Riley’s birthday ended up being spread out over three separate days: One party for the pigs, one for friends and extended family, and another one when Daddy was in town. The BIG party was a costume affair, complete with a haunted house cake, a scavenger hunt and playground time (across the street). The weather was blustery but warm. Cake was enjoyed by all. Presents were enjoyed (specifically but not only) by Riley. This was the year we decided to ask friends not to give us presents (because honestly we have enough already), and instead to donate to a charity of our choosing. Riley chose Heifer. He made a fundraising page and raised enough money to purchase an entire water buffalo. (Yay!) But he did receive gift from family and Pigs. Riley’s multi-day celebration set a precedent and what we now know is a slippery slope. (How many cakes does one Pig really need to fully celebrate a day-of-birth?)

Emmett’s party, too, spanned many days. One party, his Minecraft Party, was just for friends. There were Minecraft games (searching for gems), crafts (making a Minecraft face out of small, iron together circles), and finally some Minecraft time on the iPad. It included a Minecraft cake that was both colorful and tasty. Emmett chose the Red Cross for his birthday donations. He was happy to help people affected by flood and fire. Then Emmett has his Pig Party, where he opened gifts from Mom and Dad and had a small cake. And finally, Emmett had his extended family party, which also included cake and presents. Mostly both boy Pigs had these multi-day parties because their actual birthday fell on a day when Dad was out-of-town or was during the week, and, thus, not a good day to invite people over to party. In the future (after, of course, Tessa gets her turn at a three-day-party-binge), we will see what can be done to have a smaller or more condensed party schedule for each Pig.)

After E’s parties came Hanukkah and Christmas. Both were great, and intertwined, successes. Santa came and stuffed stockings. He left Riley and Emmett big-boy-bikes, complete with hand brakes and gear changers. There were many science kits and craft kits and kits of other kinds. The only fly in the ointment was the poorly timed Christmas Eve virus that kept Tessa in bed with a fever and a headache. She missed (missed!) Christmas at Pop-pop’s. But she is already mostly recovered, so it was good to let her sleep. Her enthusiasm and fun-seeking-ness hasn’t let this keep her down. She’s enjoying playing with everything and after a good, long cry yesterday when she woke and realized that she wasn’t going to get to go to Pop-pop’s, she got over it. (Why wallow, really?) Her favorite present was an 80’s throwback of the game Simon. She and Riley played with it for hours. But a close second was the Wizard’s Science, where the Pigs created glow-in-the-dark potions along with a crystal wand and color changing spells.

Asher’s been enjoying the party season, too. He got a Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and Zurg toys from Santa and those are easily the best, best toys he’s ever received. (He discovered the older Pig’s Buzz costume a few weeks ago and has been in character ever since.) Buzz has saved all the other toys in the house. He’s rounded up Woody to help defeat Zurg on many occasions. And its quite common to hear Asher yell “Not today, Zurg,” and then see Zurg hit the ground. Asher also loves the instruments Santa left him (of course, his favorite are the drums). Riley loves his harmonica too and asked if he can have harmonica lessons and take a break from ukulele for a bit. Asher also got a bunch of new Transformer jammies and socks and undies, which is fortuitous given that his Transformer jammies double (and sometimes triple) as everyday wear. (Many-days-in-a-row everyday wear.)

Our holiday season is still afoot, but we’ve rounded out what we’ve experienced so far with a trip to the Nutcracker Ballet for Emmett and Mommy, Paw Patrol Live for the entire crew, and a Zoo Lights visit with Santa where every Pig save Riley drew a blank when the Big Man asked what they wanted for Christmas. Emmett said honestly and quietly, “I dunno. I’m kind of freaking out right now.” Riley, on the other hand, detailed his ideal version of a race car track. Way to think on your feet, Riley. Our hip-hop class, a swim day at the rec center, and cardboard space shuttle building all fall in there somewhere too. Oh, and both boys each lost two teeth. So, the Tooth Fairy brought many books for all, as well. Busy!

Stay tuned, as we have New Year’s and then Tessa’s birthday coming up.

