Luigi is actually running, not leaping, but this counts. Reagan drew this the other day and Travis and I were speechless (which says a lot). The Rs usually draw their characters in pretty good detail--mustache, hats with letters, etc., but as you can see here, Luigi is running, so his right foot is WAY out in front, so it has a 3-D effect. What a hoot.

On that note...I guess we "leap" into March tomorrow. Nothing yet, but the frog will leap there.

In case you were on the fence about my oddness. Of course they don't talk silly like this unless the camera is on. We do take the Bond name seriously.

I once saw a good friend stuck in a rut of having her kids insist on stirring their chocolate milk with spoons. It looked laborious. And all those extra things to wash. So Tal learned this adorable stunt, and the Rs learned it early. They say it every time I make chocolate milk. And apple juice, since I water it down. Cam, you're next. Mommy puts one finger on the sippy spout and gives it a shake--no mess.

It was a big, rough, messy, mixed-emotion day. What better way to end it than with loads of chocolate. Overloads. Tal has been DYING to try out the fantastic, mysterious fondue (I think he was a bit disappointed, actually). We had a good time, and got the sugar rush we needed.

We have so many messes, it is impossible to track them, but there are some cute ones below. Cam grabbed his spoon, splashed his food clear across everything, then fell asleep and somehow managed to look angelic in the middle of the chaos. The Rs are always hilarious.

I wrote a while back that my house is starting to look like Target. I realized later that I actually DO have a shopping cart--it is one of their favorite toys, from Aunt Christy. They run it up and down the loud tile in the evenings at hyperspeed. So it is probably fortunate that my furniture is not lined up in rows. I'm still aiming to install a mini-Starbucks in my living room...

It is more than just his AIM name. The kid is truly amazing. He was out of books last night. As in, he blew through the fifteen we bought him for Christmas. Lest you think me foolish for not hauling to the library, I'll remind you there are three more boys behind him and that I'm building a homeschool library here. I'm actually saving money on all those pesky late fees.

So last night he has nothing to read, so I dug out my old copy of A Wrinkle in Time. I hesitated, because it is a little odd, and a classic. It was already around 11pm. So I prepare him about the oddness of it and hand over the hardback that my Auntie R gave me so long ago. This morning he comes in, hands it to me and says, "Thanks, Mom. I really enjoyed it." Let's just say I am spellbound. He says he finished it by 1am.

He is having a great time with his blog. He's had over 400 hits, with some unusual stats. Over 30 were from Amy's blog, another 40 from searches on his NASA report, another 30 or so looking for Hardy Boys reports (cheaters!), and two international ones. Very exciting, indeed. He has some interesting content coming with his Wrinkle in Time and butterfly experiments, so that will hopefully draw even more. Thank you to those who have links for his site!

Frightening Valentine           February 25, 2008

I just had to include this story before February officially ends and it is too late. When we were first married, Travis was at BASDC and a salesman came around with random stuff, and Travis ordered this teddy bear for me (apparently paid no attention to how hideous it was). Well, by the time he picked it up, he realized that A) it is freaky-looking and B) when you press that gnarly heart, a distinctly foreign, deep, old voice speaks. It rotates three disturbing messages: My teddy reminds me...how much I am luuuuved, shaaaaih with my friend (no "s"), and our favorite MIND MUMMY AND DADDY.

So I was at the office one day, giggling with Heather and Holly, and the bear came up. I was clueless. Travis was so mortified that he hid the bear at the office. So Holly brought him out and we laughed for hours. I took him home (laughing to tears, but charmed that my new husband had been so sweet, really), and now it is in our Valentine decoration box, and the creepy bear comes out once a year to give us a great giggle.

We actually used our Fun Passes and went back already! Highlights of the day... looking at the dolphins up close and Tal remembering there is an Aquarium setting on my camera...watching the Dolphin show...someone nailing Travis & Tal with water canons on the Atlantis ride...Tal winning hideous Mario & Luigi plushes for the Rs (which they LOVE and are displaying in the photo below)...and my personal favorite, getting fudge on the way out of the park!

