Children's Museum... Seuss Style!

It is no secret that we love the Children's Museum.  It is also not a secret that we love Dr. Seuss.  When you put the two together, we were in literary heaven!!! The Children's Museum had a limited-time exhibit of several Seuss sculptures and original artwork from the books.  Granna's fave was the classic Cat in the Hat.

 I freaked out over this display of Seuss' original sketch for Cat and the finished product below.  SO COOL!!!!

 Yertle was the boys second favorite sculpture.  The details on the statue were beautiful!!!

 Everybody loves the Cat!

 Jacob was excited to see the huge Sneetch drawing.  He has always had a soft spot for The Sneetches!

 My favorite statue... Green Eggs and Ham.  Some of my favorite Seuss memories as a teacher revolve around making green eggs and ham with my class each year.  It also reminds me of the three Seuss Birthday parties we had when the boys were younger... GREAT memories!

 This was the boys favorite... Grinch and Max!  I think they liked Max the most! :)

 Then it was time to explore the rest of the museum.  We have not been in about 4 months (gasp!) and things had been re-arranged!  Rylan loved this tunnel tube!

One more Seuss ode... Horton for Mr. Kouba!  We love to hear him tell this story with all his crazy voices! 

 Using "the force" at the air table.  They even got Granna to use the force too!

 Granna and Jacob building atoms.  They had fun making unique formations.  It reminded me of trying to help Beth study for Organic Chemistry at HU.  Bless her heart that I even tried because Organic Chemistry and I do not mix!

 This was new and instantly became the new favorite table... taking over the rolling ball table.  It is a catapult!!! Granna and I would build structures and then the boys would release the ball to knock down the structure.  It was SO fun and they squealed every time!!!

 Another new table... magnets!  Rylan would build the wall then karate chop it down flat!

 The boys did the Power Tower for almost 30 minutes!  They went from the very bottom to the very top twice!  It wore me out just watching them!

 Jacob was sooooo excited to finally see the Mayan face light up when they got the pieces in order!

 The boys were hesitant to be photographed with a villian... they crack me up!

Once again, it was a GREAT afternoon at the Children's Museum!

Shirtless

Several months ago Rylan started sleeping shirtless.  Why?  No one know!!!  He says he gets hot, so we roll with it.  The only rule is that he has to put his shirt back on before leaving his room in the morning.  One night when Jason was gone on a claim, they climbed into our bed and when I came in later to go to sleep, Rylan was clutching his shirt.  I thought it was so funny!  The next morning he said he was holding it so he did not lose it in that big bed over night!  That boy of mine is always so practical, planning ahead and funny!

Valentine Cookie Time

The day before Valentine's Day (AKA party day) I was not going to tutor, so we had an extra hour to have fun... so we baked some heart cookies!  This time we used Mrs. Sondra's recipe and they were delicious!!!  Here are the two best baking assistants in the world!!

 Half of the finished product!

 Rylan eating the "fire bomb" cookie that he specially decorated.

 Jacob eating the "valentine blast" cookie that he specially decorated.

 Rylan made me a "pink flamingo" cookie!  The bottom half is light pink sugars and the top is bright pink sprinkles.  Love that he thought it out so special for his Flamingo momma!

We took a box to GPop and Granna and a box to Popa.  It was a yummy treat for all of us!

How 'Bout Them Texas Texans???

The boys LOVE to play sports in the yard.  Many months ago they named their front yard team the Texas Texans.  Overall, they just want to have fun, but it has been fun to see their skills improve too!  Here's our little punter...

 And our QB...

 This scene is my favorite... they are creating , or shall I say scheming, new plays.  They always get in a hugging huddle and point in various directions to make up the perfect play to confuse the (imaginary) defense. LOVE!

 Then Jacob inevitably ends up like this... diving, rolling, jumping, to make a great catch.... and he usually comes up with the ball! :)

For the First Time in Forever...

We went to the movies twice in one month!!!  We all loved Frozen sooooooo much that we went to see it again! Lovin' the carpet at the theater...

