Rain and Heat

We were hoping for a lot of rain from Tropical Storm Don coming on shore, but we got very little. The rain was supposed to arrive some time Friday night but when we awakened on Saturday morning it was dry as a bone outside. By around 9:30am, the rain started, and I came downstairs to see Eric watching it rain from the front door window. The rain probably only lasted about a half hour. By the time we were on our way to exercise at the gym, it had stopped.

Anthony had spent the night at his friend Jake's house. They had planned on going downtown to take pictures. He actually asked me if he could take my camera. Um--NO. I did tell him that if he learned a little about photography and camera settings, I might consider letting him use my camera in the future. For now there is no need for him to borrow a camera that he doesn't know how to use.

Natalie has been all excited that Shark Week on the Discovery Channel is starting today. Yesterday she was looking at the show lineup on the iPad and watched a Jaws-themed Mythbusters in the meantime. I found her in this interesting position on the stairs and I had to take a picture. It seemed uncomfortable, but I tried it and it wasn't too bad. She looks like she's really concentrating, doesn't she?

The whole house seems to be Eric's playground. Any toys that are out are usually toys that Eric took out to play with. The game room is basically Eric's game room. He also has bins of cars and trains in the kitchen. Yesterday he was sprawled on the kitchen floor with his Lightning McQueen slippers on. When he saw the camera, of course he said, "No pictures", and when I asked him if I could get a picture of him with his slippers, he said, "Maybe tomorrow."

We had a neighborhood party yesterday afternoon/evening. Two of the girls in our culdesac with July birthdays decided to have a little party outside. There was a moon bounce/slide, cookout, and lots of food. One of our neighbors who isn't even related to either of the two girls did a lot of the organizing. Her son is Natalie's good friend LL and they are always playing together. She was telling stories about the two of them. Apparently LL asked whether it was okay if he were to marry someone older than him. Natalie is six months older than LL. I told her about how LL had made a comment when he was at our house about how he didn't like to sing in front of girls. When I pointed out that he was just singing with Natalie there, he said, "Natalie's not a girl!" So, who knows what will happen, but right now they like the same things and get along really well.

We didn't stay too long at the party. It was SO hot! Even Eric, how had been happily playing on the moon bounce and having fun asked if he could go home. Natalie started getting itchy, so even though she was the only one who wanted to be outside playing, I told her to go inside for a little just so she could cool off. That little bit of rain didn't help at all. We'll be bracing for 100 degree plus temperatures this week, just as the boys start their soccer training camps.

Let's Go Out

I was so happy yesterday was Friday! I had a pretty easy day at work and then I came home to this sight. Alex used to take guitar lessons. He stopped partly due to being so busy with soccer, so his guitar has just been sitting there unused. Natalie and Eric asked him if they could play his guitar. While I was happy that they were interested, I was worried that they would not be careful with it, especially Eric. They were doing okay with it, so I let them play--as long as I could watch them.

I didn't get a chance to go out this week like Patrick did with the kids (and with Cynthia and her kids earlier in the week), so I wanted to go somewhere--anywhere. We decided that since Patrick still had an unused gift certificate to Salt Grass Steakhouse, we would go there for dinner. I managed to snap this photo of Alex eating his 7 oz. filet. One of our requirements when the boys started eating "adult" entrees at restaurants was that they eat everything that comes with it, including salad. Alex did his duty and even finished his caesar salad. He wanted the 10 oz. filet, but Patrick refused, saying that he himself usually orders the 7 oz. filet. Alex barely finished the 7 oz. size as it was. He was definitely slowing down at the end. I don't get many photos of this guy because he usually hides from me, so I was happy to get this one of him eating!

The best part of going out was that we got the kids together talking about stuff. Anthony was staying over at his friend Jake's house so he wasn't with us. At one point, when I had rubbed Eric's back to tickle him a little, he asked me if my back hurt. I was certain that if I had said "yes", he would have started rubbing my back, like he's probably seen Patrick do when I complained about my back hurting. Alex chimed in with a story about how at night when he finishes his shower, Eric is usually in bed already. Eric will tell him his back hurts and Alex will ask, "Do you want me to rub your back, buddy?" I think it's just adorable that the big boys call Eric "buddy". So, Alex will start rubbing Eric's back and "15 minutes later" Alex will ask him if he feels better. Apparently Eric says "no" so Alex will keep rubbing his back. Those two seem to be developing a closer relationship now that they are sharing a room. Alex definitely shows his sweet side around his "buddy."

