Two Front Teeth

Eric's two front teeth have been loose for a couple of weeks, and "very loose" in the last few days. Patrick had planned on pulling them this weekend if they didn't come out on their own. I was on call last night, and when I came home this morning, I noticed that Eric was in the bathroom rinsing out his mouth.

Apparently, Eric was eating his usual Chocolate Iced Donut this morning for breakfast. One tooth came out. Patrick got some ice water and had him rinse out his mouth. Eric was then trying to eat again, but it hurt. When Patrick looked in Eric's mouth, the second tooth was bent to the side and "hanging from a string", so he went ahead and pulled it out. Eric was rinsing for a while, because he kept seeing blood.

When it came to eating again, Eric was upset that there was blood on the first donut that he was eating. Patrick told him that he could just eat the second donut, but Eric replied that that donut would get blood on it too. Patrick suggested that he wait a little bit before resuming eating. When he did eat again, he said he removed the part of the donut that had blood on it. He didn't finish his milk, though, because he said it tasted funny.

When I took this photo, I had to ask Eric to open his mouth to show me his missing front teeth. He tried to his usual big grin, but his teeth overlapped enough that the missing teeth were not obvious. He asked me why I wanted a picture. I replied that it's a "special" event when both front teeth are missing. I then told him that I would show him a picture tomorrow, of his siblings with their front teeth missing. Alex came into Eric's bedroom a few minutes later and talked about how he was still able to bob for apples when he lost his front teeth. They had a discussion about how the front teeth help you cut your food. Eric had a hard time eating today, but he ate pretty well for dinner. I think he'll be fine.

Alex Banana

Alex has been volunteering for PE Camp again this month, and tomorrow is his last day. They traditionally go to Landa Park on the last day (which is actually on Thursday), but it's not required and he doesn't want to go. This past weekend, I bought Pepperidge Farm cookies because they were on sale at Target, and I anticipated making banana pudding again soon. When Alex saw the Chessmen cookies, he immediately thought of the banana pudding I made last month for his birthday, so he asked me about it. He then requested that I make it for his last day, so he can invite friends over for some banana pudding.

He has been bragging to them that my banana pudding is the best. That makes me feel good, but all I do is follow Paula Deen's recipe for "Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding" (the lightened version), so it's not like it's my own personal recipe. Alex LOVES bananas and he eats upwards of five a day when we have them, so his love for banana pudding is not a surprise.

Alex was also interested in helping me make the banana pudding, even going to HEB and shopping for the ingredients with me. He wanted Patrick to give Eric his bath tonight so we could start making the pudding, although I went ahead and did that first.

I gave Alex the job of layering the cookies across the bottom of the dish, then cutting and layering the bananas on top of the cookies. He was cracking me up the whole time. First of all, he commented on how I had bought the Spring version of Chessmen cookies, so there were flowers on them instead of chess pieces. Then, he was eating the bananas even while he was cutting them for the pudding. He said, "What else am I going to do with the ends of the bananas?" I thought it was humorous that he felt like he couldn't put the end parts of the banana in the pudding. It's not like anyone can tell what shape the bananas are when it's all put together.

Alex was almost dancing during the process, also taking pictures with his phone after each step, so he could put it in his "Story" on Snapchat. At one point he was saying that he was cutting bananas "like a master" just before he hurt his finger with the butter knife because he wasn't paying attention. He laughed at himself for that one. I was also amused when I told him how to "fold" the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture and he likened it to "yin yang". I had to agree that the motion is similar to the "yin yang" symbol. He tried to do the "folding" himself and he didn't do a great job, but I was pleased that he tried. After I put the pudding mixture in the dish, he finished it off by layering the Chessmen cookies in a pattern.

When he heard that the pudding had to set in the refrigerator for a few hours, he yelled up to Natalie to tell her not to eat any banana pudding until he gets home from PE camp tomorrow afternoon. I also reminded him that he had to save some for me also, for when I get home from work. He told me not to worry, but you know what damage teenage boys can do!

Legos and King of the Mat

The magic is gone! Today, when I got home from work, Eric didn't rush up to me to give me a hug to welcome me home. He was upstairs reading to Natalie and didn't want to lose his place in the book. When I went upstairs, he wouldn't even get up off the floor to give me a hug because his finger was pointing to the exact spot in the book where he had left off. Sigh. My baby is growing up. A few months ago, he had a scrape or cut on his leg that he was very concerned about. When I asked him if he wanted a band-aid, he replied, "Why, it's not going to help." He is so practical now.

Some things that he still gets excited about, though, are dinosaurs and Lego sets. We've been looking for this one set for a couple of weeks or so--the Lego Jurassic World Raptor Escape set. It's sold out in the Lego online store. It doesn't even state a ship date like some of the other sets, like "will ship in 30 days". It only says, "Sold Out".  Patrick took the kiddos to the Lego Store at North Star Mall last Friday. He had been calling and found out that they would be getting a shipment in that day. No Lego Jurassic World in that shipment, but the manager did give Eric an extra raptor named "Blue". Eric was very excited when he got that.

The retail price is $39.99 and occasionally I would see it on Amazon for $60. Finally, I found it at the Walmart on Walzem, near Alex's school, so I was able to get it on Monday. Eric was SO excited. The manager at the Lego store had said that he thinks they'll have plenty of sets by mid-August (because of the lag time of making more sets). Luckily, this boy doesn't have to wait.

Something else that Eric has been very excited about lately is his jujitsu class. I was finally able to take him to class yesterday (Wednesday) because I got home early enough and because Patrick wanted to stay home and watch the USA vs. Jamaica CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal game. I snapped a quick photo of him in his uniform right outside the Brazilian Jujitsu place where he has class.

It was cool to be able to watch Eric grapple kids around his age. He was definitely one of the smaller ones, but he seemed to hold his own. On Monday, they had played a "game" where they would grapple each other and if they won, they got to stay on the mat. Apparently, Eric defeated maybe five or six of the kids and almost won "King of the Mat". That was class #4 for him! It's definitely a great physical activity for my iPad-loving Eric. It didn't take him long to start sweating.

That is what's up with Eric. I'll try to update about the other kids in the next few days.

Selfie Sunday Lunch

We went to church on Sunday morning instead of the evening because Patrick wanted to be back to watch CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer in the evening. Alex had a friend sleep over on Saturday night, and we didn't want to make his friend go with us, so Alex stayed home with him while the rest of us went to church. I decided that I wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch after church, so that also meant that Alex couldn't go.

