3D Art Project

I didn't have much to take a picture of today, so I decided to share this picture of Anthony's art project. His assignment was to produce a piece of three-dimensional art. It's a wooden box that is painted green on the outside and black on the inside. Inside on two facing sides are whole rectangular mirrors. Broken pieces of mirror line the bottom along with an arrangement of wooden blocks. On the wooden blocks, Anthony placed a simple line drawing of his hand. I don't think this picture adequately shows the wire/cord combo that extends from one side of the box to the opposite corner.

I asked Anthony if he had named this piece or if the piece had some special meaning. He said he "just thought of this idea" and that the piece had no particularly special meaning. Despite that, I think this looks rather cool, even though it's a bit more modern art than is my usual taste. Anthony is pretty creative, isn't he?

Ice Cream Lovers

I haven't posted any new photos of Eric in a while, so I thought I would take a few photos tonight. He had fallen asleep on the way back from the pool, shortly before I got home and he stayed asleep for over three hours. When he awakened, he ate some hotdogs and cheese, and then he was ready for $1 Scoop Tuesday at Baskin-Robbins. Anthony is sleeping over at a friend's house tonight, and Alex was playing the PS3 Call of Duty online game, so it was just Eric, Natalie, and me again.

He's now starting to call his favorite ice cream "Rainbow Sherbet", although he started calling it "pink and owange and white ice keem" and I had to remind him of the correct name. Natalie finished her ice cream quickly and started trying to ask him if he wanted help with his. That was met with a resounding, "No!" They gave us a sample of their Mango Fruit Blast Smoothie which was rather tasty. My mango-loving girl surprisingly wasn't interested, although my mango-loving boy ate his sample after finishing off his ice cream.

I don't post many photos of Patrick, but I had to take this photo tonight. He's been playing a lot more video games lately, specifically the online PS3 Call of Duty--Modern Warfare. With school out, Alex and Anthony have been playing quite a bit and Patrick's been playing with them. Notice how the Patrick and Alex look like they're in a trance. If Anthony were home, he would have the same look on his face.

Dinosaurs Unearthed

Today, Patrick took the kids to see the dinosaur exhibit currently at The Witte Museum. I was working late today, so all I have are these pictures and snippets of information from Patrick. There were a few interactive exhibits and apparently, Eric and Natalie loved the one where they could dig for "fossils". Interestingly, one of the pictures that Patrick took shows Eric just digging, but not necessarily for fossils--he was just digging just to be digging.

Many of the dinosaurs were not only animatronic but the kids could control their movements by pressing buttons. I love this photo of Anthony holding Eric and helping him push buttons. The older boys were more interested in reading all of the information on the accompanying panels.

There was also an exhibit about the San Antonio River and the bugs and other things that can be found in the water. Natalie was able to see larvae under the microscope and these bugs that were preserved in blocks. I was a bit surprised by this because she usually says, "Ew!" when she sees bugs. I know I can't help but say "Ew!" In fact, this afternoon, Natalie was talking about looking at the larvae, to which I said "Ew!" and Eric heard me and repeated "Ew!"

Natalie missed swim team practice today because they treat the pool on Mondays and she is very sensitive to the chemicals. Tomorrow she wants to go to the morning practice AND the evening practice. Patrick is planning to the take all of the kids to the pool tomorrow. Hopefully Eric will get tired out playing in the pool tomorrow like he did today walking around the museum.

Entertaining 7-Year Olds

We had a pretty relaxed day today. After church this morning, Natalie and I went shopping for clothing and shoes (for her). She really reminds me of me when she shops. She has an idea of what she wants and doesn't want, and I can't convince her to like something I like. She's different from me, however, in that she makes quick decisions about whether or not she wants to get something. We bought her two dresses, two shirts, and a pair of swimming goggles at Kohl's. She got some lip balm at Target (and I bought a few other things there also, of course). At Payless she got two pairs of shoes. She had quite the haul in about two hours with driving time and Target time included (because I can never leave Target in less than an hour and spend less than $100).

