Jack & the Zoo

Abbie and Super Kaden
Magdalen, Elaina, Abbie, McKenna x2, Big Jack, Kaden and Jack
Ditto...
Big Jack, Elaina, Kaden and Jacl watching the Lemurs on Lemur Island

Feeding the Fish at the LR Zoo...

Abbie Grace and Magdalen Joyce
Aubrie, Abbie and Jack

Magdalen and Jack in the double stroller

Abbie, Kaden, McKenna Moore, McKenna Neill, and Big Jack

Jack and Kaden Feeding the fish...


Yesterday we had a little visitor over for the day. His name is Jack and he is the sweetest little boy. His mom is in the middle of finishing up a major project for her Master's program and needed a day to get some work done and so we decided that we needed a playday with Jack. Paige was kind enough to do that for me when I was studying for the ACE exam and I know how much it can help to have the gift of TIME! Anyway, Jack was on his way over when we got a call to come and hang at the zoo with the Moore's, Neill's and Simon's. Ther was no way we could pass up that kind of fun so we loaded up and headed to the zoo. The kids had a great time and it was fun being with everyone and seeing all the cool stuff at the zoo. Abbie's favorite part was trying to feed leaves to the giraffe's. Hilarious! The kids were all so good while we were at the zoo. The first of the funny moments started at the fish pond where we were feeding the fish. Becky had quarters for the little one's to share and get some food for the fish. She gave a quarter to Jack and told him it was for feeding the fish. Jack promptly obeyed and threw the quarter to the fish! How awesome is that!! The day really was great...lots of paying attention and great obedience (who could ask for more???). Abbie at some point, must have overheard Kaden calling himself Super Kaden and she has taken that to be his new name. Everytime we have seen him since, he's been SuperKaden! Which I think is Super cool. One of the funniest parts of the day was when the kids chased a Peacock they found in the covered picnic area. The poor thing was totally harrassed by the children and instantly got a good case of the runs as a result of the chasing. It was so funny all the mom's telling the kids not to step in the poop while the kids were so intent on getting close to the peacock. Ah...the memories of childhood...
...good friends, cool animals and poo.

Mother's Day 2008

SATURDAY

Mother's Day this year started for us on Saturdy Night. We decided that we would do a party for the Mom's/Grandmother's. Phillip did a super job getting the food together. He smoked a shoulder (which was CRAZY GOOD) and we had sliced and chopped BBQ with all the fixin's. I had baked a chocolate cake for the Mom's with Abbie on Friday night. It turned out delicious thanks to the Better Homes and Garden's Chocolate Buttercream Icing Recipe. So good. If you want it, let me know b/c is was really good. Anyway, it was a super special night because my sister's were in town. Brooke and Josh were passing through so we got see them which was awesome. Have I mentioned that I have the funniest sisters ever. They are both so funny. Don't know what happened to me but every comedian needs an audience and I am good at that...It was so fun to all be together.
NiNi, Pap and Nongie
Abbie decided that she and PawPaw needed to give Aubrie a sink bath.
The Mom's (Notice Brooke's killer tan...I'm jealous...)
Sorry this picture is sideways but what it is a picture of is my Mom's six cupcake birthday cake. Saturday was Mom's birthday and so we did a combo celebration for her birthday and mother's day. We made her a flower out of cupcakes and topped it with candles that said Happy Birthday.

SUNDAY
We had what was possibly the best Mother's Day ever this year. First of all, it was nice because it's the first time Phillip has ever been home for Mother's Day. Usually we spend part of the day at the fire station but this year, we were actually all together at home. It was great. I went for a run with my friend Becky (Elaina's Mom) and burned calories before we even started into what was a calorie laden day. Phillip had arranged to have a breakfast quiche ready for me when I got back from the run...delicious...thank you Chef Nongie! Then we cleaned up and spent the morning at Burns Park. We had a blast there with Abbie playing on everything and Aubrie is big enough to ride the baby slide (in Abbie's lap) on some of the play grounds. When lunch came around we decided to go to Subway and have some sammies (yes, I was a cheap date this particular day...) then we took a walk to the duck pond and fed the ducks and threw rocks (not at the ducks) and even skipped a few of them across the water. I'm pretty horrible at that particular skill so the fact that it happened at all is a fact worth noting in the blog...We ended the day with left overs from Saturday Night's Mother's Day Bash (BBQ) and snuggling the kids while we ate a Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache Icing from Silvek's Bakery. Super Yum!! It was the perfect day!!

Swimming Machine...

Super Swimmer
Blowing Bubbles in the Water
Jumping in!

Shivering in our towel after lessons...
Daddy and Abbie...cool goggles...

What fun we have had a swim lessons. Abbie's instructor, Mr. Joe, is great with the kids. Abbie, in her regular fashion, has been quite the character at the pool. The last two times we have had lessons Mr. Joe has asked the kids to "grab" the water with both hands when they are swimming and to kick with their feet. When it was Abbie's turn to swim she jumped right to Mr. Joe and the "Turtle" (a mini life preserver) and then hung on to Mr. Joe (who holds onto the kids) with one arm and kicks like crazy with her feet. We were encouraging her to grab at the water with two hands but she said she was just too tired to use more than one arm. Too much work. I thought Mr. Joe was going to choke on the water he laughed so hard. We are making progress at the pool, I'm happy to say and hopefully we will be prepared for our upcoming trip to the beach. The funniest thing about all of this is that she loves to wear her goggles during the lesson but she doesn't really go under water yet. None of the other kids have goggles on but she is sure it makes her the best swimmer so she's sporting them at the pool. Notice that she refused to take them off for the ride home...awesome!

