Monday, March 28, 2011

Sawyer

Look who we found at Tucker's! Okay, it wasn't me who asked to take his photo, I just don't have those kind of balls. But, I had no problem jumping in the shot. Too bad I hadn't brushed my hair or put any make-up on.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Marborg Tour

Last Wednesday, instead of our usual play group at the park, we all took a tour of the Marborg Center. A recycling center to be exact. Take a minute to imagine the smell rising from mixed recycles + several large construction trucks loudly going about their business. Yes, that combo did equal my kiddos' idea of heaven. The tour turned out to primarily be us standing on this platform watching all the action...the kids stood their for 30 minutes. For the most part they didn't move, only changing positions if they needed to get a better view. Those men up there, it is their job to sort the recyclables by hand. Each group of two men along the line pulls a different item out of the mix. The first set were looking for anything metal. Those items were then thrown down to the area below them. The color books at the end of the tour were just the icing on the cake.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Art, Art, Art

Vera is learning all of my tricks. Usually, the kids create a mass amount of art and then I pick through and find one or two picture s that I think J should scan. No longer. Now, Vera decides her favorites and hands them directly to Dad. With this batch, it was a nice little surprise when I opened up my email from J.

Keller's contribution is a piece of work we are titling "Spider-Bat."

The rest are Vera's:



Monday, March 21, 2011

Rainy Day

Yesterday it poured non-stop, today it rained off and on. The kiddos + friends took a break to head to the beach to run off some energy and save my (and the other mom's) sanity. Now, the plan was to keep the kids out of the water, since the ocean after rain tends to be slightly polluted. Yeah right! Instead, it turned into a plan to give the kids all showers as soon as we got home.

I was surprised how many surfers were catching waves. Haven't they heard that the water can be polluted. I wanted to go all mom on them and explain it, but figured it wouldn't be my place.

Whale slobber was all over the beach!



Keller almost immediately face planted and got a face full of whale slobber and sand. Yuck!



This little guy was the smart one who stayed out of the ocean.


Not this one, he recovered from his fall and proceeded to get thoroughly soaked.

I haven't minded the rain (for two days), but know that if it continues we will all get a little stir crazy. How do people do it when they live in places where you actually have winter? We rely on going to parks and running outdoors.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

5-Year Appointment

Can somebody help a girl out? Really nurse, I know you saw my daughter and still left this robe for her to put on. Is it made for a 3-year-old? Did you maybe have a medium at least? This one is one size fits small. That said, the real reason for the post...


Weight: 56 pounds
Height: 48 inches

The doctor guesstimated her final height at 5'11, but only time will tell if that is correct. She is also healthy, happy, and intelligent. The doctor's words, not mine. ;)

Likes:
  • Horses and dogs are still around. This kid really needs a pet, recently she took our newly bought sucker fish for a tour of her room.
  • Taking photos of everything and anything
  • The monkey bars
  • Blogging/typing on the computer
  • Science
  • Keller - When I asked for her likes, the three she listed were: science, horses, and Keller. Awwww...makes this mama happy!
Dislikes:
  • Bananas - Is she really my daughter?
  • Brushing her hair
All in all, 5 has been good for us. She is a huge help around the house and loves to play games that entertain her brother. Her maturity has reached a new level and it is fascinating to just sit and pick her brain to find out how she thinks. She is still at an age where she loves to tell us stories and get cuddles. All if this comes with a side of attitude, which has me slightly worried about when she will be 13.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St. Patrick's Day!







Saturday, March 12, 2011

Seals, sea lions, and elephant seals, oh my!

Amazing day! Our neighbor, Ms. A, volunteers at The Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center and has mentioned several times that our family could come visit their rescued animals. Specifically, their baby rescued seals. Today was the day.

Here is one thing we learned about seals, as babies (when they are drinking "fish" formula) they are cuddly, suckle on everything and anything, and are just about the cutest things you will ever see. Then, they start to eat fish. Though they are still beautiful animals, they become a bit more aggressive and will forget the human interaction they have had. Seeing the babies is one of the reasons that we wanted to visit the center in the spring. Ms. A promised that the kids could pet the baby seals.

This little dude, he is only a week old.



The seal's fur was so soft, comparable to a rabbit's.


Then, there were two babies. Sliding around on their bellies, they followed Ms. A around and suckled on her leg, each other, and eventually even Vera.


Whew! The bigger seals were loud. Keller didn't quite know what to make of their noises, sometimes sounding like bellowing, snorting, and belching. Our little dude was also fascinated with the feeding tube (you can see it hanging on the cage) that is used to feed the babies their formula.



Suckle, suckle, suckle...for the rest of the day we kept hearing that Vera's shoes were filled with seal slobber.

Such an awesome experience!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Baby, Baby, Baby




New baby chicks! Seriously, it makes me want to buy a few, then I remember that they grow into chickens that poop all over the place and aren't really cute and cuddly. Still, if we had the room I would consider getting a few. Fresh eggs are so tempting and the chicks are darn cute.

Speaking of babies, mine is due August 16th. The third Mazzetta Baby is causing a ruckus with this mama already. I almost wrote an entire post moaning and groaning about my first trimester. I stopped myself just short, because that would not be fun reading. Plus, there is just no polite way to say puke.

Oh, and my sister had her baby girl! The babe is an adorable little one and the sis is adjusting to the no sleep pattern. Whew!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

LOL

About a week ago J and i decided that a windshield replacement was in order, it had something to do with the 9 dings in our window. Oh, and also the fact that our warranty was about to run out and it would only cost us $50 if we did it now.

It has equaled 3 afternoons of a window replacement that had a leak, an afternoon where it was decided that the windshield that had been put in would definitely not work, and this final one where everything is as good as new. Why am I telling this extremely odd tale...

Today, I hear the doorbell ring and head down the stairs to finish up the paperwork, passing Keller on the way who has been staring at the men almost the entire 45 minutes they have been fixing the car. As I near the door, I hear hysterical laughter.

Walking out, I give them the crazy look and the gentleman just points to the window. There, is Keller, french kissing the entire window. Back and forth, up and down, his little tongue flattened against the window. He sees us and then continues on cleaning dirt and grime off our windows. Ahhh...the joys of parenthood.