Have a light filled New Year!
The Pigs

“We might move to Moo Hamster?”
–Tessa, hearing that Daddy was offered a new job in New Hampshire

“Never!”
–Asher, when asked to come sit at the table for lunch

“Can I have a blaze donut, please?”
–Riley, thinking glaze donuts were called blaze donuts

“I’d like a grand canalie!”
–Emmett, when asked by his skateboard instructor if he’d wanted to see the “grand finale” (a skating trick)

“I’ll be back. Mwa-ha-ha-ha!”
–Asher, running away when it was time to leave the park and go home

“Mama, I love to dance. You know that?”
–Emmett, continuing a theme he first expressed more than four years ago

“Mama, what’s this?”
“Well, you’ve already eaten the frosting on top, so its what’s underneath. Its the cake part of your cupcake, Asher.”
“Bee-u-tiful.”
–Asher, right before stuffing the entire cake portion of his cupcake into his mouth

“Don’t worry, Mama. Its like the Bob Marley song… Everything’s gonna be alright.”
–Emmett, reminding Mom to always look on the bright side

“Who is this? The Police? I like them. Its a good song.”
–Emmett, confirming something Mom has known for decades

“Ah, this is the life. Laying in the sun with nothing to do.”
–Tessa, who apparently feels one-and-a-half days of school a week is too taxing

“In an octopus’ garden, in the shade.”
–Tessa, strumming her uke and belting out the song, with a wide smile splitting her face and her eyes closed

“I love you, Mama.”
–Emmett, while watching TV, kissing his fingertips and reaching across the couch to touch Mom’s face, never looking away from the television screen

“Why did the carrot cross the road?”
“Why, Tessa?”
“Because it needed a car! Get it? Car-rot?”
–Tessa, laughing a full belly laugh, clearly thinking her jokes are funny

Ahhh, Disney. What can we say? From start to finish, our week-long trip in the Magic Kingdom was, well, magical. We met all of our favorite characters, rode the rides we wanted to ride without waiting in long lines, trick-or-treated the Halloween Spooktackular as zombie pirates (Mom and Dad, too), and even spent a day in the hotel pool with a crazy cool waterslide. We got pulled up to sit in the front at stage shows, and were called on in audience Q-and-A’s. In Disney parlance, almost our entire trip was sprinkled with pixie dust. So much so, that when we went on a ride where Tessa raised her hand to ask a question when prompted and she wasn’t called upon, she found it odd.

“But, Mommy, they didn’t let me talk!”

Mom explained that out of a hundred people in the audience, she was one of many and there were other people who had their hands up too. Still, she was stumped.

“But, Mommy, they’ve always let me talk before.”

And who could argue with that? Out of five kids called on to ask questions in a Finding Nemo ride, the three big pigs all spoke to Crush the turtle. Riley was asked to stand up and lead the “lion” section at a live Lion King show with his best, meanest lion roar. (Best roar ever.) Most every where we went, Disney characters seemed genuinely interested in hearing what we had to say or just stopping to say hi and give us hugs. (Even Daddy felt the love when Chewbacca pulled him out of our group to give him a huge hug after we took pictures.)

Our hotel room was sprinkled with pixie dust too. Not only did it have enough bathrooms to accommodate our craziness during shower times, but we all actually slept in our bedroom and let Mom and Dad sleep in theirs. (There were one or two meltdowns that Mom and Dad hoped weren’t overheard in the hall or in the next room over. After a few days, though, they realized they never heard other children yelling in the other rooms. And since there had to be other kids throwing fits in the hotel, Mom and Dad started saying “Disney World, where no one can hear you scream.”) Something that kept us occupied, and less likely to pick at each other, was our easy access to animal viewing. Our room faced the savannah side, and we got to watch giraffes, ostriches, wildebeests, and a bunch of other African animals hanging out under our balcony. They had a huge space to hang out in, but–like the characters in the parks–they seemed to want to entertain just us and they mostly stayed right in front of our building. It was great.

