Happy St. Patrick’s Day

 

A little leprechaun must have found his way inside our house last night because someone turned the milk, pancake batter and eggs green.

Bike Rodeo 2013

Dalton has won a trophy every year he has participated in the bike rodeo so far.  With that, we all had high hopes this year he could make it three in a row.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen but he still had fun all the same.

The weather turned out to be pretty drizzly and yucky that day.  His rodeo time was the last time slot of the day so I decided to keep his bike in the car and bring it back to him when it was his turn to start.  Somewhere around lunch time, Addie started complaining of an upset stomach.  Seeing as how we had his bike, we had to return to the school that afternoon.  Loaded with her “bucket” and a cup of water, we headed for the school.  She patiently waited for his rodeo to start holding her bucket close by at all times.  Since we also had to take his bike home, we were committed to staying the entire time.  Luckily, he was in the first bunch of 2nd graders to go through and finished up in about 15 minutes.  We said quick goodbyes and headed to gather his bike from the parking area.  Almost there AND then it happened!  Let’s just say, I’m glad she insisted on carrying her bucket with her.

The Bike Rodeo was a little bit of a bust this year with the weather, sick sister and no trophy but I’m glad we could experience the memory together.

All ready for the bike inspection.  He is even wearing his bike jersey.

Keeping it between the white lines.  This was the part that did him in.  His shoes were wet from the rain and kept slipping off the pedals.  Each time that happened, he got a point deducted. 

Oh well!  Better luck next year right?  We also learned that if he wears his knee and elbow pads next year, he’ll get bonus points.  He wore them last year because he had just recently mastered the bike without training wheels.  Had we only known?

Snake Farm

We tried to take the kids to a local putt-putt place for a Saturday afternoon outing.  When that didn’t quite work out as planned, we found ourselves at the Snake Farm instead.  I’m not really a fan of snakes but today we were in for a treat.  We just happened to get there at the exact moment one of the rat snakes decided to shed.  We were able to see the entire process from start to finish.  I think I was more fascinated than the kids but we all had fun.

The head is near the front of the cage just beginning to shed.

Dalton and I watching intently.  Addie had already lost interest.

It was interesting to watch how calculated his moves were in, up, down and through different obstacles in his tank to help with the shedding process.

He’s using the grasses in his tank to help him shed his skin.

We stopped by to check on him one last time before we left for the day and he was all done!  The entire process took less than 2 hours!

In the meantime, we did check out a few of the other animals…

Feeding the goats but don’t let them fool you….they just really want the bag.

We were checking out the piglets in the pin only to turn around and find a goat’s bottom staring at us.  It’s amazing the balance such an odd looking animal can have!

Addie loved the peacocks!

These cats had a field day “hunting” the kids as they ran back and forth taunting them.

We found Pumba!

Addie was certain she was going to catch a duck, or a chicken, or a peacock….unfortunately, she never did.

We all enjoyed our unplanned afternoon at the Snake Farm!

Future Author?

Do we have a future author on our hands?  Maybe, maybe not but Dalton did receive an award for writing for the second year in a row.  In first grade, he wrote a scary ghost story with a surprisingly funny ending for the fall writing contest.  This year, the writing contest was a salute to Dr. Seuss and fell in the spring to celebrate his birthday.  Dalton wrote a convincing article explaining the similarities and differences between the book and the recent movie “The Lorax”.  He then had to convince his audience of his favorite type of media for that story.  He, of course, choose the movie.  I think it was his line of “I can share the experience of watching the movie with my little sister” that probably won his audience over. 

Rodeo Time

Let’s Rodeo San Antonio San Angelo!  I have to admit, since we have lived in San Antonio, we have only attended the San Antonio rodeo once.  It’s big, crowded, a pain to park, runs late into the night and just not my cup of tea.  We’ve made it a tradition for the last four years in a row to head home to San Angelo when the rodeo rides into town.  The San Angelo rodeo performance is just as good, if not better.  You can leave your house, park and be inside the grounds in under 20 minutes.  The ticket prices are reasonable for great seats.  The show is just long enough to be entertaining but not too long that the kids are going nuts.  Plus, we usually get to attend with other family members.

This year, we were able to share the experience with Blake’s parents, Tyler and Sandra, my mom and the twins.  Since we had all the kiddos with us, we spent most of the time in the petting zoo before the show.  The kids loved it!

This was also Blake’s Birthday weekend.  Somehow he managed to make sure we didn’t get a single picture of him turning the big 3-0!  Happy Birthday Old Man!

Valentine’s Day 2013

This Valentine’s Day, Blake really went out of his way to make it special.  He got up early, beat the crowds and brought home fresh donuts for the kids from Shipleys.  He also went shopping on his own and picked up some new cups for them just like my cup I use for the gym.  (Now I can finally reclaim mine!)  The best surprise though was my gift.  He ordered a return address stamp for me.  You know, the cute little ones that emboss your return address into the envelope.  We received a Christmas card last year where someone had used one.  I pointed it out to Blake and two months later, he bought me my very own!  He is so thoughtful and does listen to what I say!

A Party fit for a Princess

Make that quite a few princesses and a prince or two as well!

Since Addie isn’t in preschool this year, we decided to host a Valentine’s party for a few of her friends.  We had a heart themed party, complete with all the trimmings.

Decorating their goodie bags:

Exchanging their Valentine’s cards:

Enjoying some yummy snacks:

Decorating some cookies:

And finally the sugar crash after everyone has gone home:

We had lots of fun and were so blessed to share a special day with so many special friends!

In The Kitchen: Stained Glass Cookies, Valentines Cards and Cupcakes

This week, we busied ourselves in the kitchen to prepare for our upcoming Valentine’s Party.  We tried our hand at making some stained glass cookies.  It was a fun project and we learned several things we should do differently next time.  The end result wasn’t nearly as pretty as I had hoped for but then again who can expect perfection on the first try right?

Any recipe that involves using a hammer in the kitchen has to be a winner right?  Good thing Dad has been taking her to all those Lowes Build and Grow clinics.  That girl is a pro when it comes to crushing candy with a hammer.  Luckily, Macca had given us this cute little flowery hammer a few years back.  It made the perfect kitchen tool!

 

Taking a quick cleanup break…apparently the trash will fall out if you tip the can over.  She wasn’t as excited about this part of the day.

Batter is all done…time to take a taste test.

Working on Valentine's cards while the dough chills.

Time to roll out the dough….wax paper is my new best friend!

Time to insert the “stained glass” part of the cookie.

We also decorated a few cupcakes to munch on over the weekend.  The heart sprinkles were a hit!