Natalie has gotten in some silly moods lately where she'll say something that sometimes is sweet but sometimes not so sweet, but she will follow it up with a "sweet smile". She'll even say that she has a "sweet smile" and that she could "probably get away with anything" with that smile! She just cracks me up.

She was also in a selfie mood (again) and wanted me to take a picture of the both of us. How could I refuse my daughter wanting a picture with me? Patrick and Eric were sitting facing us, so of course we had to take a picture of them too.

We took our leftovers home and Alex had Eric's leftover pasta alfredo for lunch, and Patrick's Chipotle Chicken Pasta for dinner. He was happy with that consolation. Later, in the afternoon, he wanted to go to the gym. After such a high calorie meal, I couldn't refuse. Natalie didn't want to go anywhere, so she stayed home with Eric while Patrick went with Alex and me.

The rest of the day was pretty low-key, and a nice ending to our weekend.

Summer Saturday Activities

We did a lot of stuff today, so I thought I would share that along with some pictures. Eric has gotten a little spoiled when it comes to breakfast. I'm afraid I started it when I made something for breakfast almost every weekday I'm off work, and on most Saturdays. This morning, when I asked him what he wanted for breakfast, he replied, "I'd like something special like Starbucks or maybe waffles." At the time, Patrick had taken over the kitchen for brisket preparations (see below), so waffles were out of the question--that meant Starbucks.

Patrick was busy and Natalie was "feeling lazy", although both of them gave me requests on what to bring back for them from Starbucks. On the way, I was telling Eric that I needed to get a picture of my new car before it rains. He said, "What if it rains today?" It wasn't going to rain today, but he had a point, so I went ahead and got a picture of the car with Eric in front of it when we got to Starbucks.

Isn't it pretty? It's a 2012 Lexus RX350 that we bought from Carmax this past Wednesday. I've been driving my old 2004 Lexus RX330 since the car accident in February. Patrick finally said it was okay to get me another car after we paid that tuition bill for Anthony recently.

At about 10am, I went to Lifetime Fitness by myself. Originally, Natalie had planned on going with me. She is still on her exercise kick and has gone to the gum almost every day (except for the day she had physical therapy). She had a headache, and felt guilty for letting me go by myself, but she really wasn't up to it. I knew that I must be dedicated to my own current diet/exercise kick, because I actually went to the gym by myself. I hate going to the gym by myself, but I really wanted to go to the Cardio Kickboxing class this morning. No regrets.

Alex was up by the time I got home, and his friends had gone home. Patrick did some more brisket prep (again, see below), then we went to see the new Ant-Man movie at 1:30pm. We all really enjoyed it, and I have to admit that I got almost more enjoyment watching the kids' reactions to parts of the movie than watching the movie itself. We've seen a lot of movies in the theatre this summer and I enjoy it every time. This is probably the first time where we didn't get any snacks, though. Alex's friend Jeremy works at the theatre we saw the movie at, and we got to say hi to him.

The above photo is that brisket I was talking about. Patrick started prepping it last night, and continued this morning then afternoon. At about 5pm, it was done, and it was good.

Alex had another friend come over tonight, Andrew, so we had some help eating the brisket. Meanwhile, Patrick was watching the CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarterfinals game between the US and Cuba. He was happy that he didn't miss the first 15 minutes of the game this time. We had missed the first 15 minutes of the Women's World Cup Final between the US and Japan and missed the first 4 US goals. In this game, Patrick got to see two goals in the first 15 minutes.

Now for an explanation of these last two photos. Natalie came to me and said that she really loved her outfit that she was wearing today, and asked if I wanted to take a picture. My first thought was, "Who is this child?!!" My daughter would never come to me asking for me to take a picture of her. Heck, none of my children would ever ask me to take a photo of them, even Eric, who at least humors me by smiling when I take pictures of him.

Natalie insisted that she really loved her outfit and wanted a picture. All the items were recent purchases except for the sweater, which I bought for her last year from Hollister. My answer, "Of course!" I didn't want to scare her away by pulling out my big DSLR, so I used the far less intimidating and ever available iPhone. When Patrick saw us taking a picture (he had been in the background watching the soccer game), she gave him a hug and of course I took that opportunity to take a picture of both of them. Love these two!

Eric's First Jiujitsu Class

Patrick took these photos at Eric's first jiujitsu class last Monday. We're trying to find a sport that Eric is interested in. We have put him in team sports in the past, but none of them really clicked. He enjoyed baseball, for example, but he really only liked the practices--not the games. He enjoyed gymnastics, but he was fine with quitting gymnastics for the summer. He seemed interested in trying out martial arts, but we waited until after swim team was over, since swim practices were every day.

Apparently, there is no place to sit in the actual room that the kids practice, so Patrick had to take this from the doorway. Eric mostly watched during his first practice, but he was really listening and paying attention. Since then, he has only gone to two more practices, which are usually on Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays. He couldn't go last Friday because we went out of town to Houston. He didn't go on Wednesday of this week or today because the owner/instructor and his wife were having a baby. One way we could tell that he really enjoyed jiujitsu was that he was trying to convince us last Friday to find a way to let him go to practice even though we were leaving town. He was also disappointed that he couldn't go this Wednesday and today. He clearly seems to love jiujitsu right now.

This is a picture of Eric in his borrowed gi on his first day. We have since bought him his own. He had a choice of a black one or a white one, and he chose the white one, maybe because it has some cool patches on it. I'll have to get a better picture soon.

Patrick says that he seems to be picking it up fairly quickly, because he is really taking it all in and paying close attention. I just love that he seems very passionate about this sport so far. This month was a trial run for us, but Patrick will now be signing him up for a whole year. We'll see how it goes, but look at that smile. He loves it!

Happy 76th Birthday!

Today is my Mom's 76th Birthday. We went to Houston this past weekend to celebrate with her a little early. This is a picture of her with her birthday "cake" and the grandkids. Anthony is missing, of course, since he is still in Worcester this summer. Aly had to leave for a Bat Mitzvah, so she is not there either. The other kids did a great job smiling, and so did Mom. She usually tries to not smile so much for pictures, but I'm glad she did. She just looks happy. I worry about her getting tired emotionally and physically from taking care of my Dad, so I love seeing her happy.

Per her request, we ordered takeout and brought to her house. She originally wanted something a little different, food from Pappadeaux, but in the end, we ordered from our usual dishes from Kim Son--Vietnamese Fajitas and Fried Pork Dumplings. For dessert we had this delicious fruit tart from La Madeleine.

