11/52

He's so excited to be playing tee-ball.

10/52

Spring Break tradition: Austin rodeo carnival.

9/52

Fresh haircut and style always makes Mommy swoon a bit.

February Catch-Up: Tee-Ball

Spencer is playing tee-ball for the first time this spring. He is so excited! We had an informal meeting with the coach last week and got to meet a few of his teammates. They ended up practicing even though not all of the kids were there. I took video (of course!) of Spencer's first at-bat. This is how Dave saw it go down...

Stay tuned for what will surely be an overload of tee-ball photos! Real practice starts this week and our first game is in a few weeks. Fun!

February Catch-Up: Celebrating Urban Birds

Last month the Austin Nature and Science Center had a special event focused on urban birds. There were all kinds of activities like making bird feeders...

 Exploring how different beaks are designed to pick up different things...

 Drawing a bird... in this case, an Angry Bird!

There was also a neat scavenger hunt and we went to a talk about some other birds, where we saw a tiny little blind screech owl, a Bobwhite Quail and a fancy pigeon (my term). But the highlight was seeing a Eurasian Eagle-Owl. It's the largest owl species in the world. Just to give it some context, the handler said a Great Horned Owl usually weighs 3-4 pounds, and this guy was 9-10 pounds. And boy, did the have a sharp beak and claws! I actually got to pet him because he was raised by this woman pretty much from birth. Later in another activity, the instructor told us that petting an owl is a VERY rare experience!

February Catch-Up: Pet Sounds

We caught a really cool exhibition at Laguna Gloria in February. It's called "Charles Long: Pet Sounds" and here's a quick description:  

Titled after the 1966 Beach Boys album of the same name, these playful sculptures in bright, candy colors begin as railings and morph into luscious, playful blobs that engage the viewer with murmurs, vibrations, and strange sounds when touched. 

We had fun wandering around touching all the sculptures and hearing what sounds and vibrations we could set off.

 
The exhibit is in town through mid-April and highly recommend checking it out. There's lots of wandering you can do on the grounds of Laguna Gloria - makes for a nice little afternoon.

February Catch-Up: Valentine's Day

We had a nice little Valentine's Day. Spencer doesn't go to school on Fridays, so the day before he brought his big homemade Valentine to share with his class. Like I mentioned last year, Nature's Way does not encourage trading Valentines at school because of the frustration and confusion that can cause the young 'uns. This year his heart featured LEGOS, a tiger, a jet, art, soccer, the school playground and a hike with Daddy. Sweet.

On Valentine's Day Spencer opened his gifts - The Jungle Book DVD and his first box of Valentine's chocolates (which he hasn't eaten - just not a sweets guy). I also found a perfect card for him featuring fish jokes and decoder to find the answers. 

Mommy and Daddy also each got a box of chocolates. Then that night we cooked a delicious steak dinner. It was the best steak Daddy has ever made! Spencer worked on the mashed potatoes and I made asparagus. It was a family effort and a lovely evening celebrating my two loves.