World Aquarium

Lizzy's class, and every first grade class in Dallas, got to go to the aquarium last week so I volunteered and brought Josh along. I have to hand it to those 1st grade teachers. I had a hard time keeping track of my two, and I wondered how they didn't pull out their hair taking a head count of 22 every ten minutes or so with 6-year-olds wiggling and moving and screaming. It was pure chaos- but the kids sure loved it.

"From the Milky Thing"

Josh and I were out shopping today at Target, of course. I had to pick up a few things, but as usual I took a detour through the women's section where I buy a lot of my clothes lately. I wanted to see the swimsuit cover-ups to save myself from embarrassment when I put on that suit for the first time this Spring. As I was shopping and halfway keeping track of Josh, I noticed a pretty sexy looking bikini top in my cart!
Mom
"What's this?" -as I picked it up
"Josh where did this come from?"
Josh
"I got it for you." - pushing it back into the cart
Mom
"But where did you get it?" -looking for a place to put it back
Josh
"From the milky thing" -innocently
Mom
"The milky thing? What's that?" - confused and looking around for something "milky"
Josh
"Right here!"
A rack of sexy women's bikini tops! I should have known - this was the "milky thing".
Enough said! He is a sweetheart-totally innocent, and I hope when he's older he doesn't notice the "milky things" too much.

What the. . . . Hail?

"Just like an Easter Egg hunt, Mom!"

"Mom, can we go inside now? I think we're going to get struck by lightening!"

Not an Easter Egg!

"Can I bring these in to show to Daddy?"

What a storm! I guess we can just call ourselves lucky that we didn't get hit by the accompanying tornado. Despite the panic of golf-ball-sized hail hitting the windows, we did have some fun in the house when the power went out. The kids were a little scared when Dave and I told them we needed to get into a small room and make a "hut" by putting a mattress over us in case we had to "take cover". Luckily, the storm passed quickly. We had barely formulated the plan, and a few minutes later it passed our area. We were also glad that we had our cars in the garage before it even started (by about 60 seconds). I have never seen hail this big before, so I talked the kids into getting some pictures before it all melted. They were scared to go out at first, but warmed up to the idea of going out when Josh said, "Hey, It's just like an Easter egg hunt!" I'm glad we were safe and that it didn't last long. I'm also glad we learned a lesson in preparedness- one flash light and not a single candle is not exactly "prepared".

"Lions and Tigers and Bears- Oh My!"

" Were off to see the Wizard!"

All but one of them

How cute are these! And how many happy meals do I have to eat to get them all? I am in love with these dolls. I'm not sure if it is because The Wizard of Oz is part of my childhood, or if I am a doll collector at heart. I have almost the whole set for my daughter- who plays with them- but I'm really hoping I can somehow get a set for myself. Was this a marketing technique from Madame Alexander? If so. . . well done! I think these dolls are just darling. I have eaten way too many hamburger happy meals this week, and I'm ready to be done with McDonald for a while, but hopefully we can get that darn wicked witch of the west to complete our set. Despite the madness, I do take comfort in knowing that I am not the only mom who is gladly gagging down a happy meal a day just to get a toy. More than one of my friends have admitted to the same obsession- and yes, they are sick of happy meals, too!

The Egg Hunt

Josh and Liz before the "hunt"
Go Joshy, Go!
Lizzy shivering in the cold
Nice Hat!

I never thought we would be "snowed out" for an Easter egg hunt in Texas! It actually snowed the day before Easter and we had to change our egg hunt to the church. I was even more surprised- pleasantly surprised- to see hot chocolate being served at the picnic. We had a great time, and sat by Josh's primary teacher. I was working hard to make sure he ate his good food first and that his manners were good for her, and failed to notice that Lizzy- who was sitting right next to me- ate her cookie first, then snuck mine right off my plate and finished it while I was chatting. Those sneaky 6 years olds! The hunt was fun, but I realized that my kids are just not that good at competing for candy filled eggs. Josh ended up with only 3 eggs, so I told him, "Its okay, when we find Lizzy, she will share some of hers." But when we found Lizzy, she was starring sadly into her basket- only one egg! I had to chuckle a little, but all was well after some of the other kids shared and made things a little more even.