We...Post#2

We...Went to Zoo lights! It was fun. There were more lights than I thought there would be. I am very happy with the improvements our zoo has made and continues to make. I am excited for the upcoming changes too! Anyway, we didn't really see any animals aside from the reptiles, which, by the way, the new exhibits are AWESOME, go to the reptile house if you haven't seen the changes there yet.
Santa was at the zoo too, one of his helpers was anyhow. I had one of the boys get a picture of me and Tyler because I am trying to make a point of getting more than just pictures of my kids!

Last, but definately not least, this is my baby Peyton, my baby! She's 3 today! We have had an incredibly fun day. We went to the Dollar Tree together to get a few things for her "tea party" that we had this afternoon. We went through the drive-thru at McDonald's and got her a sausage McMuffin and hashbrown (which she ate ALL of). Peyt accompanied me to my eye appt. where she asked a bazillion questions and I got a new rx. My left eye has worsened, but only slightly. We came home, I made sandwiches for the party, we had a little party with just about all of her little friends and their mommies. I will post pictures of that later, including her awesome teapot cake and tea cupcakes. Tonight after dinner I took her to the library to pick out a few shows and then to TOYS R' US. It's a birthday tradition in our family and Tyler always takes the boys and I got to take my girl this year, her first time for this tradition. We are part of Geoffery's Birthday Club. He calls on the kids birthday's to wish them a happy birthday, and he sends them a card in the mail with a $3 off card. We take the birthday child on or near their birthday and let them pick out a gift, usually something around 10 or 15 dollars. Peyton found a carseat/babycarrier for her dolls, it was $20. What can I say, I caved. I like girl stuff.

This is her at Zoo Lights with her hot chocolate that the kids said tasted like hot water. She is a ton of fun and full of personality. She reminds us a lot of Micah, I'll leave it at that. She knows what she wants, she sings, all the time, she loves baby dolls, barbies, clothes, shoes, cheese, animals and Dora the Explorer and Diego. Her favorite color is purple but she likes pink and red as well. She likes alone time, she goes in her room and closes the door, when her door is shut, that means she is playing happily on her own. If you go in to check on her she yells, "Close the door!" I love this girl and I'm thrilled that she is part of our family. Last night when I got home from a friends house I found her and Ben sleeping all cuddled up in her bed. Tyler fell asleep before the two of them went to bed. Ben had been playing with her in her room and he went to bed, Peyton cried for him and "made" him lay with her. It was just about the cutest thing I've ever seen, I got a picture, I'll post that soon too. I'm happy right now, really happy.

Ahwww moments from the end of April

I just haven't been in a blogging mood lately and have loads to catch up on. Since I am sitting here at 6 in the morning with no kids to watch, I thought I's just get it done! Tyler and "the boys" are away on their Father's and sons or Aaronic Priesthood Commemoration campout. Woo Hoo, I love my girls weekends. It's just me and Miss P and she is asleep right now, like I planned to be, I stayed up til 1am and was going to sleep until she woke up and I guess I just can't sleep in anymore. Anyway, to start this weekend off, I always clean the house first. I love it, I get to watch it stay clean for 2 days!!! Last night I picked up Panda Express for Peyton and I and we sat on the couch together and watched a show and ate right out of the container. I was great. After she went to bed I cleaned and scrapbooked and watched 4 episodes of 24. Tonight my Mom and Sister Morgan are coming over for the main event. Subway for dinner and chick flicks, and of course chocolate. This is our second annual girls weekend and I love it, I secretly look forward to it all year. It's a great bonding experience.

Ok, on to the pictures and mini stories from the month of April

This is of course my little mommy diva. There is no shortage of Girlie in her!

We had the tent set up in the front room for a week or so and she loved it. Her and the dogs played in there together quite often.

