Happy 16th Birthday, Natalie!

Today was my dear daughter Natalie’s 16th birthday. Patrick and Eric were out of town in Austin for a Jiu-Jitsu tournament, so today started our with just the two of us. We went to the gym to exercise, then headed to McAllister’s Deli for lunch. This has been a typical Saturday morning routine for us lately. Today, Alex met us there for lunch. He has been busy working and spending time with Coral lately, so it was nice for him to take time out to spend time with his sister on her birthday.

Notice the Band-Aid on Natalie’s upper arm. She received a vaccine in each arm yesterday, during her yearly doctor’s appointment, but left the Band-Aids on until today because she forgot to remove them during her shower last night, and she didn’t want to take the chance of having visible adhesive residue on her arms. Silly girl!

After lunch, Natalie and I went home while Alex went to work. We took our showers, and waited for my sister Melissa and her daughter Emily to arrive from Houston. They had actually stopped for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, instead of joining us at McAlister’s Deli, so we waited for them to finish their lunch. We then headed to La Cantera Mall to walk around. I’ve always loved that even though my sisters and I only had one daughter each, our daughters are like sisters to each other. I take every opportunity I can to get pictures of my daughter and her “sisters“. I took this picture at the Tory Burch store.

During Natalie’s doctor’s appointment yesterday, we realized that she needed glasses when she “failed” the vision exam. The next available appointment at the place that Patrick and I usually go to for eye exams, wasn’t until after school starts. Natalie is always worried about missing school. She was also worried about finding the right pair of glasses, so Melissa suggested that she and Emily shop for frames while they were in town so that at least Natalie would have that already picked out by the time she had her eye appointment.

We were at LensCrafters at the mall, when I realized that there was an optometrist next door. If we were willing to wait for a walk-in appointment, she could be seen today. We were told that we might have to wait up to two hours for the appointment, but it end up ended up being only one hour. It took another hour to complete the appointment and get new glasses ordered. This was definitely a win–win. We got to shop for frames and other things while we waited, Natalie got eyeglass frame fashion assistance from her cousin, and she doesn’t have to miss school. The one downside is that I think we probably spent more than I would have anticipated, but Natalie was very happy and even a little excited about her eyeglasses purchase. To me that’s a win-win.

We headed home after ordering the eyeglasses. Patrick and Eric got home shortly before we did. After changing clothes, we headed to dinner at Paesano’s 1604. Alex and Coral met us there. Natalie shared a kids’ fettuccine Alfredo with Eric, as per usual. She ordered the cappuccino pie for dessert. I asked the waitress to put a candle in it for her birthday. We started to sing to her, but she didn’t want that, so we stopped and she went ahead and blew out her candles.

Natalie opened her birthday presents from us when we got home after dinner. She had opened her presents from Melissa and Emily earlier. I had gotten her a cross necklace that she had requested from Stella and Dot, along with a bracelet. She also got a Lululemon bra that she had asked for when we went shopping at La Cantera Mall this afternoon. She was perfectly fine with not being surprised, since she was able to get things she really wanted. Afterwords, she and Emily lay down in her room on their respective beds, and played on their phones silently next to each other. I think it was a good birthday.

First Day of School 2017

Wow, I don't think I've used my big camera since Christmas, and I haven't posted to my blog since April 2017. I think I may have finally worked out the kinks in my photo management system, so wish me luck!

Today was the first day of school for Eric (5th grade) and Natalie (10th grade). It was weird not taking a picture of Alex, but more on that later. I went downstairs to make breakfast at right about 6:20am, when Eric's alarm is supposed to go off. As soon as I was on the stairs, I heard Eric leave his room and go downstairs too, already dressed. I made crescent rolls half filled with chocolate chips, for Eric, and the other half filled with cinnamon sugar, for Natalie. Eric counted out 20 chips per crescent roll plus one on top to show what was in it. He got about five chocolate chips extra for his trouble (what was left in the bag).

I was a little rusty using my camera, so I had to fiddle with the white balance on this photo, but of course I had to include a photo of him with his now signature thumbs up. He is using the same Star Wars Rebels backpack that he used last year. It's still in great condition.

