Going to the Zoo, Little Bo Peep

Yesterday we went to the Santa Barbara Zoo. We picked up two Subway $5 Footlongs to take with us. We like to eat fresh. LOL We also brought fruit and snacks from home. It was nice to get in "free" and have "free" parking--as we bought a membership when we went to the zoo last November. It would have cost $53 for one visit, for all of us, including parking, so the membership ($70) more than paid for itself with this second visit. And since we'd had a membership before, we got a special: 14 months for the price of 12.

Last Thursday I got my hair cut and highlighted. It was definitely time, as the last time it was done (even cut!!) was November. Oh my oh my. Anyway, my beautician gave me more bangs, and she said I'm not supposed to cut them too short. I am bad at this, because they start bugging me if I feel them touch my eyebrows. I am supposed to let them grow a little longer yet so I can sweep them to the side. We'll see if I can tolerate them growing that long... ;) And I don't know that they will sweep nicely to the side, because they want to curl, not nicely be straight and sweep over!

Back to the zoo story. The kids love the giant anthill. Last time we went we saw other kids sliding down the hill on their zoo maps and pieces of cardboard. So this time we brought cardboard for each of the kids. Austin and Julia used old Priority Mail boxes, and Lauren used the case part that held 6 6-pack cups of applesauce from Costco. It was just her size. Austin kept asking us if we remembered to bring the cardboard! We let them play for a looooong time on the anthill, and when asked if they wanted to go see the animals, the girls agreed, but Austin said, "NO!" The reason we go to the zoo, of course, is to slide down the giant anthill.....


They also have a couple of these eggs in the play area. Brian said they are rotten eggs because one of Farm Credit's competitors sponsored them.

They have a huge variety of plants and flowers at the zoo. Everytime we go there is something different in bloom. We saw a lot of these orange flowers this time. Julia held Caroline while I put our picnic stuff away.

Austin found this big, dead branch kind of hidden in a cluster of trees/bushes. The kids had fun with it, pretending to sweep. That only lasted a short time though. Soon they were riding it, and Julia said, "We are witches riding our broom!" And there they went, galloping around the picnic area on their broom! And, what is up with the couple in the background? Who dresses like that to go to the zoo?! I didn't notice them until I was going through these pictures on the computer. They look like they're going to a wedding or a dance or something. :D

Sharing a nice sisterly conversation, sitting on a fence outside one exhibit. Taken just before Lauren lost her balance and did a faceplant on the concrete. Thankfully, she pretty much caught herself with her hands, but her forehead hit the cement, and her bottom lip, as it was almost bleeding. And she said her teeth hurt. She had a bruise and bump on her forehead where it hit. Poor girl. She continued to climb on fences outside other exhibits, though. She said at one of them, "I hope I don't lose my balance and fall again!"

Austin dropped his Oreo cookie over the fence at the elephant exhibit. He was most unhappy about that and wanted Brian to get it....[I don't think so....] Here is Austin in the creepy crawly bug house, looking at Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. There is a button you can push to hear the sound they make. He pushed it, too. Over and over and over!

We took a train ride before we left.

We were first in line, so got to choose where we wanted to sit, and Austin and Julia both wanted to sit in the back. They sat there last time too, and think it's the best spot. ;) I had to nurse the baby after that, so we went back to the play area. Lauren was very upset that we'd given our cardboard away! We hadn't thought we'd return to the anthill, so we left it. Julia found some pieces of unused cardboard, but Lauren would not use them! She wanted her applesauce box! And wouldn't you know, eventually, Julia found it for her. Julia is very observant, and quick, and quickly grabbed it up, when the kid who'd been using it left the anthill. Lauren was also extremely tired by this point (no nap and all that traipsing around the zoo). You can see how cheerful she was in the picture of all four of them in the rotten egg. :D

We stopped at the La Cumbre Plaza mall after the zoo, so I could return some things I'd ordered online at Gymboree, as we don't have one by us. We also stopped at Starbucks and everybody got treats and drinks. Cinnamon coffee cake and coffee for Brian and me, Rice Krispie treats for the kids, hot chocolate is for Julia and Austin and apple juice for Lauren. I had $15 of giftcards to use, so that treat hardly cost anything. We ate dinner at Red Robin in Santa Maria on the way home. Yum!

