Boo at the Zoo

Yet another afternoon of fun at the Zoo, this time with CANDY!

Lyla climbing a cannon in the haunted valley.

Steven walking the plank.

DVD from Dad

I just got done watching the DVD my dad sent of their summer vacation - well, at least the first 1/3 of it. I was watching with the kids who were !loving! seeing themselves on TV. Then the section of mom and dad's summer trip moved from the family beach vacation to Washington, DC and Steven asked "where is me?" I don't mean to be raising a self-centered kid!

Anyway, I totally love that my dad made us this DVD and it is so great to have the memories captured forever!

Zoo with the Borts Family

We got to the Lorikeets just in time to feed them. Jack even got a little gift from one of the birds that gave him good luck for the weekend! Steven is getting so bold. He couldn't get his jacket off fast enough because he wanted the bird to land on his arm. I don't have any idea why he couldn't have his jacket on for bird feeding.

We even got everyone on the hay ride. Lyla can now say tractor - her vocabulary is exploding!

Weekend Visitors

It was fall break for the Borts kids so Tracy loaded them in the minivan and roadtripped to Kansas City. What a fun surprise for Steven and Lyla to have their big cousins for the weekend!

(She climbed up on his lap without any prompting by anyone!)

I told Steven they were coming on Thursday night and he burst in to tears. I don't know for sure why he cried but after thinking about it for awhile I think he was afraid that we were going away and they would be babysitting him. His fear went away when Emily and Jack arrived with me at preschool to pick him up at the end of the day. He was awestruck and the other kids swarmed the cousins. Lyla just froze when we picked her up. I think she likes her routine and just didn't know what to think of her cousins at her school!

After the initial shock wore off we had a great weekend playing with the cousins. We mainly just hung out, played in the front yard, rode trikes, went to the zoo (yes, we go every weekend), and ate take-out!

(Our future awaits ... handheld video games ... ugh)

We also now know that you must NOT put air mattresses directly on wood floors because Tracy won't be able to sleep and then her kids won't sleep for fear that they will make the annoying air mattress on wood floor noise. Thank goodness we have lots of blankets at our house for night number 2 of their visit.

Now that the Borts are only 3 or so hours away, I think we are going to be seeing them more often! Yay!

Babywearing

I guess you can call me a natural parent because I love seeing my kids babywearing their stuffed animals around the house.

Cue funeral music

It is a sad day at the Clark household.

We had to retire the waffle maker to the trash can. It was a good waffle maker and really put in a great effort morning after morning after morning after morning after morning .... I think you get the drift. Steven has never seen a Bisquick waffle that he didn't like. Lyla was even starting to enjoy them day after day.

Hoots and Howls

I took the kids to the zoo this morning so that Tommy could get a few hours of sleep after his all night lock-in. It was a pretty fun morning but we really didn't see many animals while we were there...we saw spiderman, rode tractors, took a hayride, rode the carousel, ate lunch ... we did watch the sea lion show and we did walk through the Tropics. Oh, and we did feed the deer - that is always a treat!

Don't ask me why Spiderman was at the zoo because it is strange to me, too. I guess that he came because he is popular with little boys and they like to dress up as Spiderman for Halloween. It was cute to see how many little boys were in costume for this event and Spiderman was even signing the back of some of the boys tee shirts (the ones with spiderman on them).

A great end to a tough week

Last weekend Steven started to complain that he didn't feel good (I am going to spare the details because if he reads this when he grows up I don't want to embarass him). He was waking up two or three times a night and was utterly inconsolable. I spent a lot of time on the internet researching this and researching that, called the doctor's nurse for advice and spent some really sleepless nights trying to console an unconsolable boy.

Finally, Monday morning I was ready to stop being a zombie and we decided to take him to the doctor. We got a prescription and hoped it would prove to be the solution...well, these things take time, right? So we gave it a few more nights and he was still waking up over and over, crying and crying. Finally on Friday I called the doctor and told him that we needed another solution because I was not being a good parent at this point. So a new prescription was called into the pharmacy and my hopes were raised for a good nights sleep.

To add a wrinkle to the plan, Tommy's all night boys lock-in was Friday night and he was going to be away all night. I was hoping beyond hope that Steven would sleep. I mostly got my wish, he did wake up once but we rocked and he went right back to sleep. No crying, no fussing. It was a relief.

So, next time I won't be so slow to call the doctor and ask for something new to try. Lesson learned. Let's just hope I haven't blogged too soon!

Uncle Ringo came to visit

What we do when school is closed

Dad takes the day off work so that he can take the kids to the farm and ...

Milk a fake cow


Bottle feed a real goat


Play at the playground


Ride my first pony