Totally Random Park Pictures

May 08

April 08

June 08

The Greatest Show on Earth

Ladies! and! Gentlemen! Children of all ages!

A couple of weeks ago, I found this pink hat & tie at the dollar store.

And was inspired (I use that word loosely) to have a family night, Circus Style...

because, well, it usually is a circus here anyway.

Our dinner was clown faces comprised of cherry tomatoes for eyes & noses, cucumber smiles & ears, brocoli hair... with a side of grilled chicken breast & soy cream cheese (as a dipping sauce) tinted red (pink).

For dessert, barnum's animal crackers -- off a barnum plate.

After eating our clown faces, we decided to create clown faces with BINGO dobbers & elbow mac. Jeff is clearly proud of his creation.

Then there were carnival games to be played, inspired by genius (Flynn).

Including the ONE RING GAME: little balls being tossed through the hula hoop.

Also a crowd pleaser are foam rings being caught by the big orange bowl on Momma's head.

And my bargain game from a garage sale, the tossing game.

Candy of course, must be included...

so we used our candy as sticky animals in their cages (paper).

The final act of the night included our circus kids picking out something for Daddy to juggle.

The only rule was that it must be edible.
So after our final act, we enjoyed necterines!

Remember the Videos I Promised to Post

Here they are, in all their glory:

part of the reason I married my hot hubby - his mad dance skillz.

Monday Mumblings

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• Flynn had dress rehearsal today.
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• The kids have been at each other like a cat & a dog. A dog that pinches.
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• Gabe was up in the 6 o'clock hour, Flynn too.
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• Flynn got in trouble at dancing...for talking too much to Madelyn instead of standing where she was supposed to & waiting for the cue to go on stage. Her teacher said, "I know you & Madelyn are friends, but you need to listen." Uh-oh. Those girls are really going to be in trouble in ten years. Can you imagine if they end up in the same high school??! ;)
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• We had a good playdate with our friends Alex & Baby Aidan. And when Madelyn & Matthew showed up, Flynn was in friend-heaven.

• We went to BK with Alex, Baby Aidan, & Ms Kim. There were no tables big enough, so I sat the "big kids" at a table by themselves. It was so cute!! And they did so well. Such good buddies.
• Gabe needs to go to a LISTENING BOOT CAMP.
• I signed both of them up for an acro camp at Flynn's dancing school. I told them that Gabe wouldn't be 3 til August but they decided to let him sign up anyway. He'll have so fun. So will I, sitting in the parking lot IN TOTAL SILENCE.
• We had our first spill on the new floor. Gabe's burger king cup....he still doesn't get the concept of DON'T TIP BACK A STRAW WITH A CUP. I must say, it cleaned up rather nicely, minus the mad momma.

What's More Carefree Than Being at the Park?

Spending a day at the park with your friend,

walking the edge of the playground, in 70 degree weather.

(obviously a month ago)

Luv is Bloomin'

Mr Postman brought us this dandy in the mail the other day. I was almost as excited as Flynn.

I really think Tiff should make an etsy shop & sell these little beauties. She's as talented as she is cute. She calls'em LUV BLOOMS. It looked super cute the other day when her hair was down & swept to the side with her bloom.

And as much as Jeff thinks it's corny, I love having blog-friends!

Nemo, 'Pooky!

Yesterday, Hot Hubs played hookie & with what had to be the MOST beautiful day I've seen in a while, we headed to the zoo.

The kids knew we were going to be going & it got Gabe up at 6 am where he went in & woke Flynn. Jeff laughed that if they were this excited about leaving to go the zoo, imagine next summer when we go to Disney.

So first I'll explain the title...

one of the first things we did once we got to the zoo, was to go into a cave-like thing, which they had painted & decorated to look like a whale. There was whale song piping from the speakers & walking through it was cool & dark.

The whale language reminded Gabe of Nemo.

The darkness was 'pooky (spooky) to him.

So, as we walked through it, he yelled, "Nemo 'pooky!!" & made some kind of signs w/ his hands, which must indicate a scariness of some kind.

This made quite an impression on him. It was all he could talk about through the whole zoo.

And the day after. At lunch today, I asked what his favorite thing was,

"Nemo pooky."

