Rara rocked it out with this scarecrow display for Dad’s office!  Hope you guys are having a Happy Thanksgiving!!!  Lots of fun “surprise” photos next week…

 

You’re not going to believe this, but this was our first trip to the zoo since we’ve had kids.  I’m not kidding.  Look back in the archives… we’ve never been!  Noelle went with Poppa and Rara once when we went to Cancun, and we went to Sea World last year but never the zoo… we will definitely go back when I forget how tired I am… probably in another 5 years – lol!  We had a great day for real though, and made lots of awesome memories!!!

This is a mean salt water croc!

  

Noelle was pointing out where the snake was to Anna Kate, and she flipped out!

 

We each had something we wanted to see (well all except for me)… Mike wanted to see the monkeys, Noelle wanted to see the snakes, and Anna Kate wanted to see the birdies!!! (can you tell her wish was coming true!?!)

This is a huge komodo dragon! (I couldn’t even fit all of him in my lens)

I asked Anna Kate who was in this picture.  She proudly said, “Daddy, Anna Katey, and my blankey!”  (of course)

Wow, this penguin gave us a show!  Every time he swam up to the glass, the kids in unison, gasped “Ahh!”  He was so fast and kept coming back… it’s like he knew he was the center of attention and was basking in it.  But the leader of the pack (dude on the upper right-hand side of the pic) was not impressed, let me just say that.  I love his little fur sweater!  He was frustrated that there was some goofing around going on… makes “Happy Feet” that much more real.  Great movie, by the way!

Anna Kate digging the penguin parade!

  

Wow!  Anna Kate so proudly said “MY MINGOS!!!” right before I took this picture!

This is the way we roll!

This elephant was cooling off by flicking sand on his back and then his underside with his trunk.  It was a cool thing to witness!

“When I was a young warthog!!!”

 

This little creature of God is a stand out for sure!

Cool stance… never seen a giraffe bend over quite like this before, and I love that the little ducks are just chillin’ right beside their long necked friend!

I have to be me… I’m sick of censoring myself on here… it’s not real life.  I just try not to offend anyone, but I need to be me for me, so if you find this stuff offensive, just skip this post or stop reading.  It won’t hurt my feelings, I promise!

Okay, so here it goes… this elephant “dropped a deuce!” as one might say…

And this is the face that Bella made when she saw it happen.  Seeing the whole thing unfold just cracked me up…

The girls loved seeing this bird catch a real live (well not any more) mouse.  If you’re grossed out, I’m sorry.  For being wiggy about animals, the graphic stuff about the animal kingdom just doesn’t bother me like it probably does some of you… just skip this part! (or is that option too late!?!)

We were all excited to get so close to the white tiger!

This is the lazy animal series… Mike should’ve videoed me above him trying to make him wake up.  I bet I made a fool of myself, and it was all for nothing because the stinker did not budge.

The kangaroos had nothing for us either.  Lazy little things!

 

This is a baboon and a dangling orangutan!

I know this little lady needs some clothes (sorry ‘bout that), but the girls thought their kisses were so sweet, so I had to include a picture for them to have.

This is Noelle with the outdoor warm weather penguins… I always wanted a penguin for a pet as a child.  I wonder if there would be a way to get one of these guys for a pet (there are probably regulations against that, but it would be cool)… most of you guys know we don’t have pets, and I am definitely not an animal person, so this would never be an option for my kids… but it would be fun… just saying…

Happy Zoo Day!

I love the depth of field Mike did in this shot… too cool!

 

Precious Anna Kate was so excited to be so close to the birds!

Aww… how sweet!

 

Noelle just landed her first bird!

I love this picture!

 

Landry and Noelle were pretending to be birds with leaf wings!

So, have you ever had an interaction with a primate?  I can now say, I have!  This gorilla was sitting about 20 yards away and when I walked up to the window, he did a double take and then looked at me like, “I know you are not going to make me come over there!” as he slowly got up and walked over to me.  He never broke eye contact with me as he stared me straight in the eyes, and right there, one foot away, separated only by glass, our worlds collided.

Everyone had backed away from the window at this point, the kids were all freaked out.  Too close!  And then he made this face, which I soon found out meant, “Now I’m going to do something that will really impress you!”  *Stop reading for those of you that don’t like a good poop story… he pooped right there while he was still staring at me… and then he picked it up with one hand and slowly ate it with his other hand using his pinky finger.  That’s simply what happened, don’t shoot the messenger.

