similar to the tile that will be on the floor and will hopefully lighten up the kitchen a little, to make up for the dark granite countertops. I picked out some tile I really like and I hope it looks like the picture I have in my head.

This the downstairs bathroom adjacent to the kitchen. We are also putting the same dark granite countertop in here and replacing the sink. The fixtures here will be more of an "oiled bronze" color. The original owners of the house put in wood floors in this bathroom and we're replacing all of that with a tile floor just like in the kitchen. I love the look of the hardwood flooring, but it's just not practical next to the bathtub, especially with my children not being careful not to splash water out of the tub when they get out.

We're also getting rid of the dark wallpaper and painting the walls a gold color. This will be Alex's bathroom when the remodeling is complete, and the adjacent bedroom will be his as well. This used to be Anthony's room, except when we had overnight guests, and then this would become the guest bathroom and bedroom. It's time that Alex had his own room and not have to share with his six-year-old brother.

This is the tub and shower in that same bathroom. We'll be taking out the bathtub and putting in just a shower. Alex will only take showers and not baths anyway, plus when my parents visit, my dad will be able to get in and out of the shower more easily. The tile will match the tile in the kitchen. The fixtures here will match the ones in the sink area. Again, I hope it turns out like the picture in my head.

This is the butler's pantry just off the kitchen. We're putting in the granite countertop here too. These cabinets are mostly storage for those items we don't use often, like our formal glassware. Patrick also puts his liquor here. He thought about incorporating a wine refrigerator in this area, but for now that is a separate appliance that is in the formal dining room.

Directly across from the butler's pantry is the laundry room. We're finally getting rid of this icky flowery wallpaper. I am not a flowery person. The tile on the floor will also match the tile in the kitchen and bathroom.

That concludes the tour of our kitchen before they tear it all up this week. My big DSLR camera stopped working, so all of these photos were taken with my iPhone. I'll post some photos of our torn-up kitchen and bathroom later this week.

Butt-Eye Jedi

It all started with my visit to the optometrist. I got my eyes dilated and checked. They gave me a nifty little sunglass insert to put behind my glasses (I was wearing my eyeglasses instead of my contacts) to protect my eyes, and I brought that home. I showed it to Alex and he got a big smile on his face. He asked me if I wanted it and I said that I thought he might want it. Patrick and Natalie were at Natalie's swim practice at the time, so it was just me with the two boys.

Alex and Eric were goofing off. Alex said something about being able to see behind his head and then putting that sunglass insert behind his back or rather closer to his rear. Eric, being very Star Wars-crazy right now, somehow coined the phrase "Butt-eye Jedi". He is at that age where any sort of underwear or potty type humor really gets him giggling uncontrollably.

In fact, this first picture is blurry because I wanted to catch that giggly smile and of course the lighting is terrible in my house. Eric has an ice pack on his head. He and Alex were upstairs. I heard the laughing and giggling, then suddenly I heard Eric start crying and Alex asking for ice. Eric came downstairs and told me that he had been walking behind Alex, but Alex stopped and Eric bumped into Alex and bounced off and hit his head on the floor. I was trying not to laugh. Alex knew how to cheer Eric up. He put that sunglass insert on Eric's face and all he had to say was "Butt-Eye Jedi" and Eric couldn't help but start giggling again--through the tears.

I bought Eric this red lightsaber last weekend, and he has been playing with it constantly. On Friday he put a pair of sunglasses on his backside and put the lightsaber next to it. He had to show me and ask me to take a picture. As per his usual routine he asked me to put it on Facebook. I thought I would tell the whole story here on my blog instead. :)

Anatomy of A Day Off

This is a very grainy iPhone photo of Eric at the bus stop this morning. He decided to wear his backpack backwards. He is goofy enough to constantly bring a smile to our faces but not too goofy that we are annoyed, for the most part anyway. :)

I had the day off today, and although this wasn't necessarily a "typical" day off, there were things that were typical about it. When I'm off there are some things that I like to do. I like to take Eric to the bus stop in the morning and I have to get my goodbye hug before he gets on the bus. I was able to do that today. The difference was that Natalie came along too, even though she obviously doesn't ride the same bus anymore. She is a big middle schooler, after all. I have been able to walk Natalie to the bus this year, but she doesn't want me to stay. Today she got a special treat. The two of us, just the two of us, went to Starbucks for breakfast after Eric left on the bus. She has not been to Starbucks in a while. Eric got to go with Patrick and me on Sunday, but Natalie was still sleeping then. I haven't gotten to take Natalie to school yet. I did today because we didn't finish breakfast until it was too late to get back home to catch the bus. She wanted that anyway, because then she got to school earlier. She wanted to be able to return her library books before school started.

