Simple Pleasures

The kids always love to throw pennies in the fountains at North Star Mall. I love getting photos of them from behind like this. I gave Eric and Natalie about seven pennies apiece, so for once they didn't ask for more pennies once they finished throwing them in. Sometimes it's easier when they're young. Giving them simple pleasures like this is enough to make them happy.

Eric, Natalie, Anthony and I went to North Star Mall tonight for dinner and dessert (at Haagen-Dazs, of course). Alex was at a debate tournament and Patrick was hanging out at home after taking him there. I don't necessarily go to the mall to shop. I like to go to the mall in order to get out of the house and walk around for a bit. Usually it's just me and the little ones, but Anthony seemed to want a break from working on a school project.

While we were there, I noticed that Anthony seemed upset. He's not very demonstrative, so it wasn't obvious, except maybe to Patrick and me. I asked him if he was upset and he said "yes" but he didn't elaborate. I don't like to pry information from him because I figure that if he wants to tell me, he will. Usually he ends up telling Patrick, which is good enough.

He told Patrick at home later after Patrick got home from picking up Alex (who went to a birthday party for about an hour after the tournament). Apparently, his girlfriend told him tonight that she just wanted to be "just friends". Anthony has said before that although he's younger than most of his friends, he feels like he's more mature than they are. Patrick and I can only agree. I told him that I wished that he would be like Eric. All I have to do to make Eric feel better is let him play on the iPad or give him a lollipop, or even just kiss the boo-boo and put ice on it. That doesn't work so well for Anthony. Simple pleasures and simple solutions aren't the case anymore.

Busy Boy

Remember when I posted pictures of Natalie's and Eric's advent calendars? Well, notice something odd about the advent calendar in this picture? Several of the windows are open. I took this picture on Monday. There should only be six windows open. Today the windows are almost all open. What's a curious, antsy three-year-old to do but keep opening windows so he can play with the toys inside?

Yup, one of Eric's favorite pastimes right now is playing with his Playmobil advent calendar. Patrick and I have decided that as long as he leaves Natalie's advent calendar alone, he can do what he wants with his calendar. He's really enjoying it and we would hate to squelch his excitement. We've left both calendars on the formal dining room table for now because we don't have anywhere else to put them. Eric brings his stool in there just so he can turn on the lights, then he plays with his new advent calendar toys.

Tonight, Eric was also playing with his "Fridge DJ" that I think Grandma got him for Christmas last year. There's a powerful magnet on the back so it stays on the refrigerator even when we open and close the door. It plays music that I think is pretty catchy sometimes. Patrick must hear the music more than I do, because he wishes that the batteries would run down. I thought Eric was pretty cute sitting in front of the refrigerator tonight in his Thomas PJs grooving to the beat of his "Fridge DJ".

When he saw me with the camera, he started crawling to me on his belly. Then he got up and saw some leftover Smarties candies on the counter. The leftover Halloween candy is still on that kitchen counter and we often see Eric rummaging through, looking for candy he wants to eat. He likes to sneak sweets like his siblings before him. In another few days, I'll probably throw away any Halloween candy they have left or take it to work, so that we can make room for the Christmas candy.

I wanted to post this picture of Eric looking adorable in his Thomas PJs. He was supposed to sing in a Christmas program at his school tonight. It was only supposed to last about 10 minutes, but he said he wasn't going to sing and we still remember when Alex had a Christmas program there when he was about the same age. We still remember having a hard time finding a parking spot, then after we found one and went to the program, we stood there for only 10 minutes watching all of the other kids sing. Alex didn't sing at all. We decided that he sings for us at home all the time. We can skip the official program. It's not like we weren't doing anything tonight. Natalie still had her swimming practice and Alex had his soccer practice. I'm looking forward to the holidays partly because we won't have all of these practices to go to!

Happy Birthday, Patrick!

