The Best Time

I met Patrick and Eric at the Starbucks near Anthony's school again today. We all had the same food items. Patrick came to visit me at work with the kids yesterday and I got so incredibly sad as I watched them leave, as I always do. I felt so much better this morning when I saw Patrick walk in with Eric and Eric ran to me yelling "Mama!" So sweet!

We went home and I played with Eric a bit and read him lots of books. He was just too cute and I was really enjoying the interaction, even though I was pretty tired. I missed him so much yesterday! Since I was sitting still instead of being on the go, I started getting too tired to read, so I stopped to take a nap while Patrick took over reading duties. Patrick woke me up an hour or two later so we could have lunch.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day today, sunny, in the 70s, and most importantly, the weather was dry and not humid. It was one of those days where people who are sun-sensitive have to be extra careful because they don't feel hot, even in the sun, so they don't realize how long they're in the sun. Patrick told me this as he pointed out that he was staying in the shade and wearing his hat.

We went to a restaurant called "Yacht Club" that had a lot of outdoor seating. They also had a large outdoor area separate from the restaurant (in the parking lot) with two large playscapes and carpeted with astro-turf. The waiter came outside to take our orders and we ate outside. Eric played and played and played. He enjoyed himself so much and the food was decent, so I think we'll have to go back there again.

I took lots of pictures because it WAS so beautiful outside and Eric got a little tired of it. This one was one of the last handful that I took before putting away my camera. He started crying and asking me to stop taking pictures, which showed how tired he was.

I was still tired, but instead of taking another nap, I made some brownies to spoil my children with. Eric "helped" me by watching and talking to me. Patrick then went to pick up the big boys while I met Natalie at the bus stop and took her to her piano lessons.

It's supposed to be nice all week, although it will warm up again. Hopefully it will stay dry a little longer, though. The weather is really the best this time of year.

Distracted Spectators

Since Anthony had to report to his game an hour early on Saturday, I took that opportunity to take the little ones to Sonic (Natalie's choice) to eat lunch. Alex stayed home to do his homework and to play on the PS3. Sonic was nice because although the seating was outside, at least it was well shaded. We weren't so lucky on the soccer field.

In this picture, I had put Eric's seat in the shade of the van to try to keep him as protected and cool as possible. We got some car toys in the "Wacky Pack Kid's Meal" at Sonic and he is driving one of them over his legs. For some reason he is holding onto the piece of advertising that was packaged with the car toy. He was also getting annoyed at the rocks (from the parking lot) that got in his sandals. Every so often he would start crying for some unknown reason. I was able to placate him for a while by letting him have some of the strawberry smoothie I got from Sonic, but that didn't last.

Patrick had used our pop-up canopy to shade Anthony's team on the other side of the field, so that left the rest of us without any protection from the harsh midday sun. Luckily, one of the other parents had an umbrella and then later one of the other parents had another pop-up canopy that they let us use. Despite that, Natalie and especially Eric were just getting more grouchy being out in the heat.

When Patrick took Natalie to the concession stand, she found a new playscape/playground that was located under the trees on that side of the field. Despite the fact that there were more flying insects over under the trees, Natalie and Eric got distracted enough by the playscape that they stopped complaining. Thank goodness! They mostly played on this rocking riding toy. Eric also played in the playhouse part and the slide. There were also other kids there to play with.

The best part for Patrick and me was that we could stay shaded under the trees while we watched Anthony's game and while we watched the little ones playing at the same time. AFter the game was over, we had to convince them to leave. This will be helpful the next time Anthony has a home game too. If only the other fields he and Alex have to play on had this nice feature...

Hazy Lazy Game

Alex had an 8:30AM game this morning. Since the field was as much as a half hour away, we left a little after 7AM. We got there around 7:30 but the gates didn't get unlocked until closer to 7:45--ugh! The temperatures were cool, at least at first, and it was foggy and very humid. I edited this photo to look a little less hazy but it's still quite hazy. We were joking around about the boys not being able to find the ball, although the visibility on the field was good.

The fog did burn off by the time the first half was over, but then it was sunny and hot. I was actually fine with the fog because it filtered the sun out and kept it cooler. The temperature definitely went up when the fog went away.

This would have been a great picture, except that I had my big zoom lens on the camera. I was sitting on the sideline and Alex not only got too close but he also then jumped up to be able to kick the ball with his knee. This took the top part of his head out of the frame. It all happened too fast for me to reframe the scene more loosely to allow head room. I still like this picture, though, because of Alex's facial expression.

