The Zoo

June 4th: To the zoo! As many of you know, we spend a great deal of time at the Columbus Zoo (and since it's a frequently asked question...we've only seen Jack Hanna once, but we hear he's there quite often!), but I have just never put pictures on here of our trips. With the zoo only 10 minutes from our house, we don't always take pictures when we go, but this time we were there with Uncle Brad and Aunt Brittani, so we took lots of pictures! Here is the group on the train ride (one of Drew's fave things at the zoo!)...Rich and I are in the seat ahead of them, as you can see no one wanted to ride with us! Ali made her way up to us after the train started, though, she was a little unsure of the whole thing!

Katie stopped to climb on the baby elephant...

So Drew had to pose with the baby elephant as well!

Here is our friend, the Sun Bear...these are just about the only 2 consistent animals we see...as well as the elephants which are always out and awake...the rest of the animals are hit or miss as to whether they are sleeping somewhere or out where they can be seen!

Here is Ali, desperately trying to get a better look at the sun bear!

Here are the tigers, enjoying a morning nap...it wasn't too hot out this day...most of the time in the summer the tigers are in their little cave, which is air-conditioned, the zookeeper says they don't like the heat. Over the winter we were there and we noticed one of the tigers staring up and in a "pouncing" crouch, and so we craned our heads to see above them and there was a zoo worker up there trying to string up the Christmas lights and the tiger was just waiting for him to fall! Drew thought that was very funny.

The lion was sleeping today as well! The last couple of months we've been here and the lion was pacing and roaring, his roar was so deep you could hear it all over the zoo. The zookeeper said that the poor lion was lonely and he could hear and maybe smell the female tigers and he was just going crazy in there. Crazy. Drew thought he was very scary when he would roar.

Ali decided riding in the stroller was just not for her, so I let her out and she ran straight to the warthog, and climbed right on...

Giddyup, Warthog!

Uncle Brad and Ali checking out the fish. Ali loves the aquarium, it's her favorite place at the zoo!

Katie loves the aquarium too. It has always been one of her favorite places...she still has her Fisher Price aquarium on her bedrail (it HAD to move from the crib with her, she would not sleep without it).

Ali, checking out the rocking chairs while Drew and Katie ride the carousel. Ali rode it last time, and she was not a fan, so we sat this one out!

Drew on the carousel...he loooooves the carousel.

Katie begged and begged to ride the carousel, but she doesn't like to ride the horse, so she and daddy always ride together on the bench. She loves to ride there.

Drew posing by Uncle Brad's favorite animal.

Pajama Girls

May 27th: I was trying to get a picture of Ali in the cute jammies that my friend Lisa bought for Katie for her 1st birthday...and Katie decided she needed her picture taken in her favorite "monkey jammies"...so here they are

Camera smile!

This picture makes Katie's legs look so long. The monkey on her shirt says "Who me?"

And together...Ali didn't want to sit still so this was the best I could get!

Katie's Dinner Prayer

Here is Katie, saying our dinner prayer (here's the actual words to it to!!)..."Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen."

Alex counting

Here is a short video of Alex counting...she was counting 2,5,2,5 for a long time...then one day she started saying 5,6,7 and I caught her on video counting, though she does skip a few numbers! Drew and Katie were late talkers, and I don't really know what early or average is, but to us, this is very impressive! Some of Alex's other favorite phrases (our other kids had words at this age, not phrases!)..."Drew, Where are you?" and "Read a book" and "Mommy, yes!" and "I got it", she calls all food "cookie" and if she hears an echo at all, she will yell "Echo" over and over again...which is great fun except when she does it during church!! The entire church service! Oops!

More pictures

May 18th: An actual chilly day! It's been so warm lately, a chilly day seems out of sorts! Here is Ali, sporting a very cute coat that was bought for Katie by Granny years ago, but that she outgrew after only wearing a few times, and since I never got a picture of Katie wearing it, had to get one of Ali wearing it!!

May 20th: Katie has decided she likes sleeping in nightgowns, which is good because her room seems to be really warm all the time! I wanted to get a picture of her, b/c she just looks so cute, crocs and all!!