GPop and Granna with the kids.  It was a fun morning to sing the songs, catch new movie details and enjoy getting out!

Party Time!

The boys had their Valentine parties on Thursday.  The whole school made ice cream sundaes with tons of toppings.  Here is Rylan's spread...

One party game was to use chopsticks to move conversation hearts from a pile into a bowl.  It was soooooo fun!!  Thank you PeiWei for donating the chopsticks!

Rylan made a sundae with vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips, cherries and a little chocolate sauce.

After eating their sundaes, the kids opened their Valentines.  It was so sweet to hear them (unprompted) say thank you to each other.  It was sweet to see their eyes light up at the different cards and gadgets their received.

Rylan and his wonderful teacher!!!

Mom was down in Jacob's class for most of his party and then we switched places.  When I got into JAcob's room, they were opening their Valentines.  In true Jacob-fashion, he was laying them out in one straight row.  Love my logical-mathematical thinker!

He also made a delicious ice cream sundae!

In Jacob's class they moved hearts to a bowl, but they also tried to stack hearts.  Jacob LOVED this game.  He got second place by stacking 10 hearts!

Jacob and his wonderful teacher!

Before we left, we had to snap a photo of Granna with her little Valentine's!  It was a blessing that Mom could go and split the time with me!

Praying for My Family

As a Christian woman, one of my most important jobs is raising my children to know and love God.  One way to do this is the clothe them in prayer...not just Rylan and Jacob, but also Jason and I.  I'm not going to lie, sometimes it is hard for me to pray.  I tell myself that I am too busy to pray... if I sit still with my eyes closed then I will fall asleep... too busy with tasks to stop and focus on talking to my Father... and on and on and on.  The excuses and lies from Satan can really bog down a girls heart!

The winter has been a very spiritually convicting season!  Praise!!!  Jason and I have been taking the marriage class at church, which is powerful beyond words.  The Flamingos started a new Bible study that focuses on discerning the word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit.  In the study, the author keeps pointing us to do spiritual disciplines that I have been lazy about... namely praying and journaling.  So this season, I have been trying to re-focus on both and the results have been wonderful.  Yes, I still struggle, but I have been reminded the importance of being connected to God.

For a long, long while, I've been in the habit of praying while I dry my hair each morning.  I know it is odd, but it is one of the few times of the day that no one is bothering me and I can focus.  I have a prayer thought calendar from Moms of Boys Society that I pray for the boys each day.  I like having a spring board for my thoughts about praying for my greatest joy... Rylan and Jacob.

Today as I was doing my Bible study lesson, she led us to a verse that used to be a part of my regular prayers, but it has slipped from my habits and mind.  But today, I am convicted again!  Praying scripture can be very powerful and focusing in your life.  I went through a phase where this was very much a part of my prayers.  I'm hoping to get back on that bandwagon.

The verse that sent me not only down memory lane, but helped to re-focus my thoughts is Deuteronomy 30:6.  I've changed the verb tenses/pronouns to personalize is for me.  "Dear Lord my God, circumsise my heart and the hearts of my descendants, so that we may love you with all our heart and with all our soul and live."

There were several parts that struck me... praying for the hearts of my descendants.  WOW - immediately this is Rylan and Jacob.  But it also includes their wives... their children... and grandchildren.  I'm reminded of Judges 2:20 that says they forgot about God in ONE generation.  I want to insure that my descendants do not forget about God.  And I am humbled at the responsibility that only one generation can lead to a whole family falling away.

The other part that struck me today was the part about "and LIVE."  SOmetimes I feel so caught up in the hustle and bustle that I don't feel like I am LIVING... I'm just surviving.  So I want to slow down and LIVE a life worthy of the calling God has given me.  I want my family to LIVE in accordance with God's will and plan for our life.  I want to LIVE a life that brings glory to God in all that I do.

So that's all... just some deep thoughts from a momma who loves God and wants to serve Him in all things...

