Belt Loops

London was awarded 4 Belt Loops at Pack Meeting last night.Gymnastics, Chess, Marbles and Flag Football.

We love Primary!

My Phoenix is the absolute Cutest thing in the world. He was playing on the Piano one day, just like every other day, but this time he was singing. Just had to get it on Video. Hope you like it. Notice the left hand cord action, prodigy in the making.

Yeah for the New Swing

We had this teeter-totter thing on the swing set for ages and the kids just never really played on it. So off to Home Depot I went and got us one new regular swing, and a bit of rope to hook up Sicily's swing which has been in the garage for ages. We now have jumping contests, and fights over who gets the green one and who gets the yellow one. And Sicily throws a major fit if someone goes into the backyard without her. The Swing is just the Thing!

Best of Friends

Charlie and Oreo! Very rarely separated until now. Do not, I repeat DO NOT read on if you have a weak stomach. Oreo's not dead, just sick and healing, but seriously DO NOT read on if you get disgusted easily.

Poor Oreo (the bunny) has had a rough couple of days. I found a sore on the side of her neck while giving her a bath 2 nights back. I thought Charlie might have bitten her, but not the case. When I looked a little closer at the wound there was something moving in and out of the sore. I got Jared upstairs quick as a wink and we found there was actually something in there.

We called Jared's Aunt Sue, who is a Vet for Farm Animals. She said it was probably a grub, which the cows get quite often and we can pop it out like a zit. But if that didn't work we could call her daughter, Jared's cousin Lisa, who is studying to be a Vet Tech. Well, the zit plan didn't work so we called Lisa. She told us to take Rubbing Alcohol, or Iodine (which we had) and fill the hole with it. Then when the grub comes up for air grab it with the tweezers.

I think Jared pumped about 10-15 cc's into the hole when the thing finally came up for breath. We were able to extract a 1 inch grub from our poor little bunnies neck. BLECH, EW, YUCK!!! You have no idea. I was so sick, I wanted to puke.

I called a local emergency Vet the next day to ask what to do next because the hole is obviously still there and the area around is black and smells. This Vet told me to just keep it clean and use Neosporin for the next week, and to just keep a close eye on it. She may have to have antibiotics to avoid infection, but the dead skin will eventually sluff itself off and she should be ok.

So I know how absolutely disgusting this is but keep this in mind. There is a type of Fly that is around and about in the Spring and Fall that actually lays it's egg on the necks of Rabbits, Kittens, and Puppies. This eventually hatches, crawls out, then burrows back into the fat tissues of the animal. BLECH!! The Vet said we were lucky we got it all out because had we punctured the Grub the juices released could have caused our Bunny to go into Epileptic Shock, and could have killed her.

At this point, she is warm and happy. And will be living inside for the rest of Spring, though in her cage with minimal contact from the kids till she's 100% again. I've warned my neighbors who recently got new puppies and one who has a rabbit too. I'm just glad we brought her inside and bathed her when we did, I don't even want to know what would have happened had we left that in there.

Sidewalk Chalk

I drew one little Easter Ducky and Aspen made us a whole family of ducks. I think my kids definitely inherited my Artist skills, they can copy thing you wouldn't believe. I was never one to use my imagination very well when it came to Art, but I can copy most anything I see, in nature or picture. And apparently my kids are the same. LOVE IT! So proud!

Climbing, Climbing, Climbing

Sicily has discovered that if she can't reach it sitting she may as well climb for it. Poor Phoenix, he's learning to eat quicker so she doesn't get his food. Sicily, on the other hand, was really MAD when I buckled her into her seat so she'd stay put.

Fun at the Zoo!

Our Kindergarten ROCKS!! We had a field trip to the Zoo on Friday. And thanks to a wonderful friend, Angie, who took my little ones, I was able to go wander around for the day with my Aspen. We had such a great time, and I have never seen so many little kids in my life. There had to have been 6+ different schools there. Ours alone had over 100 kids. Craziness!!

Got Milk, Dad?

Like every youngster we all drank out of the milk jug at some point in our lives. Well this one comes with a story from my childhood.

When I was in High School my Dad got after me repeatedly for drinking straight out of the milk jug. I'd still do it of course, just when he wasn't home or not looking. Or when caught I'd use the excuse, "I didn't want to get another cup dirty."

