Caleb getting dressed

the shorts on his head, the shirt on his legs and yep, the underwear over the t-shirt
he came up with this one all on his own

The Zoo - May 22

Last Friday, the kids and I met Aunt Jackie and Uncle Chris at the Pittsburgh Zoo for a fun morning. Word of warning, the zoo is VERY popular at the end of May. There must have been at least 15 school groups there to visit as well- kids of all sizes from the little guys to the high school crowd. It was a little overwhelming for all of us. Add to that the 80 degree temps and humidity, and I was looking to get through as quick as possible (as much as I love taking animal pics). Well, to outsmart the crowds, we decided to go through the zoo backwards. The Pittsburgh Zoo is basically a big loop starting with the tigers and ending with the polar bears. We decided to hit the polar bears first and that was the best part of the day.

There are two ways to watch the bears. The first is from the ground level windows that show the swimming pool and rocks in their environment. If you go down and under the polar bears, you get to walk through a tunnel that goes through the swimming pool. It also lets you view the really cool tiger shark exhibit. Needless to say, we were very excited to get into the tunnel and see this guy enjoying a morning swim. We watched him for a good 20 minutes- and I snapped pictures almost constantly. I was so excited when I saw these at home.

Hope you like them too!

The Teddy Bear Picnic

Caleb's preschool is winding down. Next week is their last week. Today the teachers invited teddy bears, parents and siblings to enjoy a picnic lunch in the yard. SneezeBear and SadieBear were in attendance and we had a lovely lunch of PB sandwiches and bananas. Caleb seemed to really enjoy the time to eat and play with friends. The teachers even had a birthday cake to treat the summer birthdays (Caleb included).

The Piano

So we have some very generous neighbors who decided to pass on their piano to our family. The kids are loving it and here's the first video of them playing.

Caleb's Reading

So the boy can really read- granted most of it is just memory but he's also working on sounding out words! I decided it officially counted today because he started reading a book we borrowed from the library that he's never read before and he started right into it. At the library he was trying to read Dr. Seuss, Fox in Socks. Poor guy, Dr. Seuss can be really tough with all those made up words. He made it through most of the book though. It's pretty cool but has also led to a bit less sleeping- he tries to read even when there's no light in his room.

We're in trouble once the boy discovers flashlights and chapter books :-)

Sadie Says IV

Little Miss Sadie had a problem with biting over the weekend and unfortunately that meant Big Brother Caleb took the brunt of it.

After being put in time out- Daddy called Sadie over to talk about what she had done.

Daddy- "Sadie, why did you have to sit in time out?"
Sadie- "because I tried to eat Caleb"

very difficult to keep a straight face with that one... but the biting seems to have passed :-)

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Daddy also made the very daring attempt to grocery shop with the 2 monkeys while I was away on Sat. They did really well even though it was getting closer and closer to nap time. Eventually, Sadie had enough and stopped listening to Daddy which made Daddy have to put her in the cart (a punishment worse than death according to Sadie). Through many tears and sobs, she managed to plead with Daddy...

"but Daddy, I have to dance"

sometimes that's just how it is ;-)

Caught!

This is where I found the monkeys listening to music this morning.

NJ and Camp

So once again we're spinning. Just blink an eye and April is gone and we're in May. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. April was very busy with birthdays (Aunt Emily and Uncle Jason), Easter, photo sessions and an end of the month trip to NJ with a stopover at camp on the way home.

The trip was a little hectic made slightly more complicated by Caleb developing another ear infection Sat (we were leaving Tuesday for Jersey). We scrambled to get him into the Dr.s on Monday morning and after a quick exam, got our script and were on our way. Fortunately, Caleb has been such a trooper taking his medicine and aside from the fever, he's a pleasant little patient. We packed up and headed out Tuesday morning- with Caleb sick, it didn't make sense to send him to pre-school and then leave (the school doesn't really like that anyway). I was on my own with the 2 monkeys in the back seat. Oh, yeah, Andy had to stay home and work on saving the world from swine flu. :-) The trip out wasn't too bad but the kids did a lot of bickering and decided to ignore the bag of books between them. This made for lots of Mommy straining to stay calm and quiet them while not wrecking the car. We stopped for a quick lunch and then had to make one more stop for Tylenol when Caleb's fever spiked again. But we made it and the kids were so excited to see G'ma Jody and Papa Pat's.

In NJ we got to make a few trips to the playground and had a trip to The Turtle Back Zoo. It was very nice and the kids had lots of fun. Sadie was a little creeped out by the roaming peacocks but both kids loved the carousel and train rides. No breakthroughs in potty training for the week but Caleb and Sadie both continue to be more interested and willing to sit.

The week came to an end too quickly and Saturday we packed up for the journey home. This time with the addition of a DVD player for the car (the most wonderful thing for a car ride). The kids loved the distraction of Veggies in the car and I was able to manuever my way to I80 for the trek to Cross Fork, PA (aka Camp). It was a quick drive with the kids watching the movie and then passing out for the first couple of hours. Much easier than the drive out.

We got to camp and found everyone there ready for our belated Easter celebration. After supper, Grammie snuck out and hid Easter eggs throughout the yard. Then we released the kiddos to find them. The kids had a blast looking for the eggs and running around the yard.
It was lots of fun.

After the hunt, Uncle Sean, Aunt Emily and Cousin C had to pack up and head home. So we said good bye and then it was time to get Caleb and Sadie to bed.

Sunday morning started out fine. The kids were up around 7 and Grammie quickly stirred up pancakes. After devouring the pancakes, it was time to coax them into getting dressed. I went for Sadie first- she's smaller and usually puts up less of a fight. Took her pj shirt off and found a weird mark on her arm and then noticed the moving legs attached to it. I grabbed her and showed it to my dad. Then it was off to the ER. A tick had been snacking on her arm and with all the deer that are around camp, we didn't want to take the chance of pulling it out and having the head break off. Sadie was quite pleasant through it all- a 40 min drive to the nearest hospital, waiting another 15-20 min to be seen by the nurse and dr, then having to lay down on the table while the dr removed the tick. I couldn't believe how brave she was and entertaining to. She happily introduced herself and Pappap to the nurse and then was asking to see her usual dr. I told her he wasn't there but we would get to see his friend. That seemed to make her happy and then she got to play with some new toys. The nurses and doctor were really nice and took great care of her and reassured us that we were okay to bring her in. We left tick free and with another script for antibiotics all before 10:30.

After that adventure, I was ready to pack up and head home. The drive home was fine. A little less sleeping but not as much bickering either so I was happy.

Sadie continues to talk about her boo boo and is enjoying her medicine- we have weird children that look forward to medicine. And last night she informed me that I had a tick in my arm and we needed to go to the hospital. :-)

The bite seems to be healing well and we have a check-up next week with the drs- Sadie's 2.5 yr check-up and an ear check for Caleb.

And that's the end of April... :-)