Gorgeous, Gorgeous, DAY!

Ok, now I feel I must go to the beach more often. I always think it is a lot of work, but now that all my kids are not afraid of the waves yet afraid enough not to go too deep and not eating the sand, the beach really is a piece of heaven. The transition from the beach to regular clothes wasn't as smooth as I would of liked especially with poor Dexter shivering, but it was well worth it. I just love how cooperative my kids are at working and playing together. I even got to record two of my favorite sounds waves and kids' laughter.









I really tried to get them to pose with the moon, but they were just too tired and wouldn't bother.

The 2's Are upon us!

I really believe when the girls were 2 they really had a good notion what a birthday was. Dexter seemed a little clueless about the whole event, but I don't think we built up the day either. What can I say, too many events all at once. He was very savvy with the blowing of the candles. He is such a wonderful little guy, but I do feel he exhibits more of the typical two year old behavior than the girls, but I think they could communicate better too. He knows a lot of words and feels great accomplishment when acknowledged that he is understood. Sometimes he just can't state what he wants or I am not willing to give him what he wants and he gets himself into a tizzy. Oh well, for the most part he is a great kid with delicious hugs and kisses and a wonderful delight!





Byron wanted to get Dexter some boyish gifts. My girls as well as Dexter all took to the tools. Dexter is fascinated whenever I use a screwdriver always trying to snatch it. Maybe he'll be a handyman. A mother can always hope!




Now for an examination.


The shot hurt!



Cutting off the bandage.

Paulina is a very loving doctor, giving a kiss when she is done.

Now for a bug hunt. We're ready!

The first stone we uncovered had a big pool of water and two frogs inside. What a beginning. Paulina kept going back to the frogs that she wanted to touch, but we were looking for bugs. We saw a dog and many ducks, but we had to look a lot for the bugs.





We found a millipede! What a success! Now for a well deserved bath. Some of us were feeling itchy.

Random Halloween Moments

Though I felt I wasn't really into Halloween this year (didn't put any decorations up), we managed to celebrate the season in various ways. All these birthdays so close together makes the anticipation of everything low key.































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Pumpkin Patch

After examining a few pumpkins he finally found one he liked.

Busy Halloweeny Day

We went to Lowes to make a Frankenstring magic trick, and then to the Bass Pro Shop for some fun events plus smores. We even did a little family shopping in between. Needless to say we came back exhausted but had a lot of fun. That Bass Pro Shop is Great- they even offer free fishing which I'll probably take them up on later.
Here the kids are making pumpkins. They also stamped some leather key chains with different designs.

Kids fished and won a prize!

Kids lassoed a bull and won a prize!

Kids went on a hobby horse race and won a prize! Also colored a pair a boots to enter free boot contest. Kept singing "These boots are made for walking. . ." while helping Dexter with his coloring.


Got the kids' face painted, but Paulina was so distraught when she saw her face. "I wanted a CROWN!" I am the only one who understood her. She wanted a crown instead of clown. The poor painter felt so bad for her. She only had red, black, and white paint so her range of images was limited. We had to wipe her face and give her a heart and spider web like her sister. She became appeased. Thankfully there was no line of people waiting.


Our finished projects.



Proud parents of our carved little pumpkin.

Ladybug Fest

We went to an annual Lady Bug release. It was our first time. They released 42,000 lady bugs this year. They gave us handfuls to place on the trees to eat the aphids. A lot of kids just dropped them when they got them, so there were a lot of lady bugs crawling around on the ground. Alex took her job seriously and tried to put as many as she could on the leaves, but there were too many. So cute to see the kids expressions playing with the lady bugs. It was quite an experience.










I don't understand their passion for touching bugs, but I like their enthusiasm. Funny how they were so eager to touch the Madagascar Cockroach, but if they ever see one at home they freak out. Meanwhile Dexter was investigating the baby alligator away from the crowd.




Eating of the bugs. I was surprised the kids ate them. Paulina kept telling me she wasn't going to eat them, but she did it! Alex said they tasted like cereal. Paulina liked the grasshoppers but not the millipede. To me, the grasshoppers were good (well seasoned), but the millipedes tasted like nothing.






Got to touch a baby and adult turtle. It was cool how the webbed feet grasped onto your fingers.


