J's New Obsession

We watched Howe and Howe Tech on the Discovery Channel yesterday morning... and J is now planning to be an engineer when he grows up, so he can work in R&D building really cool things. For me personally, I think this is a step up from a few weeks ago, when he wanted to be a sniper when he grew up! :) But what are the short term implications? That none of my recycling is safe... he's scheming all kinds of new inventions to build with it. Current plans include a car with a retractable windshield, a swamp buggy designed for knocking down trees, and a pocket knife with gadgets like a spoon, a fork, a little pan, and cutting board (he's dictating the list to me). I think the first two will have to be small scale prototypes, but hopefully we'll get the pocket knife into production soon! :)

Observations

It's late, and J can't sleep. He's sitting here watching me type. And he has decided that the navigation bars on the side of the screen (what are these really called?) are like pulleys for my computer... I pull them down and they lift the screen up.

He's smart, this one!

Happy Birthday to J!

Today, my sweet J turns 7!!! 7!!!! I can hardly believe it! My first little baby, he's growing up too quick. And he's not even here with me... he's having a birthday sleepover with his Grandma tonight... sniff. I am too sappy and sentimental for words tonight... 7 just seems like such a big milestone.

Here is my newborn sweetie... the baby who made me into a Momma

Look at those cheeks

I LOVE this photo

Here is his first birthday

And here he is celebrating at his party... just look at how grown up and handsome he seems

Happy Birthday J! I love you so much!!!

Love,

OWL MOMMA

Happy Birthday to W!

The Little Little Owl turned TWO today! It hardly seems like two years ago that he came into our lives... my third baby, my first homebirth, the little guy who was always meant to be a part of our family long before we even knew we needed him.

Here he is just a few hours old

And the first moments with his new siblings!

And now he's such a big guy!

(this is his Tia with him, not me... I am incredibly camera shy, lol)

Happy Happy Birthday W! I love you!

Love,

OWL MOMMA

Our Apple Celebration

September 26 is Johnny Appleseed's birthday! And for the past week the Owl Nest has been in Apple Celebration mode!

On the 26th, we celebrated with books and apple pie... super yummy. I think apple pie is my favorite pie ever. We have been listening to the story of Johnny Appleseed (read by Garrison Keillor) in the car, reading books about apples, and eating lots of fresh apples for snacks. And of course we've been singing the Johnny Appleseed song.

One of our favorite apple books is Apples, Apples, Apples... the little owls can't wait until they can go apple picking... I have had to break it to them that in Central Texas, apple picking is over in July :( We will go to the pumpkin patch at the apple orchard though so that might be close enough for them. Last year at the pumpking patch, they got a tour of the apple sorting facility. Hopefully we'll get to do that again.

Another great book is Apple Cider Making Days... we may try making some (with buying cider at Costco as our backup plan, lol).

We're also reading The Apple-Pip Princess, Cider Apples, Johnny Appleseed, Golden Delicious: A Cinderella Apple Story, and we watched the Disney story of Johnny Appleseed in the American Legends movie.

This year, we also read The Apple Doll. This sweet story includes instructions for making an apple doll of our own, so of course, we are trying it.

Here are a few pics of the process...

W might have had the most fun, peeling and eating apples

K is planning and J is munching

W was determined to peel his apple

The apples had to soak in lemon juice. We found the bag to be the only way to keep the apples covered without needing many bottles of lemon juice!

And here are the apples before drying out... and one other little cutie face!

The apple doll heads are in the process of drying out now, and it could take several more days for them to finish. I will post pics of the finished product when we get there!

Yay for apples,

OWL MOMMA

Happy Birthday K!

Today is K's 5th birthday! I can hardly believe it!

Here she is just a few hours old

And here's my little Daddy's Girl, hanging out with Owl Poppa

And now she seems so grown up! Five years old already!

Here she is celebrating with Grandma over the weekend

And here she is today... officially FIVE YEARS OLD!

Happy Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

Love,

OWL MOMMA

Wrong Side of the Bed

Now, I actually get up on the wrong side of the bed EVERY morning, since I sleep sideways across the bed. This is one of the benefits of cosleeping with W, and not having Owl Poppa in my room. W and I can sprawl all out over the king-sized bed :)

But this morning, I woke up GRUMPY!!!! W was up at least ten times overnight. I don't know if it is teeth, or the full moon, or the alignment of the stars, or what... but man, I have had enough. I can't function on so little sleep. Blech. Not at all the way I had hoped to start out the week.

SIGH

After attempting to get through a few school lessons with J, while W crawled all over the back of the couch and practiced jumping down onto my head, well, I just gave up. I took a shower, loaded all the kids into the car, made a stop at the taco joint drive thru (nothing fixes a bad day lke carb loading... white flour tortillas and a 44 oz Coke... YUM), and headed off to the park.

Thing did get better. Thankfully. We were able to spend some time with my awesome friend J and her kids... check out J's blog here. All the kids got to run around with light sabers. Nothing makes my kids happier than light sabers. :)

We also had a celebrity sighting! There in the playground, pushing kids on the swings and playing in the sandbox, was one of our hometeam basketball players. This wasn't just any old fella... this was Tim Duncan. I mean the guy has won 4 NBA championships. He's been MVP twice and Finals MVP three times (I think... you had best check with Owl Poppa for totally accurate stats). Anyway, here was this awesome upper-eschelon NBA player, sitting in the sandbox at our local park. It was awesome.

