Happy Halloween, Y'All!

The girls wore these cute Halloween dresses to Church yesterday- aren't they adorable?

Busy Bear

Bear is one busy baby. He has a lot of things he has to do in a day like:

Climb stuff... 

 Watch T.V. with his sissy...

 Get his hair done (and he left it in WAY longer than the girls did at that age...)

 Shopping with Mommy...

 Draw stuff...

 Wait for sister's Dance/Tumbling classes to be OVER...

Unpack every. single. cupboard. (see that latch? Useless. DMP finally got some that don't suck so I don't have to keep taking glass jars away from the baby and the tile floor. Yay!)

 Climb on the stool next to the computer, get stuck, scream my head off until Mom saves me. Repeat. Sometimes, just to mix it up, turn off the computer.

 Combine little brother forces to pester all big sisters everywhere...

Eat stuff...

P.S. All these pictures were taken on my phone's camera at various times- mostly to send to DMP while he was travelling/at work, so that's why they are blurry and bad.

Adorable

I don't think there are many things cuter than little girls in leotards and tights!

It's a Mystery...

I picked up the Flip one day to make a video and noticed that video count was way higher than the last time I filmed something. Upon further investigation I discovered about 20 1-7 second videos of the floor, ceiling, and furniture. Who could have done this? These two videos contain my only clues...

So True...

"Should a parent need added inspiration to commence his God-given teaching task, let him remember that the most powerful combination of emotions in the world is not called out by any grand cosmic event nor found in novels or history books—but merely by a parent gazing down upon a sleeping child."
Thomas S. Monson, "Only a Teacher: A Personal Observation," Ensign, May 1973, 27

blurry phone camera shot- it's quieter than the SLR

Not my kid, but this still cracks me up!

Grandpa let the kids do the trampoline bungee at the Mall in Provo. I was cleaning off the videos from the flip and found this one. This kid cracks me up! (for those who don't know, this is Cyndi's Junior...)

Taco Tuesday

Camera phone or just artsy blurred-out person? You be the judge...

Someone asked what Taco Tuesday is on one of my previous blogs. I know Dad knows what it is because it amuses him a lot...  So I when I finally uploaded the pics from the phone on my camera (who am I kidding, DMP figured that one out) I decided to dedicate an entire post to the glory that is Taco Tuesday.

We moved here on a Monday. As we were unpacking someone said "You should do Taco Tuesday tomorrow." The Sister missionaries chimed in and soon everyone was telling us about the yummy, cheap deliciousness that is Taco Tuesday at Rosa's Cafe.  So on Tuesday, DMP took a kid or two and went in search of Rosa and her famous tacos.  While he was gone, the cable guy showed up. I mentioned something about DMP getting tacos, and he was like "Oh, yeah, it's Taco Tuesday" 

Everyone knows about Taco Tuesday. It's a Thing here and it isn't hard to see why.  You get 3 good sized tacos (see them in the pic of the girls above) rice and beans for $3.69.  DMP and I can only eat two (or sometimes I can only eat one) They heat up well, so every Tuesday, our order is the same - 3 chicken Soft Taco plates.  They have an awesome sala bar with every kind of salsa you want (my favorite is the green roasted Tomatillo).  

The only member of the family who won't eat Rosa's Tortillas (or any carb, really). That's fine, we don't cast pearls before swine. Speaking of swine, he does love the refried beans- probably all that lard...

The best part about Taco Tuesday, though, is the tortillas. You haven't lived until you've had a freshly-made flour tortilla from Rosa's. They are soft, pillowy and flour-y (but in a good way). They give them to you hot and fresh with your order and we typically eat 1-2 each in the car ride just on the way home.  They are awesome. If you go into Rosa's to eat, you can watch them make them.  There is a person who feeds balls of dough into a machine that smashes it flat and then puts it on a spiral cooker thing an you can watch them puff up like a beach ball (they deflate when they cool) on their way to the conveyor belt that plops them in a container- waiting to be given to some lucky person. The kids (and, lets face it, DMP and I) could watch that thing forever.

So that, my friends, is the story with Taco Tuesday.

Birdy's Greatest Hit

Wren sings Pat Benatar's classic "Hit Me with Your Best Shot". This video is so stinkin' adorable. She gets really into it when she's performing at home- this is a little subdued because of the camera.

EJ Birthday Part 2

Kaya birthday cake. Topper is an ornament that will double as EJ's Chrismas ornament for this year. I like to kill two birds with one stone...

 On the Saturday after EJ's birthday we had a friend party. EJ picked a "Kaya" (or Native American) theme. I tried really, really hard to talk her into a "Princess" or Rainbow theme, but with no luck. That's OK, though, because I think it turned out rather well in spite of the non-traditional theme :) 

Look! This is what my mostly-put together living room looks like!

 I was kind of stumped on how to decorate for a Native American theme party until I had a burst of inspiration in the Dollar Store.  I decided that if Kaya celebrated birthdays, they would decorate with things in nature, so we went with a "fall" decoration theme. The added bonus is that I've just left them up so we look festive!

 These fluttery fall leaves are fun. I wish I had started on them earlier. They are just fabric leaves from Dollar Tree and I just got a needle and thread and strung them on the thread

 As the kids were arriving, they made beaded necklaces with card stock Native American "amulets" that they colored. It was a lot of fun. I also made their fancy Indian headbands (super-easy, ribbon, hot glue and feathers). I took some inspiration from cousin Sarah's birthday party and had them all pick an Indian name (Running Deer, Crescent Moon, etc.)  They thought that was a lot of fun.  After they made necklaces they ate some dinner- we had turkey tortilla pinwheels (one of EJ's favorites) baby carrots and ranch and apple slices. You know, just like real Native Americans ate...

