This Week's Recap

We just have the usual activities going on, so I haven't had much to post about. Neighborhood swim team practices started this week, and Natalie did go to one of the practices and went to her AAAA practice once also. I supposed that's better than nothing. Tonight she was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society, but I'll do a separate post about that later. Eric only made it to one swim practice, because he had gymnastics on Monday, piano on Tuesday, and since I'm on call tonight and Patrick took Natalie to her NJHS ceremony, he couldn't go tonight either. Alex has been busy working on his Math project all week. I'll have to post about that separately too. I hope he'll take a picture of it when he's done.

We had a somewhat busy weekend last weekend. Alex participated in Relay for Life on Thursday night and ended up with a couple of friends at our house at around 3am. He stayed home long enough to let Patrick and I go to the Riverwalk area to have dinner with one of Patrick's old friends from grad school, Jim. Jim was in town with his girlfriend Heidi, and we had a great time trying some new dishes including that huge bowl shown in the picture.

Patrick went out with Alex and our friend Al on Saturday night looking for somewhere to watch the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight. Rather than stand the whole time for $20 a head, Patrick and Al ended up watching the game at Al's house. Alex got picked up by his friend Jeremy so they could watch it at Jeremy's uncle's house.

On Sunday morning, we all went to see the new Avengers movie, Age of Ultron. Natalie was a little disappointed that I only bought the "Kids' Pack" which includes a small amount of popcorn in a carrier tray and a small Icee, especially since she and Eric were sharing. The movie was fun, and when it was done, Eric was the only one who would pose in front of the movie display in the lobby--of course.

We went to mass on Sunday afternoon. Eric just had his First Communion last weekend, but when we went to Communion, he still wanted to cross his arms in front of his chest. When he got to the priest, he didn't hold his hands out to receive the host, which confused the priest. He still drank the wine, though, which I found amusing, since I almost never drink the wine.

Eric is always making me smile. On Friday, when I asked Eric what he wanted for breakfast on Saturday morning, he said he wanted orange rolls. So, on Saturday morning, I found him in his room reading, so I told him to get dressed so we could go to the grocery store to get some orange rolls to make. I went downstairs to clean up the dinner dishes from the night before. Eric still didn't come downstairs so I went upstairs to see what he was up to. I found him reading in his room again. I said, "Eric, do you still want to go with me to go to HEB?" He had forgotten. I asked him to put on his socks and shoes then I went off to do something else downstairs. He still wasn't coming downstairs so I went back into his room. He was rolling around on his bed! I just had to laugh at how distractible he was.

On Saturday night, when he changed into his pajamas, he decided to tie the shirt that he had been wearing around his head into a ninja-like headdress. I told him I wanted to take a picture to send to Anthony, and he got into his ninja pose. After the picture, he went on the iPad with the shirt still around his head. He just cracks me up sometimes.

I could use that little guy to pick me up right now. Today, I found out that my grandmother died. A few years ago, my sisters and I went up to New Jersey to visit her because she was moving to the Philippines. We knew that it was likely that we wouldn't see her again. She turned 100 last November, so she lived a full life, but I'm still sad that she is gone. Tomorrow when I see my little guy again, I will hug him tightly and I'm sure he'll say or do something to make me smile.

Camera-Shy Cousins

I tried to take a few photos of my daughter with her cousins last weekend, but they refused to cooperate. I found it interesting, though, that they gave Eric a camera phone so he could get a picture of them, but when I came into the room, this is the scene that I found. I'm assuming that they were trying to hide from me, because why on earth would they give Eric a camera, but then hide from him, right?

They did eventually allow me to take this picture, which is probably the best photo I got of the three of them all weekend. I'm glad that, even though my daughter doesn't have any sisters like I did, she has cousins that are like sisters--maybe even better, because she doesn't bicker with them like I used to bicker with my sisters. Of course, that could also be because she doesn't live with them. I know she wishes that she lived closer to them, though. For this reason, I'm forever trying to get pictures of the three of them together.

As you can see, this attempt to get a picture of the three of them did not go well in this photo. As soon as I raised the camera up, they all hid their faces.

I really wanted to get a picture of the three of them dressed up for Eric's First Communion, but they adamantly refused. Besides that, they didn't emerge from the room until it was time to go, and they changed out of the clothes they wore to church as soon as we got home.

The next time we get the girls together, I'm going to try to get a picture again. They're going to love that.

Eric's First Communion

Eric has had quite an exciting month, between all of his birthday celebrations, and then he was the center of attention again last weekend, when he had his First Communion. This is a photo of him at the church. We were supposed to make a banner that the kids could display on the row where they were sitting during the mass. Of course, they told us about this last Saturday during the practice, and I've had two overnight calls since then. I'm just now recovering. So, we made the banner on Saturday morning.

They showed some examples showing Communion symbols like a chalice, a cross, grapes, etc. I decided to dust off my Cricut Expression electronic cutter for this job. I chose a star that was originally meant to be a Christmas star, but I thought it looked enough like a cross to work for this purpose. I cut that and the letter for Eric's name, then applied the glue. The only thing Eric actually did was pick colors and place the items on the banner. My sister Melissa said I should have at least let him apply the glue and put it where he wanted on the banner. It was clear when we got to the church, however, that the other parents had also done the banner, not the kids.

Eric wore the suit that he wore for his grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary last summer, only he was too hot to wear the jacket. We did bring the jacket along anyway. During the mass, he was constantly fidgeting with his collar and tie--poor thing. He only stopped when I held his hand.

All the kids (10) were part of the entrance procession. Eric was so busy waving to me when he got close that he almost followed the priest all the way to the front of the church. I had to pull him into our row to sit with us. Our family took up a whole row.

I couldn't get a good picture when he actually got the host because I was directly in back of him and there were kids in the way. We weren't "supposed" to take pictures then anyway. My sister Cynthia tried to get a photo for me from the other side, but again, there were other kids in the way. She got some good ones of him drinking the wine, however. He looked like he drank from the cup twice, but he may just not have lifted the cup enough to get any wine the first time.