So, trying to get him away from what seems to be scary association, I wanted him to think about the other things we saw. But all he could think of (say) was POOKY.

So, we said, "Were the monkeys spooky?...no....Were the butterflies spooky?...no..."

And he interjected, "Wuh wions pooky?....m'bo...." [were the lions spooky? no]

We could hardly contain ourselves. And were of course thrilled that he put together a 3-word sentence. Apparently speech therapy is working!

*special thanks to the zustiaks for lending us their camera. ours is no more (got old) & the zustiaks got a new one & have lent us their old one until we can get the funds together to get a new & great camera*

This butterfly house was one of my fav parts. There were so many friendly butterflies, we really had to watch the wheels of the stroller & our shoes.

Do you see the hitchhiker on Gabe's hat?

Gabe spotted the giraffes a mile away. He was beside himself to see them:


We got the zoo an hour early to get free admission into everything (except the train, unforunately, so we didn't ride). One of the new attractions is the Dinosaur land (don't know the official name):
The night before the zoo, Flynn was so excited she couldn't fall asleep. So she asked me to tell her a story. I told her a story about the family who went to the zoo the day the elephant escaped. Oddly enough, the zoo keepers asked the family to help them track down the elephant. Thanks to a trail of peanut shells (which the brother in the story found) & some big elephant tracks (which the sister spies), the elephant is found & put back into his area. The family saved the day. When we saw pretend elephant tracks in the concrete, she remembered....

I don't think they were trying very hard. They're still at that stage where they don't get these things. They kept wanting to go around to the other side:

One of Flynn's favorite things in the WORLD is a carousel. We couldn't get to this in the one hour of free'ness, but the $2 per kid was WELL worth it.

Flynn chose a caterpillar to ride. Gabe chose a lion, but it didn't go up & down, so Daddy talked him out of it.We're thankful a million times over that we bought this backpack carrier. It's perfect for the zoo, Gabe (or Flynn when they take turns) is as tall as an adult while he's in it & can see everything. Flynn rides in the stroller & hops out at each thing.
Send help! I'm trapped in a frog dome!

"Mom!, It's amazing, did you see it?!"
I *LOVE* this photo...
she might beat the daylights out of him at home, but when we're out & about, she takes care of him. Look at her hands on him.

Here she pets the guineas while Gabe reacts to a squawking parakeet.

Thank you Daddy for skipping work to take us to one of our favorite places. A reason we love living in STL is the very awesome & free zoo. We're glad to take a trip to the city when we get to spend the day together, excitedly checking out all the animals & their habitats.

Wait 'til you hear what we did today.

We're a family on the go!!

I'm Competing

for computer time, that is.

With a girl who has a lovable polar bear named Snowball.

She loves to go feed her, buy things for her, toilet her, wash her,

and play games to earn money for all Snowball's goodies.

Priorities

I might have 4 loads of laundry, clean, ready to be folded & put away.
There's a mini-van full of 'church things' to unpack.
The breakfast bar is full.
And so is the dishwasher.
The floor is cluttered & needs to be vacuumed.
Gabe's floor is covered in blocks.
Flynn's is covered in books.

But,
We worshiped & served together all morning.
We picnicked & played at the park for an hour.
We took a walk.
We played in the backyard, hula-hooped, & made a hopscotch in the mud.
Took a long bath.
And read lots of books.

So,
if you drop by.
Please know,
I had important things to do.

Easter Sunday, Church & Egg Hunt

Just waking up....rag rollers & Snowball.

Easter Bunny was here.

Looking out the window...at the...snow?

Coming down the hall to see what EB has left us.

Handsome & Beautiful & ready to worship!

Post Worship, Egg hunt, Cousin Nessa helps out Gabe.

Flynn needs no help, she's a PRO.

What's in here?

Waiting for their turn in the BOUNCE HOUSE.

It's a monster, it's a mummy, it's -- Flynn bouncing in her Easter outfit!

Nothing makes a girl smile, quite like a basket full of goods.

Nothing makes a Mommy smile quite like an arm full of cute girl.

What?, You're taking my picture?

And a day full of fun = 2 pooped out kids.