Just had to post these pictures. On Friday we were playing downstairs. Amy had recently woken up from her nap. She sat down next to Timothy and then gave him a big hug! So sweet!
Just had to post these pictures. On Friday we were playing downstairs. Amy had recently woken up from her nap. She sat down next to Timothy and then gave him a big hug! So sweet!

Friday Aaron and I got to go on a date. We left the kids with friends and grabbed some frozen yogurt and shopped for books. We also had a lot of time to talk about all sorts of things, especially about what kind of practice we are looking for Aaron to join next year. He has 3 interviews set up starting next month. It's exciting and crazy.

Saturday was a busy day. Aaron got the boys up early to go fishing. They got a couple of nibbles, but didn't reel anything in. While they were gone Amy and I went to the semi-annual library booksale. We missed it in the Spring, and Aaron went last fall without me (since Amy was still very young). I've found that getting there about 30 minutes early is just right. You don't have to wait in line too long, but you get there before the line gets really long. I grabbed about 25 items - 20 of them books. I could have gotten so much more, but time and money are limited. Amy was very tired, and the paperback section was so crowded I couldn't get in there to find anything for David. I hope he'll be happy with the picture books I found.

We all worked in the yard for a while before lunch, and then Aaron did some work while I played with the kids and helped David write his talk for Primary. Then Aaron took David home teaching with him, and to the library after that. They got home in time for me to head over to the church for a Relief Society dinner and Broadcast. While I enjoyed my evening, Aaron had the boys help him move the firewood into the garage (so it doesn't get soaked when it starts raining for the next few months). Then they built a fire in the fireplace. This was the first time Amy had experienced this. She was too little to notice last time. She was intrigued by the fire, and Aaron took this picture:
It was a good evening for us all. Aaron is on call today, and things went well at church. Amy didn't take a nap at church, but wasn't really cranky either. The boys were well behaved, and David gave a talk in Primary. He spoke really quickly and I think it lasted 45 seconds :). So that about sums up our weekend. We have another busy week ahead of us.

One last thing: I LOVE fall!!! The leaves are already changing colors - mostly because of the lack of rain this summer. It is just beautiful. I have leaves on my lawn, and I'm actually looking forward to raking them! I might rethink that when they all come down at once;) And the BYU Cougars showed up to play and beat Colorado State, much better than last week's showing, but still not their best. Here's hoping they do better this week (nothing personal Aggie fans).

August/September birthdays

I haven't updated my birthday list since July! I'm sure to miss someone now! The only August birthday I can think of (remember this is just siblings, spouses, parents, grandparents) is my brother Mike - who is currently serving a mission in Georgia and can't read my blog. But I'll wish him a very belated birthday anyway. On August 12th he turned 20 years old! No longer a teenager! He is doing great work in Georgia, and it is great to get his weekly emails and occasional hand written letters from him - I think the frequency depends on how often I write to him. When Mike returns from Georgia he will continue his studies at BYU. I think he's still majoring in Chemistry, and maybe law school after that??? He really could do just about anything he wants to. He's sweet, a talented trumpet and French Horn player, and quite witty! Happy Belated birthday Mike!

Now on to September. I already mentioned the birthdays in our home (Amy and Aaron). In addition to that we have Brittany who turned 11 on the 12th. She is Aaron's youngest sibling. She is doing great things at school. She reads a ton and loves to play all kinds of sports. School is going well also. She is great with kids. She loves taking care of her nieces and nephews, and playing with them too. Brittany is growing up so quickly. Happy Birthday Brittany!

The 23rd was Aaron's oldest sibling's birthday. Daralee celebrated her birthday a few days ago, and I don't think we ever called her. Sorry Daralee! She is a fabulous mom of 5 brilliant children. She seems to have endless energy for all of the activities that her family does. I love her positive attitude and she is great example to me. Happy Birthday Daralee.