Dad was napping when we first arrived at their house, but he awakened and was able to interact a little with us. He is so thin, but at least he has gained a little weight back with some concentrated effort from my Mom.

Even though she wasn't supposed to cook, Mom still had to cook some "fish maho" when Eric asked for it. She had ordered some "arroz caldo" from her friend so she didn't have to make that. Dad's caregiver Letty was there, and she made some fried bananas (bananas dipped in sugar and wrapped in lumpia wrappers then fried) that of course Alex loved.

I can't even remember why she is laughing in this picture, but I love it. I don't often catch her laughing so heartily in a photo, but for me it's a nice reminder to how beautiful my mom is. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Going to the Gym

Something is going on with Natalie right now. For the last three days, she has gone to our gym daily, by her request. On Friday or Saturday, she mentioned wanting to go to the gym, and Patrick thought she meant going this week, but she meant on Saturday. He was busy with plans to use his new smoker and getting that ready, but she wanted him to show her how to use the machines. We thought he would do a better job with explaining that to her instead of me, so it had to be him. That, and I had already told Eric that I was taking him to the pool. So, he exercised with her, and I took Eric to the pool. After they finished, she went to the pool to meet us, and Patrick went home to get the food ready for dinner and to take Alex to his friends' house. Natalie swam a few laps of each stroke in the lap pool. They were easy laps, but it was great to see her swimming laps again.

On Sunday, she asked me to take her to the gym at 7:30am. We had talked about it on Saturday, so I was prepared, and I was up at that time on Sunday anyway, so we went. I have never been to the gym when there were so few cars in the parking lot. There were rows of treadmills that were empty! She did lower body weights with Patrick the day before, so we did upper body weights plus cardio on Sunday. What did she want to do after exercising? She wanted to have breakfast at Krispy Kreme. They almost always give you a free glazed donut when you walk in. Natalie didn't do what Eric usually does (since I allow him to). He likes to eat the free glazed donut plus his "usual" two chocolate iced donuts. Natalie usually eats the glazed, so she had her free glazed donut and she only wanted me to buy one more glazed donut for her.

This morning, she wanted to go the "Yoga Basics" class at 9am. We got there earlier so we could do some cardio first, then we met one of her old swim buddies Kate, and Kate's mom Cheryl, and took the class together. After class, we went to Starbucks and chatted for a while. Kate also used to swim at Lifetime Fitness when Natalie was there, and moved to Northside AAAA when their coach, Coach Kris, moved there. Like Natalie, Kate also quit Northside AAAA recently, although unlike Natalie, Kate quit because she was moved up to the high school team (she is a year older than Natalie and will be going to high school in the fall), and there was no way she would be able to make it to the earlier swim practice on time and still have time to eat and do homework. We plan on getting them together this summer to swim laps together.

Natalie is planning to skip the gym tomorrow morning because she has physical therapy at 9am, but she is already asking me if I can take her to the gym again on Wednesday. She says that her plan is to go to the gym regularly for strength training to help her with her endurance, so that when she starts swimming again, she will at least have that.

Something else is happening to Natalie. She now smiles when I take photos of her. After our workout yesterday, we were stretching, and she was silly and put the towel on her head, I did what I usually do and I quickly snapped a photo before she had a chance to hide. I didn't even look--I just took the photo. She asked if I saw her smile. I was shocked. I took another, better photo (the first photo above) with her cooperation. She does have a pretty smile! She even told me that I had to put that photo on my lock screen on my phone, so I did!

Natalie took the second photo herself when we were in the car driving to North Star Mall for lunch and shopping last Friday. She actually took a series of selfies with her little brother in the background to send to her big brother in Boston. She made a variety of faces, but I loved this one because of her smile and Eric's hilarious pose.

Patrick and I have been trying to eat better and exercise regularly, and this newest kick of Natalie's is helping a lot!

Championship Meet 2015

We had our last swim meet of the summer league season yesterday. Every child on the team received a team trophy and they also received their ribbons (for 4th through 16th place) and medals (for 1st to 3rd place) from the Championship meet. Once again, Natalie only received medals (2 1st places, 2 2nd places, and 1 3rd place medal--see specifics below). Of course she didn't want any pictures, so I had to take a picture of her trophy and medals by themselves.

She swam up to the Girls 13-14 group for her two second place relays, which meant that she swam 50 yards each for those instead of 25 yards. She got a third place in the Freestyle, missing second by half a second. She easily got first place in the Backstroke, and just touched out her friend Kylie (on another team) in the Butterfly ( by 0.18 sec). Because of that one third place finish, Natalie missed having the highest point total in the Girls 11-12 category by one point. Her friend Kylie got the highest point total with 57 points to Natalie's 56 points.

Natalie admitted to some back pain during the meet, but she still did very well. It's tough to remind her that she still swims well (compared to others), even if she is not swimming at her best. She was most disappointed, however, because she and her Summerfield teammates (girls age 11-12) failed to win the banner for their age group for the first time since she has been on the summer swim team. There were quite a few swimmers whose families left for vacation and didn't swim in this swim meet, so it was tough for every team.

Still, there were a lot of swimmers from the five teams in our division, and with so many swimmers, I was pretty happy that Eric even got any ribbons. He got an eighth place ribbon in Butterfly (out of 11 swimmers, with two of those getting disqualified), and a ninth place ribbon in Backstroke (out of 24 swimmers, with two of those getting disqualified). His relay teams got fourth place (Medley) and fifth place (Freestyle) out of five teams.

When Eric and Natalie were presented their awards at the Team Party after the meet, Coach mentioned that although Natalie was still injured, she stepped up to do the relays when she was asked to. He also mentioned that Eric always wanted to go early to practice so he could help set up the lane lines in the pool. I'm just glad that both of them seemed to enjoy themselves.

Last Friday, after the last swim practice, Natalie and Eric got one of the "Swimmers of the Week" award. At first the signs had not yet been brought back by the kids who won the awards from the week before, so I didn't get a picture of Eric then. Yesterday one of the signs were delivered, and so I got a picture of Eric. He had already taken a bath, so he wasn't wearing his swimsuit anymore. Of course, in the heat of summer, he is still wearing jeans, with flip-flops no less. The first time Eric and Natalie won the "Swimmers of the Week" award two years ago, Eric was much more excited about it. This time, he was more excited about the ice cream sandwich snack.

The rest of this post will be stats about each of Natalie's and Eric's events. Summer swim league was fun, but we are glad that it's over!