I asked the girls what they learned at the zoo today, and the first thing both of them said was, “Gorillas eat their poo poo with their pinky finger!”  No wonder this is a top rated zoo… you don’t just see the animals and keep walking, you really learn about them, whether you want to or not.  It’s just there.  It’s nature.  It’s life. 

This was Noelle’s first school field trip!  Landry’s mom, Amber, and Mike (our ‘”official” chaperones) had Landry, Maysa, Noelle, and Khloe in our little group!  Noelle named the group Super Discover Girls, and we called them that all day!  They loved it! 

 

Anna Kate is pretty popular amongst the kindergarteners.  She’s like their little mascot!  Everyone loves Anna Kate (except boys in play lands, lol)!  This is Noelle and Emily.  They are such sweet little play mates.  Emily came over to play last week after school, and she is an angel!!!

More kindergarten friends!

 

Noelle was thrilled to run into the TCU horned frog!!!  Anna Kate was upset in this picture because all the big girls were looking at the flamingos, and she couldn’t see them.  She finally got up on the fence and yelled, “MY MINGOS!!!”  It was pretty funny!

Khloe, Landry, Ava, Emma, and Noelle

 

The bears would not wake up for anything.  The girls pounded their fists, they even kicked the glass, and then they finally gave up! 

Noelle bracing herself for a tiger attack!

So I’d say this is pretty cool!

*Tons more zoo pics headed your way this week!!!

Brylee had such a fun birthday party this weekend!  Her Mommy is so cool!

Happy 3rd birthday Brylee… you are one loved little girl!!!

And here’s my monkey having a blast!  If she doesn’t put a smile on your face, I don’t know what will!

Noelle took this picture of Brylee and me playing together!  I love that sweet expression she has on her face!  Anna Kate was in the play land pretty much the whole time (beating up on the boys might I add, but that’s a whole other story for later).  I wish you could see all the decorations in person.  Tanna worked so hard to make it special for Brylee, and it was!  Happy b-day Brylee girl!

-Mike bought Radiohead tickets this week and can’t wait for March 5th to get here!!!  Merry Christmas…

-Speaking of Christmas, Anna Kate will not be sitting in Santa’s lap this year!  She is adamant about that, and we told her that she does not have to if she does not want to.  I’m sure she won’t change her mind, so that’s that.  She requested for Noelle to tell him what she wants for her, so that’s the way that will go down.

-I have carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand and can’t feel my fingers very well, so it’s impossible for me to text on a cell phone.  Mike sees me struggling to type on his phone and always takes over for me because writing one sentence takes me forever.  The good news is he set up the iPad for me so that I can text.  Since the screen is so much bigger than a cell phone, my fingers can find the keys a little bit more easily.  SO… if you have an iPhone, and you have run all the updates, you can text me, I’m not even kidding.  Text me through your text messaging app to my email address.  Yay!

-Noelle got her first sticker change from green to yellow this week!  Ah man!  She was SO sorry, and it’s just one of those things.  One of her friends told her to color green over the yellow dot so that I wouldn’t find out about it.  I saw a little green spot in the middle of the yellow dot, but she changed her mind and made a good choice about that.  I was really proud of her for being honest!

-Mike loves fashion blogs (he even won a $250 Visa gift card on one of them last year)!  He decided a couple of years ago that he wanted to be stylish and know what the trends are.  I didn’t know dressing in style is something you can learn, but he’s proof that it is.  I used to buy him all of his clothes but now I’m too intimidated.  It’s awesome… one less thing for me to do!  I even ask him fashion advice now because he totally knows what’s cool.  For instance, if skinny jeans can bunch up at the bottom a little if you wear flats or if they should just be straight with no extra bunching. 

-Speaking of fashion, the other day, Mike said, “I like your skinny jeans!”  As a joke, trying to sound up on my fashions, I said, “Um, they are totally not skinny jeans, they’re like jeggings!”  Then he pulled up a bit Conan did on his show where he wore jeggings, and it was SO funny!  Mike and I always have fun like that together.  He’s my BFF… totally!

-I heard a song on the way home from the doctor yesterday that said, “What if your blessings come through rain drops, what if your healing comes through tears?”  I like that a lot.  Wow, I just went from goofy to serious like that – bam!

-My dad (Poppa) had a parrot named Salvador after John went to college.  Then we found out people with TMJ/joint problems can’t be around birds, so he had to get rid of Salvador for me.  Then, God brought him Jax… and the rest is history!

-That girl Drew, on the X Factor, wow!  I’m impressed.  She’s 14, and I guarantee you right here and right now that she’s going to be around for a while.  Mark my words.  With that being said, I’m really behind on my X Factors, so she could already be kicked off at this point… but I’m telling you, she’s GREAT!

