If anyone thinks Austin is just rolling through life oblivious to his surroundings, think again. Sunday, Brent went to Arctic Circle for "shakes". In Texas, we call them Blizzards or blended ice cream, but in Utah they call them shakes. Not that you can drink them through a straw like a normal shake...no, you have to eat it with a spoon. Brent likes his with Peanut Butter Cups, and Brenna and I like ours with Heath Bar. Anyway, Brent walks through the door with "shakes" and as soon as Austin saw him, his eyes lit up, and he yelled to make sure Brent knew he wanted a bite or several hundred bites...bites that would go on until the end of time. Oh yes, the boy has discovered the joys of frozen, creamy goodness. Poor Daddy didn't even get to sit in a chair and enjoy his ice cream. He sat at the top of the stairs in the kitchen where Austin stopped him and demanded ice cream.
Don't try and fool me Daddy. I know there's more in that cup.
Oh yeah, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout.
This weekend, Brenna (and I) took on the first of what I am sure will be many diorama projects. I was vaguely familiar with the term diorama, so thankfully I didn't have to Google it. We didn't "do" dioramas when I was in school back in the...well you know when I was in elementary school. No need to do the math. Much to my relief, a handout from school showed up in Brenna's backpack on Friday giving us the low-down on the project scope and level of complexity. We were to create a "simple" diorama of a zoo animal. All of the dioramas will be displayed in her classroom, and other classes will be invited to visit the zoo. Brenna chose the Cheetah as her animal, because "they run fast and she likes their polka-dots". It was also convenient that she has a Beanie Baby Cheetah, so we didn't have to buy a Cheetah for the display. We did confirm that she would be able to get the Cheetah back. It's a prized possession that she "bought" with the "money" she earns for completing her assignments in Kindergarten. Heaven forbid it become a permanent exhibit...oh the tears...the drama that only ice cream can fix!
Before we got the sheet, delusions of grandeur were going through our heads. How could I get running water into the wading pool and what should we use to create a series of climbing rocks? Would trees made out of empty toilet paper rolls do or would we need to cut branches from the trees out front? Brenna wanted bushes for the Cheetah to hide in. What would we use to create bushes for goodness sake? Should we use a shoe box or perhaps we'd need to use one of the wardrobe boxes from U-Haul (of course then I'd have to rent a truck to get the dang thing to school). So, seeing that it should be "simple" and the enclosure should look like something in a zoo brought us back down to earth. We found a "Styrofoam Diorama Kit" at Walmart, so no need to dream up an enclosure. With some green "grass", Popsicle sticks and tacky glue, we were on our way to diorama-ville. (No, Dad, tacky glue isn't glue that is poorly dressed or spouts off inappropriate comments. It's very sticky and an essential element to proper Styrofoam Diorama Kit assembly.)
Some assembly was required...it was a "kit" after all. Armed with toothpicks and tacky glue, I put it all together having to pry the pieces from Brenna's hands as she dreamed up how it all should go together. If she'd had her way, the opening would be on the bottom and you'd have to use x-ray goggles to see the Cheetah. Thank goodness she has me to keep her on the straight and narrow...well at least properly assembled. The only other thing I "helped" with was the Popsicle stick enclosure. We couldn't have that Cheetah escaping and roaming about the classroom hunting the other animals on display.
The white Styrofoam was crying out for some color, so I asked Brenna what colors we should use. Thinking about all the zoo habitats I've seen, I was envisioning some subtle browns maybe some tan thrown in there, but clearly I am not in sync with the mind of a 5-almost-6-year-old. The left wall of the enclosure is purple, the right wall is pink and the back wall is bright blue. I'm pretty sure if another shade of pink had been available in mass quantities, bright blue would not have even been an option. To be sure, it's the most colorful Cheetah habitat I've ever seen.
