Zoo Take Two

I remember about this time last year I took all the kids to the zoo. (At the time, it was just 3, and I was pregnant with Amaryllis.) I had potty trained Jericho earlier that week, was hugely pregnant, and alone at a zoo. I still can't figure out what I was thinking, but this trip was much easier! ;) (It's amazing how much not being pregnant makes things easier in the physical activity department.) My sisters and my mom went this time too, and the hooligans loved having their "cuzzies" with us.

This zoo isn't the biggest or the fanciest, but the kids don't really know the difference. It has lions and tigers and giraffes and penguins and lemurs. So basically, the whole cast of Madagascar except for Gloria. It'll do. Feeding "Melman" (a giraffe for all of you who don't have children who have made you watch Madagascar 438 times) was definitely a highlight. In a "ew gross he licked me that's so cool" kind of way. Giraffe drool is just as bad as kid drool if you ask me. The hooligans were definitely shocked that someone drooled on them. Can you imagine? I never get drooled on.

They were of course "tired" of walking in about 5 minutes, but not too tired for the playground that's somewhere in the middle of the zoo. (Funny how that works, right? My 7 year old legs cannot move another step please push me in the stroller and let the baby walk but I am suddenly full of energy to climb and run and jump when someone says "playground".) They rallied after we had a break and some ice cream, and were able to make it through the rest of the zoo with only minimal "I'm tireds".

We did have a small meltdown at the sky safari ride. It had nothing to do with the ride (which takes you over all the animals) and more to do with someone missing daddy. He got really quiet after Billy sent us a picture of him making a sad face that he couldnt be with us, and then once we got off the ride started bawling. He cried for a few minutes but then drowned his sorrows in an ice cream cone as big as his head (if you know Jericho, you know that was a big ice cream cone) and then moved on to scare the birds in the aviary.

All joking aside, I had so much fun with the kids. I love being able to go and do things with them like this. (I mean, what's the point of homeschooling if you can't go and do stuff when you could be in school, right?) I love the hands on learning, and the time spent outside together. As funny (and occasionally disastrous) as outings with 4 children are, I hope that these will be some of the memories that stand out as they grow up. Although hopefully Judah, my niece, won't remember how horrified she was when a bird landed on her head. Although there's no way we will forget it for a long time, since we are still laughing about it 3 days later.

Not Foolin' Anybody

This girl likes to do things on her own terms. She still doesn't crawl, but will drag herself across the floor at pretty high speeds to get to what she wants. (A lot of times what she wants is to chew on the TV stand...it is the most horrible noise I've ever heard and I wish she'd stop it.) If you happen to leave your phone somewhere she can see it she will turn into a contortionist if it means getting to the phone. (Why do babies like to chew on electronics? They can't possibly taste good.)

So stubborn, this kiddo. She's strong as an ox, but refused to do things like hold her own bottle just because she doesn't want to. (I just saw you chewing on my iPhone, I know you know how to put stuff in your mouth.) She's just finally, at nearly 10 months old, decided she's ok with holding her own bottle. She wasn't really fooling anyone...I knew she could do it if she wanted to.

But then she grins at us like this, and kind of gets away with thinking she's sneaky.

Gentle(?) Giant

Jericho, as we all know, is big. He's always been big, and maybe always will be. I love his big self, and even though he's a giant...he's still a "baby" in so many ways. He's only 3, and he still needs a lot of attention and snuggling. That's totally fine with me. He still talks like a baby sometimes, too. ;)

Since it's Spring, there are currently inchworms everywhere. Jericho loves these things. He calls every single one of them "inchie". (I'm not sure if that's because he really likes the name he picked out for them, or if he thinks they are all the same worm.) Either way, he is constantly bringing them to me in the house when he's playing outside.

The only sad part about him and his little pets, is that he doesn't realize those big giant paws of his frequently crush said "inchies". He tries to pick them up, or put them back outside, but those chunky fingers of his just are a bit much. I always distract him though, so he doesn't realize they aren't crawling away. I love Spring, but I will definitely be glad when the inchworms move on, so that I can stop feeling bad for all the inchworms' lives lost.

The Bad Girls

These two adorable ladies are only about 2 months apart. (Amaryllis on the right, Ezra -my niece- on the left.) Amaryllis was born in July and Ezra was September. These two both gave their mamas a run for their money in their first few months of life as well, which earned them the title "the bad girls". We still call them that even though they've both chilled out a bit. 

They both had acid reflux, they both had dairy allergies, and they both wouldn't sleep through the night until just recently. Like I said, the bad girls. ;) Thankfully they are cute.  And they may have had a lot in common from the first few months of their lives, but looks sure aren't one of them. My sister is in town visiting for a bit, so when we got the girls together we had to laugh at how completely opposite they look. So much for family resemblance, huh?

These two ladies will hopefully grow up to be great friends, and hopefully their nickname isn't indicative of the way they will behave when they hit the teen years.

Glover

Merrick had his first baseball game the other night. (We went straight from basketball to baseball...but he is equally enthusiastic about almost anything he is doing.) He told me after his game that this was "the best day of his life". Seems a bit over the top if you don't know Merrick. What was I saying about enthusiasm? He uses that phrase frequently...whenever he has fun it's "the best day of his life". I love that about him.

I only have this one picture of him playing, but I can't get over 1) how big he is, 2) how little he looks in that uniform. I'm sure that makes no sense, but it somehow makes sense in my mind. His hand is still small for the smallest glove we could find, and the same goes for the pants. Oh, and speaking of gloves...when I asked him what position he was going to play he told me, "I'm going to play both batter and glover." As for the batter part, he did get a good hit! Glover might need some work, since he wasn't typically even facing the right direction on the field. ;) But he sure had fun doing it.