Peyton now likes Baby Signs and Baby Einstein! Ben still likes them too, so it's really cute to see them watching together. They'll talk to each other and giggle together. Very sweet. In the pic below they are both doing the sign for book, Peyton's needs a little work, she's getting there though!

My sweet girl also sometimes thinks that she is one of the dogs.

The boys dressed up for Rodeo Day, Benji was sad he didn't have cowboy boots until we convinced him that when cowboys work on their ranch they wear workboots. I thought they all looked so adorable.
We love our zoo and go quite frequently. I loved these pics. Ben asked me to take the one below and posed for it all on his own.
He loves his sister.

We went to Red Lobster for Aunt Mo's 17th birthday. The kids have been wanting to go there for a long time. Micah tried some of Papa Louie's Lobster a few years ago and has said ever since that it is his favorite food. Well, we didn't get any kids, or us for that matter, the lobster. They had to settle for the $8 a kids plate snow crab. Ben had fun playing with his crab legs and making them dance. They all liked the food but I don't think we'll be taking the kids to eat there again in the near future, it was a small fortune.

Jacob got Sparthenian of the Month! It is a very big award and I will be putting the bumper sticker on as soon as I wash the car. Micah said he just got it because his teacher ran out of good kids to give it too. That is so not true. Jacob has been working hard at school and his teacher noticed and told me how well he's been doing. Micah is very jealous. They are both straight A students, but it takes much more than good grades to get Sparthenian. It is a very hard thing to be on top of your game all the time. Micah, I know that if you keep working hard and don't give up you can get Sparthenian too! You boys are doing so well in school and I'm proud of all your hard work. I love you two so very much.

This is Miss P sporting her Alice doo. I love her hair!

I better get on to May soon before it's JUNE!

We love animals!

March 20
We renewed our zoo membership again this year and have already used it quite a few times. My friend Denise (and my mom's friend too!) was visiting from Florida and we all went to the zoo together, Morgan, Mom, Denise, Me, Ben, Peyton and even Savannah. It was a fun day and we spend longer at the zoo than we usually do. Here are just a few of the many pictures I took.

If you ever go to the Chaffee Zoo, I recommend feeding the Giraffes. It is $3, but very worth it.
This is my friend Denise, she is awesome.
Yep, she had a great time.
This pic she was looking through the fence at a turtle, I thought she looked so cute.

We try to get a pic of the kids every year in front of the gorilla so we can see how they've grown.

For some reason I took a lot of pictures of animals this trip and I played with the color in photoshop.

If you've made it this far and you're still with me you can now have the answer to why I am often silly, strange, or off the wall. It's because of my mother, I'm sure of it now. She didn't know I was filming this. She was trying to make the noise that the Saimang monkeys make.

Oh the peace, until 3:45...

September 10

I have really been enjoying having my 2 little ones at home. I do miss Micah and Jacob while they are at school, but it is amazing how easy little kids are in comparison. Our house has been so peaceful and quiet, there is such a happy feeling here all day, until about 3:45 when I hear the rumble of the garage door closing, the back door slamming, backpacks being thrown to the floor, shoes being kicked off...and then the chaos begins. Homework, karate (twice a week), piano practice, dinner and bed. Those poor boys have no time to kick back and relax, I can't blame them for being so tired, worn and and just plain grumpy. So, until the summer begins again, I enjoy those moments of peace and quiet with my babies.

Playgroup has been fun, a great way to get and of the house and keep the little ones entertained and happy. Last Wednesday we went to the zoo. The only thing much different was that we actually got to see the seal and sea lion feeding for the 1st time and learn about the differences between the two. Sea Lions have visable exernal ears, seals do not. Sea Lions can walk up on all fours while seals undulate, kind of like a caterpillar, on their bellies. One of our zoos sea lions is blind and the other is paralized from the mid back down, so they are in the process of putting a slick coating over the cement so she doesn't cut up her underbelly as she drags it along. I got tons of cute pics, but these are my favorite from the day.

