Trip to the Zoo

Well it is officially Spring Break, but we wont be taking a trip anywhere since we will be headed to California in less than two weeks.
I did promise to Skylee to take her somewhere though, so today we went to the zoo. We took Jackson with us and met up with Austin and his family. It was such a beautiful day. It was in the low 70's and was so nice. Of course I got a little too much sun and I lost a nice gold bracelet I was wearing. But other than that it was so great. Skylee and Jackson were on their best behavior. No fighting, or jealous squabbles to speak of. He held my hand all day and Skylee didn't get mad and that is a miracle its self.

We started out with the chimps. And it was sooo cute. There were two babies playing and having a wild rumpus. One of them would do this run and roll move very much like an action star flipping over a car. LOL.

Despite being inside you will notice Skylee and Austin couldn't be bothered to take off their sunglasses. Such rockstars.



And of course the Camel was out so for $5 per kid, they all rode the camel. Austin wasn't really into it but since the others were wanting to he caved in. And I think he liked it in the end.


This was the only grumpy part of the day. After a quick picnic lunch we tried to get a group photo, but Miss thang wasn't into it! But the boys look adorable.


Look at these monkeys!!!


You know I am so bored by this petting zoo! Can't they get something else to pet besides goats? Isn't there some other kind of domesticated animal that would love to be swamped by unruly children all day? How about some pigs, lambs or really fat lazy cats.


Jackson wasn't really into this at first. He would stand as far away as he could and reach over and brush the but with the brush, very cute.


Skylee has no problem getting down and dirty with the animals. She told me yesterday that she wants to have 1000 jobs when she gets big so she can be rich. After Lenka and I explained one good paying job is better than several bad paying jobs, she announced she wants to work with animals in Africa. Do they have malls in Africa? If they don't Skylee wont make it. LOL.



Jackson wants to be a farmer when he grows up so he can own a big green tractor and a barn. He wants to have horses so he can lock them in the barn at night.


I think we have been to the Tulsa Zoo maybe 4-5 times. Never once have we ever seen a prairie dog in the prairie dog exhibit. Well today we broke that streak! Skylee now has a reference when someone says Bruno is begging like a prairie dog.


I love this picture. I am not sure if it is the look on Jackson's face, or the statues on the bench, but I really love it. This is in the Rain forest exhibit. It houses alligators, jaguars, poison frogs, anacondas, monkeys, and really colorful birds. If it hadn't been so warm inside it would have been perfect.


Fruit bats def a fave of Jacksons. He took a recent trip to the caves in New Mexico and really likes bats.


Fish bigger than the kids!


And the really awesome Jaguar. Poor thing paces in circles all day long. Is that a sign of being bored? Or maybe he is just contemplating the deaths of the small children banging on his glass.


Jackson giving his best rock climber face.


Break time at the park. I love that there is a big playground in the middle of this park. the perfect opportunity to rest while the kids play.


Peek a boo


Hey no one but us in here!


Sweet little Colton was getting tired but was still a trooper.


"matchy matchy" as Skylee says. Totally not planned, but really helpful when I was searching for one or the other


Waiting for the train. I think we finally were able to board the train on the third time it came thru the station.People just weren't getting off so we could get on. Why not make them all get off and reboard. It is only fair to all those forced to wait for an available seat.


But once we got on it was great. All three sat in the caboose and loved it!! they ate popcorn and took in the sights.


Last but not least they rode the carousel and we were off.

Spring is in the air

So on the first official day of spring.... snow storm!!! We had eleven inches of snow fall



And the day after??? Melted! The yard is now a soggy mess and Skylee is okay with that. I don't think I will ever get used to the way the weather changes here.




Skylee went to a friend's birthday party last weekend. I had to work so I didn't get any photos of the party, but I did get one of her before she left. We made a cute little pirate costume since the birthday was a pirate party. Not bad since the only thing I purchased was the black/white striped material, I had everything else on hand.


And of course St Patrick's Day. We spent the morning playing at a local pizza place with our friends while our corned beef cooked at home. It turned out so yummy, I even made a soda bread to go with it. Skylee wouldn't eat anything but the vegetables, including two helpings of cabbage.

Birthday Skating!

Happy Birthday Skylee! It is hard to believe that she is five. It seems like yesterday that she was the chubiest little baby with legs to rival the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. She had her party at the Jones center this year. We had a great time ice skating, especially since Skylee now has double runner ice skates. Sorry that there aren't very many pictures. I had to ask someone else to take pictures since I am the only one in the family that knows how to skate. That person didn't take very many and most are super blurry. So as I like to tell Skylee.. You get what you get and you don't get upset!

Here we are adjusting the new skates. It is super cute to see her skate. She runs real fast and then basically slides across the ice. They give her an amazing amount of confidence and that is the key!


Paula and Lenka are the only girls I know that can skate! Here is Paula and Abe looking FABULOUS!


And here is Mr. Austin, Skylee's #1 man. LOL. Just don't let him hear you say that. I just know Skylee is going to be so sad when he and his family move to North Carolina this May.


Here is another preschool friend, Carlee Ann. She is a super sweet girl that Skylee really enjoys
playing with.


We had a little craft area set up so that there was something other to do than ice skate.


After all that she was super tired. I told her that now she is five and that means no more sleeping with other people. So here she is with Flower. Ah and if anyone is in the market for a kitten, just let me know. I am pretty sure that we should have kittens mid-April. I saw a Siamese cat and all black cat stalking our home a few weeks ago, but who knows they may be part Dachshund.


Our playgroup had a winter dance and Skylee loved it. We even got Damien to show up for a little bit. The kids danced, played games and had a wonderful time! Don't you love the dress she picked out? I think the cowboy boots really complete the outfit. For some reason we had no idea where her little black shoes were and in a pinch the boots worked.




