Zoo Trip (Cal's first visit)

This past Memorial Day we took the kids to the zoo. It was Cal's first trip. We took Lola to the zoo for the first time when she was one, so we wanted to do the same for Cal. I hate to be a Debby Downer, but the first word that comes to mind when I think back to this trip is BUST. It wasn't just hot but the zoo is just so...what's the word...sad. So many of the exhibits were shut down and/or animals that had been there recently died. The few big animals that were left just seemed depressed. I'm serious. They'd just walk around with their heads hanging low. I felt bad for them. We took a picnic lunch and had planned on it being this super fun trip, but it was just crowded and hot. Unless it improves, I really can't see going back until next year. At this point, it's just not worth the cost.

We did get to break in the new wagon that the kids had just gotten for their birthday from Gaga. It's great. It has real tires so the kids just bounced along through rougher areas, whereas our old wagon would have gotten stuck. They loved it and so did we :)

We ended up spending a good chunk of the time at the playground. Cal was hot and ready to leave, but we let Bee play for a bit. She likes new playgrounds.

Family Heritage (My Osage side)

Waaaaay out in the middle of nowhere sits my great-great-grandparents' old house. They were full-blood Osage, therefore explaining why there's an Osage roundhouse on their property. The house was built in the late 1800's-very early 1900's and, remarkably, is still in very good condition considering no one lives there. There's no roads to get to it. There's no running water. No indoor bathroom. My mom spent lots of time there as a kid and I've heard the stories of using the outhouse in the middle of the night. Yikes.



I make it to "the camp" as we call it about once a year. On this trip, me and KJ had gone down to mow it. Every time I'm there I just get lost in the history. It's such a unique place. I LOVE the house. My great-grandma always kept it maintained and pretty much true to its origins, so that explains the cool colors. Red & yellow! If you look closely at the windows, you can see how they're the originals with the little stained glass squares framing it. LOVE them. The big front porch. My dream. Since I was a little kid, I remember making the trek down to the camp and just thinking it was so cool even then. It's like stepping back in time. I'd give anything to have a house built almost just like it--except with a bathroom. I love how the kitchen is at the very back of the house and there's a breezeway. Just too cool.

I have always liked these old fences. Not sure why. I think the little scallops across the top are what make it so cute. You just can't get stuff like that these days.

The magnificent windows....

This is just a sign that you come across along the way. I don't know who made it but I thought it was kind of funny. It's not too old.

Happy Boy (Cal)

Last week I posted a picture of Cal first thing in the morning; a morning in which he was not so happy. Those days are rare, but not unheard of. I usually leave him in his bed for a while after he wakes up bc he's so content to blab to himself and roll around in bed. However, if Beezy pops in and then leaves, that's what really sets him off. He prefers that she stay in there and throw random objects into bed with him. But heaven forbid she leave the room after a few seconds, bc he gets nuts!

These are the pics that show him being his usual self. So happy. I love him so much! His little eyes are always a tiny big puffy first thing in the morning. I also think he looks so cute with his little undershirt. I feel weird referring to it as a "wife-beater." We'll go with "muscle undershirt." That sounds a little better for a 1-year-old.

Beezy

Okay, so these pics were supposed to be attached to the post about playing in the backyard, but I forgot. I try to keep the number of pics/posts even between the kids so that one's not getting more than the other, but I usually make them a week or two in advance, so I forget. Anyhow, just more pics of outside....

Cheap Toys

I think the cheap toys theme might become a regular on here! This was the only picture I thought to take of Cal with his new gloves. One glove was the tiny Fruit Loops box sent to him from Gaga and the other glove was a pudding box. He wore them on his feet too. He liked to walk around and kind of hit everything with the gloves. I guess maybe they were like his boxing gloves?? After two days, they were beat up enough that they got tossed in the trash. Easy fun :)

Backyard

Just another evening spent in the backyard. Lots of swinging, sliding, laughing, racing, chasing, and wiping out. Oh, and tummy-baring if you're Cal. (Another new phase he's really into!)

And, as always, top off the evening with a popsicle. This might have even been the first time Cal's had his very own popsicle -- at least at our house. On a side note, the lighting indoors at night is just horrible! I know very little about photography, but I have grown to thoroughly appreciate great natural light. When I see these pics with so much yellow in them like these below, it makes me nuts.

Helping Daddy with his popsicle -- or trying to steal it...???

Picnic @ the Park

After school earlier this week, I surprised the kids with a picnic lunch at the park. They love picnics! After eating, we played and played until both kids were sweaty, exhausted and ready for a nap. I feel so blessed to be able to do these little fun things for them. I want them to have lots of happy memories of their childhood.

Bee loves her PB&Js...sometimes she wants them cut into a triangle and other times a rectangle, and once in a while she prefers "4 little baby squares."

Below: This is a phase he's really into right now. He thinks he's so funny when he sticks something halfway in his mouth and then shows you.

I love this picture below of Lola. She was laughing at Cal. When I close my eyes and think of her, it's this smile and little happy face that I picture. She's such a sweet, fun little girl.