-Oh this is random, Mike times himself solving a Rubik’s Cube twice a week.  He says it keeps his mind active.  I’ll just find him randomly working one in the closet while he’s changing clothes or whatever.  My sweet computer programmer hubby!  He’s such a dork in the coolest ways!  And, he’s definitely the smartest person I’ve ever personally met, hands down.  Friends call him all the time to ask him random things they are too lazy to look up.  He always knows the answer to everything… I couldn’t even trip him up when I asked him what a tine is.  I really thought that would stump him, but oh no, he’s the king of defining the word tine!

-I LOVE the new song, Stereo Heart.  I wrote down the lyrics in the car on the way to the doctor so that I could buy it when I got home.  After I had lunch up at the school with Mike and the girls, I pulled out my little spiral notepad and said, “Oh Mike, I’ve got to tell you something!”  (I was about to sing him the lyrics to the song and ask him if he’d heard it)  Before I started, he said, “It would be really funny if you wrote down a song on the way to the doctor and just started busting out singing it to me right now!”  I just stared and him and started laughing so hard I started crying.  When he realized what was unfolding, he was like, “Oh, this is so good!  Now you have to sing it to me…” but I couldn’t breathe I was laughing so hard.  He wouldn’t leave until I sang it to him.  I tried so hard, but I couldn’t make out a tune I was laughing/crying too hard.  I was so embarrassed in a dorky funny way.  He said, “T.W.I.L.Y.!” which we say when something the other one is doing reminds us of why we love them so much.  It stands for, “That’s why I love you!” but it’s not cute or romantic in any way because it reminds him of a man he knew in high school named “Twily Carl Twiley,” which makes it even that much more perfect for us.  Okay, so then he came to my side of the car, and we said good bye and kissed.  And then we wondered if we would get in trouble for PDA on school grounds, because we are dorky like that. 

-And I’ll leave you with the lyrics to Stereo Heart… try to sing this the next time you are laughing out loud – it’s hard: “My hearts a stereo, it beats for you so listen close.  Make me your radio, turn me up when you feel low.  This melody was meant for you, so sing along to my stereo!”  I have a feeling I am going to hate this song in a couple of weeks.  Please don’t wear it out pop radio stations (you ALWAYS do that to Maroon 5 songs).  It’s really cute and catchy… and sweet!

Told you this was going to be random!  Have a happy weekend! 

 

Brylee invited Anna Kate to go for a girls’ day to kick off her birthday week! 

 

It was a really special day!  Okay, let’s go back to the start…

The girls watched Barbie on the way to Sweet and Sassy!

 

They were so cute walking up together holding hands!!!

They started off painting fingernails!

Anna Kate was telling the girl all about her sister Noelle!  Lol!

I love this picture… these girls are two peas in a pod!

Next it was time for make-up!

…then it was on to hair!

  

 

 

Of course, they had so much fun walking the runway!

 

Tanna and I always have so much fun together… and we are crazy about our girls!!!

 

Part of Brylee’s birthday present from us was a doctor’s kit… the girls LOVE playing doctor, that’s for sure! 

Brylee gave Anna Kate a pretend hair cut – she was having fun with that!

 

Anna Kate has been throwing terrible 2s fits lately, but she finds a way to snap out of them pretty quickly… my sweet precious Anna Kate is not perfect after all! 

Brylee is so much like Noelle, it’s hilarious.  I think that’s why Anna Kate and Brylee get along so well, because their personalities compliment each other perfectly!

 

How adorable are these cuties!?!  Love.them.

The next pictures show what their friendship is like…

Fun, silly, and full of spunk!

 

Anna Kate, I hope you remember these special times since you are the middle child, and the road ahead will be somewhat complicated because of your birth order.  Just know that Mommy loves you very much and gives you special attention too!

So thankful for you, Brylee June!  You’re a fun awesome little girl, and Anna Kate is so blessed to be your friend!  Happy 3rd Birthday!!!

What do you do on Saturday for fun?  We shop at Costco!

Our kids were being so goofy and having a great time!

 

These were the last of the Halloween costume pics that I took of Anna Kate!  She and I have a little more time to goof off these days!

 

I’ll never forget how excited Anna Kate was to be a pumpkin this year!

Anna Kate is so easy to photograph because she is always so happy!

 

I love my little pumpkin head!

 

This last picture is my favorite because of the memory that goes with it.  Pumpkin fairy was holding her wings on her back and trying to fly.  It was hysterical!