May 22, fun with Amy and Glen

We don't get together nearly often enough but when we do we always have lots of fun!  This time we got together at King park in Hesston.  

The flowers on these bushes smelled so sweet!  Sarah just loved them!

Greg played ball with the big boys for a while until they were ready to play on the playground, then he sat on the swing with Sarah and they had a good time!

It was kind of a grey wet day but that didn't stop the boys from having fun!

Amy and I got in some good talk time as well!

18 months!

I can't believe how time has flown!  The summer is gone and it's already October! I knew I was behind on the blog posts but I had no idea the last post was from MAY!!!    So I will try to catch up as I can, but here is a quicky.  

Sarah is already 18 months as of September 18.  Sometimes it is hard for me to remember What it was like with Aaron and Luke at those ages but looking back at pictures brings it all back, so here are a few of each of my kids from around the same ages.  This first one of Sarah is from September 29.  We went on a field trip with Aaron's preschool class to an apple orchard and had a lot of fun, hopefully more in another post soon.

This is obviously from Winfield this year, September 18 I think!  We had a blast!

Here are two of Luke from Winfield the year he was 18 months, he loved hats!

Greg wasn't able to go with us to Winfield the year Aaron was 18 months and so I just took Luke that year.  )-:  It just would have been to scary for me to take two little kids who didn't always stay close all by myself and also have to carry everything we needed.  These next two pics are from August 28, 2012 and the end of our vacation when Aaron was 17 months old.

At 18 months they seem so much more grown up than they did at a year, their legs hang down, they walk on their own a lot more instead of being carried all the time, they are talking and demanding their independence in all kinds of new ways.  Aaron stopped nursing at 18 or 19 months.  It's always bitter sweet for me.  I love their babyhood so much but I also love seeing them grow into themselves and their excitement at learning new things.  Sarah in some ways has become more snuggly lately since she learned that when I ask for a squeeze I want a hug.  She likes knowing what we are saying and so now she likes it when we ask for hugs and runs over to lay her head on my shoulder.  She also just recently started coming to me for snuggles or kisses when she gets hurt.  She is my only kid who automatically gets angry instead of sad when she falls down or gets hurt accidentally all on her own and until recently instead of seeking comfort her initial reaction was to yell, not cry, yell!!!  recently though she has learned by watching her brothers to come to me and get kisses to make the ouchy better.  I am excited to see what other changes come as she continues to gain language and understanding.  

that's all for now...  

Seven the calf!

Yesterday Amanda invited us to come meet her baby calf named Seven!  It has been very rainy so we got chore boots on and headed out to the farm!  It was time for his dinner and Amanda let the kids help get it ready for him.

Seven met us at the gate and was VERY hungry!  We could hear him mooing while we got his supper ready for him up at the house!

Such a cute little calf!

After we were done playing with Seven Amanda took us to see the kittens and hens too!  I didn't take any pics of the kittens because I was too busy playing with them.  Amanda told the boys that if they wanted one she was sure they could have one when they got a bit bigger and that they could pick which ever ones they wanted!  Daddy is going to love that!

Sarah really liked watching the hens!

The kids also played with the wagon and swing set!

Thank you so much Amanda for inviting us out to the farm!  

zoo with the whole family on Mother's Day weekend.

So, today started off a little weak.  Everyone was still a little sleepy and grumpy and lazy.  We got breakfast and watched a movie with the kids that I got them the night before and then I tried to get everyone going.  I wanted to take the kids to the zoo because even though it was supposed to be rainy I thought that the Jungle exhibit would be open for the first time today (got the date wrong), and when I thought about what I wanted to do for Mother's day weekend going out and having fun with the whole family was on my list.  Unfortunately when I first started to try to get the kids moving they were still lazy from the movie and irritable with each other.  Suddenly everyone got their rears in gear and started helping make things happen.  Lunch got made, the lawn got mowed, some cleaning up happened (!!!) including laundry and dishes, snacks and diaper bags were packed and we were out the door and in good spirits!  

The flamingos are one of Aaron's favorites but unfortunately they were not out due to the avian influenza in the area.  Aaron posed with the statue instead!

Sarah was all about pointing today!  She did more walking and engaging with the animals and reptiles today than I have ever seen her do on a zoo trip and it was a lot of fun watching her take interest in them rather than just riding around in the stroller all day.

Penguins!!!

Luke was racing the penguins!

We got some really great pics of all three kids, this is one of my favorites of Luke!

Luke's favorite has always been the reptile house!  I admit that I also love the reptile house, lots of stuff to see in a small space, you don't have to walk far to see the next animal, and they look sooo cool and they can't bite me!

Luke thought this family of turtles was pretty cool!

I love the eyes on this Sonoran Desert Toad.

This was one of the areas that Sarah really loved as well, plenty of things that she could look at and point at and everything was moving today!

Sarah also took a lot of interest in the geese!

Maybe a little too much interest!

Right after I took the pic above she got just a little to close and the goose got scared and started to hiss at her.  She stood still and just looked at the goose, I mean it had been walking towards her as well so she was confused about why it suddenly wasn't acting so friendly.  The goose seemed to think that because it could stretch it's neck so that it was taller than Sarah that she should be the one to move.  They looked like they were having a stand off and I started to go in to scare the goose away but Aaron came to the rescue before I could even get there and rushed in to scare the goose away from his sister!  It was so sweet!  He said something like, "I saved the day!"  I was really surprised that he wasn't afraid of the goose!  

I think Greg was the only one who didn't eat lunch before we left so he got a slice of pizza for himself and one for the rest of us to share as part of our snack, even Sarah got some!

The tigers is where we usually stop for snack but because we went through North America by the time we got there the rain clouds were closing in and we didn't spend as much time as normal there.  It was fun though.  The boys ate a few more snacks while Sarah and I interacted with this tiger that was right up by the glass!  

Here is a short video I took...

https://youtu.be/YNkEOABYOic

Proof that I was there!

Sarah was patting Aaron's head and they were both gigling and squealing as we made a dash for the exit!

The raindrops started to fall just as we got to our van...

and by the time we got on the road it was pouring down!

It wasn't a long trip, just about the right length, and the temperature was perfect, not to cold or to hot!  What a nice way to spend Mother's Day weekend!