Dallas and Nashville Zoos

We got to meet with some friends at the Dallas Zoo. These were our friends in college that moved to Dallas a month after we left - great timing!!! Alas, super fun to meet again, especially since Andy and Pete semi-work together. They opened a new part of the Dallas Zoo that we haven't seen before (as well as raising the price, going to 50% reciprocity and raising parking prices...), so the kids had to climb on the elephant statues! In front of the African Savannah watching the giraffes: Emily (3), Arabella (almost 2), Joey (almost 7), Annie (almost 5), Ben (almost 7), Jon (close to 5). The kids were so cute, constantly asking each other's names and who they were supposed to be friends with. Joey finally resorted to calling Ben 'dude,' which Ben transferred back to Joey. It was pretty funny! However, another cute little girl (Arabella) helped convince Ben how much fun another sister would be!

Our favorite part of the Dallas Zoo - feeding the birds! We've done this in at least 5 other zoos and it is never as fun as in Dallas where the birds are unafraid to land on you...or try to open your backpack and take things out, as one bird did to me!

Shellie and Arabella walked in. The birds saw the food and went immediately to land on her head. Arabella did NOT like this! It was such a cute moment...

On our way back home, we stopped in Nashville for a few hours. They have an AWESOME play place for the kids to run around - definitely the highlight of this zoo! We also saw a bird show that was pretty cool.

Snow cones were another perk! Especially because Ben and Emily didn't want to finish theirs, so I got them. I LOVE SNOW CONES!!!

Riding the carousel. Since I'm pregnant and get sick easier, lucky Andy got to ride with the girls!!!

We also stopped at our favorite Children's Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The kids love it there, and I only got a few pictures because we were BUSY the entire 5 1/2 hours! This time we watched 2 little planetarium shows also that added to the thrill of the museum.

Playing with Friends

Let me preface this by saying, we had a fabulous time playing with so many friends! However, my camera wasn't readily accessible for most of our play dates. I have no idea how I missed getting a picture with our little one-year-old twin friends, other than maybe our hands were always busy. We missed so many picture moments - especially my GNO with the moms from my old neighborhood at Amigos, an awesome Mexican restaurant. It really messed up my plans to be sick our first week in Dallas, and sadly, we didn't get to see everyone! But, here are a few documented pictures, so hopefully they will jog the kids' minds for all the other friends! Moms' Club Gymnastics - one of our favorite monthly activities!!!

Brynnley's 5th birthday! So fun to celebrate with her; we got to go to a few birthday parties while we were there; so much fun!!!

The Monroes came over one day. They have 3 boys (and a sweet baby girl) and Ben is in between the 2nd and 3rd boy. They taught Ben what rafts are really for in the pool - trying to hit each other off. He had SO MUCH fun! And, notice Emily's progress in the pool - she's in the purple swimsuit completely in the water with NO FLOATS. She even began to jump of the board and swim to the other end of the pool. Love my little swimmers; the pool was incredible!!!

Our friends, the Powells. We so miss playing with them! The first two sets of kiddos are just a few weeks apart - then Emily and Ethan are separated by 5 months. Their Lydia and our mystery baby will be 6 months apart (and 1300 miles). Cute little fish all together! This was just before meeting some other friends from Ben and Kylie's preschool class for Taco Bueno, a torrential downpour, and some angels preventing a massive car accident. It was a great afternoon!!!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a fun day that started with a yummy pancake breakfast with my mom's church. The kids loved getting their faces painted by the Young Women. Yes, we celebrate Texas, even on America's Independence Day. :)

The bishopric played baseball with all the little boys; it was a tough game!

Then we went to a neighborhood parade with our friends, the Monroes.

We made fruit pizza in the 'shape' or the American flag! Leftovers were great for breakfast the next morning!

We went bowling with Aunt Jamie. The kids had a great time and are much more proficient than when we went a few months ago!

Ben and Annie took turns getting Emily set up with the ramp. (After the second time we called the people over because her ball didn't roll down the lane, it was time for some help!)

The final score! Jamie says I only one because of having bumpers, until I reminded her that she also had bumpers and was welcome to ricochet off the edges of the lane just like I did!

Fun, Fun weekend - complete with a trip to Rudy's BBQ!!!!!

Hanging out at Grandma's House

One of the very best things about being home was Grandma making breakfast, namely her waffles. Every school morning growing up, my mom made pancakes, waffles, or french toast. My pancakes and french toast can rival hers, but I've NEVER been able to get waffles to turn out even close to yummy! So, when I go home, that is our most requested meal, closely followed by Grandpa's chili. The girls had SO MUCH FUN being in the kitchen. The best part was - there was easily room for all of us to be in the kitchen together!!!!! Making cookies, brownies, or sopapilla cheesecake with Aunt Jamie. Annie and Emily weren't picky about what desserts they helped to make. This was most Sunday afternoons....

Evenings were game nights, much to Ben's delight! I would try to have dinner ready by the time everyone came home from work. If there were no meetings that evening, we'd have the kitchen cleaned up super fast and pull out games. We taught Ben to play Rummicub, which is one of my favorites! However, once Mom taught Jamie and I to play Pinochle, we focused more on getting the kids to bed at a decent hour so the three of us could play!