In the afternoon, she invited a couple of her friends over to play. They decided to play "Spy". Patrick and Alex had gone to a meeting with their new soccer team members. Since Anthony and Eric were the only other people at home, and Eric was already following them around, that meant that they were going to "spy" on Anthony, who was playing games on the computer in the office. Watching them was entertainment for me (and I think for Eric too).

Can you see them underneath the desk behind where Anthony is sitting? They would "sneak" into the office and hide there. I use the term "sneak" very loosely since you could hear their bare feet walking across the wood floor and they couldn't help but giggle every so often.

Here they are behind/under the desk. They would talk there, "pretending" to be upstairs when they were talking. Did they really think Anthony wouldn't be able to hear them back there and think they were actually upstairs? At one point they wanted me to distract him and put a blanket up so he wouldn't see them sneaking into the office. I pretended to distract him, but I refused to put the blanket up. That would have been WAY too obvious. ;)

Here they are plotting. They also pretended to be planning something for Eric to try to fool Anthony. At this point Eric was happily eating raisins in the breakfast room.

Here is Anthony holding up a sign while they are behind him. What was even funnier was that it took them a while to see the sign and read it. I was in the other room at the time and I heard one of them reading the sign out loud! Too funny!

RR Swim Meet

Once again, no rest for the weary. Patrick and I stayed up late last night at that graduation banquet and we had to get up at 6:30pm again this morning for Natalie's swim meet. Luckily, it was cloudy for most of the meet and the temperatures were actually in the upper 70s, so the weather cooperated. It did get warmer near the end, but at least this one only lasted until around noon.

Natalie swam in four events this time, the same ones as last time except she did not swim backstroke this time. Patrick and I aren't really sure why her coaches didn't sign her up for swimming the backstroke when that is probably her best event right now (and one that she has always placed in). She's been working hard on her breaststroke after getting disqualified last week, and she was one of only four swimmers in that event, so hopefully she'll keep her fourth place finish and not be disqualified this time. Her relay teams (freestyle and medley) both finished in second place and she also finished in third place in her heat in the freestyle.

Natalie has expressed some interest in swimming in a club (like the boys are in club soccer). We've heard that club swimming usually has practices 4-5 times per week for two hours each night. Even when I told her this, Natalie still seemed very interested. Yes, the girl that doesn't like to practice (piano) doesn't mind practicing (swimming) for hours every night. Patrick and I will have to see what's available and look into the benefits versus the time commitment. Today, Natalie didn't complain at all about being at the swim meet for almost four hours.

Last Day of School 2010

I already wrote all about Alex's last day of school. Patrick and I went out for brunch after Alex's ceremony and then I went back to school at 1:30pm for Natalie's party. They had an ice cream party where they could make their own sundaes. Natalie chose her favorite flavor, chocolate, with chocolate syrup, and added gummi bears. Interesting combination, don't you think? :) They also had a couple of other crafty activities, like putting together your own summer-themed picture frame and making your own scratch art bookmark.

Natalie's teacher (Miss E) taught for the first time this year. She gave each child in her class a decorated water bottle for Field Day last week and yesterday she also gave each child a thank-you note. She thanked Natalie for helping her remember stuff. To me that meant that Natalie was being a little bossy, but she really did mean that she was grateful for Natalie's reminders.

Patrick had gone to pick up Anthony from school and they both arrived before the party (and school) ended. They took the opportunity to visit one of Anthony's old teachers, Mrs. A, who still remembers him from when he was there for second grade! She is the school's teacher for their "Gifted and Talented" program and Alex and Natalie love her class. Alex will certainly miss her next year when he goes to his new school.

Interestingly, both Natalie and Alex decided that they wanted to ride the school bus home on the last day. They love their bus driver, and for good reason. He genuinely seems to care for them, as well as keeping them safe. He also knows all of their names and even their birthdates. He gives them presents for their birthdays and on the last day he gave gifts to those with summer birthdays. Amazing, huh?

