The San Antonio Zoo!

Last weekend we went on a little day trip down to the San Antonio Zoo. From our house to the zoo is about an hour and a half drive, very easily done in a day. The kids had a great time looking at the animals - Carter especially, of course. We love the zoo, and bought a membership while we were there! So you'll probably (hopefully!) see photos from the San Antonio Zoo a few more times this year! :-) Here's a sampling of what we saw last weekend...

When you first enter the zoo there are some lion statues, which Carter had fun climbing on. We had just recently watched The Lion King for the first time, so Carter was very much into lions (and hyenas!) during this visit. As a matter of fact, Carter was not happy with me when we got home from the zoo and were reviewing the photos, and he realized Mommy had not taken *any* photos of the lions or hyenas! Of course, the reason was that Mommy was *holding* Carter while we looked at those animals, and can only do so many things at once...! :-) And a funny story - when we were looking at the lions, I asked Carter if the male lion was Simba. He said "no, he looks cross - he's Scarf!" Yes, he calls him Scarf, not Scar! Too cute!Checking out the flamingos.Carter loved brushing the goats in the petting zoo.Courtney thought touching the goats was hilarious!Family portrait at the zoo.Navigating the lily pads in an inch or so deep "stream".Courtney having fun in the Tiny Tot Spot at the zoo.What's a trip to the zoo on a gorgeous, sunny day without some ice cream?Mommy and her monkey in front of the monkeys.

A Day with Adrian!

Yesterday was President's Day, and our friend Adrian's daycare was closed for the holiday. Lucky us, that meant an opportunity for him to spend the day with Carter!! The boys had a lot of fun playing, running around, jumping up and down, tackling each other and basically being boys. *whew* I don't know how people handle having more than one little boy in the house! LOL. The good news is that all of the activity in the morning led to good, long naps in the afternoon. :-) Here are some photos from our day together...

The boys did a fairly good job playing together and sharing toys.Painting with watercolors entertained them for a few minutes... :-)Right before lunch the boys got EXTREMELY hyper, so I quieted them down a bit with some Thomas while I made lunch. By the time lunch was ready, they were clearly hungry - they voluntarily turned off Thomas and headed to the table!Much to Mommy's dismay, this was something new and fun for Carter, and maybe for Adrian too - the boys decided to eat like Cookie Monster! They were taking their veggie chips, yelling "Coooookie!" and shoving them into their mouths the way Cookie Monster does! *sigh* I'm not sure who instigated it, but judging from the photo - Carter doing it and Adrian looking on, I'm guessing it was Carter! So - sorry in advance, Diane and Donovan, if this becomes a new favorite game for Adrian at meals...!!!Courtney got a big kick out of having a friend join us for lunch.Adrian is such a sweetie, we're happy to have him visit us again anytime!

Bath time!

This week Courtney moved from the baby tub in the kitchen sink to the big tub in the bathroom. And today I was able to convince Carter that it would be fun for them to take their baths together (not to mention easier for Mommy!). Here's some photos (I'm sure they will love these when they are older!). :-)

This one is from Courtney's first bath in the big tub. All she wanted to do was stand up or crawl around the tub... *sigh*Bath time babies!My silly boyI just like how the water looks in this one. :-)

A Day at the Park

We are trying to get in the habit of afternoon walks, followed by fun playtime at the park. The park is really close to our house - one of my absolute favorite things about where we live! It's nice, too - lots of trees shading it, which during our HOT summers is wonderful! Today was Courtney's first time really walking around the park and exploring. It was also her first time going down the slide "by herself" - she sat on the slide but I held onto her hands - she LOVED it, just laughed and laughed! She also went down a couple times sitting on Big Brother's lap, which Carter got quite a kick out of. Unfortunately by the time she started sliding, the batteries in my camera had already died - but here are some other photos I took today. Enjoy!
Swinging...He's riding a horsey to town, to town... (I could not get him to stop making funny faces!)What are these?Mmm... rocks! Yummy!Our little monkey boy.Hanging out.

Writing M's

I meant to include this photo when I first started this blog and was getting caught up on January. Carter's teacher emailed this photo to me - they were learning about the letter M at school, and Carter wrote this on the board, all by himself! *sniff* My baby is growing up... making M's all by himself... writing MOM no less... where has the time gone? :-)

Now if only he could make better smiles for the camera...!

Courtney's 1st Birthday

Today we celebrated Courtney's first birthday with a houseful of family and friends. Courtney turned one this past Wednesday, February 4. We cannot believe she's already a year old - where has the time gone? Courtney woke up from her nap just as the guests started to arrive - she was a bit overwhelmed at first, we had quite house-full with twenty six adults and seventeen kids! But soon she was at ease, playing in the playroom with the other kids, or wandering around the house, showing off her new walking skills. We sang happy birthday to Courtney and she got to try her first cake - of course Mommy had to make cupcakes for her Cupcake's first birthday party! All in all, a very nice day to celebrate our baby turning one, and everyone surviving that rough first year! Here are a few more photos, and you can view the rest of them -->HERE<-- all taken by our sweet friend Theresa Misenti...
Family photoMmm, cupcakes!Lighting the candleDiving inThis is pretty yummy!The birthday girl with her sweet Aunt Laura