And lastly Aaron's Dad's birthday was yesterday. He is such a great example of hard work and dedication. He is a great father and works hard to provide for his family. He is soft spoken and loves his family. I am grateful to have such a wonderful Father-in-law. Happy Birthday Dad!
So until next month...

Enter to win!

My fabulous former roommate makes really cute stuff - skirts, aprons etc. She is having a giveaway drawing on her boutique blog. If you sign up to "follow" her blog you can enter the drawing. Tell her I sent you :)

Yougurt, teeth and more

Short story: Last night I went to curriculum night for David's class. We had just finished dinner when I left. Amy hadn't eaten much so Aaron fed her some yogurt. She loves yogurt, and really likes to feed her self. So she made quite a mess. Aaron took some pictures.

She seems pretty pleased with herself

Then she did this:

Amy has cut three teeth this week. None of which I noticed until they were out pretty far. Obviously they had broken through at least a day prior. She has been quite fussy. There are several things she does now that I haven't documented, some cute, some not so cute. She can say "ball". She loves dogs, and makes a panting/sniffing sounds when she sees one, or a picture of one. She uses the "more" sign to say that she wants something, not just more of something. Last week the "please" sign finally caught on. She looks like she's wiping her hands on her shirt though ;).

She has started a growling sound. It's pretty funny. It's not a mad sound, just a silly sound. Now that she is walking like a pro she no longer wants to sit on my lap, or be held or carried for very long. However, she doesn't want to wander around without me either. She now grabs my finger and leads me where she wants to go. I have to go with her. If she wants to go down the stairs she will walk me over to the gate and and says "da" which I think means "down". And then try to put her leg over the gate. If we are going down she wants to go by herself - holding on to my finger. She wants to go facing forward, even though she knows how to crawl down backward. She puts one leg down, then slides down to sit on the step and scoots forward and stands up on the next step. Needless to say the process is very slow, and it's not something I can let her do by herself. And if I were to pick her up and carry her down the stairs she would scream and flail her arms.

Speaking of little tantrums she throws them every once in a while. They don't usually last long. This morning after her nap I couldn't figure out what she wanted so I put her on the floor to let her cry, and she fell back asleep for another hour!
Hey, I got some blogging in. Well she didn't wake up until noon, and then wouldn't eat lunch. Today was a" come and play" day, where they invited parents to play with their kindergarteners at lunch recess. I was a little late because I was trying to get Amy to eat something. It was fun to see Timothy play at recess. He really wanted me to chase him, but I couldn't run carrying Amy. So I chased him, jogging slightly. He's pretty quick.

I just put Amy down for another nap -I hope she sleeps a little before we have to pick up David. Now I'm going to play with Timothy.

3 quick things

• Timothy is a little accident prone. David gets losts of bruises, but Timothy seems to get the bleeding injuries. He has skinned both knees in the last 2 days. This morning shut his finger in the bedroom door. Later he was attempting to put his backpack on while walking up the driveway and ran into a tree - head first. Then as we continued our walk to school he tripped on something (his own 2 feet?) and got another gash on his knee. No band-aid needed for the finger, or forehead, but the knee was bleeding.
  
• Amy now does the motions to Pat-a-cake. Before she only clapped. Now she rolls her hands - just rotates her wrists, and puts her hands up for "throw it in the oven". Pretty cute!
• I forgot to mention that Amy cut tooth #5 on Sunday. I didn't see it until Monday morning. No wonder she was so fussy at church.
  

Welcome Fall!

Some pics of the kids before bed tonight

This is how Amy kneels down for prayer

She's folding her arms, and Timothy is being silly as usual. I think he needs some new pjs ;)

David loves to carry Amy around

He thought I was going taking a picture of Amy

I haven't done an update in a while. We haven't done anything really exciting. Mostly school, and playing at home. We are enjoying an Indian summer, which around here means very little rain and 75 degrees! It was 87 today - which was actually bearable because the house didn't get hot. It was cold overnight and it cooled down quickly. It got up to 74 in the house. It was hot in the sun, but the shade was nice.

