A Manic Morning

This is Alex's project that we were working on this weekend and that is due today. Notice that I only took a picture of the project and not Alex with the project. I was trying to take a picture of him with his project, but I waited until about four minutes before he was supposed to leave for school. He couldn't be in the picture because he was looking for his school binder--the one that has everything in it. It has his notes, handouts, assignments, etc.

Patrick and I have told him many times to put the binder in his backpack. His backpack only has a few items in it, his phone, keys, and I don't know what else, but his backpack is very empty. There is plenty of room for a big binder. He has refused to put his binder in the backpack, preferring to carry it separately. Patrick and I helped him look for the binder. We couldn't find it anywhere in the house or the van. Finally, about 8 min after Alex was supposed to leave for school, Patrick realized that he was supposed to be the one to bring Alex and his friend to school. Usually when he is the one to bring them to school, he leaves five minutes early. That put them almost 15 minutes behind schedule plus, since Anthony wasn't ready for school yet (since Patrick thought he would be able to bring Anthony separately and at a later time since Anthony's school doesn't start until 20 minutes after Alex's school starts), I had to take Anthony to school with Eric in tow.

We still haven't found the binder. I hope it was either in Alex's locker at school or he left it on the bus and they have it somewhere we can pick up later. Meanwhile, I had to put Alex's name on his project. He hadn't done that yet. In the confusion, he almost forgot it.

Oh, and this project was supposed to incorporate at least three "simple machines". There is a "trap door" a the top (machine #1) that the little Lego person is supposed to fall through and land in the wheeled cart (machine #2) and go down the ramp (machine #3). The end of the cart is supposed to give way and fling the Lego person down into the "spikes" (which is actually an old baby brush). At least I think I've named the parts correctly. Patrick and I thought he could done a more elaborate job. We prefer that the kids go above and beyond what they need to do, to show some effort in their work. We're "Type A" like that. We're hoping he gets a good grade on it, because he did work pretty hard this weekend. I just hope he finds his binder.

Dollar Scoops with Papa

I worked late, so I didn't get home until around 6:30pm tonight. I wasn't sure I wanted to go to Baskin-Robbins for Dollar Scoop Tuesday, but Natalie and Eric were so excited about it, and Anthony needed a study break, so we went. Patrick even decided to go, just to hang out with us (he didn't get any ice cream). Eric always gets up on the rail in front of the ice cream containers so he can see the ice cream without having to be carried. I'm usually trying to juggle trying to order while taking photos, so I usually don't take photos while we're ordering, but Patrick was with us today.

Natalie and Eric both had the Rainbow Sherbet this time. Anthony had his usual World Class Chocolate in a waffle cone. His two dollar scoops and then the waffle cone for $1 costs as much as the rest of us combined. Natalie finished her ice cream very quickly and she then proceeded to help her little brother with his ice cream. Luckily, he willingly shared, he even fed her some from his spoon. She was getting just a little bit greedy, though.

After we had ice cream, Eric and Natalie ran outside for a bit. The weather has been gorgeous here this week and I enjoyed that little bit of outside time. Alex was at soccer practice tonight, so he missed out. I told Patrick that it isn't the ice cream that I enjoy during Dollar Scoop Tuesdays as much as interacting with the kids and watching them enjoy their ice cream and then running around outside playing. Even after a long day, it was worth dragging myself back out for this.

A Lola Birthday

My mom won't be with us for Anthony's birthday at the end of this week, but she brought his present with her this weekend. She also brought a present from my sister Melissa and her daughter Emily, (Emily even made a cute birthday card with her "trademark" on the back) so we had a separate birthday celebration so she and my dad could see him open his gifts.

Since we were gone to various activities yesterday and my mom stayed home with the little ones, she made a brownie cake and topped it with some chocolate pudding. Natalie is always ready to help in the kitchen and Eric always loves watching anything going on in the kitchen so they both "helped" their Lola decorate the cake.

The kids wanted to put sprinkles on the cake. Unfortunately, Natalie used the big hole and a large amount of sprinkles poured out all at once. She tried to redistribute the sprinkles, but would have been tedious. Instead they just put more sprinkles on the cake. It was cute to see her pour some sprinkles into Eric's hand and he would dump everything in his hand onto the cake.