Yes, this is my dear husband's 45th birthday. Here he is with his margarita in hand, saying "hi" to his best bud Gary. Eric looks like he's a bit "juiced" as well! *WINK* More on that later.

Five years ago when Patrick turned 40, we had a big dinner with family and friends at this same restaurant, El Mirasol. Because of the very stressful year that followed (mostly because of health-related issues--cardiac cath and stent, hospitalization, appendectomy, etc.), he does not want a repeat of that year, so he wanted a low-key dinner with his family at his favorite restaurant.

Anthony just keeps getting taller and taller, although at a slower rate than the couple of years before. After he leaned in towards his Papa in order to get in this picture, I made a comment about how Anthony looks shorter than Patrick in this picture. Of course after I said that, Anthony wanted another picture where he was sitting up taller.

I managed to get only one picture of the kids, albeit not a very good one. Natalie was doing some sort of pose. Alex did not want to smile for the picture per his usual routine. Anthony was feeling silly and leaned down to make himself shorter than Alex. He then tried to entice Alex to be in the picture by saying that Alex would seem much taller than Anthony in this picture. At least they got in the picture!

The temperatures today were 40s to 60s and windy, so it got just a little nippy after the sun set. As we were leaving the restaurant, Eric sang something about being cold to Patrick. Patrick laughed and then recounted what had happened earlier in the day. Patrick had the Christmas tunes playing as he was going around the house cleaning up. They heard the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside". Later, when they were having ice cream, the same song played again. Eric made the connection and started giggling as he sang the lyrics. He was doing the same thing tonight, as he sang "Baby, It's Cold Outside" all the way home from the restaurant. At least he was able to provide his Papa with some entertainment on his birthday!

Okay, I hope the above post makes sense. I took some allergy medicine and I'm starting to get very sleepy. Happy Birthday, dear Patrick!

Creative Day

First of all, if you usually receive a Christmas card from me--STOP LOOKING NOW! :)

Today was a creative day for me. Some of it wasn't exactly by choice. Patrick finished the Christmas newsletter, so we printed them and adhered them into the cards I've already made, then stuffed the envelopes. This design is just one example. I used big pad of different papers, so I mixed and matched them. This card used a very decorative paper on top, so it doesn't need further embellishment. On some of the others I added a snowflake with some bling on top to dress them up a bit. I didn't get a chance to take any photos of those before Patrick sealed the envelopes.

We should have reevaluated our list before now, because I made 90 cards and we currently have 94 on the address list. I do have some plans to make the last few easy to make, but I guess next year I'll have to make 100.

The rest of the day was spent decorating my December Daily 2010 album. I finally decided how to decorate the cover. It sort of came together and I'm more or less pleased with it. I felt good doing something creative again after my months-long dry spell.

I'm currently working on how to fit all the pictures I've taken every day in there. I'm following Ali Edwards' example by using a lot of large photos. I figured that I took that photography class this year and really improved on the quality of my photos. I might as well show my photos off! Unfortunately, my printer is acting up, so I'll be sending out the photos to be printed and Costco and I'll try to share them here once I put them in the album.

After doing all of this all day, this evening was filled with the usual picking up and dropping off of children from school to home and to their various activities. Alex is getting stressed about his usual homework combined with a big project due next Friday and a big debate tournament this weekend. Natalie was frustrated with her homework that required her to think a little instead of having the answers laid out for her. Eric wanted to go with me to take Alex to his soccer practice, and he fell asleep in the car on the way there. He woke up when we got home and I thought he might stay up for a bit, but he was still pretty groggy and cranky when I changed his clothes, so I put him to bed at 6:30. So goes another night at our busy house!

Eric Meets Santa

Look at that face! Patrick was getting out all of the little Santas, and he got this one out that dances to the tune of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Eric had so much fun pressing that button over and over again. I'm so glad I was able to capture him mid-laugh. I definitely want to remember the pure bliss on his face! Patrick wasn't so sure it was a good idea to put in fresh batteries, but I loved hearing the song knowing that the little guy was enjoying himself.