The other families waited around to get photos with the priest, but I guess I didn't care about getting one of those. What was great was that everyone seemed to stay inside just a little longer, so I could get this photo of Eric with his grandparents without the distraction of a lot of people milling about. I keep saying it, but it's been really wonderful having them in town so they can easily come to events like this one. The kids love having them around more often too.

We went home and Patrick grilled steak for us. It was much more work for him than going out to eat, but it was nice to be able to relax at home. It's easier to talk to one another without all of the noise at a restaurant. Eric's "other brother" Alejandro came to our house to join us for dinner and stayed to play Smash-Up with Alex and Eric, while having text conversations with Anthony on his phone. It almost felt like Anthony could be with us.

I'm anxious to see what going to mass this coming weekend will be like. Eric will probably have a big smile on his face because he gets to have Communion with the rest of us now.

A Visit from Uncle Nany

I didn't post about this on Monday because I was so tired from working the night before. My Uncle Nany, my dad's younger brother, came to Texas for a short visit over last weekend with his son Chris. My cousin wasn't able to come for Thanksgiving last year, when his sister and parents visited, because he was starting a new job. Chris has fond memories of Texas, especially Chick-Fil-A and Taco Cabana, and wanted to come see us.

They got to Houston on Friday, and visited with my family there, then drove to San Antonio on Sunday. My uncle still has some good friends that live here in San Antonio, so he stayed with them. I was working all day on Sunday, so we made plans to meet up for breakfast on Monday morning, right before they were going to leave to go to the airport to head home.

I went straight there from work, and Patrick met me there after he dropped Alex off at school. We had a traditional Filipino breakfast with rice, longanisa, and tocino. I hope I spelled those words correctly, since I've never had to spell them out. I've only said them out loud.

We took this photo on the balcony of where my uncle was staying--beautiful house with a gorgeous view! If I look a little cold, it's because the temps were in the low 60s, but I was dressed for the weather on Sunday when I left home to go to work. Interestingly, my uncle didn't want to be outside for long because he got cold too, even though he lives in Michigan.

Even though he only came for a short visit, my uncle still took the time to get a present for Eric's birthday--a Lego Superheroes set. Eric gasped, "Ahhh!" when he saw it, and he's been slowly working on it since. This is a picture I snapped today of Eric crouched in the small space between his bed and the window, playing with his new Lego set. I knew he was happy playing with the Legos when he didn't even bother asking if he could get on the iPad!

My sisters and I have so many happy memories of visiting my uncle and aunt for weeks at a time in the summer. He's always been so good to us, and now he's being so good to my children. We love you, Uncle Nany!

Riverwalk Lunch

Finally, today I had a day off when the weather was nice. Usually, Patrick and I like to go to the Riverwalk to have lunch on a day such as this, but this time, we invited his parents to come along. It's been raining a lot here this year--if you count drizzly weather, that is. We kidded with Mom that we have more rain this year because she brings the rain with her. This is an inside joke that we've used for a number of years, because when she came to visit us when Anthony was born, it was rainy the whole two weeks except for the day she was leaving.

We took a short walk along the Riverwalk, and went to one of our favorite restaurants, Boudro's. We got a table by the river so we could see the barges going by. One of their specialties there is homemade guacamole that they make right at table side, so we had a little of that for an appetizer. The service was good for the most part, except that Dad's food came what seemed like a really long time after the rest of us got our food, and I even ordered the same thing as he did--Duck Springrolls. Patrick had a burger, and Mom had their Blue Crab Tostada. I had a taste of her food, and I'll have to order that the next time we go there.

We were all so full that we skipped dessert. In fact, they left for home as soon as we got to our house so they could take a nap! It was great to be able to enjoy some lunch with them. We'll see them again on Saturday for Eric's First Communion.

MavsFest

Tonight was "MavsFest" at Eric's school, short for the Mavericks, which is their school mascot. It used to be called "Carnival", but I guess they wanted a more exciting name. Natalie has been saying all week that she wanted to go. Her friends were going also, so she would get to spend time with them plus see old teachers and such. Alex decided to go too. He has refused in the past, but Natalie must have convinced him to go this year.

While we were there, Alex saw his fourth grade teacher, Ms. R. She was amazed at how tall he was. She was almost a head taller than him when he finished fourth grade, almost six years ago. I would show an old photo here, but my photo organizers aren't being cooperative right now.

One of the activities at MavsFest was a "Jail". Basically, if you give a ticket to one of the people manning the jail, you can put one of your friends in the jail. Most people go willingly, but some do not. You stay in the jail until someone else pays another ticket to get you out, or you're in the jail for a designated period of time.

One of the things Natalie was chatting about to Alex yesterday, when she was trying to convince him to go to MavsFest was that she was afraid that her friends would put her in jail and then there would be no one to get her out. She asked Alex to come with us so that if that happened, he could get her out.

This picture is of Natalie with the handcuff on her wrist, at the tail end of saying, "Mama, NO!" She was, of course, saying "no" to having her picture taken. Her friend Ally is holding the other end of it. I'm not sure why she was outside the jail with the handcuff on, but I never saw her in the jail--maybe they had jail overcrowding. Someone else must have gotten her out, because when we went back for her, she had disappeared and her friend Ally was trying to force someone else to go to jail.

Here's a closeup of Natalie's wrist with the handcuff on. I told her that I would just take a picture of her hand and she was good with that. It's just that when I realized that the other picture above was actually in focus and not blurred, I decided to show that photo too. Also, I thought that she looked really pretty in that photo, with her hair half up and half down. She had let me do her hair in the morning, with a simple braid in the back. She wouldn't let me do anything more elaborate.

Natalie was having enough fun that we let her stay at the school an extra half hour or so after we left, then Patrick went back to pick her up. Her back has been sore this week, so at least she was able to end the week enjoying time with friends.

Eric had a blast, of course. He got really sweaty jumping in a couple of the bouncy houses they had set up. It rained for most of today, so they set all of this up inside the school instead of outside where they usually have it. That made it more crowded, and I would hate to see what the cleanup was like, but at least we could enjoy the activities and not worry about getting wet.

