You Are A Marvel

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.”

-Pablo Picasso

Duck Pond

As we were walking out the door this morning I noticed that Griffin's eye was red. He said it wasn't bothering him, but as any mom of a school age child will tell you, a red eye is never a good thing. We dropped Parker off at preschool where Ms.Aimee (our friend and P's teacher) confirmed my gut reaction, Fin shouldn't go to school. Instead of driving all the way home and then coming back to pick up P, Fin and I decided to run some errands around her school. We hit up the grocery store, the thrift store and the hobby shop. We ended up with more time so we went to the Duck Pond for a bit. Its a beautiful day and it would have been really serene had it not been for the lawn mowers and leaf blowers.

This goose was sure we would feed her, and followed us around the pond.

Fin was really excited to spot this goose sitting on a nest.

This Week We:

Took some walks after dinner:

Had a photo shoot with Carrots for his Pinky Swear Designs debut (and started tweeting, follow me!).

Checked out some books from the library.

Met/fed/played with three tiny black kittens (they're still begging for one...)

Signed for Sarah's new couch, then completely rearranged and decorated her living room before she got home.

Dressed up like Pee-Wee Herman for "Movie Star Day" at school.

Hope you have a great weekend!!

St.Patrick's Day

As you may remember, last year the leprechauns came and made quite the mess in our house. This year Griffin and I decided we would try to trap those little buggers. We knew we had quite a task in front of us, as they are sneaky and clever as all get out. Fin's first idea included a yo-yo falling from the ceiling as the leprechaun tripped a wire on a blanket thrown over a laundry basket, pushing the blanket and leprechaun into the basket where he wouldn't be able to climb out. While clever, we had to shelve that plan since we have cathedral ceilings and I couldn't even begin to mount a pully system to it if I wanted to. So we went with our second plan, the good old leprechaun hat trap. We disguised a tall vase as a hat. The top of the hat is just a piece of paper laid over the top. Fin came up with the idea of using double sided tape on top, to stick to the leprechaun's feet and hold the gold coins down. He thought as the leprechaun struggled to get free from the tape or get the coins up, he'd move around enough to make the false top fall down and he'd be stuck inside the vase.

Then we made some signs. As I'm sure you know, leprechauns are contrary little fellows, so if you tell them NOT to do something, they are more than likely going to do it. So Fin came up with these signs, and asked me to add my "fancy writing" to it.

*The "No Leprechauns Allowed" is Parker's contribution

It was a great trap. But unfortunately, we think we had more than one leprechaun. And they helped each other get out...

And then they went to town on the rest of the house. Here's the kid's playhouse on the kitchen table:

Our milk was green, as was the water in the toilet:

They got out all the stuffed animals:

They put Parker's jewlery in the bathroom sink and the tennis rackets in the kitchen sink. And they made a giant book pyramid on the coffee table. *sigh* Maybe next year we'll get them...

Conversations

This morning I asked Parker to pick up the President flashcards she had dumped everywhere. She did. I just noticed this addition to our family pictures.

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Griffin recently learned Josh's phone number and now feels free to call him all day long. Its gotten to the point where he's sometimes calling Josh four or five times an hour. The other day I heard Griffin pick up the phone. Then I hear him say, "DAD! Dad, you left your work bag here. *pause* Oh. Well I thought you forgot it."

(Josh rode his bike to work, and took his backpack instead)

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Our screensaver pulls pictures from iPhoto and displays them. Parker and I were in my room when a picture of Josh and I at our wedding came up.

"Awwww! Is that you and Dad at your wedding?"

"Yup"

"Awwww, that was so sweet of you Mama."

"What was sweet of me?"

"To marry Dad like that."

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Carrots bolted outside and the kids and I were attempting to catch him and bring him inside. Carrots just kept gleefully running from one bush to the next. As he leapt, yet again just out of our reach, Fin turned to me and said, "THIS is why I need a tranquilizer gun!"

Meet Daisy (officially)

Parker has been asking for a corn snake for years. And since she's only been on this earth for four years, thats pretty impressive. We never really entertained the thought seriously for a couple of reasons (cost and the fact that Josh and I both have never taken care of a snake being the top two). With my new job I spend a lot of time talking about animals, and I mentioned once at the pet store how Parker loves snakes and is always asking for a corn snake. The guys at the store were gung-ho about Parker getting a snake, arguing amonsgt themselves over which snake would be the best for her, telling me exactly how to take care of it, etc. etc. I reminded them that I had no plans on buying a snake, that this was all hypothetical. When I came in the next week they all pounced on me and said they had great news for me! One of the workers was moving and needed a good home for her snake, a white morphos corn snake.

Thus we became snake owners.

(sorry these photos aren't great quality, since she's nocturnal we try to handle her later at night so she's more comfortable, but it doesn't lend itself to great lighting for pictures)

Parker immediately fell in love with her and she and I decided to name her Daisy. Parker has never been squeamish about snakes and has absolutely no reservations about handling Daisy. She coos at her and tells her she loves her just like someone would to thier baby or a kitten. Josh and Griffin are more hesitant about her, but becoming more at ease. So far its been really fun and pretty easy to have a snake. Carrots discovered her the other day, but he backed up pretty quick when she came up to the glass. I don't think he's going to try to get her out anytime soon.

Happy Friday!

A funny conversation I had with Parker today in the car inspired my tune of the week on my business blog. Check it out here.

Conversations

Parker: "I can't wait till my hair is brown Mama."

Me: "Why? Your hair is beautiful the way it is now. Mama's hair used to be that color, I wish it still was."

Parker: "What?! Dat's crazy!"

Me: "It was! I'll show you a picture when we get home."

Parker: "Your mom took a picture of you?"

Me: "Yep"

Parker: "And then she put them on Facebook?"

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I've been trying to teach Parker our address. I asked her, "Can you say our street name? Its Rue de Valore"

"Yup! Root of da Lord!"

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Griffin: "What's similar between Kali Rapids and the Jaws ride is that they both have water. But on the Jaws ride you're in a tram. Why aren't you in a boat? I mean, the tram goes on tracks over the water? Isn't that awkward?"

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I let Parker try some of my veggie burger at dinner. She decided she loved it and had a few bites more. As I was finishing up my final bites, she turned to me and said, "That's fine Mama, you can have the rest of it. Isn't that nice of me??" and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

Griffin's Photo Shoot

Griffin was whining about being bored yesterday while I was cleaning up, so I gave him my camera and told him to take some pics. Here's what he came up with:

*apparently he figured out the timer on the camera :)