Cleanup Cleanup

Every time I say "Cleanup Cleanup" I think of that Barney song--"Cleanup Cleanup, everybody do their share." Patrick and the kids were pretty busy yesterday. The game room has been quite a mess for a few weeks now. They did a lot of purging and organizing. Patrick also put together the other room divider/organizer, so now there are two in the game room and one in the living room.

The big table in the game room is now our kitchen table. Some time after we were first married, we bought that table unfinished and he did all the sanding and finishing. It was our dining table for a while until we got the other one. Even though it's older, it has a lot more sentimental value plus it's very sturdy. There aren't as many grooves either for stuff to get stuck in. For all of those reasons, we kept it and dismantled the other one. The chairs don't really match, but we don't mind.

Along with cleanup was a little goofing off. The kids all started putting on some of the costume pieces and toys that were in the gameroom. Alex actually let Patrick take this picture of him. He looks pretty scary, doesn't he?

We rearranged some furniture. The train table is now out of the corner and right now is located in the middle of the room. This gives the little man center stage with all of his wheeled vehicles. He probably thinks that's the way it should be.

The big boys finished up the rest of the cleanup yesterday evening and today. Our maid came today and she was actually finally able to vacuum in the game room.

I'm not in a lot of photos, so I've been asking Patrick to take some photos of me this week for my Week In The Life project. Yesterday was a photo of me working with Natalie on her piano assignment. I've been leaving her alone to practice this summer, but she still really needs some direction and focus. She tends to practice her music a certain number of times rather than practicing it until it's right. She doesn't need me getting mad at her for her lack of focus and I don't need the stress of listening to her lack of focus. If we only practice together once in a while, then it's okay.

In potty training news, Eric is now pooping in the potty almost all the time. The problem is, of course, that now he tends to pee in his pull-up more times than not. Here is has asked for "privacy" while he poops. It's really pretty adorable the way he says, "Mama, may I please have some privacy (pronounced pry-ba-cee)?"

It also takes him forever to poop in the potty. He'll look around the bathroom. Sometimes he'll sing. Often he'll call out to you and talk to you. Tonight I was in the public restroom with him and I was rushing him to finish. He finally sighed and said something like "that's enough for now" and got off the toilet.

To finish off, I took this picture when the boys were cleaning up last night. Alex didn't want any photos as usual, so Patrick came up and put them both in a headlock, at least at first--Alex especially. I made them pose for a couple more photos because my settings were off. I have so much more to learn about photography.

Back to Boring

Due to technical difficulties, I wasn't able to post last night. I had a hard time finding something to take pictures of yesterday. Since I work in an operating room, I'm not supposed to take pictures of surgeries taking place. Instead I took a picture of the hallway outside our "expansion operating rooms", where I was working yesterday. According to some of the people at work, they use these same structures in the deployed setting, except that we are in a major city in the U.S. BRAC, in all of its wisdom, has mandated that we take on more surgeries than we currently have the capacity to take on. These are a temporary fix to allow more operating locations until the new building is built.

Since I was at work, I missed going to the mall with the rest of the family. The kids weren't up for doing much. They didn't want to go outside because it was so hot. They didn't want to go to the pool or even the local waterpark. Instead, they all went to the mall for lunch.

Apparently the girls all stayed together. I know that they at least went to Build A Bear Workshop and Bath and Body Works. The former is one of my niece Aly's favorite stores, and of course the latter is one of Natalie's favorites. The boys hung out together. No one really bought anything except for Anthony who bought some music. Patrick and Eric "hung out". I was a little sad that I couldn't be there "hanging out" too.

Cynthia went ahead and got Natalie some early birthday presents. Natalie had already asked for these a couple of weeks ago. She got three "small fry" stuffed animals from Build A Bear. Natalie named her new pink monkey "Aly" to match with her brown monkey named "Abby". She named her new dragon "Sofia" and her new penguin "Emily". They joined her panda named "Audrey" on her bed. Apparently her cousin Aly has 9 small fry toys and now Natalie has 5.

I didn't get home until around 4pm. The boys were playing on the PS3 when I got home. Cynthia and the girls were playing a board game. Eric was watching the iPad, and Patrick made jambalaya for dinner. After dinner the girls watched Monsters Vs. Aliens upstairs while the grownups and big boys watched Matrix downstairs. All in all it was a boring day, but sometimes it's nice to not have to go out and do anything.

No Pictures

We had a pretty lazy morning today. I didn't get to bed until midnight last night, so I stayed in bed this morning until about 8:30-9. The little ones were up pretty early, and we could hear them arguing about what to watch. I had bought Cinnabons yesterday when I picked up Schlotzkey's for dinner, so we had those for breakfast. I had a discussion with Alex about why I use a fork to eat my Cinnabon while he likes to use his fingers. The difference is that he likes to lick all of the icing off his fingers while I like my fingers to stay clean.

