Going to the Zoo

Now I know, most of you would say why go there and pay to get in when you live in one? Let's just call it an expensive family reunion. Last Friday, we loaded up early and hit the road. It was a church sponsored trip and I invited one of Finley's friends from school to go with us. Loading all 4 up and driving alone to Montgomery wasn't that terrible, but I am sure a few questioned my sanity. The most important thing though was we had a BLAST! It was gray and rainy and the zoo was mostly empty. Since I was anticipating a hot day, this was a nice surprise.


Hutch with his zoo map and admission bracelet. He was actually free since he was under 2, but when all the other kids put their bracelets on, he held his arm up. I gave him mine so he wouldn't feel left out. He wore it all day without ever trying to take it off.


The zoo crew- Chloe, Hutch, J.B., Finley, Damian and Hayden


Do I really need to explain why this picture made the cut?


Chloe and the flapinkos


Trying to decide where to go next


Finn and the jaguars


Feeding the giraffes almost didn't happen. The zookeeper said they wouldn't come eat because it was raining. We tried anyway and thankfully they were hungry enough to come over. The girls said it tickled.


Chloe takes a seat while Hutch gets to walk. Most of the time he did good and stayed close by the stroller. If he fell behind or strayed too far, all I had to do was say "go catch the big kids" and he would take off.


Hutch loved and stepped in every puddle at the zoo. Splish splash! We had such a good time and I want to go back again soon.

17 Down, 25 To Go

The past two weeks we have been doing a lot of running. Running to swimming lessons, running back home, juggling the kids all the while. Finn and Chloe did well at their lessons which I happened to find thanks to Faycebook. Now we are running to the library every day for summer reading activities and next week we will be doing another VBS and art class. Why am I doing all this running? To keep the kids busy since Jeremy has been gone. He has been on work trips for most of J.B.'s short life and will be gone for a lot of the next 4 months. So we keep busy and then the kids are not as focused on the fact that Daddy isn't home. It works out well for me too.

Friday, we are heading to the Montgomery Zoo for the day. It is going to be hot, but since we haven't been there ever, it should be fun. The best part is the surprise I have in store for Finn. Her best boyfriend, her one true love (as she called him one day), is going too. She is going to flip. I promise tons of pictures of the happy couple.

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More funny quotes and things I am mainly recording so I don't forget--skip if you must!

Finley describing her cupcake: Daddy is the cupcake, these four sprinkle hearts are Mommy, Chloe, Hutch and J.B. The frosting is Jesus and God is the sprinkles.

Both girls- John was babbatized, can we be babbatized too one day?

Finn: Wrassled is the Spanish word for wrestling.

Hutch has a new face he makes when he gets into trouble. He squints his eyes up tight, smiles and tries to sneak by the adult who just busted him.

Hutch: Cat Cat when he sneezes.

When you ask Hutch to do something he says "shuh" for sure.

Every day he is adding new vocab to his arsenal, and I love it. Some of my favorites include please, thank you (he has only said that once or twice), pop, bubbles, and ReeRee for Reesee. He loves to give her food and water and has been known to give her several days worth of dinners if he isn't watched closely. I mean really closely too. He is a very cute but very big messmaker.

The 4th Plus More

With this picture filled post, I will be caught up and not two weeks behind like normal. So here is the more from the title. Hutch has been more and more adventurous (read as destructive and daring) so I am rarely shocked to see him sitting on the dining room table or trying to flush toys down the potty. This particular day he decided to sit inside the bottom cabinet of a furniture piece I have and before I found him, I heard him laughing. He is also developing his sense of humor and laughs at random points in cartoon shows. Now that is funny!



On the 4th, we stayed at home until the early afternoon when we headed to the gray house. The girls made delectable marshmallow treats and played together.

Hutch looking cute outside. I did not take a group picture of the kids but they all had on some form of red, white, and blue clothes.

Look at his beautiful hair now! He will not go to kindergarten bald, he will not go to kindergarten bald.

Chloe waiting ever so patiently for the blessing to be over.

I asked her to smile pretty and this is what I got.

