Perfect Weather

Today it is sunny and 77 degrees. We are loving it.

The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven

This is Talmage's most recent memorized poem. We heard a Julie Andrews recitation of it and thought it would be fun to memorize. It is called "The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven" and it was written by Jack Perlutsky.




This poem can be found in, Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies.

Aaron's Dream Come True

Aaron loves birds.

We spent some time feeding the Lorikeets at the San Antonio Zoo for Family Night tonight. We had never done this before. Aaron loved it! Even when the nectar to feed the birds ran out they still loved him! We spent a long time in their enclosure and they got quite comfortable climbing all over us. The kids did an amazing job being steady and unafraid. I think I was the most afraid-- I gave my self a crick in my neck when the first few birds zoomed up to perch on my head and shoulder. I chilled out though and enjoyed taking pictures of Aaron and the kids thoroughly enjoying themselves.


I didn't notice this sign was in the background until I started posting these pictures. Lindsey ought to get a kick out of it, if she can stand to look at the pictures.

Magic Eyes

Talmage believes that I have magic eyes that can see through the ceiling (I always know when he's jumping or is out of bed running around, when I am downstairs). He has also gathered most Mom's seem to have eyes in the backs of their heads and know what their kids are doing when they are not even looking at them. So he has surmised that all girls are born with magic eyes. Anya thinks this is great and either believes she has magic eyes or is just taking advantage of Talmage's illogic.

So a few minutes ago Talmage came partway upstairs with a surprise for Anya behind her back and called "Anya, don't use your magic eyes, I have a surprise for you." She of course pretended to use her magic eyes.

As a gift to my future daughter in law, I'm not going to correct this misconception.

Christmas Eve

We had a Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve this year.It was fun to see the kids enjoy a "fancy" dinner on the same beautiful dishes I loved as a kid. They ate so polite and careful!


That I actually made a Christmas Eve dinner, instead of cooking a frozen pizza, and set the table with the nice dishes that have to be hand washed is proof that I'm feeling lots better and that my kids are getting older.

After dinner the kids remembered that in all the excitement of flying the kite, we had forgotten to bake cookie for Santa. Aaron was all for baking his delicious chocolate chip cookies for Santa. After that, the kids were anxious to get to bed so that Santa could come to our house. So they opened their "open Christmas Eve" presents and were surprised to find pajamas. One of these years they will remember that every Christmas Eve they open pajamas.

Talmage loves his Super Mario Brothers pajamas. He loves all things Mario and is constantly singing the theme songs. Anya likes her Disney princes pajamas (they came with a long sleeve shirt and a short sleeved one).

Kite Flying on Christmas Eve Day

The day before Christmas we wanted to head out hiking or mountain biking but the major wind changed our plans. We instead took the kite Papa bought when he was visiting us in April, out for a spin.

We started by bundling the kids up in their warmest clothes and then rummaged though our 72hour kit cast offs to find hats and gloves. It was probably in the 40's but the windchill made it feel much colder-- and after all we are not used to the cold. We took Dad's car and because we were just going down the street in our neighborhood, we didn't move the kids booster seats. They thought this was so cool.


The wind was so hard and gusty that it was a bit tricky to keep the kite up.

Anya enjoyed throwing the kite up into the wind.

Aaron had a hard time sharing with the kids at first. Probably because he had to run and untangle the strings when they crashed it.


Talmage ran wild with the camera but managed to get a picture of somebody!

Anya also ran wild and we may have lost her if she wasn't wearing so much pink. She enjoyed the freedom from fences and the wind pushing her so fast she had to keep her legs going or she would fall over.

When given a chance and some instruction, Talmage did a good job flying this tricky kite.

This is Aaron's favorite picture. He took it when we finally retreated to the car to get out of the "freezing" wind. We headed home for hot chocolate but we were all out. It is incredibly difficult to find "family sized" hot chocolate down here. You're lucky to find little packets of SwissMiss that don't have caffeine in it. Only a select few of our friends have even heard of Stephen's hot chocolate. So now our list of things we can't find down here are as follows: maple bars, normal salt and vinegar chips (not potent kettle or Pringle varieties), and Stephen's hot chocolate.