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!!!

Are you ready for some pictures?!?

Making tamales...with my helpers. Andy come home just as we were finishing and took a picture of us all. Ben did a surprisingly great job of putting the masa into wrappers! Emily handed us the dough, and Annie was the chicken girl! My best Mother's Day morning so far! They made me a fabulous breakfast, complete with lots of hugs and kisses and plenty of artwork and sweet notes to decorate my bulletin board!

Sweet Emily on the swing! She often has to do her tummy because Mommy just doesn't want to push anymore!

Annie and her friend Mia. This is after they had been making trains with Emily also, and Emily fell over onto the ground. So sad!

Ben has had the most fabulous teacher this year. We all just love her! They did an end of the year Poetry Celebration where the kids each recited a poem they learned throughout the year. Ben had Groundhog's Day. They were supposed to dress up accordingly.

A friend told us about a pick-your-own farm where they went to get asparagus. The kids and I decided to try it out while Dad was still in Dallas. We had so much fun!!! Actually, Emily didn't love it because she wouldn't put on real shoes and I think it was irritating. Ben and Annie had a blast! (Notice the little lines on Emily's face. What do you think she is trying to be???)

I never knew how asparagus grew! I was very surprised, it's just a random field that looks like a bunch of weeds! It is amazingly satisfying to snap off the stem!!!

My three sweeties! We thought we were doing so well and had picked a ton! When we went in to weigh it, we only had a little over two pounds, so we decided to pick some more. Ben and Annie went to town and quickly filled our buckets, so we brought home almost 6 pounds of asparagus! Good thing we all love it! AND - it will taste even better since I only paid $1.10 a pound!!!

Sunday we wiped down the chairs and cleaned the floors before our cute new home teachers came over. (They are 82 and 78, and the kids are amazed by how old they are!) Emily decided to be a train conductor, complete with cell phone, sun glasses, a tutu, and music! Ben and Annie had abandoned the game by this point!

The Next Dorothy

Little Annie has been asking and asking to learn to ice skate. We finally took the plunge, and she loved it, and she was REALLY good! She is confident on the ice, gets right back up after falling, and doesn't seem to tire out! Each week they would play a game where the teacher spreads stuffed animals all over the ice to get the kids to skate around, learned to bend down and stand back up, etc. Annie would get allllllll of the animals in the same amount of time the other little boy would tiptoe his way to get one. I think it kind of bugged the teacher a little bit, but, oh well!

Miss Morgan talking with Adam and Annie.

I love this picture of her feet; it shows how steady she feels.

This is the last day of class, after Annie learned that she passed Snowplow Sam 1 and can move on to the next level! We'll see, Bell! ;)

Grandparent Visit

Andy's dad and stepmom came for a long weekend visit, and we filled it with as many activities as we possibly could! We read books one morning. Then we headed to the Cleveland Zoo where I saw giraffes RUN - it was beautiful! Kids were exhausted by the end and slept in the car on the way to eat at Friendly's.

We splurged and bought the $1 bird food. The kids all LOVE to feed the birds. These weren't super-friendly and would only land on Andy.

We finished the night going to the Akron Aeros AA baseball game. Super fun, but VERY long as it was a double-header that went into extra innings. We HAD to stay for the fireworks, which really were amazing.

The boys all brought their baseball mitts, which paid off when Andy caught a foul ball! He kindly gave it Ben, who hasn't stopped playing with it since. He was even able to take it to school to show his class.

Saturday we slept in, care of a late Friday night. We went to Ben's t-ball game, then headed to the hotel for a few hours of swimming! The kids were in Heaven; it's been so long since they have been in a pool. They just love the water and all the people to play with!

Sunday we went to church then spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the yard. These $1 beach balls I bought for the pool have created hours and hours of enjoyment. They played volleyball for a long time!

Annie practiced closing her hands to catch a ball...
And there is always the stack-en-up game! We also played baseball and threw the frisbee for awhile. Such a beautiful day outside!
Ben wanted to take a little break to write letters, so Grandma Maas indulged him. Out came the bed trays, paper, envelopes and markers!
It was a great trip. Unfortunately, they left, Andy went out of town, and I was left to go back to everyday life, one where I actually had to make meals again!

Sundays at Home

On any particular day, you will find Emily taking all the movies off the shelves and connecting each box very carefully to make a bridge. Dancing Queen....Emily didn't want to wear this cute dress until Annie showed her how to spin and the dress flies out. Now it is one of her favorites!

Ben likes to wander around the room while he is talking on the phone. It makes one very dizzy to watch!

Tickling games happen if Dad is home more than a few minutes. As soon as one person starts laughing, the rest of the kids run in to see what made them laugh.

They made up this hopping game using Andy's shoes. Annie won every single time; she is FAST!

Emily is so sad because there are only two shoes, so she didn't get to play.

We always start Family Home Evening with announcements. If you want to make one, you raise your hand and Dad will call on you. Emily always raises her hand and says something about how she loves Mom, Dad, Ben, and Annie. Super cute!

Two very tired girls...

They couldn't make it up the stairs, so Dad helped them!

Ben got to stay up a few minutes later than the girls this night. We were watching Life. I love hippos...sigh...

