Treeskirt is Back!

Our scout elf, Treeskirt, is back to keep an eye on the kids and report back to Santa about whether they have been naughty or nice. It seems to be working. Ever since Treeskirt has arrived Daphne has been keeping her room clean and making her bed every morning to gain brownie points.

December 4- Treeskirt arrived in the kitchen in a
Hello Fresh box with a note.

December 5- Poking out of the poinsettia

December 6- Relaxing on the couch wearing Daphne's husky
hoodie and draped in one of Tyler's cozy blankets

December 7- Hiding out in the liquor cabinet

December 8- Switched from liquor to wine

December 9- Marshmallow bubble bath

Penny, Hazel, and Daphne were quite thrilled to taste test the
marshmallow bubbles before breakfast

December 10- Calling attention that
we still have some ornaments to hang

December 11- Hanging out in the kitchen

Nutcracker School Performance

The 4th grade put on a really cute performance of the Nutcracker last week. Tyler was relieved that his class ended up as soldiers (boys) and mice (girls) and all he had to do was march and pretend sword fight with the mice.

Tyler is in the back on the left side.

Ryan and Tyler after the performance with the wood block
nutcrackers that they made in art class

M-I-L-K Hey!

Lately Daphne has been chanting the following at the dinner table:
        M-I-L-K
        I want milk hey!

I've been trying to get her to work 'please' into the chant somewhere.

Pet Fish?

Last month we visited a local animal shelter with the cub scouts. Our pack donated dog and cat toys the kids had made and the folks at the shelter gave us a tour. Tyler and Daphne would both love a dog and asked for one while at the shelter. Daphne particularly loves animals. I told Daphne that maybe we could get a fish. She has since mentioned it again but life has been more complicated since I broke my arm two weeks ago.

Fast forward to Sunday when we had our first girl scout meeting of the school year. Since we have some new girls, each girl introduced herself and had to say something about themselves. When they got to Daphne she squeaked, "My name is Daphne. And my mom said we could get a fish!" Then she wrinkled up her face, looked at me, and shook her fist in my direction. Everyone had a good laugh over that!

Dr. Seuss

Our little bookworm has been hooked on Dr. Seuss lately. She can't seem to get her hands on enough Dr. Seuss books.

Selling Popcorn

It's that time of year- popcorn fundraising. In past years our Cub Scout pack had the boys sell popcorn in pairs for those selling at booths at storefronts. This year we are testing out having them sell individually to see if we can increase our sales. For Tyler selling popcorn with just your mom is not nearly as exciting as selling it with one of your buddies but he still put in the time. Also, with my arm broken Michael had to shuttle us around and help set up and take down the booth so it required a little more scheduling coordination this year.

Labor Day Weekend

Bryce and the boys came in for Labor Day weekend to hang out. We also got babysitters so we could hit the town to celebrate Bryce and Brad turning 40! Hard to believe that my baby brothers are 40. That makes me feel older than when I turned 40. We took the kids to the Rock 'n' River waterpark in Round Rock for some water fun and played lots of games.

Daphne, Hazel, and Penny

Micah, Daphne, Tyler, Noah, and Damon

Brad and Bryce participated remotely in their Fantasy Football
draft while Penny served them fake food from our toy kitchen.

My Shopping Buddy

Daphne keeps shopping trips interesting!

On this trip Daphne wanted to be buried in food.

Daphne's Writing

At the 1st grade back to school night this evening I chuckled when I saw one of Daphne's writings posted on the wall. The picture she drew is of Multnomah Falls, which has a bridge that crosses in front of it about halfway up. It is where Michael proposed to me, I said yes, and we have been married since 2011. Daphne knows this. However, you can see what she wrote. Translated it says: "My Dad asked my Mom to marry him. My Mom did not so they did not marry each other."

School started on August 20th so I am assuming
the date is probably supposed to be 8-22-18.

When I grow up...

Lately Daphne has been telling us that when she grows up she wants to be a scientist. Paleontologist, geologist, and vulcanologist are all in the running.

First Day of School Today

Our 4th grader and 1st grader

Why must my crazy sister try to hug me?

Don't even think about holding my hand!

Another one? Can we get to school already!

