one last time

I never posted these pictures of our last day at the San Diego Zoo. Our membership expires next month :( so next time we'll have to renew once again. My mom joined us but "umpa" (Abby's word for Grandpa) wasn't too thrilled about paying $25 to go, so he hopped on the trolley and spent the day exploring (and getting lost).



Our own little monkeys:





We brought a sack lunch and bought some cheetos:









This was after I asked Chad to take a few shots of us eating ice-cream (because how cute of a scrapbook page would that be?), but then he proceeded to take over 200 photos, sort of paparazzi...

this and that

If you noticed that my blog changed again, it's because I can't seem to find a template that I like these days, I may just have to find a custom one sometime soon. If someone knows how to find a good template for blogger other than the cheesy ones they offer, let me know.

In other news, Jamie is getting so good at drawing, it seems like yesterday when all he could do was just draw random scribbles, now his drawing have stories to them. Here is a picture he drew on the chalkboard of him, daddy, and grandpa on grandpa's sailboat. The middle person started out as daddy ("because he has a big head") but then he changed his mind and said it was grandpa ("because he's big"), grandpa is only like 2 inches taller than daddy, so I don't know why he said that! The thing on top is the flag, the 2 lines to the right are the motor, and the circle to the bottom right is the room on the boat. Pretty good I would say!

Thanks again to our friend Jennifer, who decided to send the Christmas gifts she got for the kids when she didn't even get a chance to see them around the holidays! Here they are, modeling their cool new vests (I love the fur on Abby's!):

winner!

Okay, so I couldn't decide between Charlie and Pat's comments so I flipped a coin. Charlie had heads and Pat had tails (because that was the order they posted in), and here is the result:

Congratulations Pat!

Feb. happenings

I helped the kids make some Valentine's cards for Chad and some cards for Connie while she was in the hospital. I tested out my self-timer in an attempt to get me in the photographs too but I wasn't too happy with the flash at longer distances...I think I need a better flash!


Abby learned how to use the glue very quickly, see how she is only putting a dot on? I am so proud of her...she'll make a great scrapbooker!
Jamie, on the other hand, likes to paint with his glue. Maybe he was remembering the time we covered it with glitter...but I am still finding glitter, so we didn't go into that this time!

Chad pruned the trees and the kids went to play outside and to help pick up the sticks. I simply loved our streak of rain-free weather that we had!

Here Abby is showing off her birthday outfit (I know that was 4 months ago), but I just wanted to give a big thanks to Jennifer for supplying the Old Navy gift card.
She got a thermal, some cool embroidered jeans...
and it even helped to buy part of her new jacket!

I got some sweet flowers from Chad for Valentine's Day. He also got me a chocolate bar from Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego, but there is nothing left of that to photograph!

Jamie just got back from a trip to Houston with mom to visit cousin Sydney and Aunt Carrie & Uncle Jason. Hope to see a post about that soon on her end {wink,wink}. Here he is about to leave on the trip:

Update on New year's goals: Well, except for being sick, I have been getting up with the kids each morning, which is between 7:30 and 8:00. I figured out that my mind is not working too well at that hour, so I have moved my reading time to the afternoon, while the kids are napping, which has worked out quite nicely. I still do not have a schedule, it is on my long list of to-do's (it's kinda like putting a to-do list on a to-do list!). Well, maybe after I do the taxes!

Oops! & a RAK from me!

Well, I have a lot of stuff share, but first up, is that I accidentally ordered 2 copies of the movie Fargo for Chad for Christmas (oops!). So if you like the Fargo, and would like a copy, please leave a comment about why you like it, or would like to have it, and I'll pick my favorite on Friday! Such a {delightful} movie by the Coen brothers! My favorite thing about the movie is the mid-western accent that the main character, Frances McDormand, uses - too funny!