I know this picture doesn't really belong in this topic, but I had to include this bad photo that I took at the Graduation Banquet that Patrick and I went to tonight, just because it's the only photo I took today. This morning was the graduation ceremony of some of the residents that I work with. These four are the chief residents for this past year and there are also twelve others that are finishing up their residency. They will all be leaving for different parts of the country by the end of this month, and it's always a bittersweet time. The new ones will join us early next month, and we'll be starting all over again.

Fifth Grade Graduation and Parade

Alex's school had a special ceremony for the graduating fifth graders this morning. The woman that is standing is the current school principal, who is retiring after this year. Alex's two homeroom teachers are sitting just to her left.

All of the fifth graders then walked across the stage individually. Alex got awards for citizenship, academic excellence, and all A's. The medal is for getting all A's. I think the only reason why he is standing there on the step and actually looking at me while I take the picture is that they were told to stop there for photo ops. Still, I was surprised that he actually did it. If you look closely, you can see a slight smile on his face.

Then he received the President's Award for Educational Excellence, which is for getting all "E's" in conduct and getting an average of 90 and above for all his classes. As you can see, he didn't bother stopping on the step this time. Patrick had arrived by this time. He was late because he had to drop off Anthony at school. He left early, but the streetlights were all still flashing red from last night's thunderstorm and it took a good hour or so for the round trip. In any case, we hopefully at least have this one on video. ;)

I really had to laugh when he accepted the Superintendent's Award for getting a 96 and above in all his classes and getting "commended" ratings on the TAKS test, so I was inspired to scrap this series of photos today just so I could post it right away on this blog. As you can see, he gets the award from one teacher but by the time the other teacher has a chance to try to shake his hand, he is already looking towards the stage steps so he can leave immediately.

After the awards part, I snuck over to where he was sitting to get a picture of him sitting with his classmates. This was before he noticed that I was there. When he saw me, at first he wanted me to take his awards so I could hold them, but then he decided to hold them himself. I've always thought that Alex wore his heart on his sleeve. You can always tell how he's feeling by the way he's acting. This shows, however, how subtle that emotion can be. He was proud of himself so he kept wearing his medal and carrying his own awards.

He didn't want a picture with Patrick, however, but we weren't sure we'd have another chance. All of the fifth graders were about to take off for a nearby pool to have their celebratory pool party for the rest of the school day. Patrick will probably already miss Natalie's party at 1:30pm because Anthony gets out of school at that time today. This was right before the "parade" where all the other kids in the school lined the hallways to congratulate the "new 6th graders".

As you can see, Natalie was one of the onlookers during the parade. I missed the moment when Alex actually gave her a "high five" but I still like this picture because it shows slightly embarrassed but still adoring look and it shows Alex walking away and trying to ignore his sister as per his usual. It also shows how the other kids were all lined up and trying to get a "high five" from the fifth graders. What a cool tradition.

Alex refused a picture with his homeroom teachers who were back in his classroom at the end of this parade, but his fourth grade teacher from last year grabbed him and said that he had to get a picture with his "favorite teacher". He has said that she was his favorite teacher. She really made him love this "new" school that he started going to only last year. Patrick and I can't say enough good things about her. This happy picture just exemplifies his two years at this school and is also a great ending to this graduation post. :)

Adventures in the Dark

We had a big thunderstorm blow through at around 8:30pm last night. The younger kids had all just gone to bed. We were left without power for over five hours. There were so many things I needed to do, but what can you do when it's pitch black inside the house? Play with your wireless electronics, that's what. I played on my iPhone for a bit and I took this picture of Anthony playing on the iPad. We were all in bed by 10pm.

The worst part of the power outage was that neither Patrick nor I had eaten dinner yet. He had a frozen pizza cooking in the oven and I hadn't yet heated up my leftovers from a previous night. Patrick ate a cheese sandwich. I was about to just go without, because I really wanted something warm and I figured skipping one meal wouldn't hurt me. Patrick realized later that the pizza had continued cooking in the oven, so I had a couple of pieces. I was good with that.