Unfortunately, Alex's team lost this game again 0-2. They've almost beaten this team before, but their whole team started out a bit flat and although they "woke up" at the end of the first half, it wasn't enough in the end.

Patrick and I had another talk with Alex about being more aggressive on the field, like he plays when he plays (for fun) against Anthony. We've tried to tell him to play like he's playing against Anthony (his coach has told him that too), but it hasn't worked yet.

Anthony has had the same issues about not being aggressive enough on the field, but he has improved greatly since starting high school soccer last year. This photo is of Anthony heading the ball away from his team's goal. I personally don't think he would have done this before last year.

Anthony's game was at noon today, but his coach wanted him at the field extra early (11AM) because his two regular practices this week and his game last Saturday were all rained out, so his team hasn't practiced together for the last week and a half. You would not have been able to tell though, because his team won 8-2. It wasn't so much the score, though, but how they played. They were passing well. They were aggressive. They kept making shots on goal, and obviously several went in the goal. He started the game again, and we're glad that his coach seems to be confident enough in his abilities now to let him to start.

Tomorrow I'm on call, so I'm going to set up a post to publish automatically. The temperatures soared to the 90s again today. We've been enjoying slightly cooler temperatures this week with all the rain, but the high temps are back. The little ones were having a hard time coping with that during Anthony's game, so I'll post about that tomorrow.

The Mall

Both of the older boys had plans tonight. Alex stayed after school for a "movie night" and Patrick picked him up with his friend at around 6PM. Anthony rode the school bus with his friend to go to his house to hang out until about 10PM when his friend's parent brought him back home to us. The little ones and I went to North Star Mall to have dinner and ice cream.

Eric and Natalie shared a Pepperoni Roll while I had some Spicy Chicken for dinner. They must have been hungry because they ate pretty much the whole thing. We ran around a bit afterwards and then had ice cream at Haagen Dazs. Natalie had the Chocolate, Eric had the Mango Sherbet, and I had the Coffee and Belgian Chocolate Chocolate--our usual choices. After Natalie finished hers, she started "sharing" my Coffee ice cream. After Eric finished his, he started drinking the last bit that was melted at the bottom. Good to the last drop!

Even though we didn't do any actual shopping, I still love going to the mall with the little ones. This brings me back in time to when I used to take Alex and Natalie to the mall on those Friday nights when Patrick and Anthony had their special karate class. We would have dinner and ice cream and we would sit at that same back table next to the mirror at the Haagen Dazs store. We would go to one of the ramps by the Godiva Chocolate and Build-A-Bear stores towards the Gymboree and the two of them would race down the ramp. I took a short, shaky video of the little ones today when they did the same thing. Time moves so fast, but the mall will always have good memories for me.

New Bath Paint

I got Natalie and Eric these bathtub paints recently knowing that they would make bathtime fun. The last time they had something like this, they used up all of the "paint" in one bath. These were on clearance so I didn't feel too guilty, and the "paint" didn't flow as easily as the other ones, so they should have some for at least another bath. This photo is a little posed, as you can see, but I felt like I needed to pose them, otherwise they were both so busy that you would not have been able to tell what they were doing in the picture because all they did was look down to concentrate on what they were drawing. Busy, busy!

I don't know how much longer these two will be taking baths together. Natalie sometimes says that she wants to take a shower by herself instead of taking a bath with Eric. Most of the time though, they want to take a bath together so they can play. They don't always get along, of course, but when they do, I love to listen to them play and laugh together. It's for this reason that these bath paints were totally worth the price I paid for them.

Cozy Coupe

These cozy coupe cars are supposedly the best selling cars in the US. They're relatively inexpensive, they don't need batteries, and kids just love them. This one is a hand-me-down from my niece who outgrew it. My sisters and I discussed how it could be an indoor toy. I made the mistake of forgetting to tell Patrick they were bringing the car. He wasn't happy with having one more large toy in the house, but it's been well loved since then, maybe not by Patrick, but by Eric and the other kids. Even the big kids like to try to squeeze into it once in a while.

I took this photo this past weekend. Eric routinely climbs on the roof of his cozy coupe car. This time he was trying to move the steering wheel and honking the horn with his feet. He was being a bit silly but I love watching him have fun and I love hearing his hearty little laugh. Shortly after this, he was playing with my iPhone and we took a video of him goofing off and making funny noises. Then, we videotaped him watching the first video and imitating himself in the first video. Too cute!

