Austin Zoo

Today we went to the zoo for Aunt Sarah's birthday. The temperature was in the 70s, so it was a perfect day for it.

I think Sarah was excited. :)

Monkeys

Free range peacocks

These goats were almost as big as horses. Crazy.

Baby deer

Giant Yorkshire pig

Porcupines

Galapagos tortoises

I was scolded for letting Owen chase this rooster. Oops.

Texas Memorial Museum

We went to the natural history museum on UT campus this morning. The museum showcases 5.7 million collected specimens from research conducted at the university--including prehistoric life, evolution, rocks and minerals, and Texas wildlife.

It was a little chilly today, but we're looking forward to highs in the 70s for the rest of the week! :)

Texas Pterosaur in the Great Hall

This is my favorite picture of the day. Isn't this kid cute?

Hall of Geology and Paleontology

Hall of Texas Wildlife

Peanuts

This is Sarah's birthday week, so we kicked it off with a trip to the movie theater to see the new Peanuts movie. Sarah's Uncle Seth was one of the animators. :)

Laguna Gloria Exhibit

We went to the Laguna Gloria once before with some friends, but we went back again today to check out an exhibit that I read about. It's been on display since September, and this was the last week to go and see it.

Sarah was drawn to this fountain when we entered the grounds. The bunny is crying, and its tears fill the well below.

This is called Looking Up. It's pretty impressive. For one thing, it's huge--even taller than the 3-story villa in the background. But it's also made out of crushed aluminum foil roasting pans, which is kind of interesting.

 But anyway, the exhibit we went to see was called "A retrospective view of the pathway, 2008-2015." I won't even pretend to understand modern art, but the kids and Sarah really enjoyed this foam machine:

The machine turns on just 3 times a week for the duration of the exhibit and churns out bubbles for 30-45 minutes.

Owen, who is very fastidious about cleanliness, hung back for the most part.

After a few minutes, even Sarah got into it.

And this is what it looked like from a distance. Whenever the wind blew, it would pick up clouds of bubbles and carry them off.

After about 20 minutes or so, the girls were soaked and cold and ready to go home. But they had a lot of fun.

Mayfield Park

We have been to Mayfield Preserve once before, but we went back today so that Sarah could see the peacocks--and because we wanted to check out an art exhibit at the Laguna Gloria next door.

Emily's Reading List

So I've been doing a lot of reading over the past month. So much so that I'm slightly embarrassed about it. (I mean, there are probably more productive things I should be doing with my time.) But MCC ended right before Christmas, which has really freed up my evenings after the kids are in bed. Scott's been really busy, and Sarah occupies the TV most nights, so I read for lack of anything better to do. And I read pretty quickly, so I can usually knock out a book in just a day or two. So I'm posting what I've read here in case any of my sisters are looking for something to read:

These are my most embarrassing reads. Not that there's anything wrong with them; it's just that they're fictional and don't have a ton of substance to them. 

• Love Comes Softly series (8 books) - I actually started this back in August before MCC started. It's a series of Christian pioneer novels. They're a lot like Little House on the Prairie. Michael Landon also turned them into movies, which I haven't watched yet. Like I said, they're not a deep read, but they're fun light reading.
• Little Men - Little Women is one of my favorite American novels, and this is a sequel. It follows Jo and her husband, Professor Baer, and their school for boys. It's very moralistic (like Little Women is also) but good.
• Death Comes to Pemberley - This is a mystery-type novel based off of Pride and Prejudice characters. It takes place six years, I think, after Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett are married. It was interesting.

None of these novels are particularly deep, so I'm kind of embarrassed to admit to reading them. Sometimes I debate the benefit of reading fiction nowadays. Is it any better than just watching TV? But there you go.

Happiness Project - I read this one for a book club that is going to meet tomorrow. It was fine. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. It was a pretty good read for the start of a new year. It's about a woman who sets a bunch of resolutions for herself and spends a year documenting her progress. It made me think a lot of Preach My Gospel Chapter 8: set goals/make plans.

