Happy Birthday to David!

My goodness, where has the time gone? David turned seven today! I certainly don't feel old enough to have such a big kid!


Isn't it nice to have siblings to help you open your presents? And the family demon...er, dog...lurking in the background!


David got a DS for his birthday last year. Seven months later the top was no longer fully connected to the bottom, thanks to being left on the floor too many times. The repair cost was a bundle, so he had to wait five months for his birthday for us to shell out the money to fix it! I shipped it in last Monday and it was back on Thursday - amazing Customer Service! So David got his DS as his big birthday present for the second year in a row!

Oh, and he only got 3 other presents today - a little Lego set from Katy, a Bakugan puzzle ball from Ryan, and a Star Wars Lego set from us. I was worried he's be disappointed, because we (okay, I) usually overdo things, but he's just really excited about the 4 things he got! I'm proud of him, and encouraged that the small Christmas I'm planning will go over better than I thought!


I am pretty darn proud of myself for whipping this out. I was going to spend $2 on a little tube of black frosting, then decided that oreos were close enough to black, about the same price as the frosting, and way yummier! And the oreo-without-a-lid made a perfect Pokeball button!

Awww, my big kid. I sure love that guy!

We went to the zoo!

You know that kids' song "We're Going to the Zoo"? It gets stuck in my head every time we go to the zoo. So the title of the post is actually sung to that tune. Only I had to make it past tense since we already went! And we've got the pictures to prove it!

So the second Tuesday of every month is $2 Tuesday at the Oregon Zoo. We went in September, and it was crazy crowded. We skipped October because we'd just moved and I had no extra energy. I was afraid we'd have to skip today because of rain. It's rained every day for the past 5 days, and the precipitation chance is 80% today and 70% the next three days. But we woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day! It was a bit chilly - mid 50's - but totally manageable with light jackets. So I figured we'd have another busy day with it being so nice, but it wasn't very crowded at all! Yay! We got there at 10:16 and didn't leave until 2! I think that's the longest we've ever stayed at the zoo, and everyone held up really well, even without taking a stroller. Now I'm exhausted though - anyone want to come do my chores?

What would a blog about the zoo be without lots of pictures? Enjoy!

It took quite a bit of effort, but Ryan got up here all by himself. He was very proud of himself!

Katy was happy to sit on the little one, which was fine by me! And yes, I did cut her bangs way too short yesterday. She raised her eyebrows while I was trimming them. At least I won't have to again for a while!

They had this cool place where the kids could go in and pet the goats, and they were so mild and calm with the kids!

Ryan says that this was his favorite animal at the zoo today. Really, all those exotic animals, and your favorite is the goats?

The Lorikeets were hands down my favorite! So cool! We went once near the beginning and spent $1 for a cup of nectar, then came back later and bought two more! The kids were so excited! I think Katy is just wondering why this strange lady is taking a picture of her. It was very nice, actually, I had my camera in a mesh pocket on the outside of my purse, so this random person said "I'm not stealing your camera, you just have to have a picture of this!" and got it out and took a picture for me! I'm glad she did - how often do you have a photo opportunity like this?

Here's us coming back with our third cup, and Ryan got one to land on him right away! See, Katy really WAS excited!

Ryan loved this one, and told me that he thinks it loves him too! It sat on his arm for a long time!

I had to help Katy hold the nectar, but it totally landed on her arm! I was a little worried that she'd freak out, but she just sat there and held it until it left!

Seriously, how cool is this? A beautiful bird hanging out on Katy's arm! Okay, so maybe I'm more excited about it than the kids...

So we had a really, really fun day. And all in all, even with 3 cups of nectar for the birds, we only spent $9! Not bad!

Halloween pics!

Dan took a bunch of great pictures with his good camera, but I'm unable to get them on the computer. Maybe someday he will and I'll post them...

So, here's what I got with my camera. First off, here are our jack-o-lanterns! I did all 3 of them all by myself (with the children designing the faces, of course) Halloween evening! Hey, we'd been without hot water all week, I didn't want to be all pumpkinified without a way to wash up! So the kitchen knives & I hurried and did these before trick-or-treating!

Here they are on our front porch

And here they are glowing for you! Ooooooh!

Dan had just taken a bunch of pictures of the kids all ready to go out, and I made them pose for one more. They didn't want to take a picture, they wanted to GO!

But apparently we figured out some way to make them smile! I honestly don't remember what we did that would elicit this kind of response. Whatever it was sure made them silly!

And here we are after an hour of trick-or-treating. As you can see, Katy's wig didn't make it. It kept falling off, and she was walking around holding it on, so I took it from her. Luckily I'd had the foresight to do piggy tails with the ends not pulled through, so everyone still knew who she was. And thought she was adorable! In fact, I was curious to see if she really got more candy thanks to getting an extra one here and there for her adorableness, so I weighed each kid's haul. David and Ryan got 2.07 lb and 2.08 lb, so pretty darn identical. Katy got 2.37 lb! That's pretty significant! Now to just resist helping myself too often...