What Do you Do With a Tail Like This?

"Animals use their eyes, mouths, and feet in very different ways..."

Cali is in love with this book we checked out from the library last week. We've had to read it at least twice a day since we got it. It shows a page of close-ups for each body part then on the next page it shows the whole animal and says what is unique about that animal and how it uses that body part.

So far Cali has decided that she wants the nose of an elephant (to bathe herself), the ears of a whale (to hear for hundeds of miles), the tail of a giraffe (to swat flies), the eyes of a bush baby (to see at night), the feet of a chimpanzee (to feed herself with), and the mouth of an archer fish (to spit at bugs & eat them).

One of the wildest things we learned from this book was about the Horned Lizard who happens to squirt blood out of its eyes. Yes, really. Supposedly, it confuses an attacker giving it time to run away. Read more about this critter at NationalGeographic.com. If you're feeling brave and really want to see the blood-squirting in action click here for a youtube clip. Beware: it's not for the faint of heart.

Texas is OK After All

About 4 1/2 years ago, when Dave was finishing up flight school, I told him if he ever got assigned to Texas I wasn't going. I was exaggerating of course, but I never in my life thought I would want to live in Texas. I just imagined it was very hot and dry and no fun. I was wrong of course because I've learned as a military child (then wife) that wherever you go there are always positives and you learn to adapt and enjoy what you have. I've really enjoyed living in TX after all and here is one of the reasons.... It is still February and this is what we were doing yesterday..(Sorry about the wind noise, I don't have a way to remove it.)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Now before you think I'm completely crazy you have to remember that I grew up in Alaska. Contrary to popular belief Alaska really can be warm in the summer. So growing up when the temperature hit the 70s and certainly the 80s we were out running through the sprinklers every chance we got. Yesterday was in the mid-80s, plenty warm enough in my book! Besides it was really Cali's idea. She couldn't wait to try out the new sprinkler D got for his birthday.

PS That's broccoli they're eating there at the end.

Shapes Turtle

One of D's favorite things right now is turtles, especially Sea Turtles. I searched around and saw an idea for a "Shapes Turtle". This is my version.


You will need:

Scissors
Yellow Paper
2 Shades Green Paper
Other Paper (for background)
Glue
Googly-eyes (optional)


Start by cutting out all the needed shapes. For each turtle you will need: 1 large green circle, 6-8 green triangles, 4 yellow semi-circles or ovals, 1 larger yellow semi-circle, 1 yellow triangle.


Start by helping your child glue on the feet, tails, and head to the backside of the shell. Once its all assembled flip it over and glue the whole turtle to the background paper. Now let your child decorate the turtles shell with the green triangles. Add googly eyes or draw them on the head. Ta-da!

Dinosaur Jungle/Swamp

The kids are way into dinosaurs lately so I came up with this easy craft for them.

You will need:

Paper

Crayons (optional)

White Glue

Scraps of yarn or various fibers

Foam Dinosaur stickers

(we got ours at the $1 store)

Set out their paper and let them start by coloring it if they like. I did this just to buy some time to grab the other supplies. Let them swirl glue as they wish over the paper. Throw the yarn bits on top and squish them down to stick. I had a bag of scraps yarn from my knitting days but use whatever you have. Last, let them stick on the dinosaurs as they like. Ta-da!

Pencil Lines

I needed some scrapbooking inspiration the other day so I headed over to a wonderful site called Pencil Lines that provides a weekly sketch plus their design teams' versions. Within minutes I was ready to get creative. I've been working on a theme album from our fall trip to Alaska. I followed some advice I read somewhere along the way that suggested using a single paper packet or single "line" of products to keep the album cohesive and get it done quickly. I'm going with the Basic Grey Mellow paper packet. I've done 4 pages so far and love every one of them. Here is the one I did for this weeks Pencil Lines Sketch #123.


Here is the other one, inspired by Pencil Lines Sketch #39.


And the first two pages, of my own design.

Austin Kite Fest

Don't miss it! If you live in the area get yourself over to the Austin Kite Festival this Sunday March 1st from 10am-5pm at Zilker Park. Visit http://www.zilkerkitefestival.com/ for all the details, including where to park for the shuttles, rain date, and hotline number. This is a fabulous family fun day; I highly recommend it.

Panties?