Speaking of hearty laugh, I had to throw in another cute photo of Eric. This was at the neighborhood park this past weekend and he was really enjoying himself. I love that smile!

Full of Glee

Tonight was Open House Night for Anthony's school. I really didn't feel like going, so Patrick went by himself. I wanted to stay home and play with the kids, or in other words, it was Dollar Scoop Tuesday at Baskin-Robbins and I wanted to take the kids. ;) We haven't been there in a few weeks because lately I seem to always be working late on Tuesdays.

Eric had something different today, Lemon Custard ice cream. Natalie had her usual Chocolate Fudge ice cream. Anthony had two "dollar scoops" of World Class Chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone. Alex didn't want to go. He never seems to want to go out with the family (for ice cream, for dinner, etc.). He would much rather stay home--this time it was because he wanted to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 online...again. I had my usual Jamoca in a sugar cone.

After she was done with her ice cream, Natalie wanted to run around outside for some reason. She worked pretty hard at swim club today, but she still had enough energy to run outside. When he finally finished his ice cream, Eric wanted to join her. I love watching them run. I really should have taken a video. They won't run like that forever, especially Eric, as he gets more and more coordinated. They were so happy just running back and forth.


Back home I got them ready for bed. Eric had other plans to play at first, but I was able to distract him from that by saying that he could watch my tape (old episode) of the show Glee with me. He loves watching the "singing show" with me. He looked very tired as he lay on my bed, watching quietly with his burp cloth in the sleep position underneath his head. As the show ended, he suddenly became reenergized, acting silly and posing for me for pictures. That was until he realized that the show was over, then I got him to stop crying and go to bed by telling him that he could watch the tape of tonight's season premiere with me tomorrow night. I love that show!

Wet Soccer

After Anthony's game was cancelled this weekend and Alex played his game in the rain, our home soccer fields were closed today. That meant that Anthony didn't have practice tonight. We're watching some of our DVR tapes instead, to make room for the new TV shows this fall season. Watching TV might not be the best family activity, but it's a lot more fun to watch a show like "Wipeout" with the whole family.

Taking pictures of the family watching TV isn't very interesting, so I'm going to use some photos from Alex's soccer game this past Saturday. This photo doesn't have the best composition, but I like it because it shows Alex handling the ball (I think he was actually stopping it so he could kick it forward), and I love the expression and intensity in his face. He also looks muscular and athletic. I'm a little biased, but I do think he's cutie. :) One of these days, I'm going to get a better zoom lens so I can capture action like this without so much blur.

I love to get photos of the boys during free kicks because I think it's hilarious the way they protect their groin areas from the ball. I took two more shots after this one, each blurrier than the next. Basically, Alex and his teammate next to him were both able to hit the ball to block the other team from scoring against them. They lost this game 1-2, unfortunately, but Alex did score the only goal.

Once again, this isn't the best photo, but it does capture Alex as he kicked the ball that scored his team's only goal (indirect penalty kick). I was so busy viewing the ball going into the net that I didn't take any photos. I usually would not have wanted to go to Alex's game because it was raining, but I was able to watch this whole game safe and dry from inside our van. I haven't seen Alex score a goal since he joined club soccer, so I was really happy I was there to see this one.

Crafty Time

I can't remember exactly, but I got a kit for making friendship bracelets for Natalie either for Christmas or her birthday last year. She has so much stuff that she just now asked to use it. I've always thought friendship bracelets were cool, but wih Natalie's recent fascination with "Silly Bandz", her thinking they're cool too seems inevitable.

She needed help to make them, of course. She helped me cut the string but then I did most of the rest. The process of weaving the bracelet is simple, but requires a consistent sequence that is easy to mess up if you don't pay attention. I thought it was a little complicated for her, but then I'm a perfectionist. About halfway through the first bracelet, she wanted to give it a try herself. At first I hovered over her, but then I realized that wasn't necessary. After all, what does it matter if it's not "perfect"? Sure enough, she must have gotten off a little from the sequence and the "diamonds" that were supposed to be in the bracelet weren't so recognizable anymore. She was happy with it, however, so again, what does it matter?

She wanted to make another one, but I ended up doing most of that one too. I enjoyed the process, so it was like I was making it for her, which was fine with me. She loves her new bracelets, and even Alex seemed a little interested also. Like I said before, I think friendship bracelets are cool.

