Can't Get Enough of the Zoo

We have been to the zoo a lot lately. What can I say, we love the zoo. A few weeks ago was Elley's preschool field trip....to the zoo! We never pass up a chance to hang out with friends while hanging out with the animals too.

The weather held out long enough to see a few animals, slide down the slide and enjoy a snack with friends.

We fed the Giraffe again and we made sure to find out his real name. Julius has a really LONG tongue.

We also fed the goats which Molly LOVES.

A few of our zoo friends!

And last but not least, the giraffe slide. Thank goodness we have such a GREAT dad who would do anything for his girls. Good thing he came with us because my wide load wouldn't fit down that slide!

Easter 2011

I love Holidays. I love my kids. I love holidays with my kids!

Easter was no exception to this.

We decorated eggs.


Can you tell Molly was a little excited to see the eggs turn different colors?

We saw the Easter Bunny. Elley had no issues with this creepy little bunny, but as you can tell Molly really didn't want anything to do with her. (in our house the Easter Bunny is a girl.) If you click on the picture you can see that even the slightest touch from Bunny put Molly on edge.




We got Easter baskets. Molly and Elley put their baskets on the front porch before they went to bed. When they woke up they looked for them outside. But, the Easter Bunny had brought them inside and put them by the fire place. They were both pretty excited about the necklaces the Easter Bunny brought.





We hunted for eggs. A good friend of mine invited us to an Easter egg hunt at her in-laws house. We had so much fun and the girls loved finding eggs.







All in all, Easter was a big hit. We were a little sad that Daddy had to work but at least he was able to have Easter dinner with us!!!

A Few Months of Happenings

I've been a little behind when it comes to blogging. Be prepared for more blog posts soon.

A few months ago we made a trip to see my sister and her family. Adam was taking a class close to where she lives, so we decided to make a whole family trip out of it. My sister even watched our kids while we snuck away for the night to attend Adam's class. It was the first time we had both been away from our kids at the same time. I was a little nervous but survived. It was one of those "first" hard things to do, but now that we've done it, I think I'll be leaving them with my sister more often.

Here are some pictures of them attending my sister's dance class. They had so much fun and thought they were such big kids. Briley and I just hung out watching the kids dance away. We got a little board.....so we took pictures of ourselves!

Elley, Briley, Molly, and Bryce getting ready to watch a movie.





One of our countless times playing Ticket to Ride. This was in the morning before showers, so of course, no one would look at me.

They day we left, Bryson's preschool class got to take a trip to the fire station and we got to come along!

In March, we celebrated Mason's birthday. The big 14! Look out girls, Mason is coming to stake dances!!!








A few weeks ago, our good friends Danielle and Denton came up for a visit. As I've said before, we are so sad they moved away but glad we get to visit so often. Denton had a class he was taking here so Danielle and the boys came as well to PLAY!!! We love them and are always sad when they have to go home. Click here to see Danielle's pictures of the fun we had. She got lots of pictures of the swimming we did.

I did get lots of pictures of Denton, who is a good sport, letting the kids do his hair. Which included a whole bottle of water sprayed on his head.

A few weeks ago, the girls had a cute little friend come over named Ashley. They played, and played, and played. I thought this was such a cute picture of the 3 of them.

We also had a chance to celebrate little Sophie turning 3! Molly, Elley and Sophie absolutely LOVE each other! Happy Birthday big girl!

Here is a picture of the girls last week "helping" mommy. They thought it would be a good idea to feed the dogs. Somehow the dog food got knocked over and it was all over the garage. Instead of freaking out, which a big fat pregnant mom might do, I took their picture. Oh well, I still love them!!

We've had some pretty crazy storms lately while the weather has been trying so hard to become spring. I thought these pictures of the clouds were pretty cool.

Okay, that's it for now but Easter and Preschool Zoo trip is coming soon!!!!