These next three books are about parenting. This was probably my most constructive read. The first one looks at French parenting, the second one looks at Amish parenting, and the third one is a controversial memoir of one Chinese mother who really pushes her daughters to excel academically and musically. All three authors are pretty much in agreement that American parents do a terrible job of raising their kids, but I enjoyed reading about different cultures' approaches to parenting and considering some of my own beliefs and practices. (And I really enjoyed learning more about the Amish! I respect them a lot.) 

• Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting
• More Than Happy: The Wisdom of Amish Parenting
• Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Wonder - This is my favorite read so far. It's fiction, but I still feel like it was a productive use of my time. It was all about a 10-year-old boy who was born with severe craniofacial abnormalities but who is very bright. When the novel opens, his mother encourages him to attend a private middle school. (He has been home schooled his entire life up to this point.) The book is all about his integration into middle school and how he is received by the other students. One cool thing about the book is that there are several sections in which you get to hear different characters' points of view. I really liked how this helped me to understand where different characters were coming from and why they act the way they do. I especially liked hearing the older sister's point of view. The main theme of the book emphasized kindness, which is one of my favorite themes. I really recommend this one.

Next up:

• Rules (Cynthia Lord) 
• Out of My Mind (Sharon Draper) 
• Auggie & Me (R. J. Palacio) 
• 365 Days of Wonder (R. J. Palacio) 
• Counting by 7s (Holly Goldberg Sloan) 
• Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck) 
• Al Capone Does My Shirts (Gennifer Choldenko)

All of these are somehow related to disabilities, since I enjoyed my Wonder read so much. (Not that the character in Wonder is disabled--because he's not--but the book explores what it's like to be different and how people do and should react to differences in others.)

And I really should come up with a new hobby! (Like, I should probably catch up on scrap booking or do family history or devote more time to comprehensive gospel study or something more productive.) What does everyone else do in the evenings after the kids are in bed / after work?


P.S. Can I just say how much I love the public library! I read 10 books in the past month without spending a cent! :)

Family Night Bonfire

Liz lost yet another tooth on Sunday. She looks a bit like a pirate, doesn't she? :)

Mt. Playmore

Sneaky

I have a bottle of red sprinkles that I keep in the pantry for decorating birthday cakes and cupcakes. One day this week Heidi brought the almost empty container to me and said: "Mom, someone was eating your sprinkles." Hm... I wonder who it could have been?

Toothless

Liz's tooth has been loose for weeks now. Yesterday she decided that it was finally time for it to come out. After a lot (like, 45-minutes worth) of anxiety- and tear-provoking wiggling, Dad came home from bishopric meeting and yanked it out with dental floss.

Lizzie was thrilled. This makes 3 lost teeth plus 2 more wiggly ones to come out soon.

This clip is a little long, but right around 1:15 her instant transformation from terrified to elated is priceless.

Bidding Farewell to Our Christmas Tree

Rather than just recycle our tree, Scott wanted to chop it up and use it for firewood--so a bonfire and some s'mores are in our near future:

Scott even fashioned a Harry Potter-inspired wand for Sarah out of the tip of the trunk (not pictured here).

Ups and Downs of Downtown Houston

We're staying in Downtown Houston for two days while Scott conducts some interviews here. Today we took a stroll to the JPMorgan Chase Tower, just a few blocks from our hotel. The skyscraper is 75 stories (just over 1,000 feet) tall. So check this out... 

It is currently the tallest building in the city, the tallest building in Texas, the tallest five-sided building in the world, the 13th tallest building in the United States, and the 79th tallest building in the world.

We took the elevator up to the 60th story and got a great view of the city from the observation deck.

After that, we went 20 feet below the streets' surface and explored the tunnels below Downtown (mostly retail shops and restaurants) to get to Houston's Central Library. There are more than 6 miles of tunnels connecting 95 city blocks. Kinda fun.