Baby Shower

So, I'm catching up on March, then April, and maybe by June I'll be caught up with May. MAYBE being the key word.
March 17th we decided to surprise one of the couples in our Bible Study with a baby shower. I have never thrown a baby shower, and really have never thrown a shower without help, so I was pretty surprised at this one. Granted everybody usually comes over to our house for potluck dinner and then Bible Study. So we sent out a pre-e-mail to everyone but the couple informing them of the shower, and to keep it a surprise. It turned out great. The couple was surprised, so surprised in fact that they were wondering why we yelled out, "Surprise" when they walked in! Granted, I didn't decorate elaborately (basically had some balloons, a banner that said "Shower", and a hangy thing) so it was kind of funny explaining what was going on. We had a blast playing games, and then showered her with diapers.
Here's some pics from the event:
The first even was diapering "Evie" blindfolded. Ashley (mom) wasn't too shabby and was very methodical in her approach.
Dave (the dad) got the advantage of seeing how it was done and beat Ashley by a few seconds
Then on to Kim (due in May)

Her husband Brice had other ideas! Apparently he is expecting their child to scream a lot, and needs to have a way to muffle it!
Eric got a little carried away, and needed "Evie" to hold still by putting his body weight on top of her!
Stephanie, his wife was much much more gentle!
Lisa was the queen of diapering blindfolded with a time of 14 sec.

Next David & Ashley had to use some ingenuity and only use one hand each to dress "Evie." They worked together very well.



Our next game was a stroller obstacle course where the dad had to take the baby from the mom, strap it in the stroller and scurry through the obstacle course, which included finding a baby sock in the midst of the white clothes on the clothes line
Dave starts things off.
Chris, dad of four, shows off his skills. We threw Kebap in there as an added obstacle!!
Eric got off to a great start but forgot to strap the baby in...
...so valuable time was wasted figuring out the ridiculously crazy straps.
Brice set off determined...

...but got a little carried away and ended up throwing the baby back to Kim and received a time penalty.
Chris set out determined as well...
(Kebap thought he was going for a run with his master)
...but got greatly deterred at the clothesline...
...until Ron helped him find the sock inside another sock.

Our final game was feeding "baby food" blindfolded. All the men were blindfolded and had to feed their wives pudding. Whoever finished their bowl first won. Unfortunately all my pics were really blurry and didn't turn out well. It was a great evening and we had a lot of fun being silly together. I think that's the first time I've had that much fun at a shower. Everyone played along and didn't care how silly they looked. It was a blast!

It's been a busy, productive week

So earlier I posted about John learning to use the potty. Well the rest of that week (Mar 30-Apr 3)proved to be quite productive as far as milestones!
The next day (Tues)Ben decided it was about time for him to roll over (from tummy to back), and he did it three times, however, when I finally grabbed the camera to record this milestone, he just sat there and did his little pushups and refused to roll over again. So, needless to say, Chris never saw evidence. But, I did capture this instead:



Well, needless to say, John didn't want to let his brother get the last word in, so to speak, so the following day (Weds) he decided since he had pooped in the toilet earlier this week, that it was about time to pee in the toilet, and before bathtime, he did. (Note: he has been peeing the instant he gets in the tub, so we just stuck him on the toilet before we put him in to see what would happen). Sorry, no pictures again this time.

And, Ben decided to one up his big bro. (I can tell this is going to be a lifetime of trying to one up each other!!!) He decided to sit up by himself on Thursday. It wasn't straight up and down, but he definitely sat, sans assistance for quite a while. He still tends to fling himself backwards and thus we can't officially say he can sit up, but he definitely will stay still in the sitting position for quite some time!




I can't believe how fast the time is going. I'm trying to savor and enjoy every moment I have with them. I already miss some of the "baby" phase of Ben, but no that does not mean we are getting pregnant again any time soon! Still going to wait at least a year before that happens again, at least that's our plan!!! ;o)

The big 3-0! The rest of the weekend, aka the ZOO!

