Visiting Santa

As the second week of January is upon us, I feel like I should post about our December happenings. Here goes...

Our zoo does a meet Santa thing each year. Since there was going to be a REAL reindeer there, I thought I'd take the kids. The day I was going, I was picking the kids up from my parents' house, which mean they are off MY schedule. I didn't even think about early naptimes, long lines and uncooperative toddlers when I had this great idea.

As we pulled in the parking lot, I didn't think there where very many cars, until I saw the lines. As we got in line and proceeded to wait for over thirty minutes, I was asking myself, 'why the heck did I do this by myself?'. It was awful. Brynlee was so tired and whiny that I just wanted to leave, but I knew that Fletcher would be disappointed.

At least the reindeer kept Fletcher amused for our wait and the annoying kids behind me were entertaining. Their dad did a great job of coming up with ridiculous responses to their questions and I just smiled as I thought of what my response would be. I may or may not have mumbled a few times. I was that annoyed with the situation.

We finally got to Santa and Fletcher went up to him without hesitation. Brynlee on the other hand clung to me like a baby monkey holding on for dear life. I at least got a picture of him. The missing sister will explain how the year went when we look at Santa pictures in the future.

As we were leaving u really tried to avoid the reindeer picture line but I got the whiny 3 year old that time. The line was much shorter and the guy with the reindeer seemed to be moving the kids through quickly. I went for it, after all, it couldn't be much worse than the Santa experience. The wait was less Han 10 minutes and the pictures I got where worth it. The reactions made my day better, however, I was still mad I ha to do it all by myself.

The End.

just pickin'

earlier this month last month, we went to adam's dad's one saturday to do a little apple and tomato picking. we did it last year and little boy enjoyed it and i wanted to do it again. after doing it this year, i think it is going to become a tradition for us each october. 

 little boy did a good job picking apples. some were too hard for him to pull off, but his facial expressions when trying were pretty funny. we filled a bucket with apples. i could have picked more, but we didn't have anything to put them in.

 this sweet thing was so tired and cranky. she did however get in on her first apple picking adventure. she wasn't too thrilled about it though. she fell asleep after being out there for 10 minutes. she loves to be outside, so i knew she would calm down and eventually fall asleep. i'm sure next year it will be more exciting for her.

 after picking the apples, we moved over to the tomato plants. there were tons of them and there were tons of ripe tomatoes begging to be picked. little boy's prize winning pick...the ugly green tomato.

 after ever pick, he'd hold it up and say 'cheese'. he was very proud of his picking.

 the daddy took a picture of me helping the boy. he was trying to copy adam by putting them in his shirt to hold, while he picked more. only thing is, his shirts aren't that big and his coordination just wasn't there.

 little boy took this picture of us. he did a pretty good job. any guesses what he's getting for christmas? i'll just say it's 'kid tough'.

 this is what we went home with. there was a lot of peeling and cutting and stirring in my future. four and a half quarts of tomatoes and three quarts of applesauce so far. i need to finish the apples this weekend.

 when we were loading the goods in the car, little boy saw some leftover food we had from our trip to the pumpkin patch. he's pretty smart and remembered that it was to feed the goats. he insisted that we go feed the rest to pops and nana's goats.

 i'm so glad he isn't afraid of them. he was petting them and feeding them. he just laughed as they licked and nibbled at his hands.

wordless wednesday-my babes

the new playroom

We have a new playroom...sort of. The sunroom, that houses the dog during the day, has new laminate flooring instead of pee stained carpet. Since the room isn't smelly and covered with dog hair (because laminate is easier to vacuum with my swiffer vac) I send the kids to the back and play. Easton enjoys the extra attention too, but not the extra tail pulls or cars crashing into her. 

 While the big kids play, sister and I hang out in the kids' bedroom and observe the happenings and make sure all play is not too rough for anyone involved.

 If Easton's dog food isn't gone, she gets it fed to her. I'm not sure she appreciates the help.

 The patio table is out there too. It's a great place for afternoon snack. Even when it's dark and storming outside.

a new pet

we were strolling the aisles of walmart, checking out just about everything when we came to the fish. little boy was in awe when he saw them. i'm pretty sure he said "fish", which meant i had to get him one. truth is, i've been without for a long while and i love my beta fish...little boy is just my excuse and i can justify the purchase that way.
we came home and i got the water ready. added the drops to get all the icky chemicals out of the water, which is usually the culprit of killing fish, or lack of care...either way, i was taking precaution. it sat out all afternoon to get to room temperature. at supper, his daddy and i were asking him what we were going to call it. daddy came up with some great names, like: spot, red, goldie, fish, kitty...out of the list, i think little boy decided on goldie, gold for short. after supper was cleaned up and dirty dishes were put away, little boy and i got to work.

 looks like someone was a little excited. he had everything we needed. a clean bowl with pretty red marbles, room temperature water, fish food and most importantly, a vibrant, red fish.

 very carefully, he poured in the water (actually he got a bit carried away and most of it went on the floor.)

 and then he had assistance pouring in the fish...we didn't want him to end up on the floor too.

 amazed. in love. whatever it was, he was all over this new fish thing.

 everyone knows, when you have a pet, you have to feed them...but only small amounts for our little fishy friend. little boy did a good job.

when his momma took his new little fishy friend and put him on the counter, he was not happy. he let it known that he DID NOT want his new pet anywhere but in front of him so he could look at it. little boy was distracted with bathtime and his attitude turned around rather quickly. hopefully tomorrow he is still fascinated with his fish.