Christmas 2011

  Christmas Eve - Ready to go to Mass.

Christmas Eve - Ready to go to Mass.

Christmas morning - looking to see what Santa brought.

Allison's gifts from Santa.

Carter got the helicopter that he asked Santa for!

Allison got the Pet Rock that she asked Santa for!

Allison got a Bon Jovi CD from Dad!

 

Christmas 2011: XBOX with Kinect

Might might be psuing the limits of blogger with this post of videos...

We got an XBOX with Kinect for Christmas.  The kids are having SO much fun with it!! 

And this is how it's played...

Allison playing Kinectimals.

Allison playing with her African Leopard on Kinectimals.

Allison playing Rallyball on Kinect Adventures.

Carter recording a dance for a prize "statue" they "won" on Kinect Adventures.

Thanks, Nana, Pop, and Uncle Brian!!!!

We love this gift!

Peeking...

We received this present in the mail and, as with any package that rattles, Carter immediately declared it to be "Lego".  (In an attempt to throw Carter off, if Daddy had been home when we got this he would have declared it to be "Soap" or something equally not likely to rattle...  So far, Carter's not buying it.  Anything that rattles is "Lego!")

So, having decided it was Lego, Carter tried to peak into the wrapping paper seam to see if he could tell which set it was!  STINKER!

I knew he wouldn't be able to see anything, so I let him look while I took these pictures.

I remember how exciting Christmas was when I was a kid...  It's fun to have a 5 year old and 7 year old this year.  They are both so very excited!

Carter is especially excited about all his "Lego!"

 

And the Winners Are....

...Allison and Carter!

Back in October Allison and Carter entered an essay contest to "Name the Shrunken Head" at the Buckeye Museum.  Allison won in her age group for 'best story' and Carter won is his age group for "Best Name".  The Buckeye Museum kept their entries and they will become part of the permanent recods at the museum... so I can't reprint Allison's essay here, but Carter's winning name for the shrunken head was 'Little Guy'.

The big question is... 

Is it a real shrunken head or a fake?

80% of shrunken heads are fakes.

It doesn't matter to us, though!  The kids did a great job on their contest entries and we are very proud of them!

 

Carter Loves Lego

CARTER:  All I want to do is Lego.
              I dreamed that my Lego are real.

ME:  Like the TV in the Lego store that makes them look real?

Carter leans back in surprise...

CARTER:  Yes! Like that!

He really loves Lego.

     

Sonoran Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ

Below is a video of the Raptor Free Flight demonstration at the Desert Museum in Tucson.  There was a "family" of 5 Harris' Hawks that were released to fly over our heads.  Unbelieveably beautiful.  An amazing demonstration with outstanding trainers and narrator.  The birds fly so close that I was brushed on the head by their feathers twice! 

Carter at Bat

Another video from a while ago...

September 24, 2011

This is Carter at bat at his first t-ball game!

 

My Lost Boy

A video from...

 August 26, 2011

I just came across this video of Allison in a dress rehearsal for her summer Musical Theater class.  The program was Peter Pan and she was one of the "Lost Boys". 

I love this video! 

This was their final rehearsal in the studio and most kids are in costume.  The lighting is so much better for video taking, and I could get so much closer than when she's on stage! 

Plus, she can see me as I am filming...  and that brings out a couple of really cute smiles!

 

Allison Excited About School

Allison is very excited about the sight word test she had today at school...  It was a test on third grade sight words and she only missed three!

Also, at the end there's a little clip of Carter doing his preschool homework.

 

Allison's Birthday - Glofish Tank from Uncle Brian

Uncle Brian, these videos are for you...

We have three glofish and they have already been named...

green - "Pip"

purple - "Fin"

blue - "Flipper"

(I think...  I've asked her to make a name chart

 for me so I won't forget which fish is named what..)

 

My Guys

I sure love these guys!

Cross-Eyed!

 

Decorating Pumpkins

Meet Sheesh Feesh Maruschak

Please welcome the newest member of our family!

Sheesh Feesh Maruschak

Allison rescued this lovely (and large!) jaguar from

a consignment sale for only $3. 

Quite a find!

Sheesh needed stitches to repair a wound to her tail...

Daddy performed the operation and Sheesh is recovering well.

Mommy is adjusting to the new addition and is trying not

to be creeped out when she rounds a

corner to find a stuffed jaguar staring at her.

Allison is thrilled to have yet another new stuffed toy!!

 

Carter Says

A couple weeks ago at about 2 o'clock in the morning we are awakened by a little girl standing in our bedroom doorway shouting, "Daddy! I can't see!"


My first thought was, "Then go back to your own room where your night light is!"  Fortunately, it takes me a moment to get my bearing when I am awakened in the middle of the night, so I didn't actually say that out loud.

Notice that she calls to Dad in the middle of the night...

She knows who's more likely to wake up.

And she usually shouts.

