zoo

Zoo monkeys.

My monkeys.

Instead of Black Friday shopping we went to the zoo. Most of the animals were out, active, and putting on a show. I sat and watched the above Bonobo's for 10 minutes. The momma is 42 years old, the oldest at the zoo. Her baby is 7 months. For some reason I was fascinated. But we moved on. We saw other monkeys and elephants.

Tried to pet the stingrays, but the girls are still a little scared of them.

Rode the train.

Got attacked by a rhino.

And climbed on the jungle gym and hid in the treehouse.

This was Morgan's first trip to the zoo since last summer. So it was really the first time she's been old enough to know what the animals are. We all had such a good time. Hopefully we can make it back soon. I forget how fun it really is.

thanksgiving

This year was pretty low key. I cooked a ham and a few side dishes and then we walked 10 feet to the neighbors house to eat with them. The weather was perfect and the kids ran around in the backyard for hours. These were the only pictures I took that day.

Morgan actually poses for pictures.

The ham was a hit. Both the girls ate really well.

After all of the festivities the girls wound down by building a fort in Morgan's crib. This is one of their favorite places to hang out.

The rest of the weekend was spent potty training and putting up Christmas decorations. I did a little shopping, but nothing like the hardcore Black Friday marathoners. I realized that I could do my shopping at Target.com and have it all delivered to my house. For free!

I'm thankful for so many things. My family, my friends, and all the blessings in my life. These girls are my world and I thank God everyday for letting me be their mother.

legoland

Legoland opened recently and we got a good deal on tickets through AAA. I've heard good things about it being the perfect park for kids our age so we decided to give it a try. I was a little worried with this being their first time waiting in lines at a park, but they did really well. Lucky for us most of the wait times were only 20 minutes or so. There was a lot of this while we waited.

They loved the rides. Addison rode her first real roller coaster, complete with a big drop. It was the very first part of the ride and the rest was pretty mild. She totally freaked out and wanted to get off, but did well. I think a part of her thought it was exciting.

There was a lot of Legos. I was even impressed. Look at this octopus. It's huge! R2-D2 was my favorite and I tried so hard to get both of the girls to pose for a picture. No go for Addison, but she obliged in front of the shuttle.

My girls always love the carousel. This was the second time we rode it. We caught it at the end of the day as we were leaving the park. You can tell they were exhausted.

We had a great day. The weather was hot, but perfect. The kids acted great, except for those 15 minutes where Morgan completely melted down. She was tired and hungry. After lunch and a nap she woke up to tell me, "I not cranky anymore". There's a couple of things we didn't get to do so we'll definitely consider going back. Highly suggested for those with younger kids.

tennessee reunion

Last weekend we went to Tennessee. We briefly saw family and the girls had a blast spending time with their grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins. But the real mission of our trip was a get together with Michael's college friends and a dreaded TN football game.

After getting the kids all situated we left Friday evening for dinner with the crew. A restaurant where you BYOB is dangerous. Not for me because I don't drink much, but let's just say that others were definitely reliving their college days.

After dinner, I ran over Scott's foot. With my car. He was is in pain and just like we mostly do when all of us get together, we all laughed. I was worried that the next day it wouldn't be good, but it turns out he was okay. That could have been ugly.

Saturday we spent the day tailgating. I was having orange and blue withdrawals. For a split second I thought about dressing the part, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I wore my pink tank top and grey sweater. You could tell I was an outsider.

I am in no way a Vols fan and it almost pained me to go to a game, but I do have to say that running through the T is a pretty awesome tradition. It reminded me of the end of 3rd quarter Florida tradition of We are the Boys. So in that regard, I get it.

I survived!

This is Carolyn (girlfriend of Eric) and I after the game watching LSU/AL. She's a sweetheart and let us stay at her house Friday night. Oh, and she cooked french toast, eggs and bacon Saturday morning. That's a host.

I always dread the car ride to TN, but for the most part the girls always do really well. Dare I say it, but this may have been the best trip we've ever had. We left Thursday afternoon and at 9:30 the girls asked to turn off the movies so they could go to sleep. Coming back on Sunday they slept about 4 of the 8 hours which means I got a long nap as well.

It was another fun weekend with the college bunch. There's always a lot of laughs. And now there's the story about the time I ran over Scott's foot. Thanks to the family that took care of the girls while we were off being adults. It was just what we needed.