Natalie and I went to a Michael's store yesterday. The only thing we bought was this foam haunted house kit. Natalie practically begged to get it. She really wants to decorate for Halloween. I'm not very good at decorating, but this is such a simple, inexpensive Halloween decoration, plus something to do with her.

It was a little more complicated than I had envisioned. I was hoping I didn't need to get out any messy glue so we could take the house apart, store it, and reuse it next year, but there was no way that house would hold together without glue.

Eric was very interested in what we were doing. When Natalie and I were trying to hold the house together until the glue set, he grabbed some of the pre-glittered parts and rubbed off some of the excess glitter onto the floor and other areas. Later, when Natalie's friend came over and the girls were putting on the finishing decorator touches, he was fascinated just watching them.

I don't think the final product is terribly sturdy (the round tower is duct-taped and I'm not sure how well the glue is holding), but it does add a nice Halloween touch to the kitchen and it was relatively simple to do. I'm not sure these crafts were better for me or for Natalie, but at least this way we got to spend some quality mother-daughter time this weekend.

Park For All Ages

We got the call that Anthony's game scheduled for this morning was cancelled due to the weather...after Patrick and Anthony had already left for the game. No matter--we found other things to do. It did rain at our house some, but not enough that we couldn't enjoy being outside. The temperatures were actually tolerable, so we went to the neighborhood park. The price was more mosquitoes, but bug spray took care of that. The parents of Anthony's good friend Alejandro dropped him off at 8AM to spend the day with us, so he went too. Alex actually opted to stay at home. He had a game later today, so I didn't make him come with us. While at the park, I thought it was interesting that the kids all had fun despite the large age range.

Natalie and Eric went on the swings first. Natalie kept swinging so high that she was upside down. Eric thought that was cool and wanted to do that too. Unfortunately, Eric's bottom kept slipping backwards on the swing and he almost fell off a couple of times. He decided to go on the "baby swing" instead. He felt more secure in being upside down then. The rest of the time, he either played on the playscape (getting his bottom wet on the puddle at the bottom of the slide or climbing elsewhere) or he walked around the perimeter making "choo choo" sounds and pulling an imaginary cord to blow his train whistle. Natalie spent almost the entire time playing on the swing.

I practiced with my camera, trying to get all the moving swings in good focus. Anthony and Alejandro played with the soccer ball at first, and then they played on the playscape and the swings. Alejandro has always loved playing with Eric and Eric has basically "grown up" with Alejandro, so they have so much fun together. Just look at the happy expressions on their faces.

This photo was one of my favorites because both big boys are together and they're both actually consenting to having their photos taken. Alejandro is Anthony's best friend. They were both at the top of their class when they went to the same school. They are both taking pretty tough classes now. They keep in touch despite their busy school schedules and extracurricular activities. Alejandro is a great kid, and Patrick and I are more than happy to have him around.

A GT Reply

We got a reply back from the GT teacher at Natalie's school. She knows her students so well! She even remembers Anthony when he was first in her class back in 2002. I wanted to document this interchange because of what it says about Natalie, her teacher, and Patrick and I as parents. Below is her email reply to Patrick's first note:

The absolute hardest part of my job is telling the students I have worked with that we can't be together for a year. If it's ok with you, I would like to pull the kids, including Natalie, today for a little time together. Sometimes, testing does not reflect all a student knows, and I think this is one of those cases. Because I have worked with Natalie, I know that she is a bright problem solver, deep thinker and very capable high level learner. What I haven't figured out how to do is how to take the 'child' out of the testing! Sometimes they rush, get nervous, check out, wiggle, sleep, etc....!!! (I must say that Natalie seemed very on task during testing though) We give so many tests to get by this the best we can, but it doesn't always work. Please know that quite often the jump from 2nd to 3rd in GT is a tough one for kids - higher level testing and more stringent criteria. It is not uncommon for students who don't qualify in 3rd to re-qualify in 4th....and I will let the kids know that when I speak with them today. I will also stress the importance of hard work in 3rd - reading lots and playing lots of puzzles and brain stretcher games. Natalie is blessed with such brilliant and supportive parents who value education and I know that she has a very rich environment for learning. I will miss Natalie and having a L******* this year... though I will stay in touch with Natalie throughout the year. Please don't hesitate to ask for anything you think she needs that I might be able to help with, or if you want to go over the testing further, just let me know. Best - Michelle

The following is Patrick's email reply to Mrs. A. We wanted to make sure she knew that we were not upset about the results and that we thought highly of her as a teacher:

I am sure that Natalie will appreciate talking to you. Both Melanie and I have talked to her about it and let her know how much we love her. I know that she has a tendency to rush in tests and this has been a problem before. I know that she would like to test again next year. Do you test again in Spring or in Fall?

