week 13

It's been so much fun having Camille's kids off track at the same time as Christian.  Today, we took them to the zoo.  Henry kept his distance from the rhino statue--I guess you never know when it might come at you.

The polar bear was putting on quite a show--swimming back and forth and jumping up to the glass where the kids were.

Of course, he picked the cheetah on the merry-go-round.

Jessi is taking home lunch a little more often.  The other kids take home lunch most days, but Jessi doesn't want to miss out on the "yummy" possibilities that might exist with school lunch.  She is beginning to see the light and asks for home lunch a little more often.  This is her typical home lunch.

We made some beignets--we are having New Orleans withdrawals.

66 and lovely outside.

The weekly stop at the gas station.

Whenever I take Little Miss to Harmon's, she gets a chicken leg--her favorite treat.

The perennials and tulips are growing--Spring is my favorite time of the year.

Story time with the Wild Things.

Wednesdays are crazy busy, so Bev drops off Jessi and then goes to her Activity Days, then picks Jessi up from hers afterward.  She's such a good helper.

Our cats had to me moved, and I miss them.  Even though they were homeless, they were loved and cared for.

Bev on Facetime with Lala.  These two are such great friends.

C and J after swimming during Drew's water polo practice.

Sometimes when we are out that way, we stop and share a monster shake from Iceberg.

Shortly after beginning water polo, Drew accidentally jumped in the pool with his new phone in his pocket.  He used the old phone for a few days, until it died.  He had to spend some of his hard-earned money to get a new phone.

Every time we leave, Fred walks us to the door and looks so sad that we aren't taking him.

Pitch Perfect in the car--we love it, I just have to be on the ball to fast forward the inappropriate parts.

Christian is our most curious child.  He sees anything in the basement or garage and immediately wants to try it.  I had put the Magic Bullet away, but he saw it when he was snooping around and wanted to start making his own "personal-sized" smoothies.

Last day of Spring Break and the kids wanted to do a picnic at the "Wooden Park."  Whenever we do a picnic, Bev pulls out the picnic basket Mike and I got for our wedding.

We stopped at Grandma and Grandpas to do a little yard work and bring them a treat.

Grandma and Grandpa Peel always give the kids a "Penny Dip" for their birthday.  The kids grab as much as they can from a bucket of change.  They get to keep the amount of money they grab.

They like doing practice dips.  Here Mike was giving him some tips on how to get the most in one grab.

The kids checked out the record player.  This was the first time seeing/hearing one for some of them.

Skyping with Courtney in China.  We sure miss her.

Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's.  We had almost all of the cousins together.  (We missed Isaac.)

These four were all born in the same year.

Jessi loved taking the little kids for wagon rides.

The big kids played some baseball and kickball.

Andrew got to drive the two blocks home from church.

Easter Sunday wasn't quite the same without Bev.  She went with my parents and Melanie and her family to The Grand Canyon.

Easter Sunday we spent playing outside.

And, in the garage, building Bev's headboard.

I was having some difficulty deciding where to drill the holes for the tufting.  I measured, marked and remarked the hole marks several times.  Mike said it looked like I was going to hurt myself, and gave me a helmet.  Haha.

There were lots of "final" marks before I finally got the last "final" x's figured out.  These darned DIY projects always take more time and more money than I intended.

I had gone overboard on Easter candy, so I did another egg hunt in our back yard.

Easter weekend I made Swig Sugar Cookies three different times.  They are our new favorite.

With Freddy in the house, Tiger has a newfound purpose in life--keeping tabs on him.  She is constantly trying to get on the table to be above him, but near him.  If they get too close to each other, she hisses and he will growl.  I think she wants to be friends.  He has no interest.

Mike got me an Easter Lily that bloomed right on time.