Our Trip to the Zoo

Since the zoo is free on certain national holidays, this past Columbus Day we celebrated by visiting the Houston zoo! It wasn't too crowded since several school districts had to make up the day from Ike. It was warm, but bearable. Jacob is an old pro, but this was Julianne's first visit! She just kept saying "Woah!" to every animal that we saw :). Jacob did great and walked for the most part by himself (well, beside the stroller), which was nice because he could wiggle up to the front and get a better look at the animals. Some of our favorites were: zebras, elephants, snakes (eww!), giraffes and the petting zoo. Julianne did have an incident with a goat that made her a little skittish around the other petting zoo animals (it nipped at her hand - see our full Picasa album for the pics.). Great day and great naps on the way home! (not me, just the kids :)

Yes, he totally did this...

Leave it to Justin to come up with an odorless diaper change (well, for him, at least!).

Fall Photo Shoot

After breakfast this morning, I took the kids to a nearby park to take advantage of the BEAUTIFUL weather we had today. I've been meaning to take some good pics of them for a while, so I dressed them up (alike, of course) and off we went.

I got a few of them together, but they were ALL over the place! The best ones were when Julianne was standing at the top of the slide and Jacob was crawling up acting like he was going to get her. She laughed hysterically!! They were really having fun and I was able to get lots of great shots!

Here are some of my favorites:





To see the rest of the photo shoot, click here.

Awesome new puzzle...

The Friday before Ike hit I was running around the house trying to do laundry, dishes, find flashlights, etc. and some of my panic was starting to rub off on Jacob. I knew that he needed something to occupy his hands and his mind so I pulled out this puzzle/game that he had gotten for his birthday (in August):Sidenote - I usually put away a handful of presents right after birthday parties and pull them out as we need new distractions in the months until Christmas. It's like making birthdays last for 5 or 6 months - they love it!!

He loved it! It's genius! You put the puzzle together - ours is a cute Carnival theme.
Then you draw from a stack of cards with pictures on them and find those pictures within the puzzle.
Then you use the felt-tip marker that comes in the box and circle what you find! It's really pretty fun. I found myself on the floor with him, drawing cards and taking my own turn! It all wipes away easily and goes right back in the drawer that slides back into the box.


I love hearing about new toys that are fun and educational, so I thought that I would pass this one along!

(Thanks Uncle Nick, Aunt Jaime and Cousin Latham!)