Gotta Love Picture People

After a morning soccer game and lunch at home, we went to The Picture People to get our annual family photo. I was worried about DS#3 because our appointment was at 1PM and that's usually his nap time. I can't tell you how pleased I was when I saw this picture! Even the little man is smiling, and he's smiling NORMALLY, not his cheesy smile! This version is the one we're going to hang on the wall. I got a vertical or portrait version of the same picture to save in a scrapbook page and to give to family.

Isn't this another fantastic picture? I was a bit skeptical at first when the photographer told DS#1 to lay down on his stomach and then DS#2 to lay down on his stomach next to his brother, and so on. I tried to get DS#3 to lay down on his stomach too, but he wouldn't get off of all fours. Despite that I think this turned out fantastic because little man is smiling here, too. I also got a few of these to give to family.

DS#1's birthday was last month, but we've been so crazy busy with soccer and Halloween on the weekends that we didn't have time to get his "birthday" pictures taken. DS#2 and DD's versions can be found HERE and DS#3's version can be found HERE. DS#1 was such a good sport! He looked a bit uncomfortable during his "photo shoot" but he did everything I asked. DS#2 and I were throwing out scenarios to watch him react. DS#2 would say things like, "We finished all of the cinnamon rolls and we didn't leave any for you." I even asked DS#1 to take out his phone like he was texting and he did that. I decided in the end that I could get a photo of him texting any time. ;)

The whole photo session, selecting the photos, and getting them took a couple of hours. During one of the waits, we decided to go to the Marble Slab Creamery next door to reward the kids for their good report cards. With Halloween and five soccer games last weekend we weren't able to do this earlier. At first I was going to make DD share her ice cream with DS#3, but DH and I decided that she shouldn't have to share her reward. Besides, after getting his own ice cream yesterday, DS#3 didn't want to share plus he didn't want DD's chocolate ice cream, he wanted the "orange ice cream" he saw in the freezer case. He can be so much like his big sister sometimes. I still remember when she picked her ice cream based on color, except that color happened to be pink! Oh, and by the way, that "orange ice cream" was mango-flavored ice cream. :)

Another Salon Invasion

I decided that the boys needed their hair cut again, and DD needed a trim, so once again my family descended upon the hair salon that I've been going to for the past seven years or so. You can read about the last time we were all there on THIS blog entry.

This time wasn't nearly so "fun-filled". DS#1 read his book while DS#2 got his hair cut and then DS#2 read HIS book when DS#1 got HIS hair cut. Luckily I brought a toy catalog for DD to look at to help her with her Christmas list, and that kept HER occupied. DS#3 found a small board book in his backpack that he had gotten free in a Chick-Fil-A meal. I read that to him a number of times. The rest of the time he was doing things like in this picture above, or sitting quietly eating a lollipop.

I took this picture of DS#1 because I was watching him get his hair washed when I realized how curly his hair was. This is a bad, overblown picture, but I think you can still see his curls. He doesn't usually wear his hair combed back like this, so the curls are more obvious than usual. His hair used to be stick straight like mine, but it became curly when he started hitting puberty. This makes me wonder what will happen to the other boys' hair since their hair is stick-straight now, but this also makes me wonder what will happen to DD's hair since hers actually has some curl now. I really hope her hair stays curly.

Although my boys are always trying to get away with longer and longer hair nowadays, DD has been all about short hair for a few months now. This week, however, she said that she was tired of short hair and she wanted to grow her hair again. This really took DH and I by surprise. We like that she can "do" her own hair (by putting on a headband) but I have to admit that I do miss playing with her long hair. We'll see if she sticks with this. Either way, I'm confidant that she will look pretty no matter what. :)

Letting Go

DH and I have always tried to be very involved parents. We like to go to all of the kids' "events", even when it creates some hardship for us. Luckily, we've been able to do this, with DH "staying at home" and with me having regular and often flexible hours with this current job. Occasionally we've relied on family to come to town and babysit the younger kid(s) when I have to work while DH shuttles the other kids to their activities by himself.

Occasionally in the last year or so we've realized that we need to give up some of our "responsibility". Sometimes we have to ask family to come visit so they can look after one or more kids when I have to work so that DH can more freely shuttle the other kids to their activities. A few times we've asked friends of ours to take a child with them until we could pick them up. We've realized that we can't be everywhere with them, so sometimes we have to ask for help from other parents. Never before has their regular participation in something relied on another parent--until today.

