Playoffs and The Blues Brothers

Anthony's club soccer team finished second in their bracket this year, which was good enough to reach the playoffs. The playoffs started today in San Marcos, which is about an hour away. Since we were going to be gone for so long with the travel time and game time, we took the whole family.

Luckily, there was a large play area to occupy Natalie and Eric. Natalie has also made friends with the sister of one of Anthony's teammates so she had a playmate. The play area was right next to the field where the game was played so we could watch the game and watch the kids too. The concession stand had a big selection of snacks and food, even ice cream. They even had real bathrooms. We were all set.

It started out cloudy and not too hot for most of the game, but the sun came out by the time the game ended and it was hot, hot, hot. Alex took an ice cube out of the cooler to help him cool down and soon, Natalie and Eric followed suit. That's ice that Eric is rubbing all over his head in the picture.

I didn't get too many photos of the game itself. We were next to the goal, so in the first half, when that goal was being defended by the other team, Anthony was way on the other side of the field, defending the our goal. Even with my big zoom lens, it was difficult to get any good pictures of the other side of the field. During the second half, most of the play was on the other side of the field, the opposing team's goal.

There was one exciting play that involved Anthony going one on one with an opposing team member all the way to the goal. Anthony managed to strip the ball away, which resulted in a corner kick for the other team, but they didn't end up scoring. The final score was 2-0. This means that Anthony's team gets to "go to state", which is being held in two weeks. They play again tomorrow at San Marcos, against a team that they should have beaten the last time they met. Patrick says that tomorrow's game is to determine who's first in the Western Conference and the seeding for the state tournament. Wish us luck!

On a final note, as I'm typing this post, the big boys are watching "The Blues Brothers" with Patrick and me. They're enjoying the humor, but they're missing some of it because they don't know who some of the people in it are. Here are some of the conversations that have been going on:

Me: Do you know who that is?
Anthony: No.
Me: Aretha Franklin.
Anthony: We still don't know who that is!

Me: That's Ray Charles.
Alex: Who's that?
Me: The blind guy.
Alex: Oh, I remember him. He was on American Idol, only he had longer hair.
Me: That was Stevie Wonder.
Alex: Ohhh, different blind guy.

Patrick is tickled that the boys are enjoying this movie as much as he does.

School Carnival

I ran the schedule at work today, which means that it was another long and stressful Friday. I was looking forward to relaxing at home, since we didn't have anything scheduled. Unfortunately, the schedule was wrong.

Natalie's school has a carnival every two years. She had been telling about how the carnival was on Friday, April 29th for a couple of weeks now--she's been a little excited. The big boys weren't interested, of course, so we took Eric and Natalie. Eric had been constipated again today, and therefore cranky, but we hoped for the best. He was actually excited about going to "Natalie's school" for the carnival.

After we ate some Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets and sandwiches that they were selling there, Natalie went with her friend to get their faces painted. She loves getting her face painted. She wanted to request a panda, but by the time she got to the beginning of the very long line, the girl wasn't doing the pandas anymore because they took too much time. She settled for a flower in her favorite color.

We took long enough with dinner and the face painting that Eric was losing steam--fast. He played a couple of games and that was it. Patrick walked back to the car with him and then waited while Natalie tried to play as many games as she could. We spent a total of a couple of hours there, but Natalie could have easily closed the place down. The next time they have the carnival, she'll be a big fifth grader, her last year at that school. Hopefully she'll get to stay longer then. Eric will be a kindergartener by then. Wow, time really flies!

Growing Up and TAKS Testing

I took these two photos of Natalie and her girl cousins this past weekend. With Emily being 9 1/2 months older and Aly being 4 1/2 months older than Natalie, it's interesting to see the differences in their appearances as they start to hit their growth spurts. Emily looks more like a young lady now, Aly is in between, and Natalie, although she is definitely growing up, is clearly still a little girl. It makes me sad for me but happy for them. They are all beautiful girls. Of course I'm a little biased.


Natalie must be worn out from our busy Easter weekend, even after getting to bed at decent times for the last two nights. They have TAKS testing this week at her school (as does Alex and Anthony). For all of you non-Texans, that's a standardized test they give to all public school students to gauge teacher and school performance. Apparently she took the test today and then fell asleep! Patrick and I were worried that she wasn't concentrating well while taking the test because she was tired. She said that she was worn out from the testing. We'll see which is right when we get the results back.

Unfortunately, we realized only this afternoon that our upstairs air conditioner isn't working. After a high today in the upper 90s, it's way too hot upstairs. Luckily, it's nice and cool downstairs, but that isn't helping the kids sleep upstairs. We're also waiting for the repair guys to arrive, but that probably means that Patrick's and my sleep will be shortened as well since they'll have to go into the attic and the attic access is in our bedroom closet. Oh well, I guess we'll have to catch up on sleep later this week and hopefully Natalie won't fall asleep at school again tomorrow!