After the last bouncy house, Eric wanted to get some shaved ice from one of the food trucks that were there--grape and blue raspberry flavors mixed together. He liked it so much that he wanted another one later on, when we were leaving, but the line was too long.

After enjoying the shaved ice, he decided he wanted to play outside in the playground. Great--an indoor carnival and my son wants to play outside. By then, the rain had slowed down to a light drizzle. He kept running back and forth between the two playscapes they have at their school. At one point, he was playing tag with a friend. When we were tired of following him around, it was time to go.

Eric wanted to do one more thing before leaving--he wanted to be in jail too. He was in there only long enough for me to take this picture, then he was ready to get out of jail. I'm not sure why the kids loved the jail so much, but there were certainly a lot of kids going in and out of there.

Tomorrow, Eric gets to do a four hour First Communion orientation thing with Patrick. I'm so lucky that Patrick isn't making me go with him (or instead of him). Instead, I get to drive Alex to his friend Jeremy's house, so he can go with Jeremy and his family to Austin for the day. It's supposed to be raining, but hopefully it won't dampen his day. I have to work all day and night on Sunday, so it was great that I got to spend a little time with the family today.

USA vs. Mexico

This week is a little less chaotic than last week. Unfortunately, it's partly because Natalie is more sore this week and hasn't been to swim practice. She's got another physical therapy appointment tomorrow, the first one since February, so hopefully that will help. Alex had his last lacrosse game on Monday, and he skipped tonight's practice since he has to be at school at 4:30am tomorrow for a field trip to Port Aransas. Eric had his usual gymnastics class on Monday and piano lesson Tuesday, and his school is having a carnival on Friday.

Patrick is currently at the USA vs. Mexico game here in town tonight at the Alamodome. He went with a good friend of ours--the guy in the mask next to him. Al is obviously rooting for Mexico. They'll have a great time, I'm sure, and I'm glad they have this opportunity.

This is just a short update post for today. I have to get up earlier than usual tomorrow to take Alex to school by 4:30am. Ouch!

Eric Birthday Celebration #3

This morning, Eric started counting down to his party pretty much when he got up. Here is a picture of Eric with the treats we served at his party.

Before the party, I finished up the treats. I drew the glasses on the minion marshmallow treats with black decorator gel, spread blue icing on the cupcakes, and made some more Oreo penguins to put on top of the frosted cupcakes. Patrick had already made some but I thought that maybe I could make them look a little better. Well, they looked pretty much the same, but I guess I had fun making them. I had fun making all of the treats.

Natalie then pointed out the two boxes of Twinkies in the pantry, and Eric said he wanted some minion cupcakes too, so I went ahead and did half penguin and half minion cupcakes. I didn't worry too much about perfection. and just got them done quickly so I could finish before the guests arrived. For example, the minion glass were a bit crooked, and I got some of the cream filling from the Twinkies on the minion faces. In the end, the kids barely looked at the treats. They were just happy to eat them.

I even forgot about another treat that I made. I thought some kids would want ice cream, or at least Eric usually enjoys ice cream more than cake. We made scoops of vanilla ice cream topped with a chocolate shell and decorated with mini chocolate chips for eyes and an orange Tic Tac for a nose. Only two of the boys ended up eating those because I forgot to offer them. Alex will have plenty to choose from when he gets home from his sleepover tomorrow.

I also didn't try to get the boys to pose for a neat and tidy group picture. This was the "normal" picture, then they wanted a "silly" one. I was just happy to be able to get them all in one shot. A couple of the boys came later because of baseball and soccer games. One had to leave soon after the last one got here, because of a baseball game. I was happy that all of the boys were here all at one time.

Most of the time, they played with Nerf guns, swords, lightsabers, etc. We have quite a few toy "weapons". A few of the parents said that I was "brave" for having all of those boys in the house. Honestly, it wasn't bad at all. They got loud--yes, but they were mostly upstairs, so it was tolerable downstairs where I was. Natalie helped me out--a lot. She kept an eye on the boys upstairs, and she also followed them downstairs with her gun in hand. At one point, I heard her say, "I'm just here to make sure no one dies." I texted that to my sisters and brother-in-law, and John texted back, "Sounds like u have a gun problem. Or future NRA members in ur house."

I also overheard Eric telling his friends at one point, "That's my sister's gun, so don't mess with it." Another boy replied, "Why?" Eric answered, "Because it's my sister's gun." I texted about that exchange to my sisters and brother-in-law, and Melissa replied back, "Lol - yay, Eric...watching out for Natalie's stuff? Or afraid what she'll do if someone messed with her stuff?" Cynthia replied, "Wtg, Eric!"

Patrick was gone for most of the party. Alex had a Lacrosse game (that they actually won this time--yay!) at 11am. They got home just after the boys finished eating lunch (pizza) and then left shortly before the boys started going home because Alex was going to spend the night at a friend's house and Patrick took him there. Natalie was my helper. She helped get the boys their juice boxes. She helped turn off the movie once it was over. As I mentioned earlier, she helped me watch them. She said "You owe me." So, I took her to Target after the party to get a present for the birthday party she's going to tomorrow plus I bought her a smoothie from Baskin-Robbins. After all of that, she even suggested to Patrick and me that we should go out to dinner and that she would give Eric a bath and they would eat the leftover pizza for dinner. What a sweetie!

I'm really tired now, but I was pretty happy with how the party turned out, and most importantly, Eric was happy with having his friends over to play. Eric's third birthday celebration is over and done with and we are done until next year!

Achievement Auditions and Party Prep

This afternoon, Patrick took Eric to UTSA (University of Texas at San Antonio) to perform in the "Achievement Auditions". What was explained to me in the past (when Natalie did the same thing) was that some piano teachers want to see if their perception of their student is the same as other teachers' perceptions. To the student, it basically means that they get judged by someone other than their teacher. Eric was all by himself with an "adjudicator" in a room, then they waited for the critique.