A couple of Caroline after church today. I thought she looked like Little Bo Peep with this hat. She is growing, but is still such a peanut! Lauren wore this outfit at 6 months, and it fit her well, and it is still even now big on Caroline at 8+ months. I wanted her to wear it before winter is over, but who knows, it may still fit her next winter at this rate!

Julia had Bible Quiz practice at 1, so we went out to lunch at Baja Fresh after church, then brought her back to church for practice. My friend Marsha brought her home.

Yesterday at the zoo we found a Webkinz tag just laying in the parking lot, not really near any specific car, so we claimed it. I think probably someone must have bought a Webkinz just to have the animal. Anyway, last night we added the code/animal to Austin's account, and he is eager to play with his new duck. And telling me this is taking all day for me to post this. ;)

35 Weeks, Cheerio Chin

Caroline's Thursday picture: 35 weeks today.

Julia has had to work in her state testing practice workbook this week for homework. She doesn't seem to mind. The Language Arts section is easy for her (no surprise there), but the math section has some challenging problems. Some of them are things I know I didn't learn in thrid grade. Like long division! I think we learned that in fourth grade. It's probably a good thing she is working some sample problems in this pratctice book.

I gave Caroline some Cheerios with her dinner tonight. All the kids wanted to feed them to her! And she figured out how to put them in her mouth herself, too. I thought this was funny.

And, it reminded me of this!

Isn't he a cutie? ;)

Eight Months, Crazy Hair

We can hardly believe it--Caroline is eight months old! Here is her picture with the bear. And one where I look at it and think "round". :) Round face, round eyes, round cheeks and chin.

Lauren said she wanted a picture with Caroline in the rocking chair. I said, "Snuggle with your sister!" And this is what Lauren did. Doesn't Caroline look a little scared? And wouldn't you, practically in a choke hold?

Crazy hair night for the Cubbies last night...

And the morning after. Lots of ladies told us she was going to have curly, curly hair the next day, so I left the twisties in, and sure enough, it was curly! It didn't last much past noon, though when it just looked like waves. Julia saw these and said we should do this to both of their hair for a special occasion. And went on to tell me how in the olden days girls wore sausage curls, and Nellie Olson had sausages. The pine cone? That is just what Lauren happened to grab off the porch. That girl has a hard time sitting still! Or standing, in this case.

Austin and Lauren have my bad cold now. He stayed home from school Monday, but I think it's gotten worse, and he might have to stay home tomorrow. Lauren is sleeping in his bed, all this week so far, because they both need the vaporizer. They were so excited about it the first night and said it was like a sleepover! Austin missed T-ball practice Monday, as I said he couldn't go to T-ball if he couldn't go to school. Today he went, but he was saying he thought he should stay home, because he was coughing so much! We've been putting Vicks Vaporub on him before bed, and tonight he told me, "I hate Vicks. I hate Vicks so much! I wish I could throw it in the garbage!" It does help him not cough so much, though! He just doesn't like the smell. ;) Poor guy.

Julia entered a poem and imaginative story in the school writing contest. The poem is called The Bank, and the story is one she wrote at Christmas time called, The Rainbow Cat. They are both good, but I like the bank poem best. It's cute--and creative. I mean, who else comes up with writing a poem about a bank? Maybe I should post it here sometime (it's not too long). Anyway, she found out she won for her grade level for both the story and the poem! Now they'll both be entered at the district level. So we'll see what happens.

A House for Caroline

Thursday Austin and Lauren went to play outside. It was pretty nice out there, so I took Caroline out. It turned out to be chillier than I expected. I grabbed this doll car seat that was laying on the family room floor and sat her in it, since the grass was kind of wet. She had a good time, watching Austin and Lauren play, and picking in the grass.

Lauren picked grass for the bugs. She said their bug house was on those retaining-wall blocks, and gave them quite a pile of grass to eat. Austin dug in the dirt and contemplated what he could rig up...

Caroline was pleased as punch when Austin noticed her and visited with her for awhile. Then she went back to picking in the grass.

Some of the conversation while outside:

"C'mon Wauren! Bring some more lumber!" as Austin stood in the garden area stacking up the wood.

"Will Daddy be unhappy about dis when he dets home, Autin?" as Lauren carries a stack of garden stakes to her brother. Brian has told them before he doesn't want them playing with that wood.

So I asked Austin, "Will Daddy be mad about you playing with the wood?

Austin: "We'll put it back before he gets home."

I asked Austin what he was building. He said, "A little house. A house for someone little, like Caroline." From then on he called it Caroline's house. And they did indeed demolish the house and return the wood to its proper place, before Daddy got home.