Zoo Day... First Grade Field Trip

Field trip days are such special days!  No school work... fun with your friends... new places.  As the boys were looking forward to their field trip to the zoo, they could not handle their excitement!!!  This has been a harsh winter for our coast, and as the weather forecast for the week developed, it looked like Tuesday was going to be a terrible zoo day.  The forecast was COLD (high of 50... which is COLD for us!), drizzly and just gross outside.  However, the Lord provided!  It ended up being a cold, but sunny day.... a great zoo day!

Of course, Rylan wanted to see the lions most of all!  There were three lionesses and one male lion.  They were sunning, but still beautiful!

 The tiger was one of our highlights today.  We got to hear it roar!!!  It was up walking quite a bit and as it walked through the bamboo area, we could see how those bright orange stripes really are camo!  God's perfect design!

 Near the chimps, we ran into the teachers.  Jacob was so excited to give Mrs. Weeks a hug!  She rocks!

 Ad Rylan was equally excited to see Ms. Mena. She rocks too!

 In the chimp area, they had various handprints to test you hand against.  Jacob could not believe a gorilla hand was so huge!

 Jason took the day off.  He was officially with Jacob and I was officially with Rylan, but we were able to walk around the zoo together and it was oh, so nice!  Here they are with the giraffes!  Can you spot the baby giraffe?

 Just me and my sweetie... staying warm and enjoying the zoo day all bundled up!

 We discovered the rain forest house.  I don't think it is new, just new to us!  Inside was a tunnel with went through an aquarium.  Super cool!  Especially when you pretend it is for Yodi training! hahahaha In this house they also had a desert area that had chipmunks and armadillos.  I did not know how fast an armadillo could run!  The chipmunks were so cute too!  Rylan loved this house!!

 Channel your best Baroness voice from GI Joe and say "Cobra!!!"  Outside the Reptile House, there was this cobra statue.  The boys scanned their fake Cobra cards to enter.  Can you tell we love GI Joe?

 This was Rylan's favorite area!  He loved seeing the snakes... especially the pythons and venomous snakes.  He had decided that the constrictors are the most dangerous because being squeezed to death is worse than being poisoned.   Personally, I don't want either! ha!

 Behind us is the komodo dragon.  He was huge!!!

 In the aquarium we got to see an octopus.  He almost glowed in the water.  It was so interesting to see his suckers up close.  He was slithering inside the big bottle that was inside the tank... very cool!

 A Disney flashback... it's Crush from Turtle Time!

 Brotherly love!  After we ate lunch, the kids who had parents come could stay!  I've never heard of being able to stay with your kid longer... so we did!  It was nice to be able to stay and see the things we missed and re-do a few favorites too!  And my this time is was feeling great outside.

 The boys comparing their hand to the lioness paw... Rylan on the left, Jacob on the right.

 Rylan was so excited to find the cheetahs.  They were in a new spot and it took us a while to find them.  THey love climbing on this beautiful statue.

 In the past, the cheetahs were in a huge area and were usually very far from you.  This new area is smaller and they were literally 5 feet from us.  It was exciting to see their paws and fur details up close.

 Since it was just us, we could ride the carosel!  The boys wanted to sit on multiple animals, but finally decided on the lions and chimp.  Jacob said he wanted to sit on the log!

 My boy still loves his lions!!!

 They wanted to play in the African village area again when it was less crowded.  Jason was a good sport and was a monster attacking them.  Once some other people came, Jason sat with me while the boys morphed into Star Wars and pretended it was the Tusken Raider village.

 And our lost stop... the flamingos!!!  The most beautiful bird on the planet!!!

 The little toes were tired, but glad to have walked to much together!

Highlights...

Rylan = carosel ride, octopus, climbing the rhino statues, reptile house especially the snakes, the RF house tunnel and watching the armadillo run

Jacob = hearing the tiger roar and seeing his bamboo camo, climbing the rhino statue, cobras, RF house, jaguar napping, grizzly bear tongue hanging out during his nap

Jason = baby elephant, 4-eyed fish, chipmunks

Kim = hearing the tiger roar, flamingos, the boys running with shear joy