Cal, Cal, Cal...what can I even say about him? Chubby, cuddly, lovable, stinker, loves to be chased.

I remember wearing jellies as a kid and they always left sweaty dirt rings (or is it dirty sweat rings?) all over my feet. I guess some things never change...

And look at these pie feet. Check out how the toe thingy isn't even between his toes right. LOL This happens a lot to him and it doesn't bother him in the least. He wears'em that way anyway. Lola, on the other hand, has never been able to handle things like that, or, having a piece of mulch/gravel/etc. in her shoe. Just another thing I've noticed.

Laughing so hard that her eyes were getting teary.

Dog bowls (Cal)

Both of my kids have gone through a phase of being thoroughly impressed with Izzy's food and water bowls. Lola did it; now Cal's into it. At least Cal has gotten past the phase of eating the dog food. Nowadays he just likes to fiddle with the little pieces; sometimes he likes to hand-feed Izzy and other times he likes to drop them in her water...you just never know. It's a little gross, but I don't think it's too big of a deal. As long as he's not eating it, I'm fine....

...until the water starts to get everywhere. I don't mind him getting wet, but our patio gets extremely slippery when wet. I don't know how many times I've almost fallen. And, since Cal's already cracked his head HARD on wet concrete at the pool, I gotta watch him. This is him after I shut his party down. Poor kid.

But he recovers quickly. He loves to run around barefoot in the yard, so he was fine.

Sammys (lunchtime)

Recently at a craft show, I bought a little sandwich gadget. When I make the kids' "samwiches" using that press/gadget, they love it. It makes the sandwiches into a little pocket thing. Anyhow, it's funny to me how they're so impressed by them.

I can't believe Lola's big enough to sit on our bar stools these days. I thought she'd be at least a few years older before she was big enough to climb up on them and sit safely. Kinda makes me sad to see how quickly she's growing.

Lawnmower & Letters

Cal was cracking himself up here. That little mower makes a "gunk-gunk-gunk" sound, like if you were pouring something down a drain. He thinks it's hysterical. So in every one of these pics, he's laughing at that sound. He'd turn the knob to make it go off again, then make sure I was listening and laughing too. He's so silly. The very first picture is my favorite.

Meanwhile, my other child was practicing writing her letters on her Leap Frog thingy. She is a little brainiac, and I'm not just saying that bc she's my kid. She loves to learn. She takes learning very seriously, as these pics prove. (Granted, in that one pic she's tracing a heart, but all the rest were letters.) She's known and been able to identify the alphabet since she was two. Uppercase and lowercase. She's at the point now that she knows all the sounds that each letter makes and can even sound out simple words. (Thank you, Super Why!) She does a good job at writing too. She can write her name and Cal's, and is working on a few other letters that stump her. She always gets her J's backwards, though. I admit, I work with her a lot in an unstructured manner. She just really enjoys her little workbooks and learning new things. It's crazy! Homeschooling her would be such an adventure, but something I'm seriously researching and learning about. At this point, it's a very good possibility that that's what we'll be doing next year. And, Cal will even get in on the excitement as well. It's a little tougher to try to understand how he works since he's still so young. He does enjoy scribbling and putting stickers on paper, though... I've just kind of learned how Lola works and so it makes it easy to teach her new things. She's definitely a hands-on learner.

I was so proud of her today bc when I picked her up from preschool, one of her teachers said that she was the only kid this week who knew her Bible memory verse! She also remember last week's verse. She's such a neat little kid and I realize I'm gushing about her, but since she's my little munchkin, I think that's okay once in a while. :) I always downplay compliments when it comes to her, but she deserves a little recognition for all of her big accomplishments. I'm so proud of her!

I kept saying, "Bee, can you show me your eyes? Will you please give me a smile? Don't you dare look at me..." (she loves playing that whole reverse psychology thing.) Nope, nothing. She was focused on her letters. Oh well.

Jumpin' Jumpin'

This weekend we went to some friends' house for supper and Bee got to jump on a big trampoline for the first time ever. Our neighbor has a little trampoline that she's jumped on a few times, but when she heard that she'd get to jump on a "huuuuuuuge" one, she was pumped!

Cal, on the other hand, watched from below. We were going to put him up in it with the girls, but he decided he'd rather run around in the grass and splash in the little water puddles in the yard. After supper the girls jumped some more but this time they added a sprinkler. Much fun! Cal didn't seem to be too impressed with three little girls laughing and screaming wildly at the same time. Most of our friends' kids are little girls, so he's really outnumbered for the time being. KJ says that when he's older, he'll love it. Something to do with "the pretty, older girls" or something...???

Look at that kid's legs! The crazy thing is they're much less chunky now than they were a few months ago. I love it! Lola was like that too but it's hard to imagine that now. Here he's pointing to the newborn our friend was holding. He was a little fascinated by baby Ryker -- but much too busy to give him too much attention. There's just something so fun about playing with other kids' toys, I guess.

More new projects...

These little scraps hold lots of potential. I've been doing more projects....