Fourth of July, Texas style

On Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:30 and went to Mass with Mom, but I was so tired after Mass that I just had to stay up and play Starcraft. The kids came over at about noon or so and they were all cranky. Mary wanted to be the boss (again), Timmy wanted someone to hold him and Mikey wanted some attention too, since Mary and Timmy were crying. Mom put all three down for naps, so AJ and Anya were the only two up, but even they crashed after a little bit. We decided that it would be better to leave around 3PM, and since I had foolishly played away my nap time, I decided that a power nap was better than none at all, so I laid down on the couch -- just in time for AJ and Anya and Mary to all get up and show me all the fireworks that Jimmy had brought over. I got about 5 minutes of skim sleep -- it may have been 2%, but it certainly wasn't whole, and therefore not real.

So we stopped at Sonic on the way out the door and picked up a Route 44 mango soda drink for me and a couple small slushies for AJ and Anya (I'm yawning thinking about this). The drive took an hour and a half, but the kids swear it was longer. I got AJ interested in directions. I told him we were going north on 75, so if we turned left when we exited onto highway 380, then we weren't going north anymore. He was really clever and announced that we were now going west. Anya was also awake, so Mom was pointing out this and that and the kids were oohing and aahing, but the fireworks hadn't even started yet. It was only cornfields and livestock. AJ decided that he was going to live in the country when he grows up.

When we arrived at Emma's family's house, we walked down to where the party was. Sarah had just cut her foot wide open and so Mrs. F was driving her back to get stitches, so everything was pretty well normal. Emma and Mr. F were cleaning up and setting up decorations. I helped for a few minutes, and then the kids discovered the outside toys: slides and tire swings and whatnot. Excitement ensued as they pleaded with Mom, "Grandma please push us on the swings!", "Grandma, watch me slide down the slide!", and other such requests, so she did for a while. I chased Michael around, especially when he discovered the lake. He wanted to run and explore but mean old Uncle Anthony and Grandma wouldn't let him play in the water, so he figured out other methods of getting dirty: cow patties.

Soon enough, AJ and Anya had found that the tire swings weren't much fun when Grandma was watching Mikey and Mary on the slide, so they cajoled (read: begged) their uncle into pushing them. This is where Anthony is the sucker of the Smitha family. "You want me to push you? OK." So, excitedly, they chose their tire swings and I pushed them for a while. AJ wanted the regular tire swing, so he climbed in with a bit of help, and Anya wanted one of the horse tire swings, so I picked her up and put her on it. I was watching the tree branches carefully, so I pushed them slowly at first, but that soon disintegrated into "FASTER!" and "HIGHER!". Caution was thrown to the wind (as far as they were concerned) and they were soon going about 70 degrees from their starting points from the axis of the branch. They were having a blast. Then AJ saw that Anya was having a blast on her horse swing, so he wanted to get on the other one. With a bit of help, he climbed right up, but this was the weakest of the branches (or so it looked), so I couldn't push him as high.

After about 20 minutes on the swings, Mary wanted to get on the now-vacant tire swing. She was just barely big enough to sit in the tire and grab hold on top, so I pushed her gently and she was enjoying herself immensely. So at this point, I had all three of the eldest going on their respective swings, with AJ getting the short end of the stick, because he was a bit too heavy to be pushed high. I was push Anya high, then push Mary gently, then push AJ as high as I dared, and then run back to Anya, because her trajectory had diminished. I was getting quite the run around, because these swing were about 30 feet apart, so my heart rate and breathing rate were almost at treadmill levels. My sweat and smell levels were past the unpleasant stage, I'm sure.

There were more guests around, including the McD family from St. Louis (Mr. and Mrs. McD, Allison, Lindi, Micah and Will), so I managed to talk to them for a little while. AJ started playing with several of the other boys. One of them saw me running between Anya and Mary and offered to help, so he took over pushing Anya. She said, "My uncle is better than you are." Ouch. That's some thanks. So he took over pushed Mary very gently, and I pushed Anya again. Eventually, the swinging ended, but not for long. Mary wanted to ride on the horse swing when Anya got off, so I pushed her there. She felt much more safe that way, as did I. After a few minutes of this, Anya came back and wanted more horse swing time, so she and Mary rode together. It was a little cramped, so Anya got off again, and Mary just wanted to keep swinging. I'll give her credit: she knows English well enough to know that I was trying to get her to stop, so she answered all of my "Do you want to get off/Do you want to stay on" questions very adeptly.

