Zoo Day

So before the mystery illness took hold at our house this week, we enjoyed a super fun day at the zoo last Sunday with my brother and his girlfriend. The kids were so excited to see their Uncle Jason since we missed him at Christmas time. Darn 'Arctic Blast'! We lucked out with a gorgeous, not-too-cold February day--a perfect day for animal viewing!

The eagle's nest. Holy moly, the real bald eagle that we saw...impressive!

Yee-haw!

Can I just say, the zoo train??? Come on Oregon Zoo! If you're going to charge people extra to ride it, at least clean up your "backstage" areas! And if I wanted to see lots of parked cars, I'd have an eager salesperson drive me around a car lot in his golf cart! For free! Miss Molly kept waiting to see "the castle". Ha! (Yes, Sis, the Disneyland train is hard to beat!)

If you're local, you really should go see the new baby elephant. (That's not him in the background.) He was so fun to watch and quite a crowd pleaser!

Thanks again for a really fun day, Uncle Jason and Rebecca! xoxoxo

Sweethearts

I often make mention of Carter and Molly's friendship, but in truth it's more than a duo. They are lucky enough to be part of a TRIO of BFFs. Add in sweet Abby, and you've got pretty much the best (and cutest) of the Class of 2024! (gulp)




You'd never know that these 3 still have to wait a couple of years before they get their true shot at kindergarten. But they looked right at home last Friday when they got to be honorary "students" and celebrate Valentine's Day alongside their older brothers at their class parties. I wasn't there, but thanks Sarri and Allison for supervising our trio! Cute, cute, cute!

Buddies

Since this is my day to get caught up on blogging, I couldn't not include some pictures of these two:

A new kind of Tinkerbell ;)

And yes, he naps with those goggles on, too!

Playing with playdough is a favorite afternoon activity at our house. Playing playdough with friends is even better! The dialogue that day went something like this:

(a LONG pause of silence)

Molly: "Tarter, I wuv you."

Carter: "I wuv you, too Mowee."

(more silence)

Molly: "Tarter, I wuv you."

Carter: "I wuv you, too Mowee."

I'm so wild about them! (Brace yourself, I'm about to have another reflective moment. Again.) In the beginning, before M and C even made their arrivals into this world, I wondered if they'd ever be able to develop the same kind of bond that their older brothers have shared since birth. One, because of the boy/girl thing, and two, because I knew that the daycare situation would be different. I knew they wouldn't be together every day year after year. It wasn't a worry or fear, just something I wondered about.

And the verdict? Best buddies. The boy/girl thing? Not even an issue. Other than the fact that C is really protective of his sweet M and M likes to be his bossy "mother hen". And now as they've closed out their toddler days and are rounding the corner into preschool-hood, they are more fun than ever to watch and listen to.

Here's to many more afternoons spent with friends!

Daddy's Day

Can you please just ignore the fact that today is February 16th, and Dave's birthday was 14 days ago?! And I'm just now posting on the topic. Oops.

Poor guy. He didn't get a Cinderella party or even a cake, after all! But he did get a whole lot of lovin' (not to mention some great gift cards) from his fam. :)

The birthday cream puff.

Hey, "leggo" my cream puff!

This pic is courtesy of Grayson. Not bad! (Even though if you look close enough, you will see that I have chocolate in my braces. Have I mentioned that I'm not a fan?)

Happy 34th, Dave! We love you!

Loved

Translation:

I will miss
(ignore the 'i') you Mom on
my sleepover.

Kind of sad, huh? Nah! Mostly it just warms my heart. And trust me, the sad look on his face in the picture is not a true reflection of how he really felt. Sleepovers are a rarity for our kids, so you would have thought that Grayson was going to Disneyland--he was that excited to be staying at his friend's house!

Dave and I? We had reservations up in Portland for 1 night. Somewhat of a surprise, belated birthday gift to Dave. A night out sans kids spent at The Melting Pot, our favorite downtown restaurant. Yum.

But here's the thing. We are not ones who leave our kids very often. Not because we worry about them or don't trust other people to care for them, but just because...well...we miss them! And in all honesty, over the past 5 years, we just haven't had many opportunities to leave our kids overnight. Perhaps if we had set a different standard early on and left them more regularly, then maybe we'd be more used to it. But without any family in the area, there's only so much that we expect from our friends. But blessings to "Auntie" Sarri! She plays the role of a favorite, fun aunt perfectly and has, more than once, selflessly offered to keep our kids. (Thank you, Sarri.)

A night? We can do a night. In fact, Dave and I had a great time. In hindsight, it was just what we needed. Notice that I haven't been posting very much lately? Who knew that our night away was going to be a much needed break--a time to rest and relax. Because what has been going on since then? Report cards, Valentine's Day, the never ending, never shrinking mountains of laundry, and our first bout with vomit this school-year. Ugh.

Now will I be leaving my kids for a week anytime soon (even though I don't think that there is anything wrong with that)? Not a chance! I'm not there...yet.