Witte Museum Ice Age Exhibit

The new Ice Age exhibit opened today at our local Witte Museum. When we got the flyer in the mail, Eric was particularly interested in seeing the "saber-tooth cat", and he always likes to explain that it's a "cat" and not a "tiger". So, of course, I had to take a picture of him with the saber-tooth cat. All of the animal displays were moving, so that's why this one is a little blurry, but I thought it was cool looking over Eric's shoulder.

The exhibit was free for members this weekend, so that meant lots of people were there. This is the first time in a long time that we have been to the Witte, and it was a bit shocking to see part of the building torn away for their renovations. That also meant going into the new back entrance that was particularly muddy with all of the rain we've had recently.

This Wooly Mammoth was near the outdoor entrance. We came up to about three Wooly Mammoth's during our visit, and Eric wanted to cuddle up to each one. They aren't particularly cuddly, but he was enjoying himself anyway.

The new entrance was outdoors with a little overhead covering over the actual ticket booth. I hope they finish those renovations quickly, because visiting museums is a nice rainy day or hot summer day activity, but the outdoor entrance would make this unpleasant. It started drizzling while we were in line.

The exhibit began with a movie basically showing computer-generated animation of Wooly Mammoths and Saber-Tooth Cats roaming around and interacting as they would have during the actual Ice Age time period. There wasn't much to the movie, but Eric soaked in everything. He was also reading every plaque with information on the various creatures.

Eric couldn't remember what this creature was called, but he said that, "It's probably a 'Terror Bird'." Can I just say that I don't know what that is? He seemed very sure about it. All the animal exhibits were bigger than what the info plaques stated that they were supposed to be. That made them seem more formidable. I got one picture of a Giant Beaver that was really scary big--bigger than Eric, when the sign said that they were supposed to be smaller than Eric.

It was tough getting some of these photos because there were SO many people and the mood lighting was so poor. I forgot my big camera. I'm so used to not carrying it around that I actually forgot all about it until we got to the museum and I saw the low lighting. We don't have a lot of sports events to go to anymore, with soccer being over and Natalie still not swimming.

Eric and I were going at a slower pace than Natalie and Patrick. He read every single sign, sometimes twice. There was also a Members Activities Area where he squirted water onto a block of ice (with some other kids) to reveal a toy Ice Age animal. We spent a few minutes there because he really wanted to see what animal was in that block of ice. The activity was supposed to show what erosion does to reveal the fossils left behind.

After the Ice Age exhibit, we visited the kids' favorite area in the museum, the HEB Treehouse. It's not actually a treehouse, but it is a tall building that extends up into the many trees on the property. There are lots of hands-on activities there, and they had some new activities since the last time we were there.

Eric started off at this activity where it basically filmed him running a short distance, then it displayed how fast he was going and how long his stride was. He kept wanting to do it over and over again. His fastest speed was 11.2 mph with a 3'11" stride. It also calculated an energy score which it didn't explain. It just gave the number "5.0" as the "energy score".

One of the activities that I think might have always been there (or at least the kids have all done this activity before) where they try to pull themselves up using a pulley system. The point of the activity is that the more pulleys, the easier it is to lift yourself up. He had a fairly easy time pulling himself up using the four-pulley system, but he could barely manage to go up at all when he used the two-pulley system.

I took one picture of Natalie and Patrick. Natalie had a project this past week where she needed photos of various family members, including herself. She couldn't find one she liked with her and Patrick, mostly because she didn't like her hair. She didn't like her hair in this one either. She had braided her own hair, and she thought it looked like she didn't have any hair in this photo because it is all down her back. Really?!!

I took this photo of Eric using the binoculars-type gadget, because he was really getting into weird contortions to be able to look really high and really low. In the end, I just laughed because he said he couldn't really see much. He really looked like he was getting into what he was looking at.

Honestly, Eric could have spent the whole afternoon at the museum, but we wanted to go eat lunch. He spent only a few minutes in this interactive water feature area before we made him leave. We had a great time at the Witte Museum. There are several new exhibits coming in the next few months, so we'll definitely take advantage of our family membership and go again soon.

Alex's Awards Ceremony

Alex was invited to the Awards Ceremony at his school tonight. We didn't know ahead of time what award he was going to get. All we knew was that he was getting something. He had wanted to volunteer to help at the ceremony, but he couldn't do that anymore when he found out that he was getting an award.