In this picture, Eric is holding his critique sheet and his ribbon. He didn't do everything perfectly, but he still got lots of "plus" ratings. One song they definitely thought he did a better job on (his faster piece called Rain Dance), but they must have thought he did very well over all to give him the "Superior Plus" rating and ribbon. I can't say that playing piano is Eric's favorite thing to do, but he likes it enough, and he's pretty good at it.

When Patrick and Eric got home, we had dinner then they both cleaned up the game room, getting it ready for the onslaught of seven and eight-year-old boys tomorrow. After I made dinner, I started making things for the party.

This was originally going to be a Minion-themed party, since Eric had decided to watch Despicable Me (the first movie) at the party. A year and a half ago, I made some candy-covered marshmallows for Natalie's birthday party, along with some cupcakes with twinkles on top made to look like minions. Eric mentioned that he wanted the minion cupcakes specifically, so Patrick and I got all the stuff to do that with again. This morning, he decided to watch "Penguins of Madagascar" instead of "Despicable Me". Uh-oh--I didn't have any penguin-themed treats planned. Eric apparently told Patrick that he was still okay with the minion treats.

What does an overachieving mom do? Well, she looks up how to make penguin treats from Pinterest and figures out how to do that without spending too much time or having to throw away all the stuff we bought already.

Patrick was a big help and made these oreo penguins for me that I will use tomorrow to top the cupcakes I made tonight. These are not as neat as in the Pinterest picture, but for the sake of time, I will go with it.

These pictures are just a preview of tomorrow's finished treats. I'll be sure to share what the final products look like.

Eric Birthday Celebration #2

Today is Eric's actual birthday. The beauty of having Grandma and Grandpa living in town is that they can celebrate birthdays with us. They drove over from their side of town to have dinner with us. Eric opened his presents before dinner. We gave him a Star Wars Rebels Ezra Bridger Lightsaber Blaster, a Star Wars Rebels book, and a Lego Star Wars Rebels Ezra's Speeder Bike set. Grandma and Grandpa got him a cool-looking book on "Impossible Objects" and a T-shirt from Arapahoe Basin. Natalie looked as excited about the book as Eric did.

When we were getting in the van to go to Chili's (Eric's choice of restaurant for his birthday), we realized that since Eric is officially eight years old, he no longer legally has to be in a car/booster seat. He probably should still use a booster seat so the seatbelt doesn't cut across his neck so high, but at least for this car trip, we let him sit in the backseat with his siblings so Grandma and Grandpa could sit in the second row. Eric looked so excited and pleased to be so "grown up".

Natalie wanted to wait until 6:04PM to officially wish Eric a "Happy Birthday" because that is what time he was born eight years ago. That moment happened when we were already out to dinner, so she kept asking every few seconds "What time is it? Is it 6:04 yet?" When the time came, they hugged each other. Natalie CAN be sweet to her little brother sometimes.

Eric had his usual Mac and Cheese kids' meal and Blue Blaster drink at Chili's. The waitstaff sang a "Happy Birthday" song to him along with presenting him with a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate drizzle, and a Molten Lava cake with ice cream. We took video of that, and Eric again, looked so excited and pleased.

Anthony talked to Eric on the phone before dinner, and he asked Eric to get a picture with Alejandro, Anthony's best friend and Eric's "other brother". We had invited Alejandro out to dinner with us, and he met us at the restaurant. He reminisced with Patrick about when Patrick was his teacher in 6th grade and other things. He was around so much that Eric has always called him his "other brother"! We got a picture of the two of them (as Anthony requested) outside after dinner.

Eric's Birthday Celebration #3 will be coming up on Saturday--party party!

This Week's Schedule

I posted this photo on Facebook over the weekend, so if you didn't see it there, I wanted to share it here. I love this photo! The lighting was just right and the smiles were also just right. This is also why I don't pick up my big camera so much--if I can get this type of photo out of my iPhone, why do I need to lug around that big camera? Well, maybe for special occasions like tomorrow...

This week has seemed very hectic, especially since Natalie is starting to swim again. She went to swim practice once last week, and wanted to go again, but we had things going on--lacrosse games and track meets. This week she has made it to two practices, so we're crossing our fingers. I don't want to say anymore for fear of jinxing it. Our schedule this week is detailed below, for my future reference:

Monday--
I came home from work at about 4pm, then I left at 4:45pm to take Eric to gymnastics from 5-6pm. I got home by around 6:15pm, packed up two dinner portions for Eric and me (Natalie had already eaten), and we left for swim practice, which was from 7-8pm.

Meanwhile, Patrick had already left before 6pm to pick up Alex at Lacrosse practice at 6:30pm. Luckily, Alex had gotten a ride from a friend to practice, which started right after school. When Patrick got home with Alex, around 7pm, he offered to pick up Natalie so I could go home with Eric, give him a bath, and put him to bed by 8pm.

Tuesday--
I was off work today, so I could volunteer at Eric's Art a la Carte class. I got to be at home when he got off the bus at about 3:15pm. Patrick left soon after that to pick up Alex from school at 4:15pm. I left home to take Eric to piano at about 4:15pm and got home by around 5:30pm. We sort of ate together before Patrick left to pick up Natalie from her track meet at 6:30pm.

Wednesday--
After work, I picked up Alex from school at 4:15pm and came home with him. He got to eat dinner before he and Patrick left for his lacrosse game at 5:30pm. After bathing Eric ahead of time (and taking my shower), I left with the other two kids at 6:15pm for Natalie's swim practice from 7-8pm. She made it to almost all of practice, getting out of the pool with 10 minutes left so she could stretch her back. We got home at about 8:30pm to get them both in bed.

Meanwhile, Alex's lacrosse game started at 7pm and ended at around 8:30pm. They didn't get home until after 9pm.

Thursday--
Alex and I will come home at the usual time, hopefully, and we will take a break from practices and such to go out to eat for Eric's birthday.

Friday--
Eric has the "Achievement Auditions" at UTSA where he gets to play piano for an adjudicator that critiques his piece. He's playing some time between 4-7pm. We don't have a time yet.

Alex plans on staying with a friend after school. These plans are still undecided, but luckily, we don't have any other plans right now, because I've got some things to make for Eric's birthday party.

