A Day at the Zoo!

While we were at my parents for Memorial Day weekend, we thought it might be fun to head to the zoo. Our kids had never been to a zoo before, and it was fun to view it through their eyes. You will notice one of the favorite zoo animals of all time are not included {Monkeys} they will have their own post tomorrow!

This is our entire crew, minus myself! Jess, Boo, Kaylee, Aunt Christy, Grandma Pancakes, Aunt Lisa, Princess, & Handsome looking at one of the bears.Boo stuck to Jess the entire day, they have been buds since he was just a tiny little guy!Then came the Rhinos~And the Gators...kind of looks like he is smiling!And then my children decided to terrorize the female peacock that had gotten out of her pan! They chased her all the way back...heeheAnd when she got back into her pen, the two male peacocks were showing off for her...here we have Boo and Handsome thinking this was a nice show!And the two males just kept showing off!They would go back and forth between having their tails up and down depending on how close the female was to the other male!Since they wouldn't ride the real camel, a stone elephant was all I could get for a photo opp. We don't have a picture of this, but at the petting farm they had goats and you could feed them. Princess did it twice and didn't love it, Boo took some convincing but ended up really having a good time feeding them!

Then on to the penguins, one of three animals Princess had on her list to see...she really thought they were funny!Then on the terrorizing more animals, they chased a Mama Goose and her goslings back to the pond along with Miss Kaylee!Precious Picture!Giraffes were #2 on the Princess list (there wasn't any lions at this zoo...but they were #3!)Throw in a zebra...I love the African animals!Boo with his Daddy and Grandma Pancakes looking on!Princess looking at the BIG turtlesBoo liked them too!Princess, Handsome, Jess, & Aunt Lisa watching the tiger pacing.I am not sure which animal they are looking at...Maybe the Monkeys?A cozy bear sleepingChecking out the pink flamingosAgain...Riding the pretend hippo inside the museumCrawling on the gatorAnd sitting on his headThe elephantHow happy she was to have gone to the zoo...And just a few minutes later she was out...with the Nemo.Fish Grandma Pancakes bought her!They both are out...the picture of Boo by himself just will not load, but you can see him out with his Monkey that Grandma Pancakes bought him at the zoo!

What a fun trip it was...and the fun company we were around! We are hoping to go to a bigger zoo next summer!

To see more Zoo pictures and family from Memorial Weekend go to my wonderful sister-in-laws blog here....check it out!

***Count down to my BIRTHDAY: 15 days!

Memory Lane

We went to visit my parents on the other side of the state over Memorial Weekend and took a different route getting there than we normally do. This allowed us to travel through Huron, where we used to live and visit 697...11th Street...S.W. to see if our very first home was still as wonderful as we remembered it! IT WAS BETTER! I don't know who all reads this blog, but those of you that have owned a 'first home' and sold it might understand what I am talking about. There is something about that house that makes it the best house you will ever live in, at least in your mind. Now this house was a great house, and by the time we left it was an awesome house...it seems as if the people that live there now have only continued to make it better! They did what was on our plans if we were to have stayed another summer. Siding, doors, & windows!

Anyway, with that said, here are a couple of pictures. The street sign of 11th & Dakota that we turned on every time we were coming or leaving our home!
And our beautiful house! It used to be yellow with blue trim, and they have just classed it up a bunch. That is the exact door I would have chosen, and they added the deck, we just has concrete steps up to the front door! The spirea bush in the corner by the deck we planted, and the tree to the far left of the picture we planted as well. It seems they were not much for our roses, as they have all been pulled out...to each their own!

It was kind of funny driving up to the house, I would have never imagined me to have uncontrollable tears running down my face. (Though it is me, so is it a big surprise?) While we only lived there from November 2003 ~ April 2006, there are many MANY memories that those four walls hold for us. This is where we learned we were expecting 4 times, and also experienced the miscarriages with those 4 pregnancies. This is where we decided to start our adoption journey and had 26 phone calls saying we would be parents to have each one fall by the wayside. This is where we decided to become foster parents. This is where we really had the chance to love on each other, and where Satan tried his hardest to pull our marriage to pieces. This is where my husband caved and allowed me to get my Meshach. This is where we gave up...

Honestly, we had given up on so many things before we moved from this home...and while so many of those memories I just mentioned seem to be bad or negative, they are all very special to me. They are our story, our life, our path that God has given us. Each and every step we took in this house brought us one step closer to where we are now...to becoming parents of Princess & Ethan! To realizing that marriage was much more difficult that we expected and learning we needed to work harder at it and in the process getting closer and truly becoming best friends.

This house will always be my favorite house, there so many things that we changed about it while we lived there and intended on changing if we continued to live there, but it really is the house that God gave us while we were setting the foundation to the rest of our lives serving him. I love this house!

