Friday at the House

We had grand plans of returning to the zoo on Friday with school friends. Unfortunately, a nasty stomach bug reared its ugly head Thursday night (starting at 8:30 for Hannah and midnight for Hunter), so we spent Friday trying to recover.

Hunter was sick for two solid hours then fell asleep and woke up as if nothing ever happened.

Hannah was sick for 17+ hours and ended up at the doctor's office in an attempt to prevent dehydration; the intervention worked and she is starting to act more like herself today.

Naturally, Pete was out of town for the fun festivities. He has a way of always missing the really fun times:)

Thursday at the Park

On Thursday we met lots of our friends from MOPS at the park for fun and lunch; however, it rained before we had a chance to eat - at least we had a chance to play for a little while.

Life after Mardi Gras

Since Mardi Gras ended Tuesday and we still had the rest of the week off from school, we took advantage of our play time! Wednesday we met friends at the zoo.

check out the duck family

brushing the sheep

just being cool...

one of the big kids...

silly kids...

if only we could sit on a real elephant...

take my picture...

watch me climb

The Loot!

Hunter's super cool scissors - thank goodness they are plastic!

Just two of the dozens of cups we caught...

A bag of stuff...

more stuff...

The kids love just making piles like this all over the house. The beads will soon be put away!!

Pushing her new babies and old rabbit

Mardi Gras 2009: Our Final Parade

One of the families from our church lives on a West Bank parade route, so we take advantage of the great food, fun fellowship, and convenient restrooms! We loaded up and headed out around 10:30 this morning for some serious Mardi Gras fun. We ate, played, ate, played, played, and waited for what seemed like an eternity until, at long last, we could see the parade in the distance.

Hannah loves Mrs. Elisha!


The first catch of the day!

The third meal of the day.

Hannah and her buddy, Kaytlyn

Hannah adores the horses.

Hunter, the parade is the other way!

One of the floats

Let the stash begin...

another float

Hannah loved this alligator float.

They loved her too. Check out her new baby.

Just one of the bags we had to get to the car! Way too much stuff!

Mardi Gras on Base

One of the bases held its own parade last week. Several of the kids from preschool are from military families, so we all watched the parade together! We had a blast!


Here it comes!


The fire trucks are loud!


Cool catch!


The crew!

Muffin Thief

Apparently we have a bit of a thief living among us. Today, the kids wanted to make muffins for breakfast, so we did. As the day progressed the muffins continuously disappeared. And tonight, Hunter said, "Where did all the muffins go?" I asked him the same question. His response, "I don't know!"

Ironically enough, that's the same answer he gave me last week when 1/4 of a king cake disappeared while I was in the shower. I wasn't in there very long, but clearly long enough to devour some yummy cake. I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure the muffin thief and the king cake thief are one and the same since only one of my mischievous children is tall enough to reach the counter tops; however, I'm also relatively certain there was one curly-headed accomplice in on all the action!

What funny little monkeys we have!

Aunt Steph's New Puppy

Hunter and Hannah recently met Patches, Aunt Steph's new puppy. He's the cutest little thing and the kids couldn't get enough of him. Naturally they were fighting over whose turn it was to hold him. Poor Patches, I know he slept well once those crazy kids left!

Thanks for letting us love Patches so much Aunt Steph!

An Unexpected Visit Home

We had to make an unexpected trip home a few weeks ago for the funeral of my great aunt. She lived a great life and passed away at the age of 93. While it was a sad occasion, we had a chance to see family members we hadn't seen in almost five years.

Hannah and Aunt Shawna - Hannah gave Shawna more hugs than I've ever seen her give anyone she hadn't seen in two years.

Hunter (being silly), Noah, and Hannah posing on the stoop at Dee Dee's house.

Hannah playing peek-a-boo

The boys

Mardi Gras

After church last Sunday, we headed to one of the parades. The kids loved catching beads and stuffed animals, but they got a little bored in between floats. Hannah fizzled pretty quickly since the parade happened to be right in the middle of nap time! She did get her nap later though!

The serious side of Hannah

Hunter's entertainment between floats

Check out my cool beads!

Hannah's very favorite catch of the day! We had a hard time keeping it out of the mud!

More parades next week...

Happy Birthday Hunter

Hunter turned 4 on December 30th. We celebrated with family that day and had a party with all of his friends a few days later. Again, the pics are out of order, but you get the basic idea!

Hunter and his "puter" - a favorite gift from his best buddy Jacob!

Hunter and the girls! They were so cute - when he started opening presents, all of the girls huddled around him. He just loved it!More presents at home

His new wheels...

Cake at home

Testing out the bouncer before everyone arrived at the party.

A brief pit stop ... somehow, Hunter was the only child to leave the party with injuries. Though I am thankful that no one else got hurt, I felt horrible that Hunter had battle wounds from his own party. We aren't exactly sure what happened, but Hunter said, "Don't worry Mom. It's okay!" He still has a mark on his face from one of the scratches.

In the past, we have just done family parties for Hunter, but he has attended several parties this year and he fully expected his own party too. He was so excited to have all of his friends join him at The Monkey Room. All he wanted was for them to sing to Happy Birthday to him, and that they did! He truly loved every minute of his special day!