A Little C, If You Please

When everyone in the house has a cold, or is just sick and tired of it all, it's time to make fruit salad. It's easy to make, oh-so-good for you and cures whatever ails you.

First, pick the fruit. Our mix today included blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, oranges, kiwi fruit and bananas.

What?!? I can't hear you! I've got a banana in my ear!

Kiwi! Taylor thinks these are cool because they look like hairballs
before they're peeled. :)

Taylor's favorite mix.

Put your fruit mix in a big plastic container with a tight fitting lid. Shake it like you mean it while listening to your favorite music.

Shakin' it to the Freezepops!

Put the last of the fruit on top and ta-da! You're done.
Time to eat!

Dig in!

Taylor is fighting off a cold, John is fighting off fatigue and I am headed to work. Needless to say, over half of the fruit salad is already eaten.

Kristin

Birds, Birds Everywhere

Taylor and John attended a bird show today at Bath Nursery and Garden Center, right here in good ol' Fort Collins. Known as Bird Day at Bath, the event is held as part of the garden center's community events calendar and features hands-on learning experiences with parrots, owls, falcons, eagles, ducks and chickens. Quite a timely event for the 2nd grade classes at Linton Elementary, as they are smack dab in the middle of their birds unit in science.

There were exotic birds, birds of prey and farm birds to learn about at the show. Taylor's favorite? Pedgy the Cockatoo. Here he is hamming it up for the kids and the camera!

A Pedgy the Cockatoo closeup.

Pedgy's favorite trick is to pose, then ask for a treat!

Taylor seizes an opportunity to admire Pedgy close-up, along with
some of her classmates.

Taylor is currently doing an in-depth study on two different birds for her science unit, the oriole and the peacock. While neither species made a showing at Bird Day, Taylor learned a bunch of interesting stuff about other kinds of birds. She was especially fascinated by the parrots' ability to mimic. She enjoyed seeing all of the parrots perform in the bird show and learned some cool tricks for training birds. I thought this would encourage a full-on blitzkrieg about getting a bird as a pet, but so far she hasn't said a thing. Whew!

There were red ones...

and green ones...

and blue ones to see.

Small ones...

and round ones...

And everything in between!

After the bird show, it was chow time. John and Taylor took a walk around Old Town, then decided that some Beau Jo's pizza would hit the spot. Not a bad Daddy-Daughter Date Day!

The waterfall in the middle of Old Town Square looked more
like an ice sculpture today.

A great way to end the day. A little lemonade and some of the best
pizza around.

Kristin

MLKJ Day

Ah, Martin. The world would be a better place with you still in it.

I find it eerie that MLK, Jr. was assassinated 17 days after I was born and that 9/11 happened 18 days after Taylor was born. While I love to listen to all of his speeches, I am most moved by this one. It's like he knew...

Kristin

A Glorious Sunrise

Did anyone happen to catch the sunrise this morning?

Three pictures, one word: WOW.

Kristin

Is There an Echo in Here?????

Um, yeah.

Hold on to your knickers. I've got about 20 unpublished posts that will be coming out quicker than a Dugger baby. If you know anything about the Duggers, you know that's PDQ!

Kristin

Reading Binge

Firmin : This must be the most unusual book I've ever read. But fun! A neglected runt of a mouse finds himself growing up in a bookstore. What's that saying about simple beginnings?

Interpreter of Maladies : Quietly stunning. These stories stay in my head long after I'm done reading them.

The Collected Stories of Grace Paley : I've tried to "get" Grace Paley for years. I'm still not there, but I'm enjoying the journey. Some of her lines are simply unforgettable.

Twilight and New Moon : I've finally, after much hem-hawing, been sucked into the latest vampire phenomenon. I'm a very reluctant fan.

The Spice Merchant's Daughter : I love this book! An inventory of spices, followed by great recipes and anecdotal tie ins. What's not to love?
Oh, and then you get to the back cover and find out the author is drop dead gorgeous...

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men : Wow. This author is ridiculously talented and so incredibly intelligent that I'm sometimes left wondering why I'm attempting to read his stuff. Then I keep reading because he writes about the psychological underpinnings of human behavior and it's fascinating. He's also avante garde with his style and delivery. Quite refreshing, not to mention frustrating at times.

Throw in three paperbacks, two cook books, three magazines and a smattering of yoga instruction books and you've got my free time mapped out. Time to get back to work!

Kristin

It's That Time of Year Again...

Yup. You guessed it. Girl Scouts are swarming the nation selling boxes of cookies. Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Samoas, Do-Si-Do's, just to name a few.

