Earth Hour

Not quite every year of our marriage, maybe three times, we participated in Earth Hour. Earth hour is too help bring awareness about energy conservation. Although this year, they said it was to take a stand against global warming or something. Either way, it was something to do. An excuse to turn off all our lights and the television. Here are some snapshots of our mini black out





One of our flashlights hanging up, getting ready as time was counting down to 8:30




My flashlight and my activity for the next hour. How could you go wrong with a great book and a snugly blanket?






Rob was in a mad dash to try and finish his shredding project.




And then the lights went out...








I finished my book. Great! Pick it up and read it, really good.





Rob did finish in time and spent the next couple of dark minutes cleaning up after himself.


All in all, it was good. Whether it was to increase awareness to energy conservation, global warming, or just to our own dependency on electricity, it was a good time. Kaelin even wanted the night light off so she could do Earth Hour also.

The Rock Show

Rob's Mom invited the kids and I to go to a local Rock and Gem Show. I was pretty sure the kids would love it, because this is what they do whenever they play outside or whenever they see rocks, they COLLECT them. Not special rocks or rare one, just all rocks!


This is one corner of the booths. It was so insanely busy, I didn't pull the camera out for a while. One of my favorite booths had a bunch of different fossils. Fish, starfish, crabs, trilobites, and shells. I thought I got a picture of one but it seems I didn't. Just know, that it was pretty cool.




Most of the booths were tables with things you could pick up and touch, but they also had some exhibits just to look at. This one had some very impressive eggs.




This one I thought was pretty cool. If you look close you can see how they make a sphere. Maybe, it seems obvious to some but I still thought it was interesting.



For those history buffs. They also had some Indian knifes that were carved from stone.



Sean and Kaelin really like the mini model railroad. That's Kae's head right there and you can see how much little Vanna cared. Is she staring at the floor? She was just happy to be out of the stroller for a while.





This table was Kaelin's favorite! I wonder why?





Sean's favorite part were these huge dinosaurs. They had one that was carved from rock and a few others that were a soft foam.

We actually got a picture with both Kaelin and Sean looking, but if you notice Kaelin is helping out a little bit.



This is Savanna telling me that she wants to get her picture taken also.


Grandma helped her out and moved her a bit closer, I think she really just wanted out of the stroller.



Later the kids got to meet a different dino. And if you're wondering how these dinosaurs are moving around...




It's a giant puppet. Pretty cool. He's also got some baby dinosaurs strapped to his legs.




Near the end the kids got to play a spin the wheel game. Sean really wanted a rock with a little plastic dinosaur glued to it, and was pretty disappointed that he didn't get it.


But I was able to convince him that the rock necklace he DID get was actually a "dragon egg"




All in all it was a good day! Thanks Grandma!

Anatomy lessons by Sean

My kids know the proper names for their special body parts, so its not uncommon to hear those words during bathroom breaks and bath times. The other night, I was helping Sean in the bathtub and usually I wash his body and then give him the option to wash himself also. Before I could even give him the option...
he said, "Mom, I'm going to wash my own penis. "
Mom: "Alright, go ahead"
Sean: "And my tusks"
Mom: " Those aren't tusks, they're called testicles"
Sean: "Walruses have testicles too!"
So, I think we might have some clarifying to do. I don't want our next trip to the zoo to end up being an anatomy lesson by Sean.

Can I get $2.50

Alright well Rob's mom has been going to some local auctions for a while now and I have always wanted to go. Finally, with the help of my niece, Alex, who watched my kids, I went to one. I told myself that I wasn't going to buy anything because we are moving soon and have a weight limit for how much we can take with us. Well, I am so excited because not only did I buy a few things but I bought a trunk. This might seems weird to some of you, but I have wanted a trunk for a long, long time. I want it for a table/ottoman/storage container. This one I bid for is perfect for that too. The adrenaline from bidding at an auction is lovely. I hope to go again and may or may not bid (sorry Rob) depending on what treasures are there. The trunk is beat up and I want to fix up real nice. I've seen some who have completely refinished their trunks with new hardware and new stain, but I think on mine I just want to clean it up, polish the metal and fix up the inside. What exactly I'm going to do has not been decided yet. What color to paint it, do I put paper inside or maybe some fabric, how do I polish up rusty hardware? There is so much I need to find out, but I'm excited!!! Here are some pictures of my new favorite piece of furniture.

I already started taking off the paper on the inside, mostly just the paper that was already peeling off. I don't know if I'll worry about the rest of the paper or just paint some primer over the top.