Dinner was chicken and corn on the cob and potato salad and pasta salad and all sorts of yummy stuff. Michael got his hands on some chicken that we got for him, and devoured it just in time for me to get a plate. But when I sat down to eat, after a bite or so, he was through and took off. So I ran after him. We explored the area next to the lake and around the lake, and in the tall grass, and all that stuff, and he wasn't interested in food until dessert rolled around. Emma was nice enough to keep the dogs away from my food (maybe they licked it a little) but when I got to it, I had just enough time to grab a couple bites and then run after Michael again. He had his dessert and was wired to go again. This time, Mom took over pretty quickly, and she eventually put him on the bench between Mr. F and me. It didn't take him long to figure out a means of escape, but he did so again, only to be reigned in my Mom for more food. This time he discovered corn on the cob, and went through a couple pieces of it.

By this point, fireworks were beginning to be set off. This was just the crackers and other noisemakers, so all the kids were exploring. AJ and Anya loved beign up close. Mary thought she did until she heard one of the explosions at 10 feet away. "GRAMMA!" came the cry and she came stumbling back, tears in her eyes, arms outstretched for the protective embrace. The people around all laughed at the pitiful sight, and I giggled as well. So Mom, who had been holding Mikey, gave him to me and picked up Mary.

I should say that we also brought Timmy. He was in estrogen heaven -- all the girls held him at some point, so he was totally happy up until he wanted food. Then the fireworks scared him, so Mom took him and Mary back to the house.

I held Mikey and Emma sat down next to me, and we lead the National Anthem and "America the Beautiful". After that, she started the soprano lien to If Ye Love Me, so I asked her to start again and I joined her with the bass line. Mrs. McD liked it. After that, there was a lot of oohing and aahing at the fireworks show. Lindi came and sat down next to us as well, and we had a small conversation about how hot I was. OK, so you saw through that one -- we talked about what a bad uncle I was.

After wrapping everything up, we drove back to the house and Mom and I and the kids left around 10PM. When we got onto 380, we stopped at a Sonic -- Mom wanted a tea and I wanted something to keep me going, so I ordered a Route 44 Coke. When that stopped working, Mary started fussing. No reason, she was just tired. But it got me going, and all of a sudden, I was becoming the Anthony you don't like. I told Mom that it makes absolutely no sense to me why anyone, baby or not, wouldn't have the sense to go to sleep when exhausted. Mom then told me that it never happened with me and Elizabeth because we were never out so late to let it happen, and she always put us to bed at a decent hour. That shed rays of hopefulness upon my future, because if she could do it, so can I.

A little over half-way back, Mary was just crying for Gramma -- don't know why, but instead of fussing, she was full-blown crying. We stopped the van to give her a blanket (Liz's shawl), and that settled her down for all of about 30 seconds, just enough time to let Timmy wake up. Then he joined the chorus, so I was getting mad at her, because she woke up Timmy. But I managed to keep it more-or-less under wraps, until Mikey heard the choirs of "angels" singing and added the tenor line. So, Mom managed to give Timmy his bottle and he settled down. Hearing the boy soprano quit whining, the tenor decided that he didn't want to sing with just the alto, so he left off, and Mary decided that he solo wasn't loud enough, and voiced her disapproval that Grandma was taking care of anyone else but not her. I love that little girl, but she can be soooo trying on my patience.

When we made it home, all the kids swore up and down that they weren't tired and the 3-part dissonant harmony we heard in the car turned into a 5-part Britten opera, but not even 2 minutes after AJ, Anya, Mary and Mikey's heads hit their respective pillows did the dirge end. I had begun the process of feeding Timmy, but he didn't want his bottle, so I just held him and he threw his head around, attempting to get comfortable, and smashing up my head (and comfort) in the process. Mom then discovered that the formula in his bottle had gone bad -- which would be why he didn't care for it. So she fixed him a new bottle and he chowed with the greatest eaters of history. Then he also went to bed and all choirs were silent for 8 hours.

I think that's the first time that Mom has gotten a full night's sleep in some time when all 5 kids are here.

Home in TX: Day 3 of the 28.5 day stay.

So I'm at home in TX for several days -- OK, a full month. Anyway life is really busy. Here's a excerpt from an e-mail that I typed up describing the kids here. Maybe it'll be funny in a few years.

You may think I'm counting down the days. In a sense, yes. But in a sense, no. This is a good experience for me. Spending a month dealing with 5 kids all under 8 and all related to me is a good experience. It's not the most fun I've ever had, but it looks like it will become a lot more fun.

If I had to predict what these kids will be when they are grown up, here's what I'd say:

AJ will be some form of show off. Whether that means an actor, entertainer, lawyer, salesman, or some form of public speaker, I'm still trying to figure it out. He's very melodramatic and tells all sorts of stories with greeeeeeat big loooooooooooooooooooooong vowels and opennnnnnnnnnnnn connnnnnnnnnnsonents to reeeeeeeeally enhaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnce the story, all the while being JUST so exCITed (using the wrong inflection at times) AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnd being soooooooooo so so so soooooooooooooooo eager to tell you EVerythinggggggggggggg. Oh, and he's glad to be the oldest, too. He's in charge.

