Evan caught a fish before Ella. She had a meltdown.
When she finally did catch a fish...
...it flipped all over crazy just after this picture...and she had another meltdown.
We are crazy people...are you aware?
We make kooky choices sometimes...all for fun.
For our anniversary, we received a coupon for 'Free Chocolate' at the Melting Pot...one of our splurges from time to time. We haven't had a chance to use said coupon because of all the hoopla surrounding the sale of the house and moving. Ah, but it had no expiration date, Bingo! We figured we'd make a family thing out of it even though we typically only go there as a couple.
Another thing that we just hadn't had time to do was to take Ella out for a 'I've started kindergarten' type of celebration. We decided that bowling would be great fun for us all....so....
Saturday, we went bowling...and then we went out for fondue. Bowling gets crazy, what with all the taking turns and crazy lights and music, but it was very fun. Our kids are entertaining in any environment...the pictures below will prove this.
Dinner was just as wonderful as always. We had plenty of food and the kids were decent (and by decent I mean that I managed not to get stabbed with a fondue stick by the boy child). No really, they were rather well behaved...we had a few volume issues, but nothing a fluffy marshmallow couldn't muffle. They especially enjoyed the chocolate...because they are my children.
It feels so nice to be done wondering if the house would sale/close before the new house is finished...and we were very happy to celebrate as a family.
There were a few of these:
And these....
This picture makes me happy....
...that create big memories.
My sweet hubby was off work yesterday...we ended up going to the zoo!
We haven't been in a while, but it was the perfect day to go. Sunny, but not steamy!
Our zoo has added an exhibit called the Birds and the Bees...Easy. Not that kind of exhibit. It was a great display of bees and the explanation of the honey business. And the Bird portion, wow! You can actually get a stick with bird food attached to attract a sweet birdie to hold and feed. It was awesome to see how excited the kids were over these birds.
And believe it or not...we did not have the camera! We decided to just go and stroll...no pressure for pictures. (and do I need to get further behind on scrapbooking??) Hubs found a way to capture a few of the cutest things with his phone...so we didn't miss everything.
A very nice older gentleman was working near the pandas. My, my. He told us that pandas are only good at three things. Eating. Sleeping. And pooping. (sounds just like a baby to me!) So we stood around a few minutes because one panda was actually moving around. And then...she laid down...and then...she pooped. See, he was right. And while I wish that I could write this without mentioning what panda poop looks like, I just can't. It looks exactly like a whole yellow squash. There you have it. I should've tried to focus on how much they input instead of the output...
By the way, if I had to choose a theme for our day, I'd have to say it was poop. One of those cute birdies left a souvenir on my shoulder. Hubby stuck his hand in some bird droppings at the cheetah exhibit. And my children. Leave it to them to point out all kinds of poop...or that a certain Baboon in the Primate Canyon has a pink rear end. Oh the memories...
We saw a sea lion show, a ginormous python and at least a dozen penguins.
Every time we are near the orangutans, we laugh about how they probably look at Evan, with his red hair, and wonder how he got out of the exhibit. I do call him my little monkey...
We petted sheep and donkeys and learned that one of 'our' elephants will give birth next month.
After successfully wearing the kids out, we headed home with roaring snores from the boy child.
It was a beautiful day!
We had some wonderful family time...so precious.
Remember my meeting with Happy Momma? My sweet hubby made friends with their younger daughter...gaining her trust as he encouraged her to jump off their cofee table into his arms.
And so...we received the following email Friday:
Mr. Donald
This morning my mommy was changing my brother's diaper on his floor. I stood over him and said "wooon, twoooooo" and then I fell forward. On top of him. My mommy didn't think I would do it, either that or she thought to slow while I was counting. Either way, I'm quite sure my mommy said your name in a less than Christ like tone. I look forward to seeing what you teach me when we come this summer. Mommy has a few tricks up her sleeves to teach Ella and Evan.
Hugs,
Trouble in Texas aka "Happy Momma's Middle Monkey"
Ruh roh.
Bad Hubby.
So Hubby wrote back to the little Monkey:
Dear Grasshopper (Monkey),
You have learned well, excellent job! Don't worry about little brothers too much, they are highly resilient. Now, in order to really push Momma over the edge, I think you should try a few other "classic" kid maneuvers. Start out with something simple, like running with scissors for example. When you feel comfortable with that one, we'll move on to more advanced techniques like the ever popular, sticking a key in a wall outlet. If your parents are too sneaky for that one and have installed those pesky childproof outlet covers, then we'll have to go straight to the highest level of child mischief: turning on the garbage disposal while the cat's tail is in there. Anyway hope you have lots of fun!
Master (Donald)
P.S. Be sure to pass along this knowledge to your little brother one day.
Ella's friend 'R' - not a sleepover guest...her family is our 'family'...and her mommy had to bring the cake!!
I found this cake online...two days before the party and asked my best friend to make it. I think she did a terrific job!! The 'girls' are Twinkies. The heads are Vanilla Wafers...with Marshmallows for pillows. It's just cute...and uncommon. Yay for uncommon!
The party was a success!