Preschool Zoo Trip

Last Thursday, our Pre-Preschool did our final "field trip" to the zoo. I hadn't been to the zoo since elementary school so I was excited to see what this magical place was like. Everyone had a great time and all the kids were so well behaved the entire day.

Farm Animals

Turtle-Turtle

It was really neat being so close to a lot of the big animals. (I tried not to think about their captivity and all that!!)

Bethy and Shepherd spent a little time in the stroller while we ate lunch.

Speaking of lunch - it was CHAIOS. Babies were crying, {my} kids were crying, black birds and seagulls were diving at our tables for food, people were stealing our chairs... I was thankful that Keri and Amie were there to figure it all out while April and I fed our babes. It definitely was a memory! And at the end of it all, there were cupcakes from Auntie Keri. Of course, they were adorable with little animals on the top. Nate got a tiger and James got a zebra. Those animals have become the latest favorite toy at our house!

Auntie Keri is the best!

Amazing Auntie Keri also bought the kids animal masks for after lunch. You wouldn't know it, but Nate loves his monkey mask now!

Natester and C-Lo.

James loves helping and showing off his strong muscles. He insisted on pulling Keri's wagon by himself a lot of the morning.

Checking out the elephants - a big hit for everyone.

And this is our survival picture (with two very cooperative boys - ha!). We finished the day with tired kiddos just as the wind and rain started up. Perfect timing.

Last Night - -

James got up about a half hour after going to bed. He said he needed to throw up. We went to the bathroom and Nate walked in after us: "Mom, I need to throw up". Nate put his face WAY into the toilet, worked up as much spit as he could, and spit it into the toilet. "There, I throw up." and he walked back into his room.

James was still complaining that he needed to throw up and that he needed medicine ("medicine" is James' cure for everything). I said no medicine until after he throws up so James stood over the toilet trying to work up something to "throw up" in the toilet.  {Lest you think I'm some horribly unsympathetic mom, every time James looked at me he gave me this sneaky trying-not-to-smile-smile. He was clearly feeling fine.}  James finally sneezed and proudly thought that would work to get some medicine. Nope - back to bed.

Both boys weren't going back to sleep (10:30pm by this point) so John let them sleep in their sleeping bags on the floor. At 11pm, we went to bed and they were still laughing and wrestling... Maybe they'll sleep in this morning??   :-)

Little chefs

I've been trying to be better about letting the boys help in the kitchen recently.

James talked me in to buying a new cookie scoop - nicknamed "spooner" - and asks non-stop to use it.

They've helped me make muffins, cookies, pancakes, and a few other dinners.

But, let's be honest about what really goes on in the kitchen.... 

 

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend this year, Uncle Reed and Auntie Katie picked up the boys early Saturday morning and took them to a train show or something over on highway 2. The boys had a great time. I'm still hearing about the trains they got to ride on and walk around. They stopped in Leavenworth for some lunch, then took the boys over to Uncle Dave and Auntie Kim's camping property up in the mountains.

From there, James and Nate camped with Uncle Dave & Aunt Kim Saturday night and John and I drove over for the day on Sunday.

It was bizarre weather. It poured rain for a while, then it was hot and sunny for a little bit. True Washington camping!

I only took a few pictures - apparently Nate was the only one being cute that day.  ;-)

The boys were very excited to show me the antlers Uncle Dave found on the property.

Family pic - I didn't realize James & Nate snuck their "guns" in the picture too!

Another Ring Story

Remember this story? It almost happened again.....

Two Thursdays ago, I was getting ready to leave the house and I couldn't find my ring(s) anywhere. I only ever leave my ring in 3 spots in the house because I know how easily I lose things. I did a quick search Thursday morning then left with out the ring.

That afternoon I searched the entire house trying to find those rings. I 100% had them on at preschool the previous day and I usually take them off in the kitchen while I make dinner.

I couldn't find them. Anywhere.

I asked the boys if they had seen my rings since James knows where everything is. They hadn't seen them, but later that night James outted me to John: "Daddy, Mom lost her ring. She looked ALL over the house and couldn't find them ANYWHERE."

Fast forward to this past Sunday - a bunch of us were over at the Morrows camping property for Memorial Day.

Reed (John's brother) was a little ways from camp shooting guns and John went over to see him. Reed needed help finding a part from the gun that had dropped on the ground. Somehow, John found the part right away and made a comment about how he wished he could find my wedding ring that easily. 

"DOH!!!" Reed remembered that when he was over for dinner that Wednesday night, he saw my rings in the kitchen and thought it would be funny to hide them on the top shelf in the cupboard.

Yeah, hilarious Reed!!!  ;-)

So, my rings are back. I wasn't the one who lost them (again)... And now I know not to leave my stuff laying around when Uncle Reed comes over!

Last Day of Preschool 2012-2013

This last Wednesday was our last day of Preschool for this year. The boys have absolutely loved their time at preschool. Every time we go somewhere, Nate asks if we're going to Preschool (then Grandma & Grandpa's, then Fred Meyer, then the gym). Preschool is always first.

