Putting out Fires

While we were in S'ville, we went to a fundraising dinner for the county volunteer fire department (since my new BIL is a volunteer :-). The firefighters were cooking burgers and I knew the kids would love to see/play with the firetrucks and bounce in the bounce house so off we went. We met my sister, BIL, his parents and his kids there too (Noah and Addy were with Rob). The kids split a burger and Cheetos while listening to some great music. Afterwards, we took the kids to bounce for a while and then dragged them out to see the firetruck. Jake LOVES firetrucks and so I knew he'd be up for looking at one. Brandon opened one of the trucks up and let them "drive" the truck. I quickly double checked the keys weren't in, but Brandon said they're power start...I guess you need more than keys to turn on a firetruck. But if there's a secret sequence to start the truck I guarantee my kids would figure it out. They push the brakes three times and turn the lights on twice, then BOOM, the truck would be on! Everyone was safe, although the kids wanted to push EVERY button they saw on that thing. It was getting late and the kids had a long day so we finally loaded everyone back in the car and headed home. A couple of days later though, we found out Jake was a star! He made the front page of the S'ville paper wearing his fire hat and eating Cheetos! Of course we have an insider working for us who actually took the photo that ended up in the paper :-) Me & my sis

Such a cutie!

Such a ham! Abby's dancing in the one photo of her standing up.

Two proud little kids. I wish I would have been able to capture the gigantic smile on Jake's face!

Hmmm how do I get in here!

Abby, Hannah, Jake and Tyler

Lily in S'ville

Lily tagged along for the ride during our outings at my parents, but when we were at home, she enjoyed playing with her cousins, sitting outside on the porch and feeling the breeze, and meeting her great-granny for the first time.

She would laugh and giggle when she felt the breeze on her face. My mom has a great back porch (covered with ceiling fans :-) and so the twins could swim or run around while she sat comfy and somewhat cool on the porch.
Granny and Pappaw came over to see the twins and meet Lily for the first time. We were all swimming when they got there, but everyone quickly wanted out to visit once they arrived. Lily enjoyed sitting with Great Granny while we played hard.

Two Little Fishies

I bought life vests for the kids to swim with this year since I knew they wouldn't be up for riding in their floats we got last year. They've been very excited about their jackets and want to wear them all the time. I told them they could wear them at Nana's when we went swimming. Abby's also into jumping at the moment and so she said she wanted to jump in the water at Nana's too. I didn't know if she'd actually jump or not, but she was really looking forward to it.
We went swimming every day we were there except one I think. The kids LOVED the water and asked to swim all the time. The first time we went it was just me and the kids but we added more people every time we swam. First my mom, then my sis and her crew and even my dad the final day we were there.
After they got in a bit their first time, Abby did jump in. Both did. They loved to stand on the ladder and jump in (to me or my mom). Abby also loved holding on to the edge and scooting around the pool. Jake would chill on a crab float and had to have the ball all the time. Abby loved the inflatable jet skis (also known as sailboats to my guys). They had such a good time in the water. They're still asking to swim at Nana's even now we're home. Once John's back we'll have to go down to our pool and swim. I could manage the two by myself, but not three!

Running with the Animals

Fossil Rim is a short drive from my parents (and I get 50% off my ticket with my Dallas Zoo membership) so I wanted to take the kids there. They're crazy about animals and I knew they'd love seeing the wildlife up close and personal (it's a drive through safari zoo sort of). We decided to take my mom's car so she could drive (in case I had to tend to Lily) and so the kids could see out the window a bit more easily. It was a good thing we did b/c Lily spent the entire time in the front seat with me either nursing or just enjoying the ride (it's all off road and we only go 5 mph so it was safe :-).
When we got there, I ran inside and got the tickets and a bag of food. Then we hit the trail. We kept the windows rolled up around the ostriches as they're a bit aggressive, but rolled them down for all the other animals. The kids had fun throwing the food at the animals (although I think Jake at one or two pellets). We only gave them two or three pieces of food at a time or else, most of the food ended up in my moms car.
About half way through the trail, they have a restaurant, picnic area and petting zoo. We packed a lunch and actually got to the stop at noon. We unloaded everyone and looked for the perfect spot to eat. The kids ate some, but were more interested in walking around and exploring so we let them run around a bit and even go in the petting zoo to see turtles and goats (Jake LOVES turtles).
After lunch it was time to hit the trails again. Our favorite stop was coming up and we were excited. There was only one animal you were allowed to feed by hand and that was the giraffes! My mom has a sunroof and we thought the kids would get a kick out of seeing the giraffes eat out of our hand through the roof of the car. However, just before we got to the giraffes, Lily decided she wanted lunch. So I brought her up front to nurse. Mom decided to feed the giraffes without me. Although they aren't the neatest eaters. She feeds the one by us and he immediately starts to slobber on Lily's head. I try to protect her head and mom quickly throws more food towards the hood of the car so he eats over the car vs. Lily's head. It was fun and the kids enjoyed the giraffes, although they didn't know what to think when they stuck their head in the car. They are very slow, gentle creatures so the kids weren't scared, just didn't know what to think about one being in the car.

