School Field Trip to the Zoo!

Little Man's Pre-K class went to the Zoo!  Some of the parents, including myself, volunteered to be "in charge" of small groups of kids...meaning we were responsible for keeping track of our assigned kids and not letting them fall into the Lion's exhibit or anything.  :D

It was such a nice sunny day, although a little hot by the end of the trip, and the kids had a great time!

 Little Man is front and center (white shirt)

 This goat in the children's barnyard cracked me up!

Look at that smile!

 My 3 Little Monkeys!

LM, "N" and "R"

 Acting silly

LM and Co and a couple of girls from their class

at the Elephant Encounter

Catch Up...

Pics from the last few weeks!

Easter Egg Hunting with cousin J

Checking out each others loot!

Happy 40th Birthday cousin A!

Little Man and Daddy being silly at the Birthday Party

Our 3rd rescue and return - Tucker
Sweet little guy.  His Mom and brother Max
were so happy to have him home.

Happy Birthday Little Man!

We celebrated LM's 5th Birthday over the weekend with friends and family! I can still remember when he was just turning 1. sniff sniff. Happy Birthday Little Man! We love you!!!

Here is a walk down memory lane:

LM in his official Birthday Hat.

1 year

I guess I missed his 2nd Birthday!

Here is LM at his 3rd Birthday Party.

"Can I take this off now?!"

LM at 4 years.

LM's 5th Birthday Cake!

Found these Star Wars tub toys online. Yay!

This is the look Daddy received when he asked

LM to take a picture in his Birthday Hat.

He now calls it, "The Lame Hat".

But then Mommy (me) asked nicely with a kiss on his cheek and he was all smiles.

Branson Trip 2012

This past weekend we took a trip to Branson, MO on a GROUPON trip! :D Package included 2 night stay, passes to the indoor water park, a show, concessions, buffet and the Fun Spot (arcade, bumper cars, putt putt & giant climbing structure with nerf ball cannons).

Little Man picked the Amazing Animal show and MAN were we impressed! They open the show by letting everyone know that all the animals are rescues and they encourage everyone who wants a pet to get a rescued animal. Then we watched tight rope walking cats, poodles that ride bicycles, huskies running obstacles, lots of other tricks and a finale with a cat leaping off a really high platform onto a pillow. LM loved it!

Then we visited the Largest Toy Museum in The World. Very cool! The Hubs and I were, "I remember that...I had that when I was a kid!" And LM found the big case with all the original Star Wars toys in it!

The indoor water park was great! A large structure with cargo nets, 4 water slides, spray guns and a giant 1,000 gallon bucket that dumps water on everyone, a lazy river, a hot tub for the parents and a little splash area for the tiny tots.

The Fun Spot has an arcade, black light putt putt, bumper cars and a big climbing structure with nerd ball cannons (LM fav). LM was too young for the bumper cars so we played putt putt instead. He's getting to be quite the golfer! :D

On our last night, we visited Historic Downtown Branson which was very updated to our surprise! The Landing is a waterside area with tons of high end shops with condos above, restaurants, fountains and outdoor music. Why didn't we visit this sooner!

Might try to visit again in the summer so we can see Silver Dollar City and Fantastic Caverns...maybe stay in a lakefront room. :)

25 cents, sit down, get your backside vibrated like crazy

and it rates your "passion factor"

The Hubs got "Sexy" and of course I heard about

it for the rest of the trip. :D

The Star Wars collection.

LM was SO EXCITED!!!

LM in The Bat Mobile!

Putt Putt with Dad!

The Landing in Downtown Branson.

Cousins

LM and Cousin J

So Sweet!

Saturday we met up with Cousin J, Aunt R and Uncle J and Grandma M at a local park. The weather was so nice and they had a great time playing followed up with some ice cream!

Spring Break 2012 - part 2

As most of you know, Little Man is a Star Wars fanatic as well as a big fan of LEGOS. Imagine how excited we were to find a Lego Star Wars Club meeting close to our town. So Saturday morning we made the 2 hour drive so that LM could join the club at the Lego Store and build with other boys his age.

Upon arrival they were given a special Lego Star Wars Club T-shirt with an X-Wing fighter on it. (Star Wars ship) The boys had the store all to themselves for an hour before it was opened for regular business hours so LM felt pretty cool. :D

The kids were split up into small groups and each given a cupful of random Lego bricks and asked to build a Droid (Star Wars robot type thing). Then they had to present their droid to the other groups and explain how they built it and the special features of their droid. At the end, they received a mini set of Star Wars Legos.