I also like to exercise on my day off, preferably at the gym with Patrick. I was able to do that after he dropped Alex off at school. I don't get nearly enough exercise, and I prefer to exercise in the morning, but on a regular work day, I get up way too early to exercise before work. I also got to get a smoothie after I exercise. They even had one of my favorites today, Pineapple Mango. Patrick and I also got to go out to eat at Bin 555, one of our favorite lunch places. We love the food, but the dessert is to die for, Dark Chocolate Nutella Torte. Yes, we definitely like to be able to go out to eat when I have the day off.

This is, of course, another picture of Eric with his backpack on backwards, except that he was wearing his backwards backpack backwards. This is the way he came off the bus. I wasn't able to take a photo right when he got off the bus because my phone was updating. For those of you that don't know, the new operating system for iPhones, iOS7, was released. That took up much of my afternoon, since everyone else in the US was also updating their software, or at least it seemed like it. I was happy that I was at home to be able to do that, though. I was also happy to be at home when Eric got home from school. He always acts very happy to see me and gives me big hugs when he gets off the bus. I also managed to bake some brownies before Eric got home on the bus, despite all the time spent on the computer. I like to make something special for the kids when I have a day off. It made me a little sad, though, because one of the biggest fans of my brownies won't be getting any since he is far away at college. At least Alex made a big deal out of it and really appreciated that I made them.

As for the different things I did today, Natalie told me last night that she wants to participate in some of the UIL (University Interscholastic League) middle school competitions this year. She said she was particularly interested in the Math and Number Sense that her math teacher is running, and the Spelling and Dictionary Skills, which her friend Margot is especially interested in. I participated in some of those competitions when I was about her age, so it's nice to see one of my kids also interested in competing. In any case, the meetings are on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Margot's mom called today and we decided that since I had the day off, I would pick them up today and Margot's mom would pick her up tomorrow. Of course, when I got to the school at 4pm and texted Natalie, she told me that she didn't know there was a meeting and that she was on the bus on the way home--with Margot. Sigh. I also had to pick up Alex from school less than an hour later. He stayed after school to "hang out with friends" and help them with their homework. Usually Patrick picks him up when I'm off work.

So, I got to do a bunch of things that I like to do today, so overall, it was a great day off from work. Eric even told me that he likes it when I'm off from work because then he gets to see me more. He is such a sweetie. Now I need to go explore that new iOS7 on my phone and iPad.

So It Begins

Yesterday, Eric started reading the first book in the Magic Tree House Series, "Dinosaurs Before Dark", by Mary Pope Osborne. He has been reading so well and he really loves dinosaurs, so I thought it was time. I gave him the book shortly before giving him a bath last night, and then I let him read after his bath. That didn't give him much time to read, but I couldn't wait.

Patrick said he had the same idea after he heard Eric reading one of the Clifford books, and he had planned on giving him the book too. Interestingly, Eric is used to the big dinosaur books that have huge chapters, so when he saw that the first chapter of this book was only three pages long, he remarked, "The first chapter is only three pages!"

This afternoon after I got home, I asked him if he had finished reading that book yet. He had forgotten about it today and remembered only when I reminded him. He finished that book tonight. His older siblings all loved this series, as did his cousins. He was able to read it easily, only needing infrequent help. He is so good at sounding out even unfamiliar words now. His first chapter book--this is so exciting!

Weekend Activities

Right now we have no weekend soccer games, swim meets, or other activities scheduled, so I have been totally unproductive. Natalie spent Friday night at her friend Allison's house, so she was gone for most of the day yesterday (Saturday). Patrick, Eric, and I decided to go to IHOP for breakfast. It was interesting that Eric said that he was "just at IHOP with Grandma and Grandpa" although that was over three weeks ago. He would have rather gone to Starbucks! Still, he settled for IHOP because Patrick and I hadn't been there in a while. I shared my food with him as usual, but he asked for extra sausage. He ate three sausage links and one blueberry pancake. That's a lot for that little tummy.