Saturday--
Eric's birthday party will be from 11am-3pm. Alex has a lacrosse game at 9am, so he'll be at that from about 7:30-almost noon. He is still trying to make plans for the rest of the day.

Sunday--
Natalie is going to a birthday party from 12:30-3pm.

That's it for now.

Art a la Carte

I haven't posted about Eric's monthly art class in a while. Our "tradition" starts with lunch together. Eric always wants eight spicy chicken nuggets and a small vanilla Frosty from Wendy's. I usually eat at home before or after I have lunch with him. Today, I decided to "splurge" and get Chick-Fil-A nuggets for myself along with a small Cookies and Cream milkshake. That's why I decided to take a picture, to show the two similar packages. Yum--I'd forgotten how good Cookies and Cream is and how good the milkshakes are at Chick-Fil-A.

Today's art lesson talked about the paintings of Thomas Kinkade, the self-proclaimed "Painter of Light". The teacher talked about how he would be considered a contemporary painter, and that he received a lot of criticism from other painters about how he commercialized his art by selling on QVC. Of course, his selling on QVC opened the doors to other merchandising opportunities that made him more money than that initial offering.

That fact was probably more interesting to the adults in the room. The teaching points for the kids included defining the terms "foreground", "middle ground", and "background". The teacher also talked about how Kinkade's paintings did include depictions of light and that is partly what set him apart from others. Lighthouses were also a common theme, along with landscape scenes in general.

The kids started out with a blue background, on which they pasted colored squares, then drew waves over them with white oil pastel. They then cut out the green hill part. Eric, as usual, decided to be different and added a little dip in the middle instead of going uphill like the teacher's version. The rest of the class was spent working on the lighthouse.

Instead of making big diagonal stripes outlined in black like most of the other kids, Eric elected to make small blue and red stripes without any definite separation. That was probably what set him the most apart from the other kids. The scarf-looking thing at the top is a walkway around the top of the lighthouse. The other extended area at the top is where he drew some yellow rays of light coming off of the light.

They didn't have time to finish the whole project, as you can see compared to the teacher's example on the bulletin board. She plans to take them a few at a time on Friday to finish painting and gluing on the colored pieces of paper at the top of the page. Unfortunately, I won't be there, but hopefully I'll be able to snap a photo of the finished artwork hung on the wall when I return to school later in the month or next month.

Tomorrow I plan to blog about our busy week.

Eric Birthday Celebration #1

Almost eight years ago, my family came to visit us for Easter, because I was due any day. The very next day, I gave birth to Eric. Since then, Eric's birthday is often around Easter, so sometimes get to celebrate with my family. It's a great opportunity for them to see him open the generous gifts they give him. It's a great opportunity for Eric to have multiple birthday celebrations. Since Eric's birthday is this coming Thursday, we went ahead and had a "little" party for him.

The real reason for the party was, of course, Easter. We celebrated at my Mom's house on Saturday, since Sunday would be packed with church, Easter Brunch, and traveling home for us. After the food and the Easter Egg Hunt, Eric got to open presents. When I told Eric (before we left home), that we would probably celebrate his birthday in Houston, he was so excited that he was practically jumping up and down--but trying not to.

Eric and I often go "shopping" at Target, and the last couple of trips, he picked out some toys he liked, and we put them on his Amazon wish list. During our last visit to Houston, he also showed his Aunt Cynthia some items in the Target ad that he was interested in. Eric is very used to asking if he can put something on his "wish list" when he wants something. His favorite toys this year include Transformers, Star Wars Rebels, Lego Ninjago, and now his new interest is in Lego Bionicle toys. We have several Bionicle toys from when his big brothers were that age, but Eric wants "the new ones". Apparently they have new Bionicle characters--of course.

This is a picture of Eric's new Lego Bionicle Tahu--Master of Fire Toy. He wanted to take it out and build it right away, but he waited until we got home because of all of the little pieces that he was afraid would get lost. He has opened all of the boxes already since we got home yesterday afternoon. He loved every single gift. The only thing left to open is the Penguins of Madagascar movie. The only thing stopping him from seeing that one is that we haven't had time. We've got a full schedule this week, but I'll put that in another blog post--maybe tomorrow.

Happy Easter 2015

My Easter started at about midnight. I had not been feeling well, so I went to bed without eating anything for dinner. At about midnight, Patrick came to bed and that's when I realized that the Easter baskets weren't put together yet. Luckily I felt better and proceeded to take out some of the goodies I bought for the kids and put them in baskets. It was too late to confer with my sister Cynthia as to the items she had gotten for the kiddos, so only put the stuff that I got into the baskets. I also made a basket for my niece Emily, who we weren't going to be able to see, because she was with her father this Easter weekend.

For the girls, I got journals with their first initial on the front, along with a set of colored pens. For Eric, Patrick got a book on lightsaber thumb wrestling, complete with little lightsabers that you can velcro onto your thumbs. He had gotten one for Anthony too, that we sent to him last week. I also got Eric a Star Wars Rebels chapter book. My one gift for the boys was a package of Uniball gel pens, one of my own personal favorites--rather boring, but I try to get the kids some non-candy items. The rest of the baskets were filled with Kit-kats, Twix, and fruit-type candy. Alex is trying to stay away from chocolate for acne reasons. Of course, there was an obligatory chocolate bunny (Dove). In the morning, Cynthia put some chocolate-covered strawberries (from Melissa) and Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies into the baskets as well.

We went to 9am mass, then we went to Easter Brunch at Churrasco's. We had lots of choices at the brunch buffet, but some favorites included the beef tips and the fruit crepes. The fruit crepes were made fresh to order, but with one guy making each crepe one at a time, it took forever to get one. Four of us stood in line at various times to get one, because we felt like it was the best dessert among a few good choices.

Interestingly, Eric said the best part was the bagel and the chocolate mousse cake that he had. He had some prime rib, but he said that he liked the steak that Papa makes better. He also had some crispy bacon, but he also said that he liked the bacon we usually have at home (turkey bacon) better. Why did we even take him to this brunch when he was happier with the food he gets at home? ;)

Note that there is an extra chair shown next to my nephew Nick in this picture. We joked about it, but it was true--we saved that seat for Anthony, who is at school and couldn't be with us today. We all missed him!

