Atlanta Zoo Field Trip

At the beginning of May, the Kindergarten Classes had a field trip to the Atlanta Zoo. Of course, I couldn't send my 6 year old to Atlanta for the day without going with her. We had a great time together, and with some of our best friends - the Nelson's!

Caleb's stocking up on the bottle and Clara was ready to give us directions. 

Andie and Ruthie being pink flamingos

Of course, we had to pose for every statue....

and picture board.  (not all shown!)

Caleb and Mom in the bird house

Feeding the birds

GORILLA! 

Our cute little nest of chicks!

This foot massage machine was running for free, and the girls LOVED having their feet tickled.  

Family Photo in the petting zoo.

Have you ever pet a goat?  Andie has.

Riding the carousel.  Had had just finished a "research project" on jaguars and found this one to ride on.  She was SO excited, of course, because they are the fastest animal!

Riding on the caboose of the train.  The girls thought it was so fun driving backwards!

Here we are, at the end of the day.  We had a great time and it was especially great to spend one-on-one time with Andie.  Yes, I had Caleb, but he is very low maintenance for the time being :)

Below are some pictures of just the animals.  We felt fortunate that every time we got to a new exhibit, the animals were active and moving around.  Yahoo!

 If you look closely at the Gorilla, she is holding a TINY little new born.  It was so neat to watch her just stare into it's eyes.  Andrea may or may not have gotten a little teary eyed. 

 how would it be to be a panda?  lounge around all day and eat bamboo.  ha!

Brighton Park Days

Much like the celebration of Pioneer Days, we recently held a "Brighton Park Days!"  Okay, they had nothing to do with each other- but we did enjoy getting together with our wonderful neighbor's of the past 3-4 years (we've been here the longest for 5 years and have been recruiting people ever since.)  There are 11 LDS families that live in our complex - which is a lot.  We often get referred to as the Brighton Park Branch.  We love it.  However, 5-6 of those families will be moving on this year - and it's sad to see our time go.  As much as we are excited to see all our friends move on, get real jobs and start another exciting phase of life - we will always remember the time and growth spent here in Athens, especially in our little complex of Brighton Park.  To start the day off - Andie lost another tooth (Happy Halloween!)

 Mr. Caleb - such a happy little guy.  He loves being outside!

 Here are the girls doing laundry.  Our neighbor has cut out different shirts, shorts, pants from felt and the kids wash them and hand them on the line to dry.  Such a cute idea!

 After the adult egg race, it was time for the kids to race around.

 I don't really know what this game is called.  I *do know* it was hilarious to watch and play.  Put and orange in some panty hose, place said panty hose on your head and try to knock over the 4 cups circling around you.  It did make it easier when you made elephant sounds!  (hehehe)

 I won.

 All the girls were cheering us on.

 My two handsome boys

 What a goofy grin.

 Tallest to shortest....not oldest to youngest. 

 Andie and Ruthie's turn.

 Adalyn's turn.

 Ali and Bri

Once again, a great time had by all.  Thank you Watne's for coordinating it all.  Thank you Kofoed's, Nixon's, Nelson's, Christensen's, Stinson's, Mildenhall's, Ingerson's, Rhinehart's, Sister Echard, Watne's and the missionaries for being such great neighbors!  We truly have been blessed!

We love our neighbors!

First off - the little man. This was back in mid-April and was the one of the first times he flipped the mat. It surprised him to say the least, but he now thinks it's so funny!

What a handsome little man!

We had a lot of rain this spring and so when there was a semi-warm, dry spring day we tried to play outside.  All of our children turned into little smurfs!  They had and have SO much fun playing together!  I love it!

So me your hands....and your faces.

All Blue!

Cute little May!

Adalyn, your hands match your shirt

This is little Anders.  If Adalyn had her way - she would live with him and have Heather be her mom.  Today (May 23rd) she announced to us that she was going to marry Anders.  (Heads-up Heather...we don't know where that one came from)

Jumping, running, dancing and playing.  We love the spring!

We sure have had great neighbor's these last 5 years we've lived here.  It's sad to think my kids are probably all too young to even remember our time in Athens - but hopefully we can remind them of the fun and stories through all these pictures!

The Bod Pod

Occassionally, we hear about different research projects from students at UGA and we participate in them, well, because you get money. This time, both girls got to participate in this study of measuring your body fat percentage. They got to wear their swim suits (score!) and sit in a machine called the Bod Pod. Basically a big GIANT egg. They thought it was SO cool.

Ali was the brave one and decided to go first! They were asked to sit really still and not move.  They sat in there 3 different times for about 1 minutes each while the machine worked it's magic.  I love Ali's face below. 

Andie was a little too excited when Ali came out and told her it was so fun!  She was anxious to get in and had a hard time waiting for the machine to recalibrate.

Here is Andie holding so still! 

The results were Ali 18% body fat and Andie 13%.  Both are in a normal healthy range for their age category.  Good Job girls!

Happy Birthday 5th Ali

Where has the time gone?  Yesterday I was looking through my pictures as I was downloading them to the computer and I have SO much to catch up on.  In the event that I ever decide to print this, I decided to pick-up from where we left off.  Ready. Set. Go!

Ali had a great 5th birthday.  She got that fun little kitty cat from her Grandma and Grandpa Broderick, who now has the name of Saraphina. 

She also got a hello kitty watch, which her cat wears, and a hello kitty jewelry box that sits on top of the fridge (so Adalyn can't get it!)

She had fun making english muffin pizzas too.

We invited our neighbors over for cupcakes in between general conference sessions.  It was a great time to get out.

She also got this cute Hello BYU Kitty from her Grandma and Grandpa Pratt.  She LOVES it!  She is definitely a cat lover!

I can't believe little Ali is five. She has had such a great year in Pre-K and has really grown and developed a lot. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES art center and loves to create masterpieces. Give this girl paper, paint and a staple - or any supply's for that matter and she is in heaven. Ali is so kind (when she chooses to be) and is a great little helper to Adalyn and Caleb. Her best friend for life is her big sister Andie. Ali is so sweet, caring and generally very happy. She does still love to suck her little thumb (stinker!) and if something doesn't go the way she anticipated, things can heat up pretty quickly - but who isn't like that? She love "all the girl" colors. She loves macaroni and cheese. She loves to watch movies and is looking forward to more time to ride bikes and SWIM! she is a little fish once we get to the pool. Ali - we're so lucky to have you as our daughter - you bring light and laughter to the family and we would trade you for anything in the world! Happy Birthday!

Hello Kitty Birthday Weekend

The party starts today!  Ali is turning 5 on Sunday and she is really into Hello Kitty right now.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought I would recreate it. 

I think she is going to love them!  Hopefully they will harden and I can transfer them easy to school.  At least I have proof that they look cute lying flat on the counter!  Now - to keep Adalyn out of them for the next 3 hours! 

Spring Break - UPDATE!

I FOUND MY RING!!!  I am so incredibly grateful and feel so very blessed by our loving Father in Heaven.  I had been doing laundry, and put a clean load in the laundry basket on the living room floor.  I just moved it and there it was!  Just sitting there.  WHAT a miracle!  What a BLESSING!