What's new in the zoo

Hanging by a thread...and he still won't pull it out. Gross.

Lost his first tooth!

According to Lexi, "The fairies took Jacob's tooth! He lost it, they took it from him!"

They are a little confused about how the Tooth Fairy works, but its hilarious!

He placed the little tooth under his pillow and everything. Cute.

His tooth was loose for over a week but insisted that it will fall out on its own. Funny. Since he was right...I have a feeling he will never pull out a tooth...he's all nat.ur.al. Fun stuff.

Next month is his 6 mo. check up...yay! Now my little tooth grinder is getting his big boy teeth! Yay! So...now i have to get that tooth grinding thing under control. ugh.

***

The little beavers crack me up. Yesterday the kids built a DAM out of the items in my bedroom. They called it their hideout. Made with clothes, books, bed linens...fab.

So when I finished my fast mom shower...I heard the wonderful sounds of children playing and saying, "Look mom, its our Damn Hideout". Lexi, "Damn Hideout, Damn Hideout!!"

Awesome.

***

This morning....I gave Jacob an angry face (more of a playful angry face...that said, hey don't do that punk...) and he said to me, "Don't look toward me with that ugly face mom!" OK.

***

My princess had a stuffy nose this morning. She dutifully walked her butt into the bathroom and started blowing her nose. Such a girl. I headed to the bathroom to give her some positive 'good job' attention with a loving tap on her head. Then asked how she was doing. She said,

"I'm flushing my nose mom" Cute.

So my potty mouth child now has a potty nose too. Lovely.

Lex

"Mommy your dinner smells tasty"

Thanks princess :)

Spinach and Feta Pasta from www.ourbestbites.com

And I doubled the garlic and mushrooms ;) That's how we Avery's roll. Next time I'll be adding sliced pepperoni. (Like the kind you put on a pizza) Try it next time in your favorite Pasta dish....Delish!

Cookie Decorator!

NOT MY COOKIES....the image is from Sweet Sugar Belle...located on my sidebar...I love her site! :)

And just like that...I'm a cookie decorator! Well, not really...just one in my head.

I've been researching cookie decorating for a few months now ... I'm hooked.

Step 1 - Research: Find the best products and methods for optimum results.

Step 2 - Purchase just enough products to get started practicing.

Step 3 - Practice piping on plates or parchment paper, not cookies yet :)

Step 4 - Practice more...

Step 5 - And more...

Step 6 - And a little more...

Step 7 - Practice baking the perfect batch of sugar cookies.

Step 8 - Marry the two...and practice on a cookie :)

Step 9 - Love the finished product (will I ever get to that point?)

Step 10 - Learn to ship them to my family and friends! Yes, that's you!!!

6 years ago I was obsessed with learning to make amazing chocolate chip cookies...like the kind of cookies that my teenage children will brag about...now that I've mastered that (no humility...I'll admit it) I need another obsession.

Some may ask, Why not start practice on real cookies? Because we'd eat them! NO, not good for my Weight Watchers lifestyle...not to be confused with a DIET...my new lifestyle :) Also, the frosting is relatively cheap to make so practicing daily won't be costly.

I'm currently on step 2. lol. My cookie making investments will be small....until I decide whether or not I have a steady enough hand...I'm not exactly an artist...like my sweet husband...so this may be a total flop!

We'll see. Enjoy the journey!

I'll be blogging all about it! :)

j

Lex

At the Dallas Zoo on Friday we went to the Butterfly Exhibit. It was just beautiful...amazing wild flowers, white picket fences, little water features...and real butterflies everywhere. It was just magical. It was small and UBER hot outside...but the exhibit was still just magical. It felt like when you stepped into the mesh tent housing the butterflies, you stepped into another magical world where everything is rainbows and butterflies. :) You wanted to whisper and walk slowly...maybe I was the only person in this little butterfly world...but it was amazing. :D Actually, my mom was totally in my butterfly fairytale with me. lol.

Lexi and Jacob were looking at caterpillar cocoons in specimen case and Lexi said, "The caterpillars are changing their outfits mom" Cutie. Such a girl thing to say.

