New Additions

Meet Maya! She is my brother Baltazar's first baby. Our kids just LOVE babies. Especially baby cousins. We were surprised by a spontaneous visit from Auntie Fyllis and Maya this week. She is 4 weeks old now and this was our first encounter. We had a run of the stomach flu and colds right after her birth and we didn't wanna give her the cooties, so we stayed away.

Isn't she sooo cute? She looks alot like by brother. Welcome to the family Maya!

The Fat Lady has sung....

Zach had his last choir concert for the school year. He wants to be in advance choir next year, but I don't think its for his love of singing, I think its for the trips to Disneyland. (his mother's child) Well when Mrs. Barlow announced those who automatically made the cut, Zach's name wasn't called and he was super bummed. What he really didn't understand is why a few kids who cant carry a tune made it and he didn't. Yeah, I was peeved too. Zach has an outstanding voice and his choir teacher even told me so. It took alot for me not to be "one of those parents".

So after some encouragement he went to open auditions for Advance Choir and when Mrs. Barlow saw him she said "What are you doing here?" (man maybe she really didn't want him in that class) Zach is very shy with adults and was taken a back, it took alot of effort for him to show up in the first place. So he said "Well my name wasn't called and I wanna be in Advance Choir next year." Mrs. Barlow said "Oh Zach, I'm so sorry that was a mistake. Of course you made it!" Zach came home beaming from ear to ear. Whew! Hello Mickey!

Trip to the Strip

In front of the chocolate fountain.

Rarely (and I mean rarely, like bloody meat rare) do we take Zach and Raegan to the strip. It's all in an effort to sheild their eyes from the influence of advertisement. Even though those ads help support our family.

I took them with me to the Bellagio to pick up some credentials I needed for the Clooney movie I was bound for. Here are some pictures that Zach took.

This is about the only casino left that has something in it fit for families to gander at.

Happy Birthday Raegan!

Today was Raegan's birthday. "Finally!" she has been anticipating this event for months. Planning her party, making lists and checking them twice. I gave her the choice of a big party or a small sleep-over! Of course she wanted a big sleep-over, but that was not a choice. So she chose a few close friends to make fancy schmancy invites for.

On this special day of Raegan she asked for wavy "birthday hair", doughnuts to share with her class, spaghetti for dinner (not her brother's favorite) and cupcakes and ice cream for desert!

She got a few family gifts including two cans of paint! Purple and Aqua to paint the walls of her room. She is pretty stoked! Me, not so much, this will need to happen quick or else I'll never hear the end of it.

She had a few visitors too. Rachelle dropped by for a birthday hug and a gift and her Primary Teacher Brother Lagan delivered her cookies and a card. I'd say it's been a wonderful "Day of Rae"!

Tobler Bike Challange...

We were invited to join the Tobler Bike Challenge for a fun FHE event. The Tob's discovered some fun and difficult challenges for us to attempt. Over all it was a fun evening. Even though we learned that the Crabtree's need to spend some more time on their bikes.

Man they were serious signs, scores, penalties and prizes.

It was fun and refreshing to do something different for a change. Thanks Tob's for a great night! Check out more bike challenge fun on my public blog, Shaking the Tree, see Mary attempt to ride a bike again... You'll LOL for sure!

Another World Traveler

Martha P. King Elementary has different programs for each grade level. Each program is done outside the curriculm for the most part and the children have to do a project to earn their status as a World Traveler, a Nevada Citizen or a Great American. Zach did all of these projects too, you may recall last year's Civil War Re-enactment.

So Rae did two countries, Greece and Brazil. I somehow manged to delete the only photo I took of Rae's Grecian Temple. Dang it! Anywhoo for her Brazil project we attempted to make Brazillian Cheese Bread a.k.a Pao De Queijo. While she and her class mates were impressed, I however had my brazillian friend Lena's to compare to. I'll take hers over the internet attempt any day.

All I can say is Brazillians cannot have a clean kitchen making this stuff, it is the stickiest messiest concotion ever! Well for this American anyway. After further research (after the fact) I learned, we made them too big and we were supposed to oil up our hands before forming the balls... oooohh that makes SO much more sense. It's okay, what do 3rd graders know. They all wanted the recipe. The other good news is, nobody got sick. Score!

Here she is getting the coveted dog-tag and with her 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Fecteau.
And finally, Raegan is an official MPK World Traveler! She deserves kudos here. She was very motivated and did most of the work all on her own. Give a shout out to Rae!

Domestic Creativity

Who says doing the laundry isnt creative? Not Rae!