Shopping with Alex and Eric

We actually had a "free" day this weekend--Saturday. Eric had his last basketball game, which I'll do a blog post on later, and we had nothing else planned. Of course, we always find something to fill up our "free" days.

Natalie got invited to see a play with some friends. Her friend's mom picked her up and everything. Alex wanted to go to the mall to go shopping, so I went back to the scene of the crime--North Star Mall. I haven't been back there since that fateful night of December 1st. Lastly, we attended the Quinceanera in the evening--more on that later.

First, I'm going to describe our shopping trip. Eric wanted to go with Alex and me, of course. Anthony had homework and Patrick stayed home until Natalie could be picked up for the play. Alex specifically wanted to buy shoes for himself (i.e., with his own money). This time I was able to convince him to start comparison shopping before going out to buy shoes. He looked at a couple of places online the day before, so when he found the white Sperry Topsiders he wanted, he bought them for what he thought was a good price. He also wanted "dressier" jeans or khaki-colored type jeans that he could wear instead of the conventional khakis as part of his uniform for school. Lastly, we looked for a dressy-type button down shirt that he could wear to the Quinceanera that evening. This last part was quite painful because Alex took forever just to try one the four shirts that he brought into the dressing room, but I really only got to see him in one of the shirts before he decided he was done trying on shirts.

Eric got to go to his favorite store, the Disney Store, and eat at one of his favorite places to eat, Wendy's. After that, he didn't mind walking around and he even carried Alex's bag for a bit. He enjoys  hanging out with his big brothers and he loves to go shopping. He started to get tired, though, even lying down on some chairs at the mall and complaining that his feet hurt. In the end, I had to break down and allow him to play Angry Birds Rio on my iPhone. He was sprawled on the carpet in the men's department at JCPenney, comfortable and happy.

This is the only photo I took of the Quinceanera. It was held at the downtown area that used to be Pearl Brewery. Estelle was part of the carpool to Alex's school for the last two years with her younger brother, who is in Alex's grade. She is now a freshman in high school and turning fifteen. The "Quinceanera" is a special celebration of the fifteenth birthday for girls with Hispanic backgrounds, like a "Sweet Sixteen" party. There were mostly adults at the party, but I could see Estelle's touch in the decorations, food choices, and entertainment. This was the candy table. They had a selection of candies with a sign that told you to fill a little bag. They also had fresh-popped popcorn and cotton candy. We brought a bunch of this home for the kiddos. Eric and Natalie really enjoyed these treats.

I know that Alex's eyes are closed in this picture, but I didn't realize it at the time and I didn't think he would want multiple photos taken. Only Patrick, Alex, and I went to this party. Alex ended up wearing Anthony's shirt. I described that shopping trip in a previous post. It figures that he would like the same $45 shirt that his brother wanted, instead of the $20 shirts that he had tried on. Patrick and I thought he looked really good dressed up like that and we were happy that he wanted a dressy shirt like that for his own. I really wanted a picture with my good-looking son, but next time, hopefully he won't have his eyes closed. :)

Midweek Updates

I haven't been so good about updating during the week. First, I have to talk about this picture of Eric. Alex does this same little "trick" about putting tissue in his nose so he won't have to keep blowing his nose. Eric used the "trick" here so he wouldn't have to use his hands. His hands are busy playing on the iPad. He's been obsessed with Angry Birds game lately. Angry Birds Rio was free in the App Store last week and when I told him that I got the game for him, he was all atwitter with excitement until I allowed him to play it. I've missed Eric's basketball games the last couple of weekends because I've been with Natalie at her swim meets. His last basketball game is this coming Saturday. After that, we're not sure yet if we'll sign him up for track or baseball.

I also have to put this picture in here. I posted photos on Facebook of the dinosaur egg that Grandma gave Eric for Christmas, but I didn't post them here on the blog. The dinosaur hatched out of the egg, but when we took him out of the water, he shrank back down again (see "before" or left-hand photo). We put him in a glass of water overnight and he got bigger again (see "after" or right-hand photo). The dinosaur is still in the glass right now because Eric wants him to be bigger.

I've been talking a lot about Natalie but not so much about the other kids. Anthony has been playing in high school soccer games at least twice during the week (Tues/Wed and Fri) and then at least a couple on the weekend. The first week of school back from Christmas Break, he also had a Model UN Conference in town, so he missed a couple days of school because of that. He had a ton of homework that first weekend, and he had a lot of homework this past weekend too. His hard work has been paying off, though. Last week we found out that he has moved up from the #3 spot in his class to the #2 spot! That's out of a class of 591!

Alex has been doing well also. He did well on the last report card, just like the other three. He doesn't have soccer this season, so he's had more time to do his homework, as well as plenty of game time on the PS3. Notice the shoes in the photo above. He takes care of his shoes, cleaning them and changing out the laces. We might not like the way he dresses, but he has a definite sense of style.