***

Lexi was playing with water in her room...not allowed. But since Sunday seems to be the FREE-FOR-ALL-MESS-UP-YOUR-ROOM-AND-TAKE-THE-TOYS-ALL-OVER-THE-HOUSE-Day...then she thought that it was ok. So I asked her to get the water out of her room and her response was, "I want flowers to grow on the carpet!" Me too princess, me too.

Gangsta Flashback

Julie age 18

Heath age 24

Aren't we just the sweetest. Ugly camera phone got a bad shot...but this night at the bowling alley in 2003 was a night to remember!

Take a look at Heath's cute little facial hair and my red acrylic tips. haha! back in the day...

what the....

!*@%

I guess I'm not good at computer cursing.

Anyways, This little disaster in the picture above...happened while I was sweeping leaves out of the garage.

Its a tent.

They even ripped the curtains off the window. Little devils knew I was trying to clean house before my mom comes tomorrow.

The picture is blurry because I was pretending to text so they didn't know I was taking a picture. lol. Trying not to encourage this behavior. ha!

5 pounds

Above is a picture of the kiddos this morning at The Walking Park. Now that its getting hot the kiddos just play in the volleyball sand pit while I go around the walking trail. Its been fabulous. All my headache of the kiddos whining about going to what they call The Lonely Park is paying off! I lost 5 pounds this week. Yay! I'm loving weight watchers and I enjoy my walks at the park. When I don't have a friend to walk with ... I walk a little too early for most ... I just listen to Conference Talks on my cell phone. Its fabulous. Its amazing how easily I can find times to study when I have the conference talks on my cell. Technology is amazing. And the talks are LONG so all I need is 2 or 3 talks and my walk is over. While doing dishes, folding clothes, making dinner...the latter-day prophets keep me company. And Taylor Swift. :D

smart

"Mom, have I always been this smart? I think in heaven I was this smart too. I was born this way."

Yes son.

a tooth

"Mom, Can you like um put my hot dog in a bun in the blender? My tooth is wabbling."

My big boy Jacob has his first loose tooth. cutie.

He wants his food pureed. No, I won't be doing that. But it sure is funny!

He's Learning

Sing PRAISES!

I'm trying to teach my children to make their bed. Its not an easy thing...heaven knows I didn't learn its importance til I was like 23 years old. haha.

In an effort to make this task easier I decided to place my kids' beds in the center of the room. You know what I mean right? Headboard against the back wall and the rest of the bed sticking out...OK terrible description. They can now walk around each part of the bed...making it easier to Make the Bed. Get it now? When the bed is against the wall...your kid needs a stinkin ladder just to reach across the bed!

So anyways, this new layout pains me. They have a small room and small space to play. With Jacob's twin bed and Lexi's toddler bed...basically in the center of the room...its not ideal. HIVES, seriously makes me itch.

So we make their beds every morning and my son can pretty much make his all on his own. Oh happy day. He can even change his mattress pad, extra padding (that egg shell foam stuff that he WILL NOT SLEEP WITHOUT!) his fitted sheet, his comforter...its awesome. I haven't tried to have him do the pillow cases yet...I can barely do those myself! ha! The kiddos even know what it means to strip their beds and put the soiled linens in the laundry room. Oh...how fancy. Yes, we like big Martha Stewart words in this house.

So anyways...here's a conversation I overheard in their room today...

Jacob said to Lexi, "Hey Lex! Don't jump on my bed. I don't want to have to make it again"

Lexi happily responds, "K Jacob, can I have that car garage?"

Jacob, "Sure"

I witnessed two wonderful things...I am just elated...

First, Jacob is grasping the all important concept of keeping his bed made and learning responsibility. Ack! I love it.

Second, harder to spot this one...they are sharing! Love that. They are so cute together.

I hope and pray that they can remember these great days as young children and remember the fun they had together. And at the same time...is it possible to NOT remember my sometimes bad attitude...I'll pray for that too. ha!

the mom