Emily at Chatting at the Sky is asking us to share what we’ve learned again this month. I really enjoyed playing along with this last month so I thought I’d do it again. Here, in no particular order, are sixteen things I learned this month.

1. I learned that our local zoo has a bird called a Rhea that looks suspiciously like an ostrich but we are told it is not, in fact, an ostrich, but a Rhea. I’ve decided to call it an ostrich anyway because I’m obstinate like that and it didn’t correct me so I’m assuming he or she was okay with that.
2. I discovered frozen chocolate covered banana bites – the bites bit is key. They are so much easier to eat this way and really very delicious. Genius.
3. I learned that when my kids stay up impossibly late to watch fireworks, that they sleep in blessedly late the next morning. Silver lining!
4. I learned a tremendous amount about Ernest Hemingway’s first marriage to Hadley Richardson and all about their time spent in Paris in the 1920’s with a lot of other very famous authors like Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. I learned that Hemingway was a really awful husband and that even before he was a famous author he was pretty sure he was the bee’s knees.
5. I learned that Bruce Willis tends to start out fairly unimpressive and smart assed in Die Hard movies but after having his family’s life threatened enough he turns into a super hero – it happens so often, it’s no wonder he went bald.
6. I learned that when I ask my kids “what do you want to do today?” all open ended like with sky’s the limit possibilities really that they will respond with requests like “ride my scooter” and “watch Sofia the First” – I have raised a couple of homebodies just like their daddy!
7. I learned that there are board games I actually enjoy playing with my kids – MM and I played LIFE together for the first time this month and had a blast. There is life after Candy land people and it is good!
8. I learned how to make my husband say, “These are the best waffles I’ve ever eaten!”
9. I learned that my daughter, who just celebrated her fourth birthday, continues to keep me on my toes – ranging from a fiercely independent brute to a meek preschooler who may be terrified to go down that slide after all!
10. I learned that I should have started watching 30 Rock ages ago because it’s fantastic and Tina Fey is amazing but I’m glad to have finally found it because each episode is only 22 minutes without commercials which makes it really easy to have mini-marathons with it.
11. I learned that I can entertain my children for hours with paper and stickers.
12. I learned that I can read three books in three days if necessary. The Selection by Kiera Cass made that necessary this month.
13. I learned that some people take mustard very, very seriously.
14. I learned that the woman who voices Merida from Brave was in a romantic comedy with David Tennant and it is fantastic!
15. In other Doctor Who cast-sightings, I watched Mansfield Park from Masterpiece Theater today and discovered that Billie Piper stars in it and that Niklaus from The Vampire Diaries plays her brother! I learned that he looks kinda like a vampire even when he isn’t trying to and that Billie Piper has a history of loving guys who seemingly have no clue.
16. I learned that there are weeping angels VERY close to my home, but luckily they don’t seem to have any interest feeding off the energy of my life’s possibilities. I’m not surprised, there are probably far more energetic people than an exhausted stay at home mother. Don’t blink, y’all!