DS#2 wanted to join this "Media Club" that meets after school on Thursdays until 4PM. The teacher heading up the club is his Gifted and Talented (GT) teacher and he just adores her. After school on Thursdays, DH already takes DD to her piano lesson at 4PM. I don't get home until 4:30PM, shortly before he gets back home with DD. DS#2 has to be picked up on time or he's out of the club. Since one of his good friends is also in the club and he lives in our neighborhood, today his mother picked up DS#2 and took him to their house until I could pick him up. Everything went well, of course, but DH and I just have to take deep breaths and "let go" a little.

Exhibit A and B

I usually let DH post these types of things because he was actually there, but I didn't take any other photos today, so I'm using one of his photos for my photo of the day. I loved this photo he took of the floor in front of our staircase. DS#3's shoes were already in place when DH noticed that there were crayon marks on the floor. He called me to tell me about it, and while he was telling me on the phone about how he was thinking of taking a picture, he automatically started cleaning up the crayon with a rag. Luckily, he left a little bit of crayon so he could take this picture for "Exhibit A". ;)

He also found "Exhibit B" on the built-in file cabinets in the office. Of course, we have no idea when DS#3 made these marks, so it's a little late to be disciplining him. DH did tell him again not to draw on the house or furniture, but who knows he'll actually do as he is asked.

Activities for the Sick

How do you decide what activities a sick or formerly sick child can participate in? DH and I discussed the answer to this today. DS#2 stayed home from school again because of what happened last night. Tonight is soccer practice night, so the question became whether or not he could go to soccer practice. I thought that if he felt okay and wanted to go, he should go to soccer practice. He felt well enough to play outside this afternoon and he even asked if a friend could come over. However, he already got it into his head that he wasn't going to soccer practice. With DS#2, once he gets an idea into his head, it's there to stay, so he stayed home.

When I got home, DH told me that I should go upstairs and take this picture in DS#2's room. Apparently he was feeling well enough to take some free NFL stickers that we got in the mail and do this with it. The top panel says, "NFL Teams I..." The other sections say, respectively, "Am A Fan Of", "Don't Dislike or Like", "Don't Like", and "HATE". Of all our children, he is the only one that is interested in sports in general. This was a great way to see it.

As long as I was up there in his room, I decided to take this picture. As you can see, there is a basin on the floor left over from last night. Luckily, he didn't have to use it, but unfortunately, we didn't give it to him in time to catch some of the earlier emesis. Notice also the music taped on the top bunk. That is his guitar music. I really need to get him a music stand or show him how to prop that up on his desk. Lastly, notice the clothes on the little sofa and the unmade bed. Now THAT happens ALL the time! With one picture I have insight into DS#2's day and I didn't even have to chase him around with my camera! :)

First Report Cards

With all of the Halloween excitement, I didn't get a chance to brag about how well my children did on their first report cards of the year. I know you can't really see the individual numbers on this picture, but they are spectacularly high. :)

Here are the particulars for the grandparents:

DS#1--100 in Pre-AP Algebra 2, 95 in Electronic Media, 95 in Survey of Design Tech, 100 in Soccer/Study Hall, 97 in Pre-AP World History, 97 in Pre-AP English, 93 in Pre-AP Physics, and 100 in Spanish I. Physics was also marked with a comment indicating that "Achievement is Outstanding" despite that being his lowest grade. Not to downplay DS#1's achievement, but DH and I wondered how everyone in the class was doing if DS#1's "93" was considered "outstanding". By the way, "Pre-AP" is short for "Pre-Advanced Placement", which prepare him for the "AP" classes where he can take a test to get college credit. I received 18 hours of college credit this way, so my standards are high. ;)

DS#2--100 in Reading, 98 in Language Arts, 98 in Math, 95 in Science, 96 in Social Studies, with the rest of his categories being "E" for "excellent" except for "Handwriting" which was "Satisfactory". Three of his main classes were also marked "Achievement is Outstanding".

DD--98 in Reading, 99 in Language Arts, 95 in Math, 99 in Science, and 94 in Social Studies with the rest of her categories being "E" for "excellent" including "Handwriting". She has pretty nice handwriting for a seven-year-old when she actually takes the time to do her work neatly.

On another more serious note, when he got his report card, DS#2 made a comment that he had perfect attendance. Unfortunately that ended today. He has some sort of stomach bug. He has been able to drink water, but every time he tries to eat solid food (even toast), it comes back up. He had an almost normal dinner and had gone to bed but he ended up throwing that up too. DH had to clean the wall and carpet in DS#2's room just a few minutes ago. I hope he's better tomorrow. Poor baby!

