My Montage 6/15/11 at OneTrueMedia.com

trying out a new iphone app.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

a zillion kids, 95 degrees, and one zoo

Zoo field trip today. Our school alone had 200 kids there, and I can't tell you how many schools were there!


It was about 95 degrees today. A little better than yesterdays 100 degrees. And thankfully, this is Kansas, so it was breezy. Otherwise, I may well have died.


My camera was dead, so I snapped some pics on the iphone. Had Hannah with me, and she did great. Our class had lots of parents along, so I didn't really officially have a group to take care of, a bunch of us just kind of hung together.


We always go LEFT at the zoo....away from the petting zoos lol. So our first stop today was the Chimpanzees. Had to get a pic of the kiddos with the statue:


The chimps were so cute, and there was a BABY one which I just loved.


I can't remember the exact touring order of things to be honest. We did a lot. We rode the tram. We didn't get to the gorillas, tigers, or the jungle (thank God we missed the jungle. I hate the jungle. Why doesn't the zoo have like an Antarctic walk through? I would like that).


One of the highlights of the day was feeding the giraffes. That was so fun.
Hannah fed them once and got quickly intimidated by their fast and grabby tongues.



This guy was ornery. I tried to take a picture with him, and he tried to lick my face. Thankfully I moved and squealed simultaneously and quickly. No giraffe kisses for me!



See little blondie there? one of Brooke's classmates. He "got her" several times. It was so funny.


Brooke feeding the ornery one.


Right after I took this picture, I took a moment to pet the giraffe too. Then I was told that we are not supposed to pet them. Apparently it was okay for them to lick us, but not for us to touch them. Hmmm.


We hopped on the Zoo Tram (another first for us, even though we've been to the zoo lots of times).

Hannah and Brooke both LOVE the turtles.

Another statue picture. I do not know what Hannah is doing.

We had lunch around 1130. The kids had box lunches from the school, and the parents/siblings brought their own. The drink with the box lunches was milk. In 95 degree weather? It was cold, but ugh. I can't even think about drinking milk if I'm in the heat. Grody. So I just gave Brooke a bottled water.

While we were eating, there were geese nearby. Of course there were geese nearby, they are everywhere. Momma geese. Daddy geese. Baby geese. Toddler geese. We had one goose who kept coming over to investigate, and the booger got so close to one of the boys, he snatched the bun right off his sandwich! A few minutes after that, I look back behind the benches that we were sitting on (they backed up to some trees/landscaping area) and saw some kind of rodent. I thought it was too big to be a mouse, so maybe a rat? Whatever it was, he was scurrying around under the benches. Grody.

After lunch all the kids were begging to go to the playground. They have a climber/play area over near the Gorilla exhibit. We trekked that way (and saw lions, meerkats, and zebras along the way). I did not enjoy the playground, because there was of course a zillion school-aged kids running around on it like maniacs, with my little three year old munchkin up there trying to hang too. Fortunately, she negotiated the big kids like a pro and had some moments of help from Brooke and her friends.

At this point, it was about 1245 and it was HOT. All the kids had rec'd their second coating of sunscreen, but they were all so red just from being hot. I rubbed some ice over their faces and necks to help them cool down. I kept looking at Hannah thinking she was getting sunburned, so I put a third application of sunscreen on her. Later, once we got out of the heat, I realized that she just turns red when she is hot, not because she is burning.

We made our way back to the elephants because it was time for "Elephant Training!" It was inside....and it was stinky! But it was so funny! They gave the elephants a bath (with a fire hose!).

One elephant painted a picture! (And the girl helping had on an Iowa State tshirt!).

After each brush stroke, she was rewarded with a few chunks of fruit/veggies...which she eats 150 pounds of PER DAY!

She took a bow, and then went for her turn to get a bath. The other elephant came over to start getting a pedicure. (Which is elephant terminology for getting a TON of dead skin scraped off the bottom of their feet. Grody).


