Coffee a go-go

I haven't decided if it is a good or bad thing that Starbucks is closing so many stores.

Freya has become way too comfortable in them.

Notice all the other tables are empty? Must be the reason for the closures.

The coffee shops in Austin are more sparse than in Portland, Oregon. Weather? Taste preference?

Rocksanne

We went to the library and learned all about the snakes in Texas. The library owns this Ball Python, Rocksanne. We found out that she is 12 years old, won't eat anything except for freshly killed gerbils, and has been living at the library for 9 years. Because she will only eat freshly dispatched of gerbils and they can't get them right now, Rocksanne hasn't eaten in 3 weeks.

Did you know that snakes don't have eyelids but rather scales? They shed their eye scales when they shed their skin.

Science Wonders

Have you been wondering what the Girl Scouts do with the money earned from the cookies sales?

The girls earn badges by doing "try-its". If you look at the front of their vests, you will see lots of little triangles. Each one has a picture on it that represents the "Try-it" they earned. You have to "try" to do 4 of activities to earn each badge. This week the girls are earning their Science Wonders Try-it.

They made bubble solution, learned about magnets and static electricity.

Not only do they do fun things like this but Girl Scouts help the community. This Christmas, the girls went caroling at an assisted living home.


They get to have fun while they learn, bond with each other and make many happy memories.

Thank you for buying Girl Scout cookies!

Red Sky in Morning

This is what our sky looked like this morning. Absolutely beautiful. I wish my camera was better because it just doesn't capture the color that was so vivid.

The poem says,

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning”

This came to mind after I had been dealing with the two impossibles (Jonah and Freya). They have been aggravating each other, putting her feet on him, tripping her, random smacks here and there. I have sent them to their rooms multiple times, have yelled so much that I have given myself a headache and have gone from a good mood to this nasty one.

When Raita called and I complained about the woes of parenting, his words of wisdom were, "ya got any booze?" It's official, the drinking lamp is lit.

Please get out of here!

I puffy heart Girl Scout Cookies.

But I can't have you here any longer, please leave.

I can't control myself anymore.

Just go, be free.

Where is she?

My dog, Suki, is constantly at my heels. She has her nose everywhere I am. If I am putting the clothes in the dryer, her nose is checking that out. If my dresser drawer is open, she has to see what I am putting in there. Yes, she is even next to me when I use the bathroom.

This afternoon I was doing some cleaning and whatnot, when I realized that my constant shadow was no where to be found.

I called her and she didn't come running so I started to check closets and bathrooms. She has been known to get herself in one and then close the door.

I couldn't find her anywhere. Finally I remembered that I had left the garage door open because Freya was sleeping in the car. I will pull the car in the garage, close the garage and leave the car door open as well as the door between the house and the garage.

When Suki noticed the open door, she must have went to investigate. She had hopped into the car and was ready to go. She had to have been sitting there for a good 15 minutes atleast. Suki didn't want to get out, she was ready to go somewhere. Always willing for an adventure, that mutt.


Oh and Tanya, Freya will sleep anywhere.....

The Human Body

Uncle Brian sent Jonah these human body models. He has the brain, the skeleton and the torso.

Jonah spent the time putting them together and I didn't have to prod him along at all. It's usually hard to get him to finish something but he completed these and has them proudly displayed on his shelf.

I think he may be ready to tackle the visible man now!

Thanks Uncle Brian!

paper matters

My father, being the smart allec that he is, sent me a Christmas present. It was sent UPS. It was wrapped very nicely with a huge bow and pristine paper. I was really excited, wondering what it could be. This is what he sent.

It is well known to my house guests that I skimp on the TP. Yep, I get the cheapest stuff around. Whatever is on sale, single ply, straight from the tree, whatever. I don't care. My ass isn't as sensitive as the rest of the world's apparently.

I hadn't really thought much about it even after BOTH my father-in-law and my own father made special trips to the grocery store to purchase their own brand of TP. I just chalked this up to getting old and being use to things the way you like them.

It was quite shocking though when we arrived home from our week long trip visiting Grammy and Poppie. The first thing that each of the kids said was, "OHHHH, why is our toilet paper so hard? Why can't we have soft paper like Grammy and Poppie?" Even after 14 hours of ass numbing riding in the car, they could still tell that ours was harder than the rest. They didn't complain even about the rest stop TP, only about our own household's.

Maybe next time I'll splurge and get the 2 ply.

Jonah's Birthday Party

Jonah and his friends had a blast playing laser tag. If you have never been, you suit up in vests with laser guns attached. The room you play in is super dark except for the edges of walls and the targets on the vests. They glow because they are florescent and there are tons of black lights through out the room.

The kids also played some video games, had cake and pizza and attempted to play miniature golf.

All in all, a perfect day for a 10 year old boy and his friends.

Texas Snow Day!

This is how we play in snow down in these parts.

Sledding and snowball fight!

It was just as fun as the real thing and we didn't have to knock crusted ice from our mittens or wring out our cold and wet socks.

Jonah is 10!

Here is a picture from Jonah's real birthday. His party is this weekend, there will be laser tag to be gotten.

But we always do something special for the kids on their actual birthdays as well. So when we were at home, Raita made some chocolate mousse and we stuck a candle in it. Well, it didn't really stick in the mousse per say but it was still tasty!

I forgot to mention that he is 10. Yes TEN ! When did this happen? He informed me this morning that he only has 7 more inches to go and he will be as tall as me. I bet he is as tall as my mom already........Just saying, mom.

Come on! All the kids are eatin' it.

I have a butt load of cheerios in my cupboard from Costco. The kids won't eat cereal for breakfast so I had to do something with all these O's. Found this recipe for Cheerios muffins. Pretty easy and not too unhealthy, just follow these directions, sprinkle some extra O-love on top before baking and watch the kids scarf them down.

Freya's favorite part was mashing up the Cheerios in the beginning.

















Unfortunately, this recipe only takes 2 cups of cereal so I made some not so healthy Cheerios Bars. Pretty much exactly like Rice Krispie treats with Cheerios instead of Krispies and I added a cup of raisins so that there is at least something good in there.

Good thing the O's are being eaten as I really didn't want to start grinding them up to add to meatloaf or something similarly disgusting.

We went hiking with Bethany and her brood. The dog was getting on my nerves, I let her go which was fine. We got near a road so I had to put her on the leash again, she wanted nothing to do with that. My arm is still sore.

Everyone was muddy and wet but I guess that is to be expected when you mix kids and a river.

Yes, Freya is still in her pajamas. Sometimes there are more important things to deal with than what we're wearing when we leave the house. Atleast she wasn't naked.

Well, we went on an unplanned road trip to St Louis for Christmas. I haven't been able to get back into the groove of things since then.

I could write a book on our trip but I will give you a few highlights instead.

All eight grand kids in matching jammies Christmas morning.
We drove 14 hours Christmas Eve to arrive in time for Christmas morning. We showed up at about 4am Christmas morning. I was exhausted but it was so worth it to have our kids spend this holiday with their cousins.















Raita and I took most of the kids to the frozen golf course and goofed around. We didn't realize you weren't supposed to go on the golf course. OOPS, don't tell anyone.

















Sibling rivalry still exists after 30.......














and the girls still like to do pyramids.














Grandma Noriko and her two seven year old granddaughters.
















The City museum is a must if in St Louis.




























And finally, we went on a family hike.