He has spent the night at a friend's house a couple of days on the weekend, so much so that we're feeling guilty that his friend's parents have to keep feeding him. They don't seem to mind, thank goodness. He's much better about doing chores and accepting our restrictions than he used to be. I've been picking him up from the bus stop almost every afternoon and I like that he is a little more chatty with me when it's just the two of us in the car together.

BB Championships Part 2

This picture is our "setup" at the meet today. The Palo Alto Natatorium is large with plenty of seating, so we took the opportunity to spread out. Notice Natalie hiding behind her Starbucks cup. It has become our pre-swim meet ritual to get her a Double Chocolaty Chip Frappucino and an Old-Fashioned Doughnut from Starbucks. Notice the lunch bag with drinks and snacks, including the new Dole Fruit Smoothie Shakers. Natalie loves smoothies, and this one we can bring along. There were also sandwiches, one turkey, salami, and cheese one for me and one peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her. That used to be her favorite, but she didn't end up eating it. She strongly preferred picking up something on the way home--Popeye's spicy chicken tenders. Also notice the red bag which contained her Kindle Fire HD and my iPad, along with a few other snacks. Those didn't really get eaten today either because we went home between the morning session and the evening session. That worked out better for Natalie. Even the girl who gave up naps when she was two years old took a nap today.

The big news for us today was that Natalie not only beat her previous time (37.00 sec) on the 50 yard butterfly, she got an "A" standard time to boot. In the prelims she had a time of 36.19 seconds for a first place finish in her heat and a second place finish overall. In the finals, she brought her time down even farther, to 35.91 seconds and a first place finish. She out-touched second place by 0.08 seconds, followed by third place by 0.04 seconds, and followed by fourth place by 0.02 seconds. I realize just now as I'm looking this stuff up for this blog post that it was a tight finish. Good thing they used electronic touch pads. Needless to say, it was an exciting but definitely satisfying finish. She came from behind as she usually does. Patrick and her coach have both told her that if her starts were better, she would do even better. For today, she is definitely satisfied with the results. She gets a gold medal!

I'll just recap the rest of the day. She swam in the 100 yard freestyle and brought her time down from 1:18.20 to 1:16.81 in the prelims  (15th place) and down to 1:16.54 in the finals (13th place) for a total drop of 1.66 seconds. She swam in the 200 yard IM and brought her time down from 3:16.61 to 3:11.23 in the prelims for a total drop of 5.38 seconds. She placed 13th and made the finals but we decided to "scratch" that race so we could go home earlier plus it was unlikely that she was going to get much lower than that without some additional work. She was actually disappointed with that time because she really wanted to get a better time. She is much harder on herself that we are.

One more piece of good news, though, is that she was in the 200 yard Medley relay swimming the butterfly and her team placed first. The second place team's butterfly person was quickly catching up to her, but she managed to hold her off and the person who swam the last leg (freestyle) won the race. Lots of excitement, and lots of time spent at the Palo Alto Natatorium. We plan on relaxing tomorrow. Thank goodness we've got a holiday from school and work.

BB Championships Part 1

We had our longest swim meet day ever! The format of this swim meet included preliminary races AND finals. That meant that if you were in the top 18 (two heats of 8 swimmers plus two alternates), you came back in the evening to swim the finals. The only other experience I can compare this too was with watching the Olympics. The swimmers then would swim in preliminary heats and then they would come back and swim the finals for medals. So, we had mixed feelings about this. Natalie doing well meant that we had to stay longer.

This picture is Natalie's first relay team while swimming for AAAA. She was put in the 200 yard freestyle relay. It's always a great experience to swim a relay, and Natalie makes friends so easily that as soon as she met these girls she was chatting away with them. They won first place amongst the four relay teams for girls 10 and under. They were supposed to be the "B" team because their times going into this meet were slower than the "A" team. Well, they beat the "A" team by 0.14 seconds (2:08.70).

Natalie swam in two individual events today, the 50 yard freestyle and the 100 yard butterfly. She about equaled her previous best 50 yard freestyle time (33.14) with a time of 33.15 sec. That was good enough to 9th place but because someone dropped out of the finals, she got to move up to the 8th spot in the finals, meaning she got to swim in the fastest heat. She got 7th place in the Girls' 10 and under 50 yard freestyle with a time of 33.30. She was disappointed that she added time to her personal best, but that's all part of the learning process.

The exciting part of the day was when she swam in the preliminary heats for the Girls' 10 and under 100 yard Butterfly. She shattered her previous time of 1:33.48 by swimming 8.5 seconds faster with a time of 1:24.98! She was so happy that she was crying when I saw her. I've never seen her cry from being happy before, so I was a bit tentative. I had to ask her if she was crying because she was happy, just to make sure. That time gives her an "A" time (up from "BB") so she can swim that event in the upcoming A Championships next month. She was a little disappointed that she got third place in the finals with a little time added back on (1:25.31), but once again, she is much harder on herself that we can ever be.

So, that meant two events that occurred very early in the day. Patrick missed both because he was taking Anthony to school for a soccer tournament, taking Alex to spend the night over at a friend's house, and then taking Eric to his basketball game. We could have left at that time (just after 10 am), but we had to wait to swim the relay, which was one of the last three events and didn't occur until after 12:30. The afternoon warmups were at 4pm with the finals starting at 5pm. We ended up just staying there because we wouldn't have had more than two hours at home with the 30-minute plus drive one way.