After breakfast, Patrick and I went to Lowe's yet again to make final decisions on the new appliances and tile for our kitchen/bathroom renovation. I'll have to do a post later this week or next week, some time before they start. The scheduled start date is September 23rd. I'm excited and scared at the same time.

In the afternoon, I took Eric to a birthday party at Artworks. I vaguely remember taking Alex to one of these around when Alex was this age. Kids love art at this age. There was a cool art station where we put a small paper plate inside a salad spinner, dropped different colors of paint on the plate, then spun the plate inside the salad spinner. That seemed to be the most popular station because the kids kept lining up there. In this photo, Eric was dabbing dye onto a shirt to make a tie-dye shirt. We're supposed to leave the shirt alone for 48 hours, but I'll be sure to take a picture of the final product.

We had some down time after the party, then we went to church on Saturday evening. We've been going to that mass lately so the kids can get to bed earlier on Sunday before school starts Monday. I probably shouldn't be taking pictures at church, but I had to take this one. Eric put his hand on Alex's hand and Alex remarked on how tiny Eric's hand was. Eric's pinky finger is about half the size of Alex's pinky finger.

Whenever Alex and Eric sit together at church, they tend to get a little rowdy. Alex can't resist touching his little brother, which means that he ends up tickling Eric. Eric is so ticklish that it doesn't take much. I have to admit that I might have tickled Eric once or twice during church also.

We picked up Chipotle for dinner before going home. That's a family favorite and a sort of "reward" for Patrick for cooking dinner four out of five days this week. Go Patrick! We watched the second new Star Trek movie "Into the Darkness" after the little ones were in bed. Now we need to watch Star Trek Wrath of Khan again!

This morning, Eric again asked to go to Starbucks. I saw no reason not to. Patrick traditionally gets donuts on Sunday morning, but I usually don't eat them. He wanted to go to Starbucks too. I took one photo of Eric eating his blueberry scone and accidentally included my finger. I showed him the photo and he laughed. Then he suggested that I put the photo on Facebook because it was so funny. The silly boys is always saying that I should put photos of him on Facebook. That is in sharp contrast with his sister who never wants me to take any photos of her, and when I do, I'm strictly forbidden to post it on Facebook OR my blog. In fact, I have some photos of her playing with her noodles. She was putting them on her face as a mustache. They're hilarious but blurry because she was trying to block me from taking the photo.

I bought Eric a lightsaber during our weekly visit to Target today. The kids used to have one but that broke, so Eric has been using some foam swords and calling them "lightsabers". He loves playing Star Wars so much that I couldn't resist. This is a picture of him trying to looking intimidating, I think. I think he looks adorable, of course. He has been using this so much today, turning it on and off, listening to the lightsaber sounds it makes and looking at it lighting up. I'm sure we'll need more AAA batteries soon.

This afternoon, Patrick tried to go to a local sports bar known to have a lot of Green Bay Packers fans (among other fans--it's a popular sports bar), and he took Eric with him, but it was so crowded by the time they got there that they only stayed for a bit then had a father-son lunch elsewhere. Tonight we watched more football at home. Patrick is enjoying his kid-activity-free weekends, for sure.

This Week

Beware--this will be a long post. It's about time to give an update on all the kids, so that their grandparents can keep up with their activities.

Anthony has been keeping himself busy. This past Sunday, I wanted to Skype or Face Time Anthony, so I texted him to ask if he was busy. He said he was painting bricks to use as doorstops for his room. I asked what color he was painting them, and he texted, "Lego colored" and texted me this picture. Eric thought this was "kinda cool". Last week Friday, he texted me, "Apparently this is what engineers do with their free time: make giant gummy bears." Along with the text, he sent a picture of them pouring the gummy mixture into a large teddy bear pan. Eric and Natalie thought that was cool and wanted him to come home and make that so they could eat it. Then, last night when I wanted to call him, he said he was busy with some "required program", a girls' volleyball game, and then soccer until about 10:30pm. He was too busy for us to even call him!

