The Zoo, of course

Aunt Heather and I took the kids to the zoo today. It was a bit chilly but at least the rain held off. Of course, over break, we needed to get to the zoo. Funny, the kids are going with Daddy and Uncle John tomorrow.

Lovely Leah smelling the tulips :)

Liz must have a strong nose - this is as close as she needed to be to smell the flowers.

Instead of smelling the tulips, Patrick picks one. Ugh,Lovin' the elephants.

The girls are sooooo cute together. Here they are discussing the snow leopard. It was quite a discussion. Elizabeth got so hung up on it that she told Daddy all about it at dinner. We don't know what the discussion was about, but Liz mentioned Leah and snow leopard a whole lot.

I think over their lifetime there will be a lot of this picture. Elizabeth just got tired and laid down. Everyone needed to go around her, as she let them know. Leah was a good friend and tried to coax Liz up.

Patrick sulking by the tiger. He got in trouble with me just before this. At least the tears are gone.

Here's Davis man after he walked for a while and tired himself right out.

So, of course, we needed to pose on the tiger. Because we have never posed on the tiger before?? The same bunch?? There was a large group of tweens ahead of us, part of zoo camp, who were quite fussy about their pictures. And then a family after them. The kids did a great job of waiting their turn patiently. And, after all that, I didn't manage to get a picture where all three look their best. I did get three pictures though, ironically, where one out of the three looks good in each one. So, I posted all three. This is Elizabeth's best shot (sounds like America's Next Top Model :)

This is Leah's best.

So I think this is Patrick's best shot. He was more concerned about growling like a tiger than looking nice for a picture.

And, of course, we have to pose as penguins. All the times we come to the zoo they NEVER tire of this either.

I see the penguin! I think he is coming this way!

There he is!

We'll follow him where ever he goes!

Feeding the Ducks

Pop Pop came into visit (and bring mom some furniture) today. After playing at home we headed down to the duck pond to enjoy some time outside.
Elizabeth still has a hard time understanding that the corn is to be THROWN IN the water.
She prefers to dump all of it either on the gravel or just at the edge of the pond. No ducks were really into her today. I think she likes taking her coins and putting them into the donation box to get more corn, to then dump out in three seconds. It is cute to watch her be independent and get the corn all by herself. By the end of the day she didn't even need Pat around to do it.
As an extra treat we saw Aunt Di at the duck pond. Two days in a row as she stopped at our house last night for a quick visit. She had a big bucket of corn for us to feed the geese with.
After the duck pond Pop Pop took us for a great lunch and then we did a hike outside. What a nice spring day!

Open Gym!

Of course it isn't a break from school if we don't go to open gym. Today we went later than we usually do which was great! All the little ones must have been home napping because the place was empty! Patrick and Elizabeth brought their friend Peyton along and everyone had a great time running, climbing, jumping, swinging, and being monkeys in general.
The giant mat that you jump over the horse to get to was a big hit.
Elizabeth was quite Sassy on the running trampoline. She was so fast I could barely catch her on camera too!
Everyone did great on the balance beams. Some were on the floor, some where a little bit off the floor, and some were the high ones. Pat could get on and off, and walk across, the high ones all by himself!

I don't know if there will be open gym during the day in the summer like there is over breaks. If not we will definitely have to get there on a Friday night to enjoy.

Big Bro

Patrick really is a good big brother. He was doing his own thing drawing this morning and put it aside so that he could draw pictures of Dora for his little sister, at her request. My good boy :)

Lizzy Lou

Yup......that's our Lizzy Lou!

Open House at Westside Nursery School

Tonight was an open house at Patrick and Elizabeth's school. The two were so excited to have Mom and Dad go with them to school and were hoping to see friends from their classes.
I didn't get to take many pictures because we were all over the place - visiting the Firefly room, Butterfly room, Dragonfly room, and Muscle room. After a quick visit to the sensory tables it was out to the playground. Elizabeth was super excited to see the Gallauresi's there.......especially Leah. She gave Leah a big hug and told Ms. Nancy that Leah was her best friend. Incidentally, every body at school just loves Elizabeth. She goes into Patrick's class for 1/2 hour before her class starts on Mondays and Wednesdays and Pat's teachers just adore her. How funny is it that everyone at school calls her Lizzy too?!?
There was a craft where the kids draw on coffee filters with markers and then spray them with water to watch the colors bleed. It was a big hit.
The biggest hit was the playground. Surprised? Elizabeth was pretty bossy out there.....even telling off a boy definitely not in pre-school.
Patrick showed off his skills on the rope swing. There was anew rope to climb and swing, a row boat to pretend in and a horse swing made out of tires. After visiting and playing we all headed out for pizza together. It was a fun time.

Our Easter Best

After going through all our Bunny loot and having a great breakfast it was time to put on our new clothes and head out. There are a ton of pictures of Elizabeth all dressed up because she was posing and they came out so darn cute that I couldn't leave any out.









We went out to Pop Pop's for Easter dinner. The kids had fun visiting and exploring Pop Pop's back yard and woods.
Elizabeth and Patrick were very gentle with Nathan, for the most part. They were also very curious about what he can and can't do.

Spoiled By The Bunny

It was another great Easter this year..........
The bunny spoiled us again! Man, Patrick and Elizabeth must be really good kids to get so much good loot!
So Patrick's new thing is the movie How To Train Your Dragon. In true Patrick fashion we are ALL about the movie. He was thrilled that the bunny brought him new toys from the movie. Thank goodness for the marketing genius of Walmart!
Elizabeth's basket was filled with all kinds of beauty toys......a working hairdryer, curling iron, brushes, clips, and even nail polish. She got some fun outdoor toys too, just in time for the beautiful weather.The kids each got funny new wash cloth puppets. They are a necessity for teaching independent bathing. Now if we can only figure out a way for Pat to stand under the shower!
Patrick had a funny dragon egg in his basket. When you put it in water it fizzed away and left a dragon, in pieces, behind. It was up to Patrick to build the dragon.

Easter Breakfast

We had a special bunny breakfast this Easter.......bunny shaped bird's nest eggs. And bunny toast. They were a big hit!

Hunting For Eggs

Today was a gorgeous day. It was just perfect for an Easter egg hunt in the park. We met up with Ciochi, Mark, Sarah Jane and Will and had a great time outside. Sarah was so eager to help Elizabeth.
All ready to hunt for eggs.
The kids waited very patiently for everything to start. It was hard because we could see a lot of the eggs.
Once we got started Elizabeth wasn't too interested in picking up the eggs she found.....even when we pointed out the pink ones. Mom and Dad had to do most of the collecting for her.
Patrick, on the other hand, was a pro. Look at all that loot. He was even happier when he emptied out all the eggs and saw how much candy there was! After the hunt we played on the play ground for a while and explored the stream in the park. It was a great time and we will definitely be back next year!

Watch Out Dragons......

.......there are some fierce Vikings in town.

Golfin' Buddies

Patrick headed out with Daddy, Uncle Danny and Timmy to play some golf. He was so excited that he was going out for 18 (even though Mommy picked him up after 9). He sure was lucky. It was a BEAUTIFUL day for golf.
After Patrick was dressed appropriately he decided he needed to do his stretches, just like Daddy. It was the cutest thing in the whole world.
Gettin' loose before heading out.
What cute golfin' buddies! Patrick had a great time. He rode in the cart with Timmy.......and they had great adventures in the woods. Patrick told me they were hunting worms, hawks, and coyotes!