The Knoxville Zoo

A couple of Fridays ago we went to the Zoo with our friends E. and R. We had a great time. The kids loved playing in the stream in the "Kids Cove" best. Here are a few pictures that E. shared with me. I have not yet had my photos developed. (I really need a digital camera! I feel like I live in the stone age.) Oh, and yes, P. did go with us, he was content in his stroller and I didn't want to mess up a good thing.

Fancy K.

K.'s favorite book is "Fancy Nancy." She loves to be fancy. She gets excited each time we are getting dressed and says, "Momma, do you want to be fancy today and wear lots of jewels?" (Jewels = bracelets and rings.) We often laugh that she will be an actress when she is older, but last night she informed me that she loved "fashion." Where does a 4-year-old learn such things? (That's rhetorical, we know it could only come from TV, which we do limit.)

We were watching the Disney channel (by the way, when did they start running commercials during movies?) and a commercial for those awful Bratz dolls came on. Of course, K. began begging for one. (I've put my foot down - I will not buy those dolls.) I asked her, "Why? Tell me what you like about those dolls." (I'm often curious about what is so appealing to her. Their trashy clothes? Their overly made up faces? The fact that the girls playing with them have sparkly hair, etc.?) That's when she said, "I want one because I love fashion. I just want to be smart and cute." Good thing she threw in smart. I didn't have a response. All I could do was laugh. I have no idea where she gets her love of clothes...

How quickly they change

Here are a couple of photos that show you how much the children have changed since last year. Time goes by so fast...

Matching outfits

Here are a few random shots of the babes in their newest matching outfits. (I love brother and sister matching outfits - I'm such a dork!) I also hope to have pictures of our fun trip to the Zoo with E. and sweet R. soon. We had a blast. Have a great week.

Progress in the pool

As mentioned several times before, K. has said this is the summer of "no floaties." She proved herself this weekend and is swimming like a fish - without floaties, of course. She has handed down her floaties to little brother, who has made some progress himself - no more screaming upon entering the pool, instead he is jumping off the diving board (he counts, it's too cute, "two, two, go!") and swimming around with his hand-me-down floaties. Here's pictures to prove it (you knew I couldn't resist, right?).

Happy Father's Day! (belated, of course)

Happy Father's Day to all you dads. My children are so lucky to have such an incredible dad. Thanks R. for all you do. We love you.

Car shopping

This past weekend we did a little car shopping - nothing new as we've been shopping for a new car for the past five years. Yes, YEARS. (Remember my spreadsheet-bearing husband?) We found one that we really like and after three hours and a lot of sweat from chasing the kids around the showroom we loaded up in a 2007 Sequoia. Did we buy it? No. We drove it home for the night and returned it the next day. Just a teaser for our neighbors. Hopefully, we'll have a new car by the weekend, but remember, I said hopefully. No promises that I'll be retiring Black Max. Anyway, she'll be an antique soon.

Here's a picture of how the kids spent some of their time in the Toyota showroom. I thought kids were suppose to be afraid of monsters. I guess ours aren't, or maybe Sulley just isn't that scary.

One more thing...

It's cool for boys to have longer hair...and he just had a hair cut!

"Oh, isn't your sister pretty..."

If I hear another old woman say this to K. one more time I think I'll scream! We've been out running errands all morning and every place we went there was at least one old person that told me that I had beautiful girls or someone who told K. her sister was as pretty as she was. Luckily, I do have K. who isn't afraid to speak her mind or to yell loudly to those women who are hard of hearing. Several times she said, "He's a brother! I don't have a sister!" or "He's a boy, silly!" Isn't she great? Above is a picture of P. in his pink polo shirt (Hello, old women of the world, they do make pink shirts for boys, too!). It's not very clear. I'm sure I've told you 1000 times...digital isn't great when taking his picture; he isn't still long enough.