Tuppence a Cup

For a dollar, you can get overly fed lorikeets to be your friend at the San Antonio Zoo. Mia was brave enough to have the climb on her, but the other kids were more than willing to feed from a distance. Good thing the birds I held were finished with all their bathroom needs because Fernando wasn't so lucky.


Wondering what was so gross to me at the end of the movie? Talia was licking the residue nectar from some random discarded cup. Oh well, a little bird backwash never hurt anyone, right?

Expo Marker Magic

Who said art can't come from Expo Markers? Thank heavens they made a low odor variety. Even still, the smell can knock you out or make for fun imaginary lights in you line of vision.

Sporks, Grapefruits, and Smiles

Just For Fun

We were introduced to Rhett and Link months ago and use their videos for a quick laugh. We watched this one several times with Tiago. Mia, and Talia laughing non-stop.


Here are a few other favorites. Enjoy!

Mole

Every month I host a recipe exchange at my house. The theme that I thought of for this month was an Iron Chef Challenge with the theme ingredient being Chocolate. Worried that we would all OD on the sugar, I extended the offer to Asian food as well. (why the connection. . .Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year both fall on the 14th this month)

I was more than a bit surprised when too savory dishes showed up with Chocolate in the recipe. Both recipes were amazing. One in particular had been a fear of mine since high school Spanish class: Mole. (pronounced mole-lay and not so much like the dermatological phenomenon.) Some how every teacher warned of this chocolate concoction and made me never wish to try it. I bravely scooped a big portion and was glad I did. The person used a Paula Dean recipe for this South American dish. Almost equally shock was the lack of butter in the recipe. You should give it a try. Follow the link and ignore the disgusting picture they used to illustrate how the dish should look.

If Looks Could Talk

As the dutiful visiting teacher that I am (just don't ask the people I visit), I agreed to watch my visiting teachee's kids all day Saturday. She and her husband were donating their time to work with the Habitat for Humanity and kids weren't allowed.

Fernando was in desperate need of quiet time since night float allows for very minimal sleep at best. Never you fear, that is what our minivan was built to do. With the five kids in tow, we went to my gym and then to Costco for a few necessities (aka Peanut Butter)

I should note here that their two kids look very much like they could be Mia and Tiago's respective twins. Their oldest boy shares Mia's blond hair blue eye fair skin look while their youngest girl has a more olive toned skin and brown eyes. In the cart seats were Talia and said "twin" girl. While Tiago rode in the basket of the cart all the while reading the warning labels affixed to the cart such as children shouldn't ride in the basket of the cart. Mia and her boy "twin" hung on to the sides.

I felt pretty awesome for attempting such a feat at Costco on a Saturday Morning. And with only one screaming incident over split spinach ice cream (yeah, the kids loved it. . . .those crazy Vita Mix sellers. What will they think of next?), we left with the needed groceries and every kid I came into the store with. To reward such awesomeness, we ate in the Costco food court. The whole ordeal was over an hour long and I lost count of how many disapproving gawks I received. I don't blame them. I think I would look twice if I saw a lady traipsing lazily through Costco with 5 kids under the age of 7.

Unclean FHE

In attempts to make lessons more memorable, we try to act out the various scripture stories we share during Family Home Evenings. As a side bonus, I usually just have to jazz up the preparations I have made for my Sunday Nursery class and the fantastic Behold Your Little Ones manual. One such FHE involved a dramatization of the one of 10 lepers who came back to thank Jesus for healing him. I was said leper in a moose print bathrobe and a set of jingle bells left over from a Christmas party. I came stumbling down the stairs ringing the bells and saying "Unclean" over and over again.
I am not sure Talia understood the word I was saying, but at least she remembers the idea. If you are wondering what the other kids are doing, they are working on the activity portion of the night--writing thank you notes for those people who sent us gifts for Christmas.