I don't have any pictures of the ceremony itself. I was working late and there were some tough cases, so Patrick arranged for a good friend to take Eric to the mandatory practice swim meet, and he went to the ceremony.

Patrick did manage to get a short video of Alex walking across the stage to get his awards. He got Perfect Attendance and Academic Excellence in Science. He also got an award for his nuclear project getting first place in the state competition. He says he was the only one in the category, which he took to mean that he won because his was the only entry. We're so proud of him. He works so hard, not just getting the good grades, but also to really understand the material. I don't get to brag about him that much because he really downplays his accomplishments.

Spring Band Concert

If looks could kill! At the end of every band concert, Natalie's band director tells all the students to stand up one instrument section at a time, so that the parents can take pictures of their little darlings. Since Natalie is in the percussion section, and they are in the very back of the band, he also makes them walk to the front, stay a bit, then walk back, since otherwise it would be difficult to get a good picture of them. Additionally, Natalie never looks at me or my camera, so I've stopped bringing my big camera to the concerts.

This time, I decided to take a series of quick burst photos (36 in all), by leaving my finger on the shutter release button on my phone camera. In a few of them, I was able to catch a glimpse of Natalie giving me the stink-eye as she walked towards where Patrick and I were sitting. This one is probably the clearest one. I think Natalie looks beautiful, despite her shooting daggers at me with her eyes. :)

I prefer to think she looks happy in this photo. She was probably feeling a little embarrassed about walking to the front of the band. The concert part was pretty short. They combined the Concert, Symphonic, and Honors Bands for the performance. They all played during the first piece, "Creepy Crawlies". The top 2 bands, the Symphonic and Honors Bands played "Plaza de Toros". Natalie is in the Honors Band, which is the top band. They played a fanfare when the top boy and girl for 7th grade and 8th grade awards were announced, and they also played "Game of Thrones" theme song.

Natalie is trying to decide what classes she wants to take next year, and Band is just one of the electives she is trying to decide on. The other two are Journalism and PALS. We're not exactly sure what PALS is, but according to Natalie, is a class where she helps other kids, maybe tutoring? She enjoys band, and she has a lot of friends in it, but she knows she can't be in band in high school, because she plans on swimming. She had to apply for Journalism and PALS, so she doesn't want that work to go to waste. She'll be making the decision (with some help from us and her counselor) in the next week.

Speaking of swimming, Natalie's AAAA Northside Swim Banquet was this past Saturday. Natalie got this certificate (with her best times) and medal when she checked in. She met up with some of her old friends, and Patrick and I sat down with the few people we still know that are there (others have left for various reasons). Natalie had specifically asked to go to this banquet, but after a few minutes, she came up to us in tears and said that she wanted to go. That just broke my heart. She said she felt "different"--still not sure exactly what she meant by that, but she was moodier than usual anyway, because of that time of the month. In any case, I wish she would get better so her life is normal again. It's been a long struggle, and we're afraid of the psychological fallout. At least she has found some happiness in band, and I hope she stays in it for another year.

Farewell

Just last Saturday, Anthony came home for the first time since Christmas. In the blink of an eye, he left this afternoon. :(

I took this blurry photo at dinner last night. Anthony spent the night at his friend Alejandro's house on Wednesday, and Alejandro came over to our house last night, and had dinner with us at El Mirasol. El Mirasol was one of Anthony's list of places he had to visit while he was in town. He had his usual Chicken Flautas. Eric was going around the table hugging everyone, so I snagged this picture while he was with Anthony. Both Anthony and Alejandro made this their profile photo on Facebook. :)

This morning, before I took Natalie and Eric to Starbucks for breakfast and then drove them to school, they said their goodbyes to Anthony, who had been asleep upstairs (he didn't mind, of course). When Natalie came downstairs, she was in tears. I couldn't get her to smile after that, but at least I tried to make her feel better by buying her favorite things at Starbucks. Eric at least knew that he would see Anthony at lunchtime.

Eric had "Kids' Cafe" today during his lunch period at school. That's when the kids get rewarded for good behavior by being allowed to eat with someone of their choosing on the stage (which is in their cafeteria. He asked Anthony to eat with him. Sweet! Anthony brought Eric's "usual"--Wendy's spicy chicken nuggets and a vanilla Frosty. He brought him 10 nuggets (instead of the usual 8 that I bring him--Eric's request) and a medium vanilla Frosty (I usually get him the small). Apparently, Eric ate everything.