We have loved walking to school. Well, I have loved it. The kids tend to complain, but oh well. It's nice exercise for me, and Amy likes riding in the stroller. We walk every morning unless I have to go somewhere immediately after they go to school. Which isn't often since Amy usually naps around 9:30 or 10:00.

It's been nice enough to spend some time at the park. It rained on Saturday, but we still went to the locks and to the tide pools. We didn't take any pictures. The tide wasn't as low as we have hoped. We watched the second half of the UW game - it was awesome!! And then listened to the first half of the BYU game - that's all I could stomach. We watched some kids Saturday night - part of a babysitting swap for date night. I love doing that. The kids had a lot of fun. And of course no one wanted them to leave - except their parents of course. Olivia even called out to David, "hurry up get in the van." They are so silly.

School seems to be going pretty well. It's amazing how different 2nd grade is from 1st grade. They are expected to be more responsible. And so far David is being more responsible. There was a misprint on their first homework assignment, the teacher told them the correct information and David remembered it, and told me, even 3 days later.

It almost feels like Timothy hasn't really started school yet. That is because his teacher has been sick for over a week. In 10 days he has had 6 different teachers. I know Mrs. M* is a really good teacher, and I know she is really wishing she could be teaching right now. We just keep praying that her fever will go away so she can come back. At least now they have a more permanent sub that will be here until she returns. Timothy still doesn't want to come home when I pick him up, but he doesn't give me a hard time about it. I felt bad that he was missing library time, which is right after lunch recess once a week. So I signed up to volunteer in the library during his class library time, so he can stay for an extra half-hour. I still have to talk the principal about possibly having him stay longer. But for now I'm fine with picking him up early.

Aaron is done with his Advocacy month and is in the PICU now. Very sick kids. At least it's Q5!!! I'm not sure if I mentioned that Aaron has a new calling. He is working with the Weblos in the scouting program. I think he'll really enjoy it. He hasn't had a scouting calling for about 10 years. Of course that means that every Wednesday that he isn't working he will be at scouts.

We've got something every night this week, but that seems pretty normal now. I'm kind of glad I don't have the kids in after school activities. I can't imagine how busy we would be. I do hope to get them involved in sports, but now is just not a good time. I love fall and I am looking forward to all the upcoming events!

Upset

Today was the day for upsets - I could have done with one less :( There's nothing else to say.

A few videos

This isn't a great pic of Amy, but it does show the shiner pretty well.

I got a couple of the videos to load. But the longest one, which is really cute isn't loading. It's been going for almost 2 hours now. Not sure it's going to work.

I was trying to get Amy on video, but this one illustrates a typical afternoon of playing at our house


Amy loves this book we borrowed from the library. You can hear her say a few words/sounds, and do cute stuff too.



This one is Amy climbing into a chair - the same one that gave her a black eye a few days later. She also is listening to music and fun ensues.
OK this one is not loading maybe it's too long.


This one I got today, because I don't know what happened to the one I got of her on Saturday. So this isn't the same day she learned it, but the great addition is it sounds like she says it too. What is it? Watch the video!

Pictures to make up for the last post

Aaron's birthday:
The light coming in the front window made it difficult to take good pictures.

A decoration from Grandma P*

Aaron loves Nilla wafers - only the original will do

Amy feeding Aaron a Nilla wafer

Some fly fishing line - someone must have known he was going fly fishing

Hew blew out the candles before I got a chance to take a picture - yes there are 8 candles - no significance - I just asked Timothy to put some candles on his cake.

Saturday morning - Amy helped me pick up sticks to put in the yard waste
(can you see her shiner? I'll have to take another picture of it)

Then I realized I should have changed her clothes

Her legs were pretty dirty too

Blogger isn't letting me upload my videos so that will have to wait for another post.

Pictureless post

Aaron has the camera, so I have no pictures to share. I thought I had uploaded them to the computer already, but then I remembered I uploaded them to the laptop- which he also has. So today will be a post with no pictures. Not that I always have pictures, but there really should be pictures with this post.

