Moved by the Spirit

Jackson had some spiritual words to close out his bedtime tonight. . .

Me: Jackson, is there anything you want to talk about in your bedtime prayer?
J: Jesus . . . I saw him yeserbay
Me: Oh, really? Where did you see him?
J: In the other class
Me: What other class?
J: (long pause) . . . Ummm . . . (sudden smile) . . . I just tooted

And this spiritual discussion is now officially over . . .

Spring is like a Slinky

We took advantage of the last day of Spring Break (other people's Spring Break, mind you - I MISS Spring Break!) to take a trip to the zoo. It was a gorgeous day and we headed to Gainesville to check out the Frank Buck Zoo. It is a smaller zoo, which can be of ultimate importance when you are say, 8 months pregnant.

The giraffe exhibit was one of the highlights of the trip. The zoo has some great elevated walkways and we were able to get some good, up-close views of the sweet couple. Although they did seem a little amorous . . . what can we say, it is spring.

Jackson also got to feed some goats.

Jackson proclaimed his favorite zoo animal to be the bear. Unfortunately, this was not the best bear exhibit around.

This was the running joke when my parents were touring Europe, but I don't think I have ever seen it put so bluntly.

Jackson had a great day!

After that refreshing car nap, Jackson was ready to take on more of the great outdoors. His first project was some excavation in the dirt pile that we are harboring in our backyard. This involved flinging most of the dirt on himself. There was also some rock relocation and bubble blowing. We capped off this fun with a construction worker-worthy bath.

And just when we thought Spring had finally sprung, we woke up to this! Up to 10 inches of snow in the area. Ridiculous. Old Man Winter, didn't we tell you that things just weren't working out and we needed to go our separate directions? Take a hike or we're filing a restraining order.

Boot Scootin' Buddy

Houston (and San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, and possibly El Paso), we have a problem. Recently, Jackson was playing with a Toy Story flashlight. It has caps with different images from the movie that you can put on the end of the flashlight and then project on the wall. Pretty neat toy. We were talking about the pictures and that's when he showed me this picture . . .

. . . and told me that it was a VACUUM CLEANER!!

No, sweetie, that's a cowboy boot.

No, it's not, Mommy. Look, here's its wheel.

I think that's a spur.

In his defense, the little boy does LOVE vacuum cleaners. But I am the same mom who threatened to drag a Ziploc of red dirt to the hospital with me if I was forced to relocate outside the Lone Star state before he was born. Being a Texan is important. Is there any other state bold enough to slap the image of their borders on everything from socks to dinnerware? Behold . . .

Amazing isn't it. Tell me where you can get pasta in the shape of Wyoming or one of the other squares.

So I guess in the interest of education, there is a little trip to the rodeo in our future. Or maybe I will just let him watch 8 Seconds. All of the fun . . . none of the horse poop.

Coincidentally, our other Toy Story issue is that Jackson refers to the main characters as "Wooty" and "Bud Light". I think we will just have to let that one slide for a while.

All Wrapped Up

This made me laugh out loud (which goes to show you how easily amused I am). Look how Target is helping the tissue-paper challenged.

In case you can't read it, the wrapper on the tissue paper says:

GATHER tissue from center of sheet

TWIST bottom of tissue to hold in place

PLACE tissue in gift bag; repeat steps to fill bag

I can't wait to see what is next. Instructions on the toilet paper perhaps?

Fix It Up Fridays: the Furball and the Floors

Our new house was a true "investor special" when we purchased it. As in no floors. Just cold concrete slab. Not exactly where you envision hanging out making family memories. But we just chose to think of it as a blank slate. And when we found out we could get a great deal on hardwood flooring, we jumped on it. I was so excited. Hardwood floors have always been on my list of desired home amenities, but they were always just a little out of reach. These particular floors are dark wood with hand scraped detailing. Perfect.

However, there was one family member who was less than thrilled by our new spread.

The first night we brought Molly to the new house, she paced and paced. She could not believe that all of the rooms we were supposed to be in as a family were covered with this stuff that she had been classifying as gnaw-worthy. And even worse was the fact that the whole place was like one giant Slip and Slide. Molly was not interested in reenacting scenes from Risky Business.

Fortunately for Molly, we are now the proud owners of area rugs!

Now, I am no expert in the purchasing of rugs (although most of what I saw in my shopping adventures seemed to be six degrees of ugly, so it would appear to me that most people are not experts in rug buying), but I think these look pretty good.

And the furball was much appreciative.

Can't you tell?

She's obviously thinking, "my fur is going to look AWESOME on this!" Speaking of which, we did make an effort to purchase the rugs in the best possible shade of Molly fur. Just like I prefer my cars in the color "Texas dirt".