Our last day of school picture - quickly shot with the iphone before we raced out the door! -

And our first day of school picture - I'm amazed how much Nate especially has grown since October! James is just a little taller with a (very short) buzz cut now.

We're doing one more year of Preschool next year, but I'm pretty sure we will all keep up with our preschool play dates over the summer... Starting with a trip to the zoo next week!

The Week's Pictures

James invented "tiger claws" this week. From morning to bedtime the boys wear shoes on their hands and feet so they can be tigers with tiger claws.

James drinks out of a bottle SO weird! It cracks me up every time!

John took the boys to run some errands. Nate insisted on wearing his hat like this:

Baby Girl is 11 weeks old. She is such a happy baby.

James made an elephant with play dough.

I was looking through my preschool pictures from this week. Kenley was getting lots of love - lol!

On another note, I can't believe we only have one official week of preschool left! This "year" has flown by!

The boys get to choose their pj's and this night Nate really wanted to wear hangers.

Sweet Bethy (and Tabatha's Take Over).   :)

Not sure who is who in this picture - but someone got the raw end of the deal!

I took the boys for frozen yogurt on Thursday.

They both got a gummy frog in their yogurt. This is a picture of James' frog - because in his first bite, NATE SWALLOWED HIS WHOLE. (I guess it's no quarter, right Mo? Lol)

Nate's Trip to the Walk-In

Saturday was an eventful day for us. John was working so I took the boys to a Mother's Day lunch with my family. While we were waiting for Grandparents to arrive, my dear little brother was swinging all the kids around and playing with them.

As soon as Nate's turn was over, he came over to me, crying. I kissed his owwie and sent him on his way. No matter what the injury, a kiss from Mom always stops the crying. But this time, he didn't stop. After about 10 minutes of painful sounding cries, my dad and I decided to take him to the walk-in. Nate didn't want anything to do with anyone but Grandpa.

I'm thankful it was a slow day at the doctor, but everyone working there worked at a snail's pace. You'd think they'd have more urgency to stop a screaming child for their own sake... but they didn't! (On a side note, Nate weighs a hefty 33lbs now.)

First, Nate went in for an x-ray on his lower arm to rule out something broken before the doctor moved it. The x-ray didn't show anything wrong. We went back to the doctor and he said usually kids don't cry that much if it's just dislocation - so he sent us back for an upper arm/shoulder x-ray. I had to wait outside with Bethy. Nate wanted Grandpa!

After the second x-ray and over an hour of crying, Nate seemed completely fine reading a book with Grandpa. He was hilarious pointing out the different animals - The striped and spotted ones were "dirty" and needed to take a bath. He decided the pink and purple birds were my favorite because I'm "a giwrl". He wanted to eat the crocodile to make it go away. And when asked where the flamingo was: "It's the pink one." Can you say flamingo? "No, I can say pink!"

When the doctor came in the last time, the x-rays still looked fine. He grabbed Nate's arm, did the "Nursemaid's Elbow" trick, and popped his elbow back into place. Nate was completely fine and giving high-fives in just a few minutes. I was a tad irritated with how slow the process was. I knew it was something out of joint - Nursemaid's Elbow happened to John all the time as a kid. But, I'm thankful it finally did get fixed!

Good Morning

Finally woke her up at 8:30, but I'm sure she would have slept longer. What a great girl!

Check out those cheeks.

This sweet little girl slept in her own bed for the first time last night... 10pm - still sleeping.

{9 weeks old}

Typical... I bought the boys a new Bible story book. They thought it was cool for about a minute and a half, then grabbed the box and played "ferry boat" for the next hour.

Bethy - 2 Months

The sweet baby girl turned 2 months on May 1st. She is an absolute joy and is fitting into this crazy family so well.

Bethy is definitely a mama's girl. She likes to talk and smile back when we look at her and I can tell that she recognizes people from further away now. She loves to dance and is fascinated watching her legs kick. In fact, most of her 2 month pictures looked like this...

And this...

I've said before that the first few weeks were tough to get back into " baby mode" (and Bethy was an extra high-maintenance little girl). But every single week gets better and better - or maybe I should say easier and easier - or maybe just more normal...   :-)

Baby Beth has taken to her 3 hour schedule so smoothly - which makes our routine and knowing why she's fussy WAY easier. As soon as the schedule clicked for her, she started being fine "playing" by herself without crying and going down for naps and bedtime with minimal crying. She's still sleeping through the night - usually around 10pm - 5, 6, 7 or 8am. (She's still in our room and we get up at 5. I bet when I move her to her room she'll sleep in!)

We sure love this little sweetie!

Carnival

 

Last weekend there was a little carnival set up in the Home Depot parking lot. Of course we had to go! We didn't realize at the time that there were really only 2 rides the boys could go on, so we ended up going home with lots of extra tickets... After we paid $12 for two {stupid} little alien stuffed animals!

I'm not sure how the boys ended up with the only "girly" car of the bunch!

The other ride they went on was the swings. I love Nate's faces in these pictures - they were having a blast!

A Rough Morning

(Pictures first, clean up later)