The little ones have been watching movies and shows on the iPad a lot, especially in the last day or so. The iPad has about a ten-hour battery life and we've had to charge it nightly. In this picture Eric is mesmerized by a Thomas video while Anthony gives him kisses. Such a sweet photo!

The two of them stayed home while the rest of us went to see Harry Potter in 3D at the movie theatre at 11am. We never used to take Natalie to the movies because she tended to want to leave after five minutes. She was very good today, and she said "Cool!" after just about every movie preview. The 3D feature was a cool gimmick, but the movie was great even if we had watched it without the 3D effect.

After the movie I took the kids to get their haircuts. Cynthia arrived with Nick and Aly right about the time the haircuts finished. I took this picture of her with Eric in our messy game room. They were chatting about something and they both seemed to be enjoying each other so much that I had to document it.

Since all of us had a late lunch, no one was hungry until around 7pm--then they were ravenous. The big boys especially, were busy with electronics and didn't hear Patrick say he was making a pizza. Of course when they smelled the aroma, they ran right into the kitchen. Since no one had responded when he asked, Patrick had only made one pizza--the boys had to make their own. As the next pizza was cooking in the oven, they fought over the last piece of pizza that was left after Patrick, Eric, and I finished our dinners. It was a thick crust DiGiorno pizza, so Anthony tried to use logic. The second pizza was Alex's favorite--HEB Extra Thin Crust Pepperoni Pizza. Anthony said that if Alex allowed him to eat the DiGiorno pizza, Anthony would not eat the HEB pizza and Alex could have more pieces to eat. Alex didn't care--he was hungry! He couldn't wait even though there was only one minute left on the oven timer. He snagged that pizza from Anthony and ate it like we never feed him!

I took many, many more pictures today for the Week In The Life project I mentioned yesterday. Even though I take lots and lots of pictures in public, I felt embarrassed about it today. Most people wonder about you when you take pictures at the grocery store or the hair salon. I'm concentrating more on the stories instead of the pictures, but we'll see how that goes tomorrow when I go to work. If I get a handful of good pictures tomorrow, I'll be happy.

Of course, the kids are already tired of me taking pictures of them constantly and even more than I usually do. Eric was hiding under Alex's bed this evening just to get away from my camera. Hang in there Eric, we've got five more days of this!

More Pictures!

Anthony finally got his learner's permit today! Patrick took him to the DPS office this afternoon. He texted me that while there they heard someone say that this office is the second busiest in the state of Texas. Great! That meant that the line was super long and even went out the door. They were gone for about three hours and most of it was spent waiting.

It really only took Anthony 12-15 minutes to take the test. Patrick said that he could see that Anthony was rushing through it, so it was lucky that he passed (21 of 27 questions correct). He would have failed the test if he had missed one more question. We teased him about being a slacker. *WINK* Next he has to actually get behind the wheel of a car. *GASP*

This week, believe it or not, I plan on taking more pictures than usual. I'm participating in something called "Week In The Life", a concept started by Ali Edwards to document one week of your life once a year. I'll be taking pictures of a lot of things I might not usually take pictures of. I'll try to share my favorites each day and hopefully I'll be putting together scrapbook pages next week.

This one is my favorite (besides the one of Anthony above that Patrick took at the DPS office) because it shows Eric's feet sticking out of one of our play tents. He and Natalie had climbed into the their "fort" to watch shows on the iPad. It's not a great photo because it was so dark in the game room that the lens couldn't focus. I even tried manual focus but I must have been doing that incorrectly because it was still trying to auto-focus. Even with the poor focus, I can see how cute Eric's feet are, especially sticking out like that.

My sister Cynthia is planning to visit tomorrow, so I'm sure the next couple of days will document the extra occupants of our house.

It's Friday

Today when I got home, Patrick and the kids (minus Anthony) had just had a water balloon fight. No pictures, of course, because Patrick didn't want to get the camera wet. Luckily for me, the kids were still outside playing with the hose. Patrick was good enough to take pictures for me, as I watched from the window. He had a hard time getting pictures of Alex since Alex was holding the hose and constantly spraying water in front of his face. He had a hard time getting pictures of Natalie because she kept running back and forth. Eric mostly stayed in the same spot and just revelled in the water falling from above so Patrick got a few good pictures of him. Doesn't he look like he's having so much fun?

