Zoo Trip 2009

Brenden all ready to travel to the Nashville Zoo.

Riley reading the directions.

Our driver, Daddy.

The photographer, Mommy.

Our first stop.

The animals were all out and pretty active this weekend.

They posed for this picture and the last bird on the right turn it's head so we could see her face.

These monkeys were VERY loud.

This one was swinging for branch to branch and the kids loved it.

The turtles. Riley and Brenden loved the reptile house. There were lots of people in there but it was fun to see all the different animals and where they came from. Riley loved the turtles and Brenden loved the frogs.

One many bridges we crossed. Both my kids loved to watch the water.

Riley is watching the water looking for fish.

This cat was right up next to the fence.

The Giraffes were eating their lunch as we walked through. They were to busy to notice all the people watching them.

The tigers habitat. They were too far back for my little camera to get a good picture so I took a picture of their home.

Photos by Riley

Riley loves to take pictures. She will take pictures of anything and everyone. She become very talented in the past year. Here are a few of her latest photos.

The surprises I find when I look at the new photos on the camera.

Yard Work!!

Yard that never stops. With all the rain that we have received this Spring all the weeds are growing back like crazy. Brenden loves the great outdoors. Ben was clean up the broken tree branches from a storm and making fire wood piles. Ben then taught Brenden to break the smaller sticks over his leg. Brenden waiting for daddy to have a stick too.

Climbing back up the "hill" looking for more sticks to break.
Not wanting any more pictures taken. He was breaking the sticks over his leg and by the time my camera was in hand he had enough.

Riley taking pictures of herself.

She loves the camera when she is taking the pictures.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's to All the wonderful mommies in our life.

My husband and kids surprised me with this beautiful ring this morning.

After receiving my gift, they took me out to breakfast. It has been a wonderful start to a great day.

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!!

My two beautiful children sitting in the yard waiting to take me to breakfast.

Sandbox Fun!!

Can't wait for the weather to be nice enough for this to happen again. The kids enjoy playing in the sandbox. It keeps them happy for hours. They found lots of bugs in the sand when we first opened it. So they threw lots of sand out trying to threw out the bugs.

Riley showing off her sand tools.

Driving, Driving!!!

Brenden has found daddy's little wooden wagon. He loves this thing. Brenden is a little too tall to pull it around for long. The other day he decided it was going to be his "car". He tried to sit inside but he is a little too big so sitting on the edge was the best he could do. He started to make the driving noises and then started moving his hands like he was steering his car.

Brenden "driving" his car. He must be in the middle of a turn.
Half of a smile. "Cheese!!!"

Trip to Michigan

So the quick trip to Michigan was busy and filled with lots of driving. We arrived late Thursday night/early Friday morning. After a few hours of sleep we woke up to head to Ann Arbor to be with Grandma Mills. After visiting her at the hospital all day we head back to Adrian for a Birthday party for my cousin Kathy. On our way back home we saw this truck at a truck stop. Of course we stopped to take a few pictures. Now my camera is not the great so these pictures do not do this truck justice by any means.

We walked around the truck and took pictures of all it's sides. There was not a spot on this truck that way not painted in detail with the acts from September 11.

It was a beautiful truck.

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Grandma Mills made it home on Saturday and is doing great. We went to breakfast with her and grandpa on Sunday before we headed back to Michigan. It was a very quick trip with lots of visiting.

EXTRA, EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT......

Brenden has started the long journey of potty training tonight. His first big step was going poopy on the potty. Yes he walked me back to the bathroom and pulled his pants down and then took off his diaper and asked to be put on the BIG potty. He sat there of just a few minutes before the action began. Once he finished he cleaned himself up. We are still in diapers but this was very exciting to me that he went to the potty. I can't wait to have him going potty all the time. No more diapers will be wonderful. Looking forward to that day. More potty training stories soon to follow I am sure. Keep reading.

Cooties

Riley was bored and had nothing to do while Brenden was napping so I a new game in the closet for us to play. That's right Cooties. Here is the start of the game.

Riley deciding what Cootie part she can pick.

She learned the numbers on the dice very quickly.

She rolled a 3. She can choose a head piece. Choices, choices.

Finally picked the funny looking antennas.

Riley was the to finish her cootie in game one. Here are our cooties once I finished mine too.

Bubba woke up during our game and wanted to play so he had a chance to play too.

Waiting his turn. He did a nice job taking turns with sissy and mommy too.

Her e is Brenden with his finished Cootie. He rolled the dice and picked all of his cootie parts by himself. He had lots of fun playing a game with his big sister.

Mommy with her and Riley's finished cooties.

Riley with her finished cootie and mommy's. She loved this game to the point that she ended up playing with the cooties has animals when we were done with the game.