The dentist

Today we went to the dentist's office for Abbie's first dental appointment. We have prepared for this day but it did not go as well as it could have. Abbie loved the waiting room and all the fun stuff in there...the TV train, the books, etc. They called us back really quickly and we went in with our special friend, "Tiger" ( who actually is a Jaguar but whatever...) We got back and things went South almost immediately. Abbie didn't love the chair but she did like the TV in the ceiling. She wansn't totally in love with the headphones but she did like the sunglasses she got to wear. She got to pick out the toothpaste flavor (strawberry) and she felt the toothbrush before it went on her teeth. Then the real trouble began. She laid back to get her teeth cleaned and she freaked! I think the toothpaste wasn't what she thought it would be like, the brush was different and she was not having any of that. She sat up, cried and coughed and nearly made herself throw up by dry heaving...it was horribly embarassing for Mom and Dad. Aubrie on the other hand thought the entire scene was hilarious and she laughed the whole way through. After some hugs from Mom, transforming Tiger into a pillow and some apologies to the hygenist, we decided that the dentist, Dr. Wilson could come in and count her teeth. She actually did okay at this point but they did decide not to attempt x-rays or anything since the early process didn't go well. So from what he said, Abbie will be getting braces later because she'll be crowded as she grows in the adult teeth and it looks like she doesn't have any cavities but that's not confirmed because she didn't get any x-rays. We did get to pick out some toys from the toy box (which was nice considering the episode...) and she picked the star sunglasses in the picture below. We exited with our tails between our legs and an appointment for November... When Abbie reported in to PawPaw she said the dentist "repointment" went great but she was a little scared. But overall, she felt it was a good time...Mom and Dad both responded with "Yeah, right!

The proud patient!

Swim Lessons...sort of...

Tuesday night we were supposed to start our swimming lessons in preparation of our upcoming trip to the beach. NiNi and PawPaw kept Aubrie and Phillip

was at work so I loaded up Abbie and went to the YMCA. As we were driving the all of 4 blocks between our house and the Y, it started to sprinkle... We got there and there was a lesson going on...in the rain. I figured that they had a "no thunder" kind of policy and since it was only drizzling and not storming (ie: no thunder) the class would go on...I mean, what's a little rain when you are already wet head to toe? So Mr. Joe, Abbie's instructor, dismissed the 5:00 class and called for the 5:30 kids to come to the pool. Now, keep in mind that Abbie has been literally bouncing in place in anticipation to start her lesson. She is beyond excited...her anticipation meter is off the charts. So she runs right over and sets herself on the side of the pool. She turned around and grinned at me and I knew she was in hog heaven...I could see every tooth in her head, even the molars...big smiles. I'm thinking...well so long as it doesn't rumble, I guess we're good to go! Hooray, right? Wrong...Mr. Joe asked her her name and this was the response...Abbie says..."Abbie Grace Durham" and the Clouds say..."THUNDER!!!" Mr. Joe says, uhoh! Everyone out of the pool...class is canceled. I was really worried that Abbie would be crushed but since she hadn't had a swim lesson before, she thought that the lesson was over. She came back over and was so happy that the lesson went well. The rescheduled for Wednesday, and it was cancelled last night so tonight is out first lesson! Let's hope it stays clear!!!

SUPERHERO ABBIE

So Phillip and I were grilling out and hanging out with the kids the other day. We were just kind of floating in and out of the playroom, taking turns watching the kids. As I was in the kitchen working at the sink, Abbie came in and asked if she could use my kitchen gloves. Since this was a pretty easy request to fulfill, I passed them off to her not thinking much about what she would want them for. Well, next thing I know, I hear her jumping off the couch and making what I can only describe as superhero background music...dun dun DAH!!! I walked in the playroom to check it out and this is what I saw...what an imagination!! I told her to hold the pose and I'd take her picture...she responded with, okay Mom, but I have too look serious. Hence the "serious" superhero face in the picture. As you can also see, she was playing with Aubrie at the time...I'm not sure if Aubrie was being saved or being attacked. Either way she was giggling like crazy so I guess she was happy regardless of if she was the villan or the sidekick!

Backyard Bubbles

We love blowing bubbles in the backyard. The girls were having such fun this particular afternoon when we did the bubbles. Aubrie had not been in the middle of the bubble machine before. She wasn't quite sure what to think but she ended up thinking it was pretty great. Abbie loved blowing bubbles on her sister and her mommy.

Elaina and Abbie's Last Day

Our final day with Elaina was lots of fun. We started out with Church in the morning, where the girls did great at "Kid Church" as Abbie calls it. Elaina got to dress in one of Abbie's outfits because it was unexpectedly cold Sunday morning. We had a great morning and spent the afternoon doing some fun crafts and more playing in the yard. (Who can complain about playing in the yard...always fun!) We also went on what we call a "Flower Walk" around our yard and NiNi and PawPaw's yard too. As things start to bloom (and I notice them...) we walk around the yard and talk about the flower and the color of the bloom, the smell...whatever comes to mind. Well, Dad's gorgeous yellow iris's were blooming on this particular day so we explored the flowers over there and also enjoyed the last of the azalea blooms. At the end of our day, we went to lunch with Tracy, Robert, Eric and Caden at Cracker Barrell. Aubrie was really tired by this point in the day. We sat at the table and she happened to end up between Robert and I. She laid her head down on the table and just stared at him for minutes on end. It was so cute...she was exhasted and needed to rest and she was also facinated by Robert. It was precious. The kids ate great and after returning home we vegged out watching TV and reading books until Elaina's mom and dad arrived to pick her up. What a delight to have such a sweet girl for the weekend!