Natalie's events:

Event #7 Girls 13-14 200 yard Freestyle Relay--2nd place with a time of 2:04.39. Riley and Lindsey were the lone 13 and 14 year old girls (respectively) that attended the meet and would not have been able to swim in a relay had the coaches not moved up Natalie and Rylee. First place won with a time of 2:02.22. Meanwhile, the Girls 11-12 100 yard Freestyle Relay team came in last (5th) place without Natalie and Rylee. They changed the order that they swam from the heat sheet we had, so we're not sure how fast Natalie swam her 50 yards, but Patrick and I think it was about 30 seconds, which was her time when she last swam the 50 yard Freestyle at this very same pool in September of last year. Patrick and I are amazed at how fast she still is, even with an injured back.

Event #17 Girls 11-12 25 yard Freestyle--3rd place out of 27 with a time of 14.85. First place had a time of 14.24. Second place had a time of 14.34. Fourth place had a time of 14.98. It was a pretty tight race.

Event #29 Girls 11-12 25 yard Backstroke--1st place with a time of 16.26. Second place had a time of 17.42, so she won this one pretty easily.

Event #57 Girls 11-12 25 yard Butterfly--1st place with a time of 15.37. She just out-touched her friend Kylie, who had a time of 15.55. After they got out of the pool, they gave each other a hug, which was nice to see. When Natalie starts swimming with Northeast AAAA (instead of Northside AAAA who she has been swimming with for the past two years), she will get to swim with Kylie, so it's nice that she already has friends there.

Event #69 Girls 13-14 200 yard Medley Relay--2nd place with a time of 2:22.99. Natalie was originally going to swim the Freestyle leg, but she was not confident at all, and then one of the other girls hated the stroke she was first assigned to swim, so they ended up with a double switch, with Natalie swimming the 50 yard Butterfly. It was a good thing I asked Patrick to video the whole race, because otherwise we would have missed her swim, since we were not expecting the switch. Patrick was not happy with Natalie for swimming the 50 yard Butterfly, because of the repetitive movement that requires. He is constantly worried about her aggravating her back injury. Interestingly, Natalie and her teammate Riley are both injured and getting physical therapy at the same place. Riley tore her ACL during basketball this year and had to have surgery. If they had both been as healthy as last year, they might have won this relay, since first place won with a time of 2:20.83.

Eric's events:

Event #2 Boys 8 and under 100 yard Freestyle Relay--5th place with a time of 1:38.07. Eric swam the third leg (Joshua, Ryder, Eric, then Cameron).

Event #14 Boys 7-8 25 yard Freestyle--17th out of 27 with a time of 26.70.

Event #26 Boys 7-8 25 yard Backstroke--9th out of 24 (with 2 DQs) with a time of 29.28.

Event #54 Boys 7-8 25 yard Butterfly--8th out of 11 (with 2 DQs) with a time of 38.91. He wasn't able to swim Butterfly (or Breaststroke) legally before this year, so we are very proud of him.

Event #64 Boys 8 and under 100 yard Medley Relay--4th place with a time of 1:56.32. Eric swam the first (Backstroke) leg as he has been all season. Eli swam the Breaststroke, Cameron swam the Butterfly, and Joshua swam the Freestyle. Cameron is a great swimmer, and can swim both the Butterfly and Breaststroke at least 10 seconds faster than any of his other teammates.

Midweek Update

I was back to work today, but yesterday, I got to enjoy some time with the kids. Patrick took Alex to the Texas DPS (Department of Public Safety) office in the morning to get his Learner's Permit (finally!) while I took the other two to Natalie's Physical Therapy appointment. We met at North Star Mall for lunch in the Food Court, then Patrick and Alex went home while I shopped with the other two. Natalie always seems reluctant to go out. She would much rather be "lazy" and spend the day watching shows on her iPad mini. Her physical therapist had a talk with her about spending more time working on her core when she is walking and sitting around through the day. She strongly discouraged Natalie from "laying around" as she likes to do. This motivated Natalie somewhat to walk around the mall a bit. Of course that motivation cost me some money.

Natalie got some clothing at Aeropostale and American Eagle, including some volleyball shorts that had a tag that read "#bestbootyever" shorts. They weren't as bad as they sound, in fact, they were longer than the pair of shorts Natalie was wearing at the time. Still, they were stretchy and hugged her curves and made Patrick and me a little afraid.

After Natalie got her shopping done, we had to let Eric get some shopping done too, so we stopped at the Lego Store. They both noticed a new item in the Lego Ninjago line called "Airjitsu", where you pull the tab and it sends the toy flying through the air, a themed variation to a type of toy that has been around for a while. Supposedly this toy was officially being released on July 1st, but they had just gotten them in. I looked on Amazon, and they were already selling for almost twice as much as the $9.99 list price, and Eric was having so much fun in the store with their sample, that I went ahead and got that for him. I also bought the two of them two small "Mixels" sets, so they both wanted to play with them right away when they got home. I love that those two are getting along so well this summer. Natalie has been especially sweet to her little brother.

We got Patrick a new smoker last week for Father's Day, and after a week of looking up recipes and waiting for it to stop raining (since the smoker is electric and outside), Patrick finally smoked some pork baby back ribs today. He got a late start, preparing the ribs starting at about 1pm, and getting them in the smoker by about 2pm. They weren't done until 8pm, but they were well worth the wait. Our friend Al came over because his wife and daughters were off on a beach trip. He welcomed the chance to be "experimented on", and he loved the result. Alex just came home with a couple of friends after spending the day at Fiesta Texas, and they are now enjoying the many leftovers.

Besides the above, Eric went to swim team practice tonight, while Natalie took the night off. She was still sore after Physical Therapy yesterday and going to swim practice last night, so she's taking it easy so she can swim at the Championship Meet this upcoming weekend. Another busy week, and it's only Wednesday!

Anniversary Staycation

June is usually a busy month for us, with the end of school and all the swim meets, so it's not easy for Patrick and I to get away. Starting last year, we decided to start "getting away" to the Riverwalk here in town for our anniversary. Often, on my days off, if it's nice weather, we will go to the Riverwalk to have lunch and to walk around. There's so much to see and do. We wanted an extended version of that. Last year, we happened to go on our little staycation on the day the hometown Spurs celebrated their fifth NBA Championship, so getting to our hotel was a journey that took two hours. Our trip took far less time this year.

