Earth Day TX

We saw that there was going to be a tiny house village at the fairgrounds for Earth Day weekend, so we decided to go and see them. We are fascinated by tiny houses, and really wanted to go inside a few. Unfortunately, there were slow moving lines at least 50 people long at each of the 10 or so tiny houses they had, so we didn't see any of them. We did see lots of other neat stuff, like dolphin and rhino skulls, and a live peregrine falcon. There was also a fire department display that taught kids fire safety. They had to crawl across the floor and feel the door with the back of their hand, then crawl over to the window and jump out.

 There was a small but very cool petting zoo. It had an Asian deer, turkeys, rabbits, chickens, goats, a wallaby and a kangaroo. Those last two might not be so exciting for everybody reading this, but in Dallas, it is exciting to pet a kangaroo and a wallaby.

There were a couple of people on stilts who had plant life all over them. Or they were ents. We still aren't sure which it was. 

Clark also got his first trophy after visiting the big game hunting booth. I have a feeling that a lot of other presenters took issue with this display, which is why my wife loved it even more. 

The kids planted some porcupine seeds they had gotten from Oma and Opa at Easter time, and they finally bloomed last week! 

Apparently they were just porcupine puppet seeds, but the kids are sure happy to have them. They are named Fred and Lizzy.

Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes

 Texas is famous for its bluebonnets. I believe that Lady Bird Johnson put a lot of energy into making sure that they were planted along highways throughout the state. There are a few good patches near the lake not too far from us. We decided to try taking a few pictures out there yesterday. It was supposed to be cloudy, but was mostly sunny so there was more squinting in the pictures than we hoped for. We hope you like them anyway.

Old Manburger

I turned six! There are six candles, so that must be right, right? This is a peanut butter cake with chocolate ganache frosting and banana jam filling. Yummy! 

Eliza is getting ready for bed, so she has anti scratching socks on her hands. They were specially designed socks that her brother used to wear on his feet. I swear we washed them first, at least. 

The kids and wife hid presents for me around the house. I love looking for gifts, but Clark couldn't resist helping me find some of them, even though we repeatedly asked him not to.

It was a great birthday. Thanks to everybody who helped make it great!

Outside Stuff

We've been having great weather recently, which means lots of time outside. We have to enjoy our brief spring and autumn periods in Dallas and get outside while we can.

Clark is so excited that he can climb in this tree all by himself now. He insisted that Yogurl take a picture of him. So here it is. Maybe gymnastics class is helping him out. 

The kids keep hunting for roly-polies. They found this one had a bunch of babies on her tummy. I don't know what you call roly-poly babies, and the picture didn't come out super clear, but you can see some of them in Yogurl's palm while she took the picture. The white on the belly of the big roly-poly is other little larva baby things. The kids were so excited about this.

We will have some more garden pictures soon probably.

Eight Month Old Daughters

How well do you know our little girls? One is Sabrina and one is Eliza. Which one is which?

Watch DOGS and First Fruits

We've been frost free for over a month! The kids are each holding a strawberry and a radish. We did cheat and buy two little strawberry plants, but the radishes, and everything else in the kids' garden behind them in this picture, were grown from seed. Okay I just realized hat the onions weren't planted from seeds either - I bought a bag of like 60 bulbs for $3. I figured that was about as cheap as seed and way easier.

Since I have Mondays off now, I was able to go and help at Sabrina's school. They have a program called Watch D.O.G.S. which is used at schools around the nation, apparently. D.O.G.S. stands for Dads of Great Students. Yogurl was super excited about me participating in this program since she has fond memories of her dad helping out at her elementary school.  I've done it twice now and it ends up being a pretty fun day.

Sabrina has been increasingly embarrassed by me of late, but she told me that I was only a little embarrassing when I helped out this past week.

And here are some "just because" pictures of Eliza. She has been practicing standing by herself recently. This has caused some sadness for her mother, who isn't ready for her to grow up, but we are excited to be able to enjoy seeing her grow and progress. What a joy children are at every stage. 

Easter

Oma and Opa decided to drive down and join us for Easter. We were so glad they were able to drive down here without much trouble and stay for a few days with us.

We had a lot of fun having them with us to celebrate our Savior's glorious resurrection. And to find eggs and eat ham. We dyed these eggs with turmeric, cranberry juice and blueberries. We also tried spinach, but those turned out even worse than the cranberry ones.

Look at these cute kids playing on a teeter-totter.

Although everybody was sad when they left, we had a wonderful visit and we will see them again in July!