Our trip to the Zoo

Last month I was lucky enough to have a few days off during the week so I took advantage of the time to take Shawn to the zoo.  Here are a few pictures from our trip to the zoo.

Shawn really likes the monkeys... and they liked him too!   They were very active when we were there this time.

Shawn also really likes the snake house, he thinks snakes are so COOL.

The obligatory picture on the kimono dragon.

We got to see the new Africa Live exhibit... and it is very nice.  It has lots of different exhibits and informative displays.

In the new Africa Live exhibit there was this life size snake... which Shawn thought was awesome!

There was also this creepy termite exhibit... it was really really CREEPY!

Then we were off to the kids area.  Shawn "accidentally" fell into the water while trying to jump across the stones.  His socks and shoes were soaking wet the rest of the visit.

We saw the aquarium and got to feed some of the fish.

We visited the petting zoo and Shawn really wanted to feed the goats... but they kept beating us to the punch and snatching the food right from the dispenser!  I really didn't want to fight the goat and try to get the food out before he had a chance to eat it all.  Don't worry, the goat isn't biting Shawn even though it looks like it in the picture.

The last thing we did was hit the sand box.  Shawn was having a good time until a little boy came over to play and dumped a half bucket of sand on Shawn's head!

We always like to end our trip to the zoo with a relaxing train ride but the train was out of order and I had one very sad little boy on my hands.  I told him it just meant we had to come back another day to ride the train!

Here are a coupe more random pictures from our trip to close out the post.

The Art Room Project

After my niece and great-nephew moved out of the house, I had to re-fill the guest room.  I wanted to take advantage of the space and make it useful for all of us.  Before the renovation, it was just a storage room.  Here are some before pictures of the storage area. 

I decided to turn the room back into my "office" and use the rest of the space for an art room.  This is what it looked like afterwards.

 

I cleaned off the bottom of my bookshelf (can you believe I still had all of my binders from grad school?) and put Shawn's games and large puzzles there so he could reach them easily.  I put in two plastic filing cabinets and filled them with various art supplies and smaller games.  I also used the wall space above the filing cabinets to display Shawn's art work.  For his birthday, Shawn got an art easel so that is in the corner of the room along with a folding table and chairs.  So far, Shawn and his cousins have really enjoyed the art room and have put it to good use.

So, what were Shawn and Ethan doing while I was so diligently working on this project?

Destroying the living room! 

My work is NEVER done....

Shawn's Birthday Weekend

WARNING: This is going to be a long post!

I'm not sure if many people know this or not, but there was a time when Jacin and I thought we wouldn't be able to have children.  We were actually in the middle of our second round of fertility testing when we found out we were pregnant... much to our surprise and the surprise of our fertility doctor.  So, every year I make a BIG deal out of Shawn's birthday because I feel so blessed to have him and to be able to celebrate his life and all that he brings to ours. 

The beginning of the celebrations started on Friday May 21st at school.  I took a giant cookie cake up to the daycare for him to share with his friends.  When GiGi and I walked in the kids were all amazed by the size of the giant cookie!  His pre-school teacher, Ms. Matilda, made him a big crown to wear for his birthday.  He wore that thing all weekend.

The next day, Saturday May 22nd was the day of the big birthday party.  Shawn had been talking about his birthday since January when we went to visit Pump It Up to put the deposit down.  He was so excited that his birthday was coming and he was going to play with all his friends on the big slides.  He even asked if he could invite Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny to his party!  Here are some pictures of the kids playing on the giant slides.  Some of the pictures are action shots so they may be a little blurry.

The kids getting their instructions on safe playing... notice Shawn wearing the crown.

CJ going down the slide

Zoe had a blast in the jousting ring, she took advantage of the opportunity to take grandma down!

Shawn and Silas           

Zoe

Jayden, Silas, and Ethan

Ethan, in mid-run

Jeremy, Leyna, and Lily Kate playing air hockey

CJ, Kristen, and Isaiah

Leyna crawling through the tunnel

Zoe (and maybe Ariel behind her but I can't tell)

Miss Lilly with her pink cast

Ethan and CJ

Leyna climbing again

My mom and my aunt even joined in on the fun and took a few trips down the slides.  I don't know who had more fun, them sliding or us laughing as they screamed all the way down!

Ariel having her typical once and event meltdown.

Then it was off to the party room for pizza, cake, and presents!

Shawn LOVED his big Thomas the Train cake.  A huge thanks to Amanda Pepmiller who makes the most beautiful and yummy cakes I've ever tasted.  She is so talented!

Notice, Shawn is eating his ice cream with a spoon and his cake with the wooden spoon thing that comes with the ice cream.  He also thought it was so cool that he got to eat Thomas' face, which is a strange concept!

 

 I hope all the kids and parents had a great time at Shawn's party.  I really appreciated everyone coming out and celebrating Shawn's birthday with us.

After the party we went home and Justin (Jacin's twin brother) and his family and Jacin's parents came over.  They weren't able to make it to the party but we had plenty of cake left to share.  Justin's youngest daughter Aria also had a birthday the same week as Shawn so we got to celebrate he as well.  Here is a picture of the two birthday cousins.

Sunday May 23rd is Shawn's actual birthday so, of course, we had another celebration.  This time my parents, sister, Aunts, and GiGi came over for lunch, more cake, and more presents. Shawn was very nice and let Ethan help him open the rest of his gifts.

All in all it was a fun and exciting weekend.  Shawn is still talking about his slide party and his BIG cookie and super BIG Thomas cake.  Seeing him smile and watching him play with his friends and cousins makes the whole weekend worth it!