Body Momentum

Reading a book with mom. 

So this pics are about two months old. Sorry. I know that to be true because of this - the eggs in this photo. We have an animal (possibly a possum) that keeps eating our chickens.

This is from a trip Ash and I took to the Peabody museum in New Haven. It's a Yale museum but actually affordable (it cost me 4 bucks - Asher was free). One of the things Asher loves right now is Dinosaur Train. So we spent a lot of time in the main room.

This statue is on top of a 15 foot block of granite - the statue is at least 10 feet tall - so there's no way we could touch it. But I lifted Asher up and said I was trying to put him in the dinosaur's mouth. He scream NONONONONOONONO so I put him down. Then he said AGAIN!!!

T-Rex skull.                                                                         A Bearded Dragon.

A colony of Leaf Cutter Ants. They have a whole tube system set up all around the room. It's pretty cool.

 No clue why that was white.

 The main dinosaur room and a cobra (la-la-la-la).

 Poison Dart frogs.

This is where we had lunch. 

THIS SHOULD BE MY THEME SONG: High, Wide and Handsome!

Poptart

Don't watch the video. Just listen to the music.


We took the Los Murphy's to the Beardsley Zoo. It was an action packed weekend. Full of picnics and  . . .  zoo visits. Basically anything to take those kids and get them out of my house. Five kids under one roof? Maybe if it's the SuperDome. 

Keep them indoors in a normal size house and it's like keeping a beehive in a show box.

But then they're outside there's endless space for their energy to evaporate into. 

Flying a kite in the park (one kite, two kids). In this pic of Ash, I had just spun him around so much that we were both dizzy. He was standing perfectly still while it passed. Like a statue of an actual child.

Here we are doing some shopping - Nana this is when I got Wyatt some of his birthday gifts. The kids played some dress up. Then we got an Icee.

MORE COUSINS (always, more cousins). Ryan romping around in our back yard. For some reason, Asher had my winter gloves on.

Just hanging around.

Once more about the Sticks, old friends - so this six foot branch fell from one of the trees in the back. Asher thought it was the greatest thing ever.

Charlie did not agree.

And here's why: As I was snapping this picture Asher came only inches from whapping me in the head with the stick. I just hear the whooosh then had to check the picture to see what happened.

One more reason why sticks in the back yard are a hazard. 

And, of course, Nerf Shot Guns.

Chicken Rancher-oo

So we played a little trick on my Baba. A small one. My baba (my mom's mom) is the most worrisome person. Ever. Seriously, ever. We couldn't do cartwheels at her house because if we fell "we could break our necks." You know, in that awkward moment when you're doing a cartwheel and your arms completely vanish and you land on your spine.

When I broke my collar bone as a kid (I was 6 or 7) I was still in the sling when it was her birthday. So when we called her from Louisiana my mom said, "If you don't tell her about your collar bone, I'll give you ice cream." 

She worries.

Anyway, she gave us some money and told us to buy Charlie a Christmas present (this was around Christmas-time). And what did we buy our, then, four year old from her worry-worry Studda Baba? A balance bike. A slightly smaller bike with no pedals. The idea is to teach the kids how to balance on two wheels. I mean, with a big bike the hard part is the balancing (kids get the pedaling as soon as they can reach).

I've already posted her riding her bike (feel free to scroll back). The balance bike worked like a freaking charm.

So for her birthday Bart got her a new helmet. Purple with sparkles.

 Asher likes it, too.

I honestly have no idea when, or why, I took these - I just like how in one she looks like she's going to gobble everything up and the next she looks prim and proper.

Asher, not so much eating a banana, as mashing in into his face.

Posing with an Elmo puzzle (it's foam rubber with 12 or so big pieces and could probably double as a camping mat).

MUSIC BREAK: Ryan Bingham's Bread and Water. Stuck in my head all weekend. Speaking of my weekend, as I was, were you wondering what I did? First I cut out and soldering a new piece of pipe (since when I tried to unscrew it I just folded it around itself). Then I burned out a stump from out back yard. Sometimes I love being a homeowner!

Anyway MUSIC.

Asher still fits into his Halloween costume. Since it's cute as snot, I have no problem letting him. When he was dressed up he was stepping on his trains. Now, usually this is a no-no and get's him a time out or something gets taken away (like the costume). But then I realized he was just doing what every dude in a dragon costume would do: GODZILLA IMITATION! Ooooooooooooh no! They say he's got to go! GO GO GODZILLA!

This is how I know I'm old. I have three shot glasses. And I only use them to hold ink, when making comics, and as teeny flower pots.