Riverbanks Zoo

As a very last minute decision last Friday, I decided to take the kids to Columbia, SC to visit the Riverbanks Zoo. It's the closest zoo to us and about and hour and twenty minutes away. Another friend has planned to be there, so Ethan was excited to have his buddy Aidan:

Ethan laughed hysterically at these chickens....not sure why:

I signed Madeline up to do a little class they had there:

It was for 3 and 4 year olds, but Ethan joined them for a little bit:

He loved when it was puppet show time:

Sponge painting a shell:

We decided to go ahead and get a family membership this year. It's not only allows us admission into the zoo, but also bracelets to wear that allow us to do most of the other attractions without paying additional money. For example, we got to ride a train!!! This was one of the highlights of the trip:

Ethan was most mesmerized watching the lights and crossing:

Another favorite (probably THE favorite) was feeding the giraffes. Our bracelets got us food to give them. I couldn't believe how brave Ethan was with the giraffes!! Totally out of character!

Madeline was a little more timid with them:

...but was very willing to help her brother!

Our bracelets also got the kids rides on a pony! Ethan was nervous, but I could tell he still wanted to do it:

...and off he went:

HE LOVED IT!
As did she:

One of Madeline's favorite things, the carousal:

I asked the boys to give me a thumbs up:

We loved the flamingos, and Madeline loves telling what she learned about them during her class:

He was intrigued by them man cleaning the tank:

I felt so bad for the turtle with the duck tape!

Funny kids

Family shot:

As we were leaving, I saw Ethan go over to the Lion and this is what he did:

...and found it quite funny:

I asked the kids to sit on the lion so I could get a picture...and this is what I got:

GOOD TIMES!

Moms Day Out

A popular thing that many families do around here is called Moms Day Out. It's for children from newborn to preschool age and basically, you choose how many days a week you want or child/children to attend. It's typically held at Churches, but there's many other options too (such as gymnastics places and the like). I guess you could look at it like a more structured (with daily lessons and routine occurring) childcare. Doug and I had talked about this option quite a bit but decided it just wasn't for us. We would keep our kids "at home" (I could go on more about that, but I won't here), until we're ready for them to go to school. One of my real good friends here, Janette, does the same. But a couple years ago, we came up with the brilliant idea (wink, wink) to sort of host a Moms Day Out for each other...free of charge :) So once a week my kids go to her house for several hours and one day the following week, her kids come to ours. To say it has been working great would be an understatement. We typically plan it around certain things that we need to do that would either be much easier without the kids, or just aren't possible at all for the kids. For example, there was a DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Chapter meeting that I had planned to attend yesterday, so Janette and I had it on our calendars that that would be the day she had my kids. It's great...it's makes it possible for me to do these things without me having to search around for friends to watch them, and the best part....I completely trust the environment in which they are playing/learning :)
So with that said, the picture about is of Ethan, Mariah, Ava, and Madeline during one of our Mom's Day Out held at our house :)

Sleeping Great Now!

Ethan's been in a toddler bed for a while now, and aside from a few hurdles, he was doing OK about going down to bed. However, the problem was having him stay there through the night. He would wake up a few hours after falling asleep and cry. Sometimes we'd take him right into our bed, but often we'd get him back to sleep in his. But then he'd wake up a short time later again. And if we'd get him back to sleep again....he'd wake up a short time later. However, when he was in our bed, he'd sleep until morning. I had a feeling it was less about being with Mommy and Daddy and more about the comfort of the bed since he'd go down OK in his bed, but just couldn't stay asleep. Well, about 2 weeks ago, our neighbors were getting new beds for each of their kids and called me quick to see if there was any chance we wanted a twin box spring and mattress that had belonged to their eldest child (before the mattress company hauled it away). She said this one was still in good condition and accident free :) So, uh, duh....we took it! Now Ethan has a new (to us) Serta mattress to lay on, and he's slept through the night every night since :)

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Story time at the Columbia County Library
Celebrating the Birthday of Dr. Seuss

Madeline's Photo Shoot

Madeline and I were playing on the driveway yesterday with chalk while Ethan was napping and I told her I wanted to get a picture of the flowers she and Ethan helped me plant so I can show it to my Dad. So she got into modeling mode. She went and sat down by the flowers and said, "How about if I sit like this?!"

Our finished product:

Jumping for joy that Daddy will be home from work soon:

Then I told her I wanted to get a picture of her wearing the shirt Marmie sent her...and thus started the next photo session:

How old are you?

And then she started dancing:

This girl is so fun!

Who Needs A Bed!

Ethan is making progress from needing us to be in his/aside his toddler bed with him while he's falling asleep. The process was getting to take up most of our evening and we were having no time for ourselves at night. We started making sure he was aware of his sister in her bed, as well as letting him take a toy to bed (this was t help distract him from the fast that Mommy and Daddy weren't there). This worked very well, but he'd still walk out of his room several times and have to be guided back into bed. Several nights in a row he brought out his pillow, water and toy and lay at the top of the steps. He would sit there so quietly, that we just decided to let him. Occasionally he would walk himself back into bed, but most evenings we would go up and take him back into bed where he would fall asleep a short time later. But one night last week, along with his pillow, water bottle, and the jewelry box his sister said he could sleep with...Ethan fell asleep at the top of the steps.

Racing Toys

The kids love to race down our little back hill. We have a little toy school bus that they also love to zoom down the hill. We were on our way to a big Consignment Sale here last week and we made a quick stop at Goodwill where Ethan spotted this Firetruck. For two fifty, I thought it'd be great!! Now they could each ride one and race down the hill!! Then we headed over to the annual consignment sale where we found a princess car for three bucks. We went ahead and splurged. We figured it'd be nice to have an extra around for when friends are visiting.
When we got home they raced down the hill probably a hundred times while I was right inside the door preparing dinner. I came out to snap a few pics of them about to race again:
...when they saw me and had to pose:

Trying to hug while on their new cars:

As much as I loved watching them try to look sweet for a picture:

I did ask them if they could get the race started:

and they did...

Good times.