Eric asked to go to the playground at the "outside mall" so I decided to take him there for lunch. As we were walking through the food court, he saw Santa sitting in his little picture-taking area. There were no kids waiting in line, just Santa with two helpers. Eric hesitated when he saw Santa. Santa waved and said, "Hi" of course, and Eric waved back. He looked interested in visiting Santa, so I asked him if he wanted to go over to him. He shook his head so I told him we should go ahead and have lunch. There was an area next to Santa that held some of those mall rides where you put some coins in and the vehicles move in place. He changed his mind and told me he wanted to play inside instead of outside.

After lunch, we went towards the mall rides, which were separated from Santa's area by only a rope. At first I thought Eric was heading for the ride that was next to the rope. Once he got there though, he went past the rope, making a beeline for Santa. I couldn't believe it! The other kids were never interested in seeing Santa at all, but Eric went right up to him and gave him a hug!

I hesitated pulling out my camera (which I usually carry with me at all times), because I wasn't sure if the helpers would stop me and insist on taking pictures for payment, but when I did pull it out and start taking pictures, one of the helpers asked me if I wanted them to take pictures also--but she let me keep on taking pictures. I didn't think Eric was going to stay on Santa's lap for long, so I didn't bother. If he expresses interest in doing this again, however, I might go ahead and let them take an "official picture". Maybe he'll smile for me next time. :)

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

I'm on call today, so I'm posting these photos I took on Friday night. Our DVR was full, so I was looking for things to watch and/or erase. I found the tape of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show that aired last week. Anthony had turned on the TV about halfway through the show and he and Patrick decided to tape it as they watched it. It was interesting to hear the conversation between my "little" boy and his Papa. Patrick was trying to entice me to watch by saying that there were bare-chested male gymnasts on the show for the female fans to watch.

Fast forward to Friday night when Anthony was spending the night at his friend's house. I asked Alex if he wanted to watch the tape and at first he said that the show should be available online for him to view any time. I decided it would be better if he saw the show with his parents in the room. He was texting during the show, but when he wasn't, he looked pretty much like he does in this picture. I'm not sure what the pillow is for, but he used to always hide his face behind a pillow when a woman (fully clothed or not) would walk onscreen. There was no face-hiding this time. He didn't even want me to fast forward through the commercials.

Patrick and I cracked up when we saw Eric's face, though. He was just as mesmerized by the show. Of course Patrick said, "That's my BOY!" I think he was more mesmerized by the lights and colors and music rather than the models strutting down the runway, but I certainly saw some glimpses of what will be in this little boy's future. Grandma's going to have to start buying more than one Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar every year! *WINK*

Christmas Music

Today was a day about music for our family. For the past couple of years, Natalie has performed at a Christmas Recital. Today she played "Joy To The World". We were a little late to it, but luckily, we got there before anyone started playing.

We had been shopping and partly because I have this allergy thing going and I was trying to get as much rest as possible before being on call tomorrow, we got off to a late start. We went to Hallmark to pick up that last musical snowman. I forgot to take a picture, so I'll have to remember to do that later this week. Now we have the complete set. Either Natalie or Alex turns them on at least once a day to hear them play Christmas carols. Eric would do the same except that they're out of reach on the fireplace mantel. We also went to one of the local scrapbook stores that is having a big 65% off sale. I "saved a lot of money", which always worries Patrick because he knows that to save money, I had to spend it. *WINK*

I love the top picture the most because Natalie has that "nervous" look, but she doesn't really act nervous otherwise. She just goes up there and usually plays better than during practice. Her teacher even noticed that she had made some improvements since her last lesson on Monday.

The bottom picture is of Natalie and her teacher. Natalie is always so affectionate with her teacher and her teacher seems to enjoy it. Mrs. L has two daughters of her own. Her oldest daughter is three years old and younger than Eric and she played today at the recital too.

