Please Make it Be Over...

Dear Highest Priestess of Girl Scouts, Please Please Please make cookie season be over. I do not think I can take another box. I am needing to go in to Girl Scout Cookie Detox. To all of you that ordered cookies from Canoley, you can expect to see them arrive at your home shortly. Ms Canoley took second billing in her troup for her sales. Her killer tencity took me by surprize. My inability to have any willpower over the cookies does not take me by surprize---which is why they gotta go NOW.

Can Someone Help Explain...

How can the girl does this to her room...

Do this to the home when you are not looking?

A wee bit of the Irish...

Ahhh Welcome March! The lovely month of green. This month helps wash away the greys of winter which by about now is well....greatly needed. I am ready for some warm (no not hot) sunny days.

Spring is a great time here in the big tomato, but unfortunatley only lasts about 3 weeks and then the heat starts up again...okay so maybe that is a tad bit of exageration...but it sure feels that way.

So I walk outside today and what do I notice growing in my cacti? Shamrocks...and lots of them. Looks like some luck is on it way.

Do Shamrocks grow in the Desert? I do not know...but I do know they grow in the big Tomato. If you know...well, let me know...

Happy Fu Day #3

It is hard to believe that three years ago today we met our little miss FuFu for the very first time. A lot has changed since then but she is still our little bunny FuFu and yes she does on occasion like to bop things on the head :-).
On Gotcha day she was a scared little girl who once we took her outside and showed her all of the red lanterns stopped crying. Within three hours we had a very inquisitive little girl who by day two was fully of belly laughs and mischief.
We love you FuFu happy Fu Day- MomMom and DaddyO.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

How do you know if too much of a good thing is, well...too much? I've been encouraging, I mean threatening the kids that along with their trashing junk food books that they read well written time tested books. Noley has been very good about this and has been on a Dog kick recently finishing such books as The Call of the Wild, Balto and the Great Race, Stone Fox and Akiak : A Tale from the Iditarod.
So being the typical parent, I was quite proud until I looked out the window yesterday and witnessed this scene...Noley with HooHaa and MeiMei roped and tied and pulling her on a Scooter as she yelled at them "Mush Mush come on Doggies" When I asked her what she was doing she said she was "training for the Iditarod. What does it look like I am doing?" Uh Noley we live in Sacramento...

What's Up Duck?

Huh you say? Yep me too... Here is how it happens each year. First we hear the loud and long laborious quack followed by a loud splash...then two minutes later we hear it again.
We know it can only mean one thing...the ducks are back. Each year the ducks from the park fly over and land in our pool for the day. I guess it is their equivalent of a quick weekend getaway. Personally when I choose a quick getaway I like it to be kid free. Each year they land and each year they figure out our yard is full of kids and cats...the head over the our retired neighbors quite relaxing pool.

First Science Contest

Okay so while I am rather kick back with most things, everyone once in a while I come across something that brings out the competitive spirit in me. Welcome to the Kindergarten Science project. Objective: Make a house for an Ice Cube. Goal: Keep the ice cube from melting. Lesson Learned: Don't know don't care---just win!
So MeiMei and I decided we would raid Mr T's glass packing supplies for the house. The house cannot be a cooler or larger and 12 x 12. So we found some old packing supplies and built a seven layer rectangle house composed with an inner layer of foam, a second layer of thin blue ice and five more layers of foamy paper stuff we grabbed out of the recycle bin.
Well when we were done, we ended up with a very small house with a little trap door at the top. Not all that impressive at least to a five year old. Mei Mei was NOT a happy camper with her "house" she wanted a pretty house with a roof and chimney and such. She started crying and complained that her house looked like an EGG. She would not even take it too school.

So the day before the big event, I went into the classroom for some espionage on others homes...Holy Smokes...there were some SERIOUS houses. It turns out that one can do Internet research on building these houses and several parents had done such research. Boy I must admit, I never thought of that--Dang! So after leaving the class, I knew there was NO way we would win the ice cube contest, but we might stand a chance at the popular vote contest.

I thought if we can't win, we can at least be darn cute. And if we had an EGG house then an EGG it will be. I asked MeiMei what protects its eggs in the winter? And she knew right away. A Penguin. So a penguin it would be. We drive to the thrift store and found the perfect penguin. We took out his bottom and placed him over our egg house and voila...the perfect penguin ice cube house.

We took him to school on the morning of the contest and of course knowing my audience of 5 and 6 year olds they LOVED MeiMei's penguin "house" as everyone wanted to pick it up and hug it. What came as the total shocker was that WE WON! OUR HOUSE LASTED THE LONGEST. So not only did MeiMei win the popular vote we won the Science Project. Fifty entries and we won. I was trilled...and MeiMei was in disbelief since it was not "pretty" So I present to you the winning March of the Penguin Ice House.