I've got to end this post with a few cute things. Aren't these the cutest little boy clothes?

Cool Like Daddy Tee

Preppy Penguin

Sorry for the disjointed post! :)

Non-stop Soccer

With three soccer games yesterday plus Halloween we're all exhausted at our house, but today was not a day of rest. This afternoon, DS#1 had another soccer game (which they won--yay!) at 3PM. DS#2 had a makeup soccer practice from 3-4:30PM, and DD had a makeup soccer practice from 5-6:30PM. These extra soccer practices are because there were so many practices rained out. They're trying to give parents their money's worth.

This is DS#3 and DD during DS#2's soccer practice. I let them roam around the car. They even sat in each other's car seats for a while. I brought them snacks and juice. Later I took them to Target where I bought even more candy because it was 50% off. I also went by McDonald's to get them cheeseburgers so DD could eat before practice.

Although the temperature was in the low to mid 70s, the sun was very bright and made it seem warmer. DS#3 wanted to eat chips, so I decided it would be better for for my car for him to eat that outside. I wanted to protect him from the sun that was pointed directly at us, so I opened the car door and used that as a shield. Unfortunately, he alternated eating the chips with playing in the dirt despite my repeated requests for him to finish eating before playing.

DH and DS#1 got to the practice fields after his game around the time DD was starting practice. I took the three boys and went by Dairy Queen on the way home to get them something for dinner. My boys are so spoiled! DS#1 ate their "Flame Kickin' Hungr-Buster" (or some other similar name that I can't remember right now) and DS#2 wondered if it would actually "bust" his brother's ever-present "hunger". Both boys got shakes. Like I said--my boys are spoiled!

DS#3 was very cranky today, but describing that would take another whole post and I've bored all of you enough for today. :)

Halloween 2009

For us Halloween being on a weekend means that we have soccer like every other weekend. We started out today with two soccer games, both at 8:30AM. It was in the 40s, clear and COLD! I was asking the other parents, "Now why am I doing this again?" It's because the kids love it, of course! DD and DS#2 both lost their games, unfortunately. They both said they enjoyed playing and that's what matters.

This is the only photo I took of DS#1 today. He also had a soccer game today at 2PM. I stayed home because DS#3 badly needed a nap or he wouldn't make it through to the Halloween festivities so I didn't get to see that game. They were playing the team who is ranked second in their division and they lost as expected.

As you can see from the picture, DS#1 is wearing his "costume". He told me this week that he was going to be a "ninja". When I asked him what he was going to wear, he replied, "Ninjas don't let anyone know that they are Ninjas." :) He did, however, invite four school friends over to hang out and watch movies. They decided on our house because they determined that we have the biggest TV. DH and I loved that at least we would know where he was and what he was up to. They did wander around the neighborhood for a bit before coming home and watching a movie and eating pizza. A couple of other neighborhood friends from middle school came over also. They were surprisingly quiet and the our other kids surprisingly left them alone.

In the previous picture, DH put DS#3's conductor hat on to try to entice him to put his hat on, as you can see, it worked--at least for a few minutes. He at least finally agreed to wear the overalls. We had to tell him that if he wore the conductor overalls, he could go outside and get candy. That worked like a charm. We also turned the house upside down to find his Thomas the Tank Engine pail. I was just happy I got a picture of him in the whole ensemble.

The first thing we did was get DS#3 a chocolate tootsie pop. He didn't end up really eating any dinner, unfortunately, but DH and I have decided to choose our battles. Our cul-de-sac has a Halloween party every year located outside at the entrance of our cul-de-sac. We've been fairly lucky with the weather in the last eight Halloweens and it's the one day of the year that most of our neighbors meet and get to know each other. There is always kid-friendly food (hotdogs or burgers) as well as something like chili for the adults.

We didn't start trick-or-treating until around 6:30. DH stayed behind to keep an eye on DS#1 and his friends. I took the other three with friends and their two boys. DS#3 rode in a stroller most of the time, only getting up to go to the doors. This was easier for me because then we could actually keep up with the bigger kids. At first, DD or DS#2 held DS#3 by the hand to help him get to each door. After a few stops, DS#3 was practically jumping out of the stroller! He even started saying, "Trick or treat"!

We were out for almost two hours and we probably walked for around a mile. DD started complaining about her feet hurting. DS#2 even said that he didn't need to go to every house because he was going to get "plenty of candy". When we got back home and I let the kids eat some of their loot, DD also said excitedly, "The people of our neighborhood spoiled us!" So, that ended another fun Halloween!

