Yeah, we took it this easy for Mother’s Day. Nothing’s better than babies in diapers and dancing to the Stones.

I should note, not much goes on until 30 seconds in but you don’t want to miss Ellisa’s reaction to her juice or Hudson’s head shake towards the end.

Oh is it Thursday? I almost didn’t know. We’ve had a crazy week (more on that to come) so I’m lucky I’m finding some time to squeeze this in. This was taken last weekend when we somewhat spontaneously decided to hit a Texas beach: Port Aransas. It was a blast and watching the kids see the ocean for the first time was probably the most enjoyable thing I’ve experienced with them (and last Halloween).

For those of you who like suspense, there’s a good twist about 20 seconds in. Pay close attention to what happens to the bird’s food. Enjoy!

I’m noticing if you watch it on Youtube instead of through the blog, it looks a lot better. I’m not sure why that would be. Anyone know?

This week started out great!

I was energized with a new slimmed down poster and was set on teaching my kids a little bit about nuts. What I think they really learned:
• The difference between a pecan, almond, cashew, sunflower seed, pumpkin seed, and pine nut (most of which they already knew).
• Squirrels eat nuts. We eat nuts.
• We can’t eat all nuts. You have to ask mommy before eating a nut (I hope this one sunk in.)

On Monday we walked around our neighborhood and collected nuts–along with lots of other things–and put them in our basket. Then we came indoors and played in our bean sensory bin. I know, no relation to nuts but fun anyway. Later that day we went to Whole Foods and bought a variety of nuts. I tested out putting Ellisa in the cart and Hudson walking alongside. It wasn’t so bad until check out madness. The kids enjoyed trying some of our purchases while in the store.

On Tuesday we had our nut taste test. I put one of each nut we bought, including some seeds, into a bowl and we tried each type one at a time. Then we added them to our poster afterwards. That was the best part. They kept going back to the poster the rest of the week to look and touch their nuts.

Wednesday we made a trip to the library for nut books for the week. Again, the library trip was fine but reading the new books isn’t working well. They just aren’t excited about new books right now. They would much rather read the same ones we’ve read a bunch of times. So, I might cool off on library trips for a while, or at least check-out one new book for us to work on for the week.

Thursday Hudson got sick completely unexpectedly (we had company too) and all he did almost the entire day was lay on the couch and watch the iPad in between sleeping and vomiting. Poor guy.

Friday was a get back to ourselves day and we did nothing around nuts, other than eat some like we do most days. I had big plans to make a squirrel feeder that day but no one was up for it and Hud still wasn’t acting himself.

Over the weekend I vowed we would build that feeder and go to a pecan farm. We didn’t do either. Instead, we headed to McKinney Falls on Saturday and the Wiener Dog Races on Sunday. My kids might not know what a walnut is quite yet but they know their wiener dogs!

You gotta be able to roll with it.

Uncle Frank usually comes down to Austin every 6 months for a visit with the peanuts. I’ve never written a post about his visits (shame on me), but this time was worth a write-up.

I just have to say, the kids love uncle Frank. Frank just exudes fun. I think kids can sense it. Ellisa loves to be held and kissed by Frank, and Hudson seems to want to include him in everything we do. Even though Frank left over two weeks ago, they randomly ask me where he is.

Here’s a glimpse at some of the things we did with Frank.

No we didn’t get completely in the pool but we’re off to a good start. I think the kids were more concerned about the water being too cold. We still had fun getting half in and running around the pool. I can’t wait for swim lessons with Beth to start! This should be a great summer.

I like how Hudson encourages her to pour water on him.

Here’s Hud being rough with sissy. It always makes me nervous but boys will be boys. She’ll toughen up.

BTW: I call the main image “Turtle Hugs” because we call their floaties their turtles. When they wear them, Hudson is a green turtle and Ellisa is a pink turtle. So obviously, when they hug, they are giving each other turtle hugs.