After about 30 minutes of fun with the elephants, we started our way back to the front of the zoo. We hung out in the shade and had fun with the obnoxious geese and their babies, and checked out the swans and the fish.

I don't know what Hannah is doing here, but apparently she was hot.

Five hours at the zoo. Lots of kids. Lots of heat.... really turned out to be a pretty good day. The kids all behaved great, Hannah was a trooper and sooooo good (getting back in the stroller when i asked her, not throwing fits, etc). It was a lot funner than I thought it was going to be!

But yes. I am tired :)

If I get a pick of the giraffe trying to lick me, I'll post it later...lol.

The Homework Not-so-Merry-Go-Round

Homework sucks.

I never minded it much as a kid (no, I was not a nerd).

But as a mommy. Ugh. Shove toothpicks in my eyeballs and string me up by my toes. It can get SO tedious.

And it's not that we have A LOT. It's that....it's hard to find the "perfect time" to do it.

Right after school, the poor kid is so tired and has had a long day, she really needs some time to unwind, play, and relax.

But after dinner? Holy cow. The kid gets her second wind as her blood sugar goes back up, and let me tell you, all hell breaks loose around here. She gets ants in her pants, spastic, loud, energetic. Little monkey is the same way. We finished eating 20 ago, and they are marching stomping around the house in circles, screaming singing at the top of their lungs. Give it about five minutes and I'm sure they will be fighting.

It's that 20 minutes between dinner and all hell breaking loose that we try to get homework done. And homework is frustrating.

Mostly because it's a lot of math, and no one in this house is a fan of math.

Thank GOD school is almost done for the year.

Beach Bum

I am a beach bum.

I think my kids are too.

I do not feel like I've been on vacation if it does not include sand between my toes, or at least some palm trees by the pool. (Because, we all know I consider WDW a fab vaca too). When we talk about what we want to do for our 2012 vacation, we toss around a variety of ideas. But I always come back to the beach. I want to go to wherever there is a beach.

And I'm not talking one of those beaches by some big lake in the middle of the midwest that is covered with goose poop. A pretty beach, with sea shells, and a tide, and an ocean. or a gulf. I think this comes from having family in Sarasota, FL and going there several times when I was growing up. I LOVE Sarasota. And I think it's very strange/sad/so unlike what I would do/ that my Sarasota family rarely goes to the beach?! Helllooo! GO! And so today, I share with you some beach pictures. So we can all take a mental vaca. Thank you for going on this trip with me. :)

Like a newborn

This week has been hell on mommy.

It started approxiamately last week when little miss Hannah decided she was DONE sleeping in her baby bed. Before we had her "new bedroom" done started.

In the past week she has slept in her crib. In the spare bed. On the nursery room floor. On the spare bedroom floor. In my bed. In her sister's bed.

And the best so far.... this morning after Matt's alarm went off (and I therefore woke up), I lay there and thought "I hear snoring"...i tiptoed across our pitch black room, opened the door, and found my three year old sleeping spread eagle on the floor in the hallway right outside my door. It was comical. I went and got Matt so he could see, then I took her back to her room the spare bedroom. Not that she stayed asleep while I picked her up and carried her in there, but she did fall back to sleep quickly for about two more hours.

Why is life like having a newborn again? Because not only have we played musical sleeping locations, but she has a cold. A horrible, terrible, no good, very bad cold. She's so whiney. And she is up about four times a night (like a baby) fussing (like a baby) for me to take care of her (like a baby) because only mommy can do it (like a breastfeeding baby). She wakes up and cries for me because "my nose is running!" to which i stumble in and help her blow it...do some other medicinal thing or two of choice at the moment, and stumble back to bed.

I.AM.EXHAUSTED.

Happy 3rd Birthday to Hannah

Three years ago this afternoon, little miss Hannah came into this world! After a long, induction sort of day, that we were starting to worry might turn into a c-section, she came rocketing out after about two pushes.... the doctor and resident literally juggled her, one caught a leg and one caught an arm. I will never forget that!

