Today we got a pair of surprises...After the Butler game, we decided to catch the member's only night at the Zoo, and Daddy decided to take the Night Off. He's tired from working at the house, but he can always squeeze in an hour of snuggles with Sweetboys. So he met us at the zoo.
1. The boys were so happy to see their Daddy.
2. Officially the new bat exhibit opens tomorrow...but awesomely cool members like us got a sneak peak tonight. This is the Flying Fox, he didn't feel very social.
3. And these fellas are the Straw Colored Fruit bats. Chris wasn't much a of a fan, much preferring Batman to Bats. And a couple of them were waking up, even got moving over to the fruit dish for a little snack. Here you can see one bending into the clear plastic fruit dish and another one on the move. Wish I'd brought my Zoom lens, oh well, maybe next time.
4. And this lovely lady is the zoo's newest permanent member, a female African Warthog.
5. The boys thought the warthog was so ugly she was cool.
6. And the last new members, the Crested Porcupine. I just wanted to cuddle them like a bunny.
7. They have two porcupines: Peter and Piper. Not sure which is which, but I'm guessing this is the girl, she couldn't stay away from Chris. Look at that little bunny nose!
8. Sam checks out the porcupine quills, waving in the wind like feathers...but pokier.
9. As they shut the place down around us, the kids played ever so briefly at the playground. Sam loved the slide. He's so cool.
10. You know it's a special day when Daddy lets the kids play on the slide before we leave...mommy would never let that happen.
But it was a special evening, and a very special trip. Our first zoo trip this spring. I'm so excited. The boys are going to love hitting the zoo this year, probably even more than last year!
Last month, our MOPS group had an Organizer come in and talk to us. She had a lot of neat ideas, and I just liked her from the beginning. And she makes House Calls. She's got her own business helping to teach people to organize their homes. I've had lots of people say they want to help me get organized to prep and sell this house while packing for the new one, but no real volunteers if you know what I mean. I didn't really know where to begin. I found out quickly when my sister popped by to help me a few months back, I'm a sentimental mushnik, crying over parting with stuffed animals. I'm sure that doesn't surprise any of you. But when this gal mentioned that sometimes people that have no stake in the 'stuff' can be the most helpful. And this gal sold me. She didn't make fun of me for my stuffed animal crying problem. In fact, she understood. She says, "I don't want to get rid of your stuff, just find a place for it." Brilliant.
Anyway, I had her come out today, and we tackled Chris's room.
I forgot to take a before picture, so I'm just using some of the pics I had floating around from the last couple months..of Chris's room. It was a fine system. If kids sneezed funny, the tower of stuffies came down. And so much Stuff, playing makes it go crazy.
So in a few quick hours, while I won parent of the year for letting Chris watch all the Phineas and Ferb he wanted, we transformed his room.
Now we got rid of a half a bag of trash, a big box of stuff to Goodwill, and a big box for storage of stuff we don't need to have around while we're trying to show the house. But really it wasn't as sad, invasive, or torturous as I thought the process was going to be.
Anyway, be amazed for the moment at the beauty of an organized closet. And sheesh, if I bought and labeled boxes, it could be organizers gone wild in there...but the beauty it doesn't have to be, it's just nice to have space and tidiness on the shelves.
Meanwhile, now there is a lot more space. We moved his bookcase, and put the rocker in it, now he's got a Reading Nook. Who knew there was so much space in his room there could be a 'nook'? This makes me happy.
There were moments I was sad, because really I didn't want to throw away something that was given to Chris out of great love. But really, he doesn't play with it. He never did. Why am I keeping it?
Now it just so happens that while I was doing some Serious Organizing today, I found a bag of sunglasses I had bought on clearance last fall in Chris's closet. So I put them in the car early this afternoon. I had to run to the doctor for my new monthly shot, and the boys Could Not Wait to put them on.
Both boys in shades. Oh My.
But Sam with shades and a blue lollipop chin, oh the heartbreaker! Mama Loves lollipop kisses.
And this shot just slays me. He's 'old school and so cool'.
Look at them coloring so sweetly on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. They might Actually get along this year.
Once the driveway got boring, Chris wanted us to make 'a hopscotch', but of course, he said it in a humerous way that doesn't translate to print.
But they were extra adorable playing outside, jumping on the sidewalk together, coloring, and playing so sweet....for 10 minutes anyway. That's enough to get me through the day. :)
I know, I know, I blogged already about Chris's best friend Emily's 5th birthday. But actually, her birthday was Today. And we got really lucky, ok Blessed, to be able to celebrate further with her, and join her family at the mecca for all preschoolers...Chuck E. Cheese.
This visit from the rodent brought great joy to all children.
And now for something Completely Different. We got to follow Chuck E. Cheese like in a game of follow the leader and ended up in the middle of the room, where he put on the radio and the kids got to all dance. Then he threw a bunch of tickets into the air in a little kid ticket free for all. Chris was thrilled about the dancing, but didn't care much about tickets. Yeah!