Thank goodness they had free Wifi there! Patrick dropped Eric off so he could go to Anthony's two games (at 11am and 3pm). Eric was on the iPad pretty much the whole time, either playing Angry Birds Rio or watching an animated show called Dino Squad. Natalie played with her Kindle Fire and one of the iPads. This long day really wore all of us out, especially all that waiting in between events. We'll be back again tomorrow.

B Championships

We had yet another swim meet this weekend. Swimmers in this one had "B" standard times for all of the events. There were three sessions, one on Saturday morning, one on Saturday evening, and one on Sunday morning. Natalie only had one event per session, with her events occurring early on, so we didn't have to stay too long each time. This is a picture from Saturday evening. Eric came with us and he was busy with the iPad for most of the time. Patrick had gone to Anthony's soccer game (tournament) and had to meet us at the pool.

Eric is sitting with the brother of one of Natalie's friends. Lucas was also busy with his iPad. At one point Eric was just too tired and he started crying when the iPad turned off, its battery totally drained. That signaled that it was time to go. Luckily, Natalie was done swimming. We had only stayed to watch one of her friends swim.

This is Natalie with one of her friends on her team (Team Sidney). Devin is also 10 and sat with us for much of the meet. They swam together in adjacent lanes for the 50 yard Breaststroke. As they were swimming, we could all see that Natalie kept checking out where Devin was in the lane next to her. Devin's dad (who helps run the whole swim program) gave Natalie some advice after the race, "Don't check out your competition, let your competition check you out." Natalie had started out ahead but Devin caught up and both tied for first place in their heat and second place overall. Both knocked off over two seconds from their seeded times. The parents and coaches all agreed that they both pushed each other, and that was a good thing.

This is Natalie showing one of the two second place medals that she received this weekend. She got second place for her 100 yard IM (1:28.26) and 50 yard Breaststroke (47.19 sec). The last time she swam in the 100 yard IM was in August, and she dropped 12 seconds from that time! She now has "BB" standard times in both of those events. She also swam in the 100 yard Breaststroke and got a time of 1:48.25 for a sixth place finish amongst 10 year old girls. She was upset after that race, despite dropping two seconds from her previous time. She was hoping for another "BB" standard time, but she still has another three seconds to go. She really is harder on herself than we could ever be. We talked about how it's okay to push yourself, but you also put it all in perspective. She dropped all of her times this weekend by at least two seconds.

We have another swim meet next weekend, the "BB Championships". Patrick and I are continuously amazed with how well Natalie is doing in swimming. We just hope that she can be as proud of herself as we are of her.

2013 Title Page

I don't scrapbook at all anymore. My last page was early last year. One page that I will still keep doing, however, will be my "title page" for each year. The kids fuss about it, and the photo I get in front of our Christmas tree isn't usually very good because of the lighting, but I like to have this photo and page to compare the kids' growth from year to year.

This year I can tell that my scrapbooking skills are getting rusty, but the basic info is there. The ink I chose to stamp the kids' handprints with wasn't very dark, so I embossed it. Last week I showed Anthony how to stamp a title. He was making an album for a good friend. Both he and Alex were amazed by the embossing process and how it makes the image raised, shiny, and a little more pronounced than before the embossing. I was happy to show them what I could do and I was happy to use some of my neglected supplies.

In case you want to compare the stats below to last year's stats, here's the link to my 2012 Title Page. Their current measurements, as of January 5th, 2013 are as follows:

Anthony 142 lbs., 70 3/4 in.
Alex 133.5 lbs., 69 1/2 in.
Natalie 83.5 lbs., 56 in.
Eric 38.5 lbs., 42.5 in.

Notice that Anthony was supposedly 71 inches last year. I doubt that he has started shrinking already, but that could definitely be an error in measurement. Alex and Natalie each grew about 3 inches and Eric grew 2 inches. It may not seem like it, but Eric did gain some weight, as did all of them.

So there you have it--proof in writing that my children are still growing. That's a good thing.

Eric Basketball Update

I wanted to give a little update on how Eric is doing with basketball. These photos are from today's game, the first one after the holiday hiatus. The first photo is a little blurry because my shutter speed wasn't high enough, but I wanted to show a shot of Eric almost touching the ball. He doesn't touch the ball very much. Most of the time he just runs back and forth across the court. He stands firm, raises his arms in the air, and watches the ball change hands from team to team.

You can almost see him wincing in this photo because the basketball is nearby. Notice that the basketball is in the upper part of the frame. His team, in general, seems to be getting better. His team won this game, by the way, 2-0. Yes, that means that we scored once, but the other team didn't score at all. They still have trouble getting the ball through the hoop, but a couple of them tried very hard today and got lots of attempts. Some of them actually played defense today, very encouraging.