"Does my hair look nice, Mama?"

I came downstairs to check on Eric. He looked up at me and said very sweetly, "Does my hair look nice, Mama?" I noticed that his hair was sopping wet and so was his shirt. Lately has been going into the downstairs bathroom and using Anthony's comb and lots of water from the sink to "comb" his hair. After all, his big brothers use that method all the time to calm their morning locks. He really wants to do things by himself to show what a "big boy" he is. So, when he asked me in the sweetest voice, "Does my hair look nice, Mama?" How could I say "no"? Even though I knew that the bathroom sink was a mess with water, how could I possibly say "no"?

I also looked at him and saw my baby boy growing up. Sniff, sniff. I wanted to preserve this moment, so I asked him if I could take a picture of his nice hair so I could show Papa.

After the picture above, he then decided to get into his cozy coupe and tie the ribbon from the door to the hall table. He stopped to smile at me and the camera though.

He has been known to tie thread from the refrigerator to the oven to the downstairs bathroom and back and forth to the refrigerator. That was a little harder to photograph and apparently that all happened within a span of about five minutes while Patrick was trying to get stuff done around the house. He also tied a long plastic "ribbon" (for lack of a better word) from the second floor down to the entryway and suspended one of his stuffed animals from it. Yes, this boy can get into some mischief, but sometimes it's hard to get mad when he seems so proud of himself for doing it.

Patrick and I often joke about the "cuteness" that keeps our kids alive during their early years. This boy has tons of "cuteness"!

Egg Hunt Revised

My sisters and I got together yesterday evening after the kids had gone to bed to put together all of the easter "baskets". Eric and I bought the Lightning McQueen basket at Target on one of our outings. The baskets for the boys and Natalie were from previous years.

Melissa had the colored bags. Cynthia had cute, clear wrapped packages with mesh ribbon and nametags printed out from the computer. Her packages were the clear crafty winner. We went ahead and removed the nametags an put them on Melissa's bags so the kids could tell which was which. Alex still couldn't tell which soccer basket was his. I usually use his camo basket, but he's got that hidden in his room somewhere from last year. He figured it out based on the fact that I had put "5" brand gum in his basket and Anthony doesn't chew gum.

When the girls found their baskets, we thought it was interesting that they were trying to figure out who they got certain items from. They thought the craft gift was either from Cynthia or me, but in reality it was from Melissa.

We had Shipley doughnuts and kolaches for breakfast then headed to 9am mass. After mass, before they could all get out of their Sunday best, we took pictures. Alex and Nick were the most difficult to get to smile, and from the looks of this picture, Eric was showing his solidarity.

We did the Easter Egg Hunt a little differently this year. We sent the boys out with 40 eggs (10 per child) to hide the eggs for the girls and for Eric. Then we sent Patrick and John out to hide the 30 eggs for the boys. We let the girls and Eric look for their eggs first. Eric did pretty well since the obvious eggs were still there for him to find, as opposed to when we let all of them go looking for eggs at the same time. He was easily able to count his own eggs so we could keep track to make sure we stopped when we got to 10 eggs each. He did need some help climbing to the top of the playhouse roof where he had spotted a bright blue egg.

Here they are all gathered around to see what was inside the eggs. Eric was so pleased that one of the eggs had four pennies in it--because he's four years old. He is too cute!

The boys got to look for their eggs next. John bragged about hiding some eggs very well to really challenge the boys. Nick must have been checking out the eggs when he was hiding them. He made a beeline for the egg that he knew had a dollar in it. He had hidden it under some broken egg shells from yesterday's activity. John had hidden one of the eggs in his back pocket. When Anthony figured it out, he almost mauled John to get it. Alex had more trouble looking for the eggs. Even when the egg was right in front of him, he would look past it. This was a much more "controlled" and "sedate" egg hunt than in the past. Usually the big boys find all the eggs quickly and the little ones struggle. I like to think that the big boys enjoyed a little challenge too.

Cascarones

Today started out like many Saturdays. I got up to make chocolate chip banana pancakes and turkey bacon. This time there were a few more people eating. I only cooked one package of bacon more and they ate all of it (usually there are some leftover pancakes).

In the afternoon, my brother-in-law John wanted to get the boys out of the house instead of at home playing video games, so we dragged them out to the River Walk. The girls had already been playing outside, so we left them at home. When we got back, Patrick was preparing a delicious meal of grilled steaks and corn on the cob. Yum! We're not big on baked ham, so instead we ate steak. That's what we call Easter dinner.

