Shark Dissection

So most normal people spend Memorial Day at cookouts, placing flowers at graves and honoring the men and women who are and have served this country.
Us, well we dissect sharks.
Yeah you read that right. Right here in little ole Mayberry we had a good ole fashion science class on our neighbor's driveway.
If you are squimish, or chicken then be forewarned you may not want to keep reading/viewing pictures. But I will tell you that two 4 year olds did just fine, so...


Our neighbor is a 3rd grade teacher and this is one of their end of the year activities. It is really cool, you know when you aren't the one dissecting stuff. I am an RD I spent a lot of time in a HUMAN cadaver lab dissecting them, so I am set, not to mention rats and sheep eyes and ::shudders:: at what I went through.  All in the name of science people. We were told the sharks DID die of natural causes they were not harmed for our sake.

Without further ado the Shark Dissection.




As you can see he was a small shark.



This is what the girls thought. It did smell, but not near as bad as human cadavers or rats! Probably dissecting in an open outdoor area helped!



Showing the older kids it was a boy shark...something about the type of fins called caspers?!? Not really "boy" parts per say, kind of like male roaches have antennae.



Cutting him open!


The stomach. He actually had a shrimp still inside!


Shrimpy. Hello guys! :) {yes, I am crazy}


The girls still think it is stinky and gross, but they were riveted. MW is like whatev.



Q being brave. We tried to get Lo to touch it, but then she chickened out at the last second.



The HEART! Tiny.


His toothy grin. Apparently their teeth aren't really teeth, but just jagged tough skin. What?!


The brain. It was so tiny, definitely a male brain. BAHAHAHA!


Upclose on the brain.


Again Q being brave and cutting into the eye which....


squirted our neighbor in the face. Gross. We all were gagging, but she dug deep and stayed strong and cool and didn't blow chunks, because I know I would have!


And then it was over!
What a cool afternoon project! We have such awesome neighbors and I am so thankful for all of them!

Five{ish} Minute Friday + Fun Friday

It's Friday!
Today was my first day back at the gym in 6 days! And it felt so good. I feel totally energized right now and I have only had 1 cup of coffee. Hmmm. I hurt my shoulder last weekend just randomly. I honestly have no earthly explanation for it and it hurt bad. :( I don't recall, lifting, twisting, pulling, or falling to cause it. So I took it as a sign for a much needed break. Plus, getting up at 530a was starting to get old. Actually, I didn't mind it so much, it is more that MW doesn't take a morning nap hardly anymore and he exhausts me. By 11a I am toast, and just generally not a happy mommy (and we still have 2 hours 'til nap time!)

Soooo I decided to go ahead and sign the kids up for kidzone at the Y. 1. To get a little break from them and let them get out of the house to burn off some of their toddler stink. 2. Mommy is far less tired by going to the Y at 830a.

 However, getting the kids there and back out was nearly a 15 minute cardio session all in itself. I thought I was going to puke. I am starting to get into that HIIT training and tabata workouts, so I guess that means I am doing right. It isn't easy, but it yields good great results, in a short amount of time. Maybe when I get my routine down pat, I will share more of what I am doing. I just love how working out makes you feel.

Also today is Friday Fun Day! I am really trying to have more activities for my kids to do to help break up the day, plus it gives us all something to look forward too. Today's activity was making crayons.

Source: mommycracked.net via Michele on Pinterest

Leighton loved this project. She kept telling me this was so fun! Micah liked to break the crayons. HA!

Once we got the paper off and in the tins we baked them in the oven at 170*F for about 25minutes. Then I let them cool a bit, finishing up the cooling process in the freezer. 20 minutes later they were done and popped right out. My good muffin tin totally fine as the pinnee promised! :)

Sister, why are you so weird?

Finished product

Cool Mom!

I love to color.

So far it has been a fun Friday. The kids are worn out from the kidzone (score!), both are currently napping, my sister Meg is here laughing at her own jokes in the background and Micah has had a phenomenal potty training week. I am not counting my chickens yet, but I am celebrating this week and all his success!

Lo: Mommy I am really sleepy.
M: You are? Why? {this was at 10a)
Lo: I don't know, I think these crayons are getting to my eyes and making me sleepy.
M: Bummer. Guess you will be ready for nap then.
Lo: No. I be fine.

A Good Night's Sleep.

It is amazing what a good night's sleep does for you. I don't even remember the last time I have slept through the night. Pre-pregnancy with Micah maybe?! Anyway Friday I was battling the early stages of a migraine and felt terrible. I decided once I got Micah in bed around 7-730ish I would go to bed too and I did. Micah must have known his momma needed some rest because the first time he got up was at 6a the next morning! Chad said he woke up at 10p and cried for 20minutes, but I must have been in a coma because I didn't hear a peep. HA!