Well one day, just after dinner, I was cleaning my room or something. When finished I came down the hall and turned into the kitchen and caught my Dad red handed. He was standing there, plain as day, drinking straight out of the milk jug. "HA!" I said, "You do it too!" Needless to say we have both changed our ways. (I hope)

So apparently it's now a family tradition. Don't worry! This is Sicily's Whole Milk that we never serve to guests. So you can feel safe having milk and cookies if you come to visit. :)

Green Thumb

Apparently a little of my Mother's Green Thumb rubbed off on me. I only say a little because I lost the map I'd made of what I'd planted where and as these were growing I thought they were Spinach. But to my surprise when I went to clip some it was actually these beautiful Radishes.

They were mighty hot too, not enough water I've been told. So I soaked them in a bowl of water for about 12 hours and now they're rather tasty. I'm so proud!

The Rains Came Down and the Floods Came Up!

As you enter our neighborhood on any normal day this is what you will find. Beautiful, lush green park, comfy benches, and in the back a nice playground for the kids.
Well yesterday as you entered our neighborhood this is what you found. It was raining cats and dogs, so much so that the roads were flooded as was our beautiful park. But not to worry, the kids took full advantage of this. Rushing up to their rooms they were quickly in their swimsuits and out the door.

Aspen is ACTUALLY standing up in this photo. That's how deep it was. They were diving off the park benches, doing the backstroke and having the time of their lives.

This is actually our backyard, too many puddles to count, but still just as much fun as the park. Usually, we're just out on the trampoline in the rain, but this storm was MUCH more fun.

More Culture

London and I had a WONDERFUL night last night. Jared's out of town again so I got me a babysitter and took my boy on a date. We had such a good time. The Wizard of Oz is such a classic. And the Musical was just amazing. We loved the Jitterbugs, which are not in the movie. And the special effects of the Witch throwing fire at the Scarecrow, and the House in the Tornado was just awesome. If you ever get the chance to go...go! And definitely take your kids, they'll love it.

Joy School at the Art Museum

We took the kids to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston today. 4 Preschool age kids and 2 toddlers makes for a quick run through. But they loved it, and talked about all the cool things they saw all the way home.

If you didn't know, I have a Bachelors in Art History from Utah State University. I love Art and everything about it. I look forward to when my kids are old enough to appreciate what they are looking at and the significance of how old it is and who painted it.

I must say this though, Curators at Art Museums are more stuffy than biddy old Librarians. If I worked at a Museum it would not be boring OR stuffy. Sometimes you feel like your walking through a morgue the way they all act. A good coloring section would have been awesome, set it up right in front of Van Gough's Starry Night and more kids would LOVE to come see the Art.

For those of you that don't know the MFAH is free EVERY Thursday. Go take a look, they've got a lot of cool stuff. www.mfah.org

Look, I'm magic!

Sicily is an amazing Magician, and you can never tell how she does her tricks. In these shots you will see her make a rock disappear.

So it was in her hand, then it magically ended up in her shirt.

Hey! Where'd it go?
Oh! There is is.
Plus you get to see her cutest fat tummy.

Man, I love my kids!

Finally!

Aspen lost her 2nd tooth at school. And let's face it, that's like the coolest place in the world to loose your tooth. Then every kid in class goes home and says, "Aspen lost her tooth today!!" Kids are so funny.So this tooth has been loose since the last one was loose. Something like 3 months I'm sure. She'd never play with it, because it hurt. And she was not about to let Dad pull out this one, after the last one he pulled out (see previous post) I don't think she'll ever let him again. But it's out and that's what counts.

Then in all the excitement and craziness of our house, the Tooth Fairy forgot to come that night. So in all her sweetness she checked back that afternoon while Aspen was at school and everyone was napping. She left a very sweet note explaining her absence, the night before, due to a Walrus at the Zoo who lost his VERY large front tooth. It'd taken her all night to carry that heavy thing back to her house. Aspen forgave her whole heartedly.

Gotta love that Tooth Fairy, she's a hard worker.

Soap

So in the past we've always had the kids use bars of soap because, let's face it, it's cheaper. Well, they had a sale on those huge tubs of liquid soap so I gave it. But good grief, my kids go through so much of this stuff it's not even funny. I think I fill this thing every 1 1/2 - 2 weeks. How often is normal really? It seems like a lot to me.