On Friday, Patrick and I bought sixteen dozen cascarones. For those that don't know, cascarones are eggshells that are cleaned out, filled with confetti, and then painted in bright colors. We bought two dozen for each child and one dozen each for Patrick and John. It was pretty hot today, around 90 degrees, so we waited until around 6:30pm to go outside and celebrate with the cascarones.

We made them all get together for a group photo before the action began. As soon as my sister Melissa figured out how to work our video camera, we let them start breaking the cascarones over each other's heads and other body parts. Natalie took that last part literally. Since she was too short to reach people's heads, she broke her cascarones on whatever she could reach, which got pretty low a couple of times. Poor Eric was enjoying watching everyone running around, and he could barely carry the cartons. I held one of his cartons for him and then Patrick and then Anthony lifted him up so he could break the cascarones over people's heads, too. He had such a blast!

Patrick would hold the kids' in place for Eric to be able to reach them, but Anthony chased them instead! At one point, Patrick took Eric from Anthony and made Anthony bend down so Eric could break a cascarone over Anthony's head. Eric refused! He refused because he wanted Anthony to carry him. We figured that either he wanted the higher vantage point, or he liked running around with Anthony. Either way, everyone was covered with confetti by the time the last cascarone was broken, except for Lola who was merely an observer. Lolo stayed safely indoors.

It was a lot of chaos but a lot of fun! Tomorrow we're going to church then having our Easter Egg Hunt. My sisters and I stuffed the baskets tonight for the kids to "open" when they get up, and then filled the eggs for the egg hunt. More pictures tomorrow!

Starbucks and Haircuts

They're here! My family just arrived, so I'll try to make this quick. First of all, my story begins with an event from yesterday. By the time I got home with Anthony yesterday, I only had enough time to change and go to the bathroom before heading back out to Natalie's swim practice. Eric was tired and not in the best mood, so Patrick was going to bring him to the boys' soccer practice instead of me bringing him to the gym. Eric was upset because he wanted to go to the gym. Patrick got him to quiet down by telling him that they could go to the gym today. Fast forward to today. I was going to take the other kids to get their haircuts. When I asked Eric if he wanted to go to the gym with Papa (as per their conversation from yesterday) he started crying and said that he wanted to go the gym with me. I told him, "But I'm not going to the gym." Then I realized that he didn't care about going to the gym, he just wanted to go somewhere with me. How could I refuse?

The kids' appointments started at 9am and mine was at 9:45am, so I dropped them off and I headed to Starbucks with Eric. That's our "thing". At first he was thrown off because we walked to Starbucks since it was so close to the hair salon. I convinced him that it was good exercise. When we got there, he almost decompensated again when they didn't have any blueberry scones. Eric is very obsessive-compulsive and needs to have things just so. Thankfully he was okay with getting a blueberry muffin instead.

Natalie got her hair trimmed and then she got it curled. I joked with my hairdresser about how she was going to be looking at herself in the mirror all day. She looks pretty cute with those bouncy curls. :) Here she's sitting next to our front door waiting for her cousins to arrive. Cynthia had said they would arrive by around 2pm, so when 2:30 rolled around, she was excited and anxious for them to arrive.

So, like I said at the beginning of this post--they're here! I'll be taking lots of photos this weekend that I'll share here later.

Shower Chats

Sorry, I haven't felt like writing recently, or talking for that matter! This past Tuesday and tonight, I took Natalie to her swim practice at the gym. After we got home on both days, I let her take a shower with me. She says she likes to take showers with me because I can wash her hair much faster than she can wash it herself. I like it because then she spends less time in the shower. She takes long, hot showers like Alex. Patrick jokes about all of that steam causing the wallpaper in the kids' bathroom to peel and come off because the walls get so damp.

One nice plus is that we chat more about "stuff" without her little brother around. During the "maturation talk" at her school last week, the school nurse mentioned how the girls would need to start taking showers daily. Natalie asked me about that tonight. I told her that was a good idea, especially when her body starts changing. She started babbling about how she'll need to take daily showers during the summer when she will swim on most days. She also talked about her bottom right canine that just came out today and how excited she is that her cousins are arriving tomorrow. That girl can chat about almost everything. I want to keep those lines of communication open, though, so that hopefully she'll feel comfortable talking to me even when she reaches puberty and beyond.

I haven't felt like taking pictures lately either. I took this picture of our new parking garage at work this past week. I get a little embarrassed taking pictures at work, so I quickly snapped this one on my way back to my car after work. The glass part on the left is where the elevators are. I haven't been over there at all because I usually take the stairs that are on the front right corner. The first level is exclusively for patients and for motorcycle parking. I started out parking on the second level, but more and more people are parking there, even at 5:45am, so I started parking on the third level so I can park right in front of the exit. Getting in and out of the garage has not been a problem so far, but I'm worried that the traffic will start building up as the off-site parking lots start closing down. Parking near the exit puts me in the best position, even if more cars exit the garage at the same time as I do.