On the downside, Anthony is not here this year. He is staying up in the Boston area for the summer, so he can hang out with his college friends and get a career-related job (which he may have finally secured--yay!). He stayed with his siblings last year, and his ability to drive them around enabled us to get away for a couple of days. This year, we only have Alex, who can't drive yet, so we didn't want to leave them alone longer than about a day. The other downside was that it's been raining here quite a bit this year, and thunderstorms were forecast for this trip.

Yesterday, we checked into our hotel and went to lunch at Boudro's. It wasn't too hot outside, so we sat outside next to the river. We enjoy looking out onto the river at the barges going by, and people-watching. It started raining, but the umbrella over our table did a great job keeping us dry...until the downpour started. Patrick took this picture just before we moved inside. The rain was fine when it was pouring straight down, but it started blowing side to side, and that was just not going to be pleasant. We were able to relax, comfortably seated (and dry), and watch the rain from inside the restaurant for the rest of the meal.

We're staying at the Grand Hyatt on the Riverwalk. We decided on this hotel because I wanted to eat at the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse that is located in the lobby of the hotel. We ate there last when my friend Nam visited San Antonio last December, and I've wanted to go back since then. Patrick wanted to have steak, of course, and I was really thinking about those Seared Scallops I had last time. Yum! Besides the good food, we were very happy that we decided to stay at the Grand Hyatt. A couple of hours before our dinner reservation, the rain came down hard again. Our room is on the 21st floor, so we had an awesome city view, except that the heavy rain obscured that view. We were happy that all we had to do was walk downstairs to dinner, and then walk back upstairs to go to our room.

We did have some rain-free time to walk around, thank goodness. After lunch and then again after dinner, we walked around the Riverwalk. These last two photos are from our walk to the Tower of the Americas grounds. It's just nicer than walking around our neighborhood, even with the dark skies.

During our walk last night, the skies started getting darker and darker, and thankfully, we were only a short distance from our hotel. We just made it back under cover in time for the rain to come pouring down again.

Despite all the rain, we've enjoyed our little Anniversary Staycation. We'll definitely do this again. By the time this posts, we should be back home to our dear "little" ones.

Summerfield vs. Hunter's Creek 2015

Today is our last dual swim team meet of this summer, and it was an away meet vs. the Hunter's Creek neighborhood team. The morning started out rainy and cloudy. I didn't even risk bringing my big camera, because of the constant drizzling rain, so all of my pictures and videos were taken with my iPhone 6 plus camera. This first photo is the usual "Eric in his swim cap" photo. I cracked up when I saw this, because his cap is causing his eyebrows to tilt upwards on the sides. I fixed his cap right after I took this photo so it wouldn't be so tight in the front.

This is a picture of Eric very excited after his Freestyle Relay team won first place, pretty handily. This result is listed below with the other results. He and the other kids have really come a long way this summer. Eric is enjoying swim team more than I could have hoped at the start of the summer swim season.

Boys 8 and under 100m Freestyle Relay

--Luke, Eric, Joshua, and Cameron were on the same relay team, and they came in first place with a time of 1:48.19. The other Summerfield Boys 8 and under Freestyle Relay team was disqualified, probably because one of the boys left too early.

Boys 8 and under 25m Freestyle

--Eric came in fifth place (out of 13 boys) with a time of 30.03 sec.

Boys 8 and under 25m Backstroke

--Eric was in third place (out of 9 boys) with a time of 39.93 sec. Four of the boys were disqualified, probably because they turned over. Patrick was a stroke judge for this meet, and he had to give out quite a number of "DQ's". Eric's friend Cameron (who was also his classmate in school this past year) was disqualified, and Cameron is a very strong and fast swimmer.

Boys 8 and under 25m Breaststroke

--Eric came in third (out of 8 boys) with a time of 36.66 sec. He came in 0.03 seconds behind second place. Go, Eric! Four of the eight boys were disqualified. I'm so happy that not only is Eric legal in the Breaststroke, but he is getting better and better in all his strokes!

Boys 8 and under 100m Medley Relay

--Eric again swam the first leg, which is the Backstroke. His team (Eric, Eli, Cameron, and Joshua) came in first place with a time of 2:13.37. The other Summerfield team was disqualified in this event also, as did the other Hunter's Creek team.

This is just a picture of Eric before his individual Boys 7-8 Freestyle race. He is always ready for with a smile when I pull out the camera. Notice the white Adirondack chairs in the background. That's where the swimmers lined up waiting for their turn to race. I didn't dare take any pictures of Natalie before her races. She already started the morning grouchy, but of course she warmed up when she got to the meet because she saw some friends from school that were swimming for the other team.

When we first arrived at the pool where this meet was held, both head coaches (who are twins, by the way), immediately told Natalie that they needed her to swim in the Girls 13-14 200 yard Freestyle and Medley Relays next week at the Championship Meet (the pool for that meet is 25 yards and not meters, a standard short course pool). She's a little afraid because she will have to swim 50 yards instead of 25, and she hasn't been to a lot of practices to get that conditioning, and she hasn't been swimming that distance in any meet since last year (except for one race a week ago), but she will be up for that challenge next weekend.

Then, after each of Natalie's races, one of the coaches would tell her what her time was for the race, and she would make a frown. Patrick and I were just happy that she was swimming again and that she didn't hurt after this meet. She still has high standards for herself, and in a sense, that is good. I just wish she would cut herself a little slack for now, while she is still recovering from her injury.

This is the only type of picture I dared take of Natalie who is on the far right)--pictures from the back. This is just a group of girls she was hanging out with at the side of the pool. She enjoys socializing at the meets.

Natalie's results from this meet are as follows (for my record):

Girls 11-12 100m Freestyle Relay

--Natalie and her teammates (swimming in the following order: Rylee, Brianna, Anna, and Natalie) have been swimming together in this race for a few years now, and they easily won this race by about five seconds with a time of 1:09.25. Their plan had been to break one minute at the Championship Meet, but now that Natalie will be swimming "up" to the Girls 13-14 group, she won't be on their team.

Girls 11-12 25m Freestyle

--Natalie actually said she was disappointed that her teammate Rylee was not swimming in this event at this meet. Ryle was the one who beat her last week. Even though Natalie's time was about the same this week(16.31 seconds instead of last week's 16.25), she wants to be faster. Again, she needs to cut herself a little slack with only her second meet since October. She made it to two almost full AAAA swim club practices this week, so hopefully she is on her way to full recovery. Her coaches and our good friend Al commented on how fast she kicks during her Freestyle, so fast that the water looks like a "rooster plume" behind her.