Sweet T picked up her Halloween costume at Disney. So did E. Keep an eye out in the next few weeks to see those modeled… Little Man never wants to wear the clothes we got when we dressed up as zombie pirates. His was a t-shirt and shorts with a pirate Mickey on them. Maybe he’s just over piracy. Or, it could be that he was fast asleep when we all got our makeup done at the Pirate’s League in the park–his too, he slept through the entire thing–and woke to find his whole family with skeleton faces, including his own. He didn’t cry, but for a bit he was standoffish. Before the end of the night, he asked if we could take “the pirates off our faces.” When we got back to our hotel room, that proved easier said than done. That makeup just wouldn’t wash off. (Mom hoped this would convince Tessa that any makeup–not just costume makeup–was best left for when she’s much older.)

In addition to Disney fun, we started some new classes this past month. Our skateboarding is, like us, awesome. We are going to the Denver Skate Park once a week to take lessons with a sponsored pro. And we hit up the school across the street to practice. Emmett is definitely the most dedicated, and its paying off for him. Mom and Dad got boards too. Dad even took his back to work with him to practice while he’s away. But you know what they say: The family that skates together, stays together. (Right?) Anyway, we love that Mom and Dad are hanging tough with skating. It gives us courage to get up after each fall when we see them doing the same. And boy, did Dad take a huge digger! But he got right back up. Like Mom says, “We fall so we can learn to get back up.” He’s really quite good at that.

And today we started a one-day-a-week school. Its meant as an enrichment for homeschooled (or, in our case, unschooled) kids through the public school system. But the cool thing is we get to do everything from robotics to spanish to lego storytelling and instead of it becoming overwhelming and boring ’cause we’d spend every waking moment there, we only do it once a week. We were wiped when Mom picked us up today, but we all said we had a great day. Riley told his new class mates about his upcoming birthday party (end-of-the-month, so save the date!) and he’s looking forward to inviting new friends. Tessa said she loved “tunnel tag” the best. And E said his favorite part was science class. Yay, E!

Little Man gets to hang out with Mommy all day while the big pigs are at school. He didn’t love the idea at first, but there were some extra cookies and snuggles that swayed him. He’s talking so much more now, and using some pretty complicated words. He told Mom today that the idea of him eating lunch was “ridiculous.” Funny and smart. Cute too. What a fantastic little pig. Actually, not so little, he’s in the 75th percentile for height! Everyone at the park thinks he’s like 4- or 5-years-old. He’s gonna be tall, like his biggest brother…

So, to sum up: Great Disney trip. Great return to home. Best of both worlds.

Here’s to it getting even better…

Love,
The Pigs

Hi All!

Exciting times here, at Pig-Central. We moved (again) and are hoping that we will know for sure soon when Daddy will be done with his Army job and back with us full-time. But, for now, we are living in the city. Close to museums, parks, and new play opportunities. Right across the street is an elementary school, with 4 big playgrounds and a huge field to run around in. We are going to get a good kickball game going there later…

Riley lost another tooth and Tessa lost her first. The tooth fairy brought books and a little candy. But we preferred the books. The candy was Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans (we have finished the Percy Jackson series and are now reading Harry Potter) and Riley made the mistake of biting into a pepper-flavored one. But, honestly, that was luck because it made us all look at the back of the box so we could pick out and throw away the other flavors that we thought we’d best steer clear of (think: vomit-, soap-, and earwax-flavored).

We are enjoying our new house. Its got the same room set-up (Asher and Riley share, while T-bone and Emmett each have their own.) But now Riley and Asher have their own bathroom, which is nice for Mom and Dad so they aren’t woken up every two minutes with Pigs traipsing in and out to pee. There is a great basement with a finished crawl space under the stairs that we made into a pillow-crowded secret hideout. We also got welcome-to-your-new-home Lego sets and are in the middle of completing those. (Emmett finished his in one day!)

We also finished up our summer soccer league and swimming and now we are taking ukelele lessons. We’ll take a break from swim for a bit, but look for us to start skateboarding lessons soon…

Tomorrow, its back to school-time and reading aloud with Daddy over FaceTime. But we’ve enjoyed our brief time off for the move. Next up: Disneyworld at the end of the month! Yay!