We didn't get a chance to go to church on Saturday as per our usual, because of Anthony's soccer game, but we did go out to eat at El Mirasol, which was Anthony's choice. After dinner we came home to have some of Anthony's cake. He didn't mind the extra sprinkles at all.

Someone suggested using the birthday party hats that were left over from a previous party (I think they were even from one of Alex's parties a long time ago). Eric and Natalie both loved wearing the hats and everyone else was a good sport about it too. Anthony broke two straps trying to put the hat on himself so Patrick ended up putting the hat on him. He had to reach up quite a bit to be able to put the hat on his much taller son's head.

We sang "Happy Birthday" and then Anthony cut his own rather large piece of brownie cake. With all of the pictures I was taking, Mom asked if she and Dad could have a picture with Anthony. Of course I was willing to take a picture! Look at how much taller Anthony is.

Eric "helped" Anthony open his presents. Mom and Dad got him some shirts and shoes and a travel shaver--his first shaver ever. Melissa and Emily got him some nice shirts, with specific instructions to wear the T-shirts under the button-down shirts that were supposed to be worn unbuttoned. That's my sister--always looking out to make sure my family is fashionable and presentable. Thanks, sis!

My parents left this morning as the rest of us were heading off to church. I grew up wishing my grandparents lived in town like my friends' grandparents. They got to do fun stuff with their grandparents all the time. Because of all of the kids' activities, it's tough to try to visit my parents, and it's getting harder for my Dad to travel, so it's tough for them to visit us often too. I really cherish these times we do have together.

The Bribe

This picture may not mean anything to most people, but to me it shows Alex being more aggressive. There's a fine line between being aggressive on the field but still maintain control and be sportsmanlike and it's been tough trying to teach them that. Alex can be aggressive, but usually only during practice or when he plays against Anthony (for fun). Alex's coach has even told him to play like he was playing against Anthony, but still doesn't. Today, Patrick and I decided to "bribe" him.

Alex has two projects due next week, one on Wednesday, and one on Friday. He did not inform us of this until Thursday night, after having three early dismissal days from school for parent-teacher conferences when he basically had three "free" days to play video games. Because of this, his game privileges were suspended until he completes his projects.

At first, Patrick offered Alex $5 per goal scored (by him), but that didn't get much rise out of him. What he really wanted was video game time, so after some thought, we offered him a half-hour of game time for every goal he scored. Even though his game privileges were suspended for the weekend, he could still "earn" some game time. One of his team's key defenders was not at the game, however, and Alex became a defender instead of his usual "center midfield" position. This meant that it was very unlikely that he would be in a position to score.

Patrick and Anthony were in San Marcos for Anthony's game. Patrick and I kept each other updated with each other's game events. Alex played more aggressively today. As the photo above shows, he would push back at the other team in order to get the ball. He played well today, and even though his team lost 0-3, we thought he deserved a little reward.

I told him he could get an hour of game time to use when he needed a break from working on his projects. Tonight he used a half hour. He also worked pretty hard on his projects today. I don't know if bribing was the right thing to do, but so far, the bribe had the intended result. We'll see what happens next week.

Magical Thinking and Bandaids

I didn't take any photos today, so this is just a photo I took on Monday when Eric was playing at that new restaurant with the kid's outdoor play area. It's so cute (and convenient) that when he gets hurt, all we usually need to do is kiss the boo-boo or put ice on it. The ice is usually on for only a few seconds but that's apparently enough to make him feel better. We have an ice pack ready to go in the freezer. He knows exactly where it is and when he needs it, he opens the freezer and gets the pack himself then returns it when he's done.

Today I was helping him wash his hands. The medicine cabinet in that bathroom was open and he saw the Disney Cars bandaids that I had bought specifically for him just in case we needed them. The conversation went something like this:

Eric: Lightning McQueen!

Me: I bought those bandaids just for you, Eric.

Eric: I want a Lightning McQueen bandaid.

Me: No, you only get those when you have a boo-boo.

(By this time we had finished at the sink and I was shooing him out of the bathroom.)

