ZOO

on another cousin escapade we went to the zoo. our little zoo is a bit sad, but you can see the giraffes from the street, and hear the sea lions too! there is a pretty sweet little "dig" where you can find fossils and get sand in all the hiding spots of your little ones body.

Bounce, Bounce then FLLYYY!

more updates from the cousin brigade. the little kids and the babies and the mama's went to a place called roly polies. it's a super fun kid playroom/gymnastics center that has been a hit for a bizzilion birthdays that our kids have partied at. oh, and also the scene of toran's head wound in the fall that required stitches! we all had so much fun, bouncing on this huge long tramp, and climbing on all sorts of things. the babies just loved to walk and be free, and haven loved this little baby rollercoaster. at the end the kids got to go crazy on the zipline! 90 minutes of exhilerating exhaustion, that thanks to toran's injury was FREE!

"Tagging" the Sheets

i found this excellent outdoor craft idea from family fun magazine, and the kids all loved it! crazy and messy which seems to be necessary for good kid fun! cabes had a few moments of sadness when he had to share his green "special color" with the others.

Our Backyardigans

afton and cabes had much fun outside: on the rope swing, picking pine needles off the tree, playing restaurant or as caleb calls it "fooder", digging and digging and more digging. the rest of the kids, especially the babies, loved it too.

Quick, Look It's Niagara Falls

We ventured up to the falls for a very brief visit. the coolest part about for the kids: the bus ride to and from the parking lot!

Looks Good, But Don't Eat It!

liz and i tried hard to find some tasty cupcakes, and other treats during the visit. so far we've come up empty. i think i'll have to explore patisseries with glenn on date nights!

Cousins, Cousins Everywhere

we had a fabulous time with lizzie and afton and abel. we had many adventures, and crazy fun!

Happy "Tin"-th-aversary

so my man and i celebrated our big 1-0 on april 25th. we went out on the town, and had fish. expensive, super tasty, fish. it was delicious, and we also had a spinach loaf. now hold on, its not what you think. take yummy french bread and load it up with butter and garlic and spinach and cheeses. hello! yumm... we finished off with perfect desserts i had a mandarin mousse and glenny had some nut thing that he liked. the kicker was that we were in buffalo, and the way we knew that was because near the end of dinner, there were yells and everyone hustled towards the beautiful bar that had the wonderful pianist to watch THE GAME! waitors included. crazy, but yes supportive of the beloved sabres.

Has Legs Will Travel

haven has found the kitchen drawers and she means business! this girl tosses cups like a crazy person, and has also located the baking ingredient cupboard. that means piles of salt and croutons and flour throwing. baby locks will be up and running asap!

New Belts

Ciela and toran both have moved up in belt levels within the last few weeks. they love tae kwon do! this is ciela breaking a board and sparring during her test. then receiving her new belt.

Caleb Surgery All Done!

it has been awhile since our last update, but i'm trying to catch up!

caleb made it through surgery and was bounding around eventually, after a bit of tears and some morphine, and of course a few thomas toys.










toran wrote a cute little story at school about cabes:

"When is my brother coming home? I can't wait until Caleb comes home. Where is he? 7:00 a.m. No. That's when I go to bed. I hope he's ok. Oh, is he? Time to go to school. I know he's not home yet. It's time to go home is he home? Mom? Yes. Is he happy? Yes. Did he open all the presents? Not yours. Ok. When? At 7:31. Wow.

Pass Along Some Love

there's a pretty good chance that some of you don't know that our little man cabes will be having surgery on the 30th. he has a hernia, next week i'll explain more about that, and will have the most common childhood surgical procedure performed. he has to have it, and the only real worry that i have is with the anesthesia. i'm certain that all will be well, but for now i get to worry. he will not have to stay the night, and the chance of side effects are very small. that is all for now.

History and Me!

so no new pic's of the little darlings this week as my camera consumes vast quantities of batteries, and i have run out. i thought i might take a moment and just write. in the past few weeks we have had a recurring theme: history. as we have been to different doctors e.g. pediatrician, pediatric surgeon, dentist, ob/gyn, general, i have repeatedly filled out forms relating my and my families medical histories. a bit redundant, but i know useful. i find history fascinating, even history of you and your body. it's like a little story and with each past situation related one finds out more about why a person is and how that person became. i love history of just about anything, although i doubt i would search out the history of such things as golf or hockey on my own. history is what intrigues me most often about the book of mormon, possibly not the best drive, but it gets me reading, and searching. if i could choose i would want most of my important belongings to have a previous history or come with a story that's certain to be worthy of my passing it on. i would love to have a vintage wedding ring (it's ok, glenn knows), a home that's old with walls that hold scraps of paper from many decades ago (but a.c., and plumbing), quality clothes from the past (the good past), rooms filled with beautiful books of art and people and well, history, that have been previously loved, and pictures of ancestors, with their histories. alas, i have not been gung ho on doing geneology on my own, but it's bubbling under the surface of all that laundry i must do. so, a bit of info on me, and quite possibly the next time i run out of batteries i'll just write again. this was nice.

Our Week of the Weak

This past week sickness has run rampant through our home. Toran was out for about 6 days, and has a "wellness check" tomorrow. Haven got the crud on Thursday, and the Dr. says it's just an upper respiratory infection, but that she'll be sick for about 10 days. Caleb has a yucky cough, and hopefully that's it. The boys are posing with their fave Easter presents, and Haven is wearing a bday dress from nana and papa!

Fun Toes

Ciela wanted to do some toe painting with a friend and so I painted some designs for her and her friend, by using a great book of ideas. Caleb, of course wanted his toes painted too, so Glenn painted Thomas and Duncan the trains. Caleb loves his toes!

Thanks Nana and Papa!

Nana and Papa sent this beautiful dress for Christmas, and Haven wore it then, but of course we were running late to church-Christy Standard Time-so no pic's before, and during the last minute of Relief Society Haven had a HUGE blowout, and left church wearing cousin Abel's pj's-Thanks Aunt Lizzie! So, now the dress is ready for our pretty Easter princess, and finally some pictures!

Hurry Up, Easter's Comin'! And So Is Haven!

We decorated eggs 3 different ways: tie-dye (messy and not worth it), glitter (totally ridiculous, the glitter won't stick), and sponge-paint (awesome, although best if you don't follow the directions). Everyone had fun, except for Haven. We set up a barrier of benches and within a very short 2 or 3 minutes Haven was suddenly over the "wall". So, Glenny put her back, and we got the cameras out. She climbed up and over the bench, swung her legs around, and walked about 8 steps before tumbling! I have now relinquished all hope of not having a new "monkey" in our home. Good thing she's cute!

Happy Snowy Easter!

Here are the little peoples happy for Easter, and check out what's left of the snow from the previous night's snowfall.