Field Trips

Keira and Kassidy were on spring break this week and the boys had worked very hard the  last three weeks on their Greek History block: It was time for a couple of field trips.

Tuesday we went to the Dallas Museum of Art on Tuesday, checking out the ancient Greek art section, armed with markers, colored pencils, pencils, erasers and sketchbooks. It was time to draw some ancient artifacts.

Wednesday we spent the morning at the Dallas Zoo. I only took a few pictures, but we all enjoyed the merry go round, a ride on the monorail and all the wonderful animals, especially the lion encounter where we learned that it is projected that all large cats in the wild will be extinct in the next 10 - 15 years, along with elephants and giraffes.

Friday morning we went to the fair park to visit the butterfly house and gardens there. It is a favorite place for us to visit.

Here is a close up of the underside of a blue morpho's wing.

The kids posed like the sculpture behind them.

The flowers on this shrub look like purple ribbons.

Sand Snakes

First Concert

I took Lukas to his first rock concert on Saturday night. Green Day put on a great show, and I think he knew as many as the lyrics as I did.

"Go Away!!! ... please"

Kassidy still screams at me when I want to play with her, but at least she is starting to say please.

Frousins 4, Arabe Unido 0

FC Dallas scored a goal for each of the kids tonight, winning their match 4-0.

First game of the season- good times!

Art Pro

Keira's drawing was one of a handful chosen to represent her school in a local art show last night.

Here she is with her teacher, but we know it's all genetics :)

How to 'sort of' build a Computer

Last week my old computer died and I had to finally get around to replacing it.

I decided to build one from scratch to save some bucks, and finally got it up and running after a few  minor (ahem) setbacks:

- I bought the wrong size motherboard for my chip and had to return that

- I bought the wrong size CPU fan for my case and had to return that

- I had to reinstall the motherboard when the base of my CPU fan was too loose (which also required a trip to Lowes for some rubber washers)

- I dislodged one of the screws when removing the motherboard and had to carefully pry it out without snapping it

- One of the screws from my top fan dropped into the case when I was installing it, so I had to return to Lowes to get a replacement screw

- I found the lost screw a few minutes after I got back from Lowes

- And then I put the fan on backwards so I had to reinstall it again

- The computer turned on when I flipped the switch on the power supply, but the Bios never booted

- My old hard drive with all of my tax info wasn't showing up until I realized that I hadn't connected it properly

- I had to order an extra extension for my motherboard to accomodate a bunch of extra USB 2.0 wires that had nowhere to plug into

- After much anguish I realized that I had forgotten to turn on the main power switch for the computer (duh)

- The Bios came on and I was able to install Windows 10, but the next day I realized that it was the wrong version (32 bit instead of 64 bit) after enduring a frustrating night where all of my systems and monitors were not working correctly

- I then had to wipe the drive and reinstall everything again

And then it worked :)

Keir"A"

Keira's latest report card:

Kassidy Art

Kassidy has a very.. unique style of art.

I loved this bird that she drew last week, and dug up some companion pieces that she has worked on at school this year.

Bros and Balls

Spring soccer season has started. 

Lukas has played two games and already has 4 goals and 2 assists.

Lennon played in his first game and had 2 goals, while also hitting 2 posts and 2 crossbars..

Sisters and Stuffed Stuff

Here are the girls relaxing on the swing today with their stuffed animals. 

'Bambi' and 'Lady' are the newest additions.

Shirts and Smiles

Kassidy is looking forward to her trip to Boston at some point this year. 

She is always reminding everyone that she is next up after she turns 7.

Simms and Siblings

The big game on campus is currently The Simms 4.

Lennon and Katharine are the biggest players, but everybody loves to watch.

Battles and Bricks

The boys used Legos to recreate the Battle of Thermopylae this past week during school.

Rebel Bird

Katharine is on the ensemble at Texas Ballet Theater School, Dallas. This is the group of most advanced dancers of the school and by invitation only. They recently performed a piece especially choreographed for this group. It is called "Rebel Bird" and is danced to music from "Carmen", big band style. I am always touched by Katharine's performance quality, and how much the joy shines through her!

Valentines Smiles

Here are the two girls opening their Valentines Day cards from the grandparents this morning.  