So if you are wondering where Aaron is, he's on his first unofficial interview trip. I say unofficial because he isn't actually being interviewed. He is visiting a couple of sites to talk with the other pediatricians and check out thing around the cities. One site doesn't have any openings currently. He left early this morning and will be back late tomorrow. Both sites are setting up meetings with physicians and visiting the hospitals, but not necessarily interviews. It's an exciting time. If you want to know where he is headed check out my facebook, because I'm not keen on giving out that kind of info on the blog.

So thought I'd attempt to recap the last few days. Aaron's birthday was great. He really enjoyed fishing. He didn't catch anything worth keeping, but he enjoyed it, as well as going to the temple. He got home about the time I came home from picking up David from school. We opened presents, and Aaron got to play around with the kids, while I finished making dinner and cleaning up. I may have mentioned that Amy can climb into a little patio chair that we have - it's kid sized. I have a video somewhere - oh that's right on the laptop! Anyway... Amy was climbing into the chair, it tipped and she hit her cheek on the arm of the plastic patio chair. She then tripped over a little IKEA stool. She had a nice little bruise on her cheek. It has since turned into a black eye. Again - I wish I had pictures. We had Nathan and Amy over for cake and ice cream for about 30 minutes before Evelyn's bedtime. The ice cream came from Nathan and Amy - thanking us for watching Evelyn while they went to the symphony. That was last Wednesday - she was an angel.

Saturday Aaron went fishing with a friend. It was a beautiful morning so I tended to the garden - which really needed some work. The kids all came outside and played in the dirt - including Amy. she had a lot of fun, but I should have changed her clothes - she was wearing white. It all came out in the wash though - it's laundry day. Then we mostly played around the house and after lunch Aaron came home and took the boys to the library. David remarked that we didn't go to Red Robin for Aaron's birthday - I guess he's picked up on the tradition. So we compromised and grilled some burgers of our own. That night was stake conference, so I left Aaron home with the kids and I went by myself. It was a nice evening. And I was pleased that I didn't have to take Amy.

Sunday was Stake Conference. We got there very early so we could sit in the chapel. It's much easier to keep the kids entertained on a pew than in chairs. Nathan and Amy shared a pew with us. We let the kids wander the the building until about 10 minutes before it started. That seemed to work. They were pretty well behaved. Amy even fell asleep with just me rocking and bouncing her while I sitting down! I was amazed. She slept for a good 40 minutes. We were able to listen to some wonderful speakers including Elder Russell M. Nelson and Pres. Monson. Elder Nelson had 10 of his grand and great-grandchildren sing a few verses of Follow The Prophet. He then spoke to the children. I really enjoyed it. I had to leave to feed Amy in the middle of Pres. Monson's talk, but I could listen to it in the mother's lounge. It was also a great talk.

We had a nice relaxing Sunday after that. Then we had to get everything ready for Aaron's trip. And go to bed early so he could get some rest before leaving way too early this morning.

After I took the kids to school this morning I took Amy to the pediatrician's for her 12 months check up. Everyone had to point out her black eye. She isn't nearly as big as the boys were at this age. She is 19.15 lbs and 28.5 inches tall About 30th percentile for both and 48.5 cm for head circumference - 95th percentile - (more like 100th). Maybe that's why she keeps bumping her head ;) We talked about her not getting enough milk, but Dr. R* isn't concerned as long as she gets calcium elsewhere like cheese and yogurt- which Amy loves both of. WARNING possibly TMI but it's my blog. So skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to read it! We also discussed weaning. I'm at that point where I am trying to decide what to do. I don't want to be nursing for a really long time. Amy seems to be fine if I don't nurse her, but loves it when I do. I've cut out one feeding during the day, but she still wants to eat more often at night. I'm just too lazy to not feed her at night. Times when she's woken up soon after feeding her (like 1 or 2 hours later) it takes a really long time for her to go back to sleep. I'm not sure I'm ready for some really long nights. I'm not looking for advice here, just telling it like it is. I know she will eventually wean and eventually she'll sleep through the night. I'm just not up for trying that hard right now.