Girls 11-12 25m Backstroke

--Natalie won with a time of 18.25, a little slower than her time last week of 17.97, but a win is still a win.

Girls 11-12 25m Butterfly

--This has long been a favorite event for Natalie, and she won handily with a time of 17.43. The second place swimmer from our team was over one and a half seconds behind her.

Girls 11-12 100m Medley Relay

--Relays are always exciting races, because the whole team can win or lose on one person's performance. Everyone on Natalie's team performed well. Brianna swam the Backstroke, Anna swam the breaststroke, Natalie swam the Butterfly, and Rylee swam the Freestyle. They were almost even for the first leg. Anna gained a little ground. Natalie noticeably increased their lead, and then Rylee increased their lead even more for a time of 1:21.72, four seconds faster than the second place team.

This is probably my favorite photo from the meet. Natalie met up with Eric after his Breaststroke race. She must have been watching Eric's race while standing near the coaches who were timing each child's race, because she rushed up to Eric and me after the race and said that he had shaved seven seconds off his previous Breaststroke time. The coaches were really working on Breaststroke and Butterfly during Eric's practice this week, and it seemed like their hard work paid off. Natalie deserves some of the credit with her tips for Eric. Eric listens to his siblings a lot more than to Patrick and me sometimes.

That's it for this week's meet. Patrick and I are celebrating 23 years of marriage today, and of course we're spending it at a swim meet. We went out to his favorite restaurant, El Mirasol tonight to celebrate Father's Day a day early, because we are doing a one day staycation for our anniversary tomorrow. We're not bringing the kids for that one. :)

Happy 16th, Alex!

Today is my dear son Alex's 16th birthday. He took this picture of us in back in February with my phone camera, because I begged him for a picture and I had just helped him get some items from Godiva for his girlfriend. He seems to prefer taking slanted photos because he thinks they look more interesting. I was SO happy he not only gave me a picture but that both of us are in the picture.

Sixteen years ago today, I gave birth to this 8 pound 11 ounce baby boy without the benefit of ANY pain medication--no IV drugs and no epidural, because the anesthesiologist got busy. I had been dilating slowly for about a month already, and I was 5 cm dilated at the doctor's office that morning. By the time I got a room in Labor and Delivery, I was 6 cm, but luckily, I wasn't feeling any contractions yet. Once they started the Pitocin, however, it was only two hours before Alex decided to make his entrance. I was shocked at how big he was, and I partly attributed that to my newfound love of Sonic shakes during this pregnancy. Maybe that's why Alex loves Sonic shakes? :)

I already posted this photo on my blog a few days ago, but I still love it SO much. Natalie looks so happy and Alex looks good in his new shorter haircut.

Patrick and I can truly say that Alex has provided us with more challenges than any of his other siblings, but he has come such a long way, since even a year ago. Not only is he considerate to his siblings (like when he went to the swim meet just because Natalie asked him to), but he is considerate to Patrick and me. For example, when I buy him clothes or anything, he thanks me and really shows his appreciation.

He isn't always considerate, of course. After all, he is still a teenager who thinks the world revolves around him. A couple of weeks ago, he was insisting that I schedule his hair cut at a time that was not convenient for me to take him. I was tired of telling him "no" repeatedly. When he saw how upset I was, he apologized without any prompting from anyone else. Last year he would have just let it be and not said anything, and maybe still insist that I schedule that appointment when I had to do something else.

These are two of his presents. No, he doesn't intend on wearing two watches at the same time. I asked him to do that so I could get both watches in the same photo. The one on the left is from his Aunt Cynthia and her family. The one on the right is from our family. He has temporarily stopped seeking so many shoes and started asking for watches, apparently. He also received a book and a check from Grandma and Grandpa. He actually said he was going to read the book, and he doesn't read a lot of books nowadays, so that is saying something.

His plans for today were simple. He wanted to go to Grimaldi's Pizza for lunch. He planned on getting up late, so we weren't sure when we would get to eat lunch, but he got up by around 10:30am or so, showered, and played on the PS4, and we went to lunch a little after noon. He also requested Sausage-Stuffed Jalapeños for dinner. I found it interesting that the other kids always ask to go out somewhere for their birthday dinners, but Alex wanted me to make something. He says that is his favorite food out of the things I make. He also asked me to make Banana Pudding. I haven't made that before, but we both tasted it already and it's going to be really good. For those that don't know, Alex LOVES bananas. He eats at least a couple a day, if he can. I love that he wanted me to make him something.

After lunch, we were already at the mall, so he said he wanted to "check out" some things at H&M, which was next door. They were having a sale, so he couldn't resist. For $140, he got a blazer, a button-down shirt, a T-shirt, and two pairs of pants. That's pretty good for men's clothes. He gave me a thank you hug after we finished checking out. What a sweet boy! Happy Birthday, Alex!

You Have An Umbrella

Eric can be a little stinker some times. So, every day from Monday through Friday, he has neighborhood swim team practice from 5:45-6:30pm. He likes to go early because he likes to help the coach get out the lane lines to get the pool ready for practice. Today, the sky was very dark and gray when we left some time after 5pm to get to swim practice early. I told him that maybe we shouldn't go to swim practice because it might rain. He said, "You have an umbrella. Why don't you bring it?"

There were quite a few people at the pool already. Some were there early for swim practice. Others were there for swim lessons or enjoying the pool with their families. Like on other days, Eric helped drag the lane lines across the pool. He spent quite a bit of time trying to attach one of them, because it wasn't quite taut enough and he had a hard time hooking it onto the other end.

As this was going on, the sky got even darker and the wind picked up. The temperature started dropping so much so that it actually seemed almost pleasant, at least for those of us watching, since we were dry and not wet. Even when we heard thunder, the coach did not call off practice. I always thought at the first sign of thunder OR lightning, everyone was supposed to get out of the pool, but the coach said to look out for lightning and then he would make everyone get out of the pool. I was a little nervous about that, so I asked Eric, "Why don't you get out of the water, because it's about to rain hard." He replied, "No. You can use your umbrella." I was a bit tickled by his insistence that he remain in the pool, but when we saw lightning, I was adamant and he eventually got out of the pool. Eric was the last one out of the pool. It had already started to rain and the rain was getting harder. Needless to say, practice was cancelled. I was glad I brought my umbrella.

Summerfield vs. Regency 2015

Another swim meet post means another photo of Eric in his swim cap. He was almost finished with his Ring Pop and I told him that his lips were blue. I just can't get over who squished his face gets when he wears that cap, and how different he looks with blue "hair"! Since I spent the last post talking all about Natalie, this post will be all about Eric.

