Trip to the Bayou Wildlife Park

November 18th, 2011 - -

One Friday morning the kids and I joined my old Bible study group at the Alvin Bayou Wildlife Park. The park covers over 80 acres of prairie and woods where a guided tram ride takes you on an African safari type journey in which the animals can come right up to you and have a snack if they so desire. They both loved it, especially Catherine.

A few highlights of the trip included: the tram ride's rapid roller - coaster like descents along the trail along with a camel taking the food bucket from me - literally a tug of war and the camel won. (Jacob was very angry at the camels for robbing us - really he was quite mad.) Also a deer helped itself to a little girl's meal at our table during lunch which caused quite a stir amongst the little ones. And finally, we saw the largest alligator I have ever seen! It was enormous. They were also excited, but slightly intimidated in the very beginning as we drove in when the animals came right up to and actually tried to put their heads inside of the windows of the car!

Catherine was especially pleased to see a friend from Sunday school there too (the little girl in red.)

Sorry I didn't get many pictures on this adventure...!

Catherine's Zoo Birthday Party (3 years old!)

November 19th, 2011 - -

For Catherine's 3rd birthday party we did a little something different this year - we went to the zoo! So we selected a Saturday morning, invited the families of some of her favorite friends along with Grammy and Grampy, and packed a travel-friendly lunch, drinks, and cookie cake.

It turned out to be a smashing success. We saw all her favorite animals including the much beloved elephants, had a relaxed lunch by the water, and rounded out the day with a ride on the merry-go-round and stop at the petting zoo. It was a nice day had by all.

Somehow at the end she talked me into buying her another large elephant to add to her collection - it is hard to say "no" at the birthday party to the birthday girl! (Although Nancy (Grammy) and I tried to devise a scheme in which we'd each blame each other for the purchase thereby neither of us getting in trouble with our spouses for spending more money.) In the end I came clean.

"Happy 3rd Birthday Kit Kat!"

Visit with Grandma Toria

November 2011 - -

My mom "Grandma Toria" came for a visit in early November and it was such a treat for all four of us. One night she always takes our family to dinner at Mely's (our local Mexican restaurant) and this trip she also arrived just in time (literally from airport to preschool) for the kid's Open House. So she got to meet Jacob and Catherine's two sets of teachers as well as drop them off with me in the morning and see the usual routine. We had Chick-Fil-A and Sonic drinks at least once possibly more (something she misses from Texas) and she also treated them to a trip to Build-A-Bear which they loved! She started the tradition several visits back of "one new toy a day" which of course they delight in.
: ) She is a wonderful playmate to each of them and patiently plays with them joining them in their imaginings (I know their cousin Lily loves this play time with her too.) I wish I had done a better job "photo-documenting" as my sister-in-law Jenny says, but I will cherish the ones I did take.

Jacob Alexander... 4 and couting!

Catherine Claire... 2 and couning!

November 2011 - -
This week Catherine turns three years old - amazing! I thought before Thursday, November 17th arrived I'd take the opportunity to write about our youngest child and her life right now. : )

Binky Fairy

November 2011 - -

A week ago last night the "Binky Fairy" paid a visit to our house. It was a much anticipated visit and after a bit of deliberation we decided it was kinder to take her paci away from her a week or so before her birthday rather than ON her birthday. We had been talking about the Binky Fairy's upcoming arrival (Jacob too helped remind her) and bless Sesame Street for having an episode dedicated to Elmo (and Curly Bear) giving up their pacis. That evening we put all but two of her pacis in a basket outside her door for the fairy. She knew in exchange there would be a stuffed animal or toy. (In the night the fairy also managed to find and remove the two pacis she took to bed with her as well.) In the morning she had a special new stuffed giraffe and a new pair of pink elephant slippers in the basket. When she roused early that morning and realized she really had no more pacis she cried in my arms for about 20 minutes. She was so sweet with her grief it touched my heart. And since then she has fussed only a few times for it (her most difficult time without it being right after she wakes up from her nap) and has also talked about it openly with her teachers and friends. : ) We are proud of her for being both potty-trained and sans pacifier prior to her 3rd birthday.

Two sweet stories: on Wednesday Catherine and I were at Wal-mart and as we were entering the store she told me she was having a hard time with no pacis and that she needed a puppy (to help cope I suppose.) : ) Now she is wondering if Santa will bring one instead...?
Also, right after the fairy arrived a somewhat sad Jacob kept asking if the Binky Fairy had left him anything... So we decided we should double check his pillows and covers just in case. (The "Binky Fairy" then covertly slipped a small stuffed zoo animal in while we were searching.) : ) He was very happy afterwards.

As a side note it is important that the "Binky Fairy" be quite thorough as she has since found three pacis in her purse! ; )

Halloween Festivities

October 2011 - -

I let the kids choose their costumes this year with some hesitation only because it seemed they changed their minds on the subject often! However, time was marching on and I was fearful costumes would sell out so in late September Jacob selected Optimus Prime (a "good" transformer) and Catherine choose "Tangled" (Rapunzel.) Before that particular trip to Target, however, Jacob had professed an interest in being Darth Vader while Catherine had planned to be Jessie from Toy Story (a hand-me-down from Cousin Lily.) Here's the funny part - I bought the costumes and they wore them to Zoo Boo, around the house, Jacob wore his to preschool, and for our Halloween party here at home. BUT on Halloween night for trick-or-treating, Catherine wanted to wear the Jessie costume and Jacob in support of his sister wore LAST YEAR'S Buzz Lightyear costume. Made me laugh.

We had a fun month celebrating Halloween. We started our festivities with a trip to "Zoo Boo," which was perhaps slightly over-rated and much too crowded for me as with our membership this year we can go anytime, but it was fun for them to wear their costumes, see the animals eating their food out of pumpkins, and decorate their own mini-pumpkins with paint pens (Catherine LOVED this.) Plus, the new elephant exhibit was open finally which was a huge hit with our pachyderm-loving daughter.



The kid's preschool has a Fall Festival each year and I always try to volunteer to see them in their element. There are games for them to play, a treasure search, crafts, face painting (see Richie) etc. Hopefully you LOVE Catherine's Halloween dress. I bought it second hand and she hated it instantly (apparently she has a strong dislike of polka dots?!) but I couldn't return it and so wanted her to wear it at least once. After doing different bribery activities I was finally successful. : )

And finally we concluded our festivities on Halloween with a party at our house with some preschool friends and then pizza and trick-or-treating (see other post) with the Schubert's around the neighborhood. The kids wore their costumes for the party and in general strewed toys about and had a good time... We decorated foam pumpkins with stickers, painted pumpkins with paint pens (idea stolen from zoo), bobbed for apples - (this is always amusing - see Miss Addison), and decorated sugar cookies.