Do we wish Eric played basketball a little better? Sure. Do we wish Eric paid a little more attention during the game instead of daydreaming? Of course. Look at this sweet face. He saw me taking pictures a couple of times and he looked right at me. I was half expecting him to wave "hi" to me, too. He is having fun playing basketball, and he doesn't realize he doesn't play it well. Having fun is what matters. We love that he loves playing basketball and that's he's having fun.

Electronic New Year

Happy New Year! We visited my family for New Year's and we got back on New Year's Day. We took this photo on New Year's Day, at the request of my parents. As usual, there is a back story. My parents had asked for a photo of them with the grandkids back on Thanksgiving, but we never got a chance to get one. We made time this time, but of course Natalie wasn't ready. When she gets in a bad mood, there's no pulling her out of it. Threatening her only makes it worse. This is probably the best photo of the bunch, but Natalie still looks very unhappy. Emily, to her left, was not looking at the camera at all in the other shots. The other kids were all pretty compliant, especially the boys.

We had a pretty relaxed visit. The kids were into their electronics. I thought this picture was great for showing the boys both using their iPhone/iPod Touch, but also relaxing and enjoying the reclining chairs at my sister Cynthia's house.

The younger kids had their electronics as well. Emily got an iPad from Santa, as did her stepsiblings. Eric is sharing with her in this picture. Aly is using my old iPad, although at other times she used her Dad's iPad and then Eric would use my old iPad. Natalie is using her new Kindle Fire HD, which she received from us for Christmas--very cool gadget.

This photo was taken at my Mom and Dad's house where we visited on Sunday, December 30th. They also invited some long-time friends (my mom's sister-in-law's sister and her husband) and we spent all afternoon eating, chatting, and playing with electronics, obviously.

I took this photo one morning. I thought Eric looked so comfortable enjoying a show on my iPad while wrapped up in a blanket. He always got up earlier than everyone else and did a pretty good job staying quiet, especially when he had electronics to help him out. One morning he was particularly excited because Aunt Cynthia found the show "Dinosaur Train" on PBS.

We had a pretty low-key New Year's Eve celebration. It had been raining all day in Houston, so we didn't even bother to buy any fireworks. There was plenty of loud sounds coming from neighbors that night, however. We had plenty of food, watched a couple of movies, watched the ball drop in New York, then watched an episode of Modern Family and celebrated the New Year in our Central Time Zone. That's when most of us went to bed. The boys stayed up some more and played on the PS3. Eric had gone to bed at 9pm, even though we told him he could stay up. He said he was tired. How could we argue with that?

I'll try to share a few more details in the next few days, but in the meantime, you can be sure all of us will be playing on our electronics.

Dinosaur Gifts

In case you haven't been following my photos on Facebook, I've been posting photos of Eric and his dinosaur egg. Grandma likes to give lots of little gifts, and just one of the many dinosaur-related toys Eric got for Christmas was a dinosaur egg. The instructions said to soak it in water and after 12-24 hours, a dinosaur would hatch out of it.

It has something to do with the dinosaur soaking up the water. We left it for a couple of days and each day a little more of the dinosaur was poking through. At last, on Friday, December 28th, we just took the dinosaur out of the egg. Eric has been saying all along that the box that this came in had "Stegosaurus" checked. Yes, the little boy who can't quite read yet can recognize all of the dinosaur names. Sure enough, it was a Stegosaurus. The instructions also said that the dinosaur would continue growing if left in water, so we went ahead and left just the dinosaur in water a little longer. This was a really great gift from Grandma. Not only did Eric love the toy that came out of it, his excitement was just building over a few days until he could play with it. Thanks, Grandma!

Speaking of dinosaurs, Eric's godfather gave him this large stuffed T-Rex, and we received it on Thursday, December 27th. It came in this huge box and we could tell Eric was getting more and more excited as Patrick opened the box. When Eric saw the T-Rex wrapped in the plastic, he could barely keep his hands off it. He pointed out to Patrick where the hole in the plastic was so Patrick could open it that much sooner. He's been taking it everywhere with him since.

This picture is when Natalie and Eric were playing in the game room. She is obviously playing on her iPod Touch (i.e., my old iPhone) and he is watching her, clutching his new friend by his side. He has also been sleeping with his new T-Rex, next to his ever-present Nemo and Dory stuffed animals. Another great gift--thank you, Elmer and Kathy!

Holiday In The Park

Last night we took the opportunity to go to Fiesta Texas. They had a special deal where if we went ahead and processed our 2013 season passes, they would add parking to each pass plus extra free friend tickets in the summer and early VIP entry into the park/water park. We treat Fiesta Texas like a big playground during the summer since it's relatively close. Even though the food prices and such are expensive, it's relatively cheap and convenient entertainment for the kids during the summer.

We could have gone on Thursday, but it was COLD. Last night was pretty chilly too, especially with the wind, but it was still better than the night before. Of course, Eric didn't wear his "tough" jacket like I had told him to. He wore his flimsy little jacket and blamed Anthony for not giving him the right jacket. He got very cold walking arounds I offered my scarf to him. He kept trying to scoot the scarf up to cover his ears.

