This Weekend At The Zoo

Since we have a membership we can go to the zoo as often as we like, which is great because the kids love it. We had a good time, but the kids seem to like the bronze statue of animals more than the actual live animals.

Penguin up close

Crocodile 

Of course this is what you'd do if his mouth was open

Hugs for Gorilla

Riding the Elephant

It was all fun and games until we passed the Safari Souvenir stand and Chloe starting yelling for a tiger. We tried to move along and look at more animals but she wan't having it. Finally I talked her into lunch. When we got to the end of the lunch line to pay there were crazy straws with animals on the end, so I thought that would be better than $15 stuffed animals that I had no intention of buying. The straws were OK, except Connor had a little fit when he couldn't get his tiger off.

Showing off is Tiger crazy straw

After lunch the kids started playing with a lion statue that took donations. You throw your money into the lion's mouth and it goes down into a clear ball at his belly. I gave them each a few coins to throw in and it was great fun.

And then, disaster. While we weren't looking, Connor through his tiger straw in the lion's mouth. He just kept crying and pointing at the straw in the middle of the donations.

Donated tiger crazy straw

Yes, I bought him another one. So much adventure at the zoo!

And last night they both slept with their implement hazard animal straws.

Guest Blogger for YW

I'm excited because today I was a guest blogger for the nonprofit organization YW.

I hope you'll read my post there and consider supporting YW.

http://www.shareyourpower.com/2012/04/why-shelley-swan-supports-yw.html

New Fun: Window Down!

With the Spring weather Chloe has discovered some new fun, riding with the window down.

Window down series

Hair Cuts

The twins have been needing hair cuts for awhile. For the past two weeks at school I've had to put Chloe's hair in pigtails or she couldn't see. Connor's hair was a bit huck-finn long, but after playing outside for a bit it would curl tighter to his head.

Here are the before and after shots of hair cuts from this weekend.

Connor After

Connor Before

Chloe Before

Chloe After

Easter (even though it's a little late)

I know I'm a little behind, but I still wanted to share our fun Easter weekend. This year the kids got into the egg hunt a little bit more.

Friday at school, they had hot dogs for lunch and an egg hunt. They came home with all sorts of goodies and this is where Connor discovered there is something inside of the eggs. This led to his egg hunting strategy that consists of  stopping and opening each egg as you find it. You don't get a lot of eggs, but you do get to eat all of the goodies before your parents sneak them out of the eggs.

On Saturday we got up early and went to the egg hunt at the Arboretum. We had a wonderful breakfast and they had crafts for kids, pictures with the bunny, and then it was time to start the egg hunt in the big garden.

Chloe was ready to go, but Connor was little overwhelmed by all the eggs and all the people everywhere.

Everyone ended up with a good amount of eggs and were able to eat most of the candy inside before Mom and Dad confiscated it (which for Carl meant eating it - so most of the Swans had a sugar high that morning)

After the Arboretum we had another egg hunt in our neighborhood. Afterwards the kids napped like champs. On Sunday after Eater lunch, GiGi hid another round of eggs for the kids, but this time they had stickers inside. Still fun without the sugar crash.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

This is the end of our first two weeks at Daycare for the twins and it's been a rough transition. The very first day the twins seemed to be excited to try something new, Connor a bit more so than Chloe. But as the week went on they would continue to get upset. On Tuesday when we parked, on Wednesday when we got in the car and by Thursday they were crying before we ever left the house.

I considered letting them stay home on Friday, but the school was going to have an Easter egg hunt and hot dogs for lunch and I didn't want them to miss out on the fun.

By the end of the week Chloe came home with some sniffles and a runny nose. She still has a runny nose,  but hasn't been too sick. However, I ended up catching a full blown cold and I'm still trying to recover today.

What's made the transition a little more challenging is that Carl and I both have changes at work. Carl was promoted to a sales position and started the first week the kids started school. The promotion is a great thing, but it was a change that means more travel for him and he started to worry maybe this wasn't the best time for him to travel.

My work has been really busy for the past couple of weeks, which is great, except for the timing.

This week didn't start out much better, but Chloe was getting a little more comfortable with the idea of going to school and was asking for her shoes in the morning and to get in the car to go. However, this was the week Connor realized what was going on. On Tuesday morning I was snuggling with him before we needed to head out and he looked at me and asked, "Maria?" He cried when we get in the car and was a mess by the time I dropped him off.

As the week went on Chloe wanted to sing in the car on the way since she'd learned new songs at school, her favorite so far "E-I-E-I-Oooo" and then yelling out another animal's name, usually a horse. Connor would tell us, "no sing."

However, today was much better. Connor was a little weepy but everyone seemed OK about heading off to school. I still have a cold, but I'm feeling better. Especially with the twins starting to adjust.

Rock Wall

The challenge

I filmed this because I thought my Aunt Wendy would be really impressed.

Not only can he climb the rock wall all by himself, but he likes to challenge himself with a stick in each hand. Chloe tries to hand him another stick but he doesn't let it distract him from his goal.

First Day

Today was the first day we dropped Connor and Chloe off at Baby Steps Early Learning Center. We spent most of Sunday gathering things together, 240 diapers, 4 packs of wipes, 2 boxes of kleenex, a sheet, blanket, and huggable for each. In addition to labels in all clothes including tennis shoes, a back up set of clothes and packing lunches for the first time.

The morning at the house went pretty smoothly with everyone excited to carry their own lunch box. Carl and I were worried about the drop off, but they both went right in, Connor even dropped his lunch box as soon as he got in the door to free his hands for toys.

The twins did great, the only tears were from Mommy, after I got back in the car.