Would it really kill him to smile? Men.


These girls were so funny! They all dressed up so cute!



Today she had her Kindergarten physical. She weighed 47 lbs, and is 44 3/4 in tall. So she is in the 80% in both. She will be taller than me for sure most likely 5'7" or so. Everything was great but she reccomended a hearing test since her speech isn't as clear as she should be, so we will see how that goes.

Snow snow snow.

Here is the doll with matching outfits that Grandma Cheryl sent at Christmas time. Skylee insisted that I do her hair exactly like the dolls. She is really into the matching outfits, so now I have to look at Dillards for matching dresses that she and her doll can wear.

And speaking of hair did you know that our cat Flower asked for a hair cut? According to Skylee she did. I saw Flower and thought maybe she had been in a fight outside, but then I looked closer and saw this....



Not that Flower seems to mind at all


Now I know what my childhood was lacking... snow! It is amazing to see the school closures when it snows. How come California never had that? The closest we ever got to that was a smog alert. And even that meant you couldn't go out for recess. Of course the thing I could do without is the ice. It is nasty. Impossible to drive on and makes our steep driveway a mess. Can you believe I actually got my happy ass out there to shovel the driveway?




We built a snowman this morning and it turned out pretty good!


Skylee made this huge snowball and had a great time pretending it was a horse. I think it was even funnier when she would lose her balance and fall off, face planting in the snow.


Birthday time is coming up! Skylee and one of her "boyfriends" Austin have bdays pretty close to each other, so they had a joint party with their playgroup. We went to a local pizza place and they had a great time. Skylee even won 1000 tickets all on her own and she was very happy about that.

I will have more to post later this week. We are having an ice skating birthday party on Saturday so that should be fun for all.

Quick little update

So no new pics since I am lazy on that aspect. I am currently sitting at work watching the ice come down. Growing up in Southern California, I never imagined that I would one day live where it got below 50 degrees. It is currently sleeting outside, now for my California friends... that means itty bitty ice pellets flying out of the sky. These little ice pellets will always smack you straight in the open eye, or in your ear... it never fails. It is supposed to later snow with total accumulations of 5-6 inches. The only bad thing about working in law enforcement.. there is no holidays off, or snow days. But the good thing is I have have to be here. And if that means they have to pick me up and drop me off, then that is what they will do. LOL.

Skylee is doing great, despite the walking pneumonia that has her coughing horribly. But all it took was me bringing home a new Scooby Doo dvd to be pronounced.. "the best mom ever". Man will it always be that easy?

Christmas Round up

So it is finally over! It has been a busy busy month, hence not many posts. Between going to work, gym, preschool, the playgroup and shopping for those bargains I feel like I need a vacation. LOL.
Overall everything was great so here we go with the round up...


I took Skylee to the Crafty Cottage in Bentonville to make some Christmas gifts and she had a great time painting a statue for herself! This kid loves art of any kind, but she really loves that "paint your own pottery" stuff.


And just who thinks giving makeup to a 4 yr old is a good idea? She insists on applying it herself and then going out in public. How would you feel going to the mall with a kid that looks like this? LOL. Can I hang a sign on her that says "I did this to myself" ?


We met with friends for a dinner at AQ Chicken with Santa. This is the only Santa we had our pic with this year. It really pisses me off but apparently all the Santa's around here will not allow you to take a picture on your own camera. they force you to buy their expensive and lousy pictures.


She saw me ironing my hair and really wanted me to do it for her. So about 20 minutes later it was done. She was such a sport and did great while I ironed. We then went to watch "The Princess and the Frog" and she liked the movie. They sure do have the Cajun speak down in that one. LOL. The next day she wore her hair straight for preschool. Austin came walking in and Skylee's words?
"Hi Austin, notice anything different?"
Not missing a beat, he replied "Nice hair"
Good boy!! His Daddy has him on the right path! He dodged his first girl bullet on that one.
Best part about the straight hair.. she finally allowed her hair to be cut. So they gave her a trim and a little bit of layers.
She had her Christmas party at school where they decorated cookies, and strung beads on pipe cleaners. Fun was had by all. That night they did their Christmas program. I am still awaiting a copy of the performance from Tracy and as soon as I get it I will post it.



Christmas was fun! Despite the look of the pic it wasn't as bad as previous years. Hopefully you can ignore the toy box mess besides the tree. We woke up to 4 inches of snow, and I think that was Skylee's fave gift.


Bruno and Flower shared a stocking this year and his fave toy was this honking goose. He kept trying to get someone to play with him while we opened our gifts. Doesn't he look so cute in his sweater? He is finally feeling better. The dweeb pulled a tendon in his paw and carried on just like a man. He insisted on being hand fed cheeseburger patties, and water. After a quick trip to the vet and a steroid shot he was back to normal the next day. He is up to 16 lbs. who would have guessed since both of his parents were 6 lbs.


Skylee loved all her gifts.


She received the almighty Zhu Zhu pet with accessories! Yeah me!! I guess that four hours in line at Toys R Us paid off!!


After that it was time to head outside to play in the snow. Bruno didn't like it unless someone was out there with him.


Here is the gas powered four wheeler Papa got Skylee for Christmas. Unfortunately we couldn't get it to start so Pop took it back to the Honda dealership yesterday to get fixed. I sure hope insurance copays come along with this gift. She did get a helmet and he says he turned it down.. cros your fingers for us!


What would Christmas in Arkansas be without a gingerbread Santa Pig? Freaky Razorback fans!


And last but not least here is a little bit of Flower and Bruno playing. They are such good friends. They get along really well even though I have a feeling she is going to be bigger than him.