OK you can open your eyes now! Amy got a few shots today, she wasn't happy about it because she was past her nap time. And I interrupted her nursing. She fell asleep on the way home and slept for over an hour! That's how I got most of this post done. After lunch we went to pick up Timothy. He came home fine. I promised we'd read a book together (since he was missing story time) so now that Amy is taking her second nap I'm going to read to Timothy now. OK after a quick story. Mr. M* (husband of Timothy's teacher - and school garden master) told me that Timothy is still hungry after lunch and went up to the lunch lady and asked for more food!!! I can't believe it! I guess I will have to pack him a bigger lunch. David gets the same thing in his lunch and he has leftovers! Timothy doesn't eat that much at home, but he takes a really long time to eat. David is too busy talking to friends and racing out to recess to eat his lunch. I wonder if Timothy gets to play at all after he eats.

OK I'm back. I talked to Aaron this afternoon, and he suggested I stop in and have lunch with him to see what he does. I'll have to do that. In the meantime I think I'll just add two or three more things to his lunch until he's not hungry. And picking him up is easier. I just have to have a plan for the afternoon, so I can tell him something fun that we will do, e.g. books, computer, art, or science experiment.

Well that's all for now. I'm sure I'll think of more later. But it will have to be without pictures :)

Happy Birthday Aaron

I was trying to think of something clever to say. But I'm all out of ideas. I want to wish my fabulous husband the best birthday ever! I think he got a great start because he took the day off and set his own schedule. Fishing in the morning, temple in the afternoon. Now he's home and we are going to open presents, then we are having his favorite dinner and his favorite cake for dessert.

Happy Birthday Aaron!

First Day of school: a review

Over all the first day of school was great for both boys. They love school and seem to like their teachers. Timothy told me that they drew pictures, and visited the library, and went to recess, and he didn't have enough to eat in his lunch (in contrast David never finishes what I gave him).

I may have mentioned this before but our school district offers full-day Kindergarten - for a price. This year our school's fee is $250 a month!!! So parents have the option of taking kids home half-day. This worked well with David. Eventually he went full day once a week. However Timothy does not want to come home. He was upset that I told him it was time to leave yesterday. And today he refused to leave. I had to pick him up off the carpet - while they were trying to read a story. I eventually let him stay until the end of story time. Then he came with me.

Here's my dilemma. Do I let him stay full-day or not? We cannot afford $250 - the fee is waived for those that qualify for free-lunch (basically the same standard as WIC). We don't qualify - barely. We just delayed paying off some school loans so we would have enough money to pay for Aaron's boards next year. Timothy's teacher has suggested that she could talk to the school to see if they can cut me a deal on tuition. But unless they can get it to about $50 a month I don't think we can afford it. We have been trying to see where we can cut back in our budget, and there's not much that we cut back on, unless we move, again.

Timothy is one of the younger kids in his class. I thought he would have a hard time adjusting, and they he would be rowdy and want to come home. So far this is not the case. I don't know why I am agonizing over this. Part of me wants him to go - he'd enjoy it, I'd get more time with Amy, and that's one less trip to and from school everyday. But part of me wants him home - I worry he'll get burnt out, and I won't get to spend one-on-one time with him in the afternoons while Amy naps. The other thing that makes it hard is that he is the only one in his class leaving early. Only two kids in the other class are leaving early. And one is also begging to stay.

Mostly I'm just writing my thoughts down to help me sort things out. It probably won't matter in the long run, but I just want to do what's best for Timothy - without breaking the bank!

The day has finally come!

That's right - the first day of school. I think we are one of the last school districts in the country to start school!

Aaron had a housestaff meeting last night, so we did our traditional father's blessings before the back school BBQ. We got to meet Timothy's teacher, and visit with friends we hadn't seen all summer. Timothy had a blast exploring the classroom. Mrs. M* has lots of plants, terrariums, and fish tanks etc. He continually spun the globe while she was addressing the parents. I completely forgot to bring the school supplies to drop off, so Timothy has to carry them in his back pack to school today. And I didn't even send all of them yet.

