Project Garden: Day 1

Lauren has been learning all about seeds at school. And last week she redeemed 5 stars on her chore chart at home for a surprise, which happened to be 4 packs of seeds! Today we visited the dollar store, picked up some plastic planters, a trowel, and a few more seeds - and planted away.


We also made these little garden markers (printed out on the computer, and glued to plastic picks) so we could remember what we planted.


Lauren dropped the seeds one by one into the 3 rows of holes we poked in the soil.


Hopefully something will sprout, and maybe last at least till the beginning of summer? We'll see how long we keep up with the watering.....

Party at the Zoo

We attended a party at the zoo this morning - lots of fun, with gorgeous weather to boot! The party included a brief talk by a park ranger, and the kids got to see and pet several animals (a madagascar cockroach, turtle, snake, and rabbit).


Everyone got to take a ride on the carousel as well.


And Lauren agreed to pose by the bronze gorilla on the way out.

Nuts About Mars

"I love RED,
That's what I said,
And I must-y put some rust-y
In my big-boy bed!"

Lauren got this book from Uncle Chaz and Kate, and it is so much fun to read. Skippyjon Jones (a cat, who thinks he's a chihuahua), travels to Mars (with chili powder galore) and encounters a bunch of green martians - including one that looks just like a one-eyed Skippito, appropriately dubbed 'Uno Ojo'.

Up at Bat

Cole takes a swing at the pinata at a birthday party we attended this weekend.


All the kids rush to gather the loot - and no, Cole did not deliver the final blow :)

Dim Sum

Another digital layout, of Lauren enjoying a custard bun at dim sum (Sept 2010).

template: one little bird flight plan no. 5
papers: two little pixels reflections

Potty Talk

Starting in late October, at 18M, Cole decided he no longer wanted to poop. Not sure why exactly, but he would try his hardest to hold it in. Occasionally, some would come out, but not if he could help it. He'd clench his legs together, make a crazy face, and hold onto something for support - a chair, a wall, someone's leg.... And he would make these horrible sounds, like he was in pain but he wasn't, which was somewhat embarrassing when we were out and about. Needless to say, this was very stressful for all.

Fast forward 3 months. Desperate for a solution, Stew decided to put Cole on the toilet during one of his episodes - figuring it would be hard to interrupt the flow with his legs spread across the seat. Success! There was a lot of crying and protesting during the process, but he mostly seemed ok with it. And for the last month or so, we have not changed one single poopy diaper! He's far from potty trained - he's only just started saying 'poo poo' when it's on its way (we normally can just tell) - but it certainly is nice to avoid the whole dirty diaper thing.


Bye-bye poo poo! Time for my bunny graham cracker :)

History Lesson

At school today, in honor of President's Day, Lauren made a coin rubbing of the penny and talked about Abe Lincoln. At dinner I asked her a few questions to see what she learned. Me: Do you know what number president he was? Lauren: 16. (Impressive, for I didn't know myself). Me: Was he tall or short? Lauren: Umm, tall I think. Lauren: Mommy, Ms. Bonnie said he had to go potty outside. Me: Hmm, probably true.

Resolutions

One of my goals for this year is to exercise, since I haven't done so in about 5 years.... Mid-January, we joined our local YMCA, and Stew and I have taking turns going a couple times a week after the kids are in bed. What I like is you can automatically log your workouts (data is sent directly from the machines), chart your stats, and even find out how many equivalent elephants you've lifted :) They also have a child watch center - which the kids really enjoy when we've visited on the weekends. And Lauren can't wait till she turns 4 - so she can climb the rock wall!

Happy Valentine's Day!

On Sunday we decorated chocolate covered pretzel rods as a Valentine treat (I learned that Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips don't contain milk - chocolate for Cole, yay!)


Lauren's approach was to put a little of every topping on each pretzel.


Cole's goal was to dump out the toppings, so we had to limit his topping amount. And all was well until I put the pretzels in the fridge to let the chocolate harden. He went ballistic, and was so upset that I took his pretzels away.... It took a lot to calm him down.


A glimpse at the final product. Very yummy.

Watch Me Grow

Got this little pooch (and two others) in my stocking for Christmas, and we followed the instructions to place it in a large container of water for about a week.


Voila! We might try the chihuahua next.....