Cheetah care was on the top of Brenna's priority list for the habitat. All last week she watched as the level in the milk jug got lower and lower. When Brent went to wash out the empty jug, she made sure he saved the lid for a water/food bowl. She worried all week if we'd drink enough milk or juice to have a 2nd bowl. The Cheetah needed one for food AND water. Luckily on Saturday, we killed a bottle of juice and the 2nd bowl became a reality. She meticulously retrieved small pieces of dog food from the storage bin (not the dog bowls...she's no dummy) and glued them into the juice lid as "Cheetah food". I'm so glad she didn't insist on putting actual water in the milk lid. The other thing she created were some grids made of Popsicle sticks to protect the Cheetah's head from falling objects. Maybe she was worried about neighboring monkeys getting crazy and chucking bananas or coconuts over the walls. The funny thing about these grids is they sit right on top of the Cheetah, but who am I to point out the flaws in her protection system. This was HER project after all. See, I'm growing. I'm letting things go that would normally DRIVE ME INSANE.
It was a fun little project and all made worthwhile when she arrived at daycare Monday morning and was so proud to show her work to ANYONE who would look at it. I just hope it made it to Kindergarten in one piece. It had to survive 45 minutes in the Kids Club room at daycare, a bus ride and playground time before school started. Maybe those protection grids will come in handy after all!
Brenna loves to paint, but I don't care for the prep work and the mess of painting. Plus after about 15 minutes, she's bored with it all and then I have to clean up after her. For the longest time, these were the types of paints we had in our arts and crafts bin. I'd get a plate down from the cabinet and squeeze a little of each color(well a lot of pink and purple, because those are her FAVORITE colors) onto it. And then after a little while, a request for more paint would be made. Will the madness ever end?
A little over a year ago I discovered these little jewels.
Finally some paints that don't require me pouring them out onto a plate. She can easily open the lids and the rainbow of colors makes her happy. There are not one but TWO shades of pink in the packet. The only draw back is the paint runs out fairly quickly. We found ourselves in the running out of paint situation recently. It looked like I was going to have to buy more paint pots to feed her painting addiction. But in a moment of sheer genius and in honor of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, I painstakingly cleaned out the empty paint pots and refilled them from the paint jars. Am I going to save the earth with this small contribution to recycling? No. But I am going to grin with joy the next time she asks me if she can paint, and I can tell her "Yes, you can sweetheart. You go right ahead!"
This is dedicated to all the ladies in his life. Well, okay, it really applies to everyone he loves, but I was trying to make him seem a little suave and debonair.
What do you do when it snows the week before Easter covering the egg hunt playing field, the weather forecast for the day of the Easter Egg Hunt calls for morning snow showers, and temperatures are in the 30's? Lesser cities might have called the whole thing off, but the die-hard egg hunt organizers of Herriman simply improvised. There must be provisions for this kind of thing in their disaster preparedness manual, because the hunt must go on. They moved the Egg Hunt under the pavilion and roped off a large area with caution tape and make-shift fences. The Egg Hunts were divided up by age group, and the local fire department engine's siren sounded the beginning of the candy grabbing frenzy. They reloaded the hunt area after each age group, so everyone got a fair shot at the loot.
For Brenna's age group, they didn't allow parents into the hunting area. Brenna took that news pretty well and my heart swelled with pride. I was prepared for begging and pleading for me to come with her, but she went in the hunt area and patiently waited for the siren to go off.
Brenna gathered up her share of the goodies and seemed to be having a good time, but then the wheels fell off the bus. She couldn't find me in the sea of parents and was all tears when I made my way through the crowd to her. All of the drama was quickly diminished when we got in the car and she started going through her basket. One egg contained 2 quarters, a chocolate coin and a sticker...jackpot!
Mommy: "Smile Brenna"
Brenna: "I am smiling"
Really? That looks more like abject misery.
Happy Easter!
If anyone thinks Austin is just rolling through life oblivious to his surroundings, think again. Sunday, Brent went to Arctic Circle for "shakes". In Texas, we call them Blizzards or blended ice cream, but in Utah they call them shakes. Not that you can drink them through a straw like a normal shake...no, you have to eat it with a spoon. Brent likes his with Peanut Butter Cups, and Brenna and I like ours with Heath Bar. Anyway, Brent walks through the door with "shakes" and as soon as Austin saw him, his eyes lit up, and he yelled to make sure Brent knew he wanted a bite or several hundred bites...bites that would go on until the end of time. Oh yes, the boy has discovered the joys of frozen, creamy goodness. Poor Daddy didn't even get to sit in a chair and enjoy his ice cream. He sat at the top of the stairs in the kitchen where Austin stopped him and demanded ice cream.
Don't try and fool me Daddy. I know there's more in that cup.
Oh yeah, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout.