Sleep, Sleep, and More Sleep

I am so tired...all of the time. It's really kind of getting old. I haven't stayed up late to finish a book in over two months!! My husband is astounded. I even left the tv and went to bed with one quarter left in the 6th Mavs/Spurs game because I was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. My children have really enjoyed tv and watched a lot of new shows because Mommy needs her nap each day. Why? Because growing a 4th baby is an exhausting job!!! 6 more months, then the real work begins...

Easter Fun

There is a family in our ward that does a massive Easter Egg hunt every year. This is Katy, otherwise known as Ben's Friend. He couldn't remember her name for the first several months we were in Ohio and just called her, My Friend. Ben doesn't typically connect with adults as he has a lot to say and it is easily overwhelming to tired adults; not Katy! They has us over for dinner our second week here, and she talked to Ben through our entire meal of fabulous lasagna, including seconds. He's loved her ever since!!! (We actually knew of Katy before we moved here as her sister's family was in our ward in Dallas, and her niece was one of our favorite babysitters before she went to college.) Everything was organized so well with lots and lots of eggs allllll over the yard. Children and parents alike are listening intently to the directions, especially about those prized golden eggs!

Many parents await quick children with cameras at the ready...

They started with each different age group. Emily was in the second group, as she had turned 3 the week before. She was all over those eggs and needed no coaching!

This was the mass organized chaos that is an egg hunt for children 1-17 years of age...and their parents!

Everyone had a great time with full baskets, fresh air, and friends!!!

The Easter Bunny comes to our house on the Saturday before Easter. At least, he will from now on; this was actually the Easter Bunny's first visit to our home. (Ben was so sad last year that he didn't visit! Shame on us!!!) He hid prepackaged baskets this year that were very well loved!!!

Happy Easter! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!!!

Cake Bites...Yummy

Along with our chocolate tour, we made cake bites, so we could create goodies too! The kids had fun, got messy, and enjoyed the results. We decided not to share these with anyone (lots of licking fingers!!!), so three weeks later, I still have some sitting in my fridge!

Ben was our budding photographer since Dad was at school!

Phillies

Ben is on the Phillies this year. He hated the first few minutes but now enjoys his team. Today was Opening Day!!! (Baseball is taken quite seriously in this town.) We did pictures, then had a parade-type announcing of each team and player name. The kids all got to give High 5s to Slider (The Cleveland Indians mascot) and then run through a tunnel from the High School team. There was supposed to be a 1-inning scrimage following this, but we opted out. Why???? There were snow flurries!!! We were all so frozen. Really, it was 75 earlier this week! This is my cute little Ben with his partner in crime, Griffen, next to him. The moms on this team are so friendly; it seems like everyone here is! This is Ben's 4th sport team, and I already know most of the moms after just 2 practices! Love it!!! Go Phillies!!!

Summer Job

Well, I'm sure everyone is as excited as we are to find out what job will be on our horizon this summer! However, this is still in the air. The other day, Andy called from school and asked what I thought about him being a golf caddy. Sounds great, Dear! I really do think it's a great idea. The sunshine and being outside would be great for him! However, I don't think he was being completely sincere, just testing me! His friend just got a job on a landscaping team. I told him he can do whatever he wants, as long as it pays the bills and I get to go to Texas for at least 2 weeks.

Annie still cries at least once a week (typically more like 3-4 times) for her dearest friend! I have several new babies to see, lots of friends to catch up with, restaurants to visit, a zoo to refamiliarize, friends that moved there from Nevada, friends moving to Idaho, and the list just continues on and on. Not to mention the DOERKS, who we all love! I was laying in bed this morning thinking of everyone I want to see and all the things I want to do. I'm going to need morning play dates, lunch dates, and afternoon dates to fit everything in...or just stay a little bit longer! I've also been making a mental list of food I need to revisit...it is getting rather lengthy. So, Andy, whatever job as long as I can go out to eat at least twice a week in Texas! ;)

Reason #782...

...why I love my husband. He thinks outside the box.

Two weeks ago, I went down to change the laundry. I pushed the button on the dryer; when I let go, the dryer didn't continue. It just stopped. Ummm, you were JUST working when I came down because I stopped you to take out the sheets. Come on, DRYER!!! Like the great person I am, I tried again and again, and yet again with the same results. Then I went to my surefire way to fix things, "ANDY!!!!"

After many hours on hold with Sears, poking around on the internet, and baskets of clothes piling up, Andy decided he could try and fix this. Apparently Sears has increased their service fees, by about double since the last time we had them come out! We (okay, I just want to be a part of the process!) knew what the problem was and what parts were needed, so Andy ordered them, bypassing the service fee.

Two days later the parts came! 11:30 at night Andy gets home from school with bloodshot eyes, looking completely exhausted and goes to open the package. I didn't want to give any unwanted advice like, "Please don't break my dryer!" because it was already broken! He pulls out a computer chip and his eyes kind of shine. (Um, my husband is a civil engineer and works with large pieces of material, NOT little tiny things that go into computer-type machines.) I finally speak up, "Do you have any idea what you are doing?" Nope! But he's ready to try, with that same somewhat unnerving gleam in his eyes! I just kept reading about Abraham and Isaac...

11:52, I hear the dryer moving constantly and footsteps coming back to my bedroom. I look up to see a huge smiling face on my tired handsome husband! Thank you for fixing my dryer and only costing us $95 and 22 minutes of actual hands on time. I love you!!!