Bring on the Color! January 31, 2008

We’re finally getting the white off the walls and bringing color. It’s fun, exciting, and…. a LOT of work! Thank goodness we have all this help!

We Love the Dallas World Aquarium! January 31, 2008

Back to the DWA! This is the oddest ‘aquarium’ being that there are a TON of other animals that are not aquatic at all. It’s actually a spiral replica of a rain forest in which you walk down through the layers viewing the animals as you go. It’s soooo cool! Every time we go we see different animals. The kids focus their time on specific exhibits rather than running around frantically trying to see everything. This time we spent a lot of time around the actual aquarium watching the manatee feeding (lots and lots of lettuce), turtles, eels, sharks, etc. As always, Elijah’s favorite is the flamingos. The panther stalking the children while pacing the edge of the enclosure was also interesting. There will be many more trips here!

Go Fly a Kite! January 23, 2008

The kids got these great octopus kites for Christmas. While I forgot my camera on this kite-flying outing, Sadie had hers so I borrowed it! We’ve been out with the kites a couple of times- Texas is pretty windy!

Young Grasshopper January 23, 2008

A warmish day in January brought out this (BIG) guy in the driveway. He was moving slow and acting ill until Elijah and Sadie began handling and scrutinizing him. This brought about a pretty extensive conversation about hibernation.

Let’s Jump! January 14, 2008

Another group excursion! We played with our friends at Let’s Jump- a huge place full of bounce houses and obstacle courses. For much of the time, the kids disappeared into these giant obstacle courses and were spied here and there. I (along with many of the other mothers) was amazed at how independent my kids had become. Then I found myself in an obstacle course with a couple of the smaller kids and witnessed the fabulous teamwork between all ages of children so that all could get up the slippery slopes, the climbing walls, and down the humongous slides. They were clever and it was heart-warming!

Letterboxing Broadens our Horizons January 14, 2008

Letterboxing has become such a great way for us to learn about and explore art, nature, history, and our surrounding areas. Check out the frontier cemetery that we found the other day!

This is a labyrinth built as an Eagle Scout project. This was such fun for Elijah- The Maze King. Apparently he is one of the few persistent enough to have made it to the center (per the placer of the letterbox found in the vicinity). He was very proud and we were impressed!

PetCo- Where the Kids Go January 14, 2008

Our unschool group took a trip to PetCo where we toured and discussed a variety of animals, their habitats, eating habits, handling, etc.
A leopard gecko- so pretty! Apparently a great pet. I don’t know about that.

Sadie and Ethan playing peek-a-boo.

The kids checking out the reptile section.

Sadie tells everyone about her pets.

Afterward we went to Marbleslab for some ice cream!

Christmas Morning! January 5, 2008

“Mama, Mama- Did Santa come?” asked Elijah running into our bedroom at just after 6 AM (as is usual for him).
“I don’t know but we should wait to check until Sadie gets up,” I said.
“OK. Can I watch shows until Sadie wakes up?” This from the child that since the moment one present with his name on it was under the tree, couldn’t wait for Christmas. We had to make a paper ring chain just so he could see that Christmas was actually drawing near.
Sadie came down promptly and both noticed that their stockings were gone and….there were chewed up carrots in the fireplace!

And a messy pie plate on the counter (and a note?)!

So Sadie got the flashlight. Why not turn the lights on? Maybe it would ruin the mysterious mood or maybe she was trying to catch Santa at his own sneaky game.

What they found were the stockings AND lots of goodies. Santa brought Wiggle Racers- one for every member of the family! Yes, we are all wigglers and it’s so much fun. We wiggle alot around the house.

And after all the presents and stockings and goodies were opened, Santa’s note was found. Check the garage?!