Hmmm, what are may choices?  Even though I watch Diego with my kids and did take all the required science classes in school, I am not entirely sure of my animal kingdom habitat stuff.  I do know about lions though, and if I was travleing with Tyler I would have to see a lion or two.  Lions are his thing thanks to Nala, Simba, Mufasa...Disney's Lion King movie.  I have always liked hippos and rhinoes since I was young.  Giraffes and elephants are like nothing else because they are huge.  What else is out there?....zebras, various birds, wildabeasts....goodness, I can't think of anything else so I guess my final answer is: elephants.  I would love to see them up close, personal, and in the wild.

 

Now it is your turn. What is your answer?

....DANCE!!!  I am totally dancing with these animals!

 

(It really is amazing what you can find on the web!!!! I just got this video in an email....thought I would look it up on YouTube to see if there was any remote chance to put the video on the blog.  Yep, sure enough, there it was.  What a fun and funky dance video.  Pull out your dancin' shoes folks....and dance with me, the animals, and who ever made the little video.)

 

....attempting to impart wisdom upon his sister by reading a book to her.....only he doesn't know the words, and she won't sit still.  Hhhmmmm.

This is from our sort of 1st official snow fall for this winter.  The snow lasted a mere 24 hours so we had to enjoy it while it was around. The kids were pumped to be out and making snowballs.  Tyler is soooo ready to go sledding, make snowmen, and eat more snow!  And Beth says, "me too"

 

Cats (eating out of their bowls)

 

Bats (sleeping)

 

Bunnies (well, Beth is trying to ride it like riding a horse)

 

Monkephants (showed up to Beth's party)

It is official...she is 2.

 

Man, has time flown!  And, Beth wastes no time....she is always trying to copy and do what ever Tyler is doing.  She is speaking a lot and with much passion!  The girl loves food, swings, animals, her blankets, bath time, brushing her teeth (aka suck the tooth paste off the brush), Dora and Diego shows, dressing up, singing, dancing, snuggles with Daddy, and helping mommy shop for groceries.  What a lovely lady she is and is growing into.

 

Here are some pics from our little celebration:

Tyler and Beth both helped me make the cake batter.....but Tyler stuck it out longer and helped me decorate the cake.  Actually, it is hard to tell who was more excited about the Birthday bash....Big Brother Tyler or Birthdy Girl Beth. Both were pretty giddy!

 

Wow.  I cannot believe that I am around for America's 1st African-American President.  It is quite amazing!  Other countries have had presidents and prime-ministers of other genders and races and all was well.  Yet this country held onto its racism for so much longer...why is that....every history class I ever took caused me to wonder why!?.....how!?!....oh, history class will tell a new story now!!!  

 

Finally got around to posting this video.

Enjoy!

Hi-Ya!

  

I say that because every year of most of my adult life I have been so confused with Halloween and what to do about it. Prior to kids I could really just brush it off because it "didn't affect me" so move on with other things.  Now that I have kids, well needless to say but, things are even more complicated.  The abbreviated story is that I think kids dressing up is cute; kids eating candy is nice....within dietary limits.  But it seems that begging for "treats" is kind of demeaning....especially since I have no idea what the "trick" part of "trick-or-treat"ing is.  There are always safety concerns....darkness, strangers.....and then all the glamorizing of all things evil and really trying to scare the socks off of someone...no matter the cost and in the name of humor.  I have never tolerated scary stuff very well any way so I suppose my perspective is skewed.  But now add in two very lovely kids, one of which is super sensitive to all things creepy....even if I would consider it tame......Well, Nathan and I have our work cut out for us for sure!

 

(As an aside....to prove my point....today, out of the blue, my son started to jump at the automatic doors at Target....he has never done this before and really has seen these doors quite often. They were double doors so the precious boy nearly jumped out of his shoes twice!   So we did a quick lesson about how there is that sensor at the top of the doors and he was ready to seize the day/store/whatever.  Hhhmmm.) 

 

This year was no different.  Still don't know what to do about Halloween.  We were wingin' it the last couple of days....Only nice costumes, try to go to houses that we knew (would be friendly), avoid the TV more, try to talk openly and honestly about the different parts that we could to a 3 and 2 year old, kind of made it family night by all going out to the houses together and ordering dinner in......It worked out pretty well.  Minimal candy overload.  No huge nightmares.  Lots of fun times.  Here are the pics:

 

Tyler's school costume party (Thursday)-

He wanted to be TC the Bear....the Twins mascot.  I had an old outfit for Beth which she wanted to wear as soon as she saw Tyler all dressed up.....and Moo'd all over town....and loved all the attention/compliments from strangers!

 

Last night-

Both kids loved to see the neighbors and "show them their outfits" and just be walking and talking outside...in the dark. You can probably guess that Beth loved to do her part and Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.