Peacocks and turtles and eagles, oh my!

H's class took a field trip to the zoo! They made dinosaur t-shirts a couple of weeks ago so they would all be matching,  H was "Harrisaurus."  He was so excited, and would tell me every day that he needed to wear his dinosaur t-shirt and bring a lunch.  And, of course, ride the bus!  The bus is still exciting, but not quite as exciting as it was for their first field trip in the fall.

The first animal sighting was the flamingo!  The kids were so excited, and were standing like the flamingos and flapping their "wings" when the flamingos flapped theirs.  

 All of the kids.  (This was two preK 4 classes combined.)  

 This was my favorite.  So beautiful!  It did spread its wings out, and the kids loved that.  

 This was one of H's favorites.  He counted them all (there were about 9) and noted what they were eating.  The girls were all well behaved, but we really had to watch some of the boys to make sure they didn't stick their fingers or any sticks into the cages, or hit the cage/tank walls, etc.   Thankfully H wasn't among that group... The differences between boys and girls....

H was also very interested to see the Bald Eagles.  He has an Eagle puppet, and sees a lot of them flying around the roads (in the form of vultures).

 Resting on the rock.

The kids started out great, but after about an hour or more of walking in the hot sun, they were all asking when it was lunch time, when we could go, etc.  They were tired and worn out!

 There was some of this on the way home.  He said "Mama, can you carry me home?  I'm too tired to carry my legs!"  He was one tired little boy, but loved seeing all of the animals, and is already making plans for us to bring C for a visit!

 Sunshine selfies at the zoo!

H and his buddies!  

Karly is his best friend and they are super goofy together!  

Black Bayou in the spring

 We noticed that H's shirt "Camp-flaged" (camouflaged) with the blue goose.

It has been so neat to go to Black Bayou several times throughout the year to see how it changes with the season.  Lush and green, to bare, to sparse, to lush and green again!  This time it was so green everywhere, and there were also ants, mosquitoes, birds, frogs, and more!

 Checking out the baby alligator in the visitors center.  They love to see the animals there (snakes, fish, gar, alligator, turtles, a salamander), and are interested to see the big fish (can't remember the name) with his mouth underneath his body who "eats all of the rocks and then spits them out." (H)

 H made a fan out of a seed pod and was fanning a little centipede on the bench.  C was busy looking for SweetHart's "white duck" (white heron that they saw when she was here).

 We decided that the Cypress leaves looked like little green feathers.

 The boys are running to the end of the dock. 

There has been so much rain lately, that the water was right up to the very edge of the boardwalk, both where it was normally dry and over the bayou.  I'm sure the levels were over the boardwalk a few days before. 

 Hello, Frog!

All of the other frogs we saw were dime sized and you couldn't see them until they started to hop away from your feet.  They camouflaged with the rocks and leaves on the ground.  There were so many!

 Come on, Mama!

It is all so green!

H switched out his usual map for a bird guide, and was certain he saw or heard some of the ones in the pamphlet.

This is the picture C wanted me to take of him at Black Bayou.  He loves Jeeps!  Every time he sees one he says "Beej" (Some how Jeep just won't stick.)  The first time he noticed one I was trying to put him in his car seat and he grabbed on to the car door and wouldn't let me put him in his car seat so he could look at the car. He was about 18 months old at that first sighting.  His grandfather (Pop) has a love of Jeeps too, especially the older ones.  It must be genetic!  Pop kindly offered to get one for C, and "look after it" until C is old enough.... 

Snapshots

 Sweet naptime sleepiness!

 This was from Easter, but I just like the picture of C and Missy!

 We went to see "That Bird Movie" (as H calls it.  Rio 2).  The boys liked it.  About 30 minutes into the movie, H asked when it was going to be over, but then settled into it.  C started out fine but then started dancing, and doing flips on his chair.. But we made it and enjoyed it.  I make sure we sit on the back row and next to the aisle so that our dancing and flipping won't bother anyone!

 I was doing "Oga" (What the boys call Yoga) and it was not quite as productive as it usually is for some reason...(when they are asleep!)

"I'm drawing purple lines on our sidewalk because its very important."

Yes!  It is!

Happy Easter!

 Our buddy, Alex, (and his Mama) invited us to the Easter Egg Hunt at their church this weekend.  What fun we had!  There were some Easter related activities, and then an egg hunt!

(Thank you, KK for the bunny ears!)

 We made "Empty Tomb rolls for breakfast on Saturday (roll cinnamon and sugar on a marshmallow and wrap it in a crescent roll, after baking it is "empty").  They were delicious and easy!  So fun to have all of these ways to reinforce the Easter story.  (Thank you Pinterest!)

