2013 Week 17

Bambi is growing fast!  She's probably doubled in size since we got her.  She's starting to learn a few things - I think we might have a handle on the potty training and she knows how to sit on cue.  She is still very much an energetic puppy, which is fun.  The biting and jumping have toned down a little bit but she still has a long way to go with that.

 I'm pretty sure she recognizes the sound of the alarm on my phone when it's time to go to the bus.  And when that bus turns into our neighborhood she gets SO excited to be mobbed by all the kids.

Kaitlyn and Tyler love their puppy and have so much fun playing with her.

On Friday the kindergarten got to go to the Aloha Safari Zoo.  It's an exotic animal rescue and oh what a great place to visit!  There was so much more interaction than you get at most zoos.
(Miss Allen, Mrs Plumber and the rest of Tyler's class)

 Tyler's favorite part was feeding the giraffe.  His name is Strech, which Tyler thought was a great name.

 There's Tyler's teacher Miss Allen taking a photo of the big snake.  They brought that thing out and just let it crawl around on the ground and the kids could go up to it anytime they wanted.  Tyler stayed at least 10 feet away from the snake - not that I blame him! He did however like touching the tortoises, baby goat, and the pot bellied pigs that were also out wandering around.

They also give you a ride behind a tractor to see some of the larger animals in their fields.  All the animals come right up to the fence so everyone gets a really good look at them.  Zebras, buffalo, camels, antelope, watusi cattle...

2013 Week 16

 Awards assemblies this week.  Once again the kids did fantastic during this term at school.  (Too bad I left the memory card for the camera at home and only one of the photos I took with my phone turned out.)  Kaitlyn got Terrific Kid (they select only one per class each term), a PE Leadership award and Principal's List (high honor roll - all As).  Tyler got the Roaring Writer and Bookworm.  I'm always so glad that my kids love school and love learning and that it comes so easily for them.

 Tyler got hold of my phone while we were in the car one day and took at least 100 photos of the top of his head :)

We wanted to do something fun this weekend and although we would have preferred the beach it wasn't really beach weather.  Saturday Kaitlyn went to a Girls Day Out thing with a friend which left Tyler hanging out at home with us.  He rode with Sam to get the tire fixed for the motorcycle then they came home and got the lawn mower started.  Tyler's so big!  Sam let him mow almost the entire back lawn on the riding mower and he did a great job.  It was his most favorite thing all week!

On Sunday we decided to explore a new hiking trail.  It was a little chilly but we all loved being outside, including the puppy.

When we finished everyone was hungry and we were close to one of the neighboring towns so we grabbed a quick lunch at Sonic.  Then on the way home we still didn't feel like we'd have enough fun for the day and it occurred to us that we hadn't taken the kids to do miniature golf in years.  So we dropped the puppy at home and looked up a golf place and headed out again.  Turned out to be a great idea.  It was a lot of fun.  And once they kids stopped trying to rush through it and actually took the time to try to hit the ball straight, they did pretty well.

 

2013 Week 13

Spring!  I love seeing the bulbs starting to peek up through the ground and knowing that soon there will be lots of pretty flowers!

It was a bit of a rough week.  I did manage to take some time to do crafts with a friend.

Of course we didn't manage to get them finished in our first session, so she and her kids came back later that night (Tues).  The crafting went well, but at one point the kids were in the kitchen getting snacks and we hear "ewww GROSS!  Tyler just threw up!"  Yup.  Ewww.  We got it cleaned up and sent everyone home and hoped it was a random thing.  Nope.  By 10:30 that night he was throwing up repeatedly - so often in fact that by 2:00 Sam took him in to the ER.  They gave him something for the nausea and Sam said that by the time the dr saw Ty he was feeling well enough to flirt with the nurses :)  We had to keep him home from school on Wednesday (where he sadly missed the Easter hat parade) and Thursday, but he was able to go for the short day on Friday.

(**need to add photo of Ty in his hat with his friend at school)

Friday also marked the beginning of Spring Break!  We started it off with Easter festivities.  We dyed eggs on Saturday.

 And due to rain in the morning, the Easter Bunny hid not only the baskets but all of the eggs in the house.

The kids got roller blades, sports equipment, flip flops/sandals, and all kinds of fun stuff.

Bambi also got her own basket and a few new toys.

The roller skates were by far the favorite item from Easter.  Luckily the weather cleared up in the afternoon so the kids could gear up and try them out.  They LOVE the skates.  It looked like so much fun that Sam and I pulled out our roller blades for a little bit and skated with the kids too.