Our first activity of the day was a visit to the Stingrays. They weren't coming toward us, so Travis decided to go and get some food, which we thought meant getting a cup of pellets to throw in and they'd come in our direction. While he was getting the food, I noticed the sign with instructions that went something like "Hold fish between your fingers and a stingray will swim over your hand and slurp it up as it passes." I called his cell phone to let him know this wasn't the activity for us, but it was too late--he was just coming back with two trays of nasty gray fish. At left is just one video of my flinching husband and firstborn...seconds later, we were off for bigtime handwashing!

Another highlight for me was seeing Riley go make a friend in line. It was a non-English friend, so they were learning things like "My name is Riley" very slowly. It was so cute that the other mom took pictures. He also got up in front of the audience before the Pet Show and danced. It is hard to believe that he was painfully shy a few months ago. It was a GREAT day for the Bonds, fish and all!

We really enjoyed the Christmas decorations in January. December was insane and we hardly got to see it. So it is slowly coming down, and a little Valentine fun is appearing around the house. Here are a few bits....

Here is the fun thing about the decorating: It doesn't have to cost a ton. Not that this is magazine-ready, by any stretch of the imagination. But I got the wreath after Christmas at Target for 90% off (YAY!), the frame for the magnificent canvas of the boys was a do-it-yourself from Michael's with the weekly 1/2-off coupon, I got those pots on the fireplace last year after Valentine's at Target for $1.25 each. The glasses were an after-Christmas Target special for $1 each. Most of the stuff is old, and a lot of the Valentine's stuff is post-Christmas red that is easy enough to leave out after Christmas, so I don't have to put everything away at once. Obviously needs more work and a black baby grand piano to tie it all together, but each day there is less toy clutter and a little more organization.

I ran into a lady in a convertible BMW today and laughingly told her I used to be cool and drive one; she said she used to drive a van & she'd take the van and be young any day. I vowed to be grateful, but then lost my keys in the back of the car and had to fight with my 39-pound stroller and 4 gallons of milk to find them...

An excuse for creative fun. We took red shirt pictures outside, while the red geraniums are still alive and kicking, and made up some fun cards in CS3. It rocks. And somehow soothes my shattered nerves to make fun things with kid pictures and web stuff. And notice I slipped out of my usual OCD-ness and didn't put them in birth order. My friend Courtney taught me this amazing technique to put their pictures inside the circles--it's pretty advanced, I'm pretty proud of it, and you'll be seeing much, much more of it.

Tal just told me that rabbits can't vomit. Every time I've so much as leaned toward a candidate in this primary race, he has dropped out. Travis has been doing all (yes, I said ALL) my laundry. I've had quite a few hits on the recipe section of this website (Kiddos in the Kitchen), bringing us to a total of 1313 hits since October, when I finally set up the StatCounter. Those are my fun facts for today. Working on upgrading it so we can actually have some interaction.

We keep trying. This is by the back stairs. Hee hee...we have back stairs and front stairs, as if we need them for the whopping three rooms upstairs. When I opened the box, Tal said, "Oh, it's a beauty." The idea for this is that Tal will know his specific morning To-Do list when he gets up. And it is pretty. It came with a bonus four trillion Styrofoam dots. Isn't it amazing how they magically blow OUT of the vacuum cleaner? Yes, Travis, I actually used a vacuum cleaner today. Also below--my Four Peas in a Pod!

You can't see it, but I have our gourmet dinner menu on the chalkboard. This won't happen often, but since I have Dinner Done meals so conveniently in the freezer, I just whipped one out and voila--Bacon-wrapped Chicken Gargonzola.

Tal studied about Kenya today, found it on the globe in about 0.5 seconds (after first considering that since it is hot, it must be on the equator--he is JUST like his dad), and wrote five fun facts about it on his journal. He is starting to hate history less. I thought it was completely useless when I was in school, and now I am an American History buff. Go figure.