Egg decorating.  

H said "These eggs are from the Easter Patch.  Say your Hosannas, boys!"

There were a couple of cracked/smooshed eggs, but we did end up with some cute monsters. 

(I tried the muffin tin baking method that I saw on Pinterest and it worked great!  325* for 25 minutes).

 Hello!

 C was a little slow in collecting eggs, because he had to stop after each egg and check out what was in it, and then reassemble it before moving on to the next.

 H and Alex.  These boys together can be busy and fun, but they do have a good time.

 Egg hunt in and out of our house on Easter morning. The boys got bubbles, little Easter animals, and some other this and that from the Easter Bunny.  Tatum was excited about finding eggs too!  And Horton thought the eggs were excellent toys to scoot around the house.

 "Sealing the tomb"  We made Resurrection Cookies the night before Easter, where each ingredient/step of the recipe is a symbol of something that happened in the Easter story.  It was a great activity for them.  They seemed to "get it." And enjoy them! We shared the cookies with our neighbors.

 Another egg hunt with Mary Ann after lunch at Nanny's.  

(We have soooo many eggs at our house now!)

 Loving on Nanny.

We stopped by to visit with PawPaw and Missy on Easter afternoon.  The boys had a great time at church, Nanny's, and PawPaw and Missy's, but after, C said "I'm tired.  I want to go home."  

Easter was great from start to finish, and what a nice time to spend with family and friends. 

Easter warm-up

I had a few extra minutes while I was running an "official school business" errand and was able to swing by the boys school for their Easter party and Egg Hunt.

I got to spend a few minutes with H's class while they sang songs, did a few Easter activities, and ate ice cream sundaes!  (H was so very excited for the cherries and sprinkles!  Who cares about ice cream...)

H with the Easter bunny.  Cute!

H said the bunny was cozy.  C said "I'm scared to that bunny."  Remember how much C loves (is terrified of) the big Chick-fil-A cow and the Chuckee Cheese Mouse?

C's class was having their party later in the day, but I was able to see the egg hunt.  So cute!

His class, getting ready to go outside.

I got there just as they were reviewing shapes and counting to twenty.

"Put a finger on your lip, and a hand on your hip!"

Lining up on the bench to get their Easter basket.
C's Easter stamp artwork is on the wall right behind him.

His teacher, Miss Jessica, said "1-2-3, GO!" and they all took off running for the fence on the opposite side.  I don't think they had any idea what they were doing.  Finally one child put an egg in their basket and then the others got the idea.  Can you find C in the picture?

Finding eggs.

Look at my egg!

 Checking out his eggs with his buddies.

Just getting ready for the egg hunts to come this weekend!

Snapshots

 These two... I tried to take nice, generic pictures of the boys smiling sweetly, and the pictures turned out alright, but the ones I liked best were these two of the boys being their normal silly selves.  

These boys are anything but generic!

(H insists on having his shirt buttoned all the way up) 

"Roads" by C.   

 The boys were feeling the blues one Sunday night... At one point Tatum and Horton were sitting down watching the boys play.  The song became quite animated at one point with brief solos on various instruments.

 Horton found a basket that was just the right size for him!

C woke up way too early one morning this week, but he was sooo happy to get to watch a little bit of Frozen.  He asks to watch Frozen every day after school, and loves "Ohnna" (Anna) the best.  Towards the end when Kristof (sp?) and Sven are racing down the mountain he starts yelling in a very low and manly voice "get 'em boy!  Faster boy!" over and over!  It gets quite exciting, especially when he starts jumping on the trampoline too!

The Furry Files

 Sweet Tatum, what a good companion!  I'm so glad I made the choice to get him last year!  He is a good playmate for the boys, and a good companion for me when they are away.

 Little Horton.

He has just fit right into our little home!  He is very playful and loves to snuggle and be loved and will meow at you until you love on him!

 Snuggle buddies.  In the morning, I often find these two snuggled up together.  And sometimes Tatum goes to his kennel at night to get away from Horton when he tries to attack Tatum's tail all night long...

One morning, shortly after we got Horton, I woke up to a strange noise and realized that Horton was trying desperately to nurse on Tatum.  Tatum was looking at me like "what have you done???"  

 Horton has discovered Tatum's kennel.  They like to snuggle and play and chase and fight together.  

I got a little laser pointer, thinking that Horton would like it, but Tatum loves it!  He goes absolutely nuts over it!  I can keep him chasing that tiny red dot up and down the house for a good fifteen minutes - until he is just worn out!  No need to play fetch with him when he has that red dot to go nuts over. 

 Horton has Panda paws!  So cute!

H likes to make Horton dance and sing....