Tomorrow's plans include haircuts for the kids and me and a visit from my family. Fun!

Eric Stories

Eric says that this is his silly smile. We were at Target yesterday and they had these butterfly headbands. I asked him if he wanted me to take a picture of him with the headband on so he could see what he looked like. He's such a ham that he was more than willing.

Patrick tried to go to Costco but when he got there, he realized that he had forgotten his wallet at home. Eric was a little disappointed--he gets into these routines and he gets a little upset when they change. Patrick told Eric that maybe they could do something else, and that's when Eric perked up a little and suggested going to McDonald's and eating it at the park. Patrick said that he didn't want to eat McDonald's food. Eric replied that Patrick could just make a sandwich at home for himself and just get a drink from McDonald's. That boy's logic just cracks me up.

I just wanted to post this photo as an update to the painting this weekend. Anthony's bed doesn't have a comforter on it because the comforter was still in the dryer and not because he didn't make his bed. The one back wall is red and the other walls are "Desert Sand". Red is Anthony's favorite color, but we didn't want his whole room to be red. I think the one red wall looks pretty nice, although we'll have to do something with that wall, like hang his artwork there.

Regular Season Ends

Anthony's club soccer team played in their last regular season game today. They won 8-0 last Wednesday against the New Braunfels Tornadoes and that team had previously won against today's team, the Lions. We hoped that they wouldn't get too cocky, expecting to win today's game, but they scored on the first play of the game. They may have felt cocky, but they played well. They led 5-0 at the half and finished the game with a score of 8-0. Anthony had some really good defensive plays, but overall, the ball was mostly on the other side of the field. We felt sorry for the other team's goalkeeper, who played very well but just didn't have any support.

After the game, the team gathered at a nearby barbecue place for dinner. It was nice that the boys got to socialize and relax with each other, and the parents didn't have to worry about making dinner. Most likely this win will mean that their team will be in the playoffs starting the weekend after Easter. They've never been in the playoffs before, so this will be a new experience for all of us.

I can't have a blog post without a cute picture of Eric, can I? I'm not sure what this chain was for, but it was hanging where there used to be a swing in the playscape at our home soccer fields. Eric was using it like a swing, and he spent a lot of time on it. He even fell off it but got right back on after a good cry. The rest of the time he was climbing all over that playscape. He's a climber!

We finished painting Anthony's room today. I filled in a little until Anthony woke up this morning. Patrick and Anthony moved his furniture back in tonight after we got home from dinner with the team. I'll have to try to get a picture tomorrow when the light is better. We still have to do a few things like hang some of his artwork and such, but he seems pretty happy with how it turned out. The next project will be painting Alex's room, but that will have to wait until after Easter.

Rewards

This boy is difficult to "reward". He scored his team's only goal today. The game ended in a 1-1 tie. We wanted to reward him by letting him choose a restaurant where we would eat for dinner. He chose Chick-Fil-A. We were hoping for a sit-down type of restaurant, but he wanted fast food. His other choice was to stay home. I guess that shows how spoiled my kids are and/or how often we eat out--it's not even something they look forward to. Patrick insisted on a sit-down restaurant, so Alex finally relented and said Paesano's. Now, Paesano's is pricey, so we decided since Alex only wanted the Fettucini Alfredo there anyway, he wouldn't mind going somewhere cheaper, like Olive Garden--he agreed.

To make a long story short, by the time we got out of church and went to Olive Garden, the estimated wait was 45 minutes. Alex didn't want to wait there that long. We ended up at Chick-Fil-A after all! Of course Natalie wanted Wendy's instead, and there is one next to the Chick-fil-A. She and Anthony ended up having Wendy's and we brought it over to Chick-Fil-A to eat with everyone else. Anthony had the biggest kick out of eating Wendy's at Chick-Fil-A. He even posted about it on Facebook. :)

Anthony got home and started helping Patrick with the painting. It's taking a lot longer than Patrick had expected. Hopefully they'll at least be done by tomorrow so Anthony can sleep in his room again instead of Alex's room.

Tomorrow's activities include Anthony's final club soccer game of the regular season. The top two teams get to go to playoffs, and right now his team is second. They really deserve to go to playoffs so hopefully they'll win tomorrow insure a spot. Afterwards the team is going out for dinner. I hope we have plenty to celebrate!