This was going to originally be my picture for today. Patrick was at the soccer fields again for tryouts with the older boys. He took Eric with him this time. I went with Natalie to swim practice again. Her coach worked with her individually on the breaststroke, just like last night. Since Eric wasn't here to take a bath with Natalie, I took a shower with her instead. After dessert she began reading. She's become an avid reader this year, with her recent favorites being the Bailey School Kids and Goosebumps series that her brothers used to be interested in too. I think that's great because I can tell that her vocabulary is growing and because we have plenty of books at home in those two series. You can see on her face how much she's enjoying this book. Notice how she's sitting in the same spot on the sofa that Anthony is sitting in the top picture. They have the same expression on their faces. :)

Photo of the Day Again

I've missed taking a photo per day. That project took so much time last year, but I've always been happy with the results. I got so used to taking at least one photo each day last year that this year, I would often lay in bed and think about what photo or photos I should have taken but didn't.

This is my photo for today. I like how I can see the contents of this corner of my bathroom in this one photo. The extra bath toys are on the shelf and around the bathtub. Natalie's swim team swimsuit is draped over the faucet because we were just at her practice. The bottle of foam soap is there, and it reminds me that for some reason, Eric hates playing with that but Natalie loves it. There's a washcloth next to that because Eric, who has not minded water being poured over his head since he was a baby, now can't stand to have water on his face or eyes and has to have a cloth to wipe with. I can see just the back of Eric's head because he is concentrating so much on his Thomas boat that is in the tub, and having so much fun that he is still in the tub while Natalie is already dressed with her hair done, and sitting outside of the tub. She is sitting there playing a game on my iPad because I needed to go downstairs and make her Easy Mac that she wanted for dinner. I didn't want to leave Eric by himself, and I knew that if she was in my bedroom and not in the bathroom, she would ignore her little brother. Her hair is done in pigtails, her current hairdo of choice, and if I do the pigtails while her hair is still wet, it will stay in pigtails for school the next day. Notice also the swimsuit tan lines. We don't bother with sunscreen when she goes to swim team practice at 5:45-6:30PM but she still tans very well at that time of day. She is wearing her so-called "monkey dress" because it has gotten short on her that she now wears it to bed. There are lots of things to look at in this picture!

I had to throw in an extra picture because I noticed the interesting pattern the noodles made after much of the water had boiled off and before I added the sauce mix. I made Natalie one package of Easy Mac thinking that she could eat one package when she was two years old. Sure enough, she asked for another package after she finished the first one and finished that one too. Eric asked for some Easy Mac after he'd heard that I was making Natalie some. We've nicknamed those two our "Anti-Atkins" kids after the diet plan that famously omits all starches.

Patrick and the boys were at soccer tryouts, scheduled today through Thursday. I'm sure that I'm more stressed over this than anyone else in the family, including the boys, which is better than the boys stressing over these tryouts--I guess.

Parental Worries

We're so proud of this little girl. We received the final results from Saturday's swim meet today. The teams she was on got first place in the 100m Freestyle Relay and second place in the 100m Medley Relay for Girls 8 and under. She got second place in the 25m Backstroke for Girls 8 and under. Unfortunately, she was disqualified in the 25m Breaststroke and she didn't place in the 25m Freestyle (although her practice time in the freestyle would have put her in third place. She seemed subdued when I told her about this, but later I found her upstairs crying in her room. She was upset that she "DQ'd" in the breaststroke, a stroke she only really learned in the last couple of weeks. Both Patrick and I reassured her that she shouldn't expect to be good at this stroke without a lot of practice. Patrick later told me that he had told her coach not to put her in that event because he knew she didn't know it well enough and would likely DQ. She does so well for her size and age and we told her how proud we are that she even tried the breaststroke in a race.

