Sharing a few moments with kangaroos

Well, away we go to a nice family outing with our homeschool group, a planned visit to the local kangaroo petting zoo, every city has one, right? So here we are as a family, on a very wet and rainy day enjoying the sites and smells of nature amidst the roos, llamas, horses and peacocks. One problem, Scott seems to have been left behind. What could have happened to him, what could delay my darling devoted husband from keeping up with our group? So, I go asking around...I am told he is hanging out with Kate Moss under a heat lamp...Uh HUH! I trudge the through the mud filled pathway from one kangaroo pen to another and what do my eyes behold? The very truth of what I heard!! He is most certainly there holding hands with KATE MOSS! Oh shudder...how could he? This little roo just loved Scott and yes, her name really is Kate Moss...and she just loved him! She would hold onto his entire arm and just lick his fingers. Of course she did not move away from the heat lamp and had there been room for me under it I would have been there too!











Here is Atira after she fed a piece of bread to the littler roos.

Each of the kids had a turn at holding the baby kangaroos. These little ones are about 7 months old. I never realized they were so tiny at that age!

And of course Jordan's turn, he just loved this little guy, I am pretty sure he would have brought him home with him if we would just say yes!

Enjoying a moment of spring?

Well...spring has finally sprung! I have daffodils blooming in the front yard and the grape hyacinth is preparing to show it's beautiful purple color very soon! All was looking so very pretty until today...and then we had a different sort of pretty...one I thought we were done with...thought wrong!

IT SNOWED!! ALL DAY!!! It started in late morning and then we had snow all day long! It was so amazing to see pretty white flakes fall on my beautiful cherry blossom tree! Atira got out paper and decided to make paper snowflakes to hang on the windows! I thought that was more a winter craft?! As I sit here looking out my front window I see that we have a break in the snow, the rooftops are all dusted with white and thankfully the roads are all clear. It is too bad it is not enough to really play in, just enough to keep us watching all day long.

Colonial moments

Ever since Atira bought her American Girl Doll, Felicity, who lived during colonial days, she has been wanting a colonial style dress of her own. We bought a pattern about a month ago, purchased fabric last week and cut out the pieces. I let it sit over the weekend and tackled the dress last night. I was not sure of my abilities...I have sewn before, but usually things I made up the patterns for, simple things. To my pleasant surprise this was not that difficult! After a few fixable errors (I put the wrong sleeve on a shoulder, had the cuffs backwards as well) I had a great start! So, the bodice was finished last night and Atira was very excited to see that much done this morning when she got up! We got through our homeschool day and I would take little moments while they were busy to add a few things here and there and when our day was done I added the zipper (which was not as hard as I thought it would be, thanks to my good friend Chloe who taught me how THANKS CHLOE!). Then it was time to take the kids outside for some playtime and I sat out there and finished up the final hem by hand. The only thing left is a very small detail, adding bows to the sleeves just above the ruffled cuffs. But this is pretty much the finished product! I am very happy with it and Atira is thrilled! (Which makes me all the happier.) Atira has planned a tea party for herself and a few of her friends and this will be what she hosts her guests in. It should make for a very fun afternoon!

PROUD MOMENTS!!

Ok, I don't have a picture for you right now...but the kids received awards in a science fair today! WOO HOO! They did a project called "Mammal Roll Call" in it they made a chart of different mammals, unique features, habitat, homes, what they eat and drew pictures of each mammal...and I am sure there is more I just cannot think of it right now. So anyway, out of the twenty or so entrants, they won "most informative" (and they only had awards given out to five projects). It was great! I was so proud too, when the judges came by they asked the kids questions about their project and even proceeded to quiz them on their knowledge of the animals. Atira held her own pretty well, but Jordan has incredible recall! (and they each knew well for their perspective grade levels, Jordan studies the mammals much more in depth than Atira does at this point) It was GREAT! So, we it was very fun for them to receive awards for their hard work. And they have really enjoyed learning so much about mammals.

