September Pictures

September has been a busy month with Ailey going back to preschool and the rest of us getting back on a schedule too. Andy has been fine-tuning his "new" yard. We've gotten back into a church-on-Sundays routine too, with Ailey starting Sunday School and Marin and Silje trying their hardest to get used to the nursery. (::Sigh:: We'll get there eventually.)

Ailey, Marin and Silje watched Andy thatch the yard. He also reseeded the whole thing, so we now have a lovely green yard, and no longer because of the lovely moss!

Silje got herself "tuck!" (That's "stuck" in toddler speak.)

We made a trip to the zoo just a couple days before Ailey went back to preschool. I forgot my camera, but Eileen had hers, so we got some cute pictures. We also were lucky enough to be at the Snow Leopard exhibit when they let out the two babies. So pretty, and fun to watch as they scampered around! Ailey and Parker got to pretend to be baby snow leopards.

Ailey's penguin niche.

With Eileen at the otter and bear exhibit.

Silje liked Eileen's camera.

One of Marin and Silje's favorite things to do is color. We get out the big floor pad and let the crayons fly! Sometimes literally, of course, so they have also learned to love getting a wipe after we're done and cleaning the crayon marks off the floor. They're pretty good at it! There are no child labor laws against that, right?

Marin is pretty good at just chillin'.
Punk.

Cheese-ball. Cute cheese-ball!
Silje doesn't care how the food gets in her mouth, so long as most of it gets in there.

Happy Autumn to you all!

Random August Pictures

So I guess I haven't been terrible about pulling out the camera every once in a while this summer. Here are a few pictures from the past month.

Aaahhh, if only you could have heard the melodious sounds that accompanied this snapshot in time....

Ailey had her last soccer class of the summer. I have to say that Kidz Love Soccer was a fantastic program for little ones with no soccer experience. The coach had great games (and patience) for this group. Despite some, ahem, stubborness on Ailey's part, she says she enjoyed it and wants to do it again next summer.

Getting their certificates:

"Kidz Love Soccer!"

Sharing the Elmo chair.
Another trip to the zoo with Eileen!

The fence was completed over a couple weekends in August. Thanks for the expert staining, Dad!

"Bite, bite!"

This lasted only as long as the split second it took for the shutter to open and close!

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

A Couple Weeks of Pictures

Awww! Marin and Silje were having so much fun one day walking hand in hand around the living room and kitchen. They thought they were so funny!We took another trip to the zoo, this time with my friend Laurie, her three boys, and her two daycare charges. Eight kids and two strollers and not too crazy of a time! Her boys were great with the kids too. While waiting to meet Laurie and her crowd, we had a few minutes to step into the rose garden next door to the zoo. Such a beautiful place:

The kids minus Marin and Silje who were delegated to the stroller for the visit.

Milk Time! All three girls love their milk, but if it's not during a meal they have to sit on the kitchen floor to drink it. Since it happens so often I thought I was due to have a picture of Milk Time.

Girls-in-a-box

Andy brought home some pirate garb from his conference and entertained us all. We even had a Pirate Silje.

We've been spending a lot of time outside in our "new" backyard, easy to do with the beautiful weather we've been having this summer!

The girls "dancing"!

Marin and Silje have even learned to navigate the "big" play set and the slide. They LOVE it. Thankfully, they do much better on it than I could have imagined and I don't have to spend all my time keep them away or spotting them. Here are some sliding pictures. They aren't great, but I had to include the last one of Marin - funny face!

And a video of sliding:

We went to music in the park one morning, thanks to Grandma Sue joining us.

And finally, Ailey had this idea while wandering our backyard one day: Make a peacock out of a pine cone! She gathered the materials and designed it, I wielded the glue gun. Cute, huh?!

Another Trip to the Zoo, But This Time Something New

We really enjoy the penguin exhibit at the zoo. It opened in May and it draws a good crowd. I pull Marin and Silje's stroller up to the big wall window so they can watch the penguins dive and swim past them. They love it. To be more specific, they go absolutely giddy crazy talking and yelling when the penguins go by.

Ailey likes it too. She can stand on a rock and see the keepers feeding the penguins on "land". She found this little nitch the last time we were there. The glass window curves out into the water so that, in her words, she's "sitting in the water with the penguins".

Hello Zoo!

We went to the zoo today, the first time with our membership. It was a lot of fun, though we tried to see too much. We got there around 10:30 and by the time we left early afternoon ... we should have left an hour earlier. Guess we're still on a learning curve. Ailey was tired. Marin and Silje were tired. I was tired. Though not as tired as I could have been had I actually been pushing the stretch limo stroller myself. Instead Eileen, who met us there, pushed it almost the whole time! I swear of her own free will. Thank you, Eileen!

Marin "talking" to the monkeys.

We got to see the baby orangutan up close!

Marin and Silje ate their lunch in the stroller. Here's Marin calling after the "Bo!" (birds)

"Where are the birds again, Marin?"

Eileen and Marin and Silje checking out the elephants.Ailey watching the elephants being fed. One of them even trumpeted for us.

We saw another one up close.

After all the elephants, penguins, monkeys, and even a ride on the carousel, this is what the kids looked like as I pulled into the garage. Wipe out! And if they all sleep in tomorrow morning I might just make the zoo trip a daily one!