Ben's favorite part of the zoo is the petting zoo. He's very hands on, and, like Jacob, has a very special place in his heart for all animals.
I'm not sure if this is a llama or an alpaca, but I just couldn't resist, it was recently shaved and looked too cute.
I happened to have my camera ready at the right time to catch this loving moment between brother and sister. Ben and Peyton love each other so very much.
Another favorite that has left the zoo since our trip are the sting rays, hopefully they'll be back next year.
My friend Stephanie got this picture of Peyton and e-mailed it to me. She was a very good baby all day.
Later that day at piano practice, Jacob, Benjamin and Peyton were watching a movie with the Ward kids and I snapped this from behind, my little stairsteps, I wish Micah was in it too though.

Zoobilation

Mine is probably the only zoobilation blog you will see Orange Explosion in! Just 2 days following Jacob's field trip too the zoo we were back again for a zoo members only event. It was there in the parking lot that we spotted this beauty...


Of course, you may know that the zoo is in a pretty "Ghetto" area, so this really isn't all that surprising, I just had to get a picture of it.
feeding the giraffes, my favorite thing to do at the zoo


Zoobilation was pretty fun. We missed going to a few of the behind the scenes things we could have seen (animal hospital and reptile house) but we did go into the elephants area, very cool. Ben peed in the toilet while we were there too, that was a bonus (I am so sick of potty training!)

Kindergarten Zoo trip!

Ok, so I have gotten a little behind in my blogging. I have been busy trying to keep the kids entertained and trying to stay cool (our airconditioner hasn't been working for the last week). Thanks Barbara for having us over this afternoon and helping us stay cool! I also have a new obsession that has been occupying all he free time I can muster up, collecting free digital scrapbooking stuff and organizing it. If you are into this, check out my frequented sites section to the right and there are 3 or 4 great places to check out. Anyway, there are a few other things going on too, and you'll hear about some of them in an upcoming blog!


I was very fortunate to have been able to chaperone Jacob's clas fieldtrip to the zoo on June 5th. There were only 3 kids in my group, Brooklyn, Mikayla and Jacob, and I was able to bring Ben and Peyton too! Here we are in the reptile house...
Ben, Jake and Brooklyn

Since Tyler works right across the street he was able to pop over for a little while, it was so nice to have him with us, even if it was just for a short time.
Here is my group, Jacob, Brooklyn and Mikayla
Jacob was checking out the Lemurs
Ben and Jake

This is Jacob's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. DeAmaral. He was so fortunate to have her. She was the perfect teacher for him and he learned and grew so much in her class. Thanks Mrs. D!!!

Zoo trip

Tyler forgot his lunch and asked if I could bring it to him, and since he works right by the zoo, I could just take the kids. He had just bought our family an annual zoo pass. I thought it was a great idea. We didn't have long though because I had to be back in time to pick Jake up from school, but it was fun. Ben ran from animal to animal and was very excited. I bought him a kid burger and we shared a Sprite, I got a jalepeno cheese stuffed pretzel and Peyton was quite happy in the stroller, as long as it was moving. I did have to sit and nurse her in front of the Sea Lion exhibit, and Ben didn't like that, he wanted to keep going. I'm looking forward to bringing the other kids and taking many zoo trips this next year.

Like I said, running from animal to animal...
Aww, posing with the "in memory of Nosey" statue. He was the elephant I remember as a kid.

The sting ray exhibit is one of my favorite. You can even feed them for $1. When we went it wasn't feeding time though, but they still will come up and suck on your hand if you put it in there, checking for food I guess! Ben couldn't reach far enough in, but I don't think he really wanted to touch them anyway.
This is one of the smaller ones, I think it was the same one that kept checking for food every time it swam around.

Posing in front of the Seal. I told him I wanted to take his picture when he was swimming by, so Ben watched and as soon as he swam by Ben turned around and said, "cheese!"



Waiting for our lunch.