Window Shopping

We had a great time taking a few minutes for a girls day out with the Turner ladies. We went window shopping at Levi's Commons and then ducked in to Books a Million for some hot cocoa. We spent some cash in Claire's on some awesome accessories. It was a few days after Christmas and still warm enough to go without a coat! But a little rainy. :)

Quote of the Day

Paul was "entertaining" Maryn and I with his rendition of "Sexy and I Know It"*  complete with dance moves.
After some... err, awkward moments (dancing and singing aren't his strong suits)...I had to comment.

"WHERE did you get those dance moves?"

Without skipping a beat, he threw back "From white boys can't dance dot com of course!"

We both started laughing hysterically. Then after a moment, Maryn suddenly stopped mid-laugh and asked in all sincerity. "Wait. Really?"

*(Just for the record, this song is not played in our house. But you can hardly avoid it if you happen to be , well, anywhere else...especially junior high or high school)

Six and up my foot...

Santa brought Conner a K'nex set for Christmas. It sets up as a Mario Kart Wii style race track. The box labels the toy as appropriate for 6 and up.

What six year old can put that together I ask you?!?!

My brother commented that perhaps the age indication was an enjoyment age, not an assembly age. :)

It took ME more then four hours with assistance. I need words, not pictures with arrows to tell me what to do. Would a few "Put the red stick thing-a-ma-bob in the the red spiky thingamajigs and attach that to another orange rectangle doohickey..." be too much to ask?

They had a ton of fun with it until we ran out of batteries.

"The worst museum ever..."

The day after the day after Christmas, when all of the fam was here, Mel, Mandy and I took the older girls up to the Art Museum. They had some Irish Dancing and Ballet going on in the galleries...and several of those coming along had not been to the museum before.

For those unfamiliar with the museum, the pic above is of the girls in front of Monet's "Water Lilies" The REAL one. Honest to goodness. 

As we wandered through the many galleries, MAddie (second from the right) commented that this was the " worst museum ever." When asked why she said "Don't you see all of these naked people?"

How do you explain art?

Old Fashioned Christmas-1895 One Roomed School House

I loved this. Every moment. I have times I truly feel like I was born in the wrong decade...or possibly century. Although I would like to keep the central heat and indoor plumbing.

When we walked in, they stove in the middle of the room radiated warmth, and the scent of the burning wood filled the room. Its a smell that immediately makes me feel comfortable and homey. We were greeted by the interpretor who wore a pin striped suit with a vest and bowler hat. He asked each of us to take seat at one the desks. He went over the classroom rules (and I think my younger ones were temporarily terrified); no speaking unless spoken to and sit properly in your chair with feet flat on the floor. We were sternly reminded that breaking the rules would result in a trip to the corner with a dunce hat decoration.

The interpretor goes over "expectations"

Ashlyn looks like she's contemplating escape.

 He went over how people attended school back then. He played and we sang "Jingle Bells" on the organ in the corner. We looked over a McGuffey reader. We made ribbon ornaments and folded fan ornaments from paper. The boys poked cloves into oranges and we enjoyed some wassail and peppermints.

The tree was charming and there were wooden boxes filled with gifts that were typical of the time period.