Conductor

Liesel starts to dance whenever she hears music. If she sees someone conducting, she will swing her arms as well. The other day I listened to some Christmas music and she started "conducting"wildly, even though no one else was. It was Handel's Messiah "For Unto Us a Child is Born". Here is a video:

Can you hear near the end how she started "singing" along? She does that frequently at church or other times she hears singing. It's pretty cute!

Thanksgiving at School

On Tuesday I helped out with Parker's Pow-Wow Thanksgiving party at school. Jas and Liesel got to come too! Here they are after the party with turkeys painted on their cheeks, necklaces around their necks and stomachs full of fry bread and candy.

I was in charge of helping the kids make pattern necklaces, so earlier the boys had helped me dye some pasta. In case you want to try it some time, you put pasta (I used Ditalini) in a large Ziplock bag with a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol and a few drops of food coloring. Then you shake it up and pour it out on cookie trays covered with wax paper to dry. Here are the boys getting into the shaking:

The week before Parker had a Thanksgiving feast at school. He wasn't thrilled about me taking a photo in his Pilgrim outfit and was quick to flip it off as soon as he could, ha, ha.

His class made a book with Thanksgiving recipes the kids had submitted. It was hilarious!

Turkey

By Parker

Cut off their heads. Cook it for 10 minutes in a really hot over. It's done when it smells like it's all done. Put it on a plate. Eat it!

"You Better Don't Mess..."

Jason was playing with Playmobile toys today. He came in and said, "You better don't mess with Harry Potter or he will poke you. Don't mess with this guy or he will ax you." His sole knowledge of Harry Potter is seeing kids dressed up like him for Halloween, but apparently you better watch out, ha, ha! He often uses characters that he knows very little about. (There was Darth Vader hanging out earlier.)

Here is a close-up of Harry Potter (on right) and his friend.

I decided to grab the camera and ask him to tell us all about his toys. He has such a cute little voice. He is such a funny combo of loving violence and having a tender heart towards babies.

It seems this guy tried to hurt the babies, so Jason put him in jail. He is still there because he hasn't said, "Sorry, I will be kind to you".

Oh, how I love my crazy kid!

You don't have to worry, the troublemaker apologized and was released from prison.

Have You Held Any Wild Animals Lately?

While we were down in Vegas, Claire and I took the kids to Roos N More. The kids remembered it from last time and were super-excited to show Claire. It took them a little while to warm up to touching the animals, so this is all the closer they would get to the Armadillo.

For me, however, it's too rare an opportunity to pass up.

The Bear Cat (Binturong) loved smelling Claire's hair.

Liesel was not a fan, ha, ha!

I held the baby joey, but again, the boys weren't ready to be hands-on.

This joey is nearly a year old.

Yes, I let a snake get that close to my baby.

Liesel was intrigued by the Python.

The boys were brave enough to touch it!

Claire and I put it on our shoulders.

Parker petting the Coati (It's a South American cousin to the Raccoon.)

It looks like Liesel might be kicking the Coati, but she wasn't. She was just watching it with interest.

Apparently this Pirates of the Caribbean-style Capuchin monkey is a hair stylist.

Liesel liked petting it's tail.

It started playing with the rocks and jumping up high. It was hilarious!

This Capuchin is also pretty curious it seems, ha, ha, ha!

A Squirrel Monkey

They had McCaws, Parrots and other birds.

Jason was a little nervous about petting the Alpaca.

Claire with the zebra (They had painted it for a parade and hadn't washed off yet.)

Jason by the goats. You can see a "lovely" view of the backsides of camels and a "Zedonk" in the background.

Parker petting "Hedwig" the Eagle Owl.

This owl was unbelievably soft...so cool!

This one isn't yet full grown, but already has a wing-span of about five feet. The Eurasian Eagle Owl is one of the largest owls.

Seriously so soft!

Liesel was loved petting it!

Claire and Liesel

A South American Cavy

Parker and Jason checking out a Wallaby.

Grey Kangaroos (The one on the right has a joey in it's pouch.)

More Kangaroos (Red and Grey)

Claire near some Kangaroos.

This little Albino Joey is about a year old, but already has a developing joey in it's pouch. Yeah, so of course the developing baby is what Jason tried to touch, aye, yai, yai!

Apparently kangaroos can get pregnant at about a year and then every year afterward. Once the embryo is about a week old, it can either continue to develop or "pause" if there is already a baby joey in the mother's pouch. After the previous joey permanently leaves (I think it's around 8-10 months), then the embryo continues it's development. After about a month, it's born (only about an inch in size) and crawls up into the pouch. It latches on to one of the mothers teats and stays there until it's 6-7 months old. Then it starts to jump out sometimes, but still spends much of it's time in the pouch. So, from what I've learned, this baby was probably born a month or so ago, but is still not fully developed. Crazy, huh?

Here I'm petting a Grey Joey.

Here is a composite of some random footage I took of the Kangaroos.

Claire with a Toucan

Parker was very brave and held the Toucan on his arm.

It's amazingly light for how giant it's beak is.

Jason held it too!

Watching the Ring-Tailed Lemurs

Did you know all Lemurs are from Madagascar? Well, now you do.

My cousin feeding this Lemur a grape.

Holding a Kinkajou

Claire and the Kinkajou

Yes, this is DEFINITELY one of THE COOLEST places ever!

If you are ever near St. George or Las Vegas, you've got to go!