Shopping, Swimming, and Painting

This girl is a study in contrasts. Here she is standing on a rock at La Cantera Mall. For some reason, she got on top of that rock and asked me to take a picture of her. She has her sparkly pink purse with her money in it, because she was planning on buying something with her own money. She has what I call her "sporty" clothes on--a T-shirt and "dazzle" pull-on shorts. The temperatures got up into the 80s today, but it was pretty windy. That's why she's wearing a jacket.

Yesterday she was wearing a regular pair of shorts with a zipper and button. When she was getting ready for swim practice, she had her swimsuit on under her clothes and her shorts were unbuttoned under her shirt (the same shirt and shorts she had worn all day at school). She said that her shorts were too tight and she asked if she could wear her shorts unbuttoned. Of course I said, "Absolutely not!" I told her to put on a pair of shorts that fit. She then whined about how she didn't didn't have any shorts that fit her anymore. I answered her in the same way as I answer her big brothers when they tell me that something doesn't fit. "Why didn't you tell me so I could have bought you something else?" Her answer was to ask if we could go shopping for new shorts today. Luckily, I had the day off so I could spend time with my kids--so I spent time with the little ones at the mall.

The last store we bought her clothes in (around the beginning of school) was The Children's Place, so we headed there first. On the way, she asked if we could go into Justice For Girls. I was surprised because we've looked there a couple of times, but she's never liked anything in there before. Well today, she liked a bunch of stuff that we saw right after we walked in. She picked out about five shirts, two pairs of shorts, a pair of cropped pants, and a cropped cardigan (with sequins). She tried on another couple of shirts but she pretty much liked everything she picked out. After she tried everything on, I asked her if she wanted to look around a little more. She said that she had gotten enough already. We had only seen maybe one fourth of the store and she was done shopping! She is much more decisive than her Mama, that's for sure!

The caveat to that is that while I was waiting to check out, she saw some fancy erasers that she wanted to buy with her own money. She is obsessed with fancy erasers! She wanted to buy a couple of packages but I held her to only one. After all, how could she have so much that she needs to erase? I did convince her to go into the Gap to buy shorts and another pair of cropped pants because they were having a great sale. Everything we bought today was 30-40% off but the total still came out to around $170. Ouch!

It was warm enough that we took a trip to our neighborhood pool this afternoon. When we got in the pool, however, we realized that the water was still cold! That didn't stop the little man from splashing around. He stayed near the pool steps, walking and splashing back and forth, just like last year. Alex actually got out of the house to come with us. He was the only one that went into the pool completely. Even Alex, who says that he never gets cold, was cold, so we didn't stay more than about 30-45 minutes. Natalie had gone to the pool with a neighborhood friend, and they didn't stay long either because of the cold water. It'll be fun for her if the water is still cold when the neighborhood swim team starts practicing in a couple of weeks.

As a side note for my Mom. She got him a Thomas the Tank Engine swimsuit last year (3T) and this year she got him a different Thomas swimsuit (4T). Although the 3T one still fits and fits pretty well, he insisted on wearing the new one. It looks gigantic on him. The new one at least didn't seem like it was going to fall off, but it does accentuate his scrawny little legs.

Where was Patrick during all of this fun? He was painting Anthony's room. Anthony's stuff is strewn through the house. This is a picture of his bed and dresser drawers in the formal dining room--that still has the Lego Advent Calendar stuff from Christmas in it. Just painting the trim took Patrick most of the day. He drove Anthony to his friend's house around 1pm today and that's where Anthony is right now. We'll pick him up tomorrow morning and I'm sure we'll be enlisting his help with the rest of the painting.

One more note about today--we just found out that someone has been racking up thousands of dollars in charges on our Discover card. We only found out because today I was denied twice when I tried to use my Discover card. I called about it and they told me about some mysterious charges, most of which was for "office supplies". I'm sad about the fraud, of course, but I'm also sad because I've had this same account number since 1990--my very first credit card. They said that they'll take all of the disputed charges off our bill, so hopefully all of that will work out for us.

Climbing, Curling, and Repainting

This little man is always climbing everywhere. We were on the sofa watching American Idol tonight and I noticed that he had hopped up on the back of the sofa. Natalie was at the dining room table and complained that he was obstructing her view. He totally ignored her, but when he saw the camera, he got that silly smile on his face and hopped back down.

Eric's favorite place to climb is on the outside of our stairs, just like his older siblings before him. I remember when Alex used to climb on the outside of the stairs before he could even walk. Eric also likes to climb on the railing at the top of the stairs and hang down from it, like a monkey. He apparently did that with an extra goal frame at Anthony's soccer game yesterday.

Patrick had so much fun taking the kids with him for that away game in New Braunfels (not really). Anthony stayed at school until it was time to go to the game since I was on call and since his school is on the way to New Braunfels but out of the way if Patrick had to go back and forth. They didn't get home until a little after 9pm, but at least Anthony's team won 8-0.

