One BIG day

When cousins come to town, we can hardly resist zooming immediately to their location.  So, when my sister Melissa & her family were here last weekend to go to the zoo, we also joined them for pre-zoo & post-zoo fun at my sister Cara's house.

"Let's play pretty princesses in the castle with white dresses & orange shoes, Veronica."

Then we ventured to the zoo.  The mole rats were both intriguing & hilarious to the girls!

We clued our cousins in on our cheap trick to feeding the goats... scavenge for all the feed that other kids dropped before us.  Andrew found a whole cup full!  Veronica was very frustrated, however. 

"Why won't he eat this food from me?"

Well, she hadn't quite mastered the techique of discerning the pellet food from the other kind of pellets.  I don't blame him for not eating it!

And that's as close as we could get to a posed picture with this motley crew!

My little monkey inspired by

the real monkeys.

The boys were all rather hesitant, but the girls dove right in to hold this huge grasshopper in the bug house.

Ah!

"It tickles, Mom!"

Yuck.  There were no mommies holding this huge millipede, either.  Andrew finally caved to peer pressure... GIRL peer pressure that is... & decided to hold this one.  He required a photo as well. 

Cute chicks

Since we hadn't tired out of fun yet, afterwards we walked down through the rose garden, past the fountains, & over to this gorgeous garden.  The boys were enjoying the fish in this pond... & grandpa's spitting trick.  Still lovely.

Back to auntie's afterwards to play, play, play & grill out, too.  Thanks for hosting us, Cara & Taylor.

What a BIG, fun, happy day! 

Love you, cousins!

A Date with Daddy

 When Andrew turned 5, Darren decided that he wanted to start a tradition.  Now he does something just with the birthday kid of their choosing.  Andrew has had some really fun times!  This year was Rebecca's first turn.  It's a few weeks belated, but she didn't mind.  She picked the "big zoo" & they spent all afternoon together there.

 She's not really big enough to want to see the whole thing... I don't think I'm big enough, either!  But they took their time & enjoyed the butterflies (of course), new aquarium,

 a train ride, the petting zoo (Heaven!), & few random stops along the way.

Top it off with a trip to McDonald's & you've got one ecstatic little lady!  So glad you had fun with Daddy! 

Happy 5th Birthday, Mariposa!

Always ready

Teresa is by far our most energetic child.  She jumps, runs, or twirls everywhere she goes!  I peeked in her room at naptime the other day & saw this.  Her feet were practically touching the floor.  Guess she had to go to sleep prepared to leap right out of bed!

Lots of fun

 Rebecca was invited out for birthday fun with her classmate Madeline.  (She's the one with the blue slushie lips!)  It was a nice little preschool reunion & TONS of fun.  This is one of those places where it's almost impossible to get them to stop playing long enough to snap a picture!

We had such a great time!  Thanks for inviting us, Madeline. 

Happy Birthday!

Slacker

 Andrew FINALLY lost another tooth!  There are two in front there that have been loose for months.  He was so excited!  He put it in a Ziploc bag & taped it to his door downstairs.  (He's too much of a roller to not lose it under his pillow.)  Then, the slacker Tooth Fairy didn't show up!  :( 

Then he realized he hadn't lost a tooth since he moved to the basement & the Tooth Fairy must have just missed the notice from Jesus who tells Santa who tells the Easter Bunny who apparently was too worn out delivering eggs to pass on the message.  Oh, well.  Instead he made this awesome map on LARGE paper & hung it upstairs.  In case you need a little explanation:  He shows the door of the girls' room (also below) exed out, then leads her down the stairs, though another door, past the washing machine, where the baggie is taped to his new door (circled).  Great for an early morning laugh!  So glad she was a slacker.  Extra glad the map worked the next night!

Project

 Even homemade pizza can be a fun summer "project".

Yummy! 
What do you like to cook/bake with your kids?

A work in progress

 Our summer is a work in progress.  We've accomplished a lot of tasks around the house, enjoyed cousins & friends, & had a few excursions.  But I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants!  Usually, I have a rather set routine for each day & a schedule of possible activities for the whole summer written out on a lovely door calendar.  We have a routine & a plan that we can choose to stick to or not.  sigh  Not yet.  I haven't gotten there & I'm not sure that I will. 

After Darren leaves for work, the morning routine is done, & I sit down at my desk to check e-mail, write cards, or simply tidy up MY office (which has really become the arts & crafts room when I'm not looking) I'm occasionally lucky enough to not be pulled from it immediately.  On one particular morning this week when no one was fighting, no one was crying, no one was asking me for anything, & no one wet their pants for a good 20 minutes, I started to get suspicious.  I went out to the living room & found this castle construction!

Some creations just deserve focus.  :) 

Makes me remember SO many creations we made with couch pillows growing up...

Tiger Cub

 Andrew has had such a blast with Cub Scouts this year!  (I found a few older pictures that Darren took with his phone to share.)  This is him at the "Bike Rodeo".  It was then we realized his crazy growth spurt... he needs a bigger bike!

 He & his buddy Grayson went out to a daycamp, also.  The learned how to shoot a bow & arrow,

 as well as a sling shot.  They used paint balls so they could tell where they hit.  Clever!

 He hammered designs into a piece of leather to wear as a "wristband". 

"Cub Scouts don't wear bracelets, Mom."

And had a blast with a four way tug-o-war.  What a great experience all of his adventures & learning have been!  We're excited for the years (not necessarily sewing on the badges, but the years) to come.

Friendly waters

We were able to enjoy the company of our faithful friend Anand, his lovely bride, & beautiful baby this weekend.  His return drew quite the crowd of old friends to the lake! 

 

Fishing, feasting, running after kiddos, boating, hiking, & enormous amounts of chatting filled the gorgeous evening.  Still waiting for the fun big group picture.  It was so nice to see you all! 

Thanks for the visit, Bheemars!