Coloring before bedtime... The kids have perfected the art of prolonging bedtime when Aunt Jamie or Grandma are around!

Eating divine Blue Bell ice cream. I had convinced myself we weren't really missing out on much by having Breyer's while in Ohio. I WAS SO WRONG! Blue Bell is so incredibly delightful!!! (We have a law school activity here in a few weeks. Our contribution is going to be brownies and Blue Bell ice cream that we can buy in bulk from Outback Steakhouse! I'm working hard to clean out my freezer so we'll have room. AND, I'm leaving myself a little leeway for a 5 lb weight gain that week!)

Another evening of prolonging bedtime with just a 'little bit' of a movie.

Ben was so excited to scrapbook with Grandma! One Saturday morning they holed up in her 'office' (aka scrapbook room) and put a book together!

Weeding the flower beds...

One thing we all love to do together is work on puzzles. We pulled this one out shortly before Independence day and worked on it sporadically for the next 3 weeks. It was a HARD puzzle! (Notice the Risk game in the corner...we had a few games that we played on for days. We being Ben and whatever adult got suckered into playing with him and his competitive nature. I have NO IDEA where he got that!)

This is the Texas puzzle we started the night we got to Texas. We finished it the day before we left to come home. Another hard puzzle! Thankfully, Mom donated her dining room table to our puzzle projects! Super duper fun!!!

Dallas Museum

We had such a great time at the Dallas Museum! Putting together a puzzle of the earth. Playing with BIG bubbles. Annie was so happy to be with her buddy, Brynnley again!

Ben was enthralled with the ping pong balls floating in the sky!

All six kiddos got to play in the water together! It was a really busy day in the morning, but after eating lunch, the Children's area cleared out a little bit!

Love those Dallas Firefighters!!!

Little Lydia was a big hit with everyone. This was Emily's bribe to put on/keep on her shoes: a special turn to hold Lydia! Brynnley and Annie wanted to be close also. Lydia also convinced Ben that it would be okay if he has ANOTHER sister!

We had so much fun that we had to take Dad back for another visit! (LOVE LOVE LOVE my museum pass!)

One of their favorite parts is digging for dinosaur bones in the sand. Annie has decided she would REALLY like to go and dig for real bones some day.

So Long, Farewell

We found some really fun friends our first year here in Ohio. The Gilbreth family had a 1 year layover in Canton before moving on to Connecticut for a dental program. John team-taught primary with Andy (and went to high school with 2 of my favorite friends also). Jenni was one of the craftiest people I know and just fun friends! They taught us about DOUGHBOYS, so to say goodbye, we had one more doughboy night! We started our fire by burning our Christmas tree... Doughboys: Baking Grands biscuits on a stick over the fire until somewhat crispy on the outside. Filling with nutella, pudding, berries, whipped cream, honey, jam, etc. Enjoy. They are simply divine!!!

Once little Miles started to eat it, his mom didn't get anymore!

Andy and John took turns pushing all the kids on the swing out front.

Goodbye, Friends!!!! We will see you again sometime!!! (Hopefully not to get a root canal...)

HELPPPPP!!!!

Can someone PLEASE help me find my wallet? We've looked EVERYWHERE (although not in the place the wallet is) and can't find it. I had it when I left BJ's on Saturday afternoon and even have my receipt. I have my keys that were next to my wallet. I just don't have my wallet! Not only do I need my money, but I need the notes I made on a paper that is folded inside! None of my cards have been used, which makes me think it is not stolen, just lost. Here are the places we've looked so far:
+Andy's car (which I drove) - we've been over it 3 different times, moving seats forward and backward.
+My car (which I didn't drive)
+all the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen
+through the shopping bags where groceries were
+have cleared all the clutter off the counters
+through the coloring books
+throughout the fridge
+I've called the store twice
+under and in the couch upstairs (i'll look downstairs right now!) it's all nicely vacuumed now
+through the church bag (although I know I didn't have it in there since I couldn't find my checkbook for church)
The kids have been looking everywhere also (i've offered LOTS of bribes if they find it).
And yes, we've all offerred numerous prayers.

Any other ideas??? I NEED MY WALLET!!!!

Whew!!!

I know - this is the longest time EVER between posts, but we are having a fabulous time in Texas! We all go to bed exhausted every night, and I haven't had a buddy join my bed since we've been here. Pools are amazing things for busy little kiddos!

So far we have seen a bunch of friends and have plans to see more next week. We hit the Children's Museum and have plans for the Zoo next week. We have swam a LOT and eaten from a few restaurants on my list (another one will be visited tomorrow for lunch). The kids have LOVED seeing so many friends, and I've been amazed at how easy it is to slip back into friendships that have been put on hold the last 11 months.