Trail Mix and beef jerky prizes. What else would you have for a hunting and gathering treasure hunt?

After they ate we attempted to have some target practice with the tiny bows and arrows we made (fun project found here).  It was kind of a fail. We underestimated our ability to teach a variety of kids with questionable fine-motor skills how to shoot them. That's OK, though, because we quickly moved on to the other games. I looked online and found a couple of Native American games that seemed age-appropriate and fun.  Then we had a Hunt & Gather treasure hunt. 

Party guests. Aren't those feather headbands so freakin' cute? I love how they turned out!

 Next came presents and reading a Native American legend I picked up from the library.  I checked out a few picture books with legends, and EJ read them and picked the one she wanted me to read. I neglected to read it myself until the party. It was slightly violent and talked about slitting someones tongue, gouging out his eyes and etc.  Oh, did I mention nearly every one of the parents stayed and were sitting there listening, too? Fun times!

Then it was time for cupcakes and candle-blowing. I decided to keep the cake low-key this year and I'm glad, too. It is hard to find Native American party favors and stuff so I spent a lot of time making things for the party- little favor bags, headbands, bows and arrows.

EJ was thrilled with her party and I was just mostly exhausted :)  but she's worth it!  DMP and I were joking that it was probably the nerdiest kids birthday party ever, since most of the activities started with "Native Americans did such and so...

EJ Birthday, Part 1

The festive fall leaves and "Happy Birthday" banner. It is made from doilies from the Dollar Store. 'Cause I'm crafty like that.

 In keeping with the tradition on this blog, I'm splitting EJ's birthday post into two parts. Because it was that much fun.  Also, if you find posts about her birthday boring, you get a glimpse of our mostly-decorated living room. Lucky you!

Check out how Birdy can write her own name on her present for EJ!

 EJ got a stack of presents from the Mom & Dad and her brother and sister. Grandma and Grandpa K also hooked her up with a box of surprises, and Aunt Kate's present came in the mail that day! Birdy was a champ this year. We picked out EJ's present the day before her birthday, and typically that spells disaster for keeping it a surprise. Birdy was awesome and didn't crack. She said "I'm just going to tell her it is dirt, Mom" and she did. She didn't give it away and it became a funny joke within the family that we were all giving EJ dirt for her birthday.

 When she got home from school, I let her open the "possibles" bag from Grandma. It is a real Indian/Mountain Man pouch that had all kinds of Indian goodies (including Beaver Bucks). Her very favorite part (besides the pouch itself) was the Anasazi pottery shard that was inside. It is treated with much awe and reverence!

 It's kind of becoming a tradition to surprise the birthday girl with balloons. Last year I brought some to school to pick her up after Kindergarten. This year I met her at the bus with some balloons and (fake) flowers. She loves the special attention.

 She got a great bunch of presents.  Aunt Kate gave her a set of play horses and she was thrilled.  She got the new Barbie movie and a Moxie doll. I was proud of myself because I found a Kaya coloring book.  Grandma and Grandpa hooked her up with a bunch of new books which she was super-excited about!

 EJ chose bacon (of course) and Papper's Hotcakes for her birthday dinner this year. She was really happy because she got to eat something like 6 pieces of bacon!

Then of course there were cupcakes, rounding out one very happy birthday!

Inside looking out...

I'm so glad we are living in a house with a real backyard because our kids could care less. They still only want to play in the front of the house.  Granted, we also have a nice cul-de-sac for them to ride their scooters around in, but there is also a decent amount of reading, ball kicking and playing with barbies that goes on there too. Maybe it's because the grass in the back yard is totally dead and feels like straw vs. the front yard grass that is only mostly dead?  It's a mystery!

Anywho, the point of this post is to show what is going on inside while the girls are playing outside. The lovely big windows in our house have lovely, low window sills, so Bear can look out and watch his sisters and try to get their attention. Watch the video, it's pretty funny...

Dallas Zoo

 Our new friends, the Z family invited us to spend a day at the Dallas Zoo. It is a fantastic zoo- much bigger than SLC or Phoenix with some really interesting animals and enclosures. The Z family is really great. They have 3 kids- K, who is almost 6, A, who is 4 like Birdy and G, who is just two weeks or so older than Bear. We've had so much fun getting to know them and they have been so welcoming. (Can you tell I'm saying all this because I feel like saying "Look, see? We have friends! We aren't all alone in this big crazy place 1,000 miles from family and all that is familiar!).

 They have almost-life-size elephant statues near the African Savannah exihibit. The kids loved "riding" the elephants. This is Birdy's new friend. It is cute because she insists that we call her by her first and last name always...

 They have a pretty, wide-open elephant enclosure. It is next to a building set up like an African Safari base camp with a giant covered deck and big chairs. I'd love to go to the zoo and just sit in those chairs and watch for an hour or so.

Near the base camp building is a cafe with big glass windows that open directly on to the lion enclosure (as you can see). Very cool to be just inches from a sleeping lion!

One of our favorite things was the Giraffe enclosure. The viewing deck is up high, right at eye-level with the giraffes. You can even buy food to feed them (next time!). They had an adorable new baby giraffe and we got some fun video of him running. There are few things as cute as a running baby giraffe (your kiddos are going to want to watch this one!)

We had to cut our trip short. It got too hot and the babies decided they were done with skipping their nap. We definately need to go back and see the rest (but maybe when it's a bit cooler?)