January fun!

Things have slowed down a bit since Christmas and the holiday season and it's been nice to spend lots of time indoors, play with the new toys that the kids got for Christmas, and just catch up on things I've been postponing.  Plus, I think I've got a little nesting bug going on because I feel this urge to finish up a lot of projects and just get my life organized and ready before the craziness of having a newborn again happens.  Updating this blog and posting pictures of everything that's happened in the last few months was one of the things on that list and now I've done it, woohoo! 

Here are the kids practicing their handstands.  Abbie is taking a little gymnastics class with her cousins from one of my sisters and she loves it.  She comes home each week excited to teach Leah everything she's learned and Leah picks up on it quickly and likes doing it too.  Porter even gets in on the action and tries to do handstands, splits, and somersaults. 

They also like playing the twister game that they got for Christmas

Leah being a Lego robot, something she totally made up herself.  Silly kid!

I love the back, she didn't realize her underwear was showing until I took this picture and now she asks to see it all the time because she thinks it's funny.  I'm posting it on here so I can easily show it to her at any time and for posterity's sake:)

One of the few outings we've been on lately.  They had a free day at the zoo last week so we went with some cousins and it actually was pretty fun.  It wasn't too cold that day and not too crowded and the kids got to see lots of animals so I thought it was worth it.  I hate going in the summer when it's hot, smelly, and crowded and more often than not, the animals are just hiding in the shade anyway so you can't see much.  This was a lot better!

Porter was kind of afraid of the giraffes

The elephants were pretty fun to watch, the baby one kept trying to get some water from this little pond that was covered in ice and that was cute to watch. 

Our little boys are growing up!

Of course, the kids had to ride the carousel, it's tradition!

Everyone in front of the big elephant statue

Porter had to have ear tube surgery the week after Christmas because of persistant fluid in his ears and because he has some mild to moderate hearing loss.  We don't know if it's fully because of genetics or not, we have a lot of history of hearing loss between me and Jared's family, but to rule out a physical problem and to make sure we cover all our bases, we decided to take care of the fluid problem and see if that helps his hearing enough that he won't have to get hearing aids.  We have an appt next week to get an in depth test to see how his hearing is now after surgery (the audiograms we've gotten have been pretty unreliable) and then we'll know more and go from there.  Hopefully it's just enough improved that he doesn't need aids and that he'll start speaking better too!  Here he is after surgery, he did really well before and during the procedure but afterwards was pretty out of it and kind of mad at me that I let that happen to him.  By the time we got home though, just an hour after surgery, he was running around being his usual happy, active self.  Good thing kids have a short memory and are quick to forgive.

It's been a while since I've posted any pictures of my pregnant belly so I thought I'd better put something so I can remember this time and also to prove that I really am pregnant, not just making it up for those that never see me in person.  Here I am at 20 weeks:

And then at 30 weeks (last week)

Yep, I'm getting bigger and am definately feeling it now.  Overall everything is going great and I can't complain too much.  We're excited to find out what it is, a boy or girl, and we still haven't decided on a name so we have some work to do.  I've been stocking up on diapers, formula, and wipes, though, and have everything else I need for a boy or girl so I think I'm ready for the most part to have a baby in the house again.  I can't wait to see what this little one looks like!  Only 9 more weeks to go, 8 if I can get induced before March 31st like I want to (for insurance purposes, our deductible starts over April 1st).  Wish me luck!

Zoo Trip

We've had gorgeous spring weather lately so we decided to go to the zoo before it got too hot and it was perfect! I've never been one who likes the zoo, it's always too hot and smelly and usually the animals are all hiding out in the shade so you can't see much anyway. But this time it was in the 60's and sunny so I really enjoyed it and so did the kids. See for yourself:

We saw turtles (real and fake)
Snakes (this one's fake, don't worry)

Seals, this one came right up and was staring at Abbie

This one came and bobbed up in the water right in front of Abbie and Leah, so cool!

The girls loved this round window with an awesome view of the water

We also saw polar bears, brown, and black bears

The girls loved this ice wall where they could stick their hands in the "bear" paw prints

How I spent much of the day. It was great, Porter stayed happy and he helped keep me warm!


Porter loved the snugglie and cuddling with mom. I love his cheeks!

The cool fountain that the girls loved throwing money into

I don't know what Leah was doing here, I just thought it was cute so I took a picture

One of the highlights of the day, getting ice cream at the food court

We saw lots of other animals, birds, reptiles, etc. and it was a perfect day and time of year to go, I think it was my best zoo experience ever!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

Abbie's preschool had a zoo field trip last week (the title is from a song they learned and have been singing for weeks) and since it's been a year since we've been, we decided to go and brave the crowds and heat again! We had a lot of fun and both the girls had a great time seeing all the animals. Here's Abbie's favorite, the elephant!

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Jared and Abbie had fun in the insect room, I stayed clear on that one!

Leah loved the carousel but Abbie was terrified most of the time...
Until it was over, then she wanted to get back on!

We all liked seeing the polar bears and sea lions, mainly because it was air-conditioned in that room!
Of course, the only part the girls talked about after a whole day of walking around in the heat, trying not to lose a child in the crowds, and driving two hours and paying out the nose to see a bunch of animals sitting in the shade, was getting ice cream at the end. I think next year we'll just visit the pet store or Cabelas for free and then get ice cream and they won't know the difference!
Leah pouting when we licked her "drips"!

Silly Abbie!

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Summer activities so far...

Here's some of the things we've been up to this summer. We went to Palmyra, NY a few weeks ago and stopped in Niagara Falls on the way there.

We also went to the Sacred Grove...
The Palmyra Temple...
and Hill Cumorah.
We had lots of fun goofing around and seeing all the sights.
We also went to Arboretum recently. Here's Abbie smelling the flowers...

With a friend looking over the fence. I like how Abbie has her hands in her pockets. It's like she's thinking "So, what's up?"

Leah acting shy...

There's my smiley girl!

Walking through the peony garden.Lastly, we went to the zoo last weekend. It was pretty hot the first couple of hours, rained on us halfway through the day, and was cold by the end. We had fun, though, looking at the elephants...
Riding the carousel...

Watching the polar bears swim (and touching their big sharp claws).
It was a fun day but we were definitely ready to go home towards the end.