The little pieces of woods on the sides are there to hold the removable shelf. They need to be nailed in a little more securely, if I decide to keep the shelf.



This is the reason I'm not sure if I'll keep the shelf. The kids love climbing in it but the shelf isn't too strong so if I do keep it I definitely need to either make a new one or really reinforce this one. It's currently being held together with hot glue and tape.



A perfect flat top for table/ottoman . When painting I'll only paint those peeling rectangles, but what color? I was thinking a dark, warm brownish red, similar to the color of cherry wood furniture.
The metal could definitely be shined up and polished. I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Oh, and I won the bidding with a bid of $15.00.

Happy Valentines' /Chinese New Year (belated)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do know how later these pictures are but oh, well. For Valentines' Day, I made the kids these very cute barrettes. I turned Sean's into a tie clip. Here's the link if you are interested. Rose barrettes
Kaelin picked this dress for Valentines' Day because it had pink AND purple.




Sean wearing the classic red, with his new tie clip that ended up on his pocket instead.



Savanna and I sported our Chinese New Year attire. And no I don't stink, that is her very beautiful smile.


I posted this picture because it weirds me out. Any guesses why?



Savanna is truly the master of sneakiness. I thought she was all sweet giving me a hug, when in reality...


She was actually getting ready to be snotty and pushed me away.

Just some Savanna poses.
A very belated Happy Valentines' Day and Happy Chinese New Year

good or bad?

I'm not too sure if I like this milestone. Savanna has been trying to take her clothes off by herself. Sometimes she gets it and sometimes not. At least she doesn't do it all the time. She knows to try at bath and bed time.

She had it stuck on her head for a little while until she realized if she looked up it would slip off
After finally accomplishing her task she started on her pants. So far she hasn't been too successful with that, because she gets stuck on her diaper.

just some fun videos

Sean surprised me one day and said the complete Pledge of Allegiance. He didn't get it quite right this time but it's still cute. Don't mind the color, I had the heat light on in the bathroom.


Savanna was finally cooperative with talking for the camera. And of course it is sideways.

She's SIX!!!

Alright, so I'm still kind of running around hectically. Since we found out where we are moving to we have been scrambling to get everyone to the appropriate doctors and dentists so that we could get medical approved for leave. With the help of The Incredible Brandi (that should be her magician name) we got FIVE "new patient" appointments within TWO days. I don't care who you are that is impressive! She like Hypnos. (greek god with a hypnotic voice, sorry I've been reading the Percy Jackson series so I have gods on the brain) Anyway, so besides running back and forth to different doctor appointments, to and from different schools and babysitters, I also had to run and get different paperwork filled out and signed. It was pretty stressful. In between all of that I had two birthdays to plan. One was a friend party, and the other was just family for cake and ice cream. I should have just bought a cake and saved me some stress but how could I turn down my Kaelin.

Her spider-man decorations. Spider-man streamer, balloons, cups, plates, table cloth,banner, EVERYTHING! Rob went all out for his big girl.




After I decorated the cupcakes, I realized that I had used gel food coloring and not gel icing. Oops! It made for some colorful mouths, teeth and tongues.




Spider-man made a special visit and all the kids got their own picture with him to take home in their goody bags. Kaelin kept whispering to him "Take off your mask" and when our neighbor finally did she said I knew it was Matthew because I invited him!




The kids got to decorate their own masks. They had plenty of material to do so. Almost all of the material was a Christmas present to Kaelin from our other neighbor Grandma Bev.




And of course their favorite activity of the whole party was just running around in a circle.






Here is a picture of her birthday dress that she picked out. This might be a new tradition. It was a couple sizes too big so I did my best with the sewing machine and adjusted the straps. Then, of course she wanted to do a silly pose. Nice!







Her Spider-Man cake. And yes, Spider-Man is massive compared to the city of ONE building.
Usually I do a whole lot more mental planning for a cake but this time I made the little "building" cake very last minute. And was standing above the cooled cakes trying to plan the layout. By the way, those red "bushes" by the door of the building I added at the very end because Kaelin wanted red sprinkles somehow incorporated into the cake, she also wanted poop in the grass somewhere but that one I turned her down on.
I used the rainbow cake technique again this year but only used red and blue. But, since it was yellow cake it ended up being turquoise and coral, not so Spider-Manesque. Here's the link for the rainbow cake for anyone interested (Jenn-Lee) CAKE .


Well, that party is finished and I don't have to worry anything else but cleaning, at least until something else comes up.


P.S. Kaelin wants pictures of all her presents to be posted on her blog, so if you area interested in seeing that, her photo on the right is a link to her blog.