Sir Lancelot Du Jack

Behold my pint-sized Knight in Shining Armor. Is he not the cutest thing ever...?!?

Sir Lancelot was prepared to fight dragons and other scary things on All Hallows Eve. He was so prepared that he even remembered to take his "paci" along for courage (see his left hand.)

Since the kids were little we have had a tradition of having the ENTIRE Rivera family get together at our house on Halloween. The host family TREATS to pizza, I make Witches Brew (lime sherbert & 7up) for the kids, and the adults bring their own "spirits" and TRICK the older trick-or-treaters with water, etc... We usually invite friends to join us in our driveway celebration. Even Nana and Grandpa from Oklahoma have made it down for the celebration in the past. This year, Paco requested that the celebration be moved to his house since Jayce is so particular about his bedtime curfew. It was neat to see all the cousins together with other little friends. We had superheroes, cowboys, pirates, specters, princesses, rock stars and knights in shining armour. For Jack & Jayce this was the first time they were old enough to participate going door to door and actually get to eat some of the candy. The latter they embraced with reckless abandon.
"Jack & (his friend) Jude went up the street to fetch a bunch of candy.... Jack discovered Skittles (and is now addicted). Jude prefers lollipops. And they both got belly-aches thereafter!" j/k ;)

Cousins Sir Lancelot du Jack and SpiderZeke considered dueling, but were easily distracted by the sweet bounty which abounded.

Fall Fun

So, we took the kids to the pumpkin patch on a beautiful, cool day and we had our cameras ready so we could take the annual pictures among the mountains of pumpkins and bales of hay. It was all going according to plan. The camera batteries were fully charged, the memory cards empty, and the boys (still) clean! The only thing missing? A couple of smiles.... Was that so much to ask for?!?

The boys were NOT impressed!

However, we did not give in so easily. You see, we had a secret weapon the boys cannot resist....(drum roll, please).... ROBBIE- to the RESCUE!!! :) :) :) Did he pull the wagon at speeds innappropriate for toddlers? Of course, it's Robbie! Did the boys eventually tumble off wagon on to the ground? Of course they did!!! BUT nobody got seriously injured, we got lots of smiles and pictures to prove it...and that makes it all worth it!In order to get the boys to smile for this picture, we got Robbie to push the wagon backwards until it crashed (repeatedly) against the bale of hay as Robbie yelled "boink" aloud. The boys thought the ensuing whiplash was hilarious, resulting in many smiles! ;)

NO smiles were to be had around the pumpkins as we could not come up with any stunts the boys would enjoy which would not result in broken necks.

Oh, look, yet another picture where absolutely everyone BUT Jack is smiling. Sighhhhhhhh......... (Can you guess the flavor of the sno-cones Katja & Robbie had just finished eating?)

What is the fascination of boys with cars???

I just don't understand the male fascination with motorized vehicles, but then, they don't understand our fetish for shoes.... Anyway, the latest testament to Robbie's love affair with cars was a few weeks ago when he opted to miss a friend's birthday party in order to go to Texas World Speedway with Jeff to watch some random car race. Somehow, they sweet-talked themselves into the getting up-close and personal with some of the drivers and teams. A couple of the drivers went so far as to give Robbie rides in their cars all around the road-course. I don't even want to know how fast they drove, or I might have nightmares.... Below are some pictures that will mostly appeal to the male-half of this blog's readers.

Robbie wearing a helmet and (I'm assured) a fireproof suit while securely buckled with a 5 point harness prior to being driven through the road-course. Check out that smile of anticipation!!

Robbie in another car, with another driver. Hello?!? Where is the helmet and other safety items??? Hmm... for my sanity, I will chose to believe that this driver drove Robbie around veeeery slooooooooooooowly so he could just check things out....
Robbie meeting even more drivers and getting autographs. I have absolutely no clue who this man is and wonder if Robbie does?
Robbie in the garage checking the cars out from up close. For some reason the male of our species find this interesting...

OK, I have to admit, even I would find the OO7 car somewhat cool to look at.

