things we saw at the zoo today

Yes, we've been here many times. But maps are fun. And this was the last day we'll come to this zoo! Splurged a little.

things we've pretended over the last week...

Alyssa: "I'm a little kitten and you don't see me except on Wednesdays."

Caden: "I'm a mole hanging upside down. You don't have to own me if you don't want to. Oh, I mean, I'm a possum"

Alyssa: "I'm a kitty in the pound"

Alyssa: "I'm a kitty who likes warm places."

Alyssa: "I'm a baby goat."

Caden: "I'm a fox."

Alyssa: "I'm a lost girl working for pennies"

Alyssa: "I'm an orphan who came to your door and you invite me to be your daughter"

Both: Prairie dogs. Hedgehogs. Kittens. Tigers. Puppies born with the same fur. Then after freeing themselves, they serenaded me with an original song entitled We're Two Lovable Furballs.

Stomp Rocket....who knew?

Such a fun toy that I'd never heard of until Aunt Lynne sent this for Caden's birthday!

Birthday food

I've been quite remiss in posting lately! I got all these pics off my camera today an realized I'm behind. For Caden's birthday dinner, he picked goldenrod eggs. I made half the sauce blue and half purple. Here is our giraffe cake, that I was quite glad he picked because you only use a 9x9! He's quite small, but very cute.

Big Banana Car

No, its no metaphor. On the way to this odd little fieldtrip, I had the kids guessing what sort of food the car would look like. I assured them that they'd know when we found the right house! Even got to go for a ride!

Carried away in a giant banana.

The owner is going to be going on a world tour in this thing. Can you imagine?

backyard friend

Alyssa spotted this spotted snake. He was already slithering away by the time I grabbed the camera!

I do love this part!

We drove in the van listening to the kids watching a Veggie Tales DVD that they've seen many times before. And about every 5 seconds or so, Alyssa would say, "I love this part!" I lost count around the 23rd time. Kids find familiarity so comforting, don't they? The same movie. The same book. The same routine. How can I be that way? Why can they find it so wonderful and I find it boring?

I struggle with looking forward to the next phase in life, so much so that I don't always look about at my favorite parts of whats happening right now. I'd like to get good at appreciating the Now, so one day, I don't look back and realize that I missed my favorite part!