Halloween Preview

After another exhausting day at work, I came home to frozen pizza baking in the oven. I only had about 45-60 minutes before we headed to DD's soccer game. She played goalie for the second half. She played a little more aggressively today, although her team lost once again. They have been playing only boys' teams and older girls' teams since there are no other U8 (under 8 years old) girls' teams at their soccer club. They've lost pretty much every game but at least DH and I can see some improvement in how they're playing.

After the game, we rushed home so we could go to a Halloween party given some friends (who are the parents of DD's and DS#2's good friends). DH really wanted to dress up in costumes for Halloween this year, especially since we were going to be going to a party. We only ordered our costumes last Sunday and they got here yesterday. He had trouble finding costumes that were small enough (lots of large adult costumes out there) and I was having trouble finding costumes big enough (since most adult women's costumes seem to be low-cut or short). I picked short since I figured I could always wear tights/leggings. As you can see, we both decided on a pirate theme.

None of our three boys had gone to the soccer game. DS#1 stayed home with DS#3 during the soccer game and the party. DS#1 didn't feel like going to either function. We didn't want to take DS#3 out in the wind and mid-60s temperatures and the costume party would have been too overwhelming with all of those strangers, especially near his bedtime when he is most sensitive. Since the game started at 6PM and that's the time the Halloween party started, we arranged for DS#2 to walk to our friends' house at 6PM. He was anxious to start playing with his friends plus there was supposed to be a scavenger hunt for the kids starting early and he didn't want to miss it. DH, DD, and I didn't get there until almost 8PM.

Our friends' decided to wait for DD to arrive before starting the scavenger hunt, wasn't that incredible of them? They gave out little ribbons and prizes for best overall costume, cutest costume, funniest costume, and scariest costume. For some reason, DD got the "funniest costume" prize for her doctor costume. I think it was just because her good friend shouted out her name when they were "voting". I thought DD had the funny expression ON HER FACE when they were having the kids all stand up and walk across the room to show off their costumes. She looked like she was both embarrassed and showing off at the same time, if that makes any sense.

We left after only about an hour of being there. DD and DS#3 both have 8:30am soccer games that DH and I are not looking forward to getting up for in the morning. It might be in the 40s during those games. I know that's not "cold" for some of you who play soccer in the snow, but it's cold enough for us! It should warm up a little, but it'll still be good trick-or-treating weather. I hope to post some pictures of the other two kids tomorrow.

Now, For A Little Something Different

What do these two things have in common? Nothing at all, except that I didn't want to take two pictures so I put them in one picture for my picture of the day. I'm trying to balance some of the subject matter for my Photo of the Day pictures. I take a lot of photos of DS#3 since he is still changing so quickly and is usually so agreeable with photographs, but I need to also document my other children. The deodorant is DS#2's. In the last couple of weeks, he has started using deodorant. For a few months at least, I could smell his body odor at night when he gives me a hug before I sing bedtime songs to him. I think I'm the only one that can smell it, but DH was not surprised. DS#2 has always seemed to have more body odor than the other kids. I can smell this odor even after he has just taken a bath which meant one of two things, either he doesn't clean himself like he should during his showers or it was time for deodorant. It's probably a combo of both but he really does smell so much better since he started using deodorant.

The other item in the photo is my newest gadget. I love gadgets, especially scrapbooking gadgets. This one is called the "Gypsy" and it's basically a portable container for some of the cartridges I use for my Cricut electronic die-cutter. With it I'm able to see what the machine will cut before I cut it plus I can manipulate the images to some extent. I bought this one on Monday but I only got to play with it yesterday. As I discussed with DH, I didn't really "need" it, but I'm happy now that I decided to buy it. :)

This is DS#2 working on a project that he has known about for a month but that he only started working on this weekend. He has to make a ten-panel comic strip about a book that he read. I was amazed at the fact that his teacher won't allow stick figures. DS#2 has many talents, but art and drawing is not one of them. He does okay, but nothing compared to DS#1 (remember THIS?). In any case, I took a picture of him because, despite having tables and desks to sit at, he chooses to do homework on the floor. Sometimes he does homework while sitting on his bed, too. This time he also used his sister's pink lap desk that I bought on sale at Michael's earlier this year. He has a blue one but I'm sure he doesn't know where it is.

Of course, we still take plenty of pictures of DS#3, which I could have easily used as my photos of the day. DH posted a couple of those on his blog so at least they're posted somewhere.