Cali started a gymnastics class a few weeks ago. She absolutely LOVES it. So much that she wants to wear her leotard throughout the week and often conducts her own "class" in the living room. I'm not quite sure about something though... Are you supposed to wear panties under a leotard? I mean its pretty much like a swimsuit right? And you wouldn't wear panties under your swimsuit. That would just be weird. Plus they really show, not just the panty-lines but half the panties hang out the sides. I could be wrong. I really don't know. Well, as we pull in the driveway after class yesterday Cali tells me "Mommy, my teacher says its ok if you don't wear panties with your leotard." Umm, Cali did you ask your teacher that? "Yes, she said its ok if you don't but some girls do. My other friends wear panties." Ugh, I'm not sure if they really do. I keep forgetting to check. I'm not sure if she really should and the teacher just told her its ok not to to be nice. I can't believe she asked the teacher that. And I still don't know for sure. Please tell me what you think...

Happy Birthday D

I wasn't blogging much this week because I was busy preparing for my baby's 2nd Birthday party. He has been infatuated with Mickey Mouse (aka "Ma-Moot") for awhile now so we indulged him with a Mickey party. He was thrilled with all the fun surprises from waking up to find streamers and a big Mickey balloon to opening presents, his friends coming over, more presents, and of course the Mickey cake. I took the easy route on the cake but thought it was plenty cute and definitely tasted good. He had a very happy Birthday indeed.

Allie

Cali has a little friend. Her name is Allie. She is a mouse. She is invisible. Allie has been around for a few months now. She shows up sporadically, typically outside in the yard or at a park. She likes to play chase, climb trees, and eat lots of snacks. Allie has a whole gang of other mice friends too. They have some pretty creative names. Sometimes we have to roll down the car windows so the mice can jump in and ride home with us after the park. Today we had to keep the windows down because the mice were chasing us as Cali threw (pretend) food to them out the window. A lot of times they hang out in the playhouse in our backyard. Even Diego runs to the playhouse peeks in the window and exclaims "Mou! Mou! Lally! Lally! Mou!" The mice like almost every type of food I could name and they're very hungry. They like strawberries for dinner, and pickles for dessert. They also eat foxes. It's a good thing because the foxes ate all the dinosaurs and made them extinct. Now the mice can eat the foxes and the foxes won't eat all the dinosaurs. Whew! Crazy I know but that is what I learned today.

Wonder

This is my first Adult submission for I heart Faces. I had to think about it for awhile because I think the expression of "Wonder" is harder to find and capture in an adult. If anything will do it though, its holding your newborn baby girl in your arms. Make sure to visit the I heart faces blog and see more adults expressing "Wonder".

Wonder

This Monday's new I "heart" faces theme is Wonder. Diego is staring at Go, Diego, Go on the TV of all things. Make sure you visit the I "heart" faces blog to see everyone else's entries! Click here or the icon.

Happy Valentine's Day

Love must truly be in the air... I came across both of these while traipsing around Austin yesterday. Hope everyone has a happy day full of love and surprises.

Austin Adventures

Dave has a 4-day weekend for President's Day, the forecast said high of 78 and minimal wind. That meant a perfect day to spend outside in downtown Austin. First, we took the kids to the Austin Nature & Science Center at the far end of Zilker Park. They have this awesome "Dino Pit" where the kids can dig for fossils plus lots other BONES to explore inside. Cali is still fascinated with bones, skeletons and fossils so we knew she'd just love it. Funny enough Diego has even learned from her the word "bone!" and recognizes what a bone/skeleton is. For lunch we loaded up the bikes and road the trail beside Town Lake over to the Playscape area. Can you believe both bikes (we didn't even have to remove the baby seat) and the bike trailer fit in the back of the Trailblazer no problem? After eating, potty breaks, and playtime at the park it was past 2:00 so we headed back out on the trails. D went to sleep within minutes, just as we'd hoped. Cali enjoyed the relaxing ride. We circled the entire Town Lake trail then back to the truck. After a wardrobe change (we could've all used a shower by this point), more potty breaks, and re-loading the bikes we went to our favorite place - Whole Foods Market - to browse around and find a treat/snack. We all tried Gelato for the first time: the kids had Cookies & Cream, I had Pineapple Basil. Both were very tasty. More potty breaks, and playing on the 3rd floor terrace playground. Diego looked like he could fall asleep at any minute so we packed up and headed for home. Didn't have any set dinner plans so ended up stopping for a quick bite at Sonic when we were nearly home. Showers, jammies, toothbrushes, stories and the little ones are fast asleep.