*A letter to Morgan coming soon. She turned 2.5 on my birthday, but I'm lacking in the picture department to go with my post.

*Also, I committed to getting rid of the paci after the holidays. She only uses it at bedtime and in the car on long trips. Since there are a few of those coming up I decided not to fight it right now. I admit I have second child syndrome and I just don't care as much this time around.

34

My birthday. In a lot of ways it's just another day. But when you have kids it isn't. Somehow they find a way to make it special. Addison woke up and whispered that she had a secret to tell me. She leaned in real close and said the sweetest Happy Birthday in my ear. Before we even left the house yesterday morning she had made me 4 cards. She even used chapstick as glue. So inventive, but it doesn't really work.

Last night we went to dinner at a Japanese grill. Addison was in awe the whole time. Morgan is still a little scared of the fire. The people sitting with us took this picture.

I'm not sure if it's the time change or what, but the girls whined and cried every moment that I was with them yesterday. At one point I escaped to the bathroom to check Facebook in peace. The fighting over the camera resulted in these pictures.

At the end of the day I got to snuggle in the bed with some of my favorite people. That's what it's all about.

Thanks to all of my family and friends for the phone calls, texts, cards and gifts. I racked up $100 in Starbucks gift cards. Tomorrow I'll have to join a Starbucks addict group. I'm 4 for 4 this week alone. My sweet husband got me tickets to see the Nutcracker next month. I asked him if he also got me a date since he hates things like that. Apparently him going with me is part of the gift. Now I need a babysitter. Any takers? I might buy you a coffee.

the hike

Last weekend we hit the trails at UNF. We stopped at the bridge to feed and had a little snack before making the loop around the lake. For some reason Addison had to wear these water glasses that are two sizes too small. Serious pictures were out of the question. I love the tongue action.

I brought my camera with me, but this is when I realized that my lens was broken. So I took all of these with my cell phone. They sure have come a long way. I'm hearing good things about the iPhone 4s and the quality of the camera so maybe an upgrade is in my future.

I'm really over her not liking the camera. I thought she would have grown out of it already. Drives me nuts!

On the other hand, Morgan will pose almost every time.

A quick rehydration break along the way. Morgan fell right before this and was covered in dirt. Most of it brushed off, but you can see the nice dirt stain on her pants. There were a lot of exposed roots so we all had to watch where we were walking.

Right after this we had the snake encounter. We were walking on a wooden, raised walkway when I saw a little blackish snake next to the path. It was about a foot long. We wondered what kind of snake it was until we saw the tiny rattle. As we looked closer we could see gold diamonds down it's back. It was calm and slithered away, but then reality sunk in that we had just seen a diamond back rattle snake. Good thing we were near the end of the hike because I was creeped out for the rest of the day.

Great. Now I'm going to be thinking about that thing all day.

tricks and treats

I LOVED Halloween this year. The girls are the perfect age for it. Addison raced from house to house looking for the best candy. She was super proud of the full size candy bar she got. Morgan hung back with me and wanted to hold my hand most of the night. She would bring up the rear and without hesitation reach into the bowl to pick out what she wanted, even if the person was about to give her candy.

The girls had their best buds Jake and Lucas over again this year for trick-or-treating. Morgan was all about taking pictures.  Addison wanted nothing, NOTHING to do with it. She told me that it was Halloween, not time for taking pictures. This said with a 16 year old attitude, complete with her hands in the air.

Morgan checking her first treat and posing for a picture.

Morgan with our neighbor Caeley. Caeley was out with her friends and still stopped to hug on Morgan. Morgan would have went with her if she could. She's so good with the girls and they love her.

I decided to throw on the Wenda costume for trick-or-treating. I was getting my money's worth out of that thing.

Morgan and Lucas stopped for a picture and something was totally cracking them up. I have no clue what it was, but it was adorbale.

I finally convinced Addison to take a couple of pictures. It was easy to bribe her while she was checking out her loot.They both look disheveled after the walk, but still cute.

One last bribe. All of the things in their basket, they prefer the lollipops. Not a big deal for Addison, but somehow Morgan gets it everywhere.

Morgan fell while we were out so that's a fresh scrape on her knee. It doesn't look pretty today.

My Halloween decorations are still up and they probably will be at least through the weekend. At this rate, I may just leave them up until Thanksgiving when the Christmas stuff comes out. They're fun to look at.