Anya will be the real leader. She's strong and determined, and she knows what she wants. AJ has asserted his authority so much that she's becoming a little bit of a follower, but she knows her place in the chain of command. She's not as dramatic as AJ (but she can be), but she can also be every bit as stubborn. She is a fantastic reader (better than AJ, I think), and she could very easily be the genius in the family. She will be the intellectual who will probably invent new methods of learning, all the while maintaining a business as an artist on the side.

Mary is little Miss Independence, now that she's got her braces on and she can walk flat-footed. She tried to run but it's more of a plod, but it's OK, because she's cute as anything. When she falls down (which she does often enough), she will cry and scream and demand attention (very much unlike Michael), and when you pick her up again, she usually runs off again. She is very protective of her things and if she thinks that someone shouldn't be playing with something, she'll take it away from them and hide it, much to their dismay. But she also expects no retaliation, so when they take away her toys, the hurricane of tears and the mother of all fits breaks loose upon the world. If you've heard random screams in VA, that's Mary. She's cute and she knows it and she's a flirt and she's spoiled rotten (or really tries to be, and thus only pulls of "brat" pretty well, and I don't mean the ind you throw on the grill that's made of piggy). She'll grow up to be a heartbreaker, and possibly a model as well.

Michael will be the powerhouse. He'll go for the sports. He bulls through everything and everyone -- unintentionally for now, because he's just so happy to see them that he runs right at them. He's also quite the chunk, so when he runs at you, he could probably knock you over. He's at least a solid 25 pounds and he's faster (and heavier) than Mary -- I think he's as heavy as Kenny, and would give him a run for his money for strength. Jimmy, Liz's husband and these kids' father, plays really rough with him, and Mikey loves every second of it and comes back for more. He loves being outside. He's a Daddy's boy bar-none. He's also a flirt, bar-none. He makes eyes at all the girls, and not just the pretty girls: all of them. They, in turn, eat it up, and flirt right back with him. Then when he sees that his charms have taken hold of them, he giggles and runs away, thus instituting a game of tag. Mom (and Liz and AJ) all refer to him as the Energizer Bunny on steriods (or the Energize Bunny times 10 or some form of extreme Energizer Bunny), and it's true. He just keeps going and going and going...

Timothy is the stoic one of the group. Granted, he's only 2 months old. But when I mean stoic, I really do mean stoic. He just looks at you with this face (well, there is no stoic google face expression, so this will have to do ), except he is trying to look down his nose at you. Again, though, he's only 2 months old, so he's still working on the whole neck-muscle/head-control thing, so it could be due to the fact that his head just kinda flops backwards, like Anthony Scrivener's did when he was a baby. He has a rather large double chin and looks like the kind of face you'd expect to see in the role of, "This court is now in session: Honorable Timothy Freiberg presiding". Well, he's stoic until he feels neglected. Then he has this mournful, "I'm so alone, and no one loves me..." kind of pitiful, pathetic cry. He usually breaks this out just to keep poor Mom (my Mom, his Grandmother) up until all hours of the night patting his bottom and holding him and telling him it's all right, etc.

Any questions class?

It's been awhile again, huh?

Well, dear readers, if there are any of you left (which I doubt), a lot has happened in the past three months. Don't even bother asking me everything. Here's a brief summary of the highlights.

October continued on pretty well. I told you that I went home right? Of course, I did. Then Halloween came and went. I spent about $25 on Halloween candy, and gave about half of it away. I was as generous as I could be, but there came a point when I decided that I actually did want some of it -- Butterfinger, Mounds, Almond Joy, you get my drift? ;)

November was pretty good. Work was really busy, but I can't remember why. Sometime that month, my gym schedule, which had already slacked off from 6 days a week down to 3 went to 1, if I was lucky. Oh, and my twin sister brought #4 into the world -- Zachary Michael.

Oh, and sometime in either October or November, I decided that I want to take classes in acting and music theory & composition. Over the past couple of months, I've decided that I want to pursue music as a side profession, although I still have the most fun when I'm acting.

Two major work-related things happened in December: #1, I messed up my own data, and it was quite a fire drill over about 30 hours straight to rebuild all of the affected data. #2, the following weekend, we had our company party at the Kennedy Center. It was great -- except that I was really tired (still recovering from the week), so I didn't really get into it until about half-way through.

I didn't go to the gym at all in December. I was too busy with work and Christmas choir practices. But the latter was for naught, because JD and I drive down to Texas to visit our respective families for Christmas, and spent three full days there. I arrived at home in Dallas at 9PM on Sunday, and JD picked me up again at about noon on Thursday. It was a lot of fun, although very short -- I got to visit with Emma and Sarah, Kelly P. went Christmas shopping with me on Monday, and Jenny D. and I went to lunch on Wednesday.