Anthony spent last night over at his friend A's house and this afternoon they both went with another friend to the Tran-Siberian Orchestra Concert. His ticket cost us $83 and we hope he feels privileged to have been able to go. Patrick and I went to a party with some work friends this evening. We've planned to go to this for a while and this week, Anthony tried to get us to get another babysitter so he could spend tonight at his friend's house again. Um--remember the price of that ticket, dear?

I would have loved to go that concert too. I love Christmas music--I've even bought a couple of Christmas albums recently and I might buy a couple more before the year is done. I could play Christmas music year round, but Patrick usually takes it off our music playlist. Alex has me sing "The First Noel" to him as one of his bedtime songs all year long. Natalie has only recently added Christmas songs to her bedtime ritual. Eric doesn't like Christmas songs yet. It's only a matter of time.

Eric and Christmas Ornaments

This December Daily album that I'm trying to work on is described on Ali Edward's blog. She's emphasizing one story per day instead of the "day in the life" angle that I've described in the past two days. I like that idea so I'm going to try to emphasize at least one seasonal story every day. Today, the story is about Eric and the Christmas ornaments.

Eric has constantly been fiddling with the Christmas ornaments. He loves looking at them, he touches them, and he presses the ones that make noise or music. He is as gentle as most four-year-olds, which means that he is not gentle.

He also likes to go all around the tree messing with all of the ornaments equally, not just the ones in the front. In this picture, he's stepping over the fireplace thingy (what do you call that?) to climb over to the back of the tree. He actually asked me to take this picture. He was like, "Mama, look at me!" Doesn't he have the most mischievous smile? He just cracked me up when he did this!

The result of Eric fiddling with the ornaments--broken ornaments. Sigh! This is a small pile on Patrick's desk that he plans on fixing. There's a shepherd without a head. There's a Santa riding on a train with the front bumper broken off. This besides the fact that Eric will accidentally take the ornaments off the tree and then he has trouble hanging them back up.

We haven't put any presents under the tree yet. We're afraid of what will happen then!

December 2

As part of giving a speech in front of his Biology class today, Anthony wore dressier clothes. I'd forgotten about this until this afternoon when I saw him coming out of the school.

This is a photo I took from my car through the front windshield. Notice that Anthony is not walking towards my car and notice that he isn't even looking at me. He was, however, looking around like he was trying to find me. I thought I saw him look at me, and I thought that maybe he was delivering some of the cookies he was carrying (a fundraiser for his soccer team) and that's why he passed me up. I had to call him to get his attention. He had see my car but he didn't know it was my car because we recently had to get new license plates. Apparently you have to get your license plates changed every seven years in Texas. We usually end up trading in our cars at about six years. In any case, he was looking for the previous license plate number.

I was only home for about ten minutes when we had to leave again to take Natalie to her swim practice. Patrick and I both went this time since Alex was catching a ride to soccer practice with a neighbor. I've been feeling a little run down, probably due to allergies, but I made myself exercise and I'm glad I did it. Someone at work brought some white chocolate with mints mixed in and I overindulged a little today.

Natalie told me on Tuesday that her coach timed her doing the 50 meter freestyle and her time was about 1 minute and 1 second. I don't know that much about swimming, but Patrick says that is a pretty good time for an 8-year-old. When she was on the neighborhood swim team this past summer, she only had to swim 25 meter races. She's definitely going to have better stamina next summer if she keeps this up. By the way, she didn't forget to take her underwear off when she put on her swimsuit today. *WINK*

I barely saw this little one today. He was at school all day and I saw him this afternoon only long enough to get my hug and kiss then I was off with Natalie. This scenery is part of his Playmobil Advent Calendar and includes a door that you can open. When I put this together upstairs, I had put Maya the Dog in the middle of it and pretended that she was peeking out of the door. He got the biggest kick out of this. I took this downstairs to place near his calendar and decided to go ahead and take a picture in slightly better lighting. Eric got up on that table to look at his stuffed dog that was peeking through that door. He also made Maya the Dog look through the window. Isn't he adorable?