This morning the kids were pretty excited. I almost wanted to laugh at all the crying moms dropping off their kindergarteners. No I didn't, and I totally understand how they feel. But there were no tears in our family today.

Here they are, ready to go, with backpacks on!

got to have a silly picture too!

Aaron rode his bike over so he could leave after the kids left for their classes

He took a picture of Timothy and me after timothy got his name tag from his teacher. It was a little chaotic because the bell didn't even ring -oops. The playground supervisor (and office worker) Dian, finally blew her whistle to get all the kids to come in. I realized I never experienced the first day of school on the playground. With David's first day of kindergarten I dropped him off at the classroom. And last year - well I was having a baby. There were tons of parents.
I snagged a picture of David in line - he ran off and said there was no time for pictures. But I got one anyway.

After the kids finally went down the stairs to their room, I headed to the cafeteria for the welcome reception. It was great to talk to other moms, and listen to the principal, and PTA president. After that Amy was ready for a nap.

I was almost dancing as I put her in her crib, and she rolled over and fell asleep without a fuss. 45 minutes of peace and quiet! What's a girl to do? I turned on the computer, and while it was booting up - it's old and takes at least 7 minutes- I swept the floor, without anyone messing up my pile, or trying to eat the pile, knowing that it would be clean for at least 2 hours! And then I had to blog! In peace! But now I have a long list of things I want to do while I have just Amy. I pick up timothy after lunch. So there's not much time! Hurray for school. I can't wait for them to come home and I get to hear all about it! But for now I will enjoy the silence.

PS I made cookies for their lunches and a dozen of them are gone already - how does that happen? oops

lots of fun this weekend

We had a lot of fun with family this weekend. Saturday morning we headed to the Science Museum. There was also a music/art festival going on, so there were tons of people and the parking prices were ridiculous. Our normal walking routes were blocked off, so instead of cutting through the center we had to walk around a few blocks. Oh well. It was fun nonetheless. We met up with the B* family about 30 minutes after arriving. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures. Mostly because I'm used to having Aaron there with me. I did get some in the Butterfly Exhibit.

Greg and Abigail

Can you see the butterfly in this tree?
scroll down for the answer

After Evelyn's nap, Nathan and Amy joined us too! After a late lunch we headed back home, leaving family to enjoy the Science Museum without us.




Aaron was still sleeping post call, so we played quietly and got ready to visit Valerie and Christian's. They recently moved to a larger apartment since they are expecting TWINS!!! I don't know if I mentioned that yet. We've known for a while, but IVF is never a sure thing. Now at 18 weeks things are looking great, and sometime in January I will have 2 new nephews! So after a nice nap for Aaron we headed south for a bit. We asked them to DVR the BYU game so we started our football game about 1 1/2 hours later than the rest of the world. But then we could fast forward the commercials and pause, rewind. It was great! We ended up celebrating the fabulous BYU victory over Oklahoma about 30 minutes after it was over in real time - so it all worked out! It was a great game to watch! I love college football! We ate lots of pizza and salad. Now that they have an extra room we set up a DVD player in there so the kids could watch a movie while we watched the game. David howeer paused it ocassionally to eat some more pizza, and Timothy didn't like the movie, so he wandered out about every 5 minutes, and seemed to be completely oblivious that we was standing in front of the TV every time he came out grr! It was a fun evening anyway.