I am familiar with that jump from 2nd to 3rd. I believe that sometimes a disappointment like this helps a child strive to do better. We always try to turn things like this into positive learning experiences (at least in the long-term). As I recall, the NEISD rules are fairly strict and based entirely on testing. This keeps things "fair" but doesn't allow teacher experience to come into play.

Neither Melanie nor I are upset in any way about the results. We are disappointed for Natalie because we know how much she loves you and being in your class. I just hope to encourage her to work hard and be ready to take her time the next time she tests.

Mrs. A had one more reply about how the talk with Natalie went this morning. Natalie had already told me that she talked with Mrs. A and that she felt better about not being in GT this year:

My talk with Natalie this morning went well - she told me she was upset until she went swimming - then it was better !!!
She knows I still love her and she is welcome in this room anytime. Am trying to put something together for some of those high kids I won't have... stay tuned!
Thanks for your kind words - Michelle

Kids are pretty resilient. I just wanted to document this because I want to remember what an awesome teacher Mrs. A is and I want the kids to remember that too.

Post-Call Day

Don't ask a customer to spell her name and then misspell it anyway! This is my Tall Mocha Frappacino No Whip that I got from Starbucks this morning. I got the feeling that he wasn't spelling it right when I was watching his hand motions as I was spelling my name and he was writing it down.

I met Patrick and Eric at the Starbucks down the street from Anthony's school this morning, after he had dropped Anthony off. I had a decent call night, with no operations after about 1AM, but since I can't seem to sleep well in the call room, I was still very tired today. The Frappucino perked me up a bit and the blueberry scone was quite tasty. I usually go straight home, but this seemed like a fun thing to do.

Eric was all over my scone, but he also wanted some of my drink. Luckily, he settled for a Strawberries and Creme drink, which is basically like flavored milk. He wanted to ride with me on the way home, and we had a nice conversation about the different Thomas the Tank Engine engines, what color they were, and what number is painted on them. He still gets off track sometimes, but it's neat that we can have actual conversations now.

When we got home, we were looking for all of the silly things on the back picture cover of our Highlights magazine. (There is an activity on the back cover where you're supposed to find things that are out of place or "wrong".) He kept wanting me to find more silly things, but I was running out of items. I distracted him by reading a Thomas book. When that was done, he wanted to watch videos on my iPhone.

At first he watched videos of himself that I had taken with my iPhone, then he decided he wanted to watch a Thomas video. Unfortunately, my phone's battery was pretty low, but of course he got upset when he thought he would have to stop watching the video. I took the phone to plug it into the charger, but he wanted to stand there still watching the video, so of course I had to document this with my camera.

Soon after this, we had to leave to get his hair cut. As you can see from these photos, his hair was starting to get in his eyes. That's my "line in the sand" with my boys. They can grow their hair "long" but I don't want their hair in their eyes. Luckily, Eric still lets us cut his hair however we want. I neglected to get an "after" photo, so I'll have to do that tomorrow.

After lunch, I started feeling grouchy and short-tempered with Eric, so I knew it was time for me to take a nap. I needed the energy for later. When Natalie got home from school, she had a snack then got ready for her swim club. I took her to that and left her there so I could pick up Alex at the nearby middle school (he took the bus from his middle school to the one closer to us). I took Alex and his friend home. By that time, Patrick was on his way home after picking up Anthony up from school, and they picked Natalie up. If they hadn't done that, I would have had to go back out again to pick her up. Then, after dinner, I took Anthony to and from soccer practice. Whew, that was a lot of driving!

This is totally unrelated to the rest of my post, but today we received one piece of important news that I must share here. When Natalie got off the bus, she was waving an envelope very excitedly, saying, "Mama! This has the results of my GT test!" She had to take the GT or "Gifted and Talented" test again to be to take the class in third grade. I opened the envelope as we entered the house. The letter stated that she was NOT accepted to the GT program for third grade. Natalie was crushed! :( At first she tried to put up a good front, going about her normal business by getting her snack, going to the bathroom, etc. She matter-of-factly replied "yes" when I asked her if she was okay. Then we asked her to come to the office where Patrick and I were sitting. It was only then that she started crying and sobbing into my shoulder. :( She stopped after a few minutes, and she seemed okay later, but we could tell she was SO disappointed. When I told Alex, he was disappointed for her too. We all know how much she loves Mrs. A, who is the GT teacher. All we can do now is just keep reassuring her that there were plenty of smart kids who didn't make it into GT (like her cousins, her good friend M, etc.) so hopefully she won't dwell on this. I don't like it when my kids are unhappy.