Anthony was out seeing the new "Captain America" movie with friends. He probably sees more movies at the theatre than the rest of us combined. After his summer P.E. camp was over today, he had gotten a ride with a friend and we were supposed to pick him up. Patrick and I were a little upset with him today because he wasn't clear about who was taking him and when he needed to be picked up. Meanwhile, Patrick couldn't plan to do anything with the other kids because he was afraid he was going to get a last minute call that Anthony's ride had fallen through. Later, when I was about to go pick him up, he called me and asked me to come later because he was going to go to Jack-In-The-Box with his friends. I was at Hobby Lobby nearby with Natalie, so he said, "Just shop longer." Grrrr! That boy needs to get his driver's license!

When we got home, Patrick was playing a video game with Alex. Alex loves to play video games, and he is always asking Patrick to play with him. Patrick tries to put in that effort because then he can spend some time with him. Alex isn't terribly talkative, unless you're one-on-one with him.

Sometimes I'm sad when the rest of the family has fun while I'm at work. At least I was able to be around this afternoon when they were having fun. It's been a stressful week plus I have to work on Sunday. Next week should be better.

Desserts, Forts, and Cars

It's been stressful at work for the last couple of weeks, mostly because of the new residents starting, so it was nice to come home and see what Patrick had planned for dessert. He bought all the ingredients and chopped up the strawberries. I added the Bananas Foster ice cream (Haagen-Dazs), my recent favorite. Yum! Thanks, Sweetie!

The kids also showed me their fort when I got home. Alex, Natalie, and Eric built this rather elaborate contraption in the game room from the various blankets and tents we own. Eric is posing by the sign that says "Eric." Apparently that is where he can crawl in and get to the big fort in the middle made out of the blanket and overturned kids' sofa. Alex also made the following sign, over by the tunnel with the fish blanket draped on top of it. He purposely mispelled "the" for some reason that Patrick couldn't explain to me:

Do Not Feed Teh Fishes
(Or Eat Them, Anthony)

Kids and Stuffed
Animals
Only
In Teh tunnel
Thingeh

It's been so hot outside that the kids have found a way to have fun and stay cool inside.

In other news, Eric got his hair cut (finally) today. He's been refusing to go get his hair cut, saying that he wanted his hair "long". Sometimes he would say that he wanted his hair to be "long like Papa's". Of course, Patrick's hair is NOT long at all, so that statement just confused us. We think he wants to be like his big brothers. Luckily, he let them cut it the way we usually have them cut it--short.

He sat in the Lightning McQueen chair and watched the Cars movie on the TV at Sharkey's Cuts for Kids. Patrick said that Eric didn't move or respond even when the hairdresser talked to him. He was concentrating so hard on that movie. He wouldn't even close his eyes when she was cutting his bangs (so the hair wouldn't get in his eyes). After having seen "Cars 2" this past weekend, the Cars characters seem to be his current favorite. He even told Patrick that he didn't like Dora (the Explorer) any more. My baby is growing up!

Rain!

This is the other set of matching pajamas that I bought Eric and Natalie a couple of months ago. They usually don't wear these pajamas at the same time so I wanted to get a picture of them tonight. They both got in Eric's top bunk bed for the picture. Eric was in a silly mood and wanted to pose with his hands up and his head tilted. Natalie wanted to show how old they were, but Eric wanted to do his own thing.

I also wanted to get a picture of them in Eric's bed so I could show the two comforters on his bed. My mom sent a "Finding Nemo" comforter with my sister Melissa. Eric already has a "Cars" comforter on his bed (with Thomas sheets). Even though he still gets quite excited about anything to do with Thomas or "Cars", he got excited about "Nemo" too and wanted to use the comforter right away. It was just easier to just lay the second comforter over the first. It's not nearly cold enough here to even need a comforter, but he sleeps fine with both.

It rained today! I had to take a picture of the street in front of our house just to document that it does rain here occasionally. It's been a good month or so since it rained any significant amount and the last time before that was several months before. Patrick tried to take the kids to the pool this afternoon, but there was lightning just after they got there. They weren't going to be allowed in the pool for a half hour, so they decided to go ahead and go back home. I thought for sure my fun-loving kids would want to play outside in the rain, but Eric just looked at me funny when I asked him.

Anthony's soccer camp was cancelled tonight due to the rain. That meant that no one had to rush off to practice after dinner. We even went to Dollar Scoop Tuesday together as a family. In other news, I got my car back from the body shop today. I missed my car!

