Last post of 2012?

Hi all. Bethany here. We've been posting a ton this month. With the excitement of Christmas and all, I guess we've had a lot to talk about.
 
It's hard to believe it's already been a whole year since I joined the family. Time sure flies. My first real Christmas here was awesome even if there wasn't any snow. There's nothing quite like the feeling you get when you wake up on Christmas morning. We got gifts, sang Christmas carols on a brisk trail ride outside, watched Christmas movies, sipped hot chocolate with marshmallows, ate pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and stayed up super late reinacting our own version of Annie. I never wanted the day to end.
 
Mom took a couple of pictures of us by the downstairs tree. It's a huge Douglas Fir that smells wonderful.
 



Felicity
 

Julie
 

Lily



Me!



 

And a group shot with the pups:

 

 

A Little Late

Hi from Julie.

We got our first real snow of the year... late in the day on December 26. Oh, weather, why must you taunt us? There are about 3 inches of the white stuff on the ground now. When we saddled up the horses and took them outside, Dune wasn't so sure about walking in it - it's the first time she's had to deal with deep snow. But when she saw the other horses and the dogs having fun in it, she decided it was okay. 

Things have been much quieter here the last couple of days now that the busyness of Christmas is over. Soon we will be posting photos of us in our new outfits. I really scored big this year, for some reason. =^) 

Here is a cute comic to look at in the meantime.

December 25

Merry Christmas!

Some of Mom's presents were doll clothes! More will be posted once we've taken pictures of us modeling them.

Enjoy these photos from our favorite Christmas movies. 

It's A Wonderful Life - Lily's favorite

A Muppet Christmas Carol - Bethany's favorite

The Santa Claus - Julie's favorite

A Christmas Story - Felicity's favorite

Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve! Daffy Floppy-Feet here. Well, that's my name according to the Christmas Elf Name Generator. I was surfing the web for something fun and Christmasy to post about and stumbled across it.

In case you are wondering, 

Bethany is now Peppermiz Bubba-Louie,
Julie has become Lucky Twinkle-Toes,
- and - 
please call Lily Wacky Tum-Tums from now on.

Here is the link in case you want to find out your Christmas elf name. <Link>

Boy, where did the time go? Christmas is almost here! We're supposed to get snow on Dec. 26, but zilch today or on Christmas. How lame is that?

I'd better go. Wacky is picking out our clothes for tomorrow, and I'd better get over there before she picks out a skirt and tights for me again. It may already be too late. *Sighs* 

After everybody's asleep tonight, the four of us are going to sneak upstairs to check out the presents for Mom under the tree. We're not going to open them, just scope out ones that look the right size for being AG clothes boxes. It's tradition. ;^) 

Winter and Narwhals

Well, Felicity, we're still here. So much for the 12/21/12 apocalypse. ;-)

It's the shortest day of the year today, but luckily the days will be getting longer instead of shorter from now until June. It's also the first day of winter! We even got a little bit of slushy snow overnight to get us in the wintery mood.

Unfortunately, there's no more snow on the horizon, so we're almost guaranteed a green Christmas this year. Oh well. Like Mom says, green is a Christmas color too. This December has been such a mild one so far. The 3 times it's "snowed," it's been such a pathetic amount and the ground's still warm enough that it pretty much melts before the day's end. This evening we still have a little on the grass, but like it's really still going to be there by Christmas.

We are on Christmas break! No more school until 2013. I never posted about my arctic animal report before I presented it. I was holding off for last for dramatic effect. My arctic animal was... *drumroll please*

... the narwhal. Get ready for some narwhal fun facts!

* Narwhals are medium-sized toothed whales nicknamed "the unicorns of the sea" because of their spiralling tusks. During medieval times, narwhal tusks that washed ashore were thought to be unicorn horns.

* A narwhal tusk is actually a tooth that grows through the narwhal's upper lip. The tusks are hollow and relatively light, and they continue to grow throughout the whale's life.

* Female sometimes (but not always) grow a tusk, but males' tusks are bigger and more spiralled - up to 8.8 feet in length! Scientist don't know for sure what purpose the tusks serve. Occasionally, both males and females have been known to grow two tusks.

male

tuskless female

middle narwhal has 2 tusks

* The word narwhal comes from the Old Norse word nár, which means "corpse." This is because adult narwhals have grayish, mottled-looking skin (sort of like the corpse of a drowned person - yuck!)

* Adult narwhals are 13-20 feet long and weigh around 3,500 pounds. This is how big a typical narwhal is compared to a school bus:

* A newborn narwhal calf is about 5 feet long and weighs between 175 and 220 pounds. Calves start out gray-brown in color but grow more and more mottled with white as they age until they are quite pale.

* Narwhals have been known to live up to 50 years.

* Narwhals are some of the deepest diving mammals. They can dive up to 1500 meters deep and can hold their breath for up to 25 minutes.

Polar Bears

Next week at this time it will be Christmas!!! I can hardly wait! We only have half a day of school after today, and then we will be done with school until next year! Tomorrow morning we are presenting our reports on arctic animals. 

My arctic animal is the polar bear! Here's a preview of some of the fun facts from my report.

~ Polar bears have black skin.

~ Polar bears are excellent swimmers and have been spotted swimming 50 miles from land or ice. Their blubber not only helps keep them warm but also helps them float. Their average swimming speed is 6 mph.

~ Polar bears have a dense undercoat and longer guard hairs to insulate them. Their fur is not actually white. Each hair is transparent with a hollow core, which reflects light a lot like snow and ice do.

~ When clean and in sunlight after their spring/summer molting period, polar bears look their whitest. Before they molt, the oils in the seals they eat can make them look yellowish. 

a bear before molting

a bear after molting

~ In the warmer climates of zoos, polar bears sometimes turn greenish because colonies of algae grow in their hollow hairs. This doesn't hurt the polar bear, but it looks funny.

~ Polar bear footpads are covered with small bumps called papillae to give them traction on ice.

~ Polar bears are the largest bear species. On all fours, adults stand between 3.5 and 5 feet tall. Adult females typically weigh between 330 - 650 lbs, while adult males typically weigh between 775 - 1,200 lbs. Standing on their hind legs, adult males can often reach heights of 10 feet!

~ Mother polar bears have twin cubs most often, but sometimes they have singlets or triplets.

singlet

twins

triplets!

~ Newborn cubs are blind and toothless and only weigh about a pound. 

This Week's Forecast

Here is this week's weather forecast.

This would've been better if I'd seen it on Sunday, but it's still pretty funny in a cryptic/sarcastic kind of way. (For anyone out there who doesn't know, some people think the Mayan calendar predicts that the world will end on Friday, 12/21/2012.)