Everyone was at school by the time I got home from work this morning, even the little man, so I didn't get to see them until this afternoon. Then, I had to leave to take Natalie to her swim practice at the gym. After we got home we had dinner. Alex and Patrick were already at Alex's soccer practice. As we were watching American Idol (notice the blank stares on Eric's and Natalie's faces), Eric decided to play with this doll curling iron. He must have learned how to use it from seeing me use mine, which I found interesting since he's not usually in the bathroom when I curl my hair. Natalie didn't seem to mind him "curling" her hair at all. She even let him sit on top of her, which I thought was pretty sweet.

Patrick is gearing up to paint Anthony's room. It's the only room in the house that has never been repainted. The paint on there is the original builder's paint. While Natalie and I were at swim practice, Patrick and Anthony took apart Anthony's bed and put it in the formal dining room to make room. His nightstands are in the living room. The only thing they left in there was the dresser. There is too much furniture in there for such a small room.

The kids are off from school tomorrow for the Battle of Flowers Parade, so I took off from work too. Anthony is planning to go to Fiesta with his friends and then he'll be sleeping over at his friend's house. Patrick will be painting. I'll be taking the kids out to keep them occupied. I'm sure I'll have lots of stories to tell tomorrow.

Growing and Changing

Natalie and I attended a special session tonight at her school for third grade girls and their mothers. The school nurse led the session and most of our time was spent watching a twenty minute movie on the changes that the girls will be going through in the next few years. There were maybe about ten girls there, give or take. I had expected more of a turnout, but I guess most families are busy. In fact, Natalie had to miss her usual swim practice tonight in order to go to this. I could have talked to Natalie about the stuff in the movie on my own, but this was easier.

Before we went, Anthony asked us where we were going (he stayed home with Eric). I told him and he said, "No way! She's not old enough for that!" I also thought it was interesting that during the session, the school nurse asked if any of the girls had heard of the word "puberty". Natalie raised her hand and told me that she heard Anthony using the word "puberty". She got very silly and started talking about how she couldn't remember all the big words they used (like "menstruation" and "uterus").

I've always tried to be open for Natalie to ask me questions about whatever she wants. Hopefully, between this and other classes she'll be taking in school in the next few years plus an open dialogue with her, she'll feel comfortable asking me questions. I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with it, but we'll get through this together. After all, she's my only daughter.

Last Bus Ride

Last week I mentioned that the new parking garage at work was complete and they were doing "test runs" with a limited group of people with parking passes. Last Friday they sent out an email that they would be opening the garage to everyone. After work, on the bus ride back to my car, one of my colleagues mentioned that I should enjoy my last bus ride. I got a little sentimental after he said that, so I started taking pictures of the trip.

I rarely went on post before we started using off-site parking over two years ago. Now that the parking garage is open, I don't plan on going on post unless I have to. I remember dreading the off-site parking when we started, we all dreaded it--but we all got used to it. We got used to the extra time it took. We got used to being able to chat with people we wouldn't have chatted with otherwise. We got used to not being able to come and go as we pleased.

This morning I parked in the parking garage for the first time. I was afraid that it would be hard to get in and out, because right now there is only one way in and out. It was SO easy! There were hardly any cars there when I drove in around 5:45am. There were hardly any cars coming out when I left at around 3:15pm. The biggest plus--my car wasn't hot when I got in it this afternoon, despite the 90 degree temperature. It'll probably get a little busier as more and more people start parking in the garage (some are still taking the bus), but I already know--I'm going to love the parking garage!

I always ask Alex if he can even see from behind those long bangs. It's like he's trying to hide. Of course in this picture he's trying to hide from my camera. Even independent observers have called his hairstyle "Bieber hair", but he'll still deny that his hair looks anything like "Bieber hair". I took these photos during dinner at Chili's yesterday. I'm not feeling inspired to write about anything in particular today so here are just a few tidbits.

Alex had two games this weekend. His team lost both games despite playing pretty well. They just have a lot of trouble scoring. I'm not as familiar with all the strategies as Patrick is, and even I thought Alex played very well. He has admitted to me that he doesn't want to work too hard at soccer, so he's happy to play at the level he is at. Patrick and I wish he would move up to a more competitive team because he needs to be pushed a little to improve. I'm a little biased because he's my wonderful son, but I think he would have more fun if the rest of his team could play up to his level.

Natalie is so used to me taking pictures that she doesn't try to pose or anything. In fact, she went about drinking her drink even when I had the camera on her face. At least in this picture she doesn't have her mouth wide open. Natalie has a little trouble listening to her parents. She doesn't try to be difficult, it just comes naturally. It's like she can't focus on one thing and ends up totally tuning us out. Hopefully she'll get better as she gets older.

