Zoo Visit

Well, it's May in Texas, meaning that the 100 degree temps are just around the corner.  With that in mind and Aunt Alli had never been to the Ft. Worth Zoo we hit it up on a beautiful Spring morning this week! 

 I love, love when we get to see the gorillas up close.  They are just so darn intriguing, don't you agree?  

 so sweet

 This was as good as it got for a pic with their Aunt Alli.

 We have probably been to the zoo a dozen times and this is the first time the cheetah has been visible!

 Coop always gets his picture on the turtle.

Laney's first picture on the turtle, yay Laners!

Grapevine Botanical Gardens

On Sunday we had to say good-bye to Grandma but lucky for us Aunt Alli arrived!  Their trips overlapped for the day and it was beautiful outside so we headed to Grapevine Botanical Gardens.

 This tree amazed me, it has been here since the signing of the constitution!  

 The picture doesn't do its size justice, simply amazing!  

 Ah, the simple joys of childhood.

 Grandma was in heaven.

 Oh my gosh, all 4 looking and (kind of) smiling, love it!

 There is a fun playground attached.  I think Laney likes going down the slides more than her brother.

Aww, sweet Laney Faith, you are getting so big!

Grapevine Main Street Days

Our neighboring city of Grapevine held Main Street Days this past weekend.  There was lots of people, pizza, people watching :), games, and more!  

 Legoland had a setup.  I think Coop did more kid watching than he did Lego building.

 There was a big area of toddler cars, even Laney got to ride!

 There was a mini-petting zoo where you could feed the animals.  Coop loved feeding this particular goat, under that hat is smile.

 Check out Laney's hair :), the wind was getting the best of it.

 Coop was insistent on getting a pic of the three of us.  No joke, he took one pic and this is what he got!  Pretty impressive if you ask me.

We were so happy to have Grandma in town to join us for all the fun!

It's pool time!

You know it's summer time in Texas when you can hit up the pool at 9:30am on May 16!

 Just love this!

 It was Laney's first time at the pool and she loved it!  She was wanting to crawl all over the place, but stayed content with whatever toy the kids would bring to her.

Outside Play

The weather has been beautiful so we have been spending lots of time outside playing.  However, it's been somewhat of a challenge keeping both kids entertained with Laney being mobile.  She has no fear of grass and was constantly crawling off the blanket and trying to eat it.  Meet my solution and the best $17 I have spent in a long time...

Yep, this old school baby pool doesn't require water to keep Doodles busy and contained.  I put blankets down and bring out her toys.  I am sure she will be climbing out of it soon, but so far, so good!

Coop and I have been busy playing pirates in his pirate ship water table.  If you have babies/toddlers and you don't have a water table, I highly recommend it!!!

Smile Fridays - week 3

My mom arrived yesterday for a long weekend which means good food, great company and lots of help with the kids!  I went to the gym and got my hair cut/colored this morning all by myself!!!!!!

Since my mom is here, Adam and I went out just the 2 of us to a dinner and movie last night.  Last time we did that I was 8 months pregnant with Doodles.  We did sushi and the Hunger Games with a gigantic Coke (which I really am trying to cut back on) and real buttered popcorn :)  It was all amazing!

I ran my first 5K last weekend!  This is/was a big deal because I hate running but decided my body needed a challenge and because I decided to do it 2 weeks before the race.  Adam and I ran many evenings to 'train'-him pushing 2 kids in a stroller and still running ahead of me.

  Our backyard smells wonderful because of this plant/tree blooming.  Oh my gosh, I just realized what Lola is doing in the background of pic! 

Many of our dinners have been grilled out this week, which I love-just need to learn how to do it myself because I hate having to wait for Adam to get home from work to have dinner! That is one of my summer goals :).

Last day of preschool

See the first day here-can't believe we have one year of preschool on the books!  That means one year closer to Kindergarten :(.  It seems like just yesterday we were dropping him off for the first day and Doodles was a tiny 2 week old.  And yes, I had tears leaving his classroom...contrary to popular belief the tears weren't due to the fact that my Tuesday/Thursdays are not just mine anymore.  I was sad to leave his teachers and friends and he is just growing up too fast and I am baaaad at goodbyes.

It has been an incredible year-we couldn't have asked for a better pair of teachers.  Being a teacher myself-I absolutely value and appreciate them and they are in Coop and I's prayers every night.  Coop woke up every morning ready to go (well, after I coerced my late sleeper out of bed at 8am) and so happy to see his teachers and friends each Tuesday and Thursday.  Of course, he goes mute when Adam and I ask about his day and what he does.  Thanks to Southlake Christian Preschool for taking such good care of Cooper and providing such a fun, loving and educational environment the last 9 months, we look forward to next year!  In fact, I loved it so much that I have applied to sub there next year!  When/if I do, Laney will go in the 1 year old class.

 2 minutes before we leave I think, "oh, i really need pics to compare the first and last day of school!  Cooper-get outside fast!"  He was confused, not ready and the pics demonstrate this.

 Ms. Celina and Ms. Jenn-wonderful blessings in our lives this year!

 Coop was in the Ladybugs class this year, his teachers sent them all home with a ladybug cookie.

 So, this gem is priceless!  The teachers put scrapbooks together for each kid with their artwork and pics throughout the school year.  We have looked at this dozens of times already...there may have been tears.

 Doesn't everyone wish over the course of 9 months that you grew 3 inches and gained less than a pound?

 Coop's favorite page in the book

 One of my favorite pages...

and another.

In Cooper's words, "it's time for summer days."