On a lighter note, the swimsuit she is wearing above is new this year. Patrick was all upset with her about how the halter top was so loose and was telling her that she shouldn't be wearing it because she was "hanging out". Well, all I did was adjust the top by tying it a little tighter and it fit just fine. I think Patrick's fatherly instinct to keep his daughter covered up was clouding his thinking about a simple solution. ;)

This big guy never seems to want his picture taken. At least this year he doesn't seem to feel so self-conscious without a swim shirt on, or maybe it's because swim shirts aren't cool anymore or something. Anyway, Patrick and I are worried about him and his soccer tryouts that start tomorrow. Last year he was crushed when he made it to the "bottom" team. This year he has a chance to move up. His coach thinks he has a chance. Patrick not only thinks he has a chance, but he also thinks that Alex NEEDS to move up in order to be pushed to improve. I know this is a relatively minor matter in the world scheme of things to worry about, but I hope and pray that Alex gets placed in a more competitive team after tryouts this week. I really want to see a big smile on this handsome boy's face. Wish him luck!

As y'all can see from all the swimwear in this post, we went to the pool today--sort of a Memorial Day tradition. Eric stayed on the pool steps as usual, but he seemed okay with getting splashed in the face, at least. Alex in particular, kept throwing his football so it would land just in front of Eric and splash him, and Eric seemed to be enjoying it. In keeping with this post topic, however, I just need to mention about how many bug bites he has on his legs. Anthony has taken him outside while babysitting him this weekend, and those shorts stints outside were enough to get both of his lower legs almost completely covered in red welts. It's actually frightening to see how many there are. Fortunately, they don't seem to bother him much, but we certainly made sure to "spray him down" when we went to the pool today.

No pictures of Anthony today. He was home studying for his Art final exam tomorrow, which is actually his hardest exam, believe it or not. He's not having any problems with Algebra 2 (which he actually doesn't have to take because he's doing so well) or Physics, but he found the Art final from the Fall Semester quite challenging. He still got an "A" in the class, but he really wants that "A" again.

Because today is Memorial Day, I have to acknowledge why we have a holiday today. My family and I are forever grateful for all the sacrifices our military and their families have made for us and for our country. My worries are small compared to their families' worries when they are in harms' way.

Loud Noises and Other Interesting Facts

You probably want to know what Eric is doing in this picture. We were eating dinner at Chili's tonight when he started making a certain "noise" over and over again while doing this hand gesture. When Natalie told us that Eric was pretending to be an elephant, Anthony suddenly said "YES!" Apparently, he had tried to make an elephant noise some time in the last couple of days when he was babysitting Eric. He said he had a hard time trying to make a noise that sounded like an elephant but now that Eric was trying to duplicate the noise, Anthony was rejoicing because he had taught his brother something. Maybe I should tell him that he can rejoice when he teaches his brother to read. Making loud elephant noises in a restaurant--maybe this shouldn't warrant any rejoicing, especially when a lady in the next booth comes over and asks us to make Eric stop because her party can't hear each other talk. Of course Patrick thought she was being overly sensitive, but then we're getting a little hard-of-hearing anyway from all of our kids making elephant noises and other loud sounds. ;)

Some other interesting facts about today are listed below:

--We dropped Natalie off at a friend's house for a 7AM playdate. Yes, I spoke to her friend's Dad yesterday and he was the one that suggested it.

--We were all up by about 6:30AM again (for Alex's soccer game). Is it a a true "day off" when you have to get up around the same time as when you have to go to work/school?

--Alex's soccer team made the semi-finals in the soccer tournament today, but then lost to a team that wasn't as good as the one they tied with in the morning. More thoughts on Alex and soccer this week when I post about soccer tryouts scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

--Our priest is retiring after 19 years at our parish. We went to mass today at 5PM instead of yesterday because the Going Away Party was tonight right after mass. There were so many people there that it would have taken at least a half-hour or more of standing in line to get food (Patrick thinks there were around 400 people there), so we ended up eating elsewhere. Natalie got a little teary about leaving the party but the mass had been filled with "goodbye" greetings anyway.