Typical Call Day Morning

I'm on call tonight, so I thought I would take a few photos to document what it's like on those morning where I'm still here because I'm on call. Patrick usually tries to let me sleep (what a sweetie!) while he gets the kids up and ready for school. Natalie and especially Eric are not usually very quiet so there's only so much he can do about that. Natalie gets up and ready first. Even though we don't try to wake up Eric at the same time, it's inevitable that he'll wake up with his sister getting ready in their room.

Natalie leaves the house to go to the bus stop a little before 7am. She doesn't usually want her Papa to go with her, but I guess it's "special" when I'm here, so she asked me to walk out there with her. Of course, she says that and then when we get to the bus stop, she doesn't even say goodbye. She just walks up to line up to get on the bus. I have to ask her to give me a hug and a kiss goodbye.

Today there were only three kids at the bus stop (including Natalie) but when the bus came soon after we got there, there were about five or six other kids that came running--just in time. Patrick also walked up with Eric at that point. He wanted to go with Natalie and me, but he didn't have his shoes on yet and he had been very upset when we left without him. He was still a bit tired, of course.

Alex usually gets picked up by his friend's Dad around 7:30am, and he wants to make sure and get out there in a timely manner, so he waits by the door. I haven't seen him sit on one of Eric's little chairs to wait before, so I snapped the photo above to document it. Eric wanted to sit on the windowsill right in front of Alex, which obstructed Alex's view outside, so he got a bit upset when Alex wouldn't let him sit there.

Instead he decided to ride around in his little car. My sister Melissa gave this to him earlier this year when her daughter outgrew it. It's a bit big to be an indoor toy, but it provides so much entertainment that we've let it stay indoors--for now. Here, Eric is reaching down to get his toys out of the way. He always has quite a few toys all over the house. I should probably take a picture of the game room with a lot of toys (mostly games) strewn about. It can truly be horrifying how many toys are out and not being played with.

I also read him some Thomas books--his favorite. I don't take the time to read to him as much as I used to read to Anthony. That's too bad. At least he has his siblings around to do those things for him, but I've decided that I need to savor this age as much as I can while I can. I'll be reading to him a lot more.

Eric got a Lego Racer toy from "Old McDonald's" and he was playing with it this morning. He didn't want me to take any pictures of him this morning, so I used the toy as an excuse to take a picture of him. He's usually very willing for me to take pictures of his toys. I would have tried to get a second photo of the actual toy, but he granted me permission to only take one photo and this was it. Patrick left to take him to daycare/school at around 8am, the same time that I left to take Anthony to school. Normally, we would have gone together and dropped Eric off first and then Anthony, but Patrick wanted to go to the gym this morning and I was being lazy.

Eric was excited about going to school as usual. He ran out to the van without saying goodbye to me. That used to bother me when Anthony would basically ignore me when I was leaving or returning from work. I've realized now that I'll be home tomorrow and he and I will be able to play and read together much more than today. I do still miss my family when I'm at work especially at night, but at least I get a little time back with them the next day.

The Mini-Pyramid

Alex's main teachers (excluding elective teachers) integrate their teaching material with each other so the kids can see how each subject relates in the real world and then they create one project. His project this first 9 weeks is to make a pyramid. All weekend he's been working on building this miniature pyramid. Later he will make a larger one, and I'm told by work colleagues that have had kids go to Alex's school that the pyramids are rather impressive. Like this miniature one, one side folds down to reveal a graphic of stairs and such inside the pyramid. Alex also had to write his name in hieroglyphics and he put this on one side of the pyramid. We all think this is a pretty cool project. Even Natalie is currently inspired to try to get into the same school so she can make a pyramid too.

One other interesting fact for me is that for his projects (last year included), Alex looks for certain papers. He always has an idea of what he wants, we look for it in my old scrapbook paper stash, and he usually finds something that he is happy with. He found this paper in a stack that I've probably owned for longer than I want to admit. This is also the reason why I haven't thrown any of my old scrapbook papers away. My kids need them. *WINK*

Start of Soccer Season

Yesterday was the first regular game for Anthony's club soccer season at noon. Alex's team had another scrimmage with his coach's other team at 11:30AM. For once, these two games were not only at the same location (their home fields) but they were also on adjoining fields. That meant that Patrick could set up the pop-up canopy in one spot to shield all of us from the sun and he didn't have to move it. We simply had to turn our heads.