A Lesson in Spending Money

Elley loves Build-A-Bear. Although, we've only actually built a bear once, she loves going into the store and looking at all the outfits, looking at all the bears, and dreaming a little. She asks every time if we could build a bear, but do you know how poor we would be if we built a bear and dressed it every time we went to the mall? A few months ago, after we had made a visit to this store, she once again asked if she could make a bear. Me, thinking I could teach her a little bit about money, told her she could save up her money and when she had enough we would come back. We talked about helping mommy around the house to earn some money. She was so excited!!!

She made it to $3.55.

We had to make a trip to Target (we love that store) and she asked if she could buy some lip gloss. I explained that she would have to use her own money and that would take away from her Build-A-Bear fund. She was okay with this and ran to get her wallet.

When we got to Target, we went right for the makeup. Elley took her sweet little time picking out the perfect color. When she finally found what she wanted I told her that it would take all her money to get this lip gloss. She agreed and we finished our shopping.

When it was time to pay luckily there was no line behind us. I wanted Elley to do this on her own. When the cashier told her the total, I was mortified when Elley whips out her play credit card and tried to hand it to the lady. She put it back after I told her that wouldn't work and I started to help her count out her money. When we counted it all out the cashier started to put it in her drawer. Realizing that the lip gloss required all her money except for a few pennies she replied, "hey, that's all my money." Oh sweet, sweet Elley.....I feel your pain!

It's a hard lesson but one I hope will teach her that we can't have everything we see....even a small tube of lip gloss.

Now that I think of it, saving up for a Build-A-Bear was probably a goal that was unreachable for a 4 year old. We'll just stick to the lip glosses from now on.

Look how much she enjoyed the lip gloss. We finally had to take it away after she spent the majority of the day applying. At least she was sharing with her sister!

What a girl!!! As I've said before, I have no idea where she gets it from!

Target and Evelyn's Missing Purse

A few weeks ago the girls and I took a trip to Target one afternoon. I can't even remember why we were there, probably just getting out of the house. When we walked in, it was cold outside and a little cloudy but nothing that made me think that snow was on it's way. As we walked out, we were covered with the biggest snow flakes I've ever seen. Snow was sticking to the cars, the side walks, and the carts that were in the parking lot. The girls and I ran to the car. As I was getting Elley in the car she said, "mom, the snow is covering your hair."

We pulled out of our spot and I was waiting to turn onto the main drive of the parking lot when Molly says,

"MOM! A PURSE, A PURSE!"

I had no idea what she was talking about as I looked onto the passenger seat and saw mine sitting there all wet and somewhat covered with snow. So I said to her, "mommy has her purse right here Molly."In a big loud voice once again she says,

"NO MOMMY, A PURSE, A PURSE."

So I looked back at her and she is looking out her window at the carts in the cart return. And sure enough, there is a purse sitting in the child seat of a cart, in the cart return, covered with snow.

I could believe that she actually saw that purse. We pulled over, I ran out into the snow, and we rescued that purse. I unzipped it and found a checkbook right on top. I found a phone number on the checks and called. Evelyn was the owner of the purse. I talked to her for a minute, finding out that she had been looking for her purse and was just about to go check her car. I realized from her address that she was on my way home. I told her to meet me at the front of her subdivision.

On the way there, the girls were full of questions.

~where does Evelyn live?

~is Evelyn a mommy?

~how many kids does she have?

~does she have any little girls?

~can I play with them?

~why did she leave her purse at Target?

~why do we have to give it back?

~why does it make us sad when we lose things?

~is she crying?

We talked about all these questions, realizing how sad we would be if we lost some of our toys, books, dress up clothes, and even our own purses.

When we finally met up with Evelyn she was so happy we had found her purse. She even tried to give us some money. The only thing I wanted from her was for her to meet my girls. It was important to me that they saw how happy and thankful Evelyn was to have her purse back. I did tell Evelyn how lucky she was that I had girls, especially girls that LOVE purses. They can spot a purse from miles away.......even when covered in snow.

I was, and still am so thankful for this opportunity to teach my girls a very important lesson in life. As I said my prayers that night I thanked my Heavenly Father for the chance to teach my girls to always be honest, even when no one is looking. I hope they recognize how they felt even being as young as they are. I hope they know how happy their Heavenly Father was for the choice they made to give the missing purse back. I hope they know how much their mom loves them and how proud of them I am. I hope they remember this experience for the rest of their lives. We talked about this experience for days after it happened and even the other night when we pulled into the Target parking lot Elley mentioned that this was the place we found Evelyn's purse.