--Anthony seems to notice mostly girls with dark hair. Patrick spotted a blonde checking out Anthony on her way back from communion but Anthony didn't notice her at all. He did, however, text a friend during dinner about a different blonde.

First Swim Meet 2010

Bright and early--Natalie and I were at the neighborhood pool at 7AM this morning. The temperatures weren't so bad then, although it was already well into the 70s. Luckily we found a shady spot near someone else's pop-up tent, but I volunteered to help time the races, so that meant standing mostly in the sun for three hours. It was really, really hot.

Natalie did her best, but she did not come out on top for most of the races. Her team did place first in the 100m freestyle relay and she swam the 25m breaststroke (see above photo) for the first time in a swim meet. She swam breaststroke again in an IM relay, her last race. I was proud of her for swimming using three different strokes this year (the other one was the backstroke).

As you can see here from this picture to the left, the girl in front of her is also a second grader, but she is already eight years old and much bigger than Natalie. She swam in the girls 7-8 years old category this year, so being at the bottom of the bracket, the bigger/older girls were much faster. She seemed to enjoy herself, so it was all good.

As for the rest of the family, Alex played all but about three minutes in two different games in a soccer tournament today. He has one more game tomorrow. Anthony stayed home all morning with Eric. It was so much easier only having to worry about one child at the swim meet this morning!

So Proud

Today I just need to do a little mommy bragging. This morning, Anthony received a special award for exemplifying his school's "core value" of Integrity. His school has four core values that they stress pretty much whenever they have a chance: perseverance, integrity, commitment, and kindness. He was nominated by his Physics teacher, Mr. G. Also, all the Physics students apparently took a "benchmark test" recently. They have to take something called the TAKS test (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) testing different subjects in different grade levels. Each school is "graded" based on the performance of its students on this TAKS test, and state funding depends on these results. "They" are thinking of switching to these "benchmark" tests instead. Mr. G told Patrick after the ceremony that on the recent Physics benchmark test, Anthony made the highest score in the entire school district. I was glad that I was sitting near Anthony when I heard this, because I felt compelled to give him a big hug and to tell him how proud I am of him. :)

Speaking of TAKS testing, Alex had to take the reading, math, and science tests in April. He received "commended performance" ratings in reading and math, which means that he performed "considerably above the state passing standard" meaning that he has a "thorough understanding of the knowledge and skills tested at the fifth grade." In science, however, he not only received a "commended performance" rating, but he got a PERFECT SCORE. How cool is that? Alex told me this in a totally nonchalant way, like he didn't think it was any big deal.

I've already bragged about Natalie's piano accomplishments recently, but I just had to add what a great swimmer she is. The swim meet is this coming Saturday, but I was watching her at her swim team practice yesterday. They were practicing diving off the new starting blocks they just installed at our neighborhood pool (to specific whistles signaling to get ready and to start swimming, etc.). There was a girl her age that was halfway down the lane already when Natalie jumped off the starting block and she not only caught up to her, but she beat her to the finish. The girl is a friend of hers, so she playfully said, "Beat You!" when she touched the end first. She had her proud, smug smile on her face.

I could also brag about Eric, but I'll be home tomorrow and I'm sure I'll have a few pictures to share and stories to tell tomorrow night. :)

Eric's Pool Habits

This isn't the greatest picture, but I had to show off Eric's new swimsuit and he wasn't cooperating. This was taken on Sunday when the whole family went to the pool. This set is from Gymboree and is a size 3T. Most elastic waist shorts are pretty loose on my little man, but these seem secure on his hips, so hopefully they won't come off inadvertently.

He was most interested in playing with the water guns. He rushed up to Patrick, who had the toy bag, and said, "I want a gun." That's my boy. He enjoyed shooting everyone and tolerated being shot at. He did not want to leave the stair area, however, and interestingly, whenever Patrick or I would try to carry him further into the pool, he would say, "I don't want to get dirty." Huh? We don't know where that came from. He loved being carried out into the pool last year, and we hope he will love it again this year. We'd like to get him swim lessons, but that won't work if he doesn't want to leave the stair area.