Be well,
The Pigs

Thank you so much for expressing interest in our Pig-in-Training Program. We’ve been auditioning new Pigs for awhile now, and–as you can see-no one yet has had quite what it takes to make a go in this rough-and-tumble Pig World. In order to expedite further inquiries, we’ve compiled a questionnaire, hoping to narrow down the hordes showing up at the open casting calls. Please take a moment to answer the following:

As a Pig, your favorite animal food would be:
A) bird seed B) dog food C) hamster treats

If you answered B, you could be thismuchcloser to becoming a Pig. Tessa has expressed her love of Isaac’s dog food on many occasions. At one point, Mom had to shoo her away from the dog bowl to prevent her from consuming too much of Isaac’s meal.

Pigs generally prefer:
A) mermaid tails B) fairy wings C) four sizes too big flip flops

This was really a trick question because the answer is All of the Above. Emmett first fell in love with merman tails and he brought Riley and Tessa around fairly quickly. (However, Tessa’s vote faltered momentarily when, after wearing her tail in the tub, she slipped and fell while pretending to be a standing up mermaid, conking her chin and teeth on the tub ledge and biting clean through her lip. True story. But, as a true Pig, Tessa put her tail back on and kept on swimming.) Check out the Flickr pics. And though Asher has had his turn with a merman tail, he prefers any adult sized flip flips. As long as they cause him to walk wonky and threaten to trip him up with every step, they make the grade.

When chatting up swim instructors, what is something a Pig could have plausibly said?
A) “No, its Daddy that loved Legos growing up. Mommy didn’t like Legos when she was little because she’s Jewish.” B) “But did you know that anaklusmos is Greek for riptide?” C) “I always have the correct answers to your questions. And, I’ll usually answer before the boys.”

Again, a trick question. If you answered, All of the Above, you may just have what it takes to join our crew. Ready to double down? Who said all of the above quotes? If you answered Tessa, you would be not only correct, but you’d be naming the chattiest of our crew. Here are some of Tessa’s other memorable mouthy moments: “But I don’t want to stop talking. I like the sound of my voice;” “I know you asked me to be quiet, but I wasn’t ready to stop talking;” and “If you can’t get him to hear you, I can help. Its not hard for me to make my voice really, really loud.”

Ok, moving on… Let’s test your Pig Preferences Knowledge. This category usually knocks out at least half of the Pig Applicants.

Which Pig enjoys: A) chewing his/her own toe nails, B) reading the Percy Jackson book series, C) hiding in the pantry to poop, D) coming up with elaborate sink adventures for his/her Lego minifigures? If you said, (in this order) Tessa, Riley, Asher (I threw you a bone there, that was an easy one), and Emmett–you are starting to think like a Pig.

Let’s keep rolling… Which Pig enjoys: A) yelling “Dangerous!” when it thunders, B) hiding snack bars in his/her bed for mid-night snacks, C) sneaking downstairs at night when everyone else is asleep to play, D) spelling out words such as candy and ipad around Asher? If you said, (in this order) Asher, Tessa, Emmett and Riley, you could be a Pig-in-Practice.

Which Pig enjoys: A) a Personal Happy Dance demo at our Lights Out Dance Parties, B) regularly requesting “desert for dinner and dinner for desert”, C) imagining what to call monster mash-ups (as in, dinopotamus), D) chilling on the deck without anything more than underwear on as well as taking long drives similarly attired? Again, this was a trick. All of the Pigs love all of those things.

Last one: Which Pig enjoys: A) military history (with an emphasis on ancient civilizations), B) requesting super hero powers daily (as in, “Mommy, I want to fly like Green Lantern. When can I get that power?”), C) verifying the truth of what he/she reads in books (as in, “Daddy, are dryads and naiads real?”), D) obsessing over driving the car, to the point where he/she has put the keys in and turned on the ignition? If you said, (in this order) Riley, Emmett, Tessa, and Asher, you’d be right!

Please take the above completed questionnaire to your nearest post box, addressing it Pig Land, USA, and affix one silly sticker and one forever stamp. We read applications quarterly (the next deadline is Halloween) so stay tuned. And keep up the good work. Although not all of you will qualify, you will surely improve your quality of laugh (if not slightly decreasing the ease of your nightly bedtime routine).