December 1st

I realized today that I'm going to have a hard time keeping up with my December Daily album this week. I don't even have the foundation or cover pages done yet. I decided to just take a bunch of pictures and play it by ear. Just like the last time I did this album two years ago (see HERE), it's more of a "month in the life" than strictly about our holiday happenings.

This first photo is of the two trees that I got for Eric and Natalie. The dark triangular thing in the lower left hand corner is the slide on the bunk bed. Natalie has a pink tinsel tree while Eric has a blue one. The blue one is actually more of a turquoise color and might have been Natalie's usual first choice of colors, but she was much more excited at the thought of them both having a tree. Pink for her and blue for him just made sense to her.

I also got both of them slippers to keep their feet warm this winter. I know that it doesn't get that cold here, but it's better than going barefoot anyway. Eric looks so adorable in his Lightning McQueen slippers, doesn't he? Tonight Patrick also put him in these emergency vehicle pajamas that match just perfectly. He even posed for me!

I also took a couple of other photos of the mess around the house. The theme for tonight was cleaning up the clutter. It's a big job and it will be ongoing for the next couple of days at least.

Advent Calendars

I really didn't think I would have a chance to take photos of the Advent calendars I got for Natalie and Eric today, so I took the photos yesterday. The toy store had several of them, and Eric chose this Playmobil Police one.

I reminded the two of them of the Advent calendar "rules" last night. I knew Natalie would already know these, but I was worried about Eric. I told them they could only open one window per day. We've been worried about Eric trying to open presents under the tree lately. As it is, he's been fiddling with one of the musical ornaments that makes funny noises and sings several tunes. It's one that Alex got last year or the year before. He's constantly pressing the button to turn it on and we're afraid he's either going to break it or wear it out.

This is the Lego Advent calendar for this year. Natalie professes to love Lego City toys, which is the theme of this calendar.

I left these in their room last night and apparently they opened their windows as soon as they got out of bed. Eric's was a robber and Natalie's was a snowman. I might try to take a picture of each day's toys for my December Daily album. I didn't think to do that until just now. The big boys don't seem to miss having something to open every day, but I can really feel the excitement building with the little ones. Heck, I wouldn't mind one of these calendars too--they're so fun!

Schedule Changes

Just when we think our schedules are busy, something else happens to make it even busier. Our "normal" weekday routine for November was as follows (not including school pickup times):

Monday--Natalie's piano lessons from 3:45-4:30pm and Anthony's club soccer practice from 6:30-8pm
Tuesday/Thursday--Natalie's swim practice from 5:30-6:30pm and Alex's club soccer practice from 6-7:30pm
Wednesday--Anthony's club soccer practice from 6:30-8pm

Anthony had high school soccer tryouts and then practice on Monday through Wednesday this week until 5:30pm. His regular high school practices will be at 7:30am from now until March. That probably means that Patrick will have to leave Natalie in the care of a neighbor as she waits for the bus that arrives around 7am. We're not sure what will happen with Alex's carpool yet, since they usually leave the house around 7:30am, at least when it's Patrick's turn to drive them to school.

We had some other schedule modifications this week, especially today. Since I was off from work and Patrick had to pick up Anthony later (at 5:30 instead of 4pm), Alex had to be picked up by a neighbor for club soccer practice and I took Eric with me to drop Natalie off at swim practice. I could have exercised this evening as I did earlier in the month before Thanksgiving threw everything off, but Eric hadn't eaten yet and I took a walk this morning with Patrick. We had dinner at Chick-Fil-A instead.