Anthony then entertained Eric and his friends with some jokes. Patrick texted Anthony during lunch and asked him if lunch was going okay. Anthony texted back that Eric's friends liked his jokes. That meant that they were enjoying each other's company.

When I picked up Eric from the school bus this afternoon, I told him that Anthony had just left for the airport. He said, "You mean I don't get to say good bye to him?" I pointed out to him that he had gotten to see Anthony at lunch. Eric told me about one of the jokes that Anthony told him (and his friends). Eric said, "What's the opposite of a flamingo?" The answer was "Flaminstop." That is definitely a joke for an eight-year-old! Apparently also, when Eric introduced Anthony as his older brother, Anthony said, "No, we're twins. I'm in second grade." Thankfully, Eric's friends were smart enough to realize that wasn't true.

Tonight, when I was putting Eric in bed, I told him that I needed a big hug because I already missed Anthony. Eric replied, "I can give you lots of hugs." At first he started saying, "for the next 12 years", then he must have realized that the math wasn't exactly right, so he changed it to "for a long time". I do love my Eric hugs. They're not exactly like Anthony hugs, but I will definitely take them. I miss my oldest big boy already.

Daily Breakfast

I've been off of work this week. Originally, I asked for this week off so I could be at home with the kids. Patrick had planned on going his nephew's graduation in Albuquerque on Tuesday. A few weeks ago, however, his sister called and said that Joe was in danger of not walking at graduation due to a failing grade in Calculus, so Patrick didn't buy any plane tickets. Well, his sister called last week to say that Joe would indeed be graduating this week. Of course, it was too late to get plane tickets.

I also decided to keep the week off when we bought plane tickets for Anthony to come home for this week. I didn't think he would want to hang out with his parents all week, but at least this way, I could be available to do stuff with him. We were able to have with him twice this week, for example. I'll detail the rest in a separate blog post.

So, really, the only things I'm doing differently this week, since I'm off work, is exercising more (four times this week so far), and taking more naps. I also decided to get the kids special breakfasts this week. I made breakfast three days this week already.

On Monday, I made banana chocolate chip pancakes. I used to make these almost every Saturday. I stopped making them when I got the waffle maker and the kids seemed to prefer the cake waffles that I make. It's faster and easier, so why not?

Alex loves bananas, in fact, he recently announced to me that bananas are his favorite fruit. His request was to leave out the chocolate chips. He has been concerned about his acne acting up every time he eats chocolate, so he's been avoiding chocolate. Otherwise, he usually loves the combination of bananas and chocolate. His favorite shake at Sonic is their chocolate banana shake. Just tonight he had Banana Fudge ice cream at Brindles. I made probably 6-8 banana (only) pancakes and he said he ate all of them. The rest were banana chocolate chip, and Natalie and Eric really enjoyed them. That made me very happy.

On Tuesday, I made crescent rolls, some filled with cinnamon sugar, and some filled with chocolate chips. Natalie and Alex only eat the cinnamon sugar ones. Eric likes both, but prefers the chocolate-filled ones. Patrick and I only eat the chocolate ones. I made four tubes of crescent rolls (8 rolls for each tube), and after breakfast, there was only one cinnamon sugar one left. The rest were chocolate ones. That also made me happy.

I left Wednesday alone since Wednesdays are designated Pop Tart days. That was the one morning that I didn't get up early to make breakfast. It was raining hard that day, so I also let Patrick walk with Eric to the bus stop. Today (Thursday) I made scrambled eggs. I guess I didn't bother taking a picture. I made two eggs for each child (not including Anthony since he doesn't usually get up until after 10am), although Eric ate only half of his but also had some Go-Gurt (actually, the HEB generic brand). The eggs are far easier and quicker to make than the other two breakfasts this week.

Tomorrow, I'm taking Natalie and Eric to Starbucks for breakfast. We haven't done that in a while, so I thought it would be a nice treat. After breakfast, I'll take them to school. I'm doing a whole lot extra this week while I'm off work, but I'm happy I get to do these things, especially spending a little extra time with the kiddos, even if it means getting up early to make them breakfast. Doing things like that for the kiddos (and having them appreciate it) makes me happy.