My "Relaxing" Weekend

My dear sister Melissa came for a short visit this weekend. She arrived late Friday and left this morning (Sunday). Yesterday morning she went to a Cardio Kickboxing class with me at our gym. In the afternoon she played with the kiddos while I napped and Patrick took his turn to exercise at the gym. We went to church then out to dinner at Patrick's favorite restaurant El Mirasol (her choice). I know it sounds boring, but she got to spend time with us. She loved it and the kids loved it. When she was leaving this morning, I told Eric to give her a hug and kiss goodbye and of course he asked, "Why is she leaving?" He thinks that our families should always be together. I couldn't agree more, and I wish that could be the case.


Today we planned on going to Fiesta Texas for a short visit. We still needed to get Alex's season pass card. We had a lazy start since both boys stayed up late watching "True Grit" (the recent version) from Netflix with us last night. Eric wanted to ride on the "big" train and the "little" train. Natalie wanted to go on the log ride (White Water Rapids). Alex really didn't care to ride on anything.

Anthony has had a busy weekend socially. On Friday he met a couple of friends at our gym pool. The rest of the family went also but we stayed out of his way so we wouldn't cramp his style. His good friend A.O. came home with us to spend the night. He's been such a good friend of Anthony's for so long that the kids think of him as another brother. Natalie and Eric greeted him at the pool as if he were part of the family, rushing up to him to give him a hug. Eric told us later that we had "four brothers" in the house. Too cute.

On Saturday, A.O.'s mom picked him up and then I dropped off Anthony at Fiesta Texas to spend the day with a couple of different friends. He spent the whole day there until Patrick picked him up on his way home from the gym. Today (Sunday), he made plans to see the new Harry Potter movie ("Deathly Hallows Part 2") with a couple of friends. Because he was seeing a movie, we decided to see movies too.

We weren't going to take Eric to the same movies as the other two, so we settled on "X-Men: First Class" for Natalie, Alex, and I while Patrick and Eric saw "Cars 2". No wonder we almost never go to movies at the theatre. The total bill between the movie tickets and the food and drinks was over $70 for the five of us! Still, everyone seemed to have a great time.

After the movie, Natalie and I had a little "girl" time. I've rambled enough in this post, so I'll try to post about that tomorrow. We're starting to ramp up the activities again with Anthony and Alex involved in soccer this week, among other things.

New Things

Lots of new things this week! This is the gorgeous purse I just bought today. I saw it when I was at the mall with the three youngest. Natalie loved it since her favorite color is red also. I hesitated because of the price. Of course my dear sister Melissa, lover of expensive purses, only encouraged me, saying that I wouldn't hesitate as much if I was buying scrapbooking supplies. Actually I would hesitate even with scrapbooking supplies, if nothing else because I like to discuss purchases over about $100 with Patrick. He was swimming at the gym so he didn't return my text. When we got home, he encouraged me to go back to the mall to get it. It was the last one! Isn't he the best husband in the world? :)

We were at the mall redeeming our Gymbucks at Gymboree. They have a new Panda line and Natalie is a lover of pandas. We got her a couple of shirts, a ponytail holder and bracelet (she wore the latter two right away). She also informed me while we were browsing at Build A Bear Workshop that she wants a panda pillow pet and two of the new "Small Fry" stuffed animals there--the penguin and the dragon. I texted my sisters with the gift ideas for her upcoming birthday. :)

Speaking of "new things", Anthony made Mac & Cheese for the kiddos yesterday afternoon. Yes, he even boiled the water. Tonight he washed his own shirts for PE Camp. Patrick and I were going out for a quick happy hour and we figured that it was about time that Anthony learned how to cook simple things that are the staples of a college student's diet. After all, he will be a junior in high school this year. Scary, I know!

This is just a picture of Eric posing while eating the Mac & Cheese. He was following Natalie's lead by posing with his mouth open to show that he was eating. At least this picture doesn't show a bunch of food in his mouth like some previous pictures of Natalie have shown.

Today, Patrick took the kiddos to The Institute of Texan Cultures here in town. It was something "different" and "new" for them to do. We've been there before, but it's been quite a while. Patrick likes to go out and do stuff with the kids at least once a week.

This picture is just hilarious, because Natalie apparently was posing in front of this display. It looks like she's trying to compare herself to the figure in the display. Apparently Eric was being silly and did the same thing. Sometimes he still likes to follow what big sister does! There were some other pictures of the kids participating in various activities, like listening to a talk about weaving in a loom, and looking inside a cannon. There was also a cool activity involving geometric shapes and dipping them into a bubble solution to create interesting bubble formations inside the shapes.

One more new thing that I want to mention. The new residents started this past Monday. July's are always so stressful. They're still pretty new and hopefully they'll shape up to be good residents. This program turns out some pretty talented anesthesiologists.