Winning Points

When I got home from work and picking up DS#1 today, DH was busy in the kitchen making "Easy Lasagna Roll-ups", a recipe from our local grocery store "magazine". It's basically a mixture of ricotta cheese and jarred pesto sauce rolled up in lasagna noodles and baked in sauce and mozzarella cheese. He did a fantastic job and I was so happy I didn't have to worry about dinner!


Thanks to my wonderful husband, I'm also able to upload this video that I took this evening. I've been promising DD that I would take her to Hobby Lobby so she could buy some stickers. I took her tonight because we actually don't have activities scheduled on Mondays plus stickers are on sale for half off. Of course DS#3 wanted to go too. He immediately found these car stickers and he was so excited that he was doing his happy dance. Later he found some Thomas the Tank Engine stickers too. :) DD bought $6 worth of stickers that she paid for all by herself. She was short on the tax (about $0.35 which went ahead and gave her) but she enjoyed buying her own stuff.

DH also did a ton of laundry today amidst power fluctuations at home which may or may not have been related to the steady rainfall we had today. I think he's a keeper, don't you? ;)

Weekend Recap in Pictures

How much sleep do you think this little girl got the night before her cousin's birthday party? The birthday girl didn't stay the night but DD spent a lot of time talking to her other cousin. My mom said that they were still talking at 11PM and they got up before 7AM!

As soon we got to the party DS#3 ran up to my sister and gave her a hug (so cute!), without any prompting from anyone. He then sat in one of the stools next to his cousin A. Then, I think he noticed all of the new faces and started clinging to me. There were chairs for other people like parents to sit at, but DS#3 not only refused to participate in the party with the other kids, but he refused to sit in the chairs. Instead he preferred to sit on the window sill. I figured it was because the sill was just the right size for him to negotiate on his own. He did much better at this cooking party than his sister's cooking party, however. He played with his trains, drank lemonade, and stayed close to me and DS#2.

As you can see, DD started to "wake up" later during the party. I didn't realize until I uploaded this to the computer that she is putting that plastic knife right where her missing teeth are. She was licking the knife after icing her cupcake, something I warned her was dangerous to do. The recipe they made was a "wreath" made out of crescent rolls (for wrapping around the filling), and then a mixture of chicken, yellow bell pepper, broccoli, condensed cream of chicken soup, and cheese for the filling. DD refused to eat it because of the broccoli, so I ate it and found it very tasty.

After the party we went to my sister M's house and opened the gifts. The girls played for a bit before we went to church. Instead of spending the night there, the birthday girl E decided to spend the night at her cousin A's house. There are the girls right before bedtime. They kept chatting until probably around 10PM so my sister M separated them and DD ended up sleeping on the floor of the room DS#2 slept in.

I took this photo this morning. DS#3 looked so funny with the huge Guitar Hero guitar around his neck. He was also singing some song that I didn't recognize. DD is ever the "ham" here with her posing. Both of them looked pretty cute playing together.

We probably left for home around 9:30AM and we had an uneventful trip for the most part. DS#2 was such a big help with all the preparations to leave. He made sure his luggage and his sister's luggage were packed and brought downstairs. He took it upon himself to fill the cooler with drinks and he packed the extra snacks that my mom offered. I was so proud of him!

We were home for a short period of time before we headed to DS#1's soccer game. This game was a pretty physical one. The referee didn't control the game as he should have and a fight broke out during the last few minutes of the game. Unfortunately, my son's team lost 2-0 but they played well against a team that apparently usually scores many more goals during each game. We went out to a local burger joint with some of the team and then came home to get ready for tomorrow. It was a fun trip, but it's great to be home!

Poopy Saga

This is DS#3 enjoying "arroz caldo" or rice soup courtesy of his Lola. He has been sitting at the table for about an hour now feeding himself the broth from the soup. He has a napkin tucked into his shirt because he gets quite messy. You see his tongue licking off every last drop of broth from his lips. I took a few pictures of him and he barely noticed that I was there. I love just watching him. :)

Okay, I was about to post about how DH met me at the parking lot of DS#1's high school, and how we ended up taking a side trip to pick up my niece so that my sister would not have to drop her off at my other sister's house where my parents where going to watch her. Instead I ended up having a Poopy Saga. DS#3 finally said he was done eating right after I wrote the above post. I was just over there taking pictures of him but when my mom went to clean him up, she found that almost his entire back was wet with poop. Ugh!

I say "Poopy Saga" because several frustrating things happened:

--His poop, although wet was already dry on part of his back, so I had to practically scrape it off.

--I couldn't lay him down on his back so I had to clean him up standing up.