Ah, wittle shrimp, I am going to eat you all up!!!

Finn even dressed Baby Jaguar up for the holiday.

Hutch helping to make the ice cream.

J.B. on his 1st 4th!

2 Months

Sweet little J.B., JayBeeza, JameyB, ScoodaBooda, BoodScooder, aka The One Who Cries A Lot is now 2 months old. He is starting to smile and coo, but not too often. He is like Chloe in this respect. She was slow to share smiles with us but once she did, she was off and running. I am sure he will be grinning all the time really soon. When he does, you can believe there will be tons of pictures.



His official month picture which he was not happy to be taking.

He was 10lbs 5oz and 25 in long today at his check-up. He wasn't happy about the shots he received but has been better this afternoon. He doesn't like tummy time and will either scream or roll himself over. A couple of times he has even fallen asleep while in his bed. Yes, he does tummy time in his bed since I know he is relatively safe in there. Hutch is still a little too affectionate a helper to let J.B. play on the floor. Maybe soon though.

MIA

Four kids 6 and under leaves very little time for blogging. In fact it leaves little time for anything except going in circles. Feed them, clean them, wash their clothes, feed them, clean them, sweep the crumbs under the couch, feed them and so on. Exhausted is an understatement but truthfully I am having fun with all the little children. Except when J.B. screams until my ears bleed. The month of June has been busy but with very little picture-worthy things going on. I did take a few photos, so here they are in no particular order.



our new sweet ride



toe touches on the swing set



snoozing baby in the carrier



Hutch digging a hole in the yard like a man

You Said What?

A few funny words that are the new way to say things in our house. I will be adding more later.

Flapinko= flamingo
DonDon Duck= Donald Duck

Finley: I gave Hutch some markers and he started coloring on the little book. He was using his imagination and I really think he has a heart of art.

Chloe: Is sleeping exercise? It has to be.

Beating the Heat

On Saturday June 4, we held a low-key "friend" birthday party for Finn. I bought a few boxes of popsicles and juice, and we met her friends at the park. The past two years I have spent gobs of money throwing elaborately themed parties with lackluster attendance. This year we had more kids than ever. I am not sure how to explain it but oh well. It was fun but VERY VERY HOT!!!!


Poor J.B. trying to keep cool while snoozing


Chloe cooling off on a dinosaur ride


Finn ate 6 popsicles and drank 2 or 3 juice boxes in a very short amount of time. When she threw up, the party was over.


Hutch in the whale or airplane depending on what you see when you look at it.


Shhhhh, don't tell him but I actually took these pics June 5 and he really hadn't changed much since June 2. He was up to 9lbs 3oz at last weight check. He isn't doing a whole lot more than eating, sleeping, and filling his diaper but he sure is cute.


Especially his adorable baby toes!


Hutch helping with the pap pap. He is such a helpful big brother.


This week the 3 big kids are going to VBS and I am happy about that. Hutch has loved that he can go too. Yesterday when Granna came to pick them up, he loudly answered "me" when she asked him if he was ready to go. Today I asked him at lunch if he was ready for a nap and he said no. A few minutes later I found him doing this.

and yes I know he has another black eye but it wasn't my fault--he got into a fight with the shoe bin at Burger King's play area and lost


Last night we went to a birthday party and giant blow pops were one of the favors. Today the girls were enjoying them and I heard a scream. Apparently while I was folding the mountains of laundry I washed yesterday, there was a terrible collision between Finley's lollipop and Chloe's hair. Instead of coming to me for help, Finley just pulled it out. Hence the scream. Here is Chloe's pigtail 'do after the lollipop removal.


Remnants of said lollipop


Finn laughing about the whole crazy thing


So to help wash out the lollipop, I hooked up the sprinkler for some afternoon fun. I did not take pictures of the fun since Hutch wouldn't leave me alone long enough to do so. He does not like water unless it is on his terms. After I cut the sprinkler off, the kids decided that the muddy puddles left in the backyard was a lot more fun. Even Hutch liked it. Chloe didn't appreciate the big splash from Finn's feet that left her covered in mud.



A little happier now that she was splashing.