Alphabet Adventures: H

H is for...horses, heights, hopping, hot and heavy (on pictures)!!

Yes, this post is quite heavy on pictures, so I'm going to try to make it light on words. The first set was at Knightdale Community Day. The highs were in the upper 80's and we walked to the park for the festivities, making the hot part.

Heights--Mark and Xander at the top of the slide
Zack climbing up, posing and hopping down the slide

Horses--Xander saw them and told me he wanted to ride the horses. I told him they were ponies, and he said, "Actually Mommy, we can call them horses."

Hot--can you see it on their cheeks?

Hopping--Zack was waiting in line for the rock wall with Gramma and Daddy, and Xander wanted to visit the bounce house obstacle course thingy.

Heights again--gearing up for the rock wall. He was so determined that he was going to push the button at the top, but he slipped off at about 8 or 10 feet. He was having a hard time finding good foot holds, or he was too short to reach him. We were proud that he gave it a good go!!

Hello animals--petting a fox (some kind of fox, maybe pygmy)

Hello millipede, which he actually touched--the thing was about a foot long!

Hello tortoise!

Hello opossum! Hero--Xander and Zack the firefighters!

Our next stop was at our church's 8th Annual International Food and Music Festival. I guess the h word here is hungry? We tried food from the Philippines, Jamaica, Italy and some cajun stuff. I had jambalaya for the first time and loved it!! Here's the boys playing a few games in the hot, Indian summer sun!!

Alphabet Adventures: I

I is for...Bug Fest? Actually insects...mostly.

We took the boys to Bug Fest at the natural history museum. It was so hot that day!! Here's Zack and Xander with Herby!! Zack loves watching the movies at Gramma's house.

Inside the museum, there were lots of places for bug encounters, but it was so crowded and hotter inside than outside! After a potty break, Zack got to hold a praying mantid. Xander was looking at and touching some mole crickets.

This insect-arium (?) had TONS of little bugs!! Ladybugs, inchworms, gnats, crickets, and I don't even know what else. They were pretty fascinated!

They don't look too excited in this picture. Xander wasn't really sure what all the excitement was about, but when Zack was interested in something, Xander was too.

There's a caterpillar at the far left of this picture. This was the part that Xander absolutely LOVED!! They had all kinds of caterpillars and some butterflies to look at and even touch. They even had one that was about 4 inches long with red spikes on its head. They said it was native to North Carolina, too! I couldn't imagine finding one of those in my garden!

I had fun with my macro function on my camera and caught some good pics of caterpillars and butterflies. Here's a swallowtail butterfly. It had been injured somehow--so sad.

Xander

This was after we went to Jordan Lake. Xander didn't fall asleep until we were 10 minutes from home. Mark left him in the car (it wasn't too hot) while he cleaned it out. When he finally brought him inside, he put him on the bean bag chair, where he slept for another hour or so. He even slept right through me using the food processor to chop pecans!!

This is what happens when a certain mommy isn't feeling well or is tired or something and a certain 3-year-old decides to get his own lunch.

Xander started preschool a couple weeks ago!! This was him on his first day. When we got his bookbag, he was really excited to bring to school to show his friends. And he was telling everyone about his new bookbag. But when it came time for Mommy and Daddy to leave, he wasn't too excited anymore. He wanted me to stay and read to him. Eventually Daddy gave it a try and I stepped outside the door. The first thing he said to me when I picked him up was, "I didn't want you to leave." AWWWW!! The second day was fine, but this past week I dropped him off in the carpool lane. He really didn't like the idea of that, and he keeps saying, "I not going to school any. more." He'll grow into it, though, right?

Summer Alphabet Adventures: F

F is for...Fayetteville and First Day of School!!

A little bit of a stretch, but we'll go with it. Fayetteville...My dear friend Susan lives just outside of Fayetteville and has a beautiful two-year-old daughter named Alison. We had so much fun going down there and visiting with her for her second birthday party. She did a farm theme, complete with barnyard cake, fondant animals, chicken feed, pigs in blankets, veggies from sheep's garden and haystacks. I really wish I had brought my camera with me, but no such luck. Zack had a fantastic time playing with Alison, and we determined that day that Zack NEEDS a little sister. The boys were both playing with her new baby stroller, and Zack even pushed her in the swing. Yes, Zack and Xander need a little sister!

Okay, first day of school. Technically it happened two days before Alison's party, but we'll get over it. Zack started second grade this year after spending half a year in kindergarten and half a year in first grade. I thought he might be nervous and want me to walk him in, but my brave little smartypants just wanted to get dropped off in carpool. We were a little worried because of his maturity level and his size, but we knew it was the best thing for Zack. Now, almost a month later, I have no regrets. He's doing really well!! He knows most of his spelling words the night he brings them home, he's excited about doing science experiments in class and he's learning great strategies for solving math problems. He needs to focus better when he's doing homework, but we'll figure out a solution for that soon enough. I don't have a picture from the first day of school, but picture day is coming up in the next few weeks at his school.

Okay, now what starts with G??? or H or I???

A New Post!!!

I just looked at my list of blogs and realized it's almost been a month since I posted anything! I'm going to post some picture blogs soon, including some more Alphabet Adventures, which will probably be out of order. But us in the past month...

I'm still sort of dealing with nausea. For whatever reason, I feel bad right after I eat. I'm trying to stay hydrated but doing a terrible job of it. I'm still completely EXHAUSTED!! I've come to realize that it's because I'm constantly chasing or fussing or cleaning up after the other two. I haven't felt any baby movement, but I'm pretty sure I'm already have Braxton-Hicks contractions. I have a few regular clothes that I can wear, but I'm mostly into maternity clothes now. I just went to the Kids Everywear consignment sale last week and got three pairs of pants and nine tops for only $28!! I had to get these because we had decided not to have any more kids, and I took lots of my stuff (you know, basic stuff, khaki pants, khaki capris, plain-colored shirts) to Catholic Parish Outreach. BIG MISTAKE!!! But now I am set for the rest of the pregnancy...hopefully. Oh here's the big thing, even though I'm wearing maternity clothes and I'm at 17 weeks (today!), I haven't gained a SINGLE POUND!!!!!!! Okay, I've fluctuated a bit, but I'm basically at the same weight I was when I found out. I'm overweight to begin with, so I guess it's for the best. Hopefully that puts me on track to gain right around 20 pounds, maybe 25. I'm not putting up a belly picture, because I really feel like I look more fat than pregnant, even though customers are already asking when I'm due when I'm at work. I bet they think I'm going to say I'm due in December or something, but no, it's March, which actually is only a little more than five months away! I read a book called The Doula Guide to Birth (yes, already), and I've mostly decided that I want to be a doula...someday anyway. I love all things baby and pregnancy, I love that I was able to get through an induced labor with no drugs, I love hearing birth stories, and I love helping new moms. This would have to be once my three (wow, my three!) are a bit older, since the schedule for a doula must be very flexible.

Okay, I guess that post was pretty much just about me and the baby. I'll mention everyone else in the house in the next few posts...stay tuned!