Tomorrow is another "drive Anthony around all over town" sort of day. We can't wait until that boy gets his driver's license.

Too Early

My kids have always been early risers, at least until they hit puberty. Anthony used to wake up, come downstairs to our bedroom, and wait outside our closed door until he heard us making any sort of noise to show that we were awake/waking up. Then he would come into our room. When Eric and Natalie shared a room, they would wake up together. Natalie would take him to the bathroom, he would go to the potty, and she would change his diaper. Then they would play or watch TV. Now that Eric and Alex share a room, Eric wakes up and gets down from his top bunk by himself. He'll go to the potty by himself and play in the game room. Natalie still gets up at around the same time. Patrick thought that she was getting up early just so she could watch TV, so now no one gets to watch TV until at least 8am. Still, Natalie and Eric are usually up by around 6:30am or 7am at the latest.

Natalie usually wants to ask a friend over to play as early as possible. We make her wait until 10am because even if the friend is awake, their parents might not be, particularly on the weekends. Today she went over to L.L.'s house at 10am. He was still in his pajamas and about to eat breakfast. She went over to A.R.'s house at 1pm. She was still in her pajamas and about to eat lunch. Patrick told Natalie that this proves that she gets up too early!

Two Children

We spent yesterday afternoon and this morning with only two children. These two didn't argue with each other. It was a welcome relief after spending the previous two days with Natalie and Eric bickering. In fact, when I got up this morning, I found Alex and Eric in their room, building. Eric was putting train tracks together for his trains. Alex was building a parking garage for Eric's cars. Alex bought a set of these toy vehicles from the movie Cars for Eric last week, just because--no special occasion.

I tried to convince Eric to change into his "day" clothes and he refused. I tried to convince him by telling him that I might go to Target and if he wanted to come with me, he had to change clothes. Alex tried to help me by saying that he would buy him something at Target. Eric decided that Alex would buy him a Thomas train. I tried to warn Alex that he shouldn't promise something as expensive as a Thomas train because Eric would hold him to it, but it was too late. After all, when Alex was a toddler, Patrick used to buy him Matchbox cars at Walmart with almost every visit, but those were less than a dollar each.

At Target, Alex managed to convince Eric to get yet another Nerf gun instead. As Alex put it, "We can never have too many Nerf guns." Also, since they are boys after all, bigger is better. Eric picked this long gun that he could barely carry. Alex said that Eric picked it partly because there was a picture of a small boy on the box, as opposed to the pictures of "big boys" on the other boxes. In the picture above, he allowed me to take a picture so I could show Papa (so I could text him the picture). He said as he lifted the big gun above his head, "I can barely hold dis!" Sometimes he is just too adorable for words!

Unfortunately, it wasn't an entirely good trip. On our way home from lunch at Chipotle, we were involved in a minor car accident. We were unhurt, but my car has some more dents on the side. Bummer! :( Patrick was waiting for us at home after picking up the other two from their respective sleepovers. They were both very tired, especially Natalie who isn't used to staying up late at all (1 AM). I was pretty upset by the accident, but at least I had all my babies safe and sound at home.

Trip Recap

This is just a goofy picture of Natalie and Eric--further proof we need to look into gymnastics classes for the little man. I'm not sure how this started, but sometimes Natalie will lift Eric up under his arms and he will hold up his legs. It cracks me up every time they do this "routine".

I've seen a lot of their antics in the last couple of days. Since I worked last Saturday, I got yesterday (Friday) off. The big boys participated in a soccer clinic this morning (Saturday) and Anthony still had summer P.E. camp on Friday, so I went to Houston with just the little ones. I left on Thursday afternoon and came back this morning. Patrick stayed with the boys. I told Patrick today that I needed a break from these two. They are cute but they argue a lot, which is unpleasant when I'm trying to drive the car.

For whatever reason, Natalie started rubbing John's head. He liked it so much that he told her to keep doing it. At first he was bending over at the kitchen counter so she could reach his head, but then I suggested that he sit down and relax, so he did. She does silly little things like that. Aly said that it was like petting a dog. :)

We stayed at Cynthia and John's house. Mom and Dad came to visit on Friday, as did Melissa. Emily and Aly had Harry Potter camp from 9-2 on Friday. We had lunch with them and then the girls all got to play together after the camp. We celebrated Mom's birthday early and informally by ordering Chinese food take-out for dinner. It may not be what other people do, but that's what we do.

Food tastes better when Lola is feeding it to you. Here she is feeding Eric with some "rice soup" or "arroz caldo". He loves that stuff! Mom prefers takeout to going to a restaurant because then she can play with the kids more. It was nice to spend some time with my family, even if it was just a short time. Dad is having more and more trouble with travel, so instead of waiting for them to come to visit us, we went to visit them.