Feeding the animals

The deer loved getting up close and personal. They knew food was inside each and every car.

You weren't supposed to feed the zebras by hand as they would bite and I think they knew signs were everywhere as they hung out by the giraffes which you could feed by hand! They wanted that food too.

Berry Pickers

Since John has been out of town, I decided to head to Stephenville to visit everyone for a bit. Since I was going to have extra time, I wanted to get a few "touristy" things in that we normally don't have time to do when we visit on the weekend.

One thing I wanted to do was visit the Worthington Orchards to pick berries. Blackberries are in season right now and I thought the kids would have fun picking the berries.

It was a perfect morning with a bit of an overcast so it wasn't as hot (still hot, just not as hot). We picked up our buckets and headed out to the berry patch, our mission, pick all the blackberries we could fit in our buckets. This was a fun way to reinforce colors (at least black and red) as we had to pick the ripe, black berries. The red berries were really tart, and not quite ready to be picked.

Even though Abby is our Easter egg hunter, Jake proved to be our berry picker. He set out on a mission and wouldn't move to the next bush until all the black berries were picked. Abby was easily distracted and would move up and down the row more quickly. However, she sometimes moved a little to quickly and would dump her bucket of berries. I think we picked her berries off the ground at least three times!

Blackberry bushes have thorns so I think next time, we'll come back during strawberry season or bring gloves. All of our little hands were scratched and sore by the end of our trip.

The kids had a blast and even ate a few berries along the way. We only went up one row and down another and managed to pick 7 pounds of blackberries (that's probably around 20 cups of blackberries)! That's a lot of blackberries. My mom made blackberry cobbler and pancakes, my sister made a pie, and I'm making a pie as well once I pick up my berries from my mom's freezer (I forgot to grab them before we came home :-).

The kids had a blast and I definitely want to come back next year for strawberries...that's one of their favorite fruits.

While we waited for our berries to be weighed, the kids discovered a rooster. They chased the poor thing under the porch!

Pint Sized Town

Last week we joined a few other moms at an outside play area in Allen. I hadn't been there before but had driven by it hundreds of times and always thought it looked neat. We decided to try and beat the heat by going at 10 in the morning. There wasn't much shade so I was glad we went early (although it was still super hot and we all lasted only an hour outside).
I was really excited b/c I had heard the place was fenced so that meant I could let the twins run around while wearing Lily without too much trouble. I did put them in the stroller to get them from the car to the play area, but then turned them loose. There was a great maze that the kids loved running through and several miniature buildings the kids could play in. There was a great fire station, bank, gas station and one other building but I can't remember what it was. The kids had a great time, but we soon found out there was a hole right next to the gate. Another mom had noticed a little girl outside the gate in the parking lot and asked me if that was my little girl. I looked up and yes...it was Abby collecting sticks and rocks! I thought she went in the maze, but she must have went around the maze! The other mom brought her back and we both tried to figure out how she got out. I then spotted a hole where a sign was supposed to be...but wasn't. It was the perfect size for toddlers to step right through. I stopped taking pictures and kept a better eye on that hole, but was surprised no other toddler tried to escape (actually I'm not surprised, my guys are very curious toddlers!).
It was a great little place and I hope to go back soon, once it's a bit cooler.

After playing, I grabbed lunch at Sonic. The kids got a pair of binoculars in their kids meal and Abby was so excited. She quickly grabbed her "glasses" and said she wanted to go look for birds. John and I don't "bird watch", although we do point out the birds to the kids. But I thought it was funny she knew exactly what to do with the binoculars. Still don't know where she picked up bird watching though.

Great Nights Ahead

Yeah! Lily has been sleeping through the night (12 hours) for the past three days!!! I had read somewhere that three consecutive days of doing something formed a habit. It was true for the most part with the twins and once they slept three days in a row through the night, they usually did except when they were going through growth spurts (and Jake's occasional night waking, which he still has issues with).
I'm hoping it's true with Lily and it couldn't have come at a better time with John traveling to Singapore!

Miscellaneous Pics

Here's a few misc. pics of the kids I've taken this last week or so that I wanted to share.

Here's Lily doing some more tummy time. She's doing great holding her head and even rolled over yesterday for the first time (just so daddy could see before he left)! She rolled over three more times today too so I think she just may know what she's doing. At first I thought yesterday was an accidental rollover. Jake decided to pose next to her, but when I said "say cheese", he frowned. Silly boy.


Abby is really turning into Miss Independent and wants to dress her self now in the mornings. Although she hasn't quite figured out where everything goes.

We were playing with our water table this past week and of course we don't play beside the table, but rather IN the table. When Jake decided to get out though, Abby tipped over and landed right against the tree. She was stuck and couldn't budge, but I had to snap a pic before helping her up of course. And note her new ORANGE swimsuit. She picked it out all by herself.

I love this pic of Jake sitting so solemnly by the tree.

This was actually taken last month, but it's a fun picture. I was taking the trash out in the kitchen, but before I was able to put a new trash bag in the canister, the kids decided to take it for a spin! They had such a fun time with the trash can. I know all the germs...I'm just building their immune system.