Watching the kids play when left to their own devices....

This game is called 'tag chair'

More Utah adventures: Hogle zoo and thanksgiving point train show

TLWe had lots of fun this past week! Wednesday we met up with Alissa and kids at the zoo after school. I have vague memories of going in the summer as a kid (and animal Shaped drinks we would get on the way out ) but I'm pretty sure it's all been redone in the last 20 years or so . There was some construction but the exhibits we saw were awesome. And the weather was nice and since it's winter we basically had the place to ourselves :) Saturday we went to a model train show at thanksgiving point. The kids were generally mesmerized by the Harry potter castle (we are reading the first book right now) and the amazing Lego creations. And they got a cookie and a lollipop..  Not too shabby !!!

Lemurs!

The fake animals you can climb on and pose are always the best part

A river seal was totally putting on a show for us . I think he was lonely. 

And no one looking at me. Of course. 

Polar bear wants to give carter a kiss

Giraffe snack!!

Trains!

Ridiculous amount of Legos!

At the controls

Enjoying her lollipop

Party time !!!

We had a great birthday party today ! I really tried not to get caught up in making everything perfect as I have in past years and things could not have turned out better. We had a full house but it all worked out very smoothly. We did a dinosaur theme with some activities- digging Dinos out of play dough , chipping them out of ice , coloring a dinosaur picture , and pin the scale on the dinosaur- I made homemade pizza because it is my go to thing and I know I can do it well :) and then I bought Harrison a chocolate Dino cake from Costco... I have made his cake from scratch every other year but in my experience non cake mix cake is too dense to be kid friendly and it's a lot of effort for very little return... So store bought was great! Everyone had lots of fun and Harrison was spoiled rotten by our sweet neighbors and friends- happy birthday buddy !!!!

I froze some plastic dinosaurs and the kids chipped away at it with utensils. It was a huge hit-- I think we had seven kids crowded in the laundry room for over an hour. Awesome !!

Happy kids

Mmmmmm cake

Time for presents !!! 

Birthday boy!!!

Today my tiny baby turned five years old!!! Five years ago we were in the hospital with a boy who refused to sleep , cried what felt like constantly , and loved a binkie already. It's crazy how much things have changed . Harrison is a sweet, smart, incredibly energetic little bug who loves: friends , preschool, coloring, transformers, Legos, pizza, ice cream, carrots, soccer, any kind of games, his sister carter, the snow , the iPad , angry birds, the dinosaur museum, and learning to read and write new words .

('Its my day!!!!')

He is more athletic and cooler than his parents and can beat us both at memory or candy land any day of the week. He drives us crazy with his need to be playing with someone constantly but it is hard to be annoyed with him long. We love you monkey face !!!!!!! Happy birthday!!!! Today Harrison celebrated at school with muffins and a birthday crown. Then we met daddy for lunch at McDonald's  where he went crazy in the play area ( now our family is no stranger to restaurants but we hate mcdonalds so this was a big deal). We built a snowman and played with toys in the afternoon, sky ped and face timed with grandparents, and ended with pizza and Harrison and Cory playing chess on the iPad (he got a chess/ checkers board today and waited all day to try chess with daddy since mommy doesn't know how....). It was a fun day ! 

(Basketball over lunch)

(Engrossed) 

And Saturday 14 kids and 11 adults are coming over for a dinosaur birthday party (we're new-- I figured inviting a few neighbors , his primary class, a couple of cousins, and a few other friends would be fun--and it will, right????) wish us luck!!!!

(Party favors !!!!) 

A little more Christmas

(Storytime on Christmas Eve )

Just some highlights that I missed:

I got up early and made the pioneer woman's cinnamon rolls. Which were awesome. And even better with leftover cream cheese frosting on them.

Harrison got Legos, a scooter , a power rangers megazord, and done fun new games. ( operation and connect four) 

Carter got two baby dolls, a baby stroller and a play kitchen. So funny how much she loves that girly stuff. 

I finally got around to putting our pictures into books (2009-2011 anyway) for Cory. I used mix book which was the easiest to use/upload by far that I've tried. (iPhoto, Picasa, blurb, and blog2 print basically just drove me slowly crazy.. ). I also had Cory's poor sad iPad fixed after he slipped on the ice and dropped it. 

Cory wrote me a very sweet letter and got me a pizza pan, pizza cutter, and rice cooker / steamer. 

We also got a fantastic set of knives from grandma who also got me a great new camera and baby boy brown a crib. 

After opening presents I Oma and Opa came over for lunch and we went to see frozen. It was super cute after we convinced Harrison that it was not scary and would have a happy ending. 

It was a great, relaxed, Christmas at home!! Being able to see family without the stress of traveling is just wonderful :)

(Somebody got nail polish in her stocking....and now you see why I prefer to have someone else do my nail painting...) 

Great day

Yesterday was such a fun day with the kiddos. Reminds me that they can be sweet and fun and awesome . Nothing special really, we played in the basement, went to costco (Harrison wore his Spider-Man costume), ate cheap pizza, and carter took a long nap. Then Harrison and I had a lot of fun painting the baby's room. The purple and green princess/flower/butterfly motif is no more! We also played a couple of epic games of war before baby sister got up. And they played nicely downstairs while I got dinner in the oven. Then dicecapades and carter playing with her kitchen and using an 'oven mitt ' to cook up peppers and strawberries for me to feed her baby.   Them Cory came home and they played candy land and memory  (did I mention Harrison likes games???) and after dinner I went on an unsuccessful quest for a maternity jacket. Today I'm excited to go kid less to Maryland to visit some of my favorite people but man will I miss this cute family!

 Love them so much it hurts!!!