Anthony can be such a ham sometimes. He's very good about letting me take pictures of him, and he purposely got in this photo just so he could make faces in the background. He didn't have any soccer games this weekend. Instead he did a some socializing, seeing a movie and going out to dinner on Friday night, and going to the mall with friends today. He is in no hurry to get his driver's license. It's much more convenient for him to be driven around town. At least he's starting to pay attention to how far things are from each other.

I have one funny story to end this post with. Last week, a colleague at work showed me this free app he got for his iPad, called "GunApp". Basically the app has pictures of different types of guns plus other things, and the gun you choose makes shooting noises when you tap the screen. I got the app for my Call of Duty-crazy boys, especially Eric. I showed this app to Alex in the car coming home from Chili's, and pretty soon, Natalie and Eric wanted to play the app too. So, not only are there gunfire sounds in my house because of the Call of Duty game, but now the gunfire was in the car, too. Anthony had not synced his phone so he didn't have the Gun app on his phone yet, so he pulled up the "Fart" app and played that instead. This scene was probably a "you had to be there" type of scene, but we shared a lot of laughs and it was fun...even if it involved gunfire.

It's My Birthday. I'm Four Years Old.

When my sisters, niece, and nephew called tonight, that's what I heard Eric tell them. "It's My Birthday. I'm Four Years Old." How cute is that?

Eric got us up around 5am because he had "peed" in his diaper. Patrick changed him and gave him some more ibuprofen because he still had a fever. He did okay at home as long as he was kept medicated. I even let him stay in his pajamas until after lunch. He didn't want to change and I didn't want to make him. Patrick, Alex, and I went to Alex's soccer game in the morning. Everyone else stayed home. After lunch Eric insisted that he was "not tired" but he fell asleep in the upstairs hallway next to a bunch of his stuffed animals. It looked like a stuffed animal sleepover in that hallway. (I was asleep too. Patrick took this picture for me.)

We went to church and then Eric's choice for dinner was Chili's. For a long time now he always associates going to church with going to Chili's, even though we really only go to Chili's once every other month or so. We haven't been there in a while and that's what he asked for, so why not? While we were there, I tried to get him to look at me while holding up four fingers so I could take a picture. He even wanted me to take pictures of him, but every time I did, he would make this fake smile. When I told him that I wanted to see his eyes, he opened one eye a little wider, but his face was still all scrunched up.

We told our server that it was Eric's birthday, so they brought us a warm fudge brownie with ice cream on top, and they sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He looked he didn't know what to do with himself. He just stared at them singing. When they left he was very interested in the brownie. The dessert came with several spoons. Eric wanted them moved. At first it looked like he was going to eat it all by himself and he just wanted the extra spoons out of his way. Luckily for his siblings, he willingly shared with all of them.

When we got home, we opened presents. Eric had already opened his presents from Lola and Lolo yesterday. Mom always wants him to open his presents from them early. Tonight he opened his presents from us and from Grandma and Grandpa. He seemed most excited about this Thomas and Friends playhut and tunnel. He is not as crazy about Thomas or Cars as he was last year, but he still gets pretty excited whenever he gets anything with those characters on them. The playhut/tunnel combo has always been popular with the kids when they were at this age.

Next came the birthday cupcakes. We let Eric choose between getting a cake or cupcakes and he chose the latter. Mom baked some chocolate cupcakes today and Natalie iced them and put sprinkles on top. When it came to eating them, he wanted an iced cupcake without the sprinkles. He knew exactly what to do at the end of our "Happy Birthday" song. He blew out those candles without any hesitation.

It was four years ago today that I went to work. I noticed that I was having contractions and that they seemed very light, just like the contractions I'd been having throughout the last part of my pregnancy. I told myself that I needed to drink plenty of water and I would see if they went away. As the day progressed, the contractions seemed very regular and they started getting stronger. I told some of my colleagues about it and they insisted that I go home. By the time I got home, they were pretty strong and pretty regular. One of my friends scolded me for driving myself home. The rest is detailed in my "Birth Story" post four years ago that you can find HERE.

This little boy brought a bright light into our lives four years ago. Even his older siblings dote on him and he eats it up. My family has been here on the weekend around his birthday every year, but this year only my parents made it. Life is just going to get busier, especially when this four-year-old boy starts getting involved in activities like his siblings.

He finally held up those four fingers and gave me a smile where I could still see his eyes. He's such a cutie with that icing mustache. :)

Kid's Cafe with Lola

Natalie was chosen for "Kid's Cafe" at lunch today. Basically that means that she got to invite someone to have lunch with her. There's a stage in their cafeteria and the Kid's Cafe kids get to have lunch there on tables and chairs instead of the long tables with benches that they usually sit at with their whole class.

