County Zoo Aviary

Another zoo trip!  This time we went to a part of the park we usually miss: the aviary.  (As is happening to me lately, the pictures loaded out of order and I'm in no mood to fix them.)

Evie and Lizzie with garden sculptures, Evie with a giraffe and Lizzie with a rhino.

 I loved their momen to stop and chill.  They ran ahead just so that they could rest a moment on the tiger massaging bench.  It's coin operated, so they didn't get the massage, but it's a nify seat!

Both of the girls had fun playing in their new-to-them play skirts.  Someone in our ward was paring down her storage and offered several women to paw through before she carted it off to good will. SCORE!  I love this picture, "Watch my skirt twirl, Mom!"

This may be completely out of focus, but it's a top favorite of mine.  Lizzie was showing me her twirl and I didn't even stop to check my camera settings - but the blur is kind of cool to me!

Colonel Mustard, I presume?  (That's literally what Aaron said when he sighted this bird!)

Loved catching these reflections!

I pointed this flamingo out to Evie and asked her to please bend her neck in half to scratch her shoulder with her nose.  Quite a funny look for a six year old, and I'm chagrined to have missed her reaction.

Moments

Today, we had a few moments I wish I'd just stopped to take a picture of.

Lizzie was feeding Cole.  She set aside the bottle and tried to make him smile and laugh, with great success.  I loved the way her waifish hair hung over both of their faces, a curtain behind which echoes giggles.

Evie snuggled Cole in her beanbag.  Both were just completely content.

While we were making cookies, Carson started making faces at the stainless mixing bowl and laughing at himself.  I smiled at the way that, before he actually started making faces, he leaned way far back, then watched his eyes get big as he brought his face closer to the bowl.

Aaron's niece came to visit for a little bit today and there was a moment when she completely forgot she was being babysat and just enjoyed being with my kids.  I wanted to capture that bust-out-laughing moment between cousins!

I love the small moments I can take away from each day.

P.S.  You know that moment when you look at your photo folders on the computer and you realize that, HEY! you need to get some past months posted before the memories fade from the moments?  I just hit that.  More posts soon, since if I wait for the end of summer, I will have a whole other month of 'life' and will just be completely overwhelmed.  Coming soon!

Sprinkler Time!

This week we've been in the high eighties, low nineties with some serious humidity.  So we went the awesome cheap summer wet fun and got ourselves a sprinkler.

Happy summer!

Giggles and Grins

A la Cole.  Enjoy!

Field Day and Last Day of School for Evie

Evie's last day of school was very FULL.  She and I went out to breakfast at the nearby Perkins, then I went to school with her and helped/took photos all day for Field Day

It was pretty much a free-play in various areas around the school; nothing super complicated about it, just kids having fun!

They took a walk and signed yearbooks or autograph pages.  I seriously laughed when I saw that a yearbook was an option for a kindergartener!  I didn't have one until 7th grade and saw no need to splurge on one for Evie.  We have our own pictures of friends, with names and phone numbers for her instead.

Mrs. R was Evie's main teacher this year, with Mrs. W and several others as aids.  Evie is very social and loved getting pictures with all her friends.

In the library, she showed off skills on the computer, reading, and puzzles.  She's great at all those and enjoyed displaying that for me.

I have had such a fun time watching Evie grow and learn this year and cannot believe I've got a 1st grader on my hands!  It's crazy to think that the first day of school looked like this:

And the last day of school looked like this.  Way to go, Evie!

Little Graduates

In no particular order, here are some pictures from Lizzie's Preschool Graduation/Playdate.

At one point, we made up a little 'field day' kind of relay race.  This is Lizzie walking backwards very carefully.

Lizzie totally posed all over the play equipment!

Carson spent a bunch of time 'fixing' all the spinning games.  This one was 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' and he had to repair it repeatedly. :)

Not that we needed proof, but this kid can get messy, no problem!

Our four 'graduates', Charles, Lizzie, Camryn and Connor.

Amusingly, I got cute 'Hooray!' type pictures of all the other three kids.  When I tried to get Lizzie to smile, she busied herself cleaning something sticky off her face.  Goose! :P

More evidence of a happy dirty preschooler.

One of Lizzie's 'tricks'.  She was such a show-off!

It takes concentration to perfect a mud pie.

I don't know to who these toys belonged, but my kids made good use of them.

Of all the yummy food at our little picnic, this was my only picture.  But they were a super important part, no doubt! :)

Sometime in May, We...

**Watched a lovely spring thunderstorm (or two or three).

**Had a family fun carnival (Melinda and Evie, at Evie's school).

**Finished a bunch of quilt blocks.

**Did lots of fun hairstyles that got sweet compliments.

**Graduated from preschool! (Lizzie; more on this to come.)

**Showed off skills learned in Kindergarten.  (Evie)