Olga

This is a link to a friend's blog.  It's hard to read and think about, but I felt I should share it.

Exile

Some of the animals may have been lonely, too; they seemed happy to see us.

Due to a variety of germs, the kids and I are in self-imposed exile.  We don't want to give anyone else an ear infection, RSV, or strep throat.  It can be kind of lonely and boring in exile, though.  So today we went to the zoo.  It was actually a pretty comfortable temperature for walking around, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

This friendly lion decided she wanted to be in the picture, too.

The Party

I don't know why it took me so long, but here are pictures of Micah's birthday party.  It was a "wild animal" theme, and it sure was wild!  I think the final count was sixteen children, ages four and under.  I didn't really intend for it to be so crazy...it just kind of happened.  We had animal masks to wear, dance music, balloons, and a lion-shaped cake.  (There's a library near me that has a HUGE collection of cake pans you can borrow!  It's awesome!)  I attempted a game of duck-duck-goose with the "older" kids.  Some of them got it....some didn't. :)  Despite the insanity, I think we all still had fun.  :)

Hannah in her party dress

duck-duck-goose

thankfully Gramme was here to be an extra pair of hands

eating animal-shaped chicken nuggets for lunch

Here's the cake!  The cookie cutters were a Christmas gift.

Three years old!

haha!  I thought it was pretty funny that all that was left was the lion's head on a silver platter. :)

Three!

the original birthday

year one

year two

 

 

 

today!

Micah had a great birthday today, partly because I was sick.  Daddy stayed home from work to take care of the kids for me.  Micah got to play with Daddy all day, stay in his jammies, watch a movie, and eat his favorite foods.  He also got to open presents and play with his new toys.  Happy Birthday, Buddy!  We love you!

My Little Valentines

 Hannah has started eating solid foods.  She seems to like it more each time.  (Note the concentration on the spoon.)

She kind of looks like she's imitating the Gerber baby on her bib.

This is what Micah did while I was making dinner one night.  He rearranged the letters several times, but it just wasn't quite right....

Cuties

 Two of Micah's adorable girl friends came over to play today.  We made valentines, ate lots of grilled cheese, and had a great time.

5 Months

Rainforest

After being housebound by weather for several days, Meghan suggested we go to the Rainforest at the Cleveland Zoo.  Micah was super excited to have his friends ride in the van with us (OK, I was pretty pumped about it, too).  He and Carter talked and played happily all the way there and back (about an hour each way).  With them in the way-back and a buffer zone of sleeping babies between us, Meghan and I could carry on a conversation at the same time!  Have I mentioned I love my van?

We had to bundle up to get from the van to the building....

...but once inside the balmy temperature, vegetation, and lighting made us forget the winter weather.
 

 

One of the highlights of our visit was an adorable baby monkey. It was fun to watch the adults fuss over it, much like humans would do.

Swimsuit Model

No, we're not going swimming or to the beach.  But someone gave me this adorable 0-3 month bathing suit, and Hannah never got a chance to wear it!  I took advantage of a little free time while Micah slept in this morning to play dress-up with Hannah.  :)

And here she is showing off her flexibility.