I'm pretty sure that I've said this a bajillion times, but I really have a hard time blogging when I have to edit out all pictures of three-fifths of my children.  We went to an Aggie basketball game.  We've been to the zoo.  We've been to Kidspalooza.  We decorated Easter eggs at my mom's house.  We had a very first haircut.I have such cute pictures of all of it.

 We had quite the experience at the zoo.  We were in the aviary area where they have a couple giant Burmese pythons.  We saw the zookeepers trying to push one away from the door and enter the enclosure.  Once he got the one python away from the door, he entered, worked his magic, and caught one of the pythons.  The toddlers can tell all about it in a cute, animated way.  It was quite exciting.  Then the zookeepers told us that they removed the one python because they have to be separated for feeding time.  The next thing we knew, a fluffy white bunny was being dangled on a hook.  It was seized and squeezed by the remaining python.  That concluded our science lesson for the day!

The bird below was very interested in us.  I think he could smell the cheerios and other food remnants in the bottom of the stroller.  He followed us around and even hopped on the stroller at one point.  Unfortunately the camera was in the stroller at that time so I missed a good photo op. 

Pi Day is a must at this house with a math nerd for a son.

 We went to Kidspalooza in downtown El Paso.  It is a huge event where there are activities for the kids in the plaza and in front of the library, the museums all open and most waive their fee, and other locations offer special kid activities for the day.  There is absolutely no way you can enjoy all of it in one day.  We were sad to not be able to go to more of the museums.  This was a time when there were things the oldest child would have preferred to do that the younger kids would not have cooperated with too well.  We wandered around the outside events for a while and then went to the new children's museum, which was a good compromise since it is very hands-on for the little ones and has plenty that Brishen could do, too.  Above you can see Basia's good buddy performing.  It was fun watching him perform.  Mr. Strut was excited to see this monster truck and to get to climb into a fire engine.

 My mom is always so creative in her Easter egg decorating ideas.  This year the kids got to put paint in shaving cream to tie dye their eggs and also dye eggs with Kool-aid.

Here's how the various kids did:

Brishen:  he tried to scientifically create the ugliest colors he could make.

Basia:  she was pretty insistent on doing her own thing with the shaving cream/paint mixture.

Miss Independent:  she was quite rough on her eggs but liked watching them in the Kool-aid and didn't mind getting her hands dirty in the shaving cream.

Mr. Strut:  he was napping when the others decorated eggs, so he had his own session when he woke.  He was the most fascinated of any of the kids.  He was the most gentle with his eggs of any of the little ones, cousins included.  He would put the eggs in the dye very carefully, use a spoon to remove them, put them back in the carton, and repeat the process over and over again.  He would have continued for hours.  He did start itching partially through the process.  He had dye up to his elbows, and he was itching his bright red arms.  When he was done, and I tried to wash off the dye, we found that he had an allergic reaction to the dye.  He had hives up and down his arms and on his stomach where the dye had dripped.  I guess I should have paid attention to the itching.  It's annoying that the child who loved it the most is the one who probably won't be doing it again.  The next day I noticed that he broke out in hives around his mouth after eating jelly beans.  His doctor now has us on a mission to figure out which dye(s) he is allergic to.  

Wee One:  he immediately crushed his egg.  He was very grossed out by the crushed egg (I have the cutest picture of the look of disgust on his face!).  The second egg stayed together better.  He would put it in the dye and then lick the Kool-aid off the egg, over and over again.  He threw his egg a few times, too.  At one point, I looked away briefly.  When I looked back, he had drunk the cup of Kool-aid.  He's no dummy.

The kids have oral presentations each month at our homeschool co-op.  The theme for this month's presentations was "entertainment" so the kids could tell jokes, play instruments, or otherwise entertain the audience.  Aunt Saralyn gave my kids a really cool magic kit, so both of them decided to perform magic tricks. 

 We decided to take all three boys to get their hair cut on Wednesday afternoon.  Wee One has the cutest hair, but it was looking a little wild.  We aren't technically allowed to cut  a foster child's hair without written permission from their biological parents.  The social worker told me I should get it trimmed.  She said it was fine to get it trimmed as long as we didn't shave his head. We'll see which one of us gets in trouble when his parents see it on Monday.  So Wee One had his first ever haircut.  Mr. Strut had his first professional haircut, as Jon usually is his barber.  Brishen got all his curly locks cut off.  Brishen really doesn't like change, but he had mentioned that he was ready to get it cut a couple weeks ago.  When it came time to actually do it, he probably would have backed out.  It wasn't that he changed his mind; it's just that he's not the kind do just go for it.  He'd rather think about it for months and not get around to doing it.  We went to one of those kiddie hair places where you can sit in a Lightening McQueen car or a Thomas train to get your hair cut.  There were some other chairs, but they seemed pretty small.  When we walked in, we decided that he could just wait until we went to a more grown up place.  Mr. Strut was first.  He did better than he does for Jon since he got to watch TV and drive at the same time.  Wee One went next and did really well, too.  I was worried to see his precious curls get cut, but his hair is even curlier now.  It's pretty cute.  While Wee One was going, another barber opened up and asked if any of our other kids were getting their hair cut.  I just asked if they do older kids, too, and she said they did.  Brishen had no time to worry or back out.  I hadn't planned it that way, but it made it easier all the way around.  The amazing thing was that he was really, really happy with the results.  He commented that he looks like a normal, zitty teen.  Yep.  He felt older and liked it.  Well, he didn't necessarily act older:

Potty training update:  I know you're all on the edge of your seats wanting to know the latest in the saga of trying to train another boy in the civilized ways of our era.  I gave up potty training him in January after sticking fully with it for a full week and only seeing him get worse and worse.  At that time life was pretty stressful as we were also about to say goodbye to Miss Personality, so we put the diapers back on and walked away for a while.  On Monday morning I woke up and decided to strip his lower half and leave him that way.  He had zero inside accidents all day long.  It was quite shocking.  I'm told he peed a couple times while playing outside, but he is a boy, so that didn't bother me much.  The next day he had one accident but still did really well.  He was still lower-half naked, though.  Yesterday was the first day that I clothed him most of the day since we had a doctor's appointment, errands, our housekeeper, his CASA's visit, and book club.  Sure enough, accidents galore.  He 100 percent knows what he is doing.  When he has nothing on to catch it, he makes sure he makes it to the potty before he goes.  When there is something that can catch it, he doesn't feel much use in rushing.  I guess we'll keep him naked when we're home, put him in pull-ups when we are out or when a social worker is expected at our door for the time being.  It's progress.