Thankfully, Anthony at least texts once in a while, although yesterday he texted his sister in the middle of Health class. She had forgotten to turn off her phone during school hours. Apparently her teacher didn't mind--thank goodness. When I told him, he basically said that he had forgotten that they have school all day instead of in session throughout the day and week like he does.

A friend just had a baby yesterday and I got to hold her new baby girl today. She was 6 pounds 1 ounce at birth. Anthony was 6 pounds 2 ounces at birth. I could fit her (and him) easily on one arm. I couldn't do that so easily with the other kids. I loved holding her, but that really made me miss by baby boy!

I always needed at least two arms to hold Alex. He has had lots of homework from day one of school starting, mostly from his class that is a combination of World History and English. He has homework from that class almost daily. I snapped this quick picture of him yesterday (because that is the only way I can get a photo of him). He was working on an assignment using tessellation for his math class. He cut a bat shape and traced it over and over on the poster board then colored and added detail to each one individually. He had planned to complete this by Monday, to get extra credit, but he decided to do other things like sleep and text his friends on his phone, etc., so here he was late on Tuesday night, working on an assignment due the next day.

Despite his procrastination with the above assignment, Alex has been doing well in high school so far. His grades have all been A's with the lowest one being a 93. He had to ask Anthony to help him with a Physics problem tonight. He's lucky that he has that resource, and Patrick and I are thankful for that.

Also notice his T-shirt. He has been tearing the sleeves off some of his T-shirts. Patrick jokes with him about how he is trying to show off his muscles. He is definitely working on his muscles. He could barely walk up and down the stairs this weekend because he had been lifting weights and he was sore. He is much more concerned with his appearance than his older brother. Right now he apparently has a "girlfriend" that he had asked to go to the Homecoming Dance with. This week, though, he said that he wasn't going to the Homecoming Dance because his friend couldn't go plus the tickets would have cost $50 per couple. That's a bit steep for high school kids.

Natalie is the second swimmer from the right in this photo. She is another one that I have to take secret photos of, otherwise she puts her hands over her face. She resumed Monday through Friday swim practices after Labor Day, and she even has a practice this coming Saturday. They get to swim in one of the outdoor pools right now. Her new coach at the very lefthand side of the photo. He has been working them hard and he's a stickler for technique. Patrick is happy with that so far.

Natalie just told us today that she has been falling asleep then waking up in the middle of the night and unable to get back to sleep because she starts thinking about school. She hasn't had much homework and she apparently feels like she is going to get more and that worries her. She's heard from her friends about how much more homework they get in middle school vs. when they were in elementary school. As it is, she has to practice 30 minutes a day on her practice drum. She has been very tired lately and now we know why. The other night I went into her bedroom to say goodnight and she was already asleep. Patrick had just spoken to her less than five minutes before to tell her to brush her hair. She fell asleep that quickly.

Alex said one of the sweetest things tonight. When he heard about how Natalie was worried about school and he volunteered to talk to her. He really does care for his baby sister, even when he gives her a hard time.

I probably talk too much about Eric, but he allows me to take the most photos. He is perpetually carrying one of these foam swords that he pretends are "light sabers". He has also been doing so well with his reading. He read a book to me last week called "Betsy Who Cried Wolf" by Gail Carson Levine. First of all, he read everything, including the speech bubbles over the sheep in the book. He read words that I didn't realize he knew. He read the entire book with minimal help. One interesting thing, however, was that he seemed to skip over some easy words, almost as if he didn't think they were important enough to say.

He seems to still enjoy reading, but his favorite thing to do is play on the iPad. His current favorites include Plants vs. Zombies 2 and Jetpack Joyride. I was at least able to convince him to play this one game that involved doing some addition. I had told him that he had to play that game first before playing anything else. I was happy when he played it another time when it was his choice!

That's it for today! Whew, that was a long post!

First Watch

I have to write a post about what all the kids are up to, but after fighting with the computer all evening, I only have time for this short post.