The other three kids tried to find rides that they wanted to ride. Apparently, the rides they wanted to ride were closed, but they still managed to find a couple. Meanwhile, Patrick and I decided to try to keep Eric warm by hanging out in some of the stores. That meant risking Eric asking for everything in sight, but luckily, he accepted "no" pretty easily. He did ask "Is it on sale?" a few times, though. :)

One reason why I wanted to go to Fiesta Texas was to enjoy some of the Christmas lights that were still up. We didn't get to go see any other lights this season, and I wanted especially Eric to get to see them. He has such a wonder about him still, and I try to take every opportunity I can to see that child's wonder whenever I can.

Merry Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas! I was post-call today, but thankfully, I got enough rest so I could fully participate in the activities. I took this first picture on the evening of Sunday, December 23rd, because I wouldn't be home on Christmas Eve evening. I like to take a picture of the tree, decorations, and stockings on Christmas Eve before the chaos of Christmas morning.

Everyone was up by the time I got home at about 8am, except for the big boys, and they were up soon after. Patrick was making crescent rolls filled with either chocolate chips or cinnamon sugar when I arrived. Patrick manned the video camera and I took the still photos while Melissa wrote down what gift was from which person. The gift-opening was more subdued than in previous years, probably because we kept a closer eye on Eric. We kept stopping him to ask who gave him that particular present so we could record it for thank-you notes. He was super-excited about every one.

One of the presents that Grandma gave him was a "dinosaur egg" that we were supposed to submerge in water for 12-24 hours. It's supposed to crack and "hatch" a dinosaur that grows in size in the water, and then we can take him out and play with him. The idea itself is intriguing and very exciting for my dinosaur-loving five-year-old. I took a "before" picture and hopefully I'll get to take an "after" photo in the next couple of days. Eric also got a metal train set filled with treats from Grandma. He was thrilled with the train part and played with it like his other trains. Alex was particularly interested with the treat part. Dinosaurs was definitely the theme with his gifts, but he loved all his gifts. I love Christmas morning with an excited five-year-old!

Alex and Anthony both got Sports Illustrated Swimsuit calendars this year, from Grandma and Grandpa, and both gave their usual big smiles when they opened them. Alex also asked for, and received, some Amazon gift certificates and cash to buy a watch that he's had his eye on, so he got on the computer and shopped away, buying the watch and a couple of caps. He is my shopper of the bunch, and very brand-conscious. He had asked for a particular brand of hoodie, but at $80, I couldn't justify buying one. I found the one he is wearing at JCPenney and knew he was looking for something in that red color to match his Supra sneakers. Luckily, he seemed to love it and he put it on right away. Score for Mama!

Natalie's big gift from us was the Kindle Fire HD. At $199 plus tax, it was more than we've ever spent for a gift for her, but we felt like this would keep her busy during those long swim meets (and away from my iPad!), so we took the plunge. My sister Cynthia was able to buy specific Kindle e-books that she thought Natalie would enjoy. We spent much of the day loading her new toy with books and apps. The theme for most of her gifts was the color red. Grandma got her red house slippers. My sister Melissa got her a red North Face like the one she got for me last year and that Natalie has been coveting ever since. The Kindle case we got her was red, and so even my aunt and uncle got her a red shirt!

I don't want to exclude Anthony in this description, but he was truly hard to buy for. At the same time, he has a mature appreciation for anything he receives because he now sees that he is privileged. One interesting fact, however, was that when our guest (more on that later) asked him where he was applying to college, the first college he named was Stanford. Previously he always said MIT. When we asked him about the change, he said it was "prettier" Stanford. I confess that I've always told him that he would most likely enjoy the surroundings at Stanford better than MIT. We'll see what other college acceptances and scholarship offers he gets.

I invited one of the residents I work with and her family over for Christmas lunch/dinner. They live in our neighborhood, about a street down from where we live. They don't have any family nearby and I've learned through the years that Christmas is more special when you're with family and/or friends. We had a really nice time with them and I hope we'll be able to get together again soon. Patrick did an amazing and fabulous job putting together our Christmas meal!

I didn't want to detail all the presents because that would get too tedious. The most important thing was that we had a wonderful time with family and friends. We're looking forward to New Year's when we get to see the rest of my family. I hope everyone else had happy, healthy Christmas!

My Sister's Visit

My sister Melissa doesn't get to come visit very often, especially by herself, but we always cherish her when she's here. She slept in Natalie's bottom bunk bed, so she's right there when my early-risers, Natalie and Eric, get up.

This is what I saw when I got up around 8-8:30 this morning. Natalie bought a set of 120 Crayola crayons yesterday at Target with a gift card she received from her birthday. As soon as we got home she made a little chart with a sample of all of the colors and their names. Melissa has been coloring with her, but Natalie has insisted that the colors all get put back in the exact place they came from. Melissa thinks that OCD behavior is a little like mine. ;) Anyway, Eric got in on the action too, and all three of them were coloring the same page at one point. Very cute. Melissa has always been great with kids and she has always been good at coloring. :)

Anthony went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert last night with his friend Alejandro, and then spent the night over at Alejandro's house. This morning at 10am, Alejandro met me with Anthony at Our Lady of Atonement Catholic Church, the church we used to belong to when the kids went to that school. Since that is located near La Cantera Mall and Melissa wanted to do a little shopping, we went to the mall before coming home.

