Zoo days

I LOVE having a zoo pass.  When a beautiful day comes along, we grab some friends, pack our lunch and head up to see the animals.  We decided to head to the petting zoo first.  It was Kalia's first experience with the goats.  I suppose her first experience didn't really count as she was 5 months old.  The goats were very patient and let the kids just love on them.  Kalia isn't quite steady on her feet by herself, so I tried to juggle the camera and keeping her on her feet (crawling = eww!).  She loved it!  She tried to give the first sheep she met a hug and just repeated "wow, wow!" the whole time.  We'll have to take video the next time.

  

After viewing a few more animals we decided to stop for lunch.  We found a couple benches and sat down.  Shortly after settling in to enjoy some crackers and cheese we were visited by...

I was busy eating and feeding Kalia to pull out my camera, so this picture isn't of the specific goose.  We decided it was one male and he was quite adamant about getting fed.  From the reputation of the birds, we were all reluctant to try and chase the creature off.  After a few scary moments one of the moms chased him up the walkway until he decided we were too much trouble and didn't come back.

We didn't stay too long before the kids were starting to get grumpy and tired and we moms were starting to get hot.  Heading out the gate we realized from the comments of the passing people that all four kids had snoozed off.  We had to stop off and snap a quick picture of their bliss.  Unfortunately, Noah woke up just as we were snapping a shot.

I love this little girl!  She makes my life so happy!

14 months/ 14 weeks

Kalia is 14 months old today.  And Baby is 14 weeks gestation.  I just had to document it.

Black Eye

Kalia, Kalia, Kalia.  What are we going to do with you!?  

You gotta learn to let things go, and not fight back!

At least the swelling has gone down now.  She looks much better this morning.

Ok, there wasn't a fight.  You didn't believe me anyway.  She got the black eye falling from her high chair.  Though she may have well gotten it...

...from the cat.  Look at her ears.  Saphira's been know to take a swipe or two to Kalia's head.

Better late than never, right?

So I have been meaning to blog about Easter all week, but some rather uncomfortable pregnancy side effects have postponed such sharing.  But today is a better day and I want to document while I can.  I never know what tomorrow will bring.

We had such a fun time together on Easter.  The three days before the holiday were filled with happy moments for me.  The 'Easter bunny' (in the form of the mail carrier) visited early!  We received packages from family.  We are so grateful to our family for thinking of us and sending little things to brighten our days.  Of course we couldn't wait until Sunday to open each box.  They didn't make it but a few hours before we uncovered the surprises inside.  I'm thinking now that I could have so easily kept the secret from everyone and pulled it out Sunday morning.  I'll have to think these things through.  I did have one surprise that didn't get shared early.  I decided daddy needed a basket of his own with a special gift for him.  I got him the DVD of Sherlock Holmes.  He was certainly surprised and I was proud of my self for keeping it a secret.  I don't keep secrets very well most the time.  

Kalia's really going to be sporting a cute style this summer with the cute things she got for Easter!   Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Parry, Grandma Elmer, Aunt Connie, and Aunt Marilyn for the clothes, books, toys and loves!

Tristan's basket is the one on the left, surprise!  I did good!

Grandma Elmer made her this cute dress.  I love the faces she was pulling when I got the camera out.  I think I've got a potential model on my hands.  Ok, maybe just modeling at our house.  I don't think these are the faces the professionals look for, too bad.

Emptying the basket.  A lot of fun goodies in side (and most weren't edible).

Except these.  I hoped she'd miss 'em.

Kalia's 'cell phone' that looks more like a walkie talkie.  However, it doesn't use batteries.  You shake it to charge it.  I love that the sounds are at a decent level.  No hearing damage from this toy.

Hat from mommy and daddy.

And you can't forget this...

The office at our apartment complex hosted the Easter Bunny.  Kalia didn't approve.

Happy Bunny Times.

Horray!

I was tired of all the annoying issues on my blog.  So I  invited my blog savvy friend over to help tweak a few things.  A few hours later we have...
COMMENTS!
Horray!!!  The masses rejoice!
At least I hope you're all rejoicing.  I certainly am.  Now, hopefully, I will be able to receive feedback about the random thoughts I share.
Happy commenting.  I look forward to hearing from you!
There was one tragedy of the whole topsy turvy experience.  I have lost a few blog addresses.  So if I used to have your link and it's mysteriously vanished, let me know so I can recover what was lost and certainly missed.
Oh, Thanks Shantel for your patience and persistence!

Enjoying Nature

Daddy finished studying early enough to go out and enjoy some of the beautiful weather.  We went to a metro park nearby and showed Kalia some of our Father in Heaven's beautiful creations.  It's a beautiful thing to see the world waking up again.  I love their expressions!  She was having so much fun with her daddy!

Looking in the water.

Looking for quack quacks as Kalia calls ducks.

Learning about trees.  It took her a while to be ok touching the rough bark.  We told her to give the tree a hug.  She leans her head in to give hugs. 

 We cherish our moments together as a family in the quiet moments between school days.