David complained of a headache throughout the evening, and had a low grade fever when we got home. We were out of children's Tylenol except for some chewables- which don't taste that great. So Aaron showed him how to swallow the pill instead, and he did it! Is that considered a milestone? David can now swallow pills! At any rate he felt better in the morning so we could all go to church. It was raining pretty hard when we arrived at church and we all got wet. We saved a row for the B* family. I subbed as a primary teacher in Timothy's class. I had agreed to do that before I knew we had family coming. I decided to just teach on my own rather than pull Aaron away from family. I attempted to get another lady to help me with the class, but the three people I came up with were all subbing for something else already. So I had six 4 & 5 year olds to myself. Most of them were pretty well behaved. One boy is a little active, and one girl didn't like that her mom was subbing, and didn't pick her to help. Luckily the secretary helped me out with her. Timothy was pretty well behaved during sharing time, but class was a little harder. We read a silly story about halfway through class, and after that I couldn't get them to settle down! But at least I wasn't pulling my hair out at the end.

After church the rain had stopped, and we headed back to our home for a big Sunday dinner. Aaron had put a pork roast in the crockpot, and I made a potato salad and a green salad. Daralee had bought some rolls, and Valerie made a fruit salad. We heated up some beans, and squeezed into our kitchen to eat. 14 people on out little kitchen - with an extra table, Abigail on her parents' laps, Amy in her seat on the floor, Jason and Timothy at the little blue table, we all fit. It was a fun dinner. When we weren't eating the kids had fun playing downstairs. We had some ice cream - left over from Amy's birthday. Abigail liked to stand behind the table

After dessert the B* family headed back to their home. We were glad we got to see them and spend time with them.can you see it now?

At the zoo with cousins

Last Sunday we were excited to learn that Aaron's oldest sister and her family were coming for a visit. They got a hotel late last night, and this morning joined us at the zoo. Nathan and Amy have a membership, so we got in for half price. The B* family bought a city pass, which got them into the zoo.

We got there early to get free parking, and the boys played on the monkey statues while we waited. I was corrected by David - they are baboon statues. I knew that it was just easier to say monkey.

Amy and Evelyn hanging out

Daralee and Abigail

um... a monkey

Daralee pointing to the map with Jason, Nathan and Evelyn look on.

The orangutan was nice and close

We got a cousin picture before Evelyn went home.
Of course Amy is the only one not cooperating :)

Evelyn, Jason, Elise - holding Abigail, Kyle, Andrew, David - holding Amy, and Timothy

Amy was happy later at the carousel

Jason was very diligent in telling what was next on the map

Kyle, Abigail and Jason

Aaron, with David and Timothy on the carousel.

Each family was given a token for the carousel for filling out a survey before we entered the zoo. The B* family graciously gave their token to our family so both David and timothy could ride - and they wouldn't have to choose who would ride in their family.

The Bald Eagles

The fish at the bottom of the Bald Eagle exhibit.
David saw Elise and Kyle taking pictures with the digital camera, and asked if he could take a picture. He's done it before at home, but I was worried with all the concrete and water. When I finally let him take a picture, he took one of the fish - go figure!

the Black Bear

Aaron and Timothy as snow leopards

It was a fun day, and tomorrow we get to play at the Science Museum with them. Aaron won't be able to join us as he is on call tonight, and will be post call tomorrow. But we are excited for another fun day with the cousins.

Birthday recap

We had fun on Amy's birthday. Not only did we eat cake and ice cream, we also got to find out what classes the boys will be in this year. David will have Ms. H* - our camping neighbor- and Timothy will have Mrs. M* - not the same teacher that David had in Kindergarten. I know Mrs. M* is a great teacher. I don't know much about Ms. H*'s teaching, but I know the kids like her, she's young and she seems really fun. I hope all goes well next week!

getting ready to check the class lists

So after dinner we had Nathan, Amy and Evelyn over for cake and ice cream (we missed having Valerie and Christian there - but we'll see them tomorrow!)

the candle was sent to us from my family

Amy was excited for the cake

taste testing

getting into it

We gave her the duck head, and let her play with it. Then I cut it in half so she wasn't eating just frosting. Eventually I took half of it away. She ate most of the other half, and threw some of it on the floor. That's when I knew she was

all done!

PS on my last post I mentioned she didn't like milk - well after all that cake she drank about 4 oz of whole milk. WooHoo! However today - she took a few sips and that's it :(.