The BIG Zoo

 

Teresa's final birthday request was a visit to "the BIG zoo" & see the REAL zebras.  :)  So, after Sunday Mass we hit the road.  We've never eaten at King Kong by the zoo, so we decided to give it a try.  They had humongous portions (all the kids could share one kid's meal next time) & fun animals hanging all over the place.

 Rebecca especially loved the "peppery" fries. 

 Sarah apparently had a distressing phone call.

 Rebecca had a birthday excursion with Dad to the zoo last year, but the rest of us hadn't been in a while.  Since we last went, they did some great renovations.  We had a pretty nice day weather-wise & did more than usual but still didn't cover half of it!

 Up close & personal with a mama gorilla

 The "they're not real" dinosaurs  --  I thought they were rather impressive.

 After each one growled or moved Teresa kept saying, "They're not real", but she waved to every one!

 

 The aquarium had some pretty awesome renovations including a whole room full of different types of jellyfish.  So cool!

 Andrew was determined to catch a shark & eel on film... he did pretty well!

 

And at long last the REAL ZEBRAS.  We had such a fun day together! 

Happy Birthday, zebra girl.  :)

Teresa is 4!

 Happy 4th Birthday to our sweet Teresa Rose!

 We had a family day for your zebra birthday.  Pancakes to start us off...

followed by a visit to Jesus at the Pink Sisters.

 

 We even got to meet them!

 You requested Runza for lunch & then back home to bake our zebra cake!

 It turned out pretty cute!  You were so proud that you helped me make it. 

We love you sweet T!  More celebrating at the zoo tomorrow!

One pack

 You lookin' at me?

Check out these abs.

Bring the fam

 I am so blest to be a part of a wonderful Bible Study!  I've been with some of these gals for almost 11 years & some of the others for just a few short months... but I am so grateful for each & every one.  We got our families together for some desserts & fun at the park a few weeks ago.  It was great!  We didn't account for how soon the sun would set when planning to take a picture & of course not everyone could make it, but other than that I would say it was a success.  :)

Thanks for a fun night, ladies!

Sporting his ninja gear

Weekend Farmers

 My dad's birthday is on October 10th... smack dab between Andrew & Teresa.  So, we try to celebrate with him as often as we can.  Andrew specifically requested going home to the farm for the weekend of his birthday & I couldn't resist.  We are blest to see my parents pretty often, but don't make it to the farm as much as I would like.  Sarah LOVES her Grandpa!

 Grandma found a container of pennies that Rebecca spent hours sorting.  She found some interesting ones & even some that were "SO OLD!"... like from 1993.

 It was too wet to be in the combine, but we harvested the majority of their pumpkin crop while we were there & brought a good bunch home to enjoy.

 

 She's getting stronger!

 We were so glad to have my nephew Joseph visiting at the same time.  What a nice surprise!  Here we are at Pizza Hut... it's just not a visit home without Dad's standard thin crust pork sausage & mushroom pizza outing.

 We woke up Sunday morning to a little more ninja fun before Mass.  I love going to Mass back home.  We have a gorgeous Church & it's nice to hear my Dad sing in the choir, too.  Andrew joined him up in the choir loft which is always pretty special.

 A little more play in the treehouse, shooting the beebee gun, chasing the random kittens around, & packing up before we enjoyed the parish bazaar.  I haven't gone in a few years & it was pretty awesome.  Completely freezing, but awesome.  It was so fun to run into some old classmates & friends that I haven't seen in ages.  When we do go home, the wonderful crowd of our family keeps us so busy that it seems we rarely make it into town anymore... sometimes not even for Mass if Fr. Jon is home, too.  I hope I can find a way to see those friends more often! 

 Rebecca made this picture for Grandpa for his birthday.  The whole thing is pretty impressive, but the thing that tickled me the most was the "slug bug" driving by in the bottom corner.

 Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Our ninja is nine!

Andrew is nine!  I can barely believe it but my little Bubba isn't so little anymore.  He wanted to have a couple of friends over after school to play in celebration... which turned into more than a couple!  There was a LOT of energy flowing among those boys, but my goodness they had fun.  We had a ninja party.

 Andrew made an origami ninja star for each friend.  We used a code to figure out our ninja names & wrote them on the star.  Then we used them to play a couple of games. 

 He requested red velvet cake & ice cream.  (My friend Stephanie lent us these awesome rice bowls to use for the ice cream!)

 Teresa was all about dressing up like a ninja, but the boys were a tad too rough for her.  Ninjas take time to relax & blow bubbles, right?

 NERF gun wars, ninja attacks, spy games, soccer, tag, football... & STILL tons of energy

What a fun group of boys!  Thanks for helping us celebrate, guys!

Reading at Mass

Another year & another chance for Andrew to read at Mass.  He really loves to do it & it's fun to watch him.

Friends Preschool

Well, Teresa is THAT big.  We've started another round of Friends Preschool!  Though this time my dear friend Meg is always the teacher & she is awesome!  Here are some of the class.

 Teresa loves everything about Friends Preschool but is a special fan of making the frogs jump on the parachute.  Who wouldn't love that?