A FROG, A GECKO, A SKINK—OH MY!

Krumbs and I are buzzing about three new animal discoveries!  That’s right—scientists have discovered three new vertebrates living in a remote area of Australia...and all three animals were found at the same time!  The scientists discovered a new kind of frog, a new kind of gecko and a new kind of skink that no one knew existed!

We can’t believe scientists are still finding new animals after thousands of years.  It is amazing that three animals we’ve never heard of could just hide in the middle of Australia!  Isn’t that just the coolest thing ever?

Would you like to find out more about scientist, Conrad Hoskin’s, fantastic discoveries?  Click here to read the original article and to see pictures of the world’s newest animal discoveries!  Are you interested in even more stories about odd and unusual animals?  Click here to visit the "Creature Feature" section of the Café  where you'll find a bunch of articles about animal topics from Alaska's Elephants to zoo I.Q.and everything in between!

Have a Great Week, Everyone!

Cookie and Krumbs

GROSSLY EYE CATCHING TREATS

Good Morning!

Are you ready for Halloween?  The super-fun holiday is only 14 days away…and Krumbs and I can’t wait!!!!!  Do you have plans?  Will you make awesome tasty treats? 

We found a great idea on Cake Central for really cool eyeball cupcakes.  Yep, we’re pretty stuck on eyeballs this Halloween, aren’t we?  We took the idea on the Cake Central website and then added our own idea for a darker, bigger pupil.  Are you wondering how we did it?  We made pupils (the dark circle in the center of the eye) using M&M candy!  You can make these treats with a few easy ingredients.  Check it out:

 

Ingredients:

White frosted cupcakes

Gummy lifesavers

Brown M&M candies

Red icing in a writing tube

Some extra white frosting (one or two tablespoons)

Directions:

Place one gummy lifesaver in the center of each frosted cupcake.

Place a dot of white frosting on the back of a brown M&M candy and place the M&M over the hole in the lifesaver.

Use the writing tube to draw squiggly, red “veins” from the lifesaver to the edges of the cupcake.

Try not to eat all of these grossly eye catching treats all at once!!!!! 

Hurray for Halloween!!!!

TALKING WITHOUT WORDS

How do you communicate?  Do you talk, scream, whisper, or whine?  All of these types of communication involve speech and your voice, so they are called “verbal communication.”  Author Tonya Reiman says there is more to communicating than using your voice.   Ms. Reiman says 93% of human communication is non-verbal.  Non-verbal refers to everything you use to communicate that does not involve your voice.  Non-verbal communication involves body language and body language has to do with things like gestures, body posture, facial expressions and eye contact. That means you really can communicate without any words and people communicate non-verbally all the time!

Krumbs and I read all about body language and non-verbal communication in an article on the Café by Julie Musil called “You Don’t Say.”  In the article, Ms. Musil gives fabulous hints on how to use body language to learn more about your friends and what they’re thinking.  (Are you wondering if your friend is telling you the truth?  You can tell if a person is being truthful if he or she looks in your eyes, stands straight and tall, uncrosses his or her arms and move them with palms facing up!)  Are you ready to decode your friends’ thoughts?  Click here to read Julie Musil’s article on the Café.

Have a Great Week!  Happy Monday, Everyone!

Cookie and Krumbs

OOEY-GOOEY EYEBALL SOAP

Three weeks to Halloween!  Are you ready?  Krumbs and I are ready!  Well, we’re almost ready! Um, we’re kind of ready!  Okay, we’re not ready at all!

This weekend we are going to look for our costumes.  Last year shopping for costumes was a Halloween Disaster.  Krumbs became a little overexcited and we had to leave.  This year, I’ve learned my lesson—Krumbs will stay at home and I will shop alone.  (Sorry, Krumbs—you know I love you even when I shop without you!)

 

To get ourselves in the mood for Halloween, Krumbs and I are going to make “EYEBALL SOAP” to put in our bathroom.  I found the recipe on the Café last year and it is awesomely gooey and gross looking!  Check out this picture from the Café:

 

You know you want to make some…and give them out to your friends!  Click here for the ingredients and directions and make some awesome soap of your own!!

 

 Happy Haunting, Everyone!

Cookie and Krumbs

SCARY CHALLENGES

Good Morning!  Good Morning!  Good Morning!  Guess what Krumbs and I did yesterday? 

We went to horseback riding lessons!!!  (Okay, Krumbs ran around the barn playing with his dog friends and mooching dog treats from every rider there and I had a riding lesson.)  It was awesome, as usual, and I had the chance to jump, jump, jump!

It is really scary to jump over fences.  This one was about three feet high.  If three feet doesn’t sound high to you, remember that I was jumping a three foot high fence while balancing on the back of a racing five foot tall horse—which means I was really EIGHT FEET OFF THE GROUND and moving THISFAST!

What about you?  Have you ever done something that feels really scary to challenge yourself?  Here's the thing: scary challenges are NOT DANGEROUS, they're challenging. Maybe your scary challenge doesn’t have to do with sports.  Maybe your scary challenge is about making a new friend, standing up to a bully or answering a question out loud in class.  Maybe your scary challenge is about entering a contest or trying out for a team.   Anything that pushes you to try something new or different can be a scary challenge. 

But when you actually finish a scary challenge, don’t you feel like a ROCK STAR?  Isn’t it AMAZING when you do something you never thought you could?  Yeah, that’s how I felt yesterday—ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!

If you’re interested in reading about someone else facing a challenge, read “Daring to Try” at the Café.  You’ll meet Emily, a great girl who feels completely overshadowed because everyone sees her as “Dr. Winter’s daughter” or “Madison’s little sister.”  Have you ever felt that way?  Check out “Daring to Try” by Lisa Hart and find out how Emily takes on a scary challenge and becomes a hero!  CLICK RIGHT HERE to read the story.

 

Have a great week...and dare yourself to try a not dangerous, but challenging "SCARY CHALLENGE."

Cookie and Krumbs