Queso?

Recently I read an interesting article about various foods that not only benefit a particular organ in the body, but also resemble that organ in different ways. So, a tomato is not only good for your heart, but it also is red and has four chambers like the heart. A sliced carrot looks like the eye, with its pupil, iris and radiating lines, and enhances blood flow to the eyes and eye development.

This article brought great clarification to the terrible craving for avocados which I have suffered through during all the other pregnancies, because, as "they" say...

"Eggplant, Avocados and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit."

Unfortunately, it raises another question, namely, why does my mouth water with uncontrollable desire for chips and queso every time I am near a Taco Cabana?

And more importantly, what is behind the cravings of other people???

Ma-zoo-uuum

We decided this year, instead of renewing our Dallas Zoo membership, in August, 9 months pregnant, we would look for indoor, year round, AIR CONDITIONED entertainment. Oh, and educational was nice as well.

So we found the Dallas Children's Museum inside the Museum of Nature and Science, which was cheaper than the zoo pass, and came with it's own farm!

Isabelle could not be happier than to discover all the animals. She spent 45 minutes gathering plastic food in her baskets and delivering them to various animals. After we left, she told us, "Maybe, some day, I will be a farm girl."

Daniel enjoyed the animals too, and gave all of them kisses before we left.

Peter decided he would be the official tractor guy (and didn't realize there were animals around).

And they all had a blast at the sand table!

Demolition Duty

A few weeks ago my parents came into town for a few days, and along with a few brother-in-laws, we transformed our garage into a new school room for the kids. Below are some pics of the progress that we made throughout the weekend.

The old garage was just the studs, so we re-routed cold and hot water pipes through our walls along with enough electrical for 8 new sets of plugs and a 240 line for the dryer.

We installed a new wall just where the garage door tracks end so that we could still have some garage storage. We then moved the washer and dryer and also laid a 70 ft drainline for the washer around the house.
We then insulated and sheet rocked the whole garage. This was by far, the biggest home improvement project I have ever taken on. I was lucky to have a Dad with every imaginable tool available, but we were still always in need of a tape measure, even though when we cleaned up we found about 8 different ones!

We also had lots of little hands available to do the hard work like getting us more Dr. Pepper and beer!
And lots of strong men to help as well....
Peter became fascinated with the chalk line and how it worked, and he became the official chalk line operator, and to commemorate this honorable appointment, we gladly chalked some racing stripes on his face!

Bath, Bed & Buns

The weekend of Peter's birthday party, and the home construction, we had a few extra house guests, forcing Uncle Matty to sleep on a mattress on the floor. After a fun bath, Daniel broke in Uncle Matty's bed (we didn't tell Uncle Matty).

There is nothing more exciting to Daniel than a mattress on the floor!

Then we fixed our hair. Isabelle loves having her hair dried like Mommy.

As does Daniel.

Then we celebrated Peter's REAL birthday the next morning with Peter's very own cinnamon bun.