We just wanted to get out of the house and do something. The mall was not very crowded, even for the usual weekend day, and especially for two days before Christmas. Melissa and I decided that this was going to be a stress-free shopping trip because we didn't actually have to buy anything. We're already done with our Christmas shopping. Still, it was nice to be able to move around without a bunch of people in the way.

The store we spent the most time in was Bath and Body Works, one of Natalie's favorite stores. I enjoyed just watching Melissa and Natalie look around and keep putting items in their basket. I posted a photo on Facebook of the two of them, and I called them Bath and Body Works junkies! Anthony was good enough to take Eric to the outdoor playground for a while, so Eric was happy too. We had lunch at PF Chang's, Anthony got a gift for a friend at Godiva, and then we were on our way home by around 12:30pm. I'm so happy Melissa gets to spend some time with us!

One more little comment--Eric's "fortune" in his fortune cookie said, "Don't look for happiness--create it." Melissa and I agreed that Eric is very good at "creating happiness" in the people around him already. There are 4 1/2 years between Natalie and Eric. Someone once asked if he was an "accident". I replied, "Oh no, he's the one we had to wait for." He has been a god-send. He brings joy into all of our lives, and his siblings dote on him. :)

Five Parties

It's been tough to think of stories to post about! Yesterday was the last day of school before the Christmas/Winter Break, so Natalie and Eric both had parties at school. There were other parties this week, however, and Natalie even remarked on how she was going to be at five parties this week.

Her first party was on Wednesday during Strings. Patrick bought cookies for that one. Party number 2 was during her GT class on Thursday. Patrick brought cookies for that one, too. On Thursday night, Patrick and I brought a fruit tray, cups, and napkins to her swim practice. They were told to bring all of their swim stuff because they might play games in the pool, but they mostly mingled with each other. Natalie's school party on Friday, mentioned above, was her fourth party of the week. Patrick brought sugar cookies for them to decorate. Finally, she attended a party after school for one of the boys in her class who was going to be moving away. His family had a going away/early birthday party for him. Even Natalie volunteered that she was getting plenty of sugar this week! Patrick made a lot of trips to the grocery store!

The photo above is Eric at his school holiday party. They got to play a few games and decorate cookies. As you can see, he had sprinkled plenty of red sugar on his cookie. I missed it all because I had to be at work by 3pm. I worked last night and I'm working on Monday, Christmas Eve. Thankfully, Patrick's parents are visiting us, and so is my sister Melissa, so we'll at least be with some extended family for Christmas. I really wish my Mom and Dad would have made it too, but Dad wanted to stay home. We'll be able to see them next weekend, though, and what's important is that we all can be together, even if it's not on Christmas Day itself.

Winter Wonderland Meet

As usual, this post is not meant to be a mother bragging about how good her daughter is at swimming. This is meant to be a record for me to remember what her times were at this point in time and so her grandparents can find out what she is up to. First, this is a summary of the results:

50 yard Freestyle--33.14 sec (dropped almost 2 sec)
50 yard Backstroke--37.54 (dropped 0.2 sec)
100 yard Breaststroke--1:50.48
100 yard Freestyle--1.18.20 (dropped 0.02 sec)
50 yard Butterfly--37.00 (dropped almost 1 sec)

This was a three day meet and it was supposed to be for the kids who swam faster than the "BB standard" times. They split the events up so that the younger kids (10 and under) swam in the morning, and the older kids swam in the afternoon, except for Friday night when all the different ages participated. There was also another meet going on at the same time which had kids that swam at or below the "B standard" times. Natalie's friend Maddie was swimming at the other meet.

This meet was a little unusual for us because the coach that signed Natalie up for these events was her previous coach, Coach Nyssa, but her current coach is Coach Kris. Patrick got the feeling that maybe Coach Kris would have put Natalie in different events, because she knows her better from coaching her at Lifetime Fitness, but what was done was already done.

For example, Natalie had never competed in the 100 yard Breaststroke before, and she considers the Breaststroke her weakest stroke. That event was right after her 50 yard Backstroke. She probably should have competed in the 100 yard Butterfly instead, one of her best strokes, and then she would have had more time to rest in between events. Despite the lack of rest time, Natalie was still able to get a "B standard" time in the 100 yard Breaststroke. She was crying when she got to us, because she was very disappointed with her time and the fact that she came in last out of all of the 9 and 10-year-olds. What could we do but remind her that a lot of other kids struggle just to make the "B standard" times. We also reminded her that she had knocked off almost 2 seconds off her 50 yard Freestyle time on Friday night. That's huge!

Natalie has high expectations of herself. As a mother, I can't discourage that. I'm proud of her for working so hard. She has improved so much in such a short period of time, and we're so happy that she has this opportunity.