Since we had her party on Sunday, today was a pretty low-key day. She's still battling an awful cold, so we spent the morning cuddled up in my bed watching Nemo and working on my laptop. Then we went to McD's playland with her little friend Jordan. After a nap and some cranky cuddling this afternoon, we had grandma and grandpa over for dinner, and then we all went to Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt! Afterwards we came home so she could play with her new "DS" (as she calls it)--which is actually a Vtech MoBiGo. I think she's going to love that thing.

Thought I'd post a few of my favorite pics from the last three years of life around here with our little monkey!

The first day....

Love her expression on this picture

Getting bigger....!

one cool chic:

Cousin-in-law Kaci would say this expression comes from the hubbys' side of the family. I'm not saying anything. Heehee.

I guess that means this sweet, happy expression comes from my side:

2009 vacation, ready for her first Disney cruise!

On the beach at Castaway Cay! I didn't leave the continental US till I was about 30 years old... here she went when she was about 15 months old!

This has got to be one of my favorite "fun" pictures of Hannah ever. It reminds me of the little girl, Ellie, at the beginning of the movie "Up."

And a little more recently:

Happy Birthday to my little sweetiepie!

Hannah's Birthday Party version 3.0

My little munchkin turns three this week. Today we celebrated her birthday with her favorite little friends!

It was a cupcake themed party...so I made one of those big cupcakes. I thought it turned out cute, but it wasn't my yummiest cake. It seemed to have to bake awhile in that cupcake-pan, so I think it was a little dry and I tried a new recipe.



I wish I could take the credit for all the ideas in this party, but no can do. This activity was one we did at a fun little cooking party we went to a few months ago. I spread cheerios, pretzels, and lifesaver gummies all over the table and we made necklaces!



When you have a three-year-old birthday party, other moms are an important ingredient!

Brooke and one of her good friends, Jaci. Jaci and her sister (one of the three year olds in attendance) live across the street. Our families are good friends even though we don't get to do a whole lot with them.

Hannah kept munching on the pretzels on the table while I made her necklace.

My BFF Debbi was working double duty helping her twins out!

This is Hannah's best bud from Mom's Day Out, Jordan...and her mom Libby. We had our first playdate this past week and it was great getting to know a new friend!

The transition activity was the game Hulabaloo! The big kids loved it. The little kids were not sure what was going on!

Time to open presents!! Hannah loved everything she got!

Time to decorate cupcakes!!!

Time to sing Happy Birthday! The little ones got to take one of their cupcakes home, and eat one of their cupcakes...then we adults dug into the big cupcake!

After we were done cupcaking, the kiddos went down to the playroom for a little playtime!

Hannah and her first friends, Ragan and Rylee. Debbi and I were in our first trimesters with them when we met at Brooke/Chase's preschool several years ago! The twinkies are about five weeks younger than Hannah.

Couldn't get Jordan to get in on this picture, so here is five of the six munchkins in attendance! Maddi is the daughter of Matt's oldest friend (as in, has known him the longest), Jamie and his fiancee Nikki. It's been great getting to become friends with Maddi and her mommy Nikki over the last 8 months or so! The one in the middle is Leah, the neighbor across the street!

Finally at the end of the party, we were able to get a good picture of Hannah and Jordan (who had her birthday just last week!)

We are so blessed to have such great mommy friends and little friends for my girls! Hannah had a great time at her party and loved having all of her little BFF's there.

Then and Now

From the sleep-deprived because her three year old seems to be playing musical beds and refusing to sleep in her crib mind of this here blog writer, I bring you "then and now"...

A week ago....

Today...

95 degree temp difference in a week. No joke.

I should have taken a picture of my Uggs and Flipflops sitting underneath the kitchen barstool together. Shoe poetry.

Welcome to Kansas, February 2011.