Wednesday at Tucker's

At Cottonwood Elementary Wednesday was Come to School as Your Favorite Literary Character Day. Evan chose to wear his Frodo Baggins costume from Halloween. In his haste to show off to Mandy, he tripped over Bishop's dog bed and flew headlong into the bed frame. Even though he had to have the 2-inch gash in his forehead glued together at the emergency room, he seemed to recover quickly.





After two hours of playing Lego Star Wars.



Playtime with Daddy.

Lego Head Totem

Easter (so I'm catching up!)

They had a good time. Really.


Nintendo DS


Happy Easter doggie

Wednesday's chick

It's Saturday morning and an early storm keeps me indoors, away from my jog, which was to be SEVEN miles this morning. So instead I'll post about the nest on my back patio, a post I've been meaning to make since the two little house wrens began building the nest a month or so ago. They're sweet little birds, the male with the slightest red blush to his breast, the female a bit plainer but more dedicated. Didn't they choose a pretty place to house their chicks?


As Mama Bird sat on the nest Daddy would bring food for her. I watched them for a week or two. When I peeked in one day there were four perfect speckled eggs that looked exactly like Cadbury Mini Eggs. One day I thought I'd take a picture and blog about it, but the next time I looked there were three little chicks nestled around one unhatched egg. That was a Tuesday three weeks ago.


They couldn't hold up their heads for a more than a few seconds and their spindley little selves just quivered.


Mama nested with them but flew away each time we opened the patio door.


On Wednesday there were four.


They grow up so fast! When I looked at them yesterday, maybe three weeks after they hatched, only two babies were left in the nest. One of them flew away. The other looked up at me with black eyes shiny as seed beads, a few downy baby feathers poking through his grown-up flying feathers. What do you want to bet he's the chick from the egg that hatched that Wednesday three weeks ago?

don't ask

I didn't.

and a few more

Aaron and me


cousins

that was then, this is now (two)

PapaD with Jack (2001)


PapaD with Aaron (2007)

that was then, this is now (one)

that was then


this is now

happy valentine's day

The valentine I created for Jack. He didn't like his face in there so I reverted to the lego minifig face for the ones we printed to give to his classmates. But I like this one. He thinks it's scary.

peas porridge in the pot, nine days old

Aaron James is now nine days old, but here are a few pictures from his first few hours on earth.

the slouch cap club

shout out to Papa D:



Happy Birthday!

let it snow x3

It snowed tonight in Tucson! We haven't had snow during the seven years we've lived here, and certainly not during Jack's lifetime (Cassie's, either). Some highlights:


<sup>No sense covering the plants tonight.


He had something of a tantrum because he couldn't catch snowflakes on his tongue.


Come to mama! Cassie uses The Force to pull a fluffy clump into her mouth. You should have seen her tearing up and down the yard, snapping her jaws in the air, trying to catch this wondrous white stuff drifting out of the sky.


Gathering.


The snow man. Before they put the head on, it reminded me of the Devil's Butte mashed potato sculpture in Close Encounters.</sup>

Martha Luten King, Jr. Day

a photomontage from the last couple of weeks to celebrate a day off of work in honor of MLK, Jr., whom Evan calls Martha Luten King, Jr.


Jack cuddling Kismet and Moxie on a cold winter vacation morning.


Jack's portrait of Cassie on the same morning.


Dave supervising the destruction of the pirate island from the I Dig Treasure playset, purchased at the Kid's Center inventory clearance on January 5 with Jack's Christmas money from Aunt Mona. Originally priced at $26, it's just a giant sand conglomerate hiding some pirate coins, a few flimsy treasure chests, some rubber creepy-crawlies, and a skull. But the boys sure got $13 of delight out of it. Well worth the clearance price!


January 4, 2007. Jack and Evan freezing at the northwest corner of the house so I could snap this picture of them with that gorgeous rainbow in the background. They went right back inside to continue Playmobiling. I admired the view a moment longer, then skedaddled back into the warmth too.

potty art

"He farted a super poop."

New Year's Day through Jack's Eyes

Should auld acquaintance be forgot


And never brought to mind?


Should auld acquaintance be forgot


And days of auld lang syne?

Miss Mikkelson's Kindergarten: Thanksgiving Pageant

Welcome to the New World.


I am Squanto.


This is the story of The First Thanksgiving.

here comes the king

here comes the king



here comes the big #1



Can you imagine: the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and you've got 15 minutes to buy the Bird and all the trimmings before you have to take Carmichael to karate and you can't find a freakin' parking space---hell, you can't even pull into the parking lot---because Fry's is hosting the Budweiser Clysdales.

Aren't they beautiful? You should have seen them in the sunlight: their bay and brown coats are dappled, like a black panther's. Their shoes are positively enormous! What a treat for us, we people who have nothing better to do than stand in the aisles and foil Carmichael's mother's efforts to get him to karate on time.

Happy Thanksgiving! Budweiser Beer is Beer that's second to none!

not the band

Because Mandy had to work tonight, Jack and I went to The Ranch to hang out with Evan. The boys play so well together. I got a bunch of homework done while they messed around with Evan's birthday presents and Cassie.



We went to Cafe Bonita for dinner. The boys shared a quesadilla, Em ate a huge plate of rice, and I had menudo. When I ordered it, Mandy said, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I know what tripe is."

"I just don't think you'll like it."

"If I don't like it, I won't eat it."

Always looking out for me, she said, "Well, OK. I'll have the cooks make a little bit for you to taste."

So the cooks made a little bit for me to taste, and I tasted it, and it was good. I love hominy, and the broth had an almost velvety consistency to it, a real fatty mouth-feel. And the tripe, well...the tripe tasted...tripe-y. I guess. It's more a texture than a taste, like octopus or squid tentacles, but more tender, less chewy. I figured I may as well try it. And I tried it, and as I was
chewing, I kept up a constant monologue in my head, "Tripe is brains, right? No, maybe it's intestines. Which would I rather eat? Brains or intestines? Is it stomach? No, intestines. Maybe stomach. Would I rather eat stomach, brains, or intestines?" Turns out I guess I'd rather not eat stomach, though I ate the whole bowlful. And now I can say I tried it, though I'm not sure how "authentic" it was (sorry Dominica) because I read on wikipedia that menudo is characterized by the hominy, the tripe, and the chili powder paste. There was definitely no chili powder in this menudo. It was quite mild. Maybe a regional variation?

Anyway. I've tried menudo. Have you?

little drummer boy

Thought it was time to learn how to use YouTube. Enjoy!

Halloween

We took Batman and Frodo to visit the Davisons before trick-or-treating on Halloween. Here's a few pictures.



Earlier in the day, Dave attended Jack's Halloween Parade at preschool. Jack's class is known as the Rolling Stones; the other four-year-old class is known as the Beetles. The Beetles wore decorated T-shirts (I think they were supposed to look tie-dyed?) and carried painted posterboard guitars. The Rolling Stones wore burlap sacks and also carried painted posterboard guitars. They're supposed to look like stones, or rocks. It's too bad they look like sacks of potatoes. I didn't go, since I'm laid up at home with this sprained ankle. But when Jack came home he said to me, "Mommy, I'm never ever going to wear that costume again because it is SO ITCHY!"