We will be in touch.

The Pigs

The summer sun is starting to shine, albeit intermittently here in Colorado. The neighborhood pool opened over the holiday weekend, but when we stopped in for a dip it wasn’t warm enough to stay for very long. But the early sunrise and late sunset mean our days are long and we find ourselves searching for things to occupy our time. We read a lot, and we keep up with our school work. We play outside, and we take field trips to local museums and places of fun. (Lots of places of fun. Check out the pictures.) And though the season’s not yet arrived with full, hot weather, we feel antsy. Waiting for it.

Tessa’s learned to ride a two-wheeler. We got her a new bike to celebrate the occasion and we updated the rest of our bikes with some cool duct tape decorating. She’s still practicing starting on her own, but she’s pretty good at stopping–which is nice. Baby really, really wants to master the bike riding skill (whether he wants to put in the work, though, to get there is debatable) to be like the big kids. He doesn’t get that we started on big wheels, then rode small bikes with training wheels, before trying the two-wheeler. But his determination might just get him there from the get-go. Stay tuned.

We’ve been to the Children’s Museum and the Zoo recently. We took a behind the scenes tour of the Tropical Discovery Area at the zoo, getting to meet some of the aquarium denizens. We fed a Komodo dragon some dead mice. Learned about poison dart frogs and Asian forest turtles. The zookeeper was super nice, listening to us talk about Tessa’s new bike and how we were going to Pop-pop’s after our tour to blow bubbles and eat popsicles. Asher napped for most of the tour. Mom and Dad thought that was a good choice on his part, as his attempt to climb in the Komodo dragon’s enclosure was met with a big, fat ‘No.’

We start a summer soccer league (each and every one of us) next weekend. We can’t wait for our shinguards and new soccer shoes to come in the mail so we can try them on and see exactly how awesome we all look kitted up. (Obviously, we will look super awesome. Of course.) The sessions are at an area rec center we just discovered. It has a trampoline area, a kids obstacle course, and a pool with a big water slide and whirlpool (as in, get yourself stuck zooming around and around and need to have someone reach in and pull you out, whirlpool). Outside it has a sprinkler park we haven’t tried yet and a zipline and climbing wall we aren’t big enough to try. Overall, a good find.

We are deep into the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series. We like to talk about Greek gods and Greek heroes. It dovetails nicely with our Ninja and Zen studies. We talk about reaching our true-potential, knowing ourselves, and doing-no-harm. All good things. We aren’t sure why the Greek gods seems so mean, though. We got a ‘Brick Greek Myths’ book from the tooth fairy (Emmett lost another tooth!) which features Lego scenes depicting Greek Myths and some of those people just seemed to make one bad choice after another. Tessa said that if she were there, in the myth with those gods and heroes, she’d tell them all what’s up so that everyone can live a long, happy life. You go, Sweet T!

Our favorite babysitter from our old CO neighborhood is back home for the summer, fresh from her first year of college. She comes and plays with us, hanging out while we play in the backyard with bubbles, chalk, or squirt guns or zoom around the cul-de-sac on our bikes, and we really appreciate her help. Pop-pop is a regular here too, which lets Mom get out, which we also really appreciate. (At least Mom does.)

Weather forecast says 80s are coming, so we are hoping to spend some quality time at the pool. Emmett advanced in his swim level, and now both he and Riley are Stingrays, while Sweet T is still a Sea Turtle. Whether we hang out at the pool depends on how much they all apply their swim lesson skills while playing in the pool. Only Riley does that, at this point. And having three Pigs act like they can’t get in any water over their heads (thus necessitating either Mom or Dad to yell, “What are you doing? You know how to swim!”) can be too much for any adult.

Check back in and see how it all goes.

With love,
The Pigs

“Mama, where you at?”
–Asher

“Tessa, when Emmett and I fought Darth Vader and Darth Maul at Disneyland, how come you didn’t want to be chosen to fight them? Were you afraid of them?” Riley asked Tessa.
“No,” Tessa paused, tapping a finger on her lip, before continuing. “I think I was just afraid of being afraid.”
“You know, Tessa,” Riley said, “you can’t let your fear run away with you.”