I don't post this story to boast but to remember and to teach my kids that the most important things in life are not things. To remember who we are at all times, and in all things, and in all places.

Spring Break 2011

Since Elley started preschool this past fall, I guess you could say that this is our first official Spring Break. Saturday of last week I was actually making plans around her school schedule, and then it dawned on me. Then and there I decided to go all out for our vacation. Well, not all out. Daddy had to work and I still had to babysit 2 of the days, but we made the most of it!!!

It all started with fancying up our nails. What's spring break without fresh manicures and pedicures? Besides, we went swimming on Wednesday and we needed our nails to look just right!

Thursday was half price day at the zoo, and it was one of the few warm days of the week. So, we packed a lunch and headed out for a fun day of animals.

Molly sure loves animals! These geese were everywhere. Molly really wanted one of them to be her friend. I took this picture right before this mean goose hissed at Molly, sending her running for dear life wondering why this little goose didn't want to be her friend. I tried to warn her....Canadian Geese can be so mean!

Some pictures of our animal friends

This was pretty neat. Molly and Elley got to feed Gilbert the Giraffe. I really don't know if this is his name or not. The lady told us but we forgot, Gilbert is the name we gave him. I wasn't surprised when Molly walked right up to this large animal and fed it some breakfast. Elley, on the other hand, I was very surprised. I guess she wasn't going to let sister show her up.

Just playing around

We also had a chance to feed the goats. I think one day Molly will be a farmer, or a Vet, or a zoo keeper. She loved these goats and even gave one of them a kiss. We must of fed the goats for a good 30 minutes, I just couldn't get her away.

Here is Gilbert again.

We had such a fun time. We even stopped for ice cream on the way home. The girls picked Pink Bubble Gum ice cream, how gross is that? They gobbled every last bite. The only sad part of the day was daddy couldn't come. Next time we'll take him.

Today we went to the Nature Center with our friends Jill, Carter, and Hailey and Brittney, Hunter, and Wyatt.

Elley, Carter, and Hunter.

Molly Wyatt

Molly, Carter and Wyatt.......who clearly wanted to be done with the whole "put your head in this hole and let us take a picture" thing.

All the cute kids except for Hailey. It's really hard to get 5 kids to look at you for 1 picture!

Molly and Elley

Hailey and Carter

Wyatt and Hunter.....dude, what's up with Wyatt today?!!? :)

My crazy girl!!!

I just can't believe how big these kids are. I think Elley was around one when we started this little play group thing. They are just too cute! We are so lucky to have such GREAT friends!

Okay, I'll See You In 2 Weeks!

I had a check up the other day, and after the normal check up routine, the doctor asked if I had any questions.

"Nope."

"Okay, sounds good. I'll see you again in 2 weeks!"

What the crap, is it that time already? 2 weeks, 2 weeks? 28 weeks, I guess that does start the 3rd trimester. 3rd trimester, 3rd trimester? Am I really in the 3rd trimester already?

I feel HUGE! 12 more weeks, can I even get any bigger? Adam, bless his little heart, told me the other day that I actually did look pretty big.

This pregnancy has been a tough one. In the last week the sickness has died down a bit. I guess I'm just one of the unlucky ones to experience morning sickness up until the end. I shouldn't complain, many have it far worse than I do. Molly and Elley wear me out! Molly is still at that age where she wants to be held. It's starting to be to much to carry her around.

You forget all these things after you give birth, or don't remember them being this bad. The morning sickness, the huge belly, the sore body, the leg cramps, the insomnia, the peeing, the maternity clothes....Boo Hoo.

I'm really trying hard not to complain here. I'm REALLY excited to welcome this little girl into our family. Elley and Molly will be great big sisters, especially Elley. I can't wait to see Elley in 4-year-old big sister mode.

Okay, enough from me.....here's to just a few more months!!!