He is riding the same bus #139 and the bus stop is the same one as last year (one block down from all the years previously). He was the only one at the bus stop this morning, and the only one that got off this afternoon. The bus looked rather empty this morning also. He has the same bus driver, a really nice lady who is usually early. Last year he usually had two or three other kids waiting with him, two of which were brother who live at the end of our street. We'll see if they join him later in the week.

As soon as he came home from school, I took him to Bahama Bucks for his first day of school treat (Baby Bahama Mama Rama with Vanilla Ice Cream and Mango, Blue Raspberry, and Grape flavors). We usually go for ice cream, but the Bahama Bucks is new since the end of last school year. We went straight to his last piano lesson. No more piano lessons for him (at this time).

I needed to convince Natalie to let me take a picture. Actually, she said I made her feel guilty when she complained, so she consented. Hey, guilt works, and I'm going with that! She went for her usual casual look for the first day. She didn't think she looked "very good" but of course I told her she was beautiful, inside and out. One of these days she will believe me.

They both seemed to have good days. Natalie is worried a little about her classes, as usual. I drove her to school this morning, then I went to the gym. There was a rescheduled pep rally type of activity this afternoon after school, so Patrick picked her up from school so she could drop her stuff off at home, then he took her back to school. I picked her up from there so that we could get some additional school supplies. She had wanted to wait until the first day of school so she could find out what exactly her teacher wanted her to get.

In the meantime, Patrick picked up Thai food for dinner. Alex is still at home for another two weeks. I'm sure I will blog about him as the time gets closer to his departure. Tomorrow, I get to go back to work. I have to get up 4:30 am tomorrow. Yay--not!

April Art a la Carte

I volunteered for Eric's monthly art class yesterday (Monday). I didn't get a chance to get a picture of his art from last month's art class because it was a two-part lesson and I wasn't there for part two. They made "sculptures" using wire that they shaped and placed in a green block that is usually used for flower arrangements. They then stretched a stocking over the wire and covered the stocking surface with white liquid glue. The second part was painting the sculpture.

This is Eric's finished (and dried) sculpture. He chose to paint it all black except for some orange accents. Most of the other sculptures were painted a shimmery light purple, so Eric's sculpture stood out. He is definitely has his own individual taste.

April's art class project was based on the work of a Japanese artist named Katsushika Hokusai, a painter and printmaker, who is most well-known for his woodblock print named The Great Wave of Kanagawa. The kids were going to mimic that work using simple items--colored paper, scissors, pen, and glue.

Mrs. R started by showing them different ways to cut the paper into waves--big and small, curved or pointed, lots of cuts or just one or two. Then they basically doodled on each piece of paper to add some texture/interest, then combined them all and glued them onto a white piece of paper. The final piece was to cut a boat out of a small piece of red paper and put that as the focal point.

It's a good thing that this was a simple lesson, because this lesson was interrupted several times by various school-wide "drills". They had the "duck and cover", which was supposed to be what to do in case a tornado was in the area. All the kids heard "duck and cover" and they all immediately got up from their chairs, went under the tables, and tucked themselves in little balls. Mrs. R had to read her little guide and it turned out that they were supposed to do this in the hallway since the classroom was on the exterior of the building, and you're supposed to move to the interior of a building in case of a tornado.

They had a "lockdown" drill in case there was an intruder, like an active shooter. I thought it was sad that nowadays we have to prepare our kids for cases like that. They all huddled in one corner of the classroom, turned out the lights, and covered up the windows. The last drill was, of course, a fire drill. We got outside just in time for the light drizzle to start. Fortunately, we didn't have to be out there that long. Apparently there was one more drill, an evacuation drill, where they would all go to the nearby church, but that would have caused too much chaos, so they didn't do that one.

Despite the multiple interruptions, most of the kids were able to finish their artwork. Eric perched his little red boat high up on the very tip of the biggest wave. He obviously had a lot of fun with this little project. :)

Instead of bringing him his usual (meaning for the last five years) lunch from Wendy's, he requested Sonic Jumbo Popcorn chicken and a grape slushie instead. Last month, when I went to get his usual request lunch, I found out that Wendy's no longer offers the spicy chicken nuggets. I went ahead and got myself some of their Ched'R Peppers. I haven't eaten Sonic in about two years, but yesterday, I decided to eat Sonic food with my son. He is growing up so fast, and I want to savor every moment. Look at that sweet face! LOL ;)