Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Pictures from June: Missouri
June was a happy mon
th as Zion finished 6th grade (the longest academic year EVER) and the weather turned warm and sunny. The highlight of our month was a trip to Grandma Pam's house with a stop for camping at Blue Springs Ranch along the way. We stayed overnight in an adorable, comfortable cabin as the forecast was for rain...we went fishing and creek hiking in our favorite Meramac tributary, had a campfire complete with s'mores and songs, and caught dozens of baby toads and fireflies before staying overnight in our snug little abode. The rafting trip the next morning was cancelled as, true to the forecast, it poured buckets of rain. We visited the horses and fed them marshmallows before the storm hit, then packed it up and headed to Grandma's house. Building a redneck pool in the backyard was our big project for the week...imperfect, but refreshing. We loved seeing Betsy's family and watching Zoey play softball, and then having the whole Mullings family over for brownies.
th as Zion finished 6th grade (the longest academic year EVER) and the weather turned warm and sunny. The highlight of our month was a trip to Grandma Pam's house with a stop for camping at Blue Springs Ranch along the way. We stayed overnight in an adorable, comfortable cabin as the forecast was for rain...we went fishing and creek hiking in our favorite Meramac tributary, had a campfire complete with s'mores and songs, and caught dozens of baby toads and fireflies before staying overnight in our snug little abode. The rafting trip the next morning was cancelled as, true to the forecast, it poured buckets of rain. We visited the horses and fed them marshmallows before the storm hit, then packed it up and headed to Grandma's house. Building a redneck pool in the backyard was our big project for the week...imperfect, but refreshing. We loved seeing Betsy's family and watching Zoey play softball, and then having the whole Mullings family over for brownies.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Science Fair
Zion worked hard on his science fair project, an exploration of temperature and physics. He won an award for the most creative project in 6th grade!
Zen was on hand to help at the presentation.
Mexico Lindo y Querido...
I picked up this jersey for Zen in Mexico right before my surgery--it's a favorite of his!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Decorating Eggs
We decorated eggs a few times the week before Easter. We were joined one day by my student, Sergei. We went through dozens of eggs, but made yummy egg salad with them soon afterwards.
The Easter Bunny!
Zen met the Easter bunny. Our child is not too greedy--when he found out that the Easter bunny brings candy and toys, he asked for "wots and wots of tings--every ting!" He was pretty satisfied with the small amount of candy and the underwear that he got, though. 
ReptileFest 2011
Zion joined the rest of the Chicago Herpetology Club and showed his animals at the annual festival. He reconnected with a kindrid python owner that we met last year. We helped educate the hundreds of people that passed through that day. I especially enjoyed being down on the floor, watching the wonder on the faces of the kids as they touched and handled Eragon the snake and Annabeth the leopard gecko. Percy, the gecko who died a few months ago, was greatly missed, but we did NOT come home with any new reptiles!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Iowa
We got to spend the night with the Welsh family after our trip to Fun City. It was so nice to catch up with Vince and Tracy and see how Alex, Tori and Hudson are growing up. We went out for Maid Rites (it's an Iowa thing--you wouldn't understand!) and homemade PIE!!! (you just can't find pie in Chicago. We're more of a cake town). The kids enjoyed playing with each other.
A Few More from Fun City
More Fun City highlights: Zion won a THOUSAND tickets playing a spin-the-wheel game. We were relieved that he didn't cash them in for one of those giant stuffed animals (the kind that takes up a whole passenger seat in the car). He opted instead for a bag full of junk which kept him happy and entertained for the rest of the weekend. The Feeney girls took great care of Zen, 
as usual. We ate a pizza so large that it fed 3 entire families and still had pieces left over. Sam almost lost his life on the climbing wall when he came down upside down in the harness. Fun City, we love you!!
as usual. We ate a pizza so large that it fed 3 entire families and still had pieces left over. Sam almost lost his life on the climbing wall when he came down upside down in the harness. Fun City, we love you!!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Fun City!!!
We met our Missouri cousins at Fun City for a quick reunion. Fun city is a hotel complex in Burlington, Iowa--it's kind of like a water park/Chuckie Cheese/carnival/Casino, all rolled into one. We had a great time swimming, going down the water slides, and rock climbing. Later on in the evening the kids, fueled by junk food and giant lollipops, spent an obscene amount of money on laser tag and games. The fun continued back at our adjoining hotel rooms, where the kids partied and the adults caught up. We were treated to a fantastic surprise the next morning when Brent, Melissa, David and Luke showed up to spend the day with us. It's always a blast when the cousins get together! Enjoy the pictures!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
For Zen's Memory Book
Our computer crashed last month and we just got the new one fully up and running, therefore blog time has been somewhat limited (frustrating not to be able to post pictures). However, I have been meaning to post some sweet and cute "Zen-isms" for awhile now, so here they are.