Me: Why don't you go back upstairs and finish watching that movie?

Eric: I want a Lightning McQueen bandaid! (He's starting to cry at this point.)

Me: Bandaids are only for when you have a boo-boo. Do you have a boo-boo? (I suspected that he would make up a boo-boo at this point, and I was right.)

Eric: (He stopped crying and nodded his head.)

Me: Where is your boo-boo?

Eric: (He hesitates for a second, then looks down and points at his left knee.)

Me: Do you want me to kiss your boo-boo?

Eric: Noooo!

Me: Okay, let's put a bandaid on your boo-boo.(We then went to the bathroom and I got out one of the bandaids.) Where's your boo-boo?

Eric: (First he looks down again at his right knee then he looks at his left knee and points to a spot on his left knee.)

Me; (I put the bandaid on.) Does your boo-boo feel better now?

Eric: (Nods his head and runs happily out of the bathroom.)

So, I guess ice packs, kisses, AND Lightning McQueen bandaids work for Eric's boo-boos.

Friend At The Door

Nothing too exciting happened today, so I'm going to post a photo I took yesterday. One of Natalie's friends, a boy who lives across the street and is 6 months younger than she is, came to our door yesterday to ask Natalie if she could play outside. She didn't want to go outside at first, because she had already taken a shower after going to her swim club plus I had asked her to unload the dishwasher. He looked so lonely though, looking for a playmate, that I released Natalie from having to do her chore.

When she was talking to him at the door, Eric came up to see what was going on. At first he watched them from the small side window, but then he started trying to look through the door to one side. I just thought the scene was just too cute. One of these days Natalie will be greeting a friend at the door and she'll get mad at Eric for being there--hopefully not, but who knows. One of these days Eric might not be interested at all in what his sister is doing. For now, the two of them are the best of friends.

Lolo and Lola Time

My mom and dad (aka Lola and Lolo) are here! They arrived with a trunkful of food and other gifts. The kids were all at school at the time so Mom started by unpacking all of the food and folding the sheets that Patrick had washed last night but the kids hadn't folded yet.

Natalie got home at around 1:15pm. She was so excited when she saw her Lola waiting for her when she got off the bus. She was one of the reasons why they came for a visit, because she kept calling them and asking when they were going to visit again. When I awakened her for school this morning, the first words out of her mouth were, "Lolo and Lola and coming here today." She also talked about practicing her piano lessons so Lola could hear her play.

I brought Eric home around 3pm and Mom immediately started feeding him some grapes. Apparently, it didn't take Eric long to request "rice soup". Lola had to make that, but she was ready with the ingredients.

Patrick has been trying to teach Eric how to spell "Eric", "Mama", "Papa", "Lolo", and "Lola". He can spell those words, but he often doesn't want to. Today I asked him to spell "Eric" for Lola. He replied his usual reply, "I did already."

I love these photos of Eric with his Lola and Lolo. Now he has two more people to order around and to read to him. He also seems to have a special relationship with his Lolo. He goes to him more frequently to give spontaneous hugs. Tonight Lolo was sitting in a chair and Eric asked, "Will you share this with me?" Translated, that's a request to sit next to Lolo in his chair. This photo of him snuggling with Lolo was the result.

We watched the show "Glee" tonight. Eric loves watching that show with me. This photo shows the expression on his face during one of the musical numbers. Doesn't he look absolutely mesmerized? he was also laying on his belly on the sofa, totally relaxed. He is more into music than I remember that other kids being. Natalie loves that show too, but she was outside playing with her friends. Last night the two of them were dancing and singing together before going to bed.

We're all set for meals for the rest of the week. I wish they could come visit more often, but it's becoming more difficult for Lolo to travel. We all have to remember to appreciate when they can come and to cherish our Lolo and Lola time.

The Best Time

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Distracted Spectators

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

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

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

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

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

Hazy Lazy Game

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Mall

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

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

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

New Bath Paint

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

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

Cozy Coupe

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

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

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

Full of Glee

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

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

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


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

Wet Soccer

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

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

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

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

Crafty Time

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Park For All Ages

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

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

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

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

A GT Reply

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Post-Call Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Typical Call Day Morning

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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