In love with the Zoo!!

I have always loved the Zoo, but I have to say the Jacksonville Zoo has to be my favorite. There is so much to do there. A huge section of the Zoo is just for little kiddies. It has a petting zoo, sand boxes, playgrounds, indoor learning centers, and our favorite....a Whale Splash Park. Our babies could spend all day just in this one area of the Zoo. We just keep going back, we really can't get enough. Oh ya, and my favorite part.....the snowcones, they are seriously the best snowcones EVER. They are different than any snowcone I have ever before experienced. Next time we go I will take a picture....and I'm sure that will be pretty soon!! Nathan and Daddy feeding the Giraffe lettuce.
Daniel and mommy feeding the same giraffe, the Zoo keeper said she was proud of little Daniel feeding the giraffe all by himself. He fed him four pieces of lettuce...he must think that lettuce is pretty yummy.
Nathan and I feeding the birds. When Grandpa Noel came to visit and we fed the birds he had them ALL OVER, even on his head!! They must have been starving that day.
Nathan and Daniel enjoying the splash park.
Matt and I got soaked at the splash park chasing the little munchkins around, but it was pretty refreshing. Although next time we think we'll bring our bathing suits:)

Happy Father Day!

Happy Fathers Day Steve, Ross, Eddie, Ryan, and of course DAD and MATT!! I have been so blessed to have such a great dad. He has always been such a great example to me. He is the type of person that everyone really listens too when he has something to say, becuase it is always so wise. Dad you are a great example of hard work. I love that you decided to build our cabin by yourself and you continue to amaze me with all of your talents and hobbies. Your a talented woodworker, golfer, builder, video maker, guitar player, piano player(at least the one song you know), handy man, Judge, listener, etc. You were always very fair to me growing up and you continue to help Matt and I out so much. Thank you for all of your support over the years. I am so lucky to have such a loving, involved dad. Aso, the grandkids are very blessed to have you for a grandpa!!

I knew when I married you Matt that you would be a good dad, but I had no idea just how good. I love how hard you laugh when playing with the boys, and I love how excited you get to see them when you come home, or wake up in the morning. I love how much you play with them and especially how sweet and sensitive you are to their needs. WOW, they really are so lucky to have you for a daddy...or should I say.....da-da:) I love you, Happy Fathers Day!!

Our Little Stinkers!!

I am not really big on too many rules. However, there is one thing that bothers me.....I try really hard to keep all food in the kitchen(when it comes to the little munchkins). That means NO little sticky hands with sticky food being left as little surprises for me to find all over the house. That rule has not been an issue until our little guys learned to open the pantry door!! This particular day I was in the living room and I hear the squeak of the pantry door open, all of the sudden our little babies come happily waltzing in the living room holding their little snack treasures they so proudly got all by themselves. Well they knew it was wrong because they tried hiding from me behind the big recliner chair. So this is me asking them what they are doing. Of course it was all in good fun, but everything fun always ends with someone crying......I promise Im not the one that made Daniel cry at the end.....I'm not THAT strict about my rules:)

Our CRAZY Kids!!

I really don't know why we have ANY toys, it seems there favorite things are any kitchen items they can get to stay on their heads, or of course any cupboard they can COMPLETELY empty and then crawl in, or any clothing item they can wear in a NOT normal way. We have figured out they are probably going to be big into dress ups, because whenever they have something odd on their heads or bodies they twirl around with this look on thier faces that says...."I look really good right now!" The dress ups and twirling is making Matt a little nervous, but at least they keep us laughing.

CHUCK E CHEESE!!!

Matt decided that the way he wanted to celebrate his completion of the first year of law school was by going to Chuck E Cheese. I was a little surprised but pretty darn excited. We thought the boys might be too little to enjoy it, but boy where we wrong. They both squeeled as they would go from one ride to the next. They loved all the games, even though they were too little to play any of them. They weren't real sure of the actual Chuck E Cheese mascot, but everything else was like a dream come true. We decided however, that in the future we would probably not spend the money to eat there, we would just get tokens and let them play on the rides. The food was good but a little pricey. This is Daniel's cute little excited face after seeing the Chuck E. Cheese on stage start dancing.
Nathan a little hesitant.


This really is the place....."Where a kid can be a kid!!"

I think it's getting easier......

I thought once my babies started walking I was going to be a crazy woman. Actually it's been kind of the opposite. Don't get me wrong I still stay pretty busy, but now my babies are helping me out with eachother. This is nathan pushing Daniel in the stroller, that's a nice little break!!
Here is Daniel pushing Nathan around and around at the park!
Nathan and Daniel spend lot's of time now entertaining eachother. As you can see they think it is hilarious to copy what eachother is doing. One of my favorite things is when they wake up from their nap and I can hear them in their room laughing at eachother. Sometimes I peak my head in without them seeing me and one of them will be bouncing up and down while the other one is watching and hysterically laughing. I don't know why but it just makes my whole day:)

Little cup........LOTS OF TRAUMA

This is a little story about the trauma that occurred in my life from this little blue cup........... I will start from the beginning. When we moved to Florida last July I fell in love with our little neighborhood. The neighborhood gave me this great desire to want to be neighborly(I'm pretty sure that is not a word, but I think you get my point). I have been trying to do little things here and there to get to know my neighbors. We have some particularly friendly neighbors that live right next door. The woman is Russian and her husband is from America. Somehow we became friends even though she does not speak any English. She is always so friendly and talkative, and I just nodd and smile at her never having a clue what she is saying. The only word I have ever understood her say came the day her and her husband brought us an adorable little cake. We answered the door and she smiled and said..... "EAT!!" So we did, and it was wonderful. I'm now wishing that was the last encounter we ever had with the sweet neighbors but it wasn't. The trauma came just a few weeks later.

My sweet mom was visiting in February from Utah. It was a Sunday afternoon and I had been begging her to make my favorite cherry cream pie. She started the pie crust only to find out that we were out of eggs. Of course this is no problem to my mom, she says "just borrow one form the neighbors." Sounded easy enough but it was a little out of my comfort zone. But...... I will do anything for my moms pie, so off to the neighbors I went. I tried a few other homes first before the Russian ladies just cause I wasn't in the mood to explain what an egg was using only hand gestures, knowing she doesn't understand English. Just my luck no one was home so I ended up at their home anyway. She was so sweet and she invited me in. It didn't take too long for her to understand what I wanted. She got the egg out of the fridge and started looking around the kitchen making hand gestures letting me know she was trying to find something to put the egg in. I don't know why on earth I needed to carry the egg home in anything but my hands.....must be her culture or something. So I patiently waited for her to find something to send the egg in. Just as she pulled out the "little blue cup" and set the egg in it, her husband comes walking right into the kitchen, which would be fine except for the fact that he was COMPLETELY NAKED!!!! We looked at each other in horror, he tried his best to cover himself up with his hands but it did not work, it was too late, the damage was done. His wife started yelling at him in Russian to get out of the kitchen. He did after what seemed an eternity. Not being able to really talk things out with her (being that we don't speak the same language). I gave her a little reassuring pat on the back and quickly left for home.

Still to this day I have avoided that couple like crazy. If they are doing yard work, we are not. If they are getting their mail, we are not. If they are outside for any reason at all, we are not. I know it's immature, but I don't really care. Matt's sister Cathy keeps telling me the longer I wait to return the blue cup the harder it will be. She is probably right. However, this all took place in February, and it is now the middle of may, and yes I still have the cup. At this rate I think I will be holding on to it for a loooooong time. I do have to say though that the pie was very delicious.......but still not sure if it was worth all the trauma!!