A Few Things

I need to catch up on a few things from this week. We started the week with actual wintry temperatures. Natalie started wearing an old ski jacket that her brothers used to wear--with red on it, of course. Eric also wore hand-me-downs. It was windy so Eric was trying to cover his face to shield it from the wind. At one point he buried his face in my jacket to protect it. Natalie found a red hat that I usually only wear when I go skiing. Eric wore a hat that I remember Alex wearing when he was probably only two or three.

Excuse the grainy iPhone photo. Natalie was NOT going to look at me. Eric was trying to protect his face from the wind.

At least the weather turned sunny, because by the afternoon, the temperature had climbed into the 50s. It's been pretty much that way all week, but it's supposed to get up into the 70s tomorrow. Warm and cold, back and forth--that's the way the weather is here in central Texas.

Patrick washed some more essential laundry on Monday and took it to a laundromat to dry it in their industrial sized dryers. Since then the laundry has been piling up. Finally today, we got our new washer and dryer. We were actually their first stop of the day, so they were on their way here by the time Patrick got back from taking Anthony to school. Oh happy day!

Eric is such a willing photographic model--very unlike his older brothers. A few minutes before I took this picture, he had bonked his head on the raised counter area of our kitchen island. I told him that he was getting bigger and that's why he had bonked his head. He seemed very happy with the thought that he was growing. He said that by the time he turns six, he would be "very big".

I asked him if he wanted to be in a picture with the new washer and dryer, and he said yes. I told him that in the future, when he gets to be much bigger, we can compare and see how much he has grown. He was quite happy with the idea of getting bigger.

We've got a big three day swim meet this weekend, so I'm sure I'll be recapping that later. Until then, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Birthday, Patrick!

Patrick usually wants a low key celebration for his birthday. He doesn't want anyone fussing over him. He does, however, usually want to relax and do whatever he wants. Unfortunately, we've had a pretty rough week, between Alex and his troubles and Natalie and hers, Patrick also found out that someone tried to use his credit card number in Illinois, and finally, the dryer stopped working. The repairman finally came on Friday and he could have fixed the dryer for about $400, but there were other parts that were worn out, so it'll be better to just get a new one. So, what did Patrick do on his birthday--shop for a washer and dryer. Poor thing.

He also opened and used his birthday/Christmas gift already--a new MacBook Pro. I wanted him to at least have something to open. His Mom also got him a little something. Unfortunately, he got two pairs of slippers. Natalie has been talking on and on about how he needs new slippers. Now he has two. I also got him a Dr. Who shirt.

The day did get a little better. We went out to dinner at Houston St. Bistro, and we had our season tickets to see Peter Pan at the Majestic Theatre here in town. Also, the kids always make life interesting. In this photo, Eric was very interested in all of the presents. He also approached Patrick and said, "Hug Party!" before giving Patrick a big hug. I'm sure Patrick thought that was one of the best presents ever.

Happy Birthday!

First Concert

Natalie had her first cello concert yesterday. I was so glad that I got up on the stage with her while they were warming up to take this photo because the rest of the time I couldn't see her at all. She wouldn't even look at me for this photo, except for one time when she was hiding from behind her cello. At least I caught her smiling! They finally brought her a chair just before the concert started, so she didn't have to try to play the cello standing up.

There were around 200 fifth graders playing in the orchestra. That was from a combination of the three middle school Strings programs. Supposedly there will be about 1000 fifth graders at the Spring concert. I'm not sure I want to go to that! It was so crowded already at this concert that was held at one of the local high schools. The Spring one will be in a huge venue. Natalie seems to be enjoying playing the cello, but she recently told me that she's not sure if she's going to stick with the cello or pick a band instrument so she can be in band. Either way, she seems to have a talent for music and a desire to play. Interestingly, Anthony opted to attend her concert because he wanted to watch her play. What a sweet big brother!

In other Natalie news, we just found out tonight that Natalie "moved up" to the next team, Team Sydney, which is coached by her coach from Lifetime Fitness, Coach Kris. We're not sure what the exact criteria are for "moving up", but she's had good coaching at this swim club with all of the teams she has been on. Also, she went on and on about how there is a boy named Jackson who started at this swim club the day after she did, and how he keeps moving up teams with her. She then said something about how it's "weird" that he moves up with her, especially at this time when people start "liking" each other. I don't remember if that was the exact wording she used, but that last part caught me off guard. I had to ask her to confirm, but sure enough, my baby girl has her first crush!

Story Jam

Lots of stress and activities this week, so I'll keep this short. I took this photo on Tuesday. Natalie is holding up the ribbons from the swim meet this past weekend. This was the only smile she could muster, since she has had a rough week, despite missing swimming practice three days. More details on that at a later date. She should be back at practice tomorrow.

The kids had Pajama Day on Wednesday. I was off of work and able to take photos of Natalie and Eric wearing their pajamas to school. These were the actual pajamas that they had worn to bed the night before. They were ready to go early partly because they didn't have to get dressed and partly because Wednesday is Pop Tart day and they eat breakfast faster on Pop Tart day.