We had just received a Lego catalog in the mail yesterday morning, and Eric gravitated toward the Star Wars Legos in the catalog. Unfortunately, he had spilled some milk on the catalog and I tore off the cover because it had been soaked with the milk. The cover had a picture of the new Ewok Village Lego Star Wars set, so he wanted to keep the cover, but I decided that an old milk smell would not be good to have around the house.

A little bit later, Alex, Eric, and I went to the mall. The main reason was that I wanted to go out somewhere. I was post-call and I really wanted to do something besides nap. Eric, of course, wanted to visit the Lego Store. That is his one "must see" store at the mall now--it's replaced the Disney Store. He doesn't even ask about the Disney Store anymore, even though it's right next door. He always goes straight to the Star Wars Lego section and squats down to look at the sets near the floor and also reaches up to take down the sets in the middle section so he can get a closer look. Sometimes he even asks me to get a set that is higher up. Today, he spent a little extra time looking at the Lego watches. I've had my eye on the Lego watches because I know how much he loves Star Wars and I was thinking that it was about time to get him a "real" watch.

He actually had a "real watch" a couple of years ago. It had cars on it and it was brightly colored. I would have worn it myself except for the fact that it was kid-sized and could not be adjusted to a bigger size. He didn't even try to tell the time on the watch, but it was cute and it was only around $10, so I got it for him.

This time, the Star Wars Lego watch was priced at $24.99 without tax. That was a little too pricey for me to say that I would get it for him "just because", because the next time we go to the Lego Store, he would definitely want something else. So, when he seemed extra interested in the watch, I suggested that he use his allowance money to buy it. I don't think he really knows the value of the money he has received for his allowance. He picked out the "Darth Maul" watch that came complete with a Darth Maul mini-figure with the double red light saber.

He wore the watch for a little while yesterday and today. We took a picture because Patrick texted Anthony about it and Anthony thought a Star Wars Lego watch was cool, so we wanted to show him a picture. The red and black is a good color. We counted out his money today, $27.05 was the price with tax included, so he could "pay me back" for buying it. He has plenty of money left. We also talked about how to tell the time. He's a pretty smart kid so I think he will be able to figure it out soon.

Parent Orientation

I was sad when I missed "Howdy Night" at Eric's school. They scheduled it for the Thursday before school started--of course Patrick and I were in the Boston area at that time, getting Anthony settled in at college. Howdy Night is when we usually get to meet the teachers and I get to take pictures of them with my children. I was happy when I heard that Tuesday was "Parent Orientation Night" where the teachers get to tell the parents how they come up with grades for their children and how they do things, etc.

This is Eric's teacher, Mrs. B. I tried to take a picture with my big camera, but for some reason it wasn't working. Maybe it's time for a new one--hint, hint. She was good enough to pose for an iPhone photo instead. What would I do without my camera phone? This was a short meeting, only a half hour. There was a PTA meeting to follow, but since I took Eric with me, and we hadn't yet eaten, I really did not want to stay longer.

This year I decided to take a picture of Eric's daily school schedule. I haven't done this in the past but I realized that it would be a good idea. I asked Eric today what time his lunch is, and all he said was that lunch was "after Specials". That would have made it difficult to tell when to come if I decide to bring him lunch one of these days. Last year I just asked Natalie and she knew exactly what time Eric's lunch was. This way too, if Patrick and I decide to volunteer some time, we can choose to volunteer in the library on Wednesdays and the computer lab on Thursdays, so we can be around to help Eric's teacher and class. I also got the art schedule so I can hopefully help with that some time this year.

I used to be more involved in the kids' school, and I'd like to do that again. Maybe this year since I "only" have three in school here? Yeah, right--we'll see. :)

Labor Day Beach Weekend Day 2

On Sunday, I managed to get a photo of Patrick with Eric. Patrick took Eric out to the beach before I got out there, and let Eric run in and out of the water before playing in the sand. Eric really enjoyed the waves. The weather was noticeably more humid, but still nice with the stronger breeze.

FYI, I took all of these photos with my iPhone with its handy dandy waterproof case. I didn't submerge the phone in the water, but I felt comfortable using it with the splashing waves (and children) nearby. I brought my big camera but didn't really take it out at all.

