We Had a Great Saturday (Finally!)

Saturdays have been a little rough lately--I've been tired after a long week, Steve just wants to relax, the kids are tired of school and want to PLAY, which means a whirlwind hits our house and destroys it every weekend.  So a couple of weeks ago, even though there was a doozy of a rainstorm, we parents decided to manage our day a little better.  Saturday morning I took the kids to a couple of thrift shops, which they love, and found some great books-including a fairy tale book that I have been looking for since Lauren was 3.  The girls love to go to thrift shops and each found something cheap, but lovely to bring home.  Lunch was Souplantation.  Up, down, up, down, up, down.  Cheap way to feed kids pizza bread, though!

Afternoon took us to the library for a wild animal show.  Among the animals were an alligator, tarantula, parrot and porcupine.  They even had a wallaby!   That was pretty fun.  The star of the show was a screaming hairy armadillo.  So funny!!!  I have never heard of such a thing, but I'm telling you, we were all in stitches.

We then came home and made bread dough sculptures.  I have no idea where the energy for that came from, but there it was, and we made some very fun sculptures.  Here is a sampling:

Lauren hard at work.

The result: a diorama showing a comparison between a wallaby and a kangaroo

Liffy made a pair of ice skates.  The detail was fantastic, too bad it doesn't show very well.

Our exotic animals:  the screaming hairy armadillos, wallaby and kangaroo.

Caroline made a bunny's backside.  Love the fluffy tail.

James made faces and ate bread dough.

Then we ate up all our creations with homemade chicken noodle soup.  The kangaroo and wallaby belong to  Lauren, so they have taken up permanent residence on the library table.  She's giving Mort and his grape bread sculpture a run for their money. 

As I said, it was a great day. 

On Flexibility

 

It's rather hard to see what's going on here, this baby is camera-shy.  Let me see if I can explain:  the middle is the face, on the right is the baby's trunk (did you know I was has having an elephant?)  and then right above the face is - a foot!  Just looking at it makes me uncomfortable.  We've already signed him/her up for the circus! 

Fun with Picnik

I enjoy playing around with easy photo editing tools (uh, NOT photoshop) and find Picnik.com to be the simplest, even if somewhat incomplete.  Look how cute that picture turned out to be with all kinds of fun things done to it!  The funky shadows look intentional, when really mommy was too tired to get up and pull down the blind for the sake of the picture.  That's why I'll never be a photographer instead of just designated picture taker of much admired subjects.  Just. too. tired.  (I also like that it sort of hides the peeling paint on the kitchen wall.  Unacceptable really, since I don't live in a centuries-old Italian villa.)

I Wasn't Eating, So I Took Pictures

 

 Lunch!

 Enchiladas, Rice and Beans

Get it in there!

Make sure you get that bit on your arm!  Nothing wasted!

Glare at your mother!

 I can use utensils, too!

Get a drink.

Lunch is over!

How the Haskins Girls Celebrate Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day pancakes honoring our favorite veteran.  JACK!

We love you Grandpa.  Thank you for you service in World War II. 

p.s.  I came down the stairs this morning to this.  The only thing I did was take the picture.

How the Reagan Library Can Increase Its Patronage

They could give out $72 gift certificates to the gift shop on your birthday, just like Disneyland does.  After all, isn't it every nine-year-old who wants to go to the Reagan Library for her birthday?

Yeah, probably not.   September 2008 we took the kids to the Library to see the Emancipation Proclamation and Lauren told us she wanted to have her ninth birthday at the Reagan Library.  She anticipated the big day with the help of her Ronald Reagan calendar.

We gathered up the grandparents and some aunts and uncles and a good friend and trooped off to Simi Valley on Halloween morning.  Lauren received a special jar of jelly beans, and bought herself a Nancy Reagan pen.  Liffy bought a copy of the Declaration of Independence so she could read it, and Caroline bought a US presidents ruler.  They like to look at it and sing the Animaniacs song.

I think we're raising a bunch of nerds, and I couldn't be happier about it.

 Caroline Margaret is named after Margaret Thatcher, and Liffy finds bloated federal spending amusing, but adores Ronald Wilson Reagan.  Look at that face!

A Pioneer, A Race Car Driver, and Two Penguins

Sometimes after I download the pictures from a special event and I find that I didn't even come close to getting all the shots I wanted. Take this Halloween for instance: three obvious photo ops are conspicuously missing: 1) a good full-body shot of Caroline's costume, 2) the two penguins in a special shot of their own, and 3) Lauren with her doll Sarah, after which we patterned the entire costume. I had two opportunities to get these taken, and I failed both times. Notwithstanding my photographic amnesia, I still have several photos to show you.

The School Parade

Liffy as a macaroni penguin. We saw them at Sea World this summer. She loved the funny feathers on their heads. We think they're great. She even flapped her wings as they paraded around the blacktop. It's always fun when Liffy lets her silly side come out.

Lauren dressed up like her pioneer doll, Sarah. Sarah went everywhere with us on our vacation in San Diego. Do you think she like the macaroni penguins, too?

This little guy was the hit of the year. He was so cute as a tiny little penguin. When he runs it makes the tail flap. He ran A LOT when we were trick-or-treating.

Caroline was Daisy from Mario Kart. Her dress was a devil to make, and I can't believe I didn't get a full shot of it. The tiers turned out beautiful, I'm glad I got that far--the sleeves and zipper almost made me swear. Fortunately, it's just a costume, and it turned out pretty lovely after all that. This picture is pretty sweet, though, don't you think?

James was happy to hold hands with anyone who could lead him to candy. He really liked Grandpa Don and Uncle Joel, though. Thanks for coming down, Joel!

Caroline with her haul. She made a lovely little Daisy.

I made all the costumes this year; thanks Mom, for coming to stay the whole week so I could get these done. I'm pretty sure I won't be doing it again, but it was really fun to do this year. I have never made an animal costume or a princess dress, so I really stretched my skills. Lauren's costume was the easiest, but my new sewing machine did allow me to add a small surprise: at the bottom of the apron I monogrammed the name SARAH! Lauren loved that little detail.

Thanks kids, for making Halloween fun for this ol' mamma of yours (and for sharing the candy).