Finally, the last of the drafts from February to get posted

On Monday since Chris was off we went to the zoo. We have been wanting to do this for a very long time, especially since John loves animals, but our weekends kept getting filled. But, since the weekend was all about me, (so there was nothing else planned) I decided we were going to take the boys to the zoo. Ben was still young enough, that he would nap in the snugli, and John was old enough to really enjoy it. Plus, I really wanted to eat at Souper Salad, since it has been over a year since I've eaten there, and we don't have one in Killeen. Did I say John REALLY enjoyed the zoo. Well, so much so, that we realized we were only 1/3 of the way done and it was 1 o'clock. We broke down and ate at the zoo, so needless to say I didn't get my yummy salad (and I didn't notice that they had a salad on the menu there, or I might have actually been ok with eating there). Ok, so I totally just made this post about me and my lack of salad, rather than about the boys enjoying the zoo, so here goes our day in pictures:
Reading on our way to the zoo


The first exhibit, John & daddy checking out. Unfortunately these were the only monkeyish animals (the only disappointing part of the zoo, since the monkeys are my favorite)

Bald eagles...They were only allowed to have them in captivity b/c they were both injured and couldn't live in the wild. One was missing an eye, and the other's wing was injured. They were majestic, and invoked patriotism just looking at them!

checking out the numerous animals in the exhibit. I love the look on his face.

John loved the fish. He ran from aquarium to aquarium, trying to "catch" them

Ben also woke up and looked at the fish.

We couldn't figure out what this animal was. It looks like a beaver, except it has a long tail, instead of a paddle like tail.

A perfect place to explore

Checking it out.

Returning.

What he was looking at: alligators. Those things creeped me out. They do every time.

He was fascinated by the bears. Not sure if you can see behind his reflection, but there's a bear sleeping.

He wanted to play in the water, but we hurriedly moved on. It was quite chilly that day.


Mommy had to get in a picture

This raccoon was sleeping like this. As we were there, his leg dropped off the ledge, and he didn't wake up.

Chris thought this was the coolest picture ever. I didn't post a close up of what the owl is holding, but lets just say he made his kill recently.

Buffalo/Bison. Yes, we have these all over Yellowstone National Park, but we had to get a pic of one in Texas

Ben woke up, and daddy took a turn holding him.

We spent a lot of time at the lions. They were amazing, awake and interactive. The male lion actually roared 4 different times while we were there. It was impressive.

He was constantly pacing, then would stop and spray the rock, then would attempt to play with the female (see pic below)
who wouldn't have it
so he moved back to pacing.



Meerkats

John enjoyed looking at the meerkats.



I wish I had taken a pic of the giraffe standing next to the markings on the wall that indicated how tall it was, but I didn't, so here's a pic of him barely clearing the door.

These itty, bitty, deer like animals were right next to the ridiculously tall giraffes. Strange!

I love the pic of the giraffes in the background, making an "X"

Me and the boys enjoying some African scenery. If that building hadn't been in the background, it almost could've been the real thing!

Rhinos are the strangest looking animals. God sure has a sense of humor!

John climbed up on this bench while we were looking at the African animals, and posed cutely.

We realized that we didn't have a family picture at the zoo, so we took the cue from John, jumped on the bench and took one!
Yay elephants!!


The lemurs (I like to move it, move it...Madagasgar anyone?)

John "pretending" to sleep on the drive home. We found out that if he's extra tired b/c he's late for his nap, then we tell him to close his eyes and pretend to sleep, and he usually falls asleep shortly after that!

All, in all, I was REALLY impressed with the zoo. I was never impressed with the San Antonio Zoo, and in my head as we were driving to the zoo in Waco, I was like, "This zoo is in the middle of Waco, how good is it going to be? San Antonio is a huge city and its zoo is awful, and Waco is just a small city." Needless to say I was quite impressed with the foliage, and the true natural habitat that they created. (San Antonio claims its animals are in a natural habitat, but really, 1.)Snow leopards do not belong in San Antonio, and 2.) A small patch of area devoid of grass, does not count as natural African habitat for elephants & giraffes) The place was a lot of fun, and I know we will definitely go more, especially as Ben gets older and can enjoy it as well. Plus, the kiddos are free til they are 4. NICE!