Cow Hat

Patrick and the younger kids went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch this week and they received these hats in honor of "Cow Appreciation Day" this coming Friday. Anthony has a silly side to him and he put on one of the hats, which happened to be Eric's hat. Eric insisted that he didn't want Anthony to wear his hat, for some reason. Natalie volunteered hers and even adjusted it to fit Anthony's head. The first picture I took was with Anthony texting while wearing the cow hat. Here he is trying to look as mean as possible.

For Cow Appreciation Day, if you dress up as a cow, you can get a free meal at Chick-Fil-A, you can get a free meal. If you dress up only partially, then you can still get a free entree. Anthony said that he wouldn't mind dressing up as a cow, except that his family would take pictures. Then he said, "Oh wait, my friends would take pictures too." Yes, most definitely. I guess that's why he lets me take all the pictures I want of him.

Coming Home

This is the sight that has greeted me on my arrival from work for a couple of days in the last week or so. Eric is eating a popsicle. This usually means that he has successfully pooped in the potty. There was a time not too long ago when this seemed like such an unreachable goal. Patrick would offer Eric a popsicle if he would poop in the potty. Even though Eric wanted a popsicle, he would still poop in his pants. Now, even though he will still poop in his pants sometimes, he more consistently poops in the potty. He also wakes up with a dry diaper on many mornings. We're getting closer...

Today I was home only briefly before I had to go back out and take Anthony to his dentist appointment (just a checkup). Eric hasn't been greeting me at the garage door like he used to. He's usually preoccupied with some toys. When I came into the house, he called from the staircase, "Hi Mama! Do you want to see my lovely puzzle? I did it all by myself!" He cracked me up with his use of the word "lovely". Interestingly, there was another piece next to the completed puzzle. Eric told me it was an extra piece. Sure enough, there was a duplicate of one of the puzzle pieces, so this 48 piece puzzle had 49 pieces. I hope that doesn't mean that someone else was shorted a puzzle piece.

Eric has also had this recent obsession with building "skyscrapers". I think he loves just saying the word "skyscrapers". In any case, he wanted me to see the skyscraper that he built. The first one he showed me was shorter than him, but that one toppled when he tried to make it bigger. This is the revised version. He was so proud of his creation that he asked me to take a picture of it, along with him showing his muscles. Too cute!

Notice the messy game room in the background. Patrick and Alex have done a lot of cleaning and reorganizing in there, but the task is still so formidable that I don't want to do it, and Patrick is a bit burned out and hasn't done too much in the last week or so.

As long as he was in the picture-taking mood, I kept snapping away when he started doing this. I've talked with Patrick about trying to get Eric in some gymnastics classes. Patrick likes to point out that gymnastics classes will only encourage him to climb more things. Look at him though, he is a natural. Besides, who could resist that cheesy smile?

Natalie was the social butterfly today. She played at her friend M.E.'s house for a couple of hours this morning. M.E.'s family is going out of town on vacation early tomorrow and she won't be able to play with her for a week. In the afternoon, Natalie's friend L.L.'s mom invited Natalie to see the new Cars 2 movie with them and then she stayed over at his house for several hours to play. I didn't even see her until almost 7pm when we called her to come eat dinner so we could all go to Dollar Scoop Tuesday at Baskin-Robbins.

I wonder what sights and sounds will greet me when I get home from work tomorrow?

Happy Fourth!

It's been a few days since I've posted. I was on call for 24 hours on Saturday, July 2nd, so Sunday was a day of rest for me. I picked up donuts for the family on the way home from work and we went to the 6pm mass. Those were the only two times I left the house that day. I didn't even take a nap.

Anthony had a couple of female friends over to have lunch and then to watch a couple of movies. Patrick joked with him about how he was having a wonderful time sitting on the sofa in between the two girls watching movies. I really wanted to get a picture of them on the sofa with Eric sitting on his lap, but I refrained because I didn't want to embarrass him.

Today the two little ones, Patrick and I went to the neighborhood Fourth of July parade. It's an informal annual affair consisting of people decorating their bikes, wagons, and pets and walking down one of the streets in the middle of the subdivision. This year, the swim team coach told the kids that she thought it would be a good idea for them to wear their medals from the Championship Meet during the parade and to carry the banners they won in the parade.

We walked to the parade start site with Natalie's medals making clanking sounds the whole way. We both laughed at the noise they were making. When we got there, one of the women organizing the event let Natalie borrow the headband she was wearing. It actually belonged to her daughter who was on one of Natalie's relay teams, she didn't attend because she was away visiting family.