--Since some of the poop was dry it flaked off onto the bathroom floor. Luckily my mom gave him a bath so I could clean the floor.

--I had to go looking for Lysol so I tried the master bedroom except for that the door was locked because a certain three little girls were in the master closet trying on Taekwondo sparring equipment and they couldn't hear me pounding on the door. I finally found some Lysol under the kitchen sink.

--My sister recently got a new front-loading washing machine, and when I tried to figure out how to use it, I couldn't figure out how to add soap. Luckily again my mom offered to hand wash it. Thanks, Mom!

Soon after this saga I took my shower because I knew I would have to lie down with DS#3 to get him to sleep. It was almost 10pm before we did that. I thought I was going to get up again to finish this post or to make sure DS#2 went to bed (DD was already in bed). I didn't wake up until a little after 6am when DS#3 woke up screaming--but that's another story.

Going Away

I'm so used to posting every day that it was weird not posting last night, but I was way too tired last night. I need more sleep than I usually get so I'm worn out by Thursday. We didn't even have soccer practice last night. I didn't even take any pictures yesterday!

It was raining most of last night and yesterday morning, so I knew that I would not be parking in the usual parking lot at work because of what happened the last time. The rain did stop around lunchtime and then the sun came out. The weather was absolutely beautiful with the temperatures in the mid 70s with a cool breeze.

When I picked up DS#1, he still hoped that soccer wasn't cancelled but really the fields were still too wet. Because all of the kids were home, DH and I took the opportunity to go out to eat by ourselves. We went to a nearby Italian restaurant that we haven't been to yet and that a co-worker recommended. He had the Veal Parmagiana and I had some sort of mixed seafood dish with liguine and "spicy" marinara. That's how the menu described the sauce but in reality it wasn't spicy at all. We enjoyed ourselves and we will definitely go there again.

Because soccer was cancelled, the kids had time to pack. I'm taking the three youngest kids with me to Houston this weekend. My dear niece E is having her birthday party. Only DS#1 has soccer games this weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday so he will stay at home with DH. The other kids are taking the opportunity of this soccer-free weekend to visit our family. I can tell that my mom is already chomping at the bit to see DS#3. We may stay at one of three different houses (my parents' and my sisters' houses) this weekend but she doesn't care which one as long as DS#3 is there. I hope he behaves for her!

I told DS#1 that I would miss him (and DH too *WINK*). I saw him last night and we said "goodbye" to each other and I won't see him again until Sunday. I am going to be such a wreck when he goes off to college!

You Gotta Wear Shades

DS#2 and DD had Red Ribbon Week at their school this week. It's basically a "Say No to Drugs" type of program. The thought behind the sunglasses is that "Your future is so bright--gotta wear shades". DS#2 and DD just loved wearing their sunglasses to school!

DH was kind enough to take a picture of them this afternoon. I had to work late tonight and it was dark and rainy when I got home after 7PM. Poor DS#1 was stuck at school until I was able to pick him up around 6:45PM. Things were very busy at work and then when I was first ready to leave, we had an emergency and I couldn't leave just then. DS#1 spent the time in Mr. V's Survey of Design classroom where they use computers and computer programs that most people can't afford. After that he chatted with a few friends and then he got hungry and headed off to Wendy's for a light "dinner". DH had gone to Schlotsky's after DD and DS#2's Faith Formation classes (i.e., church school or CCD) and DS#1 was looking forward to eating again when we got home.

DH had left the house for DS#2's guitar lesson soon after DS#2 and DD had gotten home from school at 3PM and he got home some time after 6PM from the Faith Formation classes which are at 4:30-5:30PM. He also ran some errands during the day. Some time in there, he found the time to get this flower arrangement. He had it in a vase all ready and everything by the time I got home. This and the scrappy package from my friend J made my day so much brighter! :)

Grands!® Taco Melts

I know I have to work on my food photography (as well as other kinds of photography) but DH and I tried this new recipe tonight. It's really easy and the kids actually ate it! I had to post this because maybe we'll actually find some new recipes to enjoy and DH and I will actually cook instead of take out/eat out! This is from the Pillsbury website. I didn't use the taco seasoning because I have the simplified way to make taco meat using chili powder and salsa plus the mix is usually a little salty. I even got out a couple of Pampered Chef products that I haven't used since I got them a few years ago.