I sat Caroline in the pillows while I hung up clothes in our closet. I'd peek at her to see how she was doing, and she gave me the biggest smiles. Cute!

Brian took Austin to T-ball practice yesterday morning and then mowed the lawn afterwards. Lauren wanted to mow too, and Brian told her she had to stay behind him so she wouldn't get hurt. I kind of felt bad for her, being made to tag along like that, when Austin got to help push. But, Brian had a good reason for keeping her back. And she was just glad to be included. :)

Last night we went to Family Worship Night at church. We ate supper in the gym and then went over to one of the rooms to sing. Usually they have a little talk, but this time they had a missionary show their video and talk to us. The missions conference is this week. Today they had a lunch after church, and had several missionaries give updates. Lauren asked if we were going to go to Worship after that. Julia has Bible quiz practice this afternoon, which my friend Marsha took her to, along with her kids who are doing Bible quiz and Awana games at the jamboree, too. We will take Marsha's daughter with us to the next practice.

Sharing Ice Cream, Sitting Pretty, and No Boots

I wanted to post all of these earlier this week, as well as Julia's birthday pictures, but just did not get to it. The few days before her birthday were really busy, and that Wednesday, Feb. 25, I started feeling like I was coming down with something, was achy and had a fever and chills. Yet I still ran around like a crazy person, doing Santa Maria errands: Target, Beverly's, Michael's, Costco. We had company coming that weekend, after all, and it was Julia's birthday, and well, things had to get done, so I took Advil and went on with the day.

I woke up the next morning feeling the same way, and was freezing. I had a fever (which I didn't realize until after my shower, when I actually took my temperature). and felt chilled, and the house was cold, only 64 degrees. So I turned the shower up pretty warm, to warm up! Well, I fainted in the shower! All of a sudden I couldn't see anything, and didn't know which side of the shower was where. I was kind of moaning, and Brian came in, and I told him I was blacking out, and I did--fainted right there in the shower! He tried to catch me, but didn't, as I was too slippery and fell too fast!

When I came to, the first thing I asked him was how was my tooth. I could tell my top front tooth felt bumped. Well, there was blood on the shower floor. He said my chin bumped the little shampoo shelf, and there was a gash in it. I think when that happened my tooth went down through the top of my bottom lip, cutting through the inside of my lip into my mouth. So I had two cuts in my bottom lip, like a straight pin going in fabric. We wondered if I would need stitches, but it stopped bleeding pretty quickly, thankfully. I still have bruises on my legs from falling crazy. On each thigh are parallel bruises where they hit the shower door track. Brian said I looked like Frankenstein laying there in the shower, with my head contorted funny and my legs twisted odd. He said he thought I was out 10-15 seconds. My mom asked how long he would have waited before calling 911! It did scare him, though. He stayed home till 9:30 or so and got Julia and Austin to school.

I took more Advil so at least I could function that day. Brian said he didn't know if he should leave to go to work or not, but we both thought I would probably be ok, and thought the fainting was probably related to the flu somehow. I did have a 100.9? fever I think it was. I tried to rest, though we did go to Vons. Again, things had to be done, and groceries had to be bought. At least I could doze a little while the youngest two kids napped.

Friday I felt a lot better, though had a bad headache that night from constantly doing and going all day. That night we went to Olive Garden with Brian's mom, Chris, and Joy, at Julia's request for her birthday dinner. Good thing the Advil helped, or the weekend would not have happened! And we are very thankful that I didn't get hurt worse in the shower, like break my leg or something! So the flu thing got better, but I got a cold the first part of the last week, and have been coughing terribly from it, otherwise feeling okay. Who knows, maybe it's all related.



I wanted us to have a family picture, since we had someone around to take them, last Sunday. Chris and Joy took several, while Grandma tried to get the baby [and kids] to look in the right direction.




The "silly" pose



Monday night we ate birthday cake and I shared my ice cream with Caroline. She liked that just fine! She went through several weeks in February where she wouldn't eat any solids. She'd just clamp her little mouth shut and then stick a thumb in. When we'd take that thumb out, she'd stick the other thumb in. Now she's doing better with eating. We've never had a baby who refused their food, before! She certainly didn't refuse the ice cream. ;)




The little missy sitting up by herself! She makes that face a lot, like in the second picture. I think she looks like a little old lady who forgot her dentures!

