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 :)