Zoo Day

We had an impromptu zoo day last week.  It was so great.  It has been so nice to be able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather together!  It threatened rain on the day we went to the zoo, which ended up being perfect.  The animals were really active, the weather was cool, and it didn't end up raining after all!

 Made out of Legos.  Amazing.

An impromptu dance exhibition.  Those socks!  I told her to wear socks since her shoes had given her blisters the day before.  Funny I didn't truly notice the socks she chose until I was editing these photos!  Oh yes, and she is pioneering the backward shirt.

 Little E. is practicing his photo bombing already.

 Puddle: found.  (later he found a complete huge mud puddle and was splashing all around in it while I was occupied with sister.  I was so glad he had his little rain boots on!  It ended up being no big deal.)

 I love watching my little ones "discover" something for the first time!

 Little boy was calling everything "a rabbit!" lol.

 More Legos.

An after-zoo mini date indulgence with the little ones, in a restaurant at which I broke up with a boyfriend in college.

(For some reason this little girl was camera shy on our zoo day, and that is why the best photos here are spontaneous and blurry!)

Happy Wednesday!

Almost forgot:  for this months goals, I'm going to try letting you know as the month progresses, what the goals are.  We'll see how it goes and what to do for next month.

A Walk

 Nothing like some good puddle time on a closed road.

A girl and her feather shall never be parted.

Museum Day

One morning during Spring Break we were all still in our pajamas when I found something that advertised a free day at our local art museum.  So we threw on some clothes and ran a brush through some scraggly hair (had to squeeze it in before nap time and make the most of the early hours, which would mean quiet and less crowds to hassle with five kids) and left behind our towering piles of dishes and laundry.  We only lasted an hour, but it was a great hour!  I fell in love with art museums when we lived in Europe and my husband introduced me to the Rijksmuseum-- I've been hooked ever since!  This one was small but good.

One of my favorites.  This one by LeConte Stewart.

 I love watching this big brother explain things.  What a nice kid.

 Amateur camera woman, some of the photo cred in this post belongs to her.

 Big bro in action again.

 Blurry, but I love how this sister-shot photo captures his thoughtfulness.

 Lest you think these sanitized photos are hiding the real truth, it got a bit ugly at the end, with this little boy suddenly tired of being held and not allowed to touch anything.  Oh yeah, and his next biggest sister acting on her lately urge to spit in random places (on this day alone, I wiped up spit from the floor of the museum, watched her lean over in her carseat and spit on the car floor, and looked back at one point to see a frothy arm covered in spit bubbles-- literally from wrist to elbow). Yah.

 She is a little character who makes life interesting!  I would give more than a penny for her thoughts sometimes.

 Big bro keeping little bro from touching.  Very patiently.

Do you like art museums?  I love them-- like a drug to me. :)  Not sure yet if this will be inherited or not. :)

Sorry I'm late posting today!  Today I initiated our sticker chart for limiting TV watching, more to keep me honest than anyone else!  I had to get a bit creative when I was still trying to blog and TV time was over.  We'll see how this goes!  I'm just amazed at how much more peaceful our house is (though messier) when the TV is off.  Though it was super hard to turn it off today, I'm hoping it will get easier and easier.