Most awesome of all was that none of the folks at the park, dads included, bothered him... not even one autograph request in the hour or so we overlapped at the park... he got to just be a poppa and hang out. I didn't tell the kids who it was until after we left. And J was totally psyched... you know why? Because now he knows approximately how tall Yao Ming is... Too funny. He's been obsessed with Yao Ming lately.

I was frustrated at how little schooling got done today, but glad to be able to call it a day when needed and head to the park to reset. And now we're going to make pear muffins... YAY! Every day is better with muffins!

Pear Muffins (adapted from the La Leche League Cookbook)

2 unpeeled ripe pears, chopped finely

1/2 C honey

1 egg

1/4 C melted butter (or oil)

1 C milk

1 3/4 C whole wheat flour

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t ground cloves

1/2 t salt

2 t baking powder

1/4 C wheat germ

Mix pear and honey in bowl, tossing to coat. Set to the side. In a large bowl, beat egg, butter, and milk. Add dry ingredients except wheat germ and stir to combine. Fold in pear mixture. Fill greased muffin cups around 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Yiled is around 16 muffins.

Cute? Things Kids Say

J, in response to me telling him for the gazillionth time that NO he could NOT go outside:
"You cut me deep mom, you cut me deep"

K, when I was explaining that I needed to try on the sundress before purchasing it:
"Yeah, so you can make sure it doesn't make you look pregnant"

W, because this is all he really says:
"dis? momomomomomomomomomomomom"

Just Because

I don't have anything super interesting to blog about, but I'm trying to blog more often, so this is what you get! :)

I am actually in the throes of a dilemma over moving the kids up to the next level of math in an effort to keep them challenged. The alternative is to keep them in their current levels and work with the theory that "repetition leads to mastery" and use the easier lessons to help them build discipline in their studies.

But man, I am tired of arguing with myself about it! So if anyone has wise words of wisdom I'd love to hear them. Otherwise I will continue looking through old photos in an attempt to disctract myself. And in the meantime, I leave y'all with these:

J and K, Halloween 2005

(J is Max from Where the Wild Things Are

and K is (what else) a Fairy Princess)

J and W, Fall 2008

K, newborn, Sept 2004

J and his first set of wheels, Oct 2005

J, proving he's always been cute, Spring 2003

J being "helpful" with K, Fall 2005

K's "being pretty" obsession started early, Jan 2006

Master Yoda I Am

(In my best Frank Oz voice)


An eventful time for us it is. His first light sabre W received. Now, Trainer of young padawan learners I am.

Man, if you think it is hard to try to type a blog post like this, I challenge you to teach a reading lesson while talking like Yoda!!!! That's what I had to do the other day! Try Not. Do or do not; there is no try! :) And did you know there is a wiki for Star Wars.... Wookieepedia! How cool is that!

And if you are bored, or (like me) you are stuck with a child on your lap who will only sleep if you remain within .0001 mm of him, here is something to entertain you: Rubber Yoda Face

Overheard

K and her dolly are in the kitchen right now, giving the following lecture to W:

"You don't know who Jesus is? Jesus is God. When he died he made himself come back to life because he is God. That's Easter. No, she's not God. She's Little Mermaid."

What's Working Wednesdays

What's working this week is thrift store shopping. I am trying hard to curb my consumer tendencies and shop second hand if I shop at all. Some days are better than others. But we've had some cool recent thrift store finds. The first are games... Family night is a lot more fun with new games. We've added Boggle Jr, Candyland DVD, and Mousetrap, all for less than $10 total.


And the best score lately was a pair of skates for K for $2. Look how cute my little girl is!






J also used his allowance to buy a toy for himself, and one for K too! I love the sweet sibling moments.

Kids Are People, Too!

I took the kids to the zoo yesterday. Just me, with all three little ones. And we had such a nice time! Really! If you had asked me about this even earlier in the day, I would have said you were crazy... there was no way I was going to take all the kids (like we have SO many) anywhere alone. But I got inspired around lunch time, and off we went. And we really enjoyed ourselves. We picnicked, saw the animals, followed the map, went to the children's area, and enjoyed the sunshine and each other.

I think sometimes I have it in my head that my kids are somehow little beings that need to be managed. Like I need to work extra hard because I am not only doing my own thing, but controlling all these other people, too. Yesterday was one of those days that reminded me that my children are actually little people, not projects, and you know what, they're good company, too! I was able to just relax, give up my illusion of control, and really enjoy hanging out with three interesting people.

I'm feeling rather inarticulate this morning, and this post isn't coming off quite as eloquent as it was in my head. It's hard to capture the emotion and the meaning in something as simple as taking the kids to the zoo. But that's okay, too. Because I'm realizing that it really isn't all about me anyway.

Here are a few pictures I took with my phone during our little adventure.

J hiding in a tunnel in the children's area, pretending to be a turtle

J and W playing store

K posing for the camera

W playing in the stream

Mini-Celebration!

Yesterday was K's half-birthday! She is now officially 4 and a HALF.

Tyra?

J and K were taking turns playing photographer (they LOVE taking photos with my camera). When it is finally J's turn, he says "Okay, K, now look FIERCE"

Note: While I myself love old cycles of ANTM, my kids have never actually watched this. Which makes the above even funnier!

This says it all

It's been THAT kind of day. He's totally done.