INGREDIENTS
1 package (1 oz) Old El Paso® taco seasoning mix
2/3 cup water
1 1/2 cups Old El Paso® Thick 'n Chunky salsa
1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef, cooked, drained
1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® refrigerated biscuits (any variety)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese or Mexican cheese blend (4 oz)
1 cup sour cream, if desired


DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375°F.
2. In medium saucepan, cook taco seasoning mix, water, 1/2 cup of the salsa and cooked ground beef until thickened.
3. Press each biscuit into 6-inch round. Fill each with taco mixture and 1 tablespoon cheese. Fold dough over filling and press to seal. Place on greased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 9 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with remaining salsa, cheese and sour cream.

Tomorrow is another busy soccer practice day except that DS#1 has to go to his school to choose electives for next year already, so he will probably miss practice. I hope to have more exciting pictures to show tomorrow. :)

Another Loss

As I mentioned last night, DS#1 met some friends at Laser Quest last night. He was the one who organized the "event" but he didn't plan on the fact that Laser Quest is pretty busy on Saturday night. They all got to play, but they had to play at a later time so they didn't finish until after 10PM. A friend of his stayed over with us last night since he leaves across town. This friend, A.O., has spent the night over many times before and DS#3 really enjoys him. A.O. really enjoys him too and it's cool to see a 14-year-old boy enjoy a 2-year-old like that. This morning I told DS#3 that A.O. was here and he rushed downstairs and gave him a hug. So cute!

This is a picture of DS#1 reading to DS#3. I love seeing my kids interacting like this--so sweet! DS#1 and his friend got to watch DS#3 and DD this afternoon when we went to DS#2's soccer game. The weather was beautiful today. It was about the same temperature as yesterday (mid 70s) but there was more of a breeze during the soccer game, making it a much more pleasant experience than usual.

This is a picture of DS#2 in his blue "away" uniform. I'm a little biased, but I really think he's a cutie. DH is the team manager, so he talks to the coach a lot. The coach seems to think that DS#2 is his best player and it's nice to hear that after last year when it seemed like DS#2 was always getting less play time and less respect as most of the other players on the team.

The game today was pretty rough. DH knew the referee from previous encounters and thinks he's a good referee, but he "lets the kids play". Apparently this means that he'll let the kids foul each other as long as it's not unsafe play (where someone might get hurt) or as long as it doesn't affect the outcome of the game. As you can see from this picture, this one kid is almost mauling my son. Luckily, DS#2 is pretty big and tough and handled it pretty well. Another time another kid jumped up and almost hit DS#2 "where it hurts" and we were pretty happy that the referee called a foul on him plus also gave him a talk on the field about unsafe play.

Unfortunately, DS#2's team lost 3-0 with one of those goals being an "own goal" meaning that one of DS#2's teammates inadvertently scored in the wrong goal. The other team was just more aggressive. They went to wherever the ball was and generally handled the ball better than DS#2's team. The good news is that they won by a smaller margin than their last meeting just 15 days ago. Even their coach made a comment about how much better DS#2's team played than their last game. Sadly, this was another loss. I hope things turn around. It's getting a little discouraging with loss after loss. DD's team keeps losing too. It would be a nice morale booster if both of their teams would win just one game!

Oh The Drama

No, the drama wasn't even from DD, or at least not most of it. This morning, DD couldn't find her white soccer socks. Because she was whining about it, DH and I both tried looking for it, but when we couldn't find the socks, she resigned herself to wearing her black soccer socks.

The drama mostly came from DS#3. DH left around 7:30AM with DS#2 for his warmup before his game so he wasn't there to help. I was hoping to leave by 8AM, but between looking for soccer socks and DS#3's drama, I was a little late. I had hoped that I could leave DS#3 with DS#1, but of course DS#3 just loves to go to the "socca feel" (soccer field). At first we couldn't find his "tennis shoes" as he calls his sneakers. I had bought him a new pair of sneakers (Cars sneakers that light up) but he has refused to wear those. When we finally found his older pair of Cars sneakers, we embarked on a search for trains.

I was trying to pack up his "choo choo ba pa" (Thomas the Train Engine backpack) with trains to play with. When I asked him which ones he wanted to bring, he said "James", but of course "James" was nowhere to be found. I had awakened DS#1 by this time for some help. I asked him to go ahead and put DS#3 into the car, but when I got out there, DS#3 was still crying. I pulled out of the garage then I asked him if he would rather stay home and play with his trains. He said "Yes" so I took him back inside to DS#1. Apparently after I had already left with DD, DS#3 grabbed two other trains (still no "James"). Then he said he wanted to go back to the car. Argh!