A good night's rest brought to you courtesy of Micah.

When I awoke the next morning I have never felt so refreshed and energized. I felt like taking on the world, but my house was a good place to start. HA!

I started off the morning baking mini banana muffins with both kids. Normally, I would wait and just do it with Lo, but with all my energy thought I could take it on with both kids help!


Lo got this baking kit for Christmas and I am just now getting around to using it with her. We had fun and they were delicious.

While the muffins were baking I took on my next task. Organizing my recipes. Am I the only one who rips recipes out of magazines and then throws them in their recipe book cupboard?!

Not a dramatization, a true before pic of the mess. HA!

This was my first recipe book I got when Chad and I were to be married. It was from working in a hospital kitchen. Needless to say it became a recipe catch all. IT was time for some organization. Seldom do I even use recipes, so not sure why I have all of these, but on the rare occasion I can't remember the recipe or my Rachel Ray measurements come out wrong... it is nice to be able to find it in a timely manner without a hundred pages come dumping on my head.

I also got laundry done.
Caught Lo's scrapbook up through March. {post to come}
Finished Micah's mobile for his room. {post to come}
And even just relaxed some.
Bliss.

Then on Sunday morning I got another full nights sleep and woke up to this:

I love seeing God's fingerprint.

On another note here is our first Mommy School project: {A Bird feeder}
Lo was so proud. And as soon as it was hung she started shouting: "Here birds, come and get it!"
So far no birds, but we did have a squirrel attempt to steal our food. Hopefully when the fall comes they will come to our bird feeder.

As for last night. Micah was up by 2a (he got 7.5 hours) so for him that is sleeping through the night. He has learned to sit up in his crib and I think he was scared. But then after nursing he fell right back to sleep until morning. {645a}.
Not going to count my chickens, but just hoping after 32 weeks he will FINALLY start sleeping through the night by my standards. {12 hours!}

Weekend +Randoms

Technically this all happened last weekend and I am just now getting around to it.

On Saturday evening we had our first real NFL fantasy draft party. This is our second year playing and I think it is fun. Of course, I don't really do anything, Chad manages both teams because let's face it I know nothing. But it makes watching all those games Thurs through Monday more fun when you can root someone on!

Chad making sure we get the best players.

Chad and I went to our first date movie {Sunday matinee} since Micah was born 7.5 months ago. Wow. I miss going to movies big time. We saw Crazy Stupid Love. And I thought it was phenomenal and well worth the ticket price. I love walking away from a well done movie that makes you feel good, but stays true to life. Go see it.


Now as for Micah. He is so much more fun and happier as of late. I have no idea if the no dairy thing even matters at this point, but I refuse to give into dairy just on the off chance it is the problem. I have opened myself up to eating most foods again and not being so rigorous about it and I plan to slowly add back in the obvious sources over the next several months. I have also given up my beloved PB. I eat PB every.single.day for lunch. When I cut that out I also noticed an improvement?! Maybe just maybe that is the allergy?! {We didn't get him tested for that because it was such a struggle just to get enough blood for the dairy test.} Of course I pray it isn't because a peanut allergy is NEVER out grown. Who knows everything could just be coincidental too. He still spits up a ton, but I feel that is more related to a loosey gooesy tummy sphincter than an intolerance {to dairy?!} or allergy {to peanuts?!} Either way I am just beyond grateful to have a happy baby for once and if giving up PB and dairy equals that then I am more than obliged, this may be a good thing for me. HA! Now if we could just get him to sleep through the night we would be golden...

See the doorstop? That is seriously MW's favorite toy. Sit him down in front of it and he plays for quite sometime! BOING!!!! Cracks me up every.time.

Mommy School. I am trying to be more intentional with Lo and teaching her things. I am not going full on pre-K with her or even lesson planning, I wouldn't even know where to start, but I am trying to make more of an effort during Micah's morning nap to sit down and go over letters, numbers, colors, sign language, or just reading to her. I am more about learning through play than structure. We call it Mommy School. She really just loves it when I come up with crafts for her to do.

She loves to wear her backpack around and go to "kin-garden"

We are currently working on a bird feeder for our backyard.
We have lots of pretty birds back there, so she wants to feed them.

Boring yes, but that is what is going on in our lives. Sometime {sooner rather than later} I want to do a week in the life. Just to remember how my days went with two littles.