“Mailys are not fun.”
–Tessa, writing an email (called a Maily) for schoolwork

“You can never change the past.”
–Riley, answering the question about why we don’t dwell on what’s already happened

“When I grow up, I’m going to have a brown baby. A fantastic brown baby. Like me!”
–Emmett

“You know, Mars is too cold to have any Martians on it.”
–Tessa

“Its got more potential energy!”
–Riley, when Tessa asked why a trampoline, who’s material allows for more give while jumping, will push someone higher than our bounce house

“Because Mommy, I taste good.”
–Tessa, when asked why she chews on her fingers

“No, no. Nanna in toes.”
–Asher, directing Daddy to put a banana in between his toes so he could eat it, like a character he saw on Paw Patrol

“No. Read! Read!”
–Asher, after being told its time to go to bed

Although spring has arrived, its been snowy here. More snowy than before Spring sprung. We’ve enjoyed the storms, playing in the heavy, wet, slushy stuff and realizing that spring snow is not ideal for snowmen or for snowballs. But it is ideal for snow drives and appreciating its blanketing effect from the comforting warmth of the kitchen window. The most perfect thing about spring snow in Colorado is that within a few days its melted and everything greens up. So, all evidence of our three blizzards has transformed our neighborhood into emerald perfection.

Into this blaze of color, we released our ladybugs. The second batch, that is. The first batch didn’t fare too well after Tessa and Asher dropped them onto the floor. Only three larvae pupated successfully. We let those go in the front yard in between snow storms and hoped they made it to the safety of a rock’s underside before freezing or being eaten by hungry birds. Our second batch pupated almost to a bug. We released close to twenty lady bugs yesterday.

Asher kept yelling, “Oh, cute!” and then laughing and shaking as the bugs climbed up his arm. Tessa, who has a bit of a heavy hand, squished a few while enjoying their release. She justified the accidents saying, “That’s okay. There are more.” We spoke of recognizing the need to be gentle and respecting life. She apologized to the dead and moved on. Riley and Emmett quietly enjoyed the release, letting the bugs crawl over them before placing them on the balcony’s edge, aiding their bids for freedom. Be well, little bugs.

We look forward to even warmer weather and more outside fun. We displayed our hard earned swim skills at the Rec Center last weekend with Daddy and everyone was well pleased. The big kids slid down the water side and splashed in the deep end, while Daddy swam with Little Pig. He loved splashing in the pool’s in-water playground, sliding down the little slide into the water and climbing up to shoot a water cannon. Cute!

Riley and Emmett passed a swim test allowing them to dive into the deep water next to the swim climbing wall, and Tessa professed to being “Okay” with not passing because she’s quite a bit younger than the big boys. She’ll work on swimming one length of the pool in a crawl stroke without stopping (which is what the boys did to pass). She’s almost there, though. Keep up the good work, Tessa! And well done boys!

We are slogging through story problems in math, which we all (all!) dislike immensely. We are getting to start reading chapter books and having been diligently working at our writing, both in emails and on paper. Our science understanding has been markedly improved by watching Go, Jet, Go on PBS and Miles from Tomorrowland and almost everyone understands how to apply what we learn to our real-world experiences. We talk about planets being in the Goldilocks Zone, what it means for a planet to have gravity, and finding life on other planets (and how we haven’t yet). We are budding astronomers and enjoying it.

Asher’s talking quite a bit more these days. His favorite thing to say is, “I got this.” Though, he’s also been known to walk down the stairs and call to the room in general, “Mama, where you at?” He’s learning more to share, not to scream when he doesn’t get his way, and to ask for help. Its a process, and we are all working as Team Pig to support him. He’s amazing, as are the rest of us, and we love him.

Be well,
The Larson Pigs

So much for the super, snowy Colorado winter. All of our snowstorms have been mild (nothing more than 2 feet) and have melted fairly quickly. (Save the driveway, which was an ice rink for a good 6-week period.) In anticipation of a cold, blowy season, Mom purchased an amazing bounce house for the basement. Although the weather hasn’t been strictly indoor weather, we’ve logged some serious bounce-hours, bouncing almost everyday.