Look at this Birthday girl, can't believe she's already 5!
Honestly Chris was more thrilled to just ride the rides with Emily.
Love it, my kid loves hypothetical computer generated roller coasters.
Good Times. But man, kids are crazy! Luckily, we really only had to deal with ours today. ;)
They don't always. But they can...for a minute. Chris too, but if Chris got a toy, he ran over by himself. Sam and Annie would start fighting over the same toys....they aren't inclined to share, with each other or anyone else. Sam particularly. Sometimes I think Chris and Annie are so much alike, but today it was Sam and Annie, cohorts in crime.
Today, we went to visit my sister and my sweet nieces..to say Goodbye to James who is leaving this week, to cuddle some sweet girls, and to give Lisa Grandpa Jim's old bed frame...a very nice antique that we just aren't going to use. (See?! I can get rid of something) And Sam and Annie Played. Hard. They ran themselves ragged all over her house.
And this is how you know when they're done, when they do this on the table at lunch. I could not take him seriously. But babe, I've been there. Nice soft table.
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. And the start of Lent.
And my husband and I didn't go to church...well, ok, we sort of did. We went up to Northview Christian Church up in Carmel, one of those giant SuperTargets of a church. This one had a book/music/coffee shop right off their Narthex. I use the term Narthex loosely because it was big enough to be a gym. And the inside was as big as the Murat Shrine. We sat in the second balony...three rows from the top. And it was Awesome! It was like being in a theatre...the only clue that it was a church was that there was a sculpture on the wall, that had nothing but small blank slivers in a cross shape. I guess I'm pretty traditional with my worship, like my churches with some stained glass, and there was none to be found. No bibles either. The only clue I had was at the beginning of the aisle were donation envelopes and pencils. Otherwise it was just like any theatre.
And we saw Third Day! With Tenth Avenue North and Trevor Morgan.
Somebody posted a video already. So cool.
I wish I'd brought my camera and supplies because he said we could take all the pictures and video we want...anything that will get their music and their Message of Christ out to more people. AWESOME!!
This one from Tenth Avenue North gets me crying every other time, and it got me last night.
But the Concert was Amazing. This was my second Christian Concert. We saw Jeremy Camp a couple years back when he came to Brownsburg, but there was no room for all the people that came, so they put us in a meeting room with big tvs to watch, so it hardly counts.
This was a rock concert, where my ears were ringing, I was dancing, and clapping, and lifting my hands to Praise the Lord (which is something we stodgy Lutherans rarely do ;) ), and having a wonderful wonderful time.
Which brings me back to the beginning of Lent. We normally go to Ash Wednesday service, and get imposed with ashes. Which I didn't do. I felt like I was playing Hookey. But I wasn't really, we still Worshipped the Lord. Just in a much more fun, and less sad Lenten way. I forget so many Christians don't celebrate lent, or Ash Wednesday, it was kind of weird no one mentioned it last night. But I had given some thought on giving up something for Lent. Eric and I like to try and give up something, to give up a vice, break a bad habit. I've had a pastor tell us to Take something on, like reading the bible. My mental list of things to give up were: Netflix, Facebook, Starbucks, Fried Foods. But I just haven't been willing to give it all up. I've given up chocolate, red meat, tv, Starbucks, and it's rough, especially right now with our lives being topsy turvy. It's such a high stress time right now, it doesn't feel wise to give up some of these, but I need to rely more on God and Stuff is getting in the way.
It should not be a hard decision. I feel silly that it is. I mean, here kook at all My Lord Sacrificed for me, the least I can do is Sacrifice a little bit for him, and Focus on that, by doing something like getting deeper into his word, and taking care of this body He has given me.
So I decided to give up Fried Foods, and to limit my computer/facebook/tv time to 2 hours a day. Which is harder than you'd think...I can get carried away online when I go to check my facebook and email as soon as the kids go down. So you'll understand if I'm not blogging much the next 6 weeks or so. The fried foods is going to be tricky. I already muffed up yesterday. I fed the kids leftover Chick Fil-A chicken nuggets (we'd gotten for Mardi Gras dinner Tuesday night), microwaved them for the boys. Then Sam didn't want his, so I started finishing them. I was halfway through what was left when I realized what I'd done. Suddenly it tasted like sand. God understands, I'm sure, it's my own limits I'm putting on things. I'm so blessed that he's a loving understanding God, who doesn't care whether I eat chicken nuggets or not, as long as I believe in his Son and love others.
On the other hand, I'm going to use my evenings to getting caught back up in my bible study, and get closer to God, so maybe we'll all be happier about the loss of Screen time. I already ready 3 chapters in Deutoronomy, went to an awesome Christian rock concert and am feeling Closer to God. This is setting up to a Great Lent!
