A Day at the Zoo

I was able to go to the zoo today with Jenna's class. The weather was nice and it wasn't too crowded for half price Wednesday. Here are the kids that I was in charge of during our time at the zoo. Jenna, Austin, Grace and Kitty all wanted the snake house to be the first thing we went to and might I say we walked through at Jennifer speed.

 

Jenna's teacher gave us money so that the kids could feed the birds. I got a work out from lifting the kids high enough to reach the few birds that were interested in eating.



Jenna in true form


Class photo after a day at the zoo


I am tired but you know what it was still better than a day at the office! I love being a kid again.

Insect Camp

This week Jenna is having Insect Camp at school. This is all leading up to the big zoo trip next week. Today she came home with plastic cups full of ladybugs. OK, where do you get live ladybugs in bulk? Can you order that from Oriental Trading Company? Anyway, when I picked her up from daycare she told me they were playing dead. Many errands later she wanted to release the ladybugs in our flower pots. Amazing enough some were still alive. Here is the conversation that followed:

Mom: Jenna, where did Mrs. Grimes get all these ladybugs?

Jenna: At Target

Mom: They sell live ladybugs at Target?

Jenna: Yeah, they are in the bug section, you know like the toy section.

Mom: Oh, well that makes sense.

Bluebonnets

As a child in West Texas we didn't have many highways of bluebonnets. So when I lived in Austin it was heaven to see all the wild flowers. Here is my first picture in the bluebonnets.



Then it was Jenna's turn to take bluebonnet pictures

2003 - Jenna 1 year old - on 3040 before it was widen


2003 - with Grandma and PaPa


2004 - Jenna 2 years old


2004 - Jenna and Rylee 7 months old


So in 2005 we had Jackson and honestly didn't feel like doing bluebonnet pictures with an infant. Then 2006 didn't have many because of the drought. Last year was Jackson's first bluebonnet experience. Of course he was more excited by the airplanes and shuttle buses.

2007 - Jenna 5 years old and Jackson 2 years old

 

Here are our 2008 bluebonnet pictures. A little bit of a disappointment compared to last year's crop but still beautiful to me.



Jackson pointing out the bee


This year it was a firetruck


My babies


Jenna

What a Weekend Part 2

We did some outdoor playing this weekend. I think Grandma and PaPa played more soccer in the two days they were here than they had planned. They played soccer, went to the ducky park and rode bikes.

My Boys

Jackson has been on this broccoli fix lately. I don't really know where he gets the love for this vegetable because neither Jason nor I like this. Even the texture when I put it in his lunch bugs me. We went to lunch on Saturday and there was a Flower Mound town flag outside the restaurant. Jackson kept calling them broccoli trees. Over the last couple of days I have heard the SNL Chopping Broccoli song in full song from Jason. Does this date us? So I have attached it for all those that may not remember the song.

What a Weekend Part 1

This past weekend was a busy one but not at the same time. Jason's parents were in town from Houston and they had the pleasure of attending all the kid things on Saturday morning. First there was soccer. It was a big day for Jenna as she was awarded the "Christlikeness" white star. She had secretly told me that is what she wanted to get this week. After a discussion on making wise choices when dealing with another teacher and a substitute on Friday it was nice to see that she showed the "most Christ like" attitude on Saturday. You can even see a little Michael Jordan tongue action while she plays.





Then it was off to ballet observation. If you only understand the camera issues we were having during this two hour time frame. First, we couldn't find our camera but we had a charged battery. Then, we lost Jason's parents between soccer and ballet in the two cars. Found it just in time for Jason's dad to bring to ballet.

Still here

We are still here - just didn't feel like blogging. Kids are doing well. Jenna is enjoying soccer and ballet. Jackson has been potty training at school after a month of begging the school to help us out with training. Mondays seem to be the worst day for him. I survived the cuts at work. Over a third of our company was not so lucky. Now it is like the game of Survivor - who will be voted off the island next? At least UT prepared me for this as it was super competitive and people wouldn't share notes for fear that you would get that job they wanted. I managed to graduate and not sacrifice who I am and I am praying that I will survive this without sacrificing my integrity. Everyday is a different battle and I am mentally exhausted.

Go Ladybugs!

Today was Jenna's first soccer game. I wanted to take a picture before the game and she had to grab her soccer ball and put it under her feet. Who teaches them this stuff? Anyway, she had a great time and she sort of made 3 goals. When they are in a cluster it is really hard to tell who officially kicked it in. She was awarded the gray star for her performance which is for "Best Offense." The game ran a little longer than normal so of course we were late for ballet which started 15 minutes after the end of the game. All those years of changing in the car for ballet as a kid paid off because I amazed Jason with how quickly I could get Jenna changed en route to ballet.

Spring is upon us

There is one thing that my father instilled in me was always put your cars in the garage. Well we have a small house and with a small house you have to purge every so often to make room for other stuff. My purge time is normally around the kids' birthdays in March. Well one of the cars was outside this morning when our whole house awoke to hail hitting the house. Jenna woke up about the time the tornado sirens went off. Jackson just slept through the hail and through sitting crammed in the closet. I felt like I was playing hide-and-seek sitting so still waiting to hear if anything was heading our way.

I hate tornados - something that followed me from living in West Texas. It reminds me of when the tornado hit Fort Worth we were living in Euless and I took my prize possessions (wedding album, wedding video, and pictures of my grandparents/great-grandmother) to the DFW airport where Jason was working. Of course this was pre-9/11so you could just roam without a boarding pass. I figured it was safer there than in an apartment.

Trying to explain hail while in a small closet with a dog and a sleeping child is difficult at 3:15 in the morning. After things past we saved some hail for Jenna to understand what woke us up so early in the morning. Glad everyone is ok and that you understand the tireness that my family felt today!

Six Flags

Sunday we were able to tag along with some friends to Six Flags. Jackson rode his first roller coaster. He loved the "Minnie Mouse Train" as he called it (Mini Mine Train). Jenna skipped over the Giant and the Shock Wave and rode The Titan.

Birthday Pictures

Saturday we went to take the kids birthday pictures. This is the one thing that we know is important but without failure one or both aren't in the mood. Despite the attitude we were getting from one of our kids we were able to get some pictures.