Last week, Eric didn't ask for the iPad at all. He had a new book that he was reading instead. This week, he asked for the iPad right after his freestyle races. I didn't mind because yesterday he was more social, interacting with his teammates, who all wanted a turn on the iPad. Eric was the one who decided whose turn it was. :) I also found it interesting that they didn't just play shooting games or arcade-type games. I saw them playing a couple of games where they had to think a little.

In the last couple of swim meets, I was all worried about Eric not getting disqualified on the Butterfly. Last week he was not disqualified and I rejoiced. This week, he was put in the Breaststroke, and I was worried all over again. Before the race, I told Natalie that maybe she should give Eric a few tips about how to swim Breaststroke. Eric heard me and replied, "I know how to swim Breaststroke." Patrick laughed and said, "Ok, I guess he knows how to swim Breaststoke." In other words, Mama--leave him alone! I shouldn't have worried. Coach said he was the only kid that was swimming Breaststroke legally in his heat. Yay, Eric!

The following are the results from yesterday's meet:

Event 2--Boys 8 and under 100m Freestyle Relay--3rd place with a time of 2:17.15

--Eric swam the second leg. The other Summerfield relay team was disqualified, so at least we got some points from Eric's team.

Event 14--Boys 7-8 25m Freestyle--8th place with a time of 29.72

--Eric finished at about the same time as his seed time of 29.75, so he is getting more consistent.

Event 26--Boys 7-8 25m Backstroke--5th place with a time of 36.47

--No goggle mishaps this week, and he seemed to be breathing the whole time as opposed to when Natalie was practicing with him and she told him that he didn't have to hold his breath during the Backstroke.

Event 44--Boys 7-8 25m Breaststroke--5th place with a time of 45.38

--Three of the eight boys that swam in this event were disqualified. Eric wasn't one of them! He even improved on his (non-legal) time he swam during the time trials to find out how fast the kids were. That time was 1:01.81. Eric is just getting better and better!

Event 64--Boys 8 and under Medley Relay--Disqualified

--I wasn't there for this one, again because I had to leave after Natalie swam her Butterfly. It was already after noon, and I just couldn't take any more advantage of my colleague who was staying extra for me. Eric was switched at the last minute to a different team and his coach gave him a choice--to swim Butterfly or to swim Breaststroke. Eric chose Breaststroke. In the past two meets, he has done the Backstroke in the Medley Relay. The team that he was originally supposed to be on was the only team out of three that was not disqualified. Patrick doesn't know why Eric's team was disqualified, because he was really only watching Eric, and he said Eric was legal. That's all that matters--and that Eric had fun.

As for Natalie's performance during the Girls 11-12 100m Medley Relay yesterday (that I missed), Patrick said she did a fantastic job. Natalie says no pain today. Yay!

That's all for the swim meet this weekend. Next week is another away meet.

First Swim Meet Since October

Natalie swam today, in her first swim meet since October. It's been a long road with many ups and downs. Today went well in that she wasn't hurting before or after her races. We'll see how she feels tomorrow and beyond.

This is just a photo of what her friend Anna wrote on her back. They write silly things on their backs for swim meets, and it was nice to see Natalie smiling and laughing and enjoying herself.

This is the usual picture that I get when I try to get a picture of her. She either turns her head, holds something in front of her face so I only get a picture of the item and not her face, or she looks indignant that I dare to take a photo of her. At least this is a good photo of her pretty teeth after her braces were removed! :)

Soon after we got to the neighborhood pool, we found out that one of the older girls was sick and couldn't come to the meet. One of the coaches asked Natalie to swim the 50m Freestyle in the Girls 15-18 200m Freestyle Relay in that girl's place, so we wouldn't have to forfeit the points our team gets from relays. Natalie was more than willing, although a little afraid since she hasn't done a 50m Freestyle in a race since September. Patrick is usually the most cautious, wanting only to protect Natalie from doing too much too soon. Natalie swam in that race, and she did great. That set the tone for the rest of the meet.

Natalie had asked Alex to come to her meet since he was at home and it was a home meet. He really made her day when he showed up and watched three of Natalie's races and three of Eric's races. He told me he would not have minded staying longer, but he had a friend who spent the night and who was with him, and he didn't want to burden his friend with having to stay for this very long meet.

Natalie for once, agreed to get her picture taken and just look at that beautiful smile! Alex only consented to being photographed if he didn't have to look at the camera. I'm not sure if he was trying to look cool or what. I still LOVE this photo!

It was good to see Natalie's pre-race routine again, with the stretches and pops and all. I took mostly video of all of their races. I had to leave before they both swam in the Medley races, because I had asked a friend to extend her Friday overnight call to cover me this morning, and I didn't want to abuse her favor any more than I had to.

Two of the other swim parents, who have always been so complementary of Natalie's swimming, came up to me today saying that they were excited that Natalie was swimming today. They both said they missed seeing her swim because she is so "beautiful" when she swims, and that they were looking forward to seeing her swim today. My heart was just bursting with joy at how kind they were!

The rest of this post is just statistics for me to remember, so feel free to skip it.

Event 9--Girls 15-18 200m Freestyle Relay--2nd place with a time of 2:35.44

--Natalie swam the anchor leg on our "B" team, meaning that it was the slower team. One of her teammates, who is 15, doesn't even dive off the blocks. It's great that she still swims on the team, because she has gotten slightly better over time, but she is not fast. Natalie said she felt a little hesitant to dive off the blocks herself, because she hasn't done it since October, but she looked good, and she had a decent time. She also made up a little ground on the other teams during her leg.

Event 17--Girls 11-12 25m Freestyle--2nd place with a time of 16.25

--Natalie was beaten by her frequent relay teammate Rylee. Rylee has always been fast at Freestyle, but she also started swimming year round this past year when Natalie has not been swimming. Natalie looked noticeably disappointed. Of course, Patrick and I were trying to reassure her as we always do, that she just started swimming again and she should expect an upward curve, but not right away. She had planned to not take a breath for the whole 25m, but she said she ended up taking a breath and she felt like that slowed her down. Rylee finished with a time of 15.44 sec.

Event 29--Girls 11-12 25m Backstroke--1st place with a time of 17.97

--Natalie won by a couple of body lengths. The girl who got second place had a time of 20.06 sec. Before the race, Natalie said she felt unsure of her stroke count to get to the wall (since in backstroke, you can't see the wall), so she had to look a couple of times before she finished. She did such a great job, and this is when I took that photo of her with Alex above.