I've decided that I'm going to try to post more pictures on my blog, so here are a few. I didn't get any great action shots today, but here's a picture of DS#2 in his nice white uniform. Recently even though he may not have gotten much taller yet, he just seems longer to me. Maybe that's because he's thinning out a little, but I know for certain that his face is changing.

This is what happens when you get to close to someone with a big zoom lens on their camera. DD and I were watching DS#2's game and I was trying to get some pictures. She kept getting in front of me so I decided to get this extreme closeup of her missing top front teeth. She is still saying "phone" and giggling. :)

DD played goalie for a little while during her game, which followed DS#2's game. I took this picture of her kicking the ball during a goal kick. There's not much force behind that kick as opposed to when her older brothers kick you can see their whole body getting behind the kick. Her team lost pretty badly. Her poor coach was watching two teams at the same time (on different fields) plus she was having a hard time getting DD's team to play their positions.

We got a chance to eat lunch at home and then we headed off to DS#1's game. DH and I had to make sure the youngest three were entertained during the game because none of them seemed interested in watching the game. DS#2 played with DH's IPhone and he played with a soccer ball. DD, as you can see from this picture, mostly played on my IPhone. She is trying to stay in the shade of that chair so she can see the IPhone screen better. It was pretty bright and sunny, although the temps were "only" on the high 70s. All in all it was nice weather for the soccer games.

This evening, after church, DH took DS#1 to meet some friends at Lazer Quest. We felt that it was great that DS#1 was actually socializing instead of staying at home reading or playing video games. The youngest three stayed at home with me. Here is DS#3 finishing off 1 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He has been eating a lot lately. On Friday he ate a hotdog at home and then ate four Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets at the mall. After that he wanted his own ice cream. DH and I always hope that he'll grow big and strong like his big brothers. Hopefully it won't be with a lot of drama. :)

Two Front Teeth

I was reminiscing tonight about DS#2 when he was missing his two front teeth around Halloween three years ago and he was still able to bob for apples (see the layout HERE). DD lost her other upper front tooth this morning when DH pulled out her tooth. She has this cute little toothless grin except I don't think she would be as effective at bobbing for apples because her mouth isn't nearly as big as her big brother's. ;-) She was so funny this evening when she tried saying "phone" and it didn't sound right. Of course that just made her say "phone" over and over again followed by little giggles.

It's been a couple of days since I posted a photo of DS#3 so I've got to give the grandparents a little baby fix. For more photos of DS#3 from the zoo today, check DH's blog. Here DD is playing a game called "Sally Spa Lite" on my IPhone while DS#3 is playing "Wheels On The Bus". DD isn't much of a gamer. She barely plays with her Nintendo DS, but she seems to really enjoy playing on my IPhone. My dear sister recommended "Sally Spa" and DD is finally trying it out. Tonight she begged for the full version of the game. I managed to get a few kisses for that one. :)

DS#3's favorite games on the IPhone are "Wheels On The Bus" which is an interactive version of the song by the same name, and "iBlow!" which is an application where he blows virtual bubbles by blowing at the IPhone screen. I don't want to get my kids addicted to video games, but it's nice to provide them with distractions every so often.

Oh, by the way, my car worked fine today. No problems at all!

Car Troubles?

This afternoon after work I tried to start my car. The car would start and then turn off. One of my fears is having car trouble somewhere where no one will help me. Although there were other people in that parking lot, I didn't know any of them and they were all in a hurry to get home. I called DH, and he said he felt helpless on the other end of the phone line. Finally, I tried again and it started and stayed on. Then certain lights came on as you can see in the above picture but they stayed on and they weren't supposed to. I had to look through my manual, but I still didn't really know what the lights meant--something about traction control? Luckily, the car seemed to drive okay and I went to go pick up DS#1 from school.

My car key had come apart before I got to my car in the parking lot. This is a picture of the key after I got home. DH speculated that the car not starting had something to do with some ignition lock thingy related to the car alarm system, which was controlled by this key. Meanwhile, I was afraid to turn the car off, so I waited in the car for about 30 minutes (with the air conditioning on) until DS#1 came out. We stopped to get gas close to home. Just in case the car wouldn't start again, at least DH would be closer and he would be able to pick us up. The car started fine, but those lights were still on.

I got home a few minutes before DH. When he got home, he tried his key. The car started fine and the above mentioned lights did not turn on. He also tried my key again (temporarily put together) and the car started again without those lights turning on. Now we're a little puzzled, but a little relieved that we don't have to take the car into the dealership, at least not yet. I sure hope that my car starts tomorrow!