Nothing Much

Well, we haven't had much new going on - our same ol' same ol' - playgroups, playdates, the zoo, dance class, etc.... And I haven't been bringing my camera with, so I thought I'd post more of the pictures we took at the botanical gardens.

We hope you are having a good week. Hopefully we'll be doing some stuff that I can post soon - and won't bore you :)

Playing with Friends

We've had a busy week playing with friends...but of course I didn't take any pictures until Friday! Jessica had us over along with Drew and Josh, and our friend Allison and her little girl, Emily. The kids had fun playing outside in the water table - can you tell Cooper and Ben are soaked? Emily is enamored with Lily, Jessica's puppy who is at the bottom of the picture. It was a fun morning playing, thanks for having us over, Jessica!

Elizabeth's Last Day of Zoo School

Elizabeth had her last day of zoo school on Tuesday. I can't believe it's already over! Blogger is doing funny stuff with my photos and they are randomly placed on the page when I look at it - so I am just going to tell you what all the pics are and hope the words line up correctly! Elizabeth is standing with her teachers, Ms. Megan and Ms. Ashlea (Ms. Megan is in the pink t-shirt). The class picture is all the kids in her class. What I think is so funny is the first thing she said when looking at it was "Chace isn't really smiling in this picture. Why did you pick that one?" The funny thing is every time she comes home from school she talks about this boy Chace. She loves him - and wants me to invite him over to play. So cute!

Tom was able to take off work and come to her last day of school. He got to see her classroom and see what she does on a weekly basis. It was a great experience and I'm so glad we did zoo school this year!

Elizabeth's Time with Grandma and Grandpa

Elizabeth had a great time this past Friday on a special night with her Grandma and Grandpa. They first went out to dinner at Unos and had pizza and dessert. They then went to see the play Frog and Toad at the local children's theatre. Elizabeth felt so special to have a night all to herself with her Grandma and Grandpa. Ben can't wait until he is 4 and gets to do such big things with his Grandma and Grandpa.

The other picture on the right of Elizabeth with pink lips is us at the ice cream shop. Elizabeth had her 4 year appointment - and 4 shots! She was in the 100% for height and 100% for weight - we have a big girl :) The only other thing to report is she didn't pass the vision exam! One eye seemed perfect, and with the other she could only read about 3 lines. So we're off to the pediatric ophthalmologist. I guess she's following in her mommy's footsteps (I have awful vision). As a reward we got ice cream. She's so glad that those shots are out of the way - and I am too!

Last Soccer Game

Elizabeth had her last soccer game on Saturday. We had about half the games cancelled due to weather/swine flu, so we were excited to have one last game so the kids could get their trophies. This is how Ben and Cooper watched the game, they were very into it, can't you tell?
There's Elizabeth, number 7, running fast down the field!

The end of the game. I love how they clap hands with the other team.

We were very proud of our girl. She did a fantastic job on her first soccer team.

First Swimming of the Season

This first picture is just my, what was I thinking, moment?! We decided to paint and by the time it was all done the kids were covered in paint up to their elbows and I had to clean splatters off the walls. Luckily it was all washable!

We had Cooper 3 days this week so today we decided to go to Grandma's house and swim. The first swim of the season! It was hot and muggy today so it worked out perfectly. The kids enjoyed slushies when they were done.
He's so skinny and white! I love it! :)

(he has one of those floaty suit things underneath his shirt if you are wondering why his body looks so odd!)

We had a great afternoon in the sun. We're so lucky to have grandparents with pools! I have a feeling we'll be there a lot this summer!

Playgroup at the Zoo

I don't have a ton of pictures from playgroup this Monday...but here are a few cute ones from the day. Can you see behind Josh the gorilla sitting at the window? The kids had a blast standing so close to the giant animal!
Ben feeding the bird. The picture is kind of odd because I am holding Ben and trying to take the picture at the same time. Elizabeth was too nervous to actually feed a bird, she just watched.

More of the kids with the gorilla.

We had a fun day at the zoo with our playgroup buddies! It was a great day to go because it was cool, and it has been raining ever since then, so good thing we got out!

Elizabeth - a great big sister

Lately I have been noticing some instances when Elizabeth is being a great big sister to her brother. Typically they play pretty well together, they sometimes spat over a toy or something, but for the most part they get along fine. But then there are times when Elizabeth really seems nurturing and caring towards her brother and I jotted them down the other day, to write in her journal so she remembers how good she is to her brother. I'll have to make her read it when she hates her brother when she's a teenager and he won't leave her alone :)

- She's very protective of Ben - if he is doing something unsafe - she's right there guiding him back, yelling for me to come get him. We were at a park the other day that has a lake and when Ben started to wonder too close Elizabeth ran right up, grabbed him, and held him back until I could get there.

- At the park she'll follow him to the top slide and make sure he goes down it safely, not getting near the edge where you can fall.

-She helps him climb into his car seat and buckles the top buckle for him,

- When he climbs into his booster seat she stands behind him to make sure he doesn't fall out and then goes and gets his bib and puts it on him.

-She follows Ben to the bathroom and helps him wash his hands, she gets soap for him, then tells him how long to scrub, and makes sure he doesn't fall when he's on the step.

- We have leap pad book that's interactive. The other day I walked into the room and she was holding his hands, helping him push the correct buttons.

These are a few examples over the past week of my sweet girl - she's such a mommy isn't she?!

Ben's in a Big Boy Bed!

We have some friends that were getting rid of their toddler bed and asked if we would like to have it. Of course we said yes - given the fact that when Ben stands in his crib the edge is practically at his tummy - I thought it would be time soon to move to a big boy bed. I really wasn't quite ready to move him though - he doesn't crawl out of his crib or anything - so what's the hurry, right? Mostly I was worried he would come out of his bed, because it definitely seems like something Ben would do :).

But he really surprised us! He said he wanted to sleep there during his nap (in this picture he's just waking up from nap - I didn't get in there during the nap to take a picture) so I thought we'd try it - and he didn't move to get out of bed once! Yay! (we have a video monitor so I watched him until he fell asleep, ready to run in and put him back to bed if needed) In bed that night (the first picture) he did great again! I was shocked! Now I just have to spray paint the bed white so it goes a little better with the room.

We have a big boy in the house now! And even crazier to me - no cribs in the house either! It's been 4 years since that's happened!!

Drew's Birthday

Our nephew, Drew, turned 5 this week, and had his fun jungle birthday party on Friday. The kids all had a BLAST! Janet planned tons of fun things for the kids to do and make, so they were very busy and had a great time.

The kids had a little safari in the backyard so here is Elizabeth decorating a visor (and she also decorated some binoculars that are around her neck).

Ben also had fun with his visor.

Cooper already busy at work searching for animals in the jungle.

Don't you love the way Ben has his hat on? He put it on himself and if it would ever fall off, he'd put it right back on like that!

My kiddos enjoying their snake cake.

There's Drew with brother Josh.

They ended the party jumping on the tramp in the backyard.

It was a great time - thanks for having us at your party, Drew!