Houston Zoo

This week was Spring Break around here. The weather was beautiful on Friday so my friend Jennifer and I decided to take the kids to the zoo. I had just bought a year zoo pass the day before and so we all got in free. It was great. The only problem... was everyone else had the same idea. It was still fun.

Here are a few things we say and did at the zoo. I think the elephants were my favorite. Here is a momma elephant and her baby. They were so cute together

Every time I go to the zoo I have to get a picture of this animal. I don't remember the name of it but it is cool. Ok So I just found out what this animal is. Thanks Tuesdee, It is called an Okapi and is from Africa. It is part zebra, part giraffe and part horse.

Of course there is a long horn at the Houston Zoo.

This little sea otter was so fun this day. It was so active and was swimming every were. I loved it. Well so did the kids for that matter. It was hard to get then to move on to the next exhibit.

And guess what this is. If you guessed a dog then you are correct. Yes the Houston Zoo has a dog. Actually there were 2 dogs at this exhibit. Crazy I know.

Here is princess Maddy in her carriage. She was such a good baby. Look at the chub on her legs. Wow!And last but not least here is the crew of kids. Matthew down front, Cole (stroller) Bethany, Kaycee, Micheal and Christopher. These kids are such great friends and had a blast together. Thanks for going with us. Side note: James went to the movies with the Markwalters instead of going to the zoo.

Cole's obsession

So my kids seem to keep having these obsessions. Cole's new thing is Thomas the Train and he loves it. For his birthday he got a lot of Thomas the Train stuff. Here is a picture of some of it. Then we went and bought him some more track to go with it all.

So between all the Thomas the Train stuff he got from his birthday to all the new train track stuff we bought this is how big the track is now.

From this...

...To this. Wow, totally cool.

And then here is all the trains Cole has so far. :)

Guess what Matthew did!

Well ok this post is actually on Kaycee but Matthew did it. Kaycee lost her first tooth about 2 weeks ago and Matthew pulled it out. She has had a loss tooth for a while now and wanted this tooth out. She asked Ben if he would pull it out and he said that I was a great tooth puller. Then Ben said "wait Matthew is the best at pulling out teeth". If you all remember Matthew is the one who loosened his tooth by chewing on an apple until it fell out. He was also the one that crewed on a pencil until the other fell out. So Ben referred Kaycee to the tooth master, Matthew. Matthew twisted the tooth a bit then put his nail under the tooth and pop, out came the tooth. Everyone was so surprised it actually worked and that Kaycee would actually let Matthew close to her. :)

This picture if taken right after the tooth feel out. See the hole in Kaycees smile. :)

The tooth master and his patient. Kaycee looks happy in this picture but right after it was taken and she realized what had happened she started crying.

All better minus 1 tooth.

More Explorer Fest Auction iteam

For the Explorer Fest for 1st grade we did pots with an Eric Carle theme. The one I was asked to do for Matthews class was based on the book "Today is Monday" Not the easiest book to work with. I was hoping for "The tiniest seed" or The very hungry caterpillar" Those books I could recreate myself. I in listed the help of a dear friend of mine. Dora Powell. She did a beautiful job.

Sunday the Monkey is eating an Ice cream cone
Monday the porcupine is eating string beans Tuesday the snake is eating spaghetti

Wednesday the elephant is eating a bowl of soup

Thursday the cat is eating a piece of meat

Friday the pelican is eating a fish

And on Saturday the fox is eating a chicken.

Thank you so much to Dora for helping me out on this. You did a wonderful job!

Our Saturday in review

This past Saturday was very busy. It started off with a soccer game for Matthew at 8:30 am. Here is Matthew playing the game. Matthew and one of his team mate. It happens to be his best friend Daniel.

After the soccer game came Explorer fest for the kids school. That started at 10am and yes we stayed the whole time. 2 pm. This is Matthew getting his prize for the football toss

Here is James doing the football toss. The only thing is he want tossing the ball the was pitching the ball. :) A bit hard at times

One of the fun things the kids got to do at the fest was hair painting. This is James sporting his new dew

Cole was a bit of... Well will just say a handful. This is what he did most of the day at the Explorer fest. CRY!

This is Kaycee with her friend Lauren. Aren't they cute?

After the Explorer fest James had a Baseball game. That started at 2pm. Luckily the coach's kid is also on our team and his mom and I are friends. She was at Explorer fest as well and said she would take James to the game for us. He had to be there 1 hour early. Thank you Pam. By the way mom Pam want to know when you are coming back down. :)

This is James on 1st base. He usually plays first base, out field or pitcher

And then here is James up to bat. The team did a great job. They one 13 to 12. It was a nail biter of a game. Last inning they were down 9 to 12. There were 2 outs and the score was I think 10-12 and the last batter got 3 people in. It was great!

Then after the game was opening ceremonies for baseball. This started at 5pm. Again Pam keep James for me. The game was over at about 3:45 and the team had to be back to the fields by 4:30 so Pam said he would just stay and that James could just stay with her. She also keep Kaycee as well. I brought Matthew, Cole and Maddy back home for a quick nap then went back to the ball fields for the ceremonies.

After Opening ceremonies was over my friend Diane and I took all the kids to Sweet Mesquite. A very yummy BBQ/burger place. She has 4 kids of her own and her husband was at work as well. The boys were in uniform so they ate free. Love those kinds of deals.

Cole's birthday March 2 2009

Here is Cole with his birthday cake. Its a treasure chest.

I think the cake turned out great. Can you tell the theme of the party yet? Diggin for treasures. What will they find?

Cole found a necklace. There was also ring pops, candy bracelets and candy rings

The boys, Ben, Mason, Dallon, Cole, Eddie and Joey

All the party goers Ben, Mason, Dallon, Cole, Eddie, Joey, Next row, Conner, Maya, Eddies little sister. Right now for the life of me I cant remember her name. Sorry Amy, Aden, Kasiana, and Josh

Opening up presents.

More presents. I think this was the best part of the whole day for Cole.

All his birthday party loot

Cole is real big into Thomas the Train right now. So we as a family, Im talking extended family as well, got Cole A LOT of Thomas the train stuff. This trains name is James. Cole liked that

Opening more presents. I think this was the Thomas the Train, trian station. Thanks Aunt Amber and Uncle Eric

Cole in the middle of the train tracks. :) He has since gotten more track. I should take a picture of all the track and show how big it has gotten.

Presents from Grandma and Grandpa Woffinden, Aunt Erin and Uncle mike, and Aunt Whitney and Uncle Alex.All his Thomas the train stuff from Grandma and Grandpa and Aunts and Uncles. Thanks guys!

I think I should have thrown Cole a Thomas the Train party. Not a Pirate party. :) O well right