Our New Years Eve...

We did all our celebrating at night and here's what we did: First we did fireworks then came a fire inside in the fireplace and toasted marshmallows and made s'mores, and then we had our ending... a prayer and juice in our special occasion glasses. Andrew wore his bib for the first time that night just so I could see how he looked. Mom took a picture of it too!



Isn't he cute!? He already weighs more than 15 lbs.
If this keeps up I won't be able to hold him when he's 6 MONTHS!

Penguins, and bears, racoons AND owls OH MY!

You may be thinking that this post is about the zoo but it isn't. This is about what I've learned through reading and thought might interest you. Lately I just finished a penguin (Tori's), bear (Tori's), raccoon (mine) and we're on the owl book but, since it's mine, I've read it so I can tell you about owls too, so here it goes!

PENGUINS!

The first weird thing was you can tell if a Empire penguin is a girl or boy. You want to know how? The boy is the one who keeps the egg warm so he has a feathered flap to keep it warmer. Secondly they only lay one egg each year. And thirdly some Empire penguin eggs are as big as a grapefruit! And last of all "When a group of penguins reaches the ' shoreline' the birds don't always rush into the water right away, even if they are very hungry. Often, one brave bird jumps in first to make sure the water is safe and no predator is nearby that might attack. Then the rest of the penguins jump in, sometimes all at once"*!!! Just thought you might be interested.

BEARS!

1: Black and brown bears are not always black and brown.

2: Brown bears have smaller ears, and whiter nails (don't even try to tell by the nails though!).

3: Some bears SLEEP on crooked branches!

(And have you ever seen a baby bear and thought "Oh, aren't they cute!"?)

RACCOONS!

1: They can open doors by them selves!

2: (This is my all time favorite) If mother racoons think their playing is too rough she tells them to calm down by growling. If that doesn't work she cuffs them on the ear or spanks them.

OWLS!

1: They can turn their heads TOTALLY BACKWARDS!

2: They also send messages with feathers that look like ears!

Well that's all I have for you.


*Quoted from All About Animals: Penguins, published by Reader's Digest Young Families

Welcome to our home!

I want to take you on a tour of our house so you have idea on what it looks like. The first thing you see when you come in is the living room. It is in a pansy theme (because pansies are my Mom's favorite flowers) it is the most pretty room in the house! If you go sideways to the left you will find that it leads you to the kitchen and you will see that it is a grape theme (my Mother's favorite FRUIT). It also is a pretty room and it is where I am sitting right now (it is the computer room/schoolroom/dining room/and kitchen all in one). In the hall there isn't anything special going on but the bathroom (to the left) is full of roses, and Bethi's room (to the right) is a butterfly theme. Tori and mine room (also to the right) doesn't have any real theme, but it has horse pictures, flower wall stickers, and a lot of little toys. Last of all, you have Mom and Dad's room (when you go left again). It has a pretty black wrought iron theme. It also is a pretty room and (going straight and turning left) you will see the bathroom comes off of their room and IT is done in a seashell theme. That's our home! So bye!