Oakland Zoo

We had a great time at the Zoo today. We have been meaning to go with Casey and his family, but things kept coming up.
Daniel took this picture. He thinks National Geographic is going to call him for his proofs! I thought the fence in the foreground would be a give-away that he is a novice, but we will be waiting on pins and needles to see!!

Our first stop was the giraffes and ducks. It turns out, the ducks were Sam's favorite animal at the Zoo.

Sam was so proud that he was taller than dad.

This is a small Zoo, but we did not get around to all the animals. The kids got some great views of the animals. I liked the elephants. We saw them snacking on old Christmas trees. They broke them like they were toothpicks. Very impressive.

Chloë always makes this face when she is being silly or excited.

After the Zoo we let the kids go on a few rides. The train ride was a favorite for everyone!

Joy School

Sam is doing Joy School for preschool, which is a wonderful program in my opinion. He has 7 kids in his class. The curriculum is very good at teaching values and life skills to the kids at such a young age.

This week was my turn to teach the kids. Our lessons were about curiosity. We spent the entire time doing little science experiments,
i.e., magnets, floating objects, friction, tasting things, balloon flying around when air is let out, food coloring in water, and lemon (yellow) jello with blue ice cubes to make green.

cut cornea

While Olivia was at school today, she cut the cornea of her eye with a piece of paper. She was very strong all day, not crying. At one point (2 different times) the doctors put a florescent yellow drop in her eye then held a blue light up to it to see the scratch. Then her nose was running yellow fluid! Finally, we ended up with an antibiotic ointment to use in case of an infection.

This was the amazing part. At night Olivia would remind me to put the ointment in her eye. So she would voluntarily lay down and hold her own eye open while I squeezed the medicine tube. She would let me know if her vision was blurry, which meant I put enough medicine in her eye. Then she would say, "Thanks mom" as she sat up!! This just blew me away! I love her.

Chloë's 2 years old

Dory gave Chloë her first birthday gift. A family of my little ponys.

She loves them!

Here she is at 2 years old!

Quick Fish

24 crushed Ritz crackers
2 teasp dill or parsley
1/4 cup mayo
1 Tabl Dijon mustard
1 Tabl lemon juice
fish


or

24 crushed Ritz crackers
2 teasp parsley
1/4 cup mayo
2 Tabl horseradish
2 Tabl rinsed capers
1 minced garlic clove
fish

why I love california

Some say it is Global Warming, (Don't get Daniel started, or you will have a lecture that will last until the ice age comes again!) but I say it is just wonderful California Weather!

We decided to take advantage of this beautiful weather and go to the park and read. Daniel and I just started, and are almost finished with the Twilight series (over 2000 pages read in 20 days). We are a few years behind the real bandwagon, but we are on it! They are fun books to read, we can hardly put them down. Yes, we are neglecting our children. But what better way to neglect them than at the park. The first park we went to was so crowded we could not leave our kids to play b/c they would get lost among all the other kids. So we went to a smaller park close to home. There we sat in the sun and Daniel read to me. Olivia came over for a rest then went back to play.



Chloë loves her zebra. Sam was playing with the tricycle.

Silly Sam

Tonight Sam wanted me to take a few pictures of him.

This is his neato space craft that can fly frontwards and backwards.
Very quickly he is getting good at making Lego space/air crafts.

And this was him after a yummy cookie. That's a chocolate chip mustache. Remind you of anyone. . . ??

One Chrismas gift

I did get the kids one gift. I have been very good about not letting Sam and Liv play with toys that could end up choking Chloë or Loula. But I really felt it was time for the older kids to have Legos. They are good for their brains and imagination. So I did it; I bought a box of Legos.

Sam and Livvie loved them. It was a great gift, until. . . .

After playing with the Legos for a few hours, Daniel decided to take the kids to the park. On the way there Chloë fell. Daniel picked her up and noticed something. A Lego was stuck up her nose!! Yes- she stole (I thought the pirate shirt was appropriate for this posting) a Lego and, well, the rest is history. Daniel brought them home right away. He held Chloë down and I got the Lego out.
That was a few days ago. I guess she learned her lesson. Plus we don't let her in the kitchen when the kids are playing with the Legos. That was the rule anyway when Sam and Liv got the Legos, but now they obey the rule!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1,1/2 cups flour
1/2 teasp baking powder
1/2 teasp salt
16 TBl unsalted butter soften
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs- room temp
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1,1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven 325. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl.
Beat butter and sugars in large bowl 3-6 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down sides. Slowly stir in flour mixture until combines, 30 seconds. Mix in oats and chips.

1/4 cup of dough spaced 2,1/2 inches apart makes the best cookies. Bake till center is soft and puffy. 22-25 minutes. error on the side of under cooked!