Natalie willing came out to the beach on Sunday, and even ran into the waves, jumping on each wave as it got close to her. One would never guess that she refused (with her "piano face") to get into the water yesterday. She actually enjoyed herself--imagine that? Margot's parents had brought these pool floats out today, and almost everyone got to ride on them. Margot's mom Nancy even volunteered to take Eric out in hers, quite a few times. Alex went way out before getting in his float, so he went quite a long way before the waves pushed him all the way to shore. Natalie and Margot linked theirs together so that they could ride in tandem. Later, Patrick took Eric on the float with him.

Natalie and Margot also played in the sand with Eric. They made sand "mounds" instead of sand castles because they stayed close to the water where the sand was super saturated with water, and they were fine with that. They also took turns putting wet sand on each other--just their legs and feet.

One favorite activity that I forgot to mention yesterday was digging up and gathering a whole bunch of little shells. We then put them down in the wet sand and watched them all slowly burrow themselves back into the sand. Eric was completely fascinated with this on Saturday, and it was interesting to see Natalie's face when she noticed the shells moving themselves into the wet sand. She was quite interested and I could really see the concentration on her face.

At one point, Margot decided to draw the letters of their middle school in the sand and then she asked me to take a picture. I'm not sure exactly what she planned on doing with the picture, but I was happy to oblige, especially since Natalie willingly got into the picture instead of running away or hiding her face as she usually does.

On Monday, we all pretty much started packing up as soon as we got up and ate breakfast. We all had a really great time and we're glad that Nancy invited us to do this. We're back to school today and work for me tomorrow.

Labor Day Beach Weekend Day 1

We just got back today from spending the weekend at the beach in Port Aransas. We don't usually go anywhere for this weekend because the kids have been in school for only a week and we like to stay close to home before the chaos of weekend activities begins. The mom of one of Natalie's friends invited us to go to the beach with them and another couple, and it sounded like fun, so we decided to go.

Before I describe our weekend, I wanted to share this picture. We didn't pack up the car and leave the house until about 6:30pm on Friday, August 30. The kids wanted to go to our nearby Whataburger for a quick dinner before getting on the road. Patrick wanted to take a picture so he could send it to Anthony since Anthony no longer lives near a Whataburger. Alex injected his own "attitude" to the picture. :)

We didn't get to the beach condo until almost 10pm. We were all so tired! Each couple got a bedroom. Natalie and her friend Margot got the living room. Patrick and I got the biggest bedroom because there was a sofa in it and some floor space for Eric and Alex to sleep. Each bedroom had it's own full bathroom also. We realized when Eric changed for bed that we had forgotten his underwear. Oops! I should have packed his clothes on Thursday night but instead, Patrick got that responsibility amidst the chaos of packing everything else including food.

The first order of business on Saturday morning was to get Eric some underwear, along with sand toys that we had also left at home. Margot's dad Tony had forgotten his other bag with his toothbrush in it, so Patrick got him a toothbrush also. After he got back, we headed to the beach. They had brought two pop-up tents to put up on the beach to shield us all from the sun.

One of the first pictures I took with my phone was a picture of Eric's and my feet on the sand. The next picture shown here is of Eric playing on the beach. I purposely included the two blue pop-up tents as well as a view of the condo buildingin the background. We were located on the far left hand condo on the fifth floor (of six). We had a great view of the beach from our balcony.

Eric ran around and played in the water and then started playing with the sand. The girls stayed inside to read until about 11:30am. They came out briefly, Natalie refused to get in the water because in the past, because of her eczema, the salt water caused her some uncomfortable burning. She and Margot went to the pool instead.

Alex woke up around noon and came out to play in the sand with Eric. Alex refuses to wear a regular swimsuit since he says that he is more comfortable in gym shorts and underwear. He didn't spend too long playing before he said his chest burned a little from the salt water, so he decided to go to the pool also. We didn't get too many photos of him because whenever he sees a camera pointed at him, he leaves the area.

Patrick was a sweetie and sent out sandwiches with Alex for Eric and me. Eric and I stayed out there for a good 4-5 hours. We both had small areas that I think we missed with sunscreen that turned a little red, but we were sunburn free for the most part. It was a beautiful day with a wonderful breeze, so we enjoyed as much of the outside as possible.

I'll share more photos and stories tomorrow.