May 23rd: After a couple of high 80's days, we decided to get a little splash pool for the backyard, so the kids and I found this one, and we thought it was one that Ali would love. We were a little bit wrong, she wasn't a huge fan...but the other kids had a blast with it!!

She's checking it out, still not sure. (She has her paci outside, it's my only defense in keeping her from eating grass, dirt, and mulch...I guess this is normal for a baby, but our two previous babies were not dirt-eaters, so this is new territory!)

We finally turned off the fountains, and she wandered in and splashed around and had a little bit of fun, but she didn't stay in too long! I can't say I blame her, that water was cold!!

When Matthew got home from school, he came out to join in the fun as well! At least the 8.5 year old, 5.5 year old, and 3 year old enjoyed it!

Alex enjoyed wandering around the patio, the paci is out...Dirt! Here I come!!! Gotta keep Mama hopping!!

Alex found Katie's cover-up and wanted it on...too cute!!

Drew's Preschool Graduation

May 16th: Drew graduates from preschool! Hard to believe our baby will be in kindergarten this fall! He had a great year, his teachers just adore him and he thought the world of them as well! This year has been a big one for Drew, he is much less timid around the other kids, much more assertive than the beginning of the year, and he is learning to read and write and doing a great job! He already misses preschool, but he's so excited to be going to school with the big kids, and most excited to ride the bus! Mommy is not so sure she's ready to put him on a bus, however!

Drew will be back...he has two sisters to go through preschool still, so he told his teachers, "Don't worry, I"ll come and see you when we pick up my sisters!!"

Drew's classroom.

Mrs. Cecil getting the kids ready for their cap ceremony.

Drew's class. Back row (l to r): Mrs. Deutschle, Mitchell, Drew, Mikey, Adam, Joshua, Edward, Andrew, Jay, Mrs. Cecil...Front row: Alaina, Mary, Kyra, Mallory, Riley, Emma, Aubrey

A close up of Drew and Mitch (courtesy of Mitch's dad, Kurt)...Drew and Mitch have been together since the Young 3's class, so 2 1/2 years (Drew started the class halfway through)...at the beginning of the year, their teachers told me that they had never had two boys that were such good friends in their class before. I actually did get choked up at the graduation seeing the boys together and knowing that next year they won't have each other in kindergarten since they will go to different schools. Whenever we ask Drew "What did you do at school today?", the answer always involves Mitch. I can't imagine his school day not involving Mitch, so it's going to be a change! Luckily, we will still be able to get Drew and Mitch together since we live close, so hopefully they can continue to be great friends outside of school!!

Drew getting his diploma from Mrs. Cecil! Congrats Drew!!!!

Another picture of Drew and Mitch...Drew is not a fan of posing for pictures!

Drew and Katie's Plants

May 11th: Great Aunt Becky gave the kids some seed starter kits a few months back, and so they have been growing their vinca, sunflowers, pumpkins, and watermelon...and they finally outgrew their home indoors so Drew and Rich planted them in bigger pots outdoors. We're hoping the bunnies will leave them alone and let them grow! Here are some pictures of Drew and Rich planting their plants!!

Katie's Mother's Day Program

May 11th: Katie's Mother's Day program at school was very cute! Three year olds "singing" and attempting an organized program is always so much fun! Katie actually sang quite a bit and did a lot of the motions, super cute! When Drew was in the Young 3's class, he didn't sing one word during his program, he actually migrated away from the group and played with stuff on the science table! Katie's class was very animated, the teachers were even surprised how well they did. This was also Katie's last day of school, which she was very upset about, she is ready to go back!!

And here is a video of one of their songs...

Spring!

May 5th: Just a regular Saturday around here. We went to church, ate dinner, then headed out to enjoy the beautiful spring weather in the backyard! Here is Ali, looking cute after church.

Ali, hamming it up for the camera!

Drew swinging.

Katie pushing Ali, wheeeee!!!!

Drew wanted to take a picture, so here are Katie and I.

It was so humid out that Katie's hair was so unbelievably curly, so I had to snap a picture of it, of course! She has the most beautiful ringlets, especially when it's humid outside!