It was a hot, humid day. People that live elsewhere want it to rain to cool things off. Here, rain only makes it more humid. The temperatures were only a handful of degrees lower, but the humidity made it seem so much hotter. As soon as we got there, Eric started drinking water. He has an interesting way of drinking water from a water bottle. He encircles the opening with his entire mouth. This makes it difficult for him to drink without eventually spilling some on his shirt. That's okay when it's only water. I tried to help him a bit more when he started drinking my red Gatorade.

I've never seen Alex smiling like this while playing soccer. I'm not sure why he was smiling, but I wanted to post this picture to show how much bigger he is than this player from the other team. Alex's coach has two teams--Alex's U12 team (meaning the players are "under 12 years old" as of August 1st) and a U10 team (meaning the players are "under 10 years old" as of August 1st). That's quite a big difference size-wize, and you would think that Alex's team would win handily--they didn't. The other team won 3-1.

According to Patrick, that U10 team has some really good players who will likely make the top division ("Division 1") next year when they try out. He doesn't think there is any shame in losing to them because they are talented and they've been playing together for 3-4 years or so. Most of Alex's team is "new" this season. Still, this afforded Alex's team with a chance to play together as a team before the games "count". That will be next weekend.

Anthony's team played a team that they were able to score 3-1 against in the Pre-Labor Day Weekened tournament, except that the other team came back and tied the game at 3-3 for the final score. Yesterday's game ended at a 1-1 tie, after Anthony's team dominated ball possession but where they didn't score until the final seconds. There were a couple of controversial calls but in the end, at least they scored at least once to tie the game.

Patrick was pretty pleased that Anthony started the game and played for about three-fourths of time. Anthony hasn't been a "starter" in the past, but lately, his coach has been starting him. Hopefully, this is a reflection of how confident his coach is in Anthony's abilities. His play has certainly improved in the last year.

Alex likes to have a snack after his games. He and Natalie love this candy called "Sour Punch Straws" which are basically gummy candy with a granulated sugar coating--ick. Eric asked if he could have some and I didn't want sugar all over the place, so I asked Alex to feed it to him. Eric didn't get sugar all over himself and I got a great photo opportunity of my boys sharing. :)

First Sleepover

Today, Natalie is sleeping over at a non-family member's house for the first time. She was invited to her friend M's birthday party sleepover with three other girls. I'm sure she won't get much sleep, but she'll have so much fun. She's been bubbling with excitement all day, asking me if we could go get M a present at 8:30AM when the store she wanted to go to wasn't open yet. She knew exactly what she wanted to get and we got it. Apparently, M loved a stuffed toy that Natalie got from her Aunt Melissa for her birthday that records your voice and says it back in a "scary voice" (a Halloween toy from Hallmark) and some fancy erasers, so that's what we got. We did get another present also, just because M is such a good friend. (They've been friends since they were about three months old.)

She packed her clothes into a plastic bag. I convinced her to at least put the clothes in a real bag. The Halloween looking bag in the picture has a sleeping bag in it, although M's family had other plans and I ended up taking the sleeping bag home with me. The pink bag holds the gifts, and the denim bag has her clothing. She almost forgot her toothbrush, of course. I'll miss her, of course, but it was very nice to not have to take her to the boys' soccer games this afternoon and to have her complain about doing so.

Night Game

Tonight Alex's team had a scrimmage, which means that it's a game that doesn't count. His coach set this up so they could mimic the conditions during a real game and practice for the start of their season next weekend. The start time was at 7:30PM which is pretty late considering that Alex usually goes to bed by 8:30PM. As you can see from this picture, this was pretty late for Eric.

Usually we would have left him at home with Anthony, but Anthony was babysitting one of our neighbors, one of Natalie's playmates. They actually invited her to play for a little while tonight so her friend would have someone to play with. Unbeknownst to me, Patrick had forbidden her to go over there today because she was talking and acting inappropriately at home (I was napping). Of course he left to take Alex to the game and forgot to tell me this and Anthony was oblivious, so he took her over there when he went over there. Oh well, at least I didn't have to drag her along to the game so I could watch her pout.