***Countdown to my birthday: 16 days!

Our Very Own Park (part 1)

Having a Daycare, we saw the need to get some outside toys for the kiddos...of course the ones that will benefit the most will be Princess & Boo, but the little Pumpkins are loving it too! I shopped around long and hard to find 'just the right one!' When I found this here, it quickly became my 1st choice! Princess & Boo call it their "Very Own PARK!"They like to say "Mommy, look at me, I'm looking out the window!"One of their favorite shows right now is Micky.Mouse.Clubhouse on the Disney.Channel, and the taller part underneath has been dubbed their 'very own clubhouse.'"I fit Mommy"Here is the Princess waiting for someone to give her a push...though she CAN do it herself!

We also have added a new storage shed behind our home, as many of you know we lived in a much bigger house up until about 6 months ago and have been paying for a storage unit since. We decided to have a rummage sale (June 13th) to sell what we could and the rest either has to fit in this or goes to the trash!

Part 2 will come when this shows up and I get it put together!

**Countdown to my birthday: 17 days!

May 19th, another Patch Pool day!

This time it is only going to be MY Pumpkins I share with you! Smiles for MommyPeaceful & Precious

I was loving how her bright blues & greens stood out so nicely against her beautiful chocolate skin...she is just turing into a beautiful little lady!

**Countdown to my birthday: 18 days!

Free National Park Admission & a Give Away!

If you go here you will see that there are three weekends this summer where there are 100 National Parks across the country that will be letting you in free of charge. The first weekend in Fathers Day (June 20-21), the second July 18-19, and the last August 15-16. If you go here you will be able to see a list of the parks by state which are included in this! I am really excited about this, we are busy the July weekend, but since we live in such a WONDERFUL part of the country we have a few that are within 2 hours and several more within 5 hours from where we live. We already know that Devils Tower will be taken in one of the weekends! Check it out and see if there are any close to you that are participating...

Also, I wanted to give you a heads up...toward the end of the summer I am going to be having my very first give away. I am still looking for just the right thing, but you need to study up for your chance to win! Sometime in September I will be doing a post that will include pictures of clouds that I have taken through out the summer. The idea behind it is that when I see a cloud that is in a 'shape' of something I am going to take a picture, and the person to get the most correct (I will have the correct answers scheduled to post the very next day) will win something great. So while you are enjoying this summer, take note of the clouds and start practicing! I will send the item anywhere in the USA.

Countdown to my birthday: 19 days!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for at least one faithful working computer in our house! I am again, using my husbands computer because my computer came back to me not working properly. If I am paying $45/hr for them to fix it, it should work when it comes back! So this means no pics on the blog until it comes back!

Now for the real ~ Thankful Thursday ~ post (that was just the appetiser!)

This week has been kind of rainy & dreary, which for most people would be bad...and on the Daycare front it is...our house isn't big enough to be trapped inside three days in a row! BUT, on the beauty of God's creation side...it is GORGEOUS!

I had an eye doctor appointment last evening and did some grocery shopping afterward and on the way home I wished that I (#1) Had my camera to take pictures for you, not that I could upload them anyway! and (#2) could have stopped and taken it all in for just a few minutes or so! The way the rainy spring clouds were blowing over the beautiful hills was just AMAZING! Now I have tooted the "We live in the most beautiful place EVER" horn probably a million times on this blog...mostly because we do...but seriously folks, this was absolute WONDER! God's work at its FINEST!

The other side of having some wonderful spring rains is that everything around here is green, blooming and just plain lovely! I love Spring, it doesn't beat Fall in my eyes...but it is a close second!

I am so thankful for this wonderful Spring-like weather!

Another Patch Pool Day

Pumpkin Genna, and can I tell you that I.LOVE.THIS.PICTURE!!!Our little Princess checking out the pool before getting in!Boo, has to have his cup everywhere he goesPlaying in the water, from outside the poolShe likes to have her Nemo as a hat!Pumpkin K.Jo
Pumpkin Genna...too cute!

The Princess' toes

A sign that Spring is here...Strawberry blossoms!

New leaves on the Maple Tree!
***All from May 18th, 2009


Count Down to my birthday...21 days!

A Lovely Sunday Afternoon

Three of us were able to take a nap, but Handsome did some work outside...afterwards we decided to go to the park. As you can see the kids get a little excited when we get there. Princess took off with Boo a bit behind...The minute we get there it is a race from one slide to the next...Boo does prefer the bridge to the slides...It took her a while to go down a slide again after this incident!Dropping sticks into the creek... Here we have an action shot, they just love being at the park!

Countdown to my birthday...22 days!

Trip to the local DIY store

A few Saturdays ago we made a trip to RC to the DIY hardware store to get some things to fix our decks and other outdoor items around the house. The kids were having a good 'ol time riding on the cart and being silly! Here we catch Boo with a happy face and Princess with her 'goofy' face!

HAPPY JUNE!

Birthday Countdown...23 days!