After the brunch, we went back to my sister Cynthia's house to pack up the car to go home. It's always wonderful visiting family. Thankfully, they get to come visit me in a few weeks for Eric's First Communion.

I hope everyone had a very Happy Easter!

Easter Egg Hunt 2015

We weren't originally planning on having an Easter Egg Hunt. Aly just turned 13, and Natalie is almost there. We knew that Nick and Alex wouldn't care, because they didn't participate last year. Last week, though, Eric asked me if we were going to have one. He seemed to want one, although he said it was "okay" if we didn't. So, we decided on having one when were over at Lola and Lolo's house.

My sister Cynthia and I were taking pictures. My sister Melissa said that she doesn't usually worry about having to take pictures because Cynthia and I usually take care of it. We decided that we needed on of Alex because he was the one carrying around the pink basket with all of the eggs. We had tasked Alex and Nick to hide the eggs for the younger ones.

My Mom's backyard is not that big, so they had some trouble finding enough varied locations to make it somewhat challenging. The result was their putting eggs in very difficult locations. This picture is of my brother-in-law John helping Eric reach one of the eggs. Alex had put the egg in between the wire to their Direct TV dish and the roof. Alex is the tallest in our family, currently, and he was the only one that could reach that high without the aid of anyone or anything else--more on that later.

Of course, Aly whizzed by and found her allotment of eggs (one third of the 42 that we made--or 14 each) very quickly, and she got all of the "easy" ones that were out in the open and easy to reach. Natalie and Eric took a bit longer. In the end, we all had trouble finding the last handful. We even had to get one back from Natalie because she had put 15 eggs in her basket.

This is a picture that I actually took while the boys were still hiding eggs before the egg hunt. Alex had put one of the eggs into the gutter. We told him that wasn't a good place to hide an egg because: one--he is the only one that is tall enough to reach the gutter without the aid of anyone or anything else, and two--no one would be able to see it and therefore find it. After it was in the gutter, though, even Alex couldn't reach it, so John got a chair to stand on and retrieved it from the gutter. In the end, Alex decided to "hide" one of the eggs in his pocket. It took Patrick strongly hinting to Natalie to check Alex's pocket for Natalie to get that egg.

Most of the eggs had candy, but some of the eggs had quarters. Natalie only got two quarters, but she gave them to Aly, so Aly had a total of $2.50. Eric had a total of $2.25. They all got plenty of candy, and they'll get plenty more tomorrow.

Notice in this photo that Alex is in the center in the background. At first I didn't want him in the picture, but I decided I liked that he was trying to get in the photo. :)

Eric still needed a lot of help finding most of his eggs again this year, but he had fun, so I have a feeling we'll be doing this again next year.

After the Easter egg hunt, we had a little early "birthday" celebration for Eric, since his birthday is coming up this next week. I'll save that for another post.

Sunday Visit

I should have posted about this earlier, but Patrick and I have had to carefully choreograph our movements this week with child activities and pickups/drop-offs--more on that later. We got to visit Grandma and Grandpa last Sunday. They are leaving for Colorado tomorrow. I'm not sure when they'll be back, but it's been nice having them in town for these last couple of months.

We did the usual and picked up Rudy's BBQ--"The Worst BBQ in Texas" for a late lunch. Eric and Natalie really like their turkey, and I love their beef brisket. This is a picture of Eric in the driver's seat of the van. Natalie was in her usual grumpy mood and not wanting to be in the car for long periods, so Patrick made her get out and help him get the food. Eric and I stayed in the car and he was a bit energetic, so I let him "play" in the driver's seat. I also let him stand up in the back of the van, and his head now touches the roof. It's nice to see evidence that this boy is growing.

When we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house, Grandpa had just gone out for a walk. Grandma, of course, had told him that we were due any time, but Grandpa does what he wants. When he got back, he was surprised that we were already there.

Grandma lamented that she didn't have any games or anything for the kids to play with when they visited her. They are usually fine with the electronics that we bring, and there are plenty of games in there, but we didn't bring any iPads or iPad minis this time.

Eric was a little restless anyway, and since it was such a beautiful day--sunny and in the 70s, he kept going outside into their backyard. Even with how energetic he was, he was still sitting down a lot, so I took this picture of him squatting in the middle of their yard, which has a little hill. That wooded area behind is a green space behind their property. He went into the tall grass and hid for a while.

Later, after lunch, Grandma took the two kids (we had dropped Alex off at lacrosse practice) for a walk in the neighborhood. Grandma said that Eric had to sit and rest a couple of times because his "legs were tired". He just cracks me up. He is all energy, but then he always complains that his legs get tired. I've told him that meant that he had to walk more.

We ended our visit when it was time to pick up Alex. Patrick saw Grandma and again on Tuesday to help her buy and set up a new computer. It's so much nicer to be able to help them in person rather than feeling helpless on the other side of the telephone line. We're not sure when they'll be back, but we'll definitely see them for Spring Break in March in Colorado.

Alex's Turn

This is the way I can get photos of Alex--when he doesn't know I'm taking them. We had just gotten home from school and he plopped himself on the arm of the living room sofa and was texting friends while listening to music. That's pretty much what he does all the time--texts and listens to music.

My mom is always afraid that Patrick and I don't spend any time with Alex. Eric is the youngest and Natalie's swim activities and now physical therapy take a lot of our time. In reality, Alex takes most of our time. He is way more social than his siblings. He always wants to go out and see his friends. Soccer practices also started after Thanksgiving at school every weekday morning. Last week, lacrosse practices started after school. We haven't figured out that schedule quite yet. Since last month, he has also been staying after school for two hours at least three days a week so he can be around his girlfriend who is moving some time soon.