Hopefully this post will provide fond memories after it becomes the soul crushing holiday of their young adult lives :)

Curious Comfort

Kassidy has the strangest collection of treasures.

The poky dotted pink gold accented unicorn is named "Fantasia", and is her favorite stuffed animal. 

She has had the blanket since she was a baby, and it has been rapidly disintegrating from use as it gets ripped and then knotted up again to stay pieced together.

That said, these both fit her personality and we love them because Kassidy does :)

The Art of Language

Kassidy and the boys made up a new language on Saturday,

It is currently non-verbal, but just give them some time..

Shortcake and Stripes

Because of her busy schedule, Katharine did most of her birthday celebrations on Sunday.

Iria made some great strawberry shortcake for her, and she opened up some small presents to go along with the birthday cash.

She got a Ravenclaw shirt, a Minnie Mouse mug, a Diablo 3 Treasure Goblin figurine, and some reflector panels for her photography.

Later on in the day we all went out to Glorias for her birthday meal.

Fun times!

Happy Birthday, Katharine!

Katharine turned F O U R T E E N today.

She remains everything that Iria and I could have ever wished for in a child. 

No pressure :)

Not so surprising, she is going to be out of the house doing dance stuff from 8 AM until 11 PM today, so we will do the presents and cake tomorrow. 

Until then, Katharine facts -

Favorite color - purple or teal
Favorite food - pizza and any desert
Least favorite food - squash
Favorite school subject - civics and English
Least favorite school subject - math
When you grow up you want to be a - ballet dancer / Broadway performer / artist
Has a little crush on - Eddie Redmayne (Fantastic Beasts actor)
Favorite book read last year - the Selection series
Favorite movie seen last year - Fantastic Beasts
Favorite TV shows - Supergirl / Great British Baking / Project Runway / Amazing Race / Survivor
Fav song - anything from Rent or Chicago
Hobbies - drawing, singing, dancing, photography, reading, crafting, video games, writing
Trump or Hillary - Hillary
Pick a problem in the world that you would want to solve - poverty
Favorite thing to do with Mom - talking in the car and going to dance practice/events
Favorite thing to do with Dad - talking , watching tv, and playing video games
Favorite thing to do with Lukas - play video games
Favorite thing to do with Lennon - having talks and discussions
Favorite thing to do with Keira - being her big sister
Favorite thing to do with Kassidy - sisterly duties
Three things you would bring with you to a deserted island - sketchbook / kindle / Sherman dog
Harry Potter house - Ravenclaw
Where you would want to go on vacation -Caribbean  cruise
Best friends at dance - Abby, Barbara, Bethany
Best friends outside of dance - Maya, Liam, Charlotte, Trinity, Kaylee
Fav dance teacher - ms lyndette and ms Jan
Fan fiction that Katharine writes - Diablo / Scorbus (Scorpius and Albus) / Harry Potter / Hinny (Harry and Ginny)
Dance rehearsal time per week - 12-15 hours
 What do you think you will be doing in 5 years - professional dance company or art in college
 What do you think you will be doing in 10 years - have a stable job in any of her jobs
 What do you think you will be doing in 25 years - family and steady job- just be happy
What she does on her phone late at night - reading / YouTube
What superhero power would she want to have - flight
Favorite ballets - Copellia and Swan Lake
What she is hoping for this year - becoming a full member on the ensemble / her left foot back to normal / do well at school
Favorite Katharine quote - "Goodnight Mommy and Daddy- you're the best!"

"A" Great Student

Keira's latest report card:

Who's Those Girls?

Keira performed in a Seuss'ical Musical at her school tonight. 

She dressed up as a Who girl. 

Her teacher, Mrs. Noll, and friend Kaylee came as themselves :)

Night Yoga

No Words

Have Humnongous Carriage, Will Travel

Somebody from church gave us this carriage yesterday, which is apparently good for 11 year old boys in addition to dolls.

Not seen in the pic is the Echo that Keira put in one of the compartments to use as the car stereo.

Snow, a Little While Ago..

I have been slow with the posts this year. 

This one is from last week, where we got a dusting of snow after a few days in the 20's.

I think we deserved more snow than that for dealing with all of that cold. 

Maybe later on this winter :)

Hugs and Z's

Kassidy has been missing Keira since she moved out of the room, so Lennon joined her last night to help her sleep. They were like this the whole night.