But I can't go back to the bar soap. Aspen has gotten into this nasty habit of down right mutilating every bar of soap in the house. I swear, I put it out and 2-3 days later she's got it in 8,000 pieces. I guess it's easier to just keep filling the liquid soap than sweep up every tiny piece of bar soap that manages to get ALL over the counter.

Fruit Salad

You ever get on those health kicks where you go to the grocery store and buy almost an entire Grocery Cart of fresh fruits and veggies? Then 2 weeks later you end up throwing a lot of it out cause you never got around to eating it. Well that is not one of those weeks for me, we actually decided to use it this time, and man was it YUMMY!

One advantage of living in a warmer climate where Spring starts in Feb and not April.

Good Friday - Museum

The kids were out of school for Good Friday so we took them to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Totally awesome, especially if you get there right at 9, when they open, you pretty much have the museum to yourself.

The kids loved the pendulum. It swings all day and is powered by magnets. But the cool thing is the little pegs in the circle. As the Earth rotates the pendulum knocks over every peg in a 24 hour period. Totally cool, we'd sit and watch it for 10 mins at a time just to see it hit a peg.
There's an amazing "rock" collection here, more crystals I guess. And a jewelry section with Sapphires the size of your hand. WOW!

Sicily was a bit nervous of the lion. And I totally freaked out Aspen and London when I GRABBED them as they were getting a closer look. So funny!

So we all know mood rings are the coolest, but really...what would you do with a giant mood wall?

The Energy Section turned out to be an amazing lesson for the kids on "What Dad does at work all day." They Loved it, and were actually really interested.
"Christmas Tree," oil rig style.

So when I was a kid my Dad bought an Octopus for Mom to cook up for dinner. In actuality it sat in the freezer for months and just STARED at us every time we were sent down to get bread. I think Mom finally threw it out. Let's just say I'm glad it wasn't as big as this Octopus, I probably would have had nightmares.

Can't have a Science Museum with out a few dinosaurs. Phoenix said this one was nice enough to give the little one a piggy-back ride.

Cute Easter Kids

I wanted to get them in a shot all together but Sicily went down for a rather early nap and it was raining when she woke up. Aren't they all just the cutest!

Too Much Sugar

This little lady is not often allowed sugar. And definitely NEVER in these quantities. But from about 8-10 I think she ate any candy she could get her little hands on. She apparently LOVES chocolate the most. But Jelly Beans and anything else will do the trick too. Needless to say Church was not much fun with Sicily. I'm guessing she had the worst tummy ache ever, cause nothing helped.

Proof that Mom was NOT the one giving her all the candy.

The Easter Bunny brought the cutest Chocolate animals this year. Phoenix got a Chocolate Chicken, Aspen got a Duck, and London actually got a Jack Rabbit.
For all you "Burnt Peeps" out there we found a 3 eyed Peep. It tasted just as good as any 2 eyed one ever did.

Easter Eggs

Gotta love the hunt for those last few eggs that the Easter Bunny can't seem to remember where "he" put them.

Every Dads traditional Easter position. "Let the kids do the hunting and then I'll help with the eating."

And you just gotta crack 'em on your old noggin. The ONLY way to open an Easter Egg.

Louisianan Easter

Our wonderful neighbors are originally from Louisiana. Apparently Crawdads are in season around Easter so it's tradition to load up with a HUGE Crawdad Boil. They bought about 75 lbs of Crawdads from some guy who drives them over here for all the LSU folk.

They kindly brought us over 4 dozen or so of these little babies, not even a dent in their 75 lbs. And man, with all those Louisianan Spices those things were tasty, even if my tongue was numb by the time we topped them all off.

Mo mo mo mo

We learn new sounds everyday. This is just the cutest.

He bit me

It was my own fault really. Notice the 2 tiny red dots right in the middle of the picture.
So as many of you know we have a pet Corn Snake named Flame. He's bright red and orange and about 4 ft long, we've owned him for about 2 1/2 years and he's never bit anyone.

I'd just fed him and pulled him out to play with the kids. Phoenix accidentally knelt on him while crawling after him, so I picked him up so he wouldn't get hurt again and he struck me on my forearm. Didn't latch on, just struck. It didn't hurt much, scared me more than anything. The bite is only about a 1/4 of an inch. Not much to brag about, but it did bleed.

