Playtime!

It was ALL.ABOUT.PLAY at our house yesterday afternoon - Marlee and Mary Alice came over to play again and I let them do things....

well, you'll see!

Harmless fun playing with Mardis Gras beads, that is until someone starts swinging them around like a laso and slices someones face - that DID NOT happen!!!! Though without proper supervision It could have!!!!








Then, I cleared out my den, lamps, picture frames and all and let the girls turn the bounce house upside down and dive from the sofa on top.
I know -- normally
furniture-jumping is off limits,
but life is short, right?
You know as a child you DREAMED of doing this!!!!




Emma Claire is under there somewhere

Both boys were downstairs asleep - Wilson in his bed and Henderson in a pack-n-play in Wilson's closet - this enabled the girls to have full-run of the upstairs without me saying "keep it down" or "don't get too excited girls!!" Because that sure isn't fun.




When I had heard - "I'm not getting to go first EVER"

and

"They're not letting me have a turn"

and

"She jumped too quick and almost landed right on my head" about 37 times, I finally brought out the brownie mix - now there were some laughs and good times!!!! I had 3 super duper helpers who maybe, just maybe, had a little brownie mix for snack!!!! SSSSHHHH don't tell!

Do you think they liked it? But hey, who doesn't? Yellow cake mix or brownie mix - you can't go wrong - except for the raw eggs of course, but I think everyone survived!

The boys finally woke up after 3 hours - BOTH of them and we loaded up and headed to dinner at church - it was poppyseed chicken night - YUM!!!!! All the children were better than I've ever seen them at dinner - I actually ate all my food and enjoyed it!!!

Sorry for the naked shot of Wilson in the background, but it just cracks (no pun intended) me up! He LOVES to run around naked!!!

Thanks Marlee and Mary Alice for a super duper magnificent playdate!!!!!

Come back anytime!!!!

First Trip to the Pool

We spent the afternoon at the pool today, enjoying the 88 degree weather - all 5 of us went, so as to give me an idea of what I'm getting myself into this summer, taking 3 children 4 and under to the pool!!!!! The baby pool is awesome - it is a zero entry pool that has fountains and bubbles - the "deep" part is 1 ft. 6 in - which is deep enough for the "older" children to enjoy jumping in and swimming around.

I think I'll be okay, as long as I don't need to go potty - then comes the arduous task of hauling 3 children into a wet bathroom - and then what do you do with them? The good news is, 98% of the time my SIL and MIL will be with me - I hope!!!!

We started off the day at the "Big" pool, which is a lazy river and a "platform" of 2 inches of water that the children like to jump off. It was fun, simply because Will was in the water with them, while I sunbathed on the platform. When I'm by myself .... well, we shall see.

I can see it being fun come July when it's 98 degrees outside and you can't do anything but stay immersed in the water!

These little swim shirts are great to keep the sun off of them, but my children FREEZE when they get out of the water and are still wet!!!! Again, maybe in July they will be better!

I do believe it's time to rest our eyes!

Foam Zone

I took Emma Claire and Wilson to the Birmingham Zoo today - and boy was it a BEAUTIFUL day - 90 degrees - isn't it still April????? I could just about do a different post on all the different areas of the zoo - but in normal fashion, I hunked it all together in one with about 234 pictures!!!! Not really, but REALLY, I DID take 384 pictures today - JUST AT THE ZOO!!!! Crazy.

Where in the world is Emma Claire????

My children love animals - all of them! The zoo is heaven on earth - they were running from place to place - with excitement in their eyes!!!

Even with all the fun with the animals - the Foam Zone was definitely the HIT - but at $2.50 per child for less than 10 minutes, not quite a rip off, knowing how much fun they had, but not completely worth it either - I wonder if you can rent those things for a birthday party or something - NOW THAT WOULD BE FUN!!!!!

Yep, Wilson tested the goose and he snapped at his finger - right after I read the sign to him!!!!



Wilson laughed.

I have to tell on Emma Claire here, simply because she rarely EVER gets in trouble out in public places like this, especially by someone other than myself. But, she wanted to pet these sheep SO bad. They were in a roped off area most of the time, but occasionally one would creep out into the water spray. One time, Emma Claire saw it coming and went after him. He saw her coming and turned and ran the other way - well, EC commensed to chasing him - and the lady said, "Hey little girl! No chasing the sheep!!!" - I don't know why that was so funny to me - I guess it had more to do with the fact that it was EC doing the chasing and not Wilson.

The petting zoo part was the next favorite thing - neither child wanted to leave.



Check these next 3 pictures out..... Wilson couldn't just pet the goats on their backs....he had to get right in their faces and talk to them first - maybe he was intoducing himself or something, "Hey, Mr Goat, I am going to be your little boy-brusher for the next 2 minutes....I know you've been brushed 200 times already today, but just lay really still, it won't hurt a bit!"

The carousel was fun too....I think this may have been Wilson's first time on one, though I might be wrong -

The water fountains were a hit too, Emma Claire took full advantage of them....Wilson had fun jumping in the puddles, but I never did see him run through and get his body wet. He's never been much for cold water, even when it involves a fun time - I think it has to do with his low body fat and always being cold!!!!! Wilson doesn't normally LOVE the pool during the summer until about the week before school starts back in August - THEN the water is finally warm enough for him!

The Tigers were the best seen animal today - they were right THERE in FRONT!!!!!

Giraffes are such beautiful animals!

The butterfly camp opens in 1 week - it's always fun - sad we missed it!!!!

Wilson was a little apprehensive of the train ride at first, but once it started going, he looked at me and said, "Mamma, this fun!!!!"

(this is actually a great picture of Wilson's exotropia in his left eye - it's turned outwards, not focusing on whatever the right eye is looking at)

One funny I about forgot to mention. After they got through in the water, we were in the dressing room/bathroom changing back into dry clothes and Wilson had to go potty. SO, I took him NAKED (as if that alone wasn't enough to bring a few chuckles out of some women and children) over to the bathroom side and helped him use the potty. After he was done, I turned around and headed out the stall, while telling him to come on and wash his hands. I got to the sink and turned around to pick him up.....

NO WILSON!!!!

I ran back over to the stall we had been in and a sweet lady was going in it at the same time and we both saw it....

The toilet was flushing and Wilson had his head.down.in.the.toilet.

I kid you not.

We both let out a groan...

I whisked Wilson up and did my best to explain to him how dirty that was, all the while hearing the lady laugh and say, "Boys will be boys!"