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If you like the song, its Laurie Berkner's "Running Down the Hill" from her album Under a Shady Tree. I give the whole album 5 stars, highly recommended!

FTF

1. Date Night. I missed last weeks FTF because we were out celebrating Dave's birthday with dinner and a movie. I made sure the kids were good and tired, put them to bed at 7 sharp and left them with our dear friend Dana for the night. There's just something about eating an entire meal in peace that you just don't appreciate until you have a few kids. If you ever go to Texas Roadhouse order the Jamaican Cowboy and if you're thinking about the movies, Push was pretty good even though Dave caught me snoring for a minute or two. The movie certainly wasn't boring, its just a bad habit of mine. I've fallen asleep at many a movie.

2. D in his "Nundies". These happen to be his favorite pair, he insists it is a "bat" no matter how many times I tell him its a pterodactyl. Even though we have to watch him like a hawk so he doesn't have an accident, I just think they're so cute on his little tush.

3. Moments like this (and catching them on camera!) They found some new books I meant to hide away for Valentine's Day. Oh well.


4. Choco's Ice Cream BonBons - 100% Natural, "Premium bite-size Ice Cream Treats with a cookie base dipped in Rich Chocolate", only 60 calories each. These are so delicious and satisfying I only ever eat one. We have the Mint ones which oddly enough don't show up on the website but we bought them at Sam's Club. Try them!!

Early Birthday Present

I have to admit Dave & I are not so good at always keeping presents for the proper time and place. Cali hasn't given up her trike yet and Diego doesn't have anything of his own to ride so when I found a Thomas the Train trike for only $10 at Ross I couldn't pass it up. We were saving it for his birthday but when Cali wanted to go out and ride this evening I told Dave to go ahead and put it together for him. He'll still have plenty of gifts to open and plenty of surprises on his special day.
He didn't stay on it for very long at a time and probably spent more time pushing, pulling, and picking it up than sitting on it but he sure was happy and seemed proud to have his very own set of wheels.

And just because there haven't been any pictures of her lately...

Baby Goats

Did you ever notice how cute baby goats are? I just found this video Dave took at Topsey. Look at his little tail!

How to Get Dinner in the Oven...

while your hungry toddlers run amok and Daddy's working late. We're lucky to have a fenced in yard and plenty of outdoor toys and the kitchen near the back door. I sent them out with a big box and some crayons, opened up two paper bags and taped them to their play table. It bought me a good 20 minutes.

Wacky Wednesday

Diego mad that Cali won't let him wear her pink hat that reads "Mom's #1 Baby Girl". I went all the way out to the truck to get HIS hat but that was NOT what he wanted.

Sweet & Simple

We made these for our storytime Valentine's party. I used my Cricut machine but you could easily handcut the flowers either free-hand or using a cookie cutter for a template. This was not my original idea but I couldn't back-track to which blog I glimpsed it on. If I remember, I'll let you know.

Topsey

We've lived in this area 4 years now and never visited this cool place. The kids were so cranky this morning we had to get out of the house and do something fun. Even though its in the 70s the wind is whipping too much to have an enjoyable outdoor adventure. At Topsey you stay in the car, take a little drive and just enjoy the animals as they run up for a snack. It was so much fun. My favorite were the Zebras, and the long-haired big-horned cows (no that's not the technical name). I can't believe a Zebra stuck his whole head in my car and ate out of my hand! So cool! Oh and the little bitty baby goats were so adorable! If you go just watch out for the ornery goats that will kick your car, and beware the ostrich - that guy freaked me out!

Silly

Just getting a jump-start on Monday's new I "heart" faces theme. Diego is the personification of the word silly. I love this shot of him laughing at our dog Huey in the backyard. Make sure you visit the I "heart" faces blog to see everyone else's entries! Click here or the icon.

Say Hello to Our Little Friends

Digging holes to plant some Daylily roots, we found lots of little worms. They all have a happy new home in the compost bin along with the pumpkins we still had out front from Halloween.