Weekends are especially when he needs us to shuttle him back and forth. For example, just last Friday, Patrick picked him up right after school. I was at physical therapy with Natalie, so Eric was along for the ride while Patrick took Alex to get something to eat and then dropped him off at the local stadium so he could watch his girlfriend play soccer. He also needed to be picked up, of course.

On Saturday, I took Alex to school at 9:30am so he could travel with his soccer team to play soccer. The game wasn't until noon, but Patrick went to the stadium to watch him play. He got to play the whole game and it was a nice day, so Patrick didn't mind. He brought Alex home after the game, then Alex's friend Dylan came over and Patrick took both of them back out to go to some cheer competition. Meanwhile, the rest of us went to church and then dinner. While we were out, Alex asked if his friend Jeremy could sleep over. As it turned out, Jeremy wasn't able to come over, but that is the sort of last minute plans we have to deal with. If we don't have other plans, we try to get Alex to whatever event he wants to go to, and it usually involves Patrick driving around at night.

On Sunday, Alex didn't get up until noon. We took him to his 1:30-5pm Lacrosse practice. In the meantime, we picked up Rudy's BBQ and took it to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a late lunch since they live close to where Alex had practice, and we picked him up before heading home. So, except for Natalie taking the SAT on Saturday, our weekend was pretty centered on Alex.

This is another picture I took of Alex while he wasn't aware that I was taking a picture of him. He was helping Patrick take down the Christmas tree a couple of weeks ago. The top half of the tree now has nonfunctioning lights, so we threw it away with the heavy trash pickup. We also got rid of our rapidly deteriorating big screen TV and an extra tube TV that not even Goodwill or the Salvation Army will accept as a donation. Alex can be pretty helpful around the house when he wants to be.

This is a good time to brag a little about Alex, too. Last month or so, we found out that he is number 19 in his class. We were happy with that news. He was unhappy mostly because there were a couple of people ranked higher than him that he helped with homework, so he figured that he should be ranked higher than they were. That may change once he starts taking AP classes next year.

Last week or so, Alex found out that he made a 196 on the PSAT. He is still a sophomore, but apparently that score puts him in the 95th percentile for juniors. My nephew Nick also did well with an 206. I'm happy that both of them are within range for possibly scoring high enough to be a National Merit Scholar, like Anthony was. That opens the door to scholarships and such plus it's pretty cool.

Alex also helps us with Eric and Natalie. When Natalie gets all wound up about school work, he will just tell her to chill or helps her with it. When Eric won't do as we ask (like finish his dinner), he'll present it to Eric in a different way, and Eric will often comply. Alex is my only child that likes to go shopping with me. That is pretty cool, too. He saw my work jacket that I wear in the cold operating rooms. He wanted one just like it, so I joked that he gave it his "fashion stamp of approval" so it must be a nice jacket. Patrick chats with him about sports (the other kids don't have a clue) or about video games.

If it isn't clear yet, I love my dear number two son. He is certainly not an angel and he has challenged us in ways that the other kids haven't challenged us, but he is a wonderful kid and Patrick and I love him a whole lot. Here's hoping that he will stay the course.

First Reconciliation

This past Saturday, Eric had his First Reconciliation. Alex had spent the night over at a friend's house. Natalie was still not feeling well, so we didn't make her go. Only Patrick and I went with Eric.

Mornings are usually when Eric is the most active, which is why we one reason why we usually don't like to go to mass on Sunday mornings. This morning was no different. After the Reconciliation mass, eight priests were stationed at different locations along the back of our church, which is more or less circular-ish, and which has seven aisles. There was a priest at the end of each aisle plus our pastor was in one of the small chapels. They held off foot traffic along that back area, to give the kids (and adults that chose to participate) privacy during their confessions.

At that time, we let Eric choose which priest he wanted to go to. We were sitting near the front, so Eric looked to the back all around as if he was trying to decide where to go. He then started walking towards one of the lines that was starting to form. We thought he was going to get in that line, but instead, he walked right past everyone and proceeded to go to one of the priests (I think it was Father Teddy), and walked right up to him. He then sat down and started.

I was a little embarrassed that he didn't wait in line, but then the lines were all just forming anyway. I was happy that he was not shy, though, and that he took the initiative to go ahead and just do it. There were a couple of kids that were in tears or clinging to their parents, but not Eric. This first picture is of Eric doing his little prayer after he was done.

So, the bad part about Eric being first was that then he had another hour or so to wait for everyone else to finish. He was very hyper and kept hugging on Patrick and me and being very restless. I took this photo after I found some red fluff on his shirt and put it on his nose. That entertained him for a few minutes, anyway.

I wasn't "allowed" to take any pictures of Eric sitting with the priest, although I still wish I hadn't followed directions. Anthony had his First Reconciliation in this same church and I got a picture of him. It would have been so cool to compare the pictures.

The entire experience took almost two hours, after which it was almost 11am, so we picked up Natalie at home and we went to lunch at Chick-Fil-A. The next big religious event for Eric will be his First Communion at the end of April.

January Art a la Carte

It's been a while since I posted on my blog. The Saturday before last (the 10th) I was on call for 24 hours, then I was getting stressed about a lecture I gave at the local med school on Monday the 12th. I was already getting sick by then, and so were the kids. Natalie stayed home four days from school last week, and Eric stayed home about 2 1/2 days. They both just went back to school today. Alex hasn't been home much, which is just as well, so he has not been sick. He's been spending a lot of time with his girlfriend before she moves with her family to California.

So, I never got a chance to post about volunteering at Eric's Art a la Carte class last Tuesday, the 13th. I took the day off, as usual, although I stayed home instead of exercising in the morning, since I wasn't feeling well. I brought Eric his usual lunch from Wendy's. He was happy to eat it quickly. I got some Wendy's chili this time, so I ate with him.

This month's lesson talked about Michelangelo and how he was a sculptor who was asked to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The lesson was about three dimensional art, like sculptures, versus two dimensional art, like paintings. The art tables all had animal toy figures on them. The first step was picking out one of the animal figures and sketching it out with pencil on a piece of paper.