Eric and I got there late and admittedly I didn't really pay that much attention to the score. Alex seemed to play well, and that's all I cared about. Tomorrow he has another scrimmage at 11:30AM and Anthony has a "real" game at noon at their home field. Anthony's season starts this weekend. Hello Fall Soccer Season!

Riding the Bus

I'm getting readjusted to my old schedule at work with 9-hour days every day (instead of 12-hour days two to three times a week) now that some of the operating room construction is done. I haven't felt like taking any photos and the kids haven't been doing anything interesting anyway, so I'm posting a photo I took a few days ago. For some reason, Eric put one of his burp cloths on his head while he was driving his little car around. I tried to get in front of him to get a picture of his face, but of course he immediately stopped, removed the burp cloth from his head, and left his car to go do something else. He can be so silly sometimes!

Speaking of schedules, I've been getting off work just in time to pick up Anthony from school. Alex has been riding the bus with a couple of friends instead of getting picked up by me or his friend's mom. Since he is in a "magnet school", the bus from his middle school only takes him to his "home" middle school and not directly home. Luckily, we can choose which "home" middle school he gets a ride to. JMS is the school that Alex would have gone to if he hadn't gone to this magnet school. He rides the bus to EMS instead because it's actually closer to us because of the weird boundaries that each school has. Patrick takes Natalie to swim practice and then goes to pick up Alex and his friend and takes them home, then he goes back to pick up Natalie.

Alex says he doesn't mind taking the bus, because it's better than having to wait for Anthony to get out of school before going home. He clearly likes being picked up better, however. Anthony has had to take the bus already this year also, but he doesn't mind taking the bus either. Patrick and I are pretty lucky that we can usually drop off and pick up our kids from school. We're glad that we can share those duties with one of Alex's friend's parents this year, though. Still, when I have to work late, Patrick has problems doing it all. I'm glad that I don't have to work late as often anymore.

Sticker Shock

Patrick bought this Thomas the Tank Engine Sticker Activity Book from Half-Price Books during their 20% off sale this past Labor Day Weekend. At first he took the stickers off the backing and put them on his shirt. Then he put them back onto the backing to use for another time. Today, I walked into the living room and saw this sight. He had put all of the stickers on the arm of the sofa!

Just after this, we all sat down in the living room as a family to watch an episode of "Wipeout" on the DVR. Even though Eric was not sitting on the sofa at that time, the other kids respected that sticker area and kept their distance. Actually, the real reason was that they didn't want to make their baby brother mad so they stayed away from his stickers. Sadly, when we asked Eric to clean that up, he didn't put them back onto the backing very well and many of them are now stuck together and can't be pulled apart without destroying them. Oh well, he got some fun out of that $2 book!

Oh, and one more story for those of you who aren't on Facebook. I posted about an incident that occurred last night as Natalie, Eric and I were leaving Baskin-Robbins. As we were driving away, Eric asked if he could have dessert. I told him that he already had ice cream for dessert. He got upset and started crying. He insisted, "Ice Cream isn't dessert!" :)

Last Swim?

We finally dragged some of the kids out of the house today to go to the pool. Alex didn't want to come, as usual. He wanted to keep playing with his friend A at our house. Anthony told us last night that he was invited to a birthday celebration, so he didn't go with the pool with us either. Natalie was the one who was the most excited, of course, with Eric being pretty close. She spent some time just swimming laps in the pool (with a tiny bit of prompting from her father). She's just going to become a better and better swimmer.

There weren't many people there today, after the pool had been pretty packed all weekend. That may have been because the sky was intermittently gray and cloudy and the fact that it did rain briefly earlier in the day. It got pretty darned sunny when we were there, although most of time it was cloudy. We didn't mind it because that meant it was cooler.

This picture above is of Natalie being thrown in the air by Patrick. There were only 2-4 other people in the pool (not counting the two lifeguards) the whole time we were there, so there was plenty of room to throw Natalie in the air. She loved it, of course.

Eric was content to stay by the steps. As usual, he would jump up and then when he came back down he would submerge most of his head in the pool, blowing bubbles while in the water, then he would stand up to get his head out of the water. The next step was always wiping his face with both hands to get rid of the excess water.

Both the SeaWorld and Fiesta Texas water parks are closing after today and I think the neighborhood pool will no longer have lifeguards after today too. We can still go to the neighborhood pool without the lifeguards, with a "swim at your own risk" agreement, but with the school activities ramping up, I'm sure we won't be at the pool very much if at all anymore. It's a little sad that this summer activity is ending, but life goes on. We'll find more fun stuff to do together. :)