I've also decided that I need a wife or two! I cook during the week and try to have food ready when those working family members get home. Then (and this is the very best part!), we all work together to restore the kitchen! In about 15 minutes, it is back to perfection and we are all free to watch a show, play games, or go back to swimming. I have actually loaded the dishwasher (YES - MY PARENTS HAVE A DISHWASHER!!!!) twice in the last two weeks. I'm feeling very spoiled, especially when Andy called to talk tonight because he had a sink-full of dishes to hand wash... It was the longest conversation we've had yet!

I have been trying to keep my camera around and take a few pictures of each things we do. It doesn't always happen, but when going through my pictures for another project, I realized how few I have of my family. I just didn't make the effort to pick up my camera since they were always around . This trip, though, is going to be documented...some day!

We are all fiercely missing Andy, but this is but a small moment in the long run. He's been extremely busy and will continue to be for the next 2 weeks. I can't believe how incredibly fast time is flying by. Each day seems shorter an shorter as we pack more and more in. However, I think this weekend of rest will be great for the kids. Ben is barely holding it together, thus he was sent to bed at 6:15 tonight and put up the weakest fight about early bedtime. I have to have him ready for another fun-filled day tomorrow!!! And I wonder why my kids have such a go-go-go personality...

Every few days Annie keeps telling me that my tummy is getting bigger (she's right). The baby is moving a LOT now and if I am still for about ten minutes, I enjoy lots of little movements, however me getting tired quicker has been a good way to keep us from over-doing our lives. Pictures to come...someday. Now, I'm off to bed!!!

Lawn Stuff

I have all these thoughts, and occasionally they make it onto Facebook, but not near enough make it onto our blog, which is someday going to be preserved!

A few weeks ago, I was moving the lawn with our barely-hanging-onto-life mower, that I had to pray for to start each time I filled it up with gas. I found a frog and called Annie over to see it, because she told me that is her very favorite activity (finding and catching frogs in the yard). As she is trying to chase the frog, he hopped right under the side of my mower! Dumb frog!!! I was completely shocked and Annie looked at me wondering what had happened. I lifted the mower up and pulled backwards; no more frog! She got over it quickly, but I was traumatized.

Even worse, the mower stopped working. GRRRRR - I was about 1/2 way done with the yard (an hour into it) and I could not get the mower started again!!! Everything I saw online says the mower shouldn't have stopped working because of a little frog, but I wonder if his blood combined with gas and shorted something out. Andy tried and tried to fix it, to no avail.

We debated buying a new one and looked around for a week or so. Then, magically, a newer looking self-propelled mower showed up on Craigslist. Our old mower was NOT self-propelled, so the prospect looked good. The guy had moved to a 2 acre lot and bought a riding-mower. It was a name-brand that Andy liked. So, one day he left work and drove to the middle of nowhere to look at this mower. It started easily and ran well, so we got a new-to-us lawn mower!!! So easy to start. My one (okay two) complaint(s) is the actual propelled part of the machine. Definitely made for a man's hand; mine are tiny. AND, it's only on the right-hand side. I am left-handed. I turned it over to Andy today about 2/3 of the way through because my hand was cramping up. Then, I went for a little run around our few streets. It was fabulous! Can't believe I can run, at noon, in June and NOT DIE!!!

Thanks for listening. It's been a fun and busy morning, but now it's time for everyone to shower and clean up! Ben was a fantastic helper all morning, cleaning the bathroom, the mirrors, and vacuuming the stairs. Then he went outside and cleaned up all the sticks from the storms we've had the last few days. THEN he pulled weeds for awhile too. (I only asked him to do a few things and he did the rest on his own.) And yes, he will hire out. :)

Another Akron Zoo Day

Today, we did a quick trip to the zoo, AND I brought my camera! We've been to this zoo at least a 1/2 dozen times, but I have never remembered my camera. Maybe subconsciously, I didn't want Ben to have proof that we were doing something really fun without him; he loves the zoo. Since summer has begun, we went to the zoo! Lucky us - it was Celebrate World Ocean Day. Pretty cool stuff! We got a free book and a crown to color. And please no comments on the outfits; I picked the shirts so they all matched. Each child has their own special touch onto his/her outfit!!! Love this rope bridge and have been dreaming of a picture of my 3 kiddos on it for so long!!! I thought they were looking at me when I took it...NOPE!!!

The zoo does have a fabulous jellyfish exhibit...that the kids pretty much run through to get to the climbing wall! They all love it!

To the top!!!

Love those socks, Benny!

They had a new little zoo prep area with play food and little cards telling what each animal should eat. The kids prepare and weigh (on a broken scale) the correct amount of food. Ben and Annie loved it. Emily spent her time mopping the floor. Any wonder why I love that little girl so much???

Even with massive amounts of people at the zoo, we stopped to play in the playground fro a few minutes. Emily insisted on wearing her crown and kept it on for over an hour!

Our final stop at the Eagle's nest, overlooking the bald eagles. We had to massively backtrack to get to it since part of the route was blocked off. The things tired moms do for their children...

Fun fun summer vacation day #2. Really, how can you not love the zoo when it is 71 degrees the second week of June! Time is flying by! Another OB appointment tomorrow and then my ultrasound next week! Can't wait to see this little mover/shaker!!!