Wednesday Austin had his first T-ball practice at the park. We were in a rush after school to get there, and I told Lauren to put on her boots that were in the garage (b/c there was dirt caked on the bottoms). It was time to get out of the van, at the park, and Lauren says, "Look Mommy! No boots!" Oh dear. It was too late to go home to get them, so she had to take off her socks and go barefoot at the park. At least it was soft sand and grass by the T-ball field, but the walk from the parking lot wouldn't have felt so nice on bare feet. So this is how Lauren got there!

33, 34 Weeks... The Littlest Apples of My Eye

Caroline's Thursday pictures: 33 and 34 weeks...


She's getting stronger, pushing up on all fours sometimes. I wouldn't say she's close to crawling, though. She does scoot backwards on her belly. One day I left her on her back under her playgym, to play, and when I came back a few minutes later, she'd rolled on her belly, and scooted several feet backward and was stuck up to her waist under an end table!

Just a couple cute expressions. She sticks her tongue out like that quite often. Silly girl.

And corny and cheesy, but here are the Littlest Apples of My Eye (had to think of something to title this post...) in their apple shirts.

Nine is Fine

Julia turned nine on February 27. A few days before, I asked her, "Has eight been great?"

She answered, "Yeah, and nine is going to be fine." Here she is on her birthday, nine years old!



Brian's mom, sister Joy and her husband, Chris, came up for the weekend to celebrate with us. For the past several weeks, Julia's said she wanted to go to Boomers for her birthday. Boomers has a full arcade, air hockey, mini golf, bumper boats, a climbing wall, kiddie and regular-size go-carts, a batting range, etc. Julia chose to invite Cassie, a friend from Awana, to come along with us. First almost all of us played mini golf. I sat out with the baby and to keep an eye on Lauren, and Joy started feeling sick about halfway through, because of the baby in her tummy. ;)


Lauren was free, being three, and it's a good thing, as she got bored quickly! She was very interested in these lights, and I'm sure she was convinced they were megaphones. She kept talking through them, pulling them out of their sockets (at least they were easy to put back in!) to talk to one of us. She liked it when Grandma talked through another light/megaphone back at her.

It seemed like the kids liked mini golf ok, but they loved the bumper boats! Julia said they were her favorite part of the day.

Austin was glad to be tall enough to drive his own boat. He (and all the kids) squirted water at eachother almost non-stop.

Lauren rode with Uncle Tiss and liked squirting the other kids, but didn't want to get wet herself. Chris was a good sport and kept them away from the big kids as much as he could, squirting water, but being too far away to hit anybody. The big kids wanted to get him, though, and tried to follow Chris and Lauren around the lake.

Cassie had her eye on the climbing wall from the time we arrived at Boomers. She's a gymnast and said she's strong and could climb it in 25-30 seconds. Oh boy. After the bumper boats, I wondered where Cassie was, and turned around to look for her, and saw her up this tree!

When I went to talk to Cassie's mom after Awana, to invite Cassie to come with us, we were talking, and I suddenly stopped, realizing I knew her mom (Kari), from somewhere. We figured out we had both been in a mom's group, called Parent Network, when Julia and Cassie were babies, that met at the Rec Center in San Luis Obispo! Kari was one of the moms that started the group Julia and I were in. Each group had a couple moms start the next group. So we hadn't seen each other for about 8 1/2 years. That was fun to catch up some. The moms group I was in turned into a playgroup, but it kind of dissolved when Julia was almost two.

After Boomers we all went to Little Jocko's for lunch, then home for presents and cake. Julia opened her gifts, then the girls looked at all the stuff, especially this book. They were quite interested in it. Brian took all the kids in the backyard, and they played croquet, badminton, and baseball, and just played around. Then we did the cake.

Here are the friends before we left Boomers, then Juila opening presents at home.

Julia got lots of fun stuff: clothes for her American Girl doll, books, a Cinderella Barbie, a kitty in a purse, lipgloss, a Siamese cat nursery set (kind of like Littlest Pet Shop), an outfit, and underwear (which Julia said she did not need--her old underwear still fit fine. LOL).

Cake time

The birthday girl with her cake that morning, and just before she blew out those candles. Cassie kept telling her, "Make a wish! Make a wish!" And Julia said, "But I just got all those nice presents...." :D

The cake was strawberry, Julia's choice, and then I swirled in half of a chocolate cake mix, because I thought the pans didn't look very full of batter with just the strawberry. Julia also chose strawberry ice cream.