I'm surprised at the timing of the cookie campaign. If the financial picture in our country isn't dismal enough to curb a cookie buying spree, then the it's-immediately post-Christmas-and-I-can't-fit-into-my-jeans-plus-I've-made-a-New Year's-resolution-to-lose-50-pounds-in-a-month mentality prevalent in the first weeks of the new year would seem to prove deterrent enough. Am I a pessimist at heart? Not really. I'm just curious how the cookie thing will turn out this year.


From the Official Website of Girl Scouts of the USA:

The activity of selling cookies is directly related to our purpose of helping all girls realize their full potential and become strong, confident, and resourceful citizens.

• Girl Scouts practice life skills like goal setting, money management, and teamwork—and they have fun!
• Customers get a great product and get to support girls in their own community.
• All of the proceeds support Girl Scouting in the local community.

From the Official Blog of a Girl Scout Mom:

The activity of selling cookies is directly related to our purpose of helping our girl realize that mom and dad are not made of money, nor do we have a money tree growing in the back yard.

• Girl Scouts practice life skills like trying to remember where they put that check from Mr. Johnson, cramming 6 boxes of cookies in bags sized to fit 4, and acting like they don't care who sold the most cookies--and this is supposed to be fun!
• Customers get harassed into buying more cookies than they really want or need, but realize the cookies are pretty good eats.
• All of the proceeds support Girl Scouting in the local community, which is important (refer to the money tree thing).

So let the games begin! Taylor has set a pretty lofty goal this year--to outdo herself from last year. We're talking hundreds of boxes of cookies people! Wish us luck.

Kristin

After Christmas Fun

Whew! After a week of broth, clear juice and lots of rest, I think I'm going to live. Better yet, I'm able to enjoy some free time with Taylor and John. After a rather dismal start to Christmas Break, we're all relatively healthy and have the opportunity to go do some family stuff.

Taylor and I went bowling a couple of days ago--just the two of us. No pictures of our all-female battle with the pins. We were much too busy trash talking and celebrating end-zone style whenever we managed to hit anything. Of note, Taylor broke the 100 mark throwing the ball all on her own. Way to go Taylor!

Next on the list was making cookies. Since we didn't have the opportunity to make Christmas cookies together, we decided to make the all-time fave: Double Chocolate Chip.

Love the cookie scoop! When I wasn't looking, Taylor dropped a
whole scoop of dough in her mouth. :)

Chocolatey Goodness Smile!

We also made some Peanut Butter and Honey dog cookies in preparation for our trip out to Aunt Abby's house. Abby has 8 fur babies of the canine variety that we love to spoil with homemade treats. She also has three kitty cats, but I haven't figured out how to make homemade treats for felines...

We planned a movie night/lasagna dinner at her house, complete with a belated, but much anticipated opening of presents. Tonight was the night and what a wonderful time it was! Much barking, laughing, good food and great company. Oh, and let's not forget the presents...

Oooooohhhhhh....The Dress!
Taylor put it on immediately and wished she'd brought her tiara with her.

Ooooooohhhh...The Pink Slippers!
If the dress wasn't enough of a hit already, the pink slippers
were the icing on the cake.

Notice the discarded pajamas on the floor...
When we arrived home from Abby's, Taylor almost had a complete
meltdown over not being allowed to wear her princess garb to bed.

We've also been out shopping, meeting friends for lunch and enjoying a little Guitar Hero when all three of us are home. Does anyone else see a sight similar to this every evening after supper?

Taylor was stuck on the 'easy' version of the song "Strutter" by KISS
for far too long. She's finally branched out and found that
Guitar Hero World Tour has tons of cool songs.

As I perhaps mentioned before, I only play video games when alone and unsupervised. :) John and Taylor, on the other hand, are naturals at this type of hand/eye coordination. I don't know what genetic defect I have that makes video games a type of torture, I just know that in over 20 years of trying, I haven't improved one little bit. *sigh*

We've still got a few days of Christmas Break left to enjoy. We're hoping to squeeze in some girl time for a manicure or pedicure and maybe take a trip south to see some of the fun stuff in Denver.

Kristin

Bonne Annee 2009!

Happy New Year everyone!

As usual, we weren't big on celebrating the actual countdown to the new year. Taylor struggled to keep her eyes open until the ball dropped in Times Square, NY. Then it was off to bed with her. John and I weren't very far behind. :)

If there were fireworks planned of the magnitude seen in Brazil (above photo), I would have given serious thought to giving midnight some serious effort...

Kristin