We received several banners for the girls on our swim team winning in their age group. Natalie volunteered to carry the banner for the Girls Ages 7-8 group. The boy scout son of one of the ladies organizing the parade led the parade with a flag, and everyone else followed. There was supposed to be a fire truck leading the parade, but they must have been busy with a call, because they didn't get there until late. They ended up bringing up the rear instead.

After the parade, they served sugar cookies, popsicles, and water while everyone socialized. Eric chose the blue popsicles and Natalie of course chose the red ones. Eric also got to sit inside the fire truck and look at some of their equipment. He didn't seem very interested in the equipment, but he was definitely checking out the fire truck itself.

We walked home to meet up with the big boys then we went to our Lifetime Fitness gym to go to the pool. Natalie got to bring her friend M.E. again. Those two get along so well and M.E. ended up staying with us the rest of the day until after dinner. Anthony exercised first before joining the rest of us at the pool.

Eric must have been exhausted from all the walking in the parade, because after only an hour at the pool and doing his constant somersaults, he said that he didn't want to swim anymore. Instead he sat in the shade covered with a towel.

We took our showers there then went to Brindles for ice cream then we went home. Patrick grilled steaks for us and for two of Natalie's friends that were over to play. We watched more movies tonight. We watched lots of movies this weekend. It's been a fun family weekend. Tomorrow it's back to the normal summer routine.

Training Holiday

Today is what is called a "training holiday" at the military facility where I work. For me that means that I don't have to work since I'm not on call. That means that I get to do fun things with my family if I want to. Of course I want to!

Since I wasn't working today, I took the opportunity to let Natalie invite her good friend, M.E. for a sleepover last night so that she could spend the day with us today instead of her usual summer camp. The day started with banana chocolate chip pancakes and turkey bacon. I haven't made that for breakfast for weeks! The kids loaded up on the turkey bacon, so we have a lot of pancakes left over.

The girls played for a bit after breakfast, and then we headed to our local Lifetime Fitness pool. The girls and Eric would have fun at the neighborhood pool, but this way made it a little more "special". I spoiled them there with lunch at poolside and strawberry banana "icee" drinks. They played for a good couple of hours.

The girls went on the water slide and raced each other. Most of the time it seemed like they were just talking and swimming around. Eric was laughing and smiling almost the whole time. He was continuously doing somersaults underwater. I would have taken a few pictures with our new underwater camera, but the lifeguard informed us that photos were not allowed. I think the girls managed to take a few underwater videos, but we have yet to download the stuff off that camera. We even saw some neighborhood friends there. That was nice for me because I had a couple of adults to talk to while watching Eric do continuous somersaults.

We took our showers in the family locker room and then headed to Coldstone Creamery for ice cream. The kids must have been tired, but they have way more energy than I do. I napped when we got home but they didn't.

We had leftovers for dinner and watched Wipeout with the family. Anthony was off watching the new Transformers movie and then going to Laser Quest with friends. I'm glad I was able to spend time with the kiddos today since I'm on call tomorrow. It will undoubtedly be a busy holiday weekend call. Wish me luck!

Zoo Trip

Patrick took the little ones to the zoo this morning after dropping Alex off at soccer camp. I wish I could have been there instead of work, but I should be thankful that I didn't have to be outside. I got to hear all about it when I got home from work. Eric seemed most excited about seeing the fish, especially the ones that looked like Nemo from Disney's Finding Nemo animated movie.

Patrick took some pictures for me today so I could share in a little of their zoo experience. I loved this picture of Natalie and Eric holding hands. When they were in a wooded area at the zoo, Natalie held Eric's hand and guided him along the paths. They can be so sweet to each other sometimes. It's nice to see that once in a while.

There is an area called Lory Landing where you can feed the lories. Patrick had to hold Eric's hand that he was using to feed the lory or Eric wouldn't feed it. Natalie seemed to enjoy feeding them, but Eric was much more hesitant for some reason.

Here Eric is looking at a turtle shell. The zoo staff person was telling them about how they weren't allowed to touch the turtle she was showing them. Eric still enjoyed looking at the turtle and then the turtle shell. Patrick thought he might be fascinated because his sister was fascinated. He certainly enjoys the zoo and he looks forward to going there every time.

I'm not getting any more details from Patrick right now. He's fallen asleep while I'm writing this blog post! Natalie friend M.E. is sleeping over again tonight. They put themselves to bed again by around 9pm. Tomorrow we plan on going to our gym pool and other hopefully fun activities.