Closet Clean-Out

I asked the older kids to clean out their closets and drawers this past weekend. I had a feeling that Anthony's closet and drawers would be the worst, but I was still amazed at the amount of stuff. He must have just moved everything when he moved to his own room downstairs. Patrick, Anthony, and I laughed long and hard when we saw some of the neckties. One of them must have been the clip-on tie he used when he was in a wedding at age 3! He got the biggest kick out of the fact that he had a glow-in-the-dark Batman shirt in his closet too. That one might have been worn by Alex last, but that was probably at least five years ago. Then of course there was the size 12 underwear briefs that he hasn't worn in at at least two years (when he started wearing boxers).

Natalie only went through half of her closet, but I was able to fill two big shopping bags with clothing she has either outgrown or she doesn't like anymore. It actually didn't take her long, and I only realized why when I saw the floor in front of her closet. She must have just pulled the clothes all down, taken them off the hangers, but then left the hangers right there on the floor.

I didn't take a picture of Alex's closet but he filled two kitchen trash bags with the clothing. He still hasn't gone through his drawers (and neither has Natalie) but he got lots of hand-me-downs from Anthony. He still has another kitchen trash bag of potential hand-me-downs to go through. I sorted through Eric's clothes too, and filled a trash bag with clothes he has outgrown. This week I plan on finishing Alex and Natalie's drawers.

One more interesting fact--Patrick and I got "hand-me-downs" from Anthony too. I got an adult medium T-shirt that must have shrunk a little when it was washed, and Patrick got two adult large T-shirts that were freebies that Anthony used to wear to bed but that he no longer wants. I have to laugh that everyone in the family will be getting something from those stacks of clothes on his bed shown above--except for Natalie. :)

Alex's Guitar Recital

Alex's guitar recital was yesterday afternoon, and whereas Natalie seems to thrive on performing, Alex does not. He didn't want me to take any pictures of him. He didn't understand why he had to do this recital. He was grouchy and very quiet before the recital but he didn't want to talk about it at all. During his performance, he looked down and looked unhappy the entire time. He didn't smile at all until after his performance when I joked around with him.

Patrick and I thought he did well, although we did notice a small mistake, but only because he sort of stopped and shook his head a little. We could tell that he wasn't happy that he made that mistake but he still sounded good. We both complimented him on his performance, but Alex doesn't take compliments very well. When Patrick and I both told him he looked nice (because for once he actually wore a collared shirt and khaki pants) and he totally brushed us off. Oh well, I'm sure this is just a phase. Alex has a lot to be proud of.

Spring Piano Recital 2010

Yesterday was Natalie's Spring Recital. I took this picture right after she took her bow and right before she performed her two pieces. I felt like a "slacker mom" because I didn't shop for a new dress or shoes for her to wear to this, like my friend KT did for her daughters. I also didn't do her hair. I didn't even remind her to bring a headband. That's why it's so messy. Her shoes were also a little small but we didn't have any others that were dressy enough to match the dress. Ugh!

Patrick and I are always so proud of how Natalie performs. She really "kicks it up a notch" when she has an audience. She usually looks a little nervous, but she doesn't seem to let it bother her. Almost all of the kids memorized their pieces (except for a couple of the older ones that were playing long pieces) and many of them made noticeable mistakes. I know Natalie's pieces pretty well, of course, and she played them at least as well or better than I've heard her play them before. You go girl!

The Spring Recital is also where her teacher presents their awards. Natalie was so proud, and so were her parents! She got a gold medal for getting an "A" on her Theory test. She even got a perfect score! Her teacher also gave her a certificate for always practicing her assigned amount of time as well as effective practicing, meaning that she actually knew her assigned pieces. I had to rejoice at this one because I've tried to step back and stop pushing her so much so she has been practicing mostly on her own. This means that I can feel less guilty that I'm not actively helping her. Natalie also got a blue ribbon for getting a "Superior Plus" on her Achievement Auditions in April and a certificate for her "Excellent Plus" on her Guild Auditions just last week. She was the only one at this recital to have to memorize 15 pieces for her Guild Auditions last week (International Level).

