Zoo With Friends

This morning I took the kids Grisham, Sophia and Genevieve to the zoo. Brenner had the morning off so I took advantage of just having three kids and went all out with the zoo. My friend Erin called me shortly after we left the house and said not to take the interstate because of some bad accident and she had been stuck for very long time. No problem. I know my way around the city. I swear no one works in this city. It looked like 5:30pm not 9:30am. A drive that usually takes twenty minutes ended up taking a little over an hour. Traffic was bad everywhere. To make matters worse we had to be home by 11:30 for Brenner. The kids only had an hour to be at the zoo but we made the most of it. We met up with our friends and saw the flamingos, gorillas, kangaroos and koala bears. It was a stressful but successful morning. Both Grisham and Genevieve slept for three hours this afternoon. Sophia not so much but oh well.

A Date With Grisham

Saturday afternoon Grisham and I went on a date. Daddy was home sleeping. He was on call the night before we dropped Genevieve off at my friend Keren's house. Then we went to see the movie Monsters vs Aliens. This was Grisham's first time going to a movie theater. He was very excited. He had no idea what we were doing but the fact that we got to go somewhere with just the two of us was pretty cool. At first he was a little confused. When we got to Keren's he thought we were there to play but when we left Genevieve there he got a little upset and cried for her. I reassured him that we were coming back for her. He said "OK, fine." Wiped his tears and was ready for our date. After getting our tickets I showed him the arcade area and then went and got some popcorn and a drink. Highway robbery!! $10.50 for a small popcorn and medium coke. I am glad I snuck in some lemonade for Grisham. Anyway as we were walking into the theater, Grisham got so excited. He kept saying "That's a big T.V!!" We found our seats and settled in. He did really well during the movie. He would sit in my lap and then his seat, then my lap and back and forth. Occasionally he would shout out if something was funny but overall it was an excellent experience for us both. I am so happy we got to have that time together.

Zoo and Birthday Boy

This last Sunday Scott and I enjoyed the day by taking the kids to the zoo. It was beautiful out and we had a great time. We saw the elephants. The keepers had them inside doing some sort of exercises. They were walking them and running them along the fences. The tiger was asleep right against the glass. Wow was that cool. You could really see the enormous size of this cat. I was happy he was asleep. The grizzly bears were awake and walking around. All Grisham could talk about was the otters. He wanted to see the otters. He loves watching them swim in the pond. When we finally arrived at the otter pond they were asleep in their den. Oh well maybe next time. The last hing we did was the petting zoo. He was so funny, he had to comb every goat that was outside but soon found a favorite goat and sat next to it and fed it grass and combed it the most. I had to say enough was enough. I think he might have curled up next to the guy and lived there:)
Tuesday was Grisham's third birthday. Since we had the big party a couple weeks ago when my parents were here it was a typical day. I was hoping to go to the zoo with some friends but it didn't work out with the schedule of the kids that I watch. So we stayed home and had birthday pizza and some chocolate ice cream. I am amazed he is three. Something else I am amazed. He woke up this morning and suddenly really interested in using the potty. He is wearing his training pants and sitting on the potty. So far nothing has gone into the potty but I am very hopeful. He has never been so eager to try. Keep your fingers crossed.

A Visit From Grandma

My mom was able to visit us this past week. We always get her on her spring break and it was great. When she first arrived she was really sick, she had a horrible sinus infection but she wasn't going to let anything stop her from seeing her grand babies. Genevieve had a runny nose but she started to run a fever Monday afternoon. I had planned on us going to take family pictures since Scott was on vacation this week and that is really the only time I can schedule anything for us to do as a family. I also schedule a few doctor appointments for him. Haa Haa!! Yep he really doesn't like to spend his vacation in a doctor's office but it really is the only time I can get him in for check ups, anyway back to Genevieve. We had to postpone our pictures until Friday. Genevieve fever went up and down all week and turned out to be an ear infection. Scott went to Chester, Illinois on Tuesday for an interview. It went really well:) I was so happy to have mom here this week. Since Genevieve was so sick she required a ton of attention (especially at night). We worked great as a team. I originally had a whole bunch of projects planned for the week but since mom was getting over her illness and Genevieve was so sick they had to wait. Friday night mom babysat for us so we could go to dinner and a movie ( pictures had to be postponed again). That was so much fun. Of course the week went by way too fast. Having mom here was such a wonderful treat. I didn't have to do a single dish:) Thanks for all your help mom. Thanks for all that you did with the kids and Grisham really loves his sand!

Grisham's Third Birthday Party

Saturday we had Grisham's third birthday party. His actual birthday is not until the 24th but since my mom, dad and sister Sarah are in town I decided to have the party now instead of later. I have been hemming and hawing over whether to have a big party for him. I know he won't remember it but I will so I decided to go for it. I was so surprised at how expensive it was to rent places to hold birthday parties and you don't get jack with the rental fees. My sister suggested McDonald's Playplace. Genius!!! No rental fees and we can bring in our own cake and decorations. They were great. I just called few hrs ahead of the party to tell them that I was bringing in a party with about 12 kids, no problem. The only problem we had was the birthday boy. Grisham woke up a crab Saturday morning. Way too early. I had an early morning meeting for the triathlon that I am doing (more details later) so I left him with mama and papa hoping he would be in a better mood by the time I got home. Nope, worse. I still had lots to do for the party and get to McDonald's to decorate and get food ordered for our friends. I am so thankful that I had extra hands to help that day. Scott was able to keep Grisham out of the cake. As soon as he saw that cake he had a hard time keeping his hands off. Even the play place lost it's luster next to the cake. He just wanted to sit and stare at it. Sarah did a great job getting our little area decorated and meals labeled. By the time our friends arrived we were ready to party. Grisham finally mellowed out when his friends arrived but he really did want to open his presents. He really like it when we sang Happy Birthday to him. The party really did go well, and the kids did seem to have fun. It was a success. Thank you friends for helping us celebrate our Grisham.

More Kid Stuff

Sunday morning Scott and Grisham went to the park to have daddy/son time while Genevieve and I went to church. Scott was able to snap a few good pictures of Grisham playing. Genevieve and I joined up with them as soon as we finished at church. It was a very nice day.
I am trying to style Genevieve's hair different these days. The mow hawk is getting old and now that her hair is really filling in I can try to plaster it flat to her head. It does tend to look like a comb over, but a cute little clippy helps.
The other day I blogged about how Genevieve is pulling herself up on everything, well now it is the stairs. I found her this morning half way up and it scared the pants off of me. I really do find baby gates annoying. See the gate off to the left. We first bought those to keep in/out the dogs and they have chewed them up and they are really showing their age. Grisham can also pop these with his eyes closed and hands tied behind his back. So they are pretty useless to me. Time to do some looking for new gates.