Let the building begin!

One of the boys explaining one of the features

The Club

(LM is front row, 2nd from left)

There were adults dressed up in Star Wars costumes so the kids could get their picture taken with them. I was VERY impressed with the whole event and LM said he wants to do it again sometime. :)

LM with the Madalorians and Jedis.

Spring Break 2012

When we saw that rain was in the forecast for the WHOLE WEEK of Spring Break, I was worried. But by Friday the weather was beautiful and we were able to enjoy some outdoor activities with Miss M and her Mom.

Tuesday

At Purple Glaze with

Miss M and Miss L (classmates)

Painting his blue dog.

Wednesday

Went to see Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.

Miss M, Miss L and Little Man

Friday

At the Zoo with Miss M

At the Elephant Encounter

Climbing monkeys!

More pics to be posted.

Pics!

Every time we go to the grocery store, Little Man wants to get something from the trinket machines at the front of the store. Our recent prize was a stick-on mustache! He wasn't real jazzed about it until he saw himself in the mirror. Hysterical! He couldn't stop laughing! I bet this is what he'll look like in his 50's.

Kinda makes him look like The Lorax! hee hee

Philbrook Museum of Art has a program for kids/families called "2nd Saturday". Admission is free, the kids get a box of art supplies and they have crafts you can do as a family. The weather was perfect so we took advantage of it!

One of the many pathways

Me and Little Man

Philbrook

Daddy and LM

It seems like winter is over (high today is 80 degrees), the flowers and trees are blooming and you see people getting out and about. Looking forward to more weekend outings!

Star Wars, Valentines Day & Our New Hobby

As most of you know, Star Wars movies and anything Star Wars related has been Little Man's favorite thing in the world (slowly changing to Ninjago & other action toys). So when Star Wars I - The Phantom Menace came out, we HAD to go! This is the only movie in which Darth Maul is featured and LM thinks he's so cool! LM is partial to the bad guys. Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Bobba Fett, etc.

Getting pumped up before the movie; LM & The Husb having a lightsaber fight.

LM (3-D glasses) and his friend "A"

LM's Pre-K class had a Valentines Day party, handing out cards and overdoing it with the sweets. :)

LM passing out his Valentines

LM, "J", Miss "M" and Miss "L" enjoying their snacks

Last week Little Man and I were heading home from running errands and we saw dog running loose on a very busy street. We turned around to pick him up and a lady had loaded him in her car but said she had a sick dog at home and really didn't know what to do with this one.

Since we lived close, I offered to take him (? - not sure of its sex yet because there was SO MUCH FUR and I wasn't going to dig around in this dogs business) to our house and try and locate the owner. Well, this big bear of a dog (Great Pyrenees, 100+ pounds) hopped out of her car and right into ours...taking up the whole back area of my small SUV.

We took him to the nearest Vet to have him scanned for a microchip and were told he didn't have one. So after a quick stop at the store for food (he decided he was riding shotgun while we were in the store), we got him situated in our sunroom (he was put out because we wouldn't let him in the house) took his picture and started making flyers. LM and I had just finished posting them in the area, calling local vets, etc, when the "parents" called. I had them describe the collar and bandana he was wearing and then gave them our address to come pick him up.

Turns out Boo (cute name!) was rescued by this very nice couple a while back, taken to the vet for grooming and a microchip (which should have been detected)...so I guess you could say he's been rescued twice. :)

This is the second dog LM and I have returned to its owner and now we kinda consider ourselves animal rescuers...like Diego! :D

Such a sweet giant teddy bear but LM and I both agree that when we do finally get a dog...it won't be a big one. :)

BOO

Catch Up...

Since moving to Oklahoma, we've tried to get out and about in the community for shows, kids events, etc.

About a month or so ago we went to see Jeff Porter and the Claptet, sponsored by the local Children's Museum. These guys are AWESOME! They make music by stomping, clapping, snapping and singing...they play instruments too but it's their "body music" that is most impressive.

Little Man said the one on the end (right side) looks just like Uncle J. :)

Today Little Man and I met a friend of his from school (Miss M), and her mom - who just happened to be in my CrossStream class, at Joe Mamas Pizza place for Saturday Book Club. It's a lunchtime story hour with give aways too!

The pizza was great, the kids got to toss pizza dough and Little Man won a Rio coloring book! They also had a "balloon guy" who made a Darth Maul double lightsaber which was super cool!

Tossing pizza dough!

Darth Maul double lightsaber!

Looking forward to more weekend outings!

So true. :)