I already told her a few times that I'm so proud of her. I wasn't happy when she told her teacher she wanted to memorize fifteen pieces for the Guild Auditions last week because it meant more work for me too. I left her alone for most of those couple of months or so that she practiced those pieces. I really only helped her in the last couple of weeks. She didn't play them all perfectly, but she played them pretty darn well, especially for a seven-year-old, and she did it mostly by herself. You GO girl! :)

I Want Jelly

We had a slow start this morning, and the kids didn't eat breakfast until 10PM. Natalie had her friend M over to play, and when she asked if she could have a snack and it was 12:30PM, I politely reminded her that her "snack" needed to be lunch. Seeing the girls making their own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches was interesting. It's only been recently that we've allowed Natalie to make her own, so she's still a little messy. Still, it's nice that she can make her own now.

Eric had been playing with the girls, so when they asked for a snack, he wanted one too. He still had "snack" on his mind and started asking for a "jelly sandwich". At first I wondered if Patrick had given him a jelly sandwich before and that's why he wanted one--no, he hadn't. When I told Eric that he had to have peanut butter with jelly in a sandwich, this is the face he made--with tears and crying. I thought it was so funny that he would get so upset about this that I took a picture. Anthony thought it was mean to take a picture of Eric being upset. I told him that I was going to use this picture when he gets older, as blackmail. ;)

We did have some happier times later. Eric wore his new Lightning McQueen flip-flops for the first time today. This is also the first time he's worn any flip-flops, and I thought his little feet looked so cute in them that I wanted to preserve this moment in a picture.

When I took the picture of just his feet, he was also smiling--on cue. I laughed because he totally looks like he's posing, doesn't he? Unfortunately, he loved his new flip-flops so much that he insisted on wearing them to church. He was napless and it wasn't worth the fight, so we let him. His older brothers didn't want to bother wearing nice clothes and shoes either, so he matched them.

Socrates Cafe

Alex's GT (Gifted and Talented) class went to an event called a "Socratic Cafe" this week. Their class met with four other elementary GT classes. The purpose of this was to "discuss questions concerning the philosophies they have studied, formulate and state their own ideas and learn from other's ideas."

We were supposed to send him in "Socratic Robes" and his teacher sent instructions on how to make them. Of course, Patrick and I forgot about making them until the night before, and of course we didn't have any white flat sheets in the house. Alex was happy enough with a blue one. We were supposed to fold the sheet a certain way and then use "clasps" for the shoulders. Well, we didn't have anything like that either, so I sewed the shoulders together. He was a pretty good sport and stood still for me. He's feeling a little goofy here because Patrick had to take several pictures before this one.

As far as I know, he enjoyed this so-called "Socratic Cafe". He didn't really talk about it much. My boys are so darned talkative!

Director's Award

Tonight, instead of soccer, we got to go attend an awards ceremony at Anthony's school. It was billed as a ceremony to congratulate the Class of 2010, so this made us think that this ceremony would not be a short one. The little guys in the picture above are modeled after the school logo. We thought it was cool that the seniors were getting these, and apparently, the seniors thought so too.

They announced some awards for excellence in individual classes early on that included a few of Anthony's friends. Then each and every one of the graduating seniors walked across the stage to receive a certificate and one of the statues/trophies in the picture above. On the screen above their heads they listed each name, their awards and scholarships, and what college they were headed after graduation. After that was over, we were wondering if Anthony was still going to receive an award. Thankfully, he did. He received a "Director's Award" where two or more teachers had to recommend that student for the award. He got a certificate and a pin. Patrick and I were very proud. We wondered which teachers recommended him, but since his Physics teacher was sitting on stage and congratulated him personally, I assumed that he may have been one of them.