Do I think Jack will have the same fascination with cars as Jeff and Robbie do, you ask? Hmm, as he's only 17 months old, it's probably too early to tell ;)

Super Saturday!

Once in a while life surprises us with a day when everything seems to go right.  Today was such a day.  It began at 7:00 a.m. I went to the kids' rooms and woke them up and told them to get ready for the day.  The both did it in record time & without much fuss.  

• Jeff and Robbie left for football while Katja and I left for her All Region orchestra audition. We were all even running on time!  
• I called to check on Jack, who had spent the night with grandma & papa, only to find that he was happily enjoying a large breakfast. I could hear him laughing and babbling (he's quite the chatter box these days) in the background.  I can't remember the last time I had a stress free morning routine.
• 9:00 a.m.- Robbie's football game began while Katja was ushered (with about 50 other violists) to her audition room.  
• By 9:33 a.m.- I was a nervous wreck on Katja's behalf, and received a text message from Jeff.  Robbie's team led 21-0 at half time.  Already, one of my children seemed destined to be happy for the rest of the day.  
• 9:40 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - I walked around, and tried to read while trying not to wonder how Katja was holding up competing against 7th & 8th graders from Conroe, Willis, Magnolia, and Klein ISD's.  I tried to remind myself that I had done a good job reassuring her that just being invited to audition as only a 6th grader was an honor and quite the accomplishment already.  Unfortunately, I could not shake the knowledge of how hard she had worked and how disappointed she would be if she didn't make it.  
• Robbie played true to the number #1 on his jersey as he earned MVP of the game!
• 
  11:17 a.m.-  Call comes in letting me know that Robbie was MVP of the game (wohoooo!), and I missed it!!  :(  Sniff, sniff. He made numerous tackles which included diving, ramming, and even sacking the quarterback WAY behind the line of scrimmage. Coaches said that Robbie was most valuable player and played his best game yet.
  Katja practices before audition
• 
  11:30 a.m. - Katja emerges from audition room feeling good about her performance.  I remain skeptical, however, as Katja is the proverbial optimist.  I assure her that the reward is in feeling that she did her best and gaining valuable experience in the audition process, blah, blah, blah.....
  
  Katja and Mrs. Brosvik (Katja's teacher) in the midst of (chaos) hundreds of aspiring musicians all tuning their instruments at the same time!
• 
  12:15 p.m. - results are posted.  As I approach results I am passed & dazed by a mob of rushing students who push and shove their way to the front.  The teacher in me reprimands a student before I remember that I am being a "mom" at the moment and should not do anything to embarrass Katja.  Katja somehow manages to reach the results list, turns around and yells "I MADE IT!!!".  She runs off to find her teacher.  I endure more shoving and pushing before being able to scrutinize list and confirm the results. Sure enough, not only did she make it, she had an impressive ranking.  I am stunned and amazed.   We leave school with Katja floating on a cloud and calling all relatives to share her news.  She is the first 6th grader in CISD's history to make All-Region Orchestra! Go Kat!!!
  
• 1:30 p.m. - As the day is beautiful the kids and I decide to walk to the park with their neighborhood friends.  At the park, we run into old acquaintances and enjoy their company. Robbie plays football with friends.  The kids get invited to a Halloween party.
• Grandma celebrates her birthday at Japanese Steakhouse
• 
  6:30 p.m. - Paco & Kerrie, Michelle & Chris, Jeff, the kids, and I meet mom and dad at Kobe's Japanese Steakhouse to celebrate grandma's birthday, the kids' accomplishments, and Jack's turning 17 months.  A good time was had by all even if we all have the cook's routine memorized already.  Really, they need some new material!  Regardless, if you have to take young children to dinner and want them to behave, take them Kobe's.  The cook's antics will keep them riveted.  
  
• 8:45 p.m. - Kids go with Jeff to neighbor's Halloween party wearing their new costumes while I stay home with a sleepy Jack.  
• 10:25 p.m. - As I type this entry I wonder if I should buy a lottery ticket...but I'm just too darn tired.