Zen, at age 3, is alternately sweet and fierce, antagonizing his brother one minute and protecting him the next. He loves to "rattle" (wrestle) with Zion in the living room. They take off their shirts and put all the pillows from the couches down. Zion is much gentler on Zen, who will sometimes pull some real down-and-dirty wrestling moves on his brother!
Zen has learned all his colors and is starting to get really excited about the alphabet--he points out the letters that he knows all the time, wherever we go. All these familiar letters are associated with names of his friends and loved ones, so his conversations go something like this:
"hey! hey mommy! There's Brian's letter! See Brian's letter?" or, "MOM! I see my letter! Mine and Zion's!". He also is going through a stage where he thinks that if someone's letter is prominently featured on something, it "belongs" to that person. For awhile, he insisted that his boots belonged to Daddy because they had an "S" on them. He made a "J" for Jake and Jedi out of marbles the other day that he was very proud of, and Q sightings are always followed by, "baby Quinn!".
Zen has adjusted to the time change waaaaaay sooner than we wanted him to. He'll join us in bed sometime after 6:00 to "tuddle" and demand juice. He still has a lot of trouble with his hard c and k sounds, so everything is replaced by "T" or "D". He refers to Aunt Susie as "aunt tootie", which is also what he uses for "cookie." I sometimes think of her in my mind now as "Aunt Cookie," (which is cute because Auntie Susie is so sweet!).
Zen loves his Dr. Seuss alphabet cards and has had them for awhile now. When they were brand new, he decided one nap time to take a bite out of the corners of his favorites. This afternoon while we were playing with them, he laid out the ones he had munched on and commented, "I bite these. When I baby. I soooo bad. I not do that again." Zen has no problem judging others or telling them what to do (hmmm, I wonder which brother he got that from?). He'll tell someone "You bad!" especially if they are doing something he doesn't like. Zion is often on the receiving end of this statement. He also tells us all the time that something is a "bad idea." Such as putting him to bed before he's ready--"that bad idea."
Zen is VERY huggy and kissy right now. He loves his teacher, Ms. Goly, and will run to hug and kiss her as soon as he comes in the door in the morning. She says that he is very gentle with the babies in the daycare and also very protective of them.
Some of Zen's latest passions include playing "hot tea" (hockey) in the basement and going to the park to play with neighborhood friends. He is getting to be a good, big boy and we are enjoying him more and more every day of his life.
Zen, at age 3, is alternately sweet and fierce, antagonizing his brother one minute and protecting him the next. He loves to "rattle" (wrestle) with Zion in the living room. They take off their shirts and put all the pillows from the couches down. Zion is much gentler on Zen, who will sometimes pull some real down-and-dirty wrestling moves on his brother!
Zen has learned all his colors and is starting to get really excited about the alphabet--he points out the letters that he knows all the time, wherever we go. All these familiar letters are associated with names of his friends and loved ones, so his conversations go something like this:
"hey! hey mommy! There's Brian's letter! See Brian's letter?" or, "MOM! I see my letter! Mine and Zion's!". He also is going through a stage where he thinks that if someone's letter is prominently featured on something, it "belongs" to that person. For awhile, he insisted that his boots belonged to Daddy because they had an "S" on them. He made a "J" for Jake and Jedi out of marbles the other day that he was very proud of, and Q sightings are always followed by, "baby Quinn!".
Zen has adjusted to the time change waaaaaay sooner than we wanted him to. He'll join us in bed sometime after 6:00 to "tuddle" and demand juice. He still has a lot of trouble with his hard c and k sounds, so everything is replaced by "T" or "D". He refers to Aunt Susie as "aunt tootie", which is also what he uses for "cookie." I sometimes think of her in my mind now as "Aunt Cookie," (which is cute because Auntie Susie is so sweet!).
Zen loves his Dr. Seuss alphabet cards and has had them for awhile now. When they were brand new, he decided one nap time to take a bite out of the corners of his favorites. This afternoon while we were playing with them, he laid out the ones he had munched on and commented, "I bite these. When I baby. I soooo bad. I not do that again." Zen has no problem judging others or telling them what to do (hmmm, I wonder which brother he got that from?). He'll tell someone "You bad!" especially if they are doing something he doesn't like. Zion is often on the receiving end of this statement. He also tells us all the time that something is a "bad idea." Such as putting him to bed before he's ready--"that bad idea."
Zen is VERY huggy and kissy right now. He loves his teacher, Ms. Goly, and will run to hug and kiss her as soon as he comes in the door in the morning. She says that he is very gentle with the babies in the daycare and also very protective of them.
Some of Zen's latest passions include playing "hot tea" (hockey) in the basement and going to the park to play with neighborhood friends. He is getting to be a good, big boy and we are enjoying him more and more every day of his life.
Friday, February 18, 2011
More Blizzard Pics
I can't believe we had so much snow 2 weeks ago, and now we have nothing but muddy piles. At least we had gear for the weather, when it came.
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