Happy Mother's Day 2015

We went to church this morning as a family. It was a sacrifice for the boys, who stayed up very late last night, but they did it. We then went to Paesano's 1604, one of our favorite local restaurants, for lunch. Grandma and Grandpa are always early, but today, they got stuck in some traffic jam (on a Sunday!) near them, so they were late. Today, the restaurant wasn't guaranteeing reservations, and they didn't seat anyone until their whole party was here, so we waited. I took the opportunity to ask Patrick to take a picture of me with my beautiful children. We had to encourage certain children to smile, or at least not frown, so I'm very happy with this picture.

Alex started playing with the bread at our table at one point, and made this "Stonehenge" out of the bread. Of course this prompted questions such as "Where is Stonehenge?" This is why I love having a smartphone, I was able to google "Stonehenge location" and we had the answer--Wiltshire, England. We also realized that Eric didn't know what Stonehenge was. What cracked me up was that the way we explained it to him was that Stonehenge was in last year's Thor: The Dark World movie. Natalie remembered that, and Alex then told Eric, "Remember in Thor where the guy was running around naked? That was at Stonehenge." I was actually thinking about that example too. Eric thought about it and replied, "Oh okay. I remember that." I love that we were all on the same wavelength! Too funny.

Eric sat next to me during lunch, and he was quite fidgety. He was cold and wanted me to warm him up. He started getting underneath the table for some reason. He wanted to interrupt the conversations I was listening to so he could tell me something. He required a lot of attention today. Despite the inconvenience of having to stop what I was doing frequently to redirect him, I never mind sitting next to him. I keep saying that he is the perfect youngest child because he gives me lots of hugs, unlike what the other kids. This is what being a mom is about, right? Giving love and getting some of it back--perfect for this Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day!

He's Home!

Anthony is home! He arrived today, a few minutes early even. Alex wanted to go with Patrick to the airport. Natalie would also have gone, I think, but she was gone all day on a field trip with the Honors Band to Corpus Christi.

Eric has been excited for the last 10 days, when we started counting down to Anthony's arrival. Every night when I put him in bed, we would talk about how many more days. Some times Eric would then bounce a little and say, "I can't wait!" This morning, Eric said, "Hours until Anthony gets here." He was just a little bit excited to see his big brother again.

I stayed home with Eric because he wanted to stay home and wait for Anthony. When he heard the garage door opening, he ran to the garage. When they got in the garage, Anthony quickly got out of the van and ran up the stairs to greet Eric. He grabbed him and picked him off his feet. :)

I, of course, also hugged Anthony, except that he was still hugging Eric. Alex was still at the bottom of the stairs and commented on how Eric looked like he was getting crushed between us, so he took this picture. Poor Eric does look like he's being crushed, but he also doesn't seem to mind!

I had made sausage-stuffed jalapeños for Anthony's arrival, so he and Alex snacked on that while playing chess. Alex missed playing chess and other games with his big brother. He also missed having someone who is a similar size. He told Anthony that he feels so tall when Anthony isn't here. After chess, the three boys and Patrick played Smash-Up. It was like old times.

Natalie didn't get home until after 9pm. Of course she was excited and Anthony greeted her at the door as she was coming in. Now, my family feels complete.

National Junior Honor Society

Natalie was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society yesterday (Thursday, May 7th). By the time we found out when the ceremony was going to be, it was a little late to be changing my schedule. I missed the ceremony because I was on call that night. Patrick said that it was short and sweet ceremony. They started on time, and it wasn't long and drawn-out. Of course, this is the ceremony that I missed. :)

I was so happy to receive the above photo from Patrick while I was on call. Finally, Patrick is remembering to take pictures regularly, because he knows I love pictures. Because I couldn't be there, at least I felt like I could share in this event. The above photo is of Natalie with her friends Monse (on the left) and Alli (on the right). The second photo is of Natalie with her group of friends. From left to right is Kelsey, Mackenzie, Chava, Lexie, Abby, Alli, and Natalie.

I love Natalie's smile in these photos. I don't know if she smiled during the ceremony, but since I wasn't there and all I have are these photos, I choose to think that she enjoyed herself and that she did indeed smile through the event.

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.