I took this picture to show Eric's "setup". They have plastic place mats there that stick to the table. He has to have his chicken nuggets cut up and spread out on the place mat and he has to have his chocolate milk. He also has to use a fork to eat, not his hands. This time I gave him ketchup which I put in the box. He also has to have fruit instead of fries, but he didn't end up eating it this time since we were planning to go to Dollar Scoop Tuesday after Natalie's swim practice.

Natalie usually takes a shower after practice, but I didn't want to take the extra time because of our aforementioned plans to go get ice cream. As we waited for her to get dressed, Eric started playing in the locker room. By the way, this is a "family" locker room that is shared by males and females, so there are more private stalls to change in and the showers are bigger to accommodate families.

I know Eric is totally posing in this picture, but I didn't have time to take another one. The lighting is just terrible, but you're not really supposed to take any pictures in the locker room for obvious reasons. We were alone at the time I started taking pictures, but then someone came in as part of a tour and I hurriedly finished up and tried to hide that I was taking pictures.

Of course Natalie had to show that she fit in the lockers also. She can get so silly sometimes--she reminds me of myself. *WINK*

One more silly thing that she did--she forgot to take off her underwear before putting on her swimsuit at home. She didn't realize it until she was changing back to her regular clothes in the locker room and she already had her wet underwear on--and no dry underwear to put on with her dry clothes. She totally cracked me up (and Patrick too, when I texted him about it).

So, we're going to be running around a bit more for the next few weeks until we get a break for the Holidays. I know that I'm already exhausted.

Playing In The Dark

I don't like how it gets dark so early now. By the time I realized that I hadn't yet taken any pictures today, it was dark already. Natalie started playing outside when she got home from her piano lessons around 5pm. Lately, she's been playing mostly with three kids that live on our block, two girls and one boy. One of the girls just moved in before the school year started. The boy has been her longtime playmate. The other girl has lived next door all of her life and is only one month older than Natalie, but for some reason, she and Natalie are just now playing together with any frequency.

Eric saw Natalie and her friends in the backyard and he wanted to go out there too. He seems to always be the center of attention even when he's with Natalie and her friends, maybe because her friends often don't have younger siblings. Natalie herself can't seem to keep her hands off of him. In this picture she chased him down and grabbed him to give him a kiss. It was so dark that the picture isn't that great, but it was still a sweet moment.

Eric spent a lot of time running away from me and the camera, yelling "I don't want pictures!" I wanted to at least show the shirt he was wearing that says "Cool like daddy". He really seems to love this shirt and I'm sure Patrick loves that. :)

Patrick didn't come home with Anthony until after 6pm, and they brought dinner from Sonic home with them. Anthony had his first day of high school soccer tryouts today. He's confident that he'll make the Junior Varsity "A" team. He was on the "B" team last year and actually got playing time, which apparently is very good for a freshman. Hopefully either way, he'll get lots more playing time this year.

Errands with Eric

I'm at work today, so I've uploaded this one cell phone photo that I took yesterday. I was getting gas at Costco and as I turned to take this photo of Eric sitting in the car, instead of telling me the usual "No Pictures", he said "I love you, Mama!" What a sweetie!

This was after dragging him to Michael's to get more premade card bases for my Christmas cards, then to Target, then back to Michael's to take advantage of the two Michael's coupons. After that we went to Costco the first time to pick up a couple of photos to make sure they looked okay in print before ordering the 90 photos I needed for the Christmas cards. We picked up a hotdog for Eric at Costco and ate it at home while I ordered the 90 prints online. Somewhere in there I accidentally bonked his head with the car door. This picture was after we picked up the second batch of pictures. He wanted to go "shopping" with me, by the way, so he did all of that running around by choice. The fact that he said "I love you after being dragged around like that really warmed my heart. :)

By the way, he fell asleep on the way home. I tired out my poor baby!

