Aquarium

Had an amazing time at the aquarium yesterday with Mike and his kids. Apparently that is THE destination on Valentine's Day. Crazy!

The harbor seals were as cute as ever as were the penguins and turtles but I think I have a new favorite: the blue-spine unicornfish. It acted as weird as it looked.

Click here to see some photos.

Little Blue Penguins

I'm in love with her penguin drawings. So damn cute.

Jackson and Jamy

So...Liv has created an imaginary brother and sister.

First there's Jackson, Liv's twin brother. He has a mohawk. Per Liv, "he's funny; he's a good joke teller; he's a very good brother; and he's fun to play with."

Jamy is the older sister. She is in college. She is often not at home.

Jackson's been around for a while now (I think since Oct. of last year). Although he's not a constant (in that he's mentioned every single day) she does take him seriously as evidenced by the below drawing she did for school where she was asked to draw a picture of her family. (What I want to know is why I don't have a body. What's up with that???)



















Liv tends to bring Jackson up at random times. Last weekend when I took Liv to get her haircut I overheard her tell the hairdresser that she has a brother. And then the other night she asked me out of the blue where Jackson was.

Jamy is a more recent development. She doesn't come up in conversation as often as Jackson. When she does it's more often in the form of an announcement like "Jamy is going to a party" or "Jamy is over at a friend's house".

It took a little getting used to these two being brought up from time to time but the idea of them seems harmless enough. What I do find unsettling is the fact that she picked names that both start with the letter 'j'. Is she a Duggar wannabe?

Happy 8th Birthday Liv!

In the spirit of Ralph Edwards, here's a little birthday retrospective:

8/2001









7/2002









3/2003









7/2003









10/2004









8/2005









9/2006










7/2007










6/2008

Score!

Snow!

If Liv doesn't look that happy with the snowman it's because she isn't. We had total creative differences when making this and she later dubbed it as "Mr. Crazy".

Sugar Cookies Made With Dance

Nice!

I don't know about you but it's just not a party without wearing my "gang-style apparel" and bringing my handy dandy glasscutter and screwdriver.

• Calling All Cars: Trouble at Chuck E. Cheese's, Again - WSJ.com

Totally Not Feeling It

Took Liv to the Newman Y's Breakfast with Santa this morning. If it looks like we were in a bar it's because we were, sort of. It was held at Applebee's.

Liv was not pleased for a number of reasons:

1. having to wake up early;
2. having to endure the lounge act of an elderly woman that should never have been given a microphone (although it was quite comical when, in the Xmas Trivia part of her act, she picked on Xoc because "he looks like a mathematician"); and
3. having to endure the sight of Santa, whom Liv refused to meet.

I think the only things she liked were the pancakes and when I suggested we get the hell out of dodge in response to her not wanting to see Santa.

Tag 373

Tagged our tree today at Quonset View Farm and got our complimentary bag of potaters (woohoo!).
If you can't already tell from these pictures, it was downright freezing. Brutal.

The Ginge Lives!

Ginger, the androgynous, tartan-wearing troll doll is still alive and kinda well. Liv no longer carries her around everywhere and both Ginger's hair and dress are missing but once in a while she'll resurface and make it back in to her bed. This is one of those times and I'm not sure if the Ginge can withstand the lovin' as I had to perform surgery on the right armpit last night.

And The Gene Goes On

Super Grrrl

I guess we now know that we have a dentist living in the neighborhood (regardless, file that one under 'lame'):

Corn Mazes Are Pretty Cool

Liv's Weekend Twitter

• "Oooooo - I like slow-beats."

• "Hey! I just made a sub-connection!!"

• "I wish I had a machine that could turn me into a cat or a dog. Then I wouldn't have to go to school or have any homework."

• "What if we could sleep all day? That'd be awesome!"
  

Lurv Hat

Remembered at 5 p.m. today that tomorrow was Crazy Hat Day. Liv wanted a "Love Hat" and so with limited time (and patience) to spend in a freakified Michael's store we came away with the makings for this creation:

It's a Dance Off People

Liv just told me that she didn't like what the bully in her class had to say to her today while in line for lunch so she suggested they have a dance-off at recess.

She won.

Of course.

DeCordova

Drove out to the DeCordova Museum & Sculpture Park today. Saw an awesome show and the sculpture park was equally cool. Click on the picture below for metal frivolity:

First Day of (gulp) 2nd Grade

Beach House 2008

Click on the body in the sand for pictures...



And as promised, below are the recipes for the enchiladas and nachos (and the sangria which we actually made today and it was delicious!). Enjoy!

Sangria

Macho Nachos

Enchiladas De Pollo (Cream Cheese and Chicken Enchiladas)