Moments in the Japanese Gardens

This was a wonderfully fun adventure! We went off to the Japanese Gardens in Seattle for a tour. It was wonderful! We had a tour guide who was just filled with information and she showed us many of the beautiful features at the gardens. These are located within the Seattle Arboretum which features approximately 200 acres of gardens and trees. It is so pretty there, you would hardly believe you are in Seattle! We saw koi swimming in the pond as well as ducks..which is pictured above. They have a beautiful waterfall which almost did not make it there because the Japanese architect who worked on this project could not find a rock that "sounded" right when the water ran off of it. We learned of a woman who used to come into the park and steal the koi to cook at home as well!! We found a beautiful variety of the Rhody family that has the softest leaves on the back. They feel like suede! It was incredible! The day held off the rain for us, which was a true blessing! We are planning to head back there again this spring to enjoy the beautiful colors that will come into bloom.

Prepping for Sabbth moment

So, every Friday night we celebrate as a family the coming of the Sabbath. Most of the time it is Atira's job to set the table and decorate it to make it a beautiful place for us all. This particular Friday afternoon she outdid herself! She created placemats for each of us telling us how much she loves us! She also made the vase that holds her velvet flower in the center of the table. And to top it all off, she got beautifully dressed up in her red dress and red sparkly shoes! What a lovely curtsy girly!

GLOBETROTTER MOMENTS!!!

Oh yeah, here we are at the GLOBETROTTERS!! It was such a fun day! It was great fun to watch this legendary team, they are quite talented with a basketball as well as extremely humerous! Our kids were in hysterics! (Mom and Dad were cracking up too, in case you were wondering) At half time as well as before the game there was a wonderful group called the Harlem Highflyers who came out and did performances, the first being the limbo, amazing how low they can go! The next performance was acrobatic and a jump roping performance, also incredible! It was a wonderfully entertaining afternoon and a nice memory made together as a family! If you have the chance to go see them, especially with your kids, I highly recommend it!

We had a most wonderful weekend!! Grandma Barbara drove all the way up here from California and she stayed the weekend with us! We had a wonderful time and here is some evidence of it. Sorry the pics are so limited I was so busy having fun I forgot to take more! The above picture is a creation Atira and Grandma made together...I think it is a little hillbilly chic...Atira is quite the fine little seamstress!

Here they are after having fun giving each other makeovers! So cute!!

Ah, on another note, here is a little big of homeschool in action! We are studying about mammals in our science unit and so of course one of the required projects was to make "hare" ice cream desserts. I bet right off you looked at that picture and thought, wow, why did they make hares out of ice cream? I know the word bunny or rabbit never entered your thoughts, right? Well the difference is (in case you don't know) hares have much longer ears...and I also think shorter limbs...something like that? But these were sure yummy! Homeschool tastes so good!

A Hanner Montaner Moment....

Well, here they sit in the movie theater...getting ready to watch the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert in 3D. It was a fun morning, I flinched once when the drummer threw a his drum stick out into the audience. It was wonderful having natural color 3D glasses instead of the usual blue and red. Atira was very happy, she sang along to most of the songs. Jordan on the other hand, well, let's just say he enjoyed the 3D effects...but this was really not his speed.

Snowy Moments!

What a wonderful morning! We woke up to a snow covered scene, it is so beautiful out! Not to mention how much easier it is to get kids up and out of bed when there is snow outside! We did a little school work and then headed out for some playtime. They were sledding down our driveway and in our backyard, as well as throwing snowballs. Toward the end they created a snow ogre for Scott to hit with his truck when he gets home from work. They were delighted at that idea! I am pretty sure Scott will like it too!

The last of the recent photos...

This was hilarious! We have a plastic change jar and as it turns out Shaggy LOVES it! So, he will climb in there and just "be", well, Gunner thinks this is fabulous, canned kitty! He will stick his snout in the open end but cannot even come near the cat. The cat just lays there happily making the dog crazy. We, of course, are just laughing and enjying the show!