My New Purse

This is my new purse. My sister Melissa had a 20% off coupon for the Coach store (where they usually don't have sales) and she got this for me and presented it to me on Thursday. Isn't it just gorgeous? Red is my favorite color and I just love the shade of this one. She gave me part of the purse for my birthday/Christmas present (meaning that I didn't pay her back the entire purchase price). It's not often that I get this excited about a new purse. I even took a picture of it right after I opened the box. Thanks, sis!

I used the purse for the first time today as I was running errands with Eric, most of which were for the purpose of finishing off my Christmas cards. I'm going to bring the cards to work tomorrow so I can affix the photos on the inside. Patrick even got started on the newsletter. I also got some more wrapping paper for Santa's gifts so I can finally finish wrapping presents. It's all coming together!

Thanksgiving Picture Recap

There were 14 of us present for the Thanksgiving meal, which is a bit more than the dining table would hold, so we served the meal buffet style. Before eating, we gathered around the table to pray, holding hands as we prayed. I couldn't get a picture of that, so I settled for one of everyone serving themselves after praying. My mom and sisters, especially Cynthia, did a great job of cooking everything. Delicious!

For some reason, Natalie felt compelled to shove her napkin into her shirt and then she posed, waiting for me to get a picture of her. I didn't take one at that time, but I took this one later. She looks so proud of herself, doesn't she? As you can see from her plate, she only at turkey. No mashed potatoes, no dressing, no veggies--she only ate turkey. Eric didn't eat much of anything either.

I have to mention here about something that Natalie said last week as I was driving her to and from one of her activities. She was recalling the time this summer when she spent a couple of weeks staying with my sisters in Houston. Ever since she went to Wendy's during that trip to have their Spicy Crispy Chicken Nuggets, she asks to have it every chance she can get. She also tried the chocolate Frosty for the first time. I could have sworn that she had it before, but she insists that this summer was the first time she'd ever tried a Frosty. So, as she was reminiscing about this summer, she said, "That's where I experienced my first Frosty!" I can't believe she said that she "experienced" her first Frosty. She can be so dramatic sometimes!

Because Natalie loves Wendy's Spicy Crispy Chicken Nuggets so much and because Eric loves spicy foods, he also gets excited whenever he just sees a Wendy's while driving about in the car.

Eric really enjoyed interacting with everyone in the extended family. Here he is looking at Thomas videos on Youtube on his Uncle John's iPad. I love how his legs are crossed and he's got Maya the Dog in his lap. I also love how sweet this picture is. John is really great with kids and Eric loved him!

I have to share another story, except this time it's about Eric. A cold front rolled in on Thursday afternoon/evening. I was trying to convince Eric to wear his warm penguin pajamas (long sleeves and pants) instead of his Thomas pajamas (short sleeves and shorts) that he had worn the night before and that he insisted on wearing again. I told him about how it was getting cold outside. He stated emphatically, "But I'm not sleeping outside! I'm sleeping inside!" I couldn't argue with his logic and I figured that he would be under blankets while sleeping anyway, so I dressed him in his Thomas pajamas.

I didn't get a good picture of the three girls this weekend, and Emily wasn't feeling well as we were leaving, so I couldn't get them all to pose for a good picture. I asked the boys to pose instead. I finally got Nick to stop chewing, and I was able to get this decent picture of the four of them. The girls got along so well this weekend, despite spending so much time together. The boys always get along so well too, especially Alex and Nick. As always, I wish we lived closer to each other! Miss you!

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

I can't upload photos from my SLR camera right now, so instead I took this photo of my sister's big coffee table with my iPhone. I've taken over her coffee table with my cardmaking supplies. Thankfully I've had some days off this week to work on this. Thanks for my dear sister Cynthia for her advice with my cards and the use of various tools. She's a pro at this! ;) Thanks so much also to my sister for housing my entire family and hosting Thanksgiving! She's done an incredible amount of work in the last couple of days (probably for longer too, but I've only been here for a couple of days). Thanks also to my Mom and Dad and my other sister Melissa for driving over here and spending the day with us. The kids had a lot of fun playing with each other. I only wish that we could spend more time with my in-laws and Patrick's family as well.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Painful Shopping

I finally made the decision to make my own Christmas cards this year, so I went to Joann's craft store today to pick up some Christmas paper that they had on sale. Yes I have lots of patterned paper in my stash already but I always use my Christmas paper, so I didn't have much of it left. In any case, Natalie and Eric wanted to go too, so I took them with me.

