Animal adventure

Each year a local school brings a big animal show to town (well, big for our town). This was the first year they did it in April instead of the same weekend as our school fun fair, and we jumped at the chance to go. Barry Devoll, the host, is a local boy who has gone on to do quite well for himself. In high school he owned a magic shop on our Main Street. After graduation he got out of the magic business and got into the animal business. He now travels the world mixing magic and animal adventures into one pretty cool show.

Prior to the show the boys got up close and personal with a bird (they could have held a big snake or turtle, but they were scared of the snake) for a $10 picture.

        

 

We were among the first in the auditorium and got great seats right in front. That meant that our good buddy Dalton was the first little person chosen to go on stage with Barry. After a funny little exchange about Dalton’s age (Barry tried to get him to lie and say he was 8), Dalton helped Barry pull this little sugar glider from an “empty” pouch.

The show continued on with several animals and several ways our own kids could help save the planet.

                      

            

The show ended with this cute guy (the father of the little baby right above). He was not on any kind of leash, and I was certain he was going to escape into the crowd. He didn’t, of course. All in all, it wasn’t a bad show for $25 for the family. Everyone had a great time, and that is all I can ask for anymore.

GF baking

Mike has been itching to use the new KitchenAid, but honestly gluten-free baking still scares the crap out of me. Too many flours and ingredients and no guarantee that it will even be edible, let alone taste good. So, today at the grocery store, I splurged on a Betty Crocker GF brownie mix (at $5 a box, for an 8x8 pan, this will definitely not be a regular occurrence) just so Mike could play.

I’m still not sold on the mixer (it kind of means I have to cook from scratch) but I’m guessing the day will come when I am ready for that.

Until then, the kids seemed to think the GF batter was just as good as the original. The brownies weren’t too bad either.

Superheroes celebrate Valentine’s Day, too

My little superheroes had a grand old time filling out their Valentine’s Day cards this year. This was definitely the easiest year for me. The hardest part was picking out the actual cards at Target. The boys – all three of them – stood in that one little section of the aisle for at least 20 minutes hemming and hawing over what to get. Nick finally ended up with basic cards and Nerds candy. Zander picked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with turtle head erasers, and Benny picked Monsters University.

At home, Nick grabbed his cards and school list and I never saw him again. Zander was almost as easy. Over the course of a couple days he methodically filled out his name and everyone on the class list. A quick check the night before the party revealed he had only missed two friends. Not bad for a kindergartner. Ben scribbled on a few and then I hurriedly filled out the rest 10 seconds before walking out the door on Valentine’s Day. Yep, I totally got it together over here folks.

100 days of kindergarten

After too many snow days to count (come on Mother Nature, give it a rest already), the boys finally had their 100th day of school on Jan. 27. And me, being the great mom that I am, photographed it for posterity – a day late. Hey, better late than never, right? I’m posting it on the right day though for fear of completely confusing myself somewhere down the line.

(This is what I see most days – the top of his head. Thank you Subway Surfer. )

Impromptu UNO tournament

Ever since the now infamous (in my kids’ minds) Christmas Eve UNO tournament the boys have been begging to play for points.

Every once in awhile we give in. Sometimes everything turns out great, we play, Nick does a little math and everyone gets along. Other times, it’s not so pretty and someone gets upset because they are routinely on the wrong end of a Draw 4 (and I’m not just talking about the little boys either). Tonight was a good night.

This little guy loves to play, too. Except he’s not very good at keeping your hand quiet. I mean, I’m glad he knows his colors and all, but there is a time and a place for everything and UNO is not the time for blurting out that kind of info. Thanks, but no thanks kid. Go help your dad. Then again, he is cute and cuddly, so maybe I can make an exception.

As soon as I got the camera out, Ben had to ham it up for me. Look at that pose. Yep, I’m in trouble.

We are family

It has been WAY too long since we’ve had a family photo taken (Benny was still a bald little baby). Thankfully, this fall (I know, it’s winter now) I swapped photo services with my good friend Leanne. At the end of the hour we both had a good number of shots worthy of hanging on the wall. Now, if I only I could get around to that part of the process.

Happy New Year!

I’m not going to say this year will be better for the blog. It probably won’t. But, I have to at least post these pictures to get a certain family member off my back about pictures (Hi, Mom!). After two months sitting on my computer, my mom finally guilted me into editing the boys’ pictures today. I didn’t buy school pictures because they are so stinkin’ expensive, and I promised I would take my own and get them to her. Four months later, here they are.

Nick is so not into getting his picture taken. I can’t blame him. Neither am I.

Zander is still happy to smile for the camera and his momma. My little cuddlebug (he’s curled up in my lap now as I type this) likes to make me happy.

And then there is my little ham. I’m so glad I got at least one pic of him looking at the camera with that cute little dimple showing.