Here are Ali's curls as well, now that spring is here, her hair is really starting to curl, curl, curl! I don't know if she'll keep her curls like Katie, her hair doesn't seem quite as curly as Katie's was at this age. Only time will tell!

Drew-Mystery Reader!!

Here is a video of Drew reading a book to his class! Throughout the year, his class has had a Mystery Reader every Tuesday, where a parent/granparent signs up to read to the class. They don't tell the kids they are coming and then the teacher will ask the Mystery Reader what book they are going to read and the Reader calls out the name of the book and the kids try to guess who the mystery reader is! His friends guessed him right away, and he was so excited to be the reader. Here he is, such a big boy!!!!

Katie riding her two-wheeler

Katie has finally started to pedal her two-wheel bike. I think it's normal not to pedal until 3, but Drew started pedaling so early we wondered if she ever would! She is doing great with it now. She is riding her bike that Nana and Papaw gave her...

Drew's Mother's Day Program

Drew's Pre-K class had their Mother's Day program last Thursday. We made a beautiful bracelet together and then we had a snack that the kids had made (strawberry short cake), and then the kids had a program for all of us moms. It was cute, cute, cute as always!

Here are a couple of videos of the class singing:





Drew, after the program, here's the big smile!!! Here is a picture of Drew and his friend, Alaina. Some of you may remember that at the beginning of the school year, Drew used to talk about Alaina and his voice would always go up a bit, and he'd act shy when we asked him about her. We think she was his first little crush!

Here's Drew and I at the party, not a very flattering picture of either of us, but here we are!

The piano

May 1st: Drew has been taking piano lessons for a couple of months, and he really likes it. Miss Wendy, his teacher, says he is doing great so we decided to get a piano for him. Luckily, Granny and Grandpa gave us their piano, which I have played on for many, many years! Uncle Brad and Papaw brought it over last weekend, and the kids have been having a lot of fun playing it since! I will have to get a video of Drew playing to put on here. Here are some pics of Katie and Alex with the piano.
All 3 of them were playing and singing after my dad and brother brought the piano in the house. My dad said maybe they would be the next Carpenters. I think they have a loooong way to go, and if any of them inherited my singing talent, or extreme lack of, they have no chance!!

Drew--Soccer Time Again!!

April 28th: Drew is back to playing soccer in the Dublin Soccer League. Here are pictures from his 4th game, unfortunately his 1st 3 games were such bad weather, we didn't get any pictures! The girls and I had to miss his 1st 2 games because of the rain and snow and cold, cold temperatures! During his 3rd game, he scored 3 of his team's 4 goals. He got knocked over running toward the goal at the end, and he popped back up and ran hard after the ball and kicked it on in the goal! We were so proud!! Here he is, doing what he loves:
Here he's showing some of his defense (what defense they have at 5 years old) moves, against his very good friend, Michael Gray.Here are Drew and Michael, seeing who can get the ball.

Warming up, happy as a clam.

I like this picture, just shows how happy he is when he's out there playing!

Katie, not exactly thrilled to be stuck sitting still for 45 minutes. She ran around with Nana for most of the game.

Alex, not at all even remotely thrilled at having to sit still for 45 minutes. She also spent most of the game running Nana around. When she wasn't trying to run out on the field and get a ball, of course!

Our New Play Structure

April 17th: Our swingset that we inherited when we moved into this house (thanks again, Olmsteads!!) was beginning to fall apart. So we took the plunge and got a new one, one that will hopefully get years and years and years of play!!!! Here is our old, yet treasured swingset:
And here is the new one. It took 2 men about 6 hours to take apart the old one and put together the new one! Glad we didn't think we could handle that one on our own!!!
Alex is enjoying the spring day, eating her snack, but she desperately wants to get out there and play!
Drew climbing the rock wall. The kids love the rock wall. The guys didn't have all the ropes for the rope ladder there, but once they brought them back and fixed it, both Drew and Katie spent a lot of time on top of that ladder! They are also fond of climbing the monkey bar ladder in the back there and JUMPING off of it. We are getting more used to it, but Katie about gave our neighbor, Lisa, a heart attack the first time she jumped off there!