Rainy Days Have Begun

What do you do with 3 kids, 2 cats and a monsoon outside? Here is what happens at my house...
Stalk the cats, chase the cats, lasso the cats, dress up the cats, dance with the cats, make the cats a new nest, and snuggle with cats.





We also made a batch of SLIME with glue, borax and water. This was more hours of fun as creatures tried to manuever thru it.



The next pictures I like to call "Stunt Man Class". Owen has loved our food pantry closet since he was able to crawl around. He climbs it dozens of times everyday. (He calls it his sweetwall) Lately he has collected all the pillows and soft blankets around and jumps off into them.



What does Callie do? She is just thrilled to part of the gang.

Top 5 Kids Music

Good kids music should make you feel happy, fun and inspired. I sometimes listen even if the kids are not around. Music is a big part of our home. There is a lot of childrens music out there and a lot of it is just way too annoying. How do you find good music? It is really a treasure hunt. Here are some jewels I have discovered…

Raffi -I grew up listening to Raffi and still love his music. If you have never heard him before try his album Baby Beluga or Singable Songs For the Very Young. I think we have 5 of his cds around here.

Elizabeth Mitchell- She is my latest discovery and just melts me. Her voice is like honey, one of the prettiest I have heard. The whole family requests her and we sing her songs all day long. Especially love “Little Bird” and “ Three Little Birds” (a Bob Marley song) You’ve got to check her out!

Baby Einstein/Classics for Kids- all Classic music is really kids music, like a fairytale soundtrack. These two CDs in particular have been favorites. In fact some of Perrie’s first words were “Baby Einstein” so she could dance to her favorite songs.

Kindermusic – If you can get your hands on some kindermusic, it is fun. The songs are fairly short and often encourage some sort of movement or tell a story. We have enjoyed these for many years.

Spirit- We occasionally borrow a soundtrack for the one or two songs we like, but the soundtrack to Spirit is one we have played hundreds of times (seriously)! It is permanently in the car stereo for a backup. The movie is cute too, but the music is a keeper.

Honorable Mentions: Woody Guthrie, Wendy Gelsanliter, Enya

Do you have any jewels I have not discovered yet? Please let me know!

Mittens new look

Mittens the kitty got a surprise makeover today. Master stylist Owen trimmed up those pesky whiskers and eyebrows for him, free of charge. Doesnt he look happy? I'm sure he is the envy of all the neighborhood cats now.

Note to self: keep scissors under lock and key!

Yum!

I tried a new pizza recipe last night and loved it. Thought I would share...

Thai Pizza
1 pizza crust
6 TBL Thai peanut sauce
2 TBL peanut butter
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 carrots, grated
1 small red onion, grated or diced
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped roughly
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Mix peanut sauce and peanut butter. Spread on crust for sauce. Sprinkle chicken, carrots, and onion. Cook according to pizza crust directions. (I make my own dough and cook it 400' for 10 min, then put on the toppings and cook 10 more minutes.) After baking, top with peanuts and cilantro. Gobble up!

The preschool funnies...

Owen: At school there is a girl who gets into lots of mischief.
Me:What did she do?
O: She threw some books.
M: What did your teacher do?
O: She slapped her face with a book and then put her on time out in the toilet. She flushed her way down.

Second Day of Preschool

Me: What did you do at preschool today buddy?

Owen: We cut people's hair.

Me: Oh, like playdough hair or paper hair?

Owen: No, real hair on someones head. It was too long and needed a cut. My teacher told us to do it. It was a girl's hair.

He also tells me they watched Happy Feet and crashed an airplane into the ocean at school. I am hoping all these things are just pretend.

School is now in Session!

Owen started preschool today for the first time. All the way to school (about 5 minutes) he kept says “I’m going to school, I’m going to school.” He brought his favorite t-rex for show and tell and hardly looked back as I went out the door.

Perrie started last week and is very excited about her teacher. They have a class guinea pig & worm compost! (I have been researching these lately, what luck.) Her sleep suffered a bit the first week but I hope we are ok now.

Owen also had a birthday last week. We met a friend at the beach and also had a family party at the pool. One of his favorite gifts was a dino digging kit. Here are a few answers from his birthday interview:

Favorite food: brown sugar
Favorite dinner: oatmeal
Favorite song: Jai Ho
Favorite thing to do: dig for dinosaur bones
When I grow up I want to be: a Paleontologist
A job I would not want is: climbing tall trees very high

I love his passions. He is a very fun kid who keeps us laughing. I can’t wait to see what’s next with him.