Usually they stick pretty close to me, but for some reason, Eric wanted to wander off on his own this time. Being the dutiful big sister, Natalie felt that it was her responsibility to bring him back to me. He did not like that at all. He screamed and he cried. He ran away, so she chased him. He ran away even farther, so she kept chasing him. At that point, I had to go get them, because they were running towards the opposite end of the store. I convinced Eric to stay closer by offering him candy, but unfortunately, he wanted a lollipop, which I didn't have. *SIGH* I ended up carrying him for most of the rest of my visit. That was fun--NOT!

Eric still looks a little pouty in this picture. Alex is helping him get his shoes back home so we can get in the car to go visit my family in Houston for Thanksgiving. I'm sure it won't surprise anyone that he fell asleep in the car shortly after we left and napped for two hours. Natalie napped for a little while too.

I'm bringing my card reader, so I might get to post some pictures to my blog while I'm gone. Just in case, I hope everyone out there has a Happy Thanksgiving! Remember your blessings!

Other Weekend Events Besides Soccer

We didn't just go to soccer games this past weekend. We had a couple of other things going on.

It's unusual for me not to post about Eric every day. He's probably the most interesting member of the family. ;) This past weekend, I didn't really see that much of him or Natalie. Mom and Dad took very good care of them, of course. We didn't have to worry about cooking or laundry either. It was especially good because Eric ran a fever on Saturday.

Before I took this picture, the ibuprofen had worn off and Eric started acting very tired and needy. We gave him some more ibuprofen and then he wanted to be held so I held him for a while. When I had to get ready to leave again, Natalie was willing and ready to hold him in her lap and he was not energetic enough to resist. After a few minutes though (too soon for the medicine to work), he started playing with her face, squishing her cheeks together in his hands. Nothing like a big sister to make a little brother feel better.

Anthony always tries to get together with friends on the weekends. He goes out more than Patrick and me. On Saturday, the school that he used to go to was holding their annual King's Fair, which is a sort of Renaissance-type festival, their biggest fundraiser for the year. He still has lots of friends that go to that school, so I dropped him off there so he could spend time hanging out with them. When he got home, he had this pink unicorn painted on his face. Apparently the unicorn was his idea, but the pink was the idea of his friend that painted the unicorn. It's good to know that Anthony is secure enough to wear pink! He does look a little annoyed that I was taking his picture, however.

So, we did a little more than just go to soccer games this past weekend.

Fall Shootout Tournament Day 2

Anthony's team lost their morning game, which meant that they only played two games total. They didn't go on to the final that was supposed to be played in the afternoon. The boys seemed like they played well for most of the game, but they came up short at 0-1.

Anthony and I made it to the last part of Alex's game again. Poor Alex! His team lost 0-3. Their last game was at 5:30pm. They were up 2-0 at the half, but they ended up losing 4-2. They didn't win any games at all. :(

On the positive side, we got to relax at home this afternoon. Mom and Dad went ahead and left for home when we got home so that Mom could go to her doctor's appointment tomorrow. Natalie got to play with her friends. The boys got to play some games. I got to take a nap. It was all good.

After Alex's last game, the whole team went to a local pizza place for dinner. It was nice for the boys to get to hang out and just be kids. Anthony stayed home so he could play on the PS3. Eric and Natalie decided to go with us to the game so they could play in the sand at the soccer field and so they could go out to dinner with us. It was a nice end to a busy weekend.

Thanks again to Mom and Dad for helping us a lot by watching the little ones!