Enjoyed using finger paints and markers to create bug scene. Alex loved her drawing and kept working on it even when the project came to an end.


Paulina fascinated how the ball stayed up in the air.


Love how the kids stick their tongue out when they are concentrating so hard.

At the end Paulina got a big cut on her chin tripping up the stairs. She was pretty brave about it.

Quite a crowd for the Kindermusik at the library (school out). My girls loved it though Dexter was luke-warm. He wasn't quite sure of all the activities though got into a few. Like how Paulina is trying to zip this kids jacket during the photo. She just loves helping people to dress. She constantly is snapping my snaps on my robe, putting her dad's belt on and taking his shoes and socks off.

Marching, jumping, and scarves.




Mirrors and musical instruments.


Finger Puppets and parachutes.

Visited the Christmas Carol Train. We got to get a taste of the movie's 3-D preview, and I was impressed. It will definitely be a hit. I find story kind of dark for me to fully enjoy, but the imagery is awesome. Paulina was so proud of herself when she made it through the preview but freaked out when she thought they were going to play it again. Alex was eager to see it again and Dexter was fine. It was fun having the snow flakes falling all around in the movie. It is probably depressing in the North but a refreshing image in hot 90 degreed Miami. Couldn't really appreciate all the information the train had about the making of the movie with three kids in tow, but got a nice overview. Really glad we went early and beat the crowds.


Displayed models of the set and the costumes plus Dickens writing.

Videos on the making of the movie.




Here we got to explore the town via computerization, and go into different places and answer questions about the movie.


We got to Morph our faces into four of the movies characters. They will e-mail us the picture we chose.


The last on our tour was some Christmas decor.



Paulina trying to jump rope in the relay race. She took Alex's place when she backed out.

Pretty Faces

Alex LOVED her face and kept going back to the mirror to make sure her make-up wasn't sweated off like her siblings. Paulina loved her big balloon unfortunately it didn't last too long. She went back in line to get another when she complained she wanted another balloon. I pretended I didn't know her. Then when her second bit the dust, she went back in line. Quite tenacious. I swear she really be-lines it to whatever she wants and gets it.

Little Pumpkin Patch

Found a little pumpkin patch at The Little Farm. My kids loved interacting the animals. Dexter was giggling chasing them all over though needed reminders when getting a little rough. Paulina was excited to hear all the sounds the animals made especially the rooster and even the turkey gobbled. Dexter had his first pony ride and handled it like a pro.

Dragon Love

Alexandria's 5th Birthday!!!!

I was very unmotivated on what to do for Alex's BD so at the last minute decided just to have the family over with pool, music, singing, pinata, etc., and brought some cupcakes to her school. Got three birthday songs! She was shy when I had the guy at the park sing to her hiding behind the stroller. She had a good time and was pretty relaxing for everyone. She loved her cake that she picked the decorations for. I thought she would pick a more childish design, but not my young lady.

Halloween season is starting!

Celebrating Halloween at the Museums. Kind of funny how they decided to design their costumes reflects their personalities. Alex wanted to make one exactly like the one displayed, and I had the help in the whole process while Paulina shrugged me off and created her red monster all on her own using her own resources.

Birthday, birthday

Birds & Bats

My three little chicks.

We spent our time at the Wings of Asia section. It is really nice and peaceful in the exhibit. They also have an interactive game where they compare beaks to human tools and you have to guess which bird's beak matches the tool (Alex liked it). We encountered some cool looking birds. Next time I'll take notes and remember their names. They did have charts all over identifying the birds.








When I saw this tree with all these birds on it, I couldn't help but sing- "on the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . ."



My kids had fun chasing a peacock all over. We went up and down stairs and everywhere. They really wanted to see him spread his feather, but he wouldn't cooperate.



My kids love to play in the dino-pit, but they get so filthy. Luckily playing in the splash water area helped clean them up.

Today in class we learned about bats! I even wore a bat shirt and didn't even know that was the topic. After learning about them we got to see a rat (our last mammal), and then we got to play a echolocation bat game. We blinded kids to be a bat and insect and used clickers for the bat to locate his prey. Paulina was the bat, but was unable to get her food. Alex was too scared to try. Then we saw some real wild bats in the rafters. We also roosted like a bat and saw the bats on display in the Amazon section.