So though I've read it a million times, I'll actually remember this time, don't play with snakes just after they've eaten.

179th Semi-Annual General Conference

I love Conference. I love hearing our Priesthood Authorities teach us. I love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I love the Spirit that's in my home as I listen to it all. I just love Conference.

This year Conference was a bit different for my family. Jared's been out of town for work for over a week now, so I got to do Conference with the kids on my own. You'd think that because you're home it'd be easier (definitely easier than church on my own). But I think the longer Jared is gone the more obnoxious and disobedient my kids get.

Let's just say:

London listened to most of Conference, but that was really only because he got Chocolate Chips every time they said Jesus and Graham Cracker Sticks every time they mentioned the Prophet. Though to his credit, he did take some good notes that we're planning on talking about tomorrow.

Aspen colored in her Conference Packet for about the first 15 mins., then mostly bounced around the room till I'd get annoyed enough to kick her outside or upstairs. She was, although, very good at finding the picture of all the General Authorities that spoke, which earned her a sticker each time.

Phoenix learned to pump himself on the swing on Friday and has had no other interests since. So with the low 80's wonderful weather we had today, he was either outside swinging or standing in the doorway complaining that no one wanted to come play with him because they were actually trying to listen to Conference.

Sicily, well ... she's 18 months old ... enough said. She was ready for her nap about 30 mins. into the first session. Then was wide awake and giggly ALL through the 2nd session. Truly LOVED London for all the Chocolate Chips he kept feeding her and really ADDED to Phoenix's complaints by forcing us to keep the back door open so she could climb in and out and in and out for over an hour.

So in the end I actually tape recorded the entire 2 days of Conference and the little snipits that I happened to hear I REALLY truly did enjoy. But when it comes down to the meat of the Gospel, let's just say I'll be watching Conference for the next few nights after the kids are in bed. :)

Brilliant Children

I got a phone message while I was out from the School Nurse. She told me not to worry, it wasn't an emergency, but to call her as soon as I got in. So I called. Well, as in every other day, I swear,, Aspen went in to the Nurse for something or another. I thought for sure she'd FINALLY lost her 2nd loose tooth. But alas...that was not the case.

Aspen has been wearing these silly little sticker earrings to school the last few days. Well she must have gotten bored in class today and stuffed one of them INTO her ear. The Nurse was able to remove it fairly easily but laughingly told me that as she tossed it into the trash Aspen pulled off its pair and threw it away too.

Why is it that kids stick things in their ears and up their nose? I will never understand.

Learning the Stairs

I turned around for 1 second and she was up the steps, but when she'd come back down she'd sit then slide on her butt. Not safe in the least. So we're practicing SLIDING on our tummy. Much better for Mommy's heart. And she's ever so proud of herself.

She eventually made it about 6 steps up with some bribery on top.

Happy April Fools Day!

I pulled a horrid prank on my Mom when I was in High School. Before I'd left April Fools Day morning I twisted a rubber band around the sprayer on the sink and strategically positioned it to douse my poor Mom when she turned it on. I'd forgotten all about it while I was at school, but laughed my head off when I came home and my Mom told me all about getting soaked while getting a drink after working in the garden all morning. :)

Well, my old prank backfired on me today.
No, I did not do this to myself. London was hoping to get Aspen and I helped with the plot, but didn't realize he'd set it all up. When I put the kids to bed and was cleaning up I turned it on and got soaked. It took me a few seconds to realize what the heck was happening.

Lesson learned: NEVER TELL YOUR KIDS THE DIRTY TRICKS YOU USED TO PULL!!

Using our Imagination

We love Joy School! This week we're learning all about Imagination. That's a pretty big word for 3-4 year olds. But they understand the concept PERFECTLY.
So yesterday it was all about the boxes. Gotta love boxes. I just got new neighbors and they're super friendly, so we have a wonderfully nice box supply until they're unpacked. LOVE IT! This structure was a tiger cave, castle, police station, Batman's cave, rocket...etc. They had so much fun.

You know it's windy in March and April, so you need a good sturdy Kite or two. These are sturdy for inside use only, construction and crepe paper wouldn't last too long in those Spring Winds. These 2 raced all over the house and loved every minute of it.