(I think she couldn't find fleecy, so Daddy had to go rescue it. Thanks, Daddy, for taking care of that so I could stay in bed!)

Yesterday Carter and I were in the car going through the pick up line to get Allison from school.  Having had a very busy weekend, Carter was a little bit tired and dozed off for a little car snooze.  Allison climbed in the car bubbling over with infomation about her school day.  She was very excited because her class had gone to the Scholastic book fair and she'd gotten the two books she'd wanted from the flyer. 

In her normal excited Allison voice she squeeled, "And guess what?!  We went to the book fair!" 

A few second later a little sleepy voice says, "Allison, you don't have to be so loud." 

My sentiments exactly.

 

Me and My Family by Allison

 

Carter Can Write His Name!

Carter has learned to write his name! 

Preschool this year is very academic... They have homework every week!  And each week they learn a new letter and a new number.  They get lots of practice tracing and coloring the letter and number of the week.  It's made a big difference in Carter's motor skills for holding a pencil and coloring.  Last week part of his homework was ro trace his name...  Then he wrote his own name at the top of the page.

Take a look...

 

AZ Science Center

Fun Day at the Arizona Science Center

Friday

July 22, 2011

Giant telescope.

Allison's eye looking into the giant telescope.

Crossing paths in the rope maze.

My three trying to figure out a floor maze.

The house that kids built!

Carter smiling through a "window."

Allison waving through a "window."

Allison seeing how many pennies her paper bridge can hold. 

It held more than 50!

Carter adding pennies to his foil "boat".

His held 193!  Beating the previous record of 80-some.

Then, with a little design help from Mom, Allison made a boat that held 238 pennies!

And a good time was had by all...

(...even me!)

 

   

Sunflowers & Artichokes

Today I cut our sunflower who's head was droopy and full of seeds!  Too cool!  When we planted the sunflower, I had not idea of how the seeds were formed...  but here they are:

 Also, in the garden, our artichoke plant is dying of heat stroke and the artichokes are small so I haven't harvested any of the fruit.  Instead we've let them bloom into these beautiful purple flowers!  Really cool! 

(Artichoke photos by Allison.)

Artichokes are perennials, so I wonder if this plant would come back when the Arizona heat lets up in the fall?  I won't find out this year because I am going to have our weed guy treat the garden which is over-run with weeds!  (see that pretty green "blanket" covering the ground?)  I have plans to plant the artichoke in a different location next year where it can grow as wide as it wants.

 

Carter's Karate Class

Here's a video of Carter doing a double center punch in karate class.  He wasn't testing for a new belt - just a regular class.  I think his belt testing will be next month and he'll be testing for his brown belt.

Here he is again...  Check out that tiger's eyebrow! 

Tiger's eyebrow means your FOCUSED!

Pretty cute, huh?

 

Allison's Karate Test

On Thursday Allison had her first belt test in her new karate "White Belts" class.  She was testing for a white belt with a black stripe.  She's been practicing every day!  She had to learn two forms to complete the test. 

Check it out... she's really good!!

And here is my karate kid with her new belt, her karate instructor, Master Guffey, and her certificate!

 

Carter's Smart

Jim and the kids are building a Lego dinosaur they saw in the Lego Club Jr. magazine. 

CARTER:  "I know that dinosaurs are really brown."

DADDY:  "Really?  How do you know that?"

CARTER:  "Oh. I'm just really smart."

(If all goes well, there might be dinosaur pictures posted later!)


   

Artichokes & Corn

From Our Garden!

Artichokes:

My first attempt at cooking an artichoke was a big success!  We all enjoyed eating it - one leaf at a time.  And we have more in the garden that will be ready to pick in another week or so.  (If they survive the 110+ teamperatures...)

Corn:

We've enjoyed watching the corn grow!  We picked two ears and they were a little dry.  I don't think they have survived the heat very well.  :-(

(Photo credit: James Maruschak)

  

Swimming

ALLISON

Allison grew by leaps and bounds at swimming lessons today.  She transformed into a fish and can swim with her head underwater!  I've watched everyone else's kids do this since our first swim lesson...and finally, Allison has figured it out and is having lots of fun! 

Here's a video of her swimming in our small backyard pool:

(There's a lot of splashing... but keep in mind it's a small, 18" deep pool so it's a little hard to actually swim in it.)

CARTER

So, after bragging about Allison, I have to say that Carter is...well, Carter is...that is, Carter is, um, taking swim lessons.  There's not much to brag about.  He's less timid around the water.  That's something, right?  He's cute, too. 

So, here's his video:

My sweet kids!

 

Happy Birthday to Uncle Brian

 

Saguaro Art by Allison

A study of Saguaros in various media.

by Allison

(Done at Naira's house during her first ever sleepover!)

Saguaro with watercolor crayons.

Saguaro with pastel crayons.

Saguaro with watercolor paint.