Event 57--Girls 11-12 25m Butterfly--1st place with a time of 17.00

--The parents I mentioned above (and some others) always tell me how beautiful Natalie looks especially when she swims butterfly. Her teammate Rylee got second place with a time of 17.72 sec. Everyone else was two seconds behind them. Natalie's times are about the same as last year, so I feel confident that if she stays healthy, she start dropping time again.

Event 67--Girls 11-12 100m Medley Relay--1st place with a time of 1:23.60

--I had to leave after Natalie's Butterfly race, because I had to go to work, so I didn't see this one. Based on the results sheet, they won by 7 seconds, and Natalie swam the Freestyle (fourth) leg. Patrick said he took video of the race, so I'm looking forward to watching it when I get home tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I'll give Eric his own blog post. We have so many things to be proud of him for, and I want to give him his own space.

First Boomerang

Alex and Eric have been talking about riding on a rollercoaster together this summer. I had the day off yesterday, so after Patrick and I got back from exercising at the gym, we went to Fiesta Texas. Our main intent was to get our season pass cards. I already bought the season passes a couple or so months ago, so we had the vouchers already.

They made a nice change this year by allowing you to get your season pass cards right when you first come in through the gate. We scanned the vouchers then they gave us cards without having to go to the season pass center that was formerly deep within the park. Unfortunately, I messed up when I held out Eric's voucher, and we still had to go to the season pass center, but at least that was now located a short distance from the entrance. There was no line, so it took less than a minute then we were good to go.

The Boomerang rollercoaster was located another short distance from there. Alex told Eric to go up to the marker to see if he was tall enough to ride. He was! As you can see from the photo, Eric's head falls within the "Yes!" area. This picture shows part of the ride. There are two of those vertical loops plus a "corkscrew" and you go frontwards AND backwards through them!

Meanwhile, Natalie got a little less crabby when Patrick bought her a strawberry frozen lemonade while we were waiting for Alex and Eric. When we met Alex and Eric at the ride exit, Alex said that Eric didn't like the ride and said it was "scary". He speculated that was because the shoulder harness didn't come down very far on Eric, since he was just above the lower end of what the ride allows. Eric seemed okay though, and gave his father a high five for finishing the ride. He seemed up for another rollercoaster, just maybe not the Boomerang.

We left the park right after that. The kids weren't feeling up to staying and it was noon and we were all hungry. Alex wants to eventually ride the "Batman" rollercoaster which just opened a couple of weeks ago, but the line for that one would be really long today, and the rest of us didn't want to wait for him. He would have more fun waiting in line with his friends anyway.

I can't resist taking "from behind" photos. I love these kids and I love spending time with them!

Tigersharks Pool Party

Our neighborhood swim team had their pool party and team picture yesterday, June 10th. We got there promptly at 5pm, when we were told we were supposed to be there. A lot of the smaller kids were already there swimming in the pool, so they assistant coaches got them out of the water so they could line them up by age and sex. They went up to the 11-12 group, then the rest of the older kids got in one photo. There aren't that many older kids anyway.

Natalie immediately refused to get in line, as did most of the older kids. I felt sorry for some of the small kids that had to be in those lines, some in the sun, for a good half hour to hour waiting. Some of the more sun-sensitive kids should have worn their shirts because they were already red when they got in line. At least Eric seemed to enjoy himself because he got to talk to his friends who were sitting near him. Natalie chatted with her friends in the shade a distance away.

As per the tradition started last year by the current swim team parent representative, they took photos of smaller groups of kids as well as the big group photo of everyone. I didn't feel the need to take my own photos, but I had to take this one, because it is more of a closeup of Eric with a couple of his teammate friends.

Natalie was crabby anyway, but she complained after the Girls 11-12 group photo that she didn't like the photographer because she was telling Natalie and the other girls where to stand and that they should get their hair out of their face. I told her that I totally empathized with the photographer because it's hard to get big group photos. You have to space everyone out to get a good photo, and trying to get them to all look in one spot is a challenge. Natalie was probably upset with her because she didn't want Natalie to wear her shorts. Natalie gets a bit self-conscious about her eczema on the back of her legs, which isn't that bad right now. The photographer just wanted a uniform look, which does make for a better photo.

Patrick couldn't resist capturing a photo of some of the parents that had to take their own photo besides the designated photographer (the one in the middle in the dress). The official photo isn't up on the website yet, so I wasn't able to download it so I could post it here. I really empathized with the photographer here, having been in her place many times. It's so hard to get everyone to look at you, especially when the people in the photo have so many cameras to look at.

I had actually walked up to the pool while Patrick took the kids in the van. I needed some exercise and walking was a nice way to get it. So, when Natalie said she wanted to go home after the group photo, I told her she could walk back with me. She hesitated, but she did walk back home with me. Patrick and Eric stayed to eat the pizza, that finally arrived at 6:30pm. Natalie and I had left the pool around 6pm. Pictures took a whole hour.

Even though she was crabby all day, Natalie did get a little less crabby when we were walking together, she was even a little pleasant. I do miss chatting with her on the way to club swim practice. She had originally said she was going to club practice tonight (Thursday), so hopefully she'll feel up to it.

Braces Off!

Natalie got her braces off this past Tuesday (June 9th). She was originally going to get them off on Monday the 8th, but Patrick was driving back to town after spending the weekend in Dallas, so he postponed it for Tuesday. It was a longer appointment because they had to make a mold for her retainer, and then Patrick took all of them to lunch at Panera Bread.

Natalie did not want me to take any pictures at all, so I had to settle for this one that I got off of Photo Stream. She seems to smile the biggest for selfies. One of these days she will have a steadier hand and not have so many blurry photos, but I love that she included her brother in this one. The item at the bottom looks like the handle of his lightsaber. He loves his sister but still wants to be a Jedi.

We bought her some snacks on Sunday that she can eat now that her braces are off, including gummy treats and popcorn. Dove milk chocolates were also on sale at Target, and those are her favorite, so I also bought some of those. I don't think she has been overindulging, however, because she seems to feel the pressure that all /preteen/teenage girls do nowadays to watch what they eat.

She didn't want any "before" photos, so of course she didn't want any "after" photos. She sent this one to me via Snapchat today. She's been a bit crabby lately, always due to that time of the month, but I had to smile when I saw this photo. I haven't seen her smile that big in...well, I haven't ever seen her with a smile that big!