The Day After!

we had playgroup at my sister-in-law's house today for two reasons. 1) she asked and 2) she needed help with some pre-birthday party prep. no problems! the cookies were already made, as you can see, but we needed to frost them. then we herded the kids outside to play and let off some energy. they were so wild and just runnin everywhere. as i write this two out of three of my babies are actually sleeping now.... bliss!














before, sofia even stole a cookie before we even knew she was up on the chair.














after! of course this is minus the ones the kids took and the adults just had to test (very good!). it's a rainbow themed party for little saidee.














just waiting for the pool to be brought to the front yard, aylor makes me smile (i'm so gonna miss him when his family moves).














fun time prep work. we did have to eventually take the hose away since the moms didn't feel like getting sprayed (which i was).














i don't know what lee was tryin to do, i'm just glad i got the picture.














i swear.... if you don't watch sofia close you are always just a nano second too late! over half the box came out before any adult could even try to stop it. but....














in came the vultures! they had no qualms with the cereal being on the ground.... extra fiber i say!














she would stir the pool water with her stick, then try to eat it/drink it. that only lasted a few minutes before she lost interest.














the other stick was just too small! at least she didn't try to hit anyone.

More Fun

daddy treated erica and aidan to the ice cream truck.... right before dinner! alyssa, like erica's chair?














i think there is a picture of me somewhere doing this very thing... butt in the air while pickin something off the ground (mine was a bit more elevated)














playing with rocks while aidan STILL eats his "posicle"














stuffin her face with potato bread. she is my big bread eater, just like me and her great grandma adams!














if you're not watching.... she eat the WHOLE thing!















at least he has a towel on, being like daddy. but he likes to dry his hair and brush it like mommy.














this is how she gets on top of the dresser, pay no attention that she is buck naked! i had to take all the clothes out of the dresser or they would be all over the floor, they are in the closet now.

New Park

Today we went to the new park in the 'Burg to see what it was all about. Also a great opportunity to really break in the new camera. This park is for children up to the age of 12, but for ALL abilities. How cool is that!! This place was fantastic and just full of colors. It had, what I call, soft asphalt to break the falls and so much to help keep the kids safe. All I had growing up was gravel and big wood chips. We will be going back!














A new wonderland to explore! They both had a hard time deciding what they wanted to do.














She is a climber, didn't matter if it was made for her size or not. She wouldn't get very far before she moved on to something else.













Where did she go?! They have two swings like this for the bigger kids and two for the smaller ones. If I were paying attention I would have caught on to that. Well the swings that were her size were occupied anyways.














Helping his sister out so he could have a turn in the "fancy" swing.














He looks ready for a roller coaster! This wasn't his favorite swing, but he would come back every now and then for a swing.














She found the swing that worked best for her. She kept coming back to this, didn't really want anything else for a while.














No, he didn't think it was a potty.... but the hole was big enough for that little butt of his.














Climbing.... again!














An action shot!!! Aidan loved the big slide, much better than the "baby" slides.














I don't know who's water this is, she just picked it up. After her rest we went for an early lunch to Taco Bell (for Aidan) and Chick-Fil-A!

Make Every Shot A PowerShot!

Ok, happiness has been bought! Our camera was on it's last legs and was driving me nuts. It would take four seconds or more just to take the picture. Heaven help you if it was an action shot. Well Jeff has picked up on my hints and took it in his own hands and got us (mostly me) a new camera! These pictures are just us testing it out.













I don't usually pose for pictures cause I tend to look stoned. But this one is rather nice, I might use it for my Facebook.













I think she was caught off guard!













Mommy's turn to take a picture, pay no attention to the mess on the hutch....














Back to daddy.

Proceed with Caution!

Beyond this point there be pictures of.... snakes! On Friday I got to be a chaperone for Erica's school field trip to the Luray Reptile Center. As it turns out it is more of a rescue zoo, as you pass this place the sign will say 'Luray Zoo'. It is a very small establishment but very creepy (to me anyways). The inside has all the reptiles, unfortunately my group was to go there first, and there was a small zoo (mostly birds) just outside. The kids LOVED this trip. A lot of the parents, mostly moms, were having a hard time not being too creeped out. My child was very much braver than me. She couldn't wait to see everything. I'm surprised there were no nightmares as a result. The owner/operator is Mr Mike, a very nice man who is right up there with the Croc Hunter in my opinion. He told lots of stories and gave lots of information. I still have a big fear of snakes, but my respect for them has increased. Still don't want to go near one though. So enjoy the picture show...














On the way. I swear the buses are bigger, i was sharing the seat with these to skinny-minnies.














This is how you get in. The kids in my group wanted to see if the gator had any loose teeth.








































One of the few reptiles in the "house" that I was not afraid of, a big headed turtle.














This picture doesn't do this justice, it was freakin huge! could have swallowed a child whole! I stayed away from this side of the room.














"I wanna see the big poisonous snake that my mommy is to scared to have me see..." This was one creepy room for anyone with a fear of the snake.













STEVE! Mr Mike has a huge alligator turtle (I think that's the name) that is sponsored by Steve and Terry Irwin. One of the pictures to prove it, along with a plaque below it. Mr Mike is on the right.














They were all crowded around this window to see a sleeping croc! A show stopper!


















































































Too cute!
















Heaven help us.... our future drivers!














Erica didn't want to feed the goats out of her hand, so she put the food in a cup. This goat had a hard time getting the four kernels.














After "feeding" the goats she wanted to brush them. They have to be pretty too...














The kids getting ready for the show, front row seats! Had I known snakes were involved I would have opted for the back row!














Mr Mike brought out two snakes for his "show", a copperhead and a rattler! The rattlesnake would actually rattle on cue! But by now she was done and Mr Mike had to rattle her tail for her, DO NOT try this at home!














I thought he was coming to have me touch "puddin", but he said he saw my camera and thought I wanted to take a picture. Creepy albino something (I forget what kind of snake it was).














SHE TOUCHED THE SNAKE!!!!! She was actually petting the snake, but Mr Mike said that you should not pet a snake like you would a dog, they don't like it. I 'll take his word on that.













At the end of the day, lunch then this awesome playground! The kids were so tired that some fell asleep on the way home, all sweaty and smelly!