Pajama Day was in conjunction with Story Jam, which was an event where parent volunteers read books of their choosing to groups of kids all around the school. Patrick volunteered and read "Horton Hatches The Egg" by Dr. Seuss. Some of the parents also wore their pajamas, as well as some of the teachers. Patrick did not. He got to read to both Eric's and Natalie's class. Eric's Kindergarten class was paired up with a third class, and Natalie's fifth grade class was paired with a second grade class. They had "buddies" from the other class that they sat next to. Natalie was actually sitting next to one of the little girls that lives on our cul-de-sac.

Natalie was so distracted by the pajamas and the pictures, that she almost forgot her cello. I thought it was interesting that she would not only be wearing pajamas to her own school but also to the middle school where she takes her Strings class.

When I picked Eric up at the bus stop after school, he was surprised when I told him that he would have to change into different pajamas for bed that evening. He even got a bath. He just thought it was the coolest thing to not have to change your clothes at all.

C Meet Three

We had another swim meet today. We have had at least one or two a month since Natalie joined the AAAA (or Quad A) swim club in October. This one was another "C" meet for the events that the swimmers haven't yet competed in or the events where they haven't met the time standards (which are published). Natalie's new coach, Coach Nyssa, placed her in two of the events that she competed in at the "C" swim meet last month because for some reason, those times didn't get put in the system. We were fine with her swimming the 50 yard breaststroke and 200 yd IM again, since she can only benefit from swimming those events repeatedly, but we're wondering what happened to those times. Hopefully we'll find the answer to that question this week.

She also swam the 100 yd butterfly today. That's quite a long distance for her, but she did it, and did it well. She seemed a little slow, honestly, but that was because she was at a slower pace than when she swims the 50 yard butterfly, so she can last longer, obviously. She finished in third place for 10-year-olds (out of 8) with a time of 1:33.48.

Her next race was the 50 yard breaststroke. She swam this at the meet last month with a time of 50.24 seconds, but that was one of the times that didn't make it into the system. Today, she finished with a time of 49.74 seconds. She wasn't happy with her time because she wanted a "BB" time, which according to published time standards, is 47.79 seconds. Still, she did a little better than last time, plus she placed first amongst the 10-year-olds at this meet (again, out of 8 ten year olds). Breaststroke is also one of her least favorite strokes. She's supposed to be in the 100 yard breaststroke event at the meet in two weeks, because her coach was confident that she could do well in that event. We'll see how she does.

Her last event was the 200 yard IM. At the meet last month, her time was 3:16.61. Today, she was noticeably tired during this race. This was the last event for the girls. Almost everyone else had already left, with their events done. We had already been at that natatorium for almost six hours. Her friends stayed to root for her and for once she could actually hear them cheering. She finished with a time of 3:17.05, a little slower, but still good enough for a "BB" time with a third place finish amongst the 7 ten year olds.

I have to insert a short mention about something that happened yesterday. I can't go into details in this public forum, but I do want to include it for my memory keeping. Alex got into some serious trouble yesterday, and Patrick and I are hoping that things will work out in the end. I found this great quote on Pinterest that seems very timely and good advice-- "An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it's going to launch you into something great. So just focus, and keep aiming."

Eric's First Basketball Game

I was a little concerned when, after a couple of practices, Patrick told me that only one of the kids on Eric's basketball team could make a basket. Silly me. I should have known that our 5 and 6 year olds wouldn't be any different from any other 5 and 6 year olds. We only had seven players and the other team had nine. Both teams were required to play each player two quarters, so our team got quite a workout.

The other team was very aggressive, though. They kept grabbing for the ball, triple teaming any of our players that had the ball. Both teams had some trouble dribbling the ball, but the ref was very appropriate and reminded the players to occasionally dribble the ball. I don't recall that he called on any players for traveling.

I was encouraged that early during Eric's play (he sat out during the first quarter with 8 minute quarters), he tried grabbing for the ball, got it, and even tried to make a basket. This the only photo I have of Eric with the ball in his hands. He didn't make the basket, of course, but I loved that he tried.

The other team made lots of attempts at the basket. Luckily, most of them were not really thrown up in the air, they were mostly thrown at the wall behind the basket. To be fair, the baskets were 10 feet high. That's tall for us grownups!

The rest of the time, Eric was mostly running back and forth, standing, and watching others with the ball. This is another photo of one of the rare times he touched the ball. Oh, and he also seemed to love playing with the back part of his kneepads. Once when he was running back across the court, he looked at me, I smiled and waved, and he waved back. I love that about this age! Anthony actually chose to come with me to see Eric's first basketball game. He really enjoyed watching his brother. Patrick and Natalie were at swimming practice and Alex stayed home.

I love this photo of all of those players with their hands up. In the end, our team won 2-0. That means one of our players was the only one to make a basket. She actually almost made another basket--the ball hit the rim and rolled a bit before falling off.

No matter what the score, they all looked like they had fun, and that's what basketball at this age is all about!