We have foam swords that we use in the bounce house, we’ve got our ninja outfits, and when we feel compelled, we train. We roll, we jump, we flip. We are sneaky. We are loud. We’ve worked in teams. We’ve worked alone. But rest assured, we are ninjas-in-training. We’ve also all advanced in our swim skills. We are all doing the crawl stroke. We are diving unassisted to the bottom of the pool. And we are jumping in from the side, surfacing, and back floating or crawling to the edge again. These skills will help with water-related ninja missions.

Our current favorite game is Miles from Tomorrowland. We go on space missions, saving aliens–sometimes saving entire planets–and we do it as a family. This is by-far Baby’s favorite. He sings, “Miles, Miles, from tomorrowland” throughout the day. He pretends his food is a rocket he’s flying through the galaxy. And this ties in nicely with our space studies. We learn about the planets watching this show, like we learn about planets with Mr. Neil in the show Cosmos. We talk to our friends about stars going supernova (a thought that has actually woken Tessa in the middle of the night) and finding another planet to live on that exists in the Goldilocks Zone (something we’ll have to do when our sun goes supernova).

We are also still very concerned about the Greenhouse Effect. We’ve been watching nature documentaries (our favorite being Great Migrations) and we don’t like what happens when the Polar Icecaps melt. We’ve seen what it does to the walrus migrations, how it effects the polar bears, and what happens to the coastal wildlife when the seas rise. This was already a concern for Tessa who said that when she’s the president, she won’t allow NASA to launch any rockets because of the Greenhouse Gases it puts into the atmosphere. (This is a real point of contention with Emmett who wants to be an astronaut when he grows up.) But, overall, we enjoy learning about our Earth and the animals that co-exist with us on it.

Like last year, we are greeting Spring with an insect metamorphosis. We are watching ladybug larvae eat and get fat so they can pupate and become ladybug beetles. Then we’ll set them free to help with garden pests and to lay eggs for a new generation of larvae to grow and pupate. We had a bit of a setback when Baby pulled the Ladybug Habitat onto the floor, spilling our larvae everywhere. But after some shouting from Mom, we made sure we didn’t step on any and recaptured those insects we could see. They are back in their home. Snug as a bug.

We enjoyed Valentine’s Day, making Valentine’s for all our family and friends and sending them in the mail. On a similar note, we’ve been writing a lot of emails to people to practice our spelling and sentence creation skills. Our favorite sentences usually include a reference to who we love, what we love, or who our best friends are. But recently we’ve branched out and we’ve been filling others in on our field trips and what we’ve been doing with our days. We’ve also been back at crafts. We made crystal geodes with egg shells, egg dye, and alum. We tie-dyed long sleeve t-shirts. We’ve been creating little critters with our AquaBeads. And, of course, we are hard at work at our Lego projects–mostly Ninjago sets.

Check back next time and see how our Ladybug launch went.

With love,
The Pigs

“Mommy, what does it mean to not trust myself. And does it hurt?”
Tessa

“Because I wasn’t expecting it!”
Riley, answering the question, “Why did you stab yourself in the leg with a pencil?”

“I think its a g-g-g-ghost!”
Emmett, hearing a noise upstairs that turned out to be Isaac

“Who’s dat?”
Asher, hearing a noise upstairs that turned out to be Isaac

“Mommy, you don’t have to read to me for, like, the next week because I think that I can read to myself. But after a week, you can read to me again, if you want to.”
Tessa

“I’m a genius! I’m a genius!”
Emmett, when informed that only Pigs who own their own genius get privileges of TV and iPad

“I saw a comet!”
Emmett, when spotting a shooting star in the night’s sky

“No, thank you! Yuck!”
Asher, when Tessa tried to hold him down and give him kisses

“Mommy, I look fantastic.”
Tessa, after looking at her Red Ninja costume in the mirror

“Ipad, please.”
Asher

“March, march, march!”
Tessa and Emmett, in a sing-song voice while leading the baby in from the backyard

“I want him to be fat.”
Emmett, admitting he’d been feeding Isaac twice the usual amount and explaining why