She usually asks for Wendy's Spicy Crispy Chicken Nuggets when I bring her lunch. She realized that today was Friday and that she wasn't supposed to eat meat, so she asked Lola to bring her some salmon. We usually don't make Eric and Natalie conform to the "no meat on Fridays" rule during Lent because they're so young, but we still encourage it. Lola was a little hesitant because she thought that the salmon would give off an unpleasant fishy odor, but I told her that it didn't matter because there are a lot of unpleasant odors in an elementary school cafeteria!

Lola was the only one that ate with her since Natalie was only supposed to invite one person. She brought salmon AND she brought a sliced mango. Natalie was in heaven!

I missed the above because I was at work (Patrick took the pictures). I also missed this sight. Eric was "not tired" but he fell asleep at the table after eating some banana. They had moved him to the sofa by the time I got home.

This is what I saw when I got home. Lolo and Eric were both taking a nap when I got home, so I snapped this picture. Lolo is a much lighter sleeper than Eric, though, and he woke up after I took this picture.

From work I picked up Anthony and drove him across town to meet his friends for dinner and a movie. I got home by around 5pm, took the picture above, then Patrick and I decided to go to a nearby Happy Hour to get some spicy calamari and baked brie appetizers that we love. When we got home, we gave Eric a bath then we put him to bed by 7:30pm with his sister. Both kids were pretty tired. Eric also had a fever of 101. Hopefully he'll feel better for his birthday tomorrow. I can't believe he's going to be four!

Lots of Soup

My parents arrived for a visit today. It's been three months since we've seen them. That's probably the longest period of time in between visits since Eric was born. Of course that meant that Eric ate constantly. Mom brought a lot of food as usual, plus they stopped off somewhere to eat and they brought some of that food to us too.

Natalie and Eric love soup. In these first two pictures, they're eating the wonton noodle soup that Mom and Dad bought at the restaurant down the street. Mom is also planning to make their favorite--rice soup. You can see a little glimpse of the mango in this picture too. They brought two cases of mangoes--yum! That's my favorite fruit! The kids usually eat it so fast that Mom has to save one or two for me to eat.

This little boy has been so excited since they got here. Here he is combing his hair. I realized the other night when he wanted to comb his hair using water that the other "boys" in this house (Patrick included) use water when they comb their hair to get their hair under control. Eric just wants to be one of the "big boys". He also said, "I want my hair long." We're not quite ready for that yet.

Speaking of water, Eric "helped" clean the kids' bathroom this morning while Papa was busy with the laundry. He "cleaned" the sink area, floor, and doors with very wet washcloths. Patrick said he didn't have his usual mischievous look. Instead he seemed very proud of himself for "helping", so Patrick couldn't get too mad at him. He did, however, tell him that maybe next time he could ask Papa what he can do to help before doing it.

This picture is a little blurry, but I love my Mom's smile and how much Eric is enjoying himself. They're here to celebrate Eric's birthday on Saturday and they'll be here until Sunday!

We Went To Starbucks

I really missed being able to meet Patrick and Eric at Starbuck's yesterday for our routine post-call visit because of my shopping trip. I also missed being able to play with Eric during the day yesterday when he was home from school and then he'll be gone today at school. I asked him last night if it was okay to go to Starbucks after dropping Anthony off at school and before he went to school. Of course his answer was "Yes".

We did just that. I even spoiled Anthony by buying him some bacon and egg breakfast tacos and a Dr. Pepper at "Benny's Tacos" before dropping him off. The line was long but in the one or two minutes it took to get to his school, he had already finished one taco. I hope he doesn't have to do sprints during soccer class during first period!

We got our usual treats. Eric even found us a table by himself while I waited in line to order. She gave us our food on plates this time and he thought that was funny for some reason. I wish those scones wouldn't crumble so easily, because by the time we were done, it looked like a scone had exploded under our table and the table and Eric's clothes were covered in blueberry scone crumbs. I enjoyed just watching him eat, though. It was like he couldn't get enough of that scone. He even scooped up the crumbs with his hand and dropped them into his mouth. He finished that whole scone and half of his Tall Strawberries and Cream Frappucino.

Eric was actually being a little ham for the camera today. I hope this means that "No pictures" phase is ending. He was being all dramatic when he at his scone and then he saw the camera and he just froze in this position. Even after I took a picture he still froze over and over again, giggling in between photos.

When we got to his school, he went up to his teacher. She grabbed him and lifted him up for a hug, and he told her excitedly, "We went to Starbucks!" He smelled like coffee even though he didn't have any!