Skull Bone

If you happened to notice my generic posts this past week its because we were out of town and I set up a few Scheduled Posts to keep you all amused. We took a roadtrip up North to visit my grandparents and other relatives in Missouri. At 12 hours one way its not a trip I'd take by myself with the two kids so we wanted to make it while Dave was home to go with us. I sure appreciate his willingness to wake up at 4am and drive for hours on end as anyone who knows me knows I am not a morning person. We had a wonderful visit and enjoyed the time with my grandparents. They hadn't seen Cali since she was 3 months old and had never met Diego. Every day it was warm enough we bundled them up in layers of clothes added hats and mittens and went out to explore their farm. We even got the chance to drive about 30 miles over to my parents land they will retire on in a few more years. While at my parents' land Cali found what she'd consider a grand treasure!!





She's been fascinated with bones & skeletons for months now so imagine her excitement when we found a real life deer skull by the creek. She could hardly believe her luck. She wanted to bring it home but I told her we should leave it, so instead she made sure I took plenty of pictures "for my scrapbook." She kept asking where all the other bones were. We explained that other animals like mice, squirrels, and coyotes had taken them to chew on. At one point she told me that... other kids came and got the other bones, then they got their glue sticks and glued it back together to make it into a deer again. She's been looking at books about dinosaur fossils and how the scientists glue them back together to form skeletons so I guess she wanted to do the same for this deer.

From the Vault pt. 3

Growing up I had this one friend named Taneka, she is the one friend I have known the longest which is saying a lot since my dad was in the Air Force and even though we got to stay at one base for 11 years other friends still had to come and go. Anyway I had this friend Taneka since Kindergarten we were good friends and spent a lot of time together. I really can't remember how old we were but one year she told me that she was born on a leap-year so she only has her birthday every four years and her REAL birthday is on June 31st. She just celebrates on July 1st the other years. So that stuck with me for awhile, until one day I learned that leap year in fact has nothing to do with July but instead gives us a February 29th every four years. I don't know where she came up with the June 31st idea but I still think its pretty funny.

From the Vault pt. 2

For some reason I had it in my mind for several years that Niagra Falls was located in Africa. That is what I thought and how I had it pictured in my head. Now bear in mind I lived WAAAY up North in Alaska far away from the "Lower 48" and in 7th grade the U.S. might as well been another country Geographically speaking. Anyway one day as I sat around with my 7th grade GT classmates on our beanbags (I remember this very clearly) the topic of Niagra falls somehow came up and I said "Oh yeah isn't that the largest waterfall in Africa!?" Well it took quite a bit of convincing but they finally did explain to me that no Niagra Falls is in fact located in New York State and Canada. In my defense though I must have been thinking of Victoria Falls which IS located in Africa and IS the largest waterfall in the world. Must've just gotten those too mixed up somewhere along the way. Sometimes I wonder if it's something my brother told me!

Wacky Wednesday

Ok just for kicks I'm renaming "Wordless Wednesday" in honor of Cali's favorite book right now: Dr. Seuss' Wacky Wednesday.

After playing in her room with D for awhile the other day Cali came out and ran down the hall laughing. I came to see what could be so funny...



I'm really not sure how but she squeezed herself into this Newborn size diaper! I just laughed and said "Wait! Let me get a picture."

From the Vault

When I was little we lived on an Air Force Base and way at the end of our street and not far from our school was a coal burning power plant. It was a great big building with a rotating light on top, one side was green and the other yellow I believe. The colors not important though... The thing is we lived in Alaska where we happen to have lots of Northern Lights, you know Aurora Borealis. Well when I was little my big brother told me that that flashing light on top of the power plant was "THE Northern Lights". And yes I believed him for awhile but one day someone must have explained to me that the light was actually so aircraft didn't hit the big tall building, but I still remember him telling me that.

Favorite Things Friday

Please go visit my friend Tiffany at The Boren Life to see her great blog. She's the one behind this idea!

YOUTUBE for the Kids
If I try to sneak into the office during the day the kids usually find me at which point they now start asking for "movies". Even Diego since that is one of his favorite words (along with Candy "nan-deee", Juice "juuuu", Snack "sna!", and Mickey Mouse which sounds something like "ma-moot"). Anyway here are three of our faves.

Pigloo - Papa Pinguin (French Version)
Careful this one tends to get stuck in your head for days!

The Elephant Song by Eric Herman
MY favorite because I do like Elephants

And last but not least this cute ABC Song. Hope you and/or your kiddos like them too.

New Year's Interviews

I just came across this great idea to do a New Year's Interview with your kids every year. Make sure you keep them somewhere special so they can always go back and read their past years too. Here is the link to the article. And while I'm here I'll go ahead and post my own answers...

Favorites:

cereal - Strawberry Chex
vegetable - roasted broccoli
drink - water
toy - Wii
TV Show - Ghost Hunters
game - Animal Crossing (on Wii)
book - Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
restaurant - new Mexican place in Waco I don't even know the name
holiday - Christmas
animal - Elephant
If you could change your name, what would you choose?
Rainbow Brite... jk I like my name

What do you love about each person in our family?
David - he is very helpful around the house, provides for us, is always happy and laidback, makes me laugh, is a wonderful Daddy & husband
Cali - she is so helpful and kind and caring and silly and creative, i love her wild imagination and her insatiable curiosity about the world
Diego - he's so adorable and mischievious at the same time, he's so hilarious he makes himself laugh, he's fearless and always happy and loving, he's highly entertaining and loves to laugh

Where would you like to go on vacation this year? Disney!!

What are some of your wishes for this year? To enjoy our time with Dave while he's home, creating fun memories for the kids and that he comes home quickly and safely from Iraq for the second time.