I was amazed at how a couple of the girls had trouble even starting their sketch--they were so afraid to fail that they couldn't start. The teacher had already talked about how most of the kids were sketching for the first time and so they probably would not be any good. She talked about how if they practiced, they would get better. Those girls did not seem to have any experience drawing an object, because as soon as they saw that their drawing did not look much like the animal figure, they got upset and balked at going farther. There was another mom helping also, and she felt helpless because her daughter absolutely did not want to draw the animal because it didn't look good enough. Eventually, her daughter did get something drawn, but there was a lot of whining and dragging of feet.

Eric didn't have any trouble at all. He draws all the time. His drawings were comparable to any of the other kids, but he didn't have any hesitation at all drawing his elephant. He just did it and added a lot of details, like the elephant trunk wrinkles, and then he had enough time to color it in and everything. Some of the kids only had the basic outline of the animal, and not so much of the details.

After the drawing, they got to work with clay and make the same animal in a three dimensional form. I was amazed that the same girl that could not even start her drawing, didn't hesitate to make her animal out of clay, and she did a decent job. I would guess that she did not draw much but probably had a lot of experience with Play Doh. Eric again didn't hesitate and completed his elephant pretty quickly, even again, adding details to the trunk and body. I was so proud of him getting the job done.

Apparently, next month they get to paint their animal. That should be interesting.

2015 Title Page

It's time for the annual measurement of the kids! I started doing this a number of years ago, and documenting it all on a scrapbook page. For the past couple of years, that has been the only scrapbook page I've made that year.

Of course the first step is taking a picture of the kids standing in front of the Christmas tree, so I can see how they've grown. This is usually quite an undertaking, because the kids don't like to get their picture taken. This was compounded by the fact that I have not taken a lot of pictures with my big camera this year, so I'm a little rusty. Anthony always helps me out by rallying his siblings, and he had to convince everyone to do that again.

The big boys look basically the same. Anthony did gain 1 1/2 pounds since last year--148 1/2 pounds and 71 inches. Alex gained 4 1/2 pounds and is now officially taller than Anthony by half an inch--162 pounds and 71 1/2 inches. Note that last year, Patrick measured both boys at 71 1/8 inches tall each. I don't think Anthony shrunk, so that must be an error of measurement or how he was standing.

Natalie is now 105 pounds and 59 inches tall. She gained 7 pounds since last year, and as is typical of girls her age, she lamented that was too much of a weight gain. She did gain about an inch and a half, but she knows that she didn't swim as much this past year. It's all a part of how down she gets with the consequences of her back injury from early last year.

Eric gained four pounds and three inches. He is now 48 pounds and 48 inches. I joked with him that he is square. He just looked at me with a puzzled expression. ;) It doesn't seem like he grows, but now we have proof that he does grow.

Here is my finished scrapbook page. I am obviously very rusty, combining different shades of red, and maybe I shouldn't have used so many embellishments. I could go on, but it's good enough and I'm happy with it, so I'm leaving it.

I used red paint instead of ink because my ink pads have all gotten a little dry from not using them. The paint was actually easier for the kids to wash off their hands than the ink, so that was good. I also used a smaller photo this year (3"x5") because the big boys' hands are so big, and Alex refused to put his fingers together.

Also, notice that Alex signed his name as "Ali G. Baba" and Natalie signed hers as "That fabulous person, Natalie". Those signatures are part of who they are right now, so I was happy to let them sign however they wanted.

Tomorrow, it's back to school for the kids (except Anthony), and back to work for me. No rest for the weary.

Celebrating with Family

After a low-key Christmas, we had a low-key New Year's Eve. I had to work on Monday and Tuesday, and we were originally going to go out for my mother-in-law's birthday on Tuesday, December 30, so we didn't leave for Houston until New Year's Eve day. We had planned to go to the Riverwalk for her birthday, but it was drizzly and cold, and she really didn't want to go out.

This is a picture of Eric meditating or trying not to get upset or something or other like that. We had just told him that he had to wait a half hour before getting back on the iPad. I think back to when Natalie was younger--she did not do well in the car when we were traveling to Houston. Who knows if she would have been much better if we had an iPad or similar distraction for her then?

We dropped Alex off at his friend Dylan's house before leaving town. He stayed in town so he could spend some time with his friends and especially his girlfriend, who is moving out of the state in less than two weeks. We would have rather taken him with us, but we didn't want him to hate us forever by forbidding him seeing her before he might possibly not see her again.

The weather was not nice while we were in Houston, but at least we spent it with family. We went to my parents' house first. I didn't get to see my Mom at Thanksgiving, since she was in the Philippines celebrating her mom's 100th birthday, so it was good to see her again. She made Natalie and Eric some "arroz caldo" or "rice soup" as the kids call it--their favorite. Eric almost got upset at Thanksgiving when we got to her house, she wasn't there, and there was no "rice soup" for him to eat.

We had a sort of second Christmas there--really the kids just opened presents from my sisters. My mom and mailed a box to our house that got there the day after Christmas. My sisters both got Eric some Transformers toys among other things, and he spent quite a bit of time playing mostly with the Transformers over the two days we were there. He has been quite upset with Transformers. He played his new Transformers PS4 game as soon as we got back home.

We stayed at my sister Cynthia's house for the rest of the time. We snacked and watched movies into the New Year--"Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Maleficent". We barely noticed when the clock hit midnight. Patrick was upstairs when the ball dropped in NYC and he told us the time. For once we didn't celebrate midnight at Eastern Standard Time by watching the NYC ball drop. When it was midnight at Central Standard Time, we at least "celebrated" by hugging each other and saying "Happy New Year!" We were watching "Maleficent" at the time and no one really wanted to stop the movie.

Even Eric stayed up until midnight, and he did fine. He went straight to bed after the movie, though, and he was still the first one up--maybe by around 7am. He entertained my sister's dog Lucy before anyone else was up. He was always chasing Lucy (and vice versa), playing and petting Lucy. At one point, Lucy did not run after her toy when someone threw it--I think she was exhausted!

We came home today, and the weather was still icky. There is supposed to be some sun tomorrow, and we are all really looking forward to it. I miss my family already, but alas, we have to return to "real life".