Austin Nature & Science Camp

The kids spent their last week of summer at Austin Nature & Science Camp and had a blast. They came home thoroughly exhausted every day. Tyler got to swim at Barton Springs every day and Daphne swam at Deep Eddy every day.

Ryan and Tyler's class spent their entire day outside
this year and didn't have a class room home base

Daphne at her classroom

Carpool!

Austin Animal Center

As a service project, Tyler's cub scout pack made dog toys by braiding together fabric or old t-shirts. Then we toured the Austin Animal Center to learn about shelter animals. Both kids wanted to bring home a pet but I held them off.

Tyler was really drawn to this scruffy little dog
and wanted to adopt him.

Tyler even offered to lift Daphne up
to see the dog he liked.

Daphne loved waving feathers and playing with the cats.

Waiting to give their toys to a dog

We got a little wet going between buildings
when it started raining pretty hard

The Music Man

I took Daphne to her first theatrical performance last week. We went to see The Music Man with Sandra, Arthur, and Ryan. The Long Center has a program called Summer Stock that trains high school and college students to perform. The actors were fantastic and Daphne enjoyed the show. She was dancing in her seat and a few times I had to remind her not to dance with her heads over her head so that she wouldn't block the view of the people behind us.

Daphne horses around with Ryan during intermission

Daphne's shirt reads "My brother has the best sister"

Swimming

Gotta love playing hooky from work on a Friday to go swimming with the kids!

Tyler and Luke

Daphne

We have LICE!!!!

For the first time ever the Hurtado household had lice!!!! And Daphne appears to be the main host with a colony on her head. It all started when Megan called to tell me earlier this week that she found a handful of lice of Hazel's head. Hazel and Daphne did art camp together the week before and Hazel spent the night at our house. We did a lice check and found tons of lice on Daphne's head, a handful on Tyler's head, a handful of lice on my head, and none on Michael's head. Michael swears that the tea tree oil conditioner he uses saved him from the wrath of the lice. We spent countless hours combing lice and eggs out of hair. It didn't help that this all happened 2 nights before Renee had a big project interview at work. We tried the over-the-counter stuff but apparently it only kills live lice and not the eggs. We finally called in a professional who came to our house yesterday for several hours to treat all of us and educate us on lice removal. The general process she used on each of us: coat hair in olive oil, comb out any lice and eggs, apply Dawn dish soap and wash out oil, do one final combing. We are now supposed to do a lice check daily for the next 3 weeks! I am exhausted just thinking about it. Not to mention all the clothing, blankets, bedding, and towels we have spent washing the past few days and will continue to keep washing. We don't call Daphne "The Carrier" for nothing.

Art Garage and Altitude Trampoline Park

Daphne and Hazel spent a fun-filled week doing a half-day camp at the Art Garage. To cap off the end of a great week we headed over to Altitude Trampoline Park at the end of the last session.

Wearing the tie-dye t-shirts they made at camp

Summertime ice cream

Hazel checking out the various trampolines

Daphne fearlessly jumped into the dodgeball area with a bunch
of middle schoolers. She sided with the girls and at one point I
heard them chanting her name. It looked like the boys were
having a hard time hitting Daphne and she was throwing balls
left and right.

Daphne made the trapeze jump look easy!

San Antonio Zoo Overnight

While Michael's sister Ludy was in town we had signed up to take the kids on the Cub Scout overnight at the San Antonio Zoo. Within about an hour of arriving (and after having slept most of the drive there), it was apparent that Tyler had a fever and wasn't feeling well. Daphne really wanted to stay because she loves animals and so Ludy drove back to Austin with Tyler while Daphne and I stayed and hitched a ride back with the Davis family.

The zoo staff brought out some animals to touch
such as this tegu lizard.

Always hamming it up!

The kids had to try and guess which skulls belong to which animals.

Our little monkey tries to climb everything.

We did a night time tour of some of the nocturnal animals
long after the zoo had closed to the public.

Ready for bed- we slept in the Africa Live exhibit

Daphne originally wanted to sleep next to the exhibit with
this large snake but it was near an exit light that says on
all night so we slept next to a dwarf crocodile instead.

We watched some very playful big cats in the
morning before the zoo opened.

Kangaroos

Caitlyn & Daphne with the flamingos

Daphne loved petting and brushing the goats.

Trying to coax a bird onto her arm

Success at last