Our 1st Zoo Trip of Spring

    Despite the wintery weather here in Seattle, the kids and I decided it would be fun to head out to the zoo while Carter is on Spring Break and before Baby #3 arrives making it virtually impossible to take the whole brood somewhere by myself. We packed a picnic lunch and headed out not long after breakfast.

    I decided to make a lesson out of our zoo trip by finding some great ideas from the Joshua's House Blog I have listed on the "Helpful Websites..." list on our blog. Before we left for the zoo I had Carter pick out 4 animals he wanted to see while we were there. He chose the lion, giraffe, gorilla, and lamb. We then looked up Bible Verses that mentioned those animals (well only the lamb and lion had Biblical references) and discussed their importance. When we saw those particular animals at the zoo I let him take pics of them with my camera and we talked about what we had learned from our Bible study earlier on. I printed out some coloring pages for him to work on when we got home. It was a great way to show him how God not only created humans but all of the animals too. It made our normal zoo trip a lot more educational as well!

Fireproof

It has been a long while since I have seen a movie that I actually felt good watching and feel even better recommending to others. Brandon and I watched this movie and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. It has such a great message and is very inspiring for engaged or married couples. So if you are reviewing your Netflix Queue wondering what movie to order next I highly recommend adding "Fireproof" to your list!

Adeline is 18 Months Old....

So she had her check up this week and is weighing in at a solid 21.5 pounds (10-15%) and is 31 inches (25-50%) tall. As you can see she will definitely be our future basketball star. She checked out great and our pediatrician was impressed with her vocabulary and climbing ability as she tried to scale the cabinets in the exam room. She enjoys playing with her big brother and going to the park as she can now go down the little kids slide by herself. But as you can see her favorite thing to do is con brother out of chocolate treats and hide under the dining room table to eat them. 

   I had my 34 week check up this week and the c-section looks like it will be happening some time around April 23rd. I can't believe we are already less than a month away. We have her bedroom already to go as you can see by the attached picture. Unfortunately since we haven't come up with a name yet Tracy won't make us letters to put above her bed so we had a sign of our own made to welcome her home. 

Carter's 1st PBR (Professional Bull Riding) Rodeo

After returning from our Texas trip in January Carter's passion for all things "cowboy" continued to develop. Carter would pretend he was a bull ("Big Jake" from the Stockyards) and tie stuffed animals on his back and try to buck them off in under 8 seconds. We spent weekend evenings watching Bull Riding on TV and when I found out the PBR would be coming to Tacoma (a smaller city about 45 minutes south of Seattle) I decided it would be a great adventure for us. Auntie Kiki decided she wanted to join the fun, whether her decision was based on watching bull riding or hot cowboys in tight Wranglers we'll never really know. But either way we all had a great time. As you can see from the pics we were welcomed by animal rights protestors. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised as this is Seattle and the liberals up here love a good protest. Hopefully our next rodeo will be down in Texas!

I have to add a blurb about Adeline too so she doesn't feel neglected. She is doing great, talking up a storm and saying anything brother tells her even "bull riding." She loves wearing her apron around and helping mom cook. I added a pic of Brandon and I from my mom's 50th Birthday celebration as it is the only picture I have of me pregnant and now Tracy can stop hounding me for a "belly pic."

Carter's Run In With The Seattle Police

   So I am busily getting the kids ready for school this morning as we have to pick up Carter E. (Carter's best friend) on our way to school and get up to the Compression Hose (darn varicose veins) Store by 9:30. And as usual I am running late. As we were heading out at 8:55 I noticed the voicemail light blinking on the phone and I am thinking to myself did I even hear the phone ring? I check the message quickly and it is from the Seattle Police Dept. at 8:30 informing me that someone from our house had called them and since we didn't answer the phone they were going to be sending an officer over to check on us. I yelled for Carter and asked him if he dialed 911 he told me he did and I informed him that the police were now coming and that due to his foolishness he was preventing the officers from doing their job and helping someone who had a real emergency. 

   I quickly called 911 and informed them that my son had called 911 and that we were not in need of help and the dispatcher told me one officer was at the end of our block waiting for back up already. He was going to alert them that we did not need help. As I was on the phone with dispatcher Carter was under the dining room table crying asking me if he was going to jail. I tried to stifle my laughter and told him that he was going to have to talk to the officers about that. We loaded up in the car and drove down to the end of the block where the officers were parked and I made Carter get out and we went over to the officers and I explained to them that my son was the one who called 911 and Carter (shaking in his Cowboy boots) apologized profusely to the officers. They were very understanding and explained to Carter that 911 is only to be called when there is a real emergency. Carter has watched the "911 is Not For Fun" movie a million times so I was a little surprised that he would call when there was no emergency but when I asked why he did it I never got a straight answer. So that is the story of Carter's first (and hopefully last) run in with the Seattle Police!

31 Weeks & Counting....

    With February wrapped up we are counting down to Baby #3's arrival scheduled for April 28th. We still haven't decided on a name but have a short list that we continue to debate. I am feeling great and the baby is doing well. We are on to every 2 week OB appointments now and when I went in last week they said she was breach but that it wouldn't matter as we will be having a c-section regardless. Adeline can now say "baby sister" but I don't think she really understands the concept that she will soon have someone competing for mommy's attention.

    We have been keeping busy visiting the new Seattle Children's Museum's Curious George exhibit. Both our kids love "Monkey George" and it seems we have been making weekly trips to the museum to see him. We also took the kids to a theatrical play of "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears" which they thoroughly enjoyed.  We took a long weekend trip over to Idaho for President's Day to play in the snow and had a great time visiting with Great Grandma Mag!

    March will be a fun-filled month as well. We have Nana's 50th Birthday Party coming up this weekend and we bought tickets for the PBR Rodeo at the Tacoma Dome on March 22nd. Carter is really into bull riding ever since we came home from Texas and has decided that he is going to have a cowboy/bull rider birthday party this year.