Crouton Pie

Getcha head out of the game

An amazing thing just happened.  Amber was playing with her Wii game, Jellyfish Roundup, when the potty break message appeared on the screen.  (The game pauses and shows a potty chair and a question mark.)  Even though she's still in diapers, she knew what it meant.  When the potty came on the screen she threw the controller in the air--either in glee or disgust, I'm not sure.   Leila, who has been doing so well learning to fetch, caught the controller and started running around the room with it.  Then the game came back on, and Leila actually noticed she could control the little sea creatures by moving her head!  It really looked like she was playing the game!

Leila would not give back the controller, even when I offered her one of her ice cube dog treats in exchange.  Unfortunately, it looks like we are going to have to set limits on her screen time like we have for Bronson and Hailey. 

My wonderful husband

Purcell has agreed to dress as a Leatherback turtle for the party!  Hailey and I found an old green beanbag chair at Goodwill, and we are making this into a shell for him to wear on his back.  We had to let out some of the beans to make it flatter, and now it is just perfect.  Hailey has been decorating it this afternoon with bits of moss and glitter glue.  Gardening knee pads will protect his knees as he crawls around.  He may even be able to give rides on his back to some of the smaller kids.  Today I bought some marvelous suede material to make a turtle head and legs.

Amber wants to participate too (we think).  She is so excited about Purcell's sea turtle costume and keeps trying to climb on the beanbag even while Hailey is decorating it.  She has pulled off a lot of the moss, but Hailey patiently glues it back on.  I am making an old white pillowcase into a costume for Amber: she will be a sea turtle egg.

Save the leatherback!

On Saturday morning, Bronson and the dogs came home from Australia Night in good spirits.  Bronson's only regret was that Poncho, despite his name, was not much use as a blanket.  Poncho kept wandering off to sniff around under some nearby picnic tables. 

Even after two helpings of Purcell's special RCMP pancakes Bronson was still chilled.  (RCMP stands for Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the pancakes are as big around the famed mountie Stetson.)  After her own low-cal breakfast, Leila seemed refreshed, but Bronson and Poncho spent most of the remainder of the day in bed.  Although we don't normally allow it, we decided to make an exception, since one of the emergency treatments for frostbite is since skin-to-skin contact with a person or animal.  Even without actual frostbite, it's never too early or too late to reinforce a best practice! 

Meanwhile, we worked on the invitations for Hailey's 10th birthday party.  I’m SO proud that she has decided to make the endangered sea turtle her party theme.  She’s asking her guests to donate to Sea Turtle Restoration Project (STRP) in lieu of a birthday present.  The little bit we can do to help the sea turtles will be her gift!

We plan to have the guests make decorative turtles from paper bowls and make SAVE THE LEATHERBACK posters.  We're planning a vegan menu (more like what desert tortoises eat, Hailey says).  Anyone reading this can be there with us in spirit by becoming active on behalf of the Leatherbacks. 

Australia Night

Hailey just went to bed, after we spent a wonderful mother-daughter evening together making green tea muffins and planning her birthday party.  More on that later!

For now, just a quick prayer for Bronson, Leila and Poncho, who are off at Australia Night, in honor of Australia Day.  After a night hike around the zoo, the lucky participants sleep under the stars next to the wallaby compound, with their dogs to keep them warm, just like Australia's aboriginal peoples.  Bronson's soccer coach, Victor Luna, is supervising a group of boys there.  In case of rain, everyone piles into the reptile house.  Of course this would be a better event in Australia, where it is now summer, but Bronson is so thrilled to live in a community that even acknowledges Australia Day, that neither Purcell or I wanted to put a damper on it.

How greyhounds keep their shape

I'm still not positive what Amber and Leila are doing for their New Year's resolutions, although there is pretty good evidence that Amber is teaching Leila to fetch by throwing food from her high chair.  In any case, I think that my resolution for Leila is going to have to be that she lose a few pounds.   Fortunately, this will be easy with my tried-and-true method:

I freeze little three-calorie Charlee Bear dog treats inside ice cubes.  To crunch up one cube, she actually uses up more than three calories, so it's not like eating at all!

Resolved

And so at last we're back on our usual schedule and performing our New Year's resolutions, which we always try to finish in January so as to leave time for impromptu self-improvement later in the year. As Purcell says, NOW is the most efficient moment!

According to our usual custom, we all write down our resolutions, and then put them in our Accountability Box for us to open at the end of the year.  I was a little disappointed this year that Bronson felt the need to decorate the box, burning the words "Or Else" on the lid with his wood-burning set.  But he and Hailey were very cheerful about offering to write resolutions for Amber and the pets.  I can only guess what they all resolved, but based on their behavior here's what I suspect:

Poncho is giving up peanut butter dog treats now, rather than waiting for Lent.

Amber is teaching Leila to fetch.

Bronson is finishing his Requiem for Steve Irwin, composed for drum and didgeridoo. 

Hailey is wearing her black and purple seahorse shirt no more than once a week. 

Purcell hasn't told me what he resolved, but he is is doing a fantastic job soundproofing the garage, which he started when we moved in.   Perhaps he's moving ahead now because we've finally accumulated enough old copies of the Alto Cinco Quill to use as insulation (reduce, reuse, recycle!--another good new year's motto). 

For the record, my resolution to take some quiet time for myself every day to practice my Taiko drumming is going splendidly.  It's amazing how a late-night practice session in the garage is even better than yoga for helping me relax at the end of the day and ease in to a great night's sleep!

 

Endless Winter

After such a wonderful Christmas and Boxing Day, we were delighted to realize that the Alto Cinco schools have another several days of vacation in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.  So...we're just back from a wonderful ski trip to Medieval Snowkingdom, a resort where the cabins are like serfs' huts surrounding the main lodge Castle.  When we arrived Friday night in the dark, even I had to admit that the cabin was dimly lit and cold, but, as we told the kids, we didn't go to the snow to be warm.

The next day we discovered that although it was possible to ski from our door to the slopes, it took much of the morning.  Hailey was dying to stop at the Blacksmith's Lodge, a large brown building enshrouded in a cloud of steam, which included hot rock massage therapy, sweat lodges, and a multi-level wood-fired Jacuzzi.  But we pressed on.  Purcell wore cross-country skis and towed Amber and all our supplies in an adorable little sled.

When we finally got to the slopes, all was well.  At the end of Hailey's "Snow Princess" intermediate ski class, everyone was awarded a foam crown to attach to their ski helmets.  And Bronson loved the snowboard jousting tournament. (It's very safe; the lances are made from colorful foam swimming pool "noodle" floats.)