Awwww....look how nice they look when they all get dressed up! We had a "cocktail attire" even to attend (our first as a family) and so here we are all dressed up! Jordan wore a "real" tie (by that I mean, it did not zip or clip or anything else but tie). Atira got new lacy tights and a sparkly evening bag and Scott was redone head to toe! (Except his Jerry Garcia tie...)As for me, I also got a new skirt and lovely velvet blazer. We had the best time that night. We danced, the whole family for about 2 hours! The music was great, the kids had a blow up guitar they played, and we just boogied the night away! It was a very precious memory. They had a photographer there as well, I will try to scan in our picture we had taken there and post that too, it was very fun!

Ok, what happens when you leave an innocent kitty alone with an innocent 7 year old girl? You get one unhappy cat and one family who can't help but scream with laughter. Isn't (s)he pretty?

We went ice skating, as you know and here is the proof! Atira did great! She would now like to take lessons....go figure!

Here is Jordan with is best buddy Reuben and Atira.

Jordan was a pro racing around the rink once he got used to the skates...he also really loved this outing!

Here is Atira and her very good friend Raya! These girls had a very fun time going around together!

I promised pictures!

Here are the kids celebraing Hanukkah on the last night...it was a wonderful week!

Here is Atira and her beloved American Girl doll Nicki, if you will notice Nicki has her own menora to light!

Jordan received this puzzle as a gift from his Grandma Sheila and here it is completed! We all had a fun time working together on it!

Apparently Shaggy was living it up a bit for New Years eve....

We been so busy!!

I will work on getting a photo up here on Sunday, but I wanted to take a moment to tell about what we have been up to lately.

For homeschool the kids had the opportunity to go and play soccer at an indoor court near our home. They had a wonderful time!! They played for two hours, first warmed up, then played, all coached, the next day they were both so very sore! I had to give Atira Tylenol because he legs hurt so bad!!

Today we went roller skating for two hours and it was a blast! They had a great time and so did I . The fun part for me (besides the roller skating) was the fact that it was at the rink I used to go to all the time when I was a teenager. It looked very much the same, so the moms and I had a fun time reminiscing about "graveyards" and video games. Not to mention, they played some music from our era! The kids really enjoyed my stories of hanging out there as well.

We are now studying about the revolutionary war, well right now we are studying about the things leading up to that war...and it has been a very fun study! For science we are focusing on mammals and that has been fun as well. Both the kids are doing so well and are so smart. They read all the time, even when they are not required to by me for their studies! It cracks me up, we will finish up our day of studying and I will find the two of them sitting with books reading away! Now, don't think they would not hop on a video game or computer if I said yes, but they really do love reading and I am very happy about that!
Well, that is tonights update...I will work on getting some pics up here very soon.
Have a great weekend all!
Love,
T

Gunner has his own moment....

We decided Gunner is now old enough and responsible enough to have his own pet, so we bought him a kitty! Please welcome Shaggy to our family....actually we decided we missed the dynamics we had when we still had Sheba and Critter. We loved that they were pals with one another and spent so much time together, playing, sleeping, fighting etc. We are hoping to recreate some of that with these two. Things, however, started off a bit rocky. The cat hissed and growled at Gunner in their first meeting. After a quick swipe with his claws, catching Gunners face in the swipe, Gunner miraculously transformed from a lab to a boxer. He would bob and weave, pulling his head back quickly each time he got near enough to sniff the cat. It was wonderfully hilarious! They have now fully adjusted to one another, although Gunner still has obvious feelings of rejection. He has become more needy than he usually is and has managed to get himself into some trouble. The two do enjoy times of rough housing, although Gunner gets a little rough still. Something we are working on with him. And occasionally we will find them curled up together, snoozing. Those moments are very precious and we hope to see more of those soon. I think in time, we will have them happily living together, without too much jealousy. (Mostly on Gunners side, the cat really does not care what anyone thinks.)