Thanksgiving Saturday

George & Dean play a rousing game of "Push Each Other Down" - George's new favorite. (He made it up himself, can you tell?)

George can hang from his hands ....

and so can Charlotte!


George tries to sneak a peek at Charlotte's new book .....

which is so relaxing that she (and Grandma) almost fell asleep.

A good time was had by all. Happy Thanksgiving!

still with the computer problems.....

but I had to share something I overheard this morning:

"Charlotte, I WON'T be a baby cowboy until you are a Mama construction worker!"

What season is it, anyways?

The other day was really confusing around here.

In the front hall it was Easter.



In the fish room it was Halloween.


But really it was High Summer.

George has just finished two weeks of swim lessons, which he loved. Unfortunately the lesson season is over here, and the public pools will CLOSE in two weeks. Because, you know, it's so cold here. But we're having a great time while it lasts.



On another note, when I came in last night to see who needed help with pajamas I found this:

CLIFFORD -- a portrait in Lego. Shown here with the artist (on the right) and the model (far left, with keeper) and the guests at the art opening.

We're fine!

Sorry not to have posted for a while -- we had a big vacation, and the camera is in the shop, so I just haven't gotten around to it. But all is well, and I'll have more soon.

Gotta go -- as Charlotte says, "But, Mom, me need you right now!"

Hatched!

This is a photo from about 10 days ago. She laid an egg a day for three days, then no more.

Look how close she is to our back door! Every time I go outside, robins fly at my head. It's unnerving. I'm winning them over, though ...


I bring redworms! Now as soon as I go in the house they fly over to the grill (which is underneath the hanging basket) to see what I've brought them.

And look what happened today!

First haircuts ....

... mine, that is.



There's still room for improvement (plenty) but at least I can start with George's easy summer haircut.

George is FIVE!

Somehow we took a lot of video but not many still pictures.

Here's the birthday boy with his guests.










And here are his cakes. Instead of two layers, I made two cakes -- his choice, a car and a firetruck. George was in charge of deploying the forces. I'm not really sure what's being acted out here.







Last year George had a firefighter birthday party. This year he wanted it to include other "rescue heroes" -- firefighters, police officers and maybe paramedics. We planned a bunch of rescue hero tasks -- putting out a burning building (the playhouse), rescuing someone from quicksand (the sandbox), saving someone from drowning (the wading pool), and assisting at the scene of a car crash (the pedal car). Then it rained. And rained. On the day of the party our back yard itself would have done fine for the "drowning" segment, but we sure couldn't have the party out there. So we had to make do indoors. George felt that the rescue activities "weren't challenging enough" but all in all, everyone had a good time.

For Mom

Evidence of genius

Charlotte figured out how to put a coat on the dress-up doll.

Timber!

And what were we doing that scared the robin away? Dean and George were taking down a scrubby holly tree that has taken over one end of our porch. This has taken two Sunday afternoons so far, using a handsaw, but George is enjoying it so much that it would be a shame to borrow a chainsaw and be done with it. Three trunks are down and one is left, probably for next weekend.

George has been cutting off branches and trimming the brush so that it will fit into our yard waste buckets. Dean has been sawing the main trunks. I'm impressed with George's efforts -- he has really stuck with this.


And Dean was repairing the screening on an attic vent that had been ripped open by wildlife. Starlings were building a nest in the attic, and wasps are building EVERYWHERE right now, so it was really important to block that hole off. Unfortunately it turned out to be a much bigger job than anyone imagined. Sorry, Mama Robin.

A little excitement

Monday evening I went out to water the plants on the back porch. One felt dry, so I watered it -- and then thought, "That felt strange." I took the planter down and looked into it to see a bird's nest -- I had stuck my hand right into it! I had only bought the plant on Saturday, two days before. I was really surprised that a bird had found it and built a nest so quickly.

It held water really well. Wouldn't you think it would be healthier for the chicks if water drained right out?

We saw a little bit of activity at the nest during the week. It turned out to be a robin's nest, and the bird would add something to the nest, then spend several minutes pushing it into place with her chest, turning and pushing, turning and pushing.

(Crummy picture taken through the window so as not to startle her.)

Sunday morning we were excited to find an egg in the nest. Unfortunately, the nest is right next to our back door, and the bird was frightened away by our activity.


Can you see the edges of the pot? The nest almost fills it.

I thought all was over, but this morning she was back, and now there are two eggs in the nest! I'm hoping she can get used to us and we can watch the babies grow right from our breakfast table.

Where there's rain....

..... there are mud puddles.

Silly firefighting

George created this diorama just to show the family:



He wanted people to be sure to notice the firefighter who is putting water into the firetruck.

Here's a better look at our youngest firefighter. She dressed herself (surprise) and can really walk in those boots.

It's not Nebraska.....

But we were very surprised to wake up and see the snow. Right after breakfast George set out on his customary rounds, whacking away all ice. (Why? Who knows.)





Here's Charlotte, bundled up and ready to join in the fun.



It was all gone by noon, but they sure made the most of it!

A visit to the toy museum; other odds & ends

During spring break we went to the Toy and Action Figure museum in Pauls Valley. It's small but the kids had a great time. The main exhibit depicts a bedroom that has been taken over by hundreds of action figures.



Charlotte was entranced by this grouping, and spent a long time lying on her stomach looking at it. She described the four figures in front as "baby, mama, boots, boots."







Isaac, George & Alex on a dinosaur. Although the museum provides lots of costumes for dressing up, George and Alex brought theirs from home. (George supplemented his firefighter's outfit with a knights' head covering -- he thought it made a great fire-resistant hood.)








Here we are building in the Lego room.











*********************** back home ***********************



Charlotte loves the frog pull toy.














You can't tell by looking, but I'm reading a book that George asked for!












Charlotte was taking her baby doll and Mama Ooof for a walk when she ran across the Teletubbies. As it turns out, the stroller accommodates Po and Tinky Winky as well!

Let us eat cake!

Dean and the children made me a German chocolate cake for my birthday. We bought the special "German chocolate" bars, only to discover that it's just chocolate with more sugar, and the cake recipe is any old chocolate cake recipe, with less sugar. Only the coconut filling/frosting is special.

George decided it should be in heart shaped cake pans, "for love." He also thought it should be decorated to look like yarn, because "Mama likes yarn." You got that right, kiddo!



Mmmm, coconut filling.

George and Charlotte put in the candles, too.


It looks like yarn (and love) to me!

Happy Birthday to me!

For my birthday, we went to the zoo.




Charlotte loved the zeebas.


This rhinoceros is about 7 weeks old.


I think they'd like to ride on the real baby rhino, too!

Meerkats!



I think these wild dogs are beautiful. They were very active, so we felt lucky. Often when we go their cage looks empty.

It was a wonderful day, and we all had a great time. But a trip to the zoo doesn't leave much time for baking a cake -- so they put it off until the next day ("Happy Frosting Day," according to George).

Blogger is not uploading my pictures right now -- who knows why -- so I'll put the cake pictures up later.