On Christmas Eve, Mom and I went to Our Lady of Lebanon in Lewisville for Liturgy. It was quite nice. Emma and Sarah asked me to join them in the choir loft for a couple hymns, and I was more than happy to oblige. My voice wasn't quite up to the task, though. Quite sad. Be sad. Are you sad? If you are, thank you.

On Christmas Day, Mom and I met with Elizabeth and her four chillun's (yes, the new one is as cute as a button). I was in my morning coat (most normal people would wear it to weddings -- I would wear it to weddings and the birthday of the Savior, and most likely His Resurrection, too). Anyway, we went to Mass together, then Mom and I went to her house where we had breakfast and opened round 1 of presents. Later in the evening, Jane and Gilbert came over with Kathy and the two babies. Then we all opened round 2 of presents.

On Wednesday, Mom and I watched Batman Begins. During the rest of my short stay there, we also watched Yours, Mine, and Ours and Evan Almighty.

Thursday came, and Mom and I went to Mass early in the morning. I was expecting Jonathan around 8AM. He was running a few hours late -- this was good thing. Had he been on time, he would have been driving from about 3AM, plus we would also have to contend with Dallas traffic -- even though we're not in Dallas officially, we are near enough. So he actually showed up about noon and we had smooth sailing out of Dallas, and we were both able to stay awake for a while and talk.

The day I got back to VA, I felt like I was beginning to adjust to the TX weather differences, and my asthma (or whatever it is in my lungs) was beginning to open up a little. So, Jonathan and I drove straight back to VA without stopping, arriving at 6:30-7:00 AM. We got back to his place, and I crashed on the couch until about 10AM, when I drove back to my place. I was cold, tired, and my chest was rather congested, although not too badly. I went to the gym after unpacking. I worked out very hard, considering that I hadn't been to the gym in almost 2 months due to life being very busy, and I exhausted my lungs. My body felt like it could keep going, but my congested lungs were screaming for more space to store oxygen, so I was done.

After my shower, I put on a lot of warm clothes, and drive back to my place. I began shivering while getting dressed and didn't stop until I was more than half-way back to my place. As soon as I got out of the car, I began shivering again, and this didn't stop until about ten minutes after I went inside, put my sweaty clothes into the basket, put on my sweats/PJ's, and crawled into bed. It was about 3:30 PM. About 4:30, Eric W. came back to the townhouse, and chit-chatted with me for a bit, then got recalled to work, so he had to take off. I went back to sleep until about 7:30, when he got back. By this point, I was feeling a lot better, although not 100%. I ate some chicken soup and took some Nyquil, and then Eric and I went to the Chipmunks movie. That was really funny. Plus, the music is AWESOME! I love the Chipmunks. :)

Saturday, about noon, Jonathan came by again, but this time, we were going to the English's house in Lancaster, PA. On the way, we picked up Meghan and Mary Beth at Meghan's house in MD. We were all going up there to sing Christmas carols at a Christmas party that the English's were hosting. We arrived at about 4PM, and began practicing about 4:30. We stopped for dinner at 5:30, then continued again after dinner until about 8PM. I was singing bass for almost everything except for 2 pieces where I sang tenor. After we were done singing, I was freezing, so I got my coat and looked like I was in a cassock for the rest of the evening. My voice was pretty much OK, but I was still quite tired, but I couldn't crash yet. About 10:00 PM, I began fading, but I managed to stay half-awake until 11:30, when I went to bed.

Early the next morning, we went to the church early to practice for Mass. I discovered much to my chagrin that my high voice was 95% gone. The only voice I had left was a scratchy low voice -- and I was supposed to sing tenor all through Mass. Well, Paul helped me as much as he could, but I was practically useless. We sang 3 pieces, and my voice got progressively better (it wet from about 5% at the beginning of Mass to 10% for the final piece), and right after the final piece, I lost it entirely. It wasn't even at 5% -- it was at 0%. I had no voice for the next couple hours, and since then I've been gaining a little bit back every day. Today, I'm almost 100%, but my lungs are still interfering -- when I start to sing in my high range, I feel the very strong urge to break into a coughing fit.

On the way back from the English's, Jonathan, Mary Beth and I were talked into staying for a bit at Meghan's house to participate in a Christmas open house/party. I was happy to stay, but with my voice the way it was, I couldn't really talk to people well until much later in the evening when it was a variation on the low voice of the Preview Guy.

And speaking of coughing fits, I've been having them every night. Usually from 3-4PM, anywhere from 30 minutes to a full hour. Last night, I think I coughed twice -- no fits. It was nice to be able to sleep again. Although, I feel another one coming on now, so I question my ability to sleep tonight. Wish me luck. I'm going to try now...