Trip to the Zoo!

The Waterpark is closed! YAY! I had the kids to myself all weekend while Brian worked and he stayed home with us today. We decided to go to the zoo because it isn't too crowded this time of year, and we basically had the whole place to ourselves!'


Our first stop today was the barnyard (uck). Wyatt really enjoys the barn animals, but I felt like we were on a superspeed tour of the zoo. We breezed through the barn yard and he told us he was taking us to the snakes and monkeys. We've probably gone to the zoo once a month this summer (and I honestly don't think we went in August), but Wyatt has the place memorized.

We just recently started going to the nocturnal area (I'm afraid that I have some sort of wizard gene that I don't know about and can speak Pareseltongue. I live in fear that the glass will disappear and a snake will slide out. I know the snake will be nice to me if I am in fact a Parseltongue, but it still scares me. Plus, if I am an heir of Slytherin, I don't want to know about it.) and he knew every animal before we got there. And yes, that entire tribute to Harry Potter should prove to you what a dork I am. Brian's gotten very mad at me lately for all of my vampire references from reading Twilight, claiming that they're inaccurate. I say that ultra dreamy (borderline stalker) vampires do exist, but he says they're all mean and want human blood. Whatever!



Anyway, back to the zoo. After the snakes we went to see the prairie dogs. Wyatt had a pretty good view...

He didn't realize it was up there until I told him!

Reese absolutely loves the prairie dogs! She sat there and talked to them and pointed them out. She thinks that they are so funny!

This was too cute! I have no idea what they're talking about.

Today the kangaroo exhibit was finally completely open! The last two times we've gone the kangaroos have been partially hidden so they could get acclimated to their new environment, but today we were able to see them hopping and everything. Both kids loved it, and there are at least 10 kangaroos!

We stopped to take a picture of Reese in the butterfly garden. She looks so big!

Wyatt and I looking at the "Daddy Lion." He was able to tell us so much about the animals today. He is just learning at such a fast rate that he even surprises us with some of the things he says and does. He's becoming a better big brother every day, and he's even opened up to some new foods lately! He's also doing really well with the potty training (although I am going to buy new potties tomorrow), and we're so proud of him!

Much Anger In Him, Like His Father.

So Wyatt and Brian aren't angry at all (although Wyatt makes some pretty angry faces) but I thought a Star Wars quote was rather appropriate with these pictures of my little Padawan learner*.

Showing off his moves
Although this picture does make him look kind of angry, he was actually very excited because he found his light saber yesterday. He loves playing with this thing!

Excuse the lack of pants. We're potty training by letting him run around in big boy pants. It's made for some fun messes, but he really recognizes when he goes potty!


* I am not actually a Star Wars dork. I just know the quotes that Brian repeats. And that's it. In fact, I've only seen the original movies once, and I'm not looking forward to ever watching them again.

Potty Training!

For the last few days we've been attempting to potty train Wyatt. While he has not actually peed in the potty yet, he has pooped in it! I prompted him because I was sitting next to him on the couch and kind of picked up that he had started, so we ran to the bathroom where he promptly eliminated it into the toilet!

For that little "deposit," he was rewarded with the prize of being able to dump it into the toilet and flush it all by himself. On top of that exciting time, he also got 3 M&M's!

This whole process is killing me! I'm not even that convinced that it's going to make my life easier. Now, on top of the haslle of going out with two kids, I'm going to have to stop, do something with Reese, and then take Wyatt to the bathroom. Other Moms - how do you take one kid to the bathroom when you have multiple kids? I can't just leave Reese in the middle of a store! Right now we're still wearing diapers when we venture out, but I don't know how this works. Any advice would be appreciated!

He Likes to Move It, Move It!

Brian is gearing up for football season (there are multiple football pools) and he started watching the game tonight. Wyatt has already told me that his favorite team is the Dolphins and he's running around the house playing with Brian. Before all the throwing started, Wyatt did a warm up with some dancing. I'm not sure why Wyatt found this Tim McGraw song to be danceworthy - except to say that old Tim McGraw songs are about 8 million times better than new Tim McGraw songs.

Anyway, here he is showing off some of his moves.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I am SO SICK OF RAIN! It rained every day last week, and it's rained pretty much every day this week too. Add that to the fact the we have severely cut down on TV time, and I've had one very bored little boy!

We spent Monday afternoon coloring and working on colors. Wyatt is getting pretty good at pointing them out, but he also gets really silly. Reese thinks it is so fun to watch him color (she prefers to try to eat the crayons).

Laughing at her big brother
Coloring together!

Fortunately for us all, Brian has been home a lot this week. He's been home by nap time every day (and he's been using nap time to take naps himself!), so Wyatt and Reese have had a lot of fun playing with him. On Tuesday the boys built a fort, and Wyatt loved it. Reese loved trying to knock it down!

The boys in their fort

Reese destroying the fort

Where did the boys go?

First Birthday Party!

Yesterday was Reese's birthday party! I was super prepared (meaning the house was already cleaned), and really just needed to run and blow up balloons, clean bathrooms, decorate and vacuum the house before the party started at 2 yesterday. Until we woke up and found that we were under attack by ants.

I hate ants! They are so gross. I don't even know what they thought they were going to find. There is not a crumb anywhere in this house! While Brian took care of destroying them (at least the ants downstairs, we decided to destroy the ants our bathroom with bait to take back to their vicious colony). I ended up having to take the kids with me to blow up balloons. Fortunately, my sister came with me, so I was able to leave them in the car while I blew everything up. We also had to stop and get peppermint extract. Mixing peppermint and water and spraying it is a deterrent for ants. We sprayed everywhere yesterday, and so far we seem to be okay.

I was able to get everything done before the party, and everyone had a lot of fun. Reese slept through the first 15 minutes (no use in waking her up so we'd have a whiny baby at her party). I got her dressed in her party outfit and brought her downstairs!

Here she is saying hi to her new friend Audrey! I got her tutu at the Polka Dot Market and ordered the onesie on Etsy. Her little hair bow came from Pigtails & Crewcuts when I got Wyatt's hair cut last week.
She loves baby Audrey! And I love that tutu!

Taking a closer look!

We ordered ice cream cupcakes from Cold Stone Creamery for everyone else to eat, and I picked up Reese's smash cake from Harris Teeter. They have a deal where you can get your baby's first birthday smash cake for free if you're a VIC card holder (which is what we did for Wyatt), but I forgot to sign her up, so we had to pay. Oh well!

Reese was very polite with her cake. She would only eat it with a spoon. I put it in front of her, expecting her to go to town, but she looked at me like "Where's my spoon?" Once I gave it to her, she started eating away!

And she finally started using her hands!

Reese needed a new fall wardrobe, and now she is set! She got so many cute clothes that I (almost) can't wait for it to get colder to put her in them!

We set up the slide and a few other toys out front for the kids to play on. As everyone walked out all the kids kind of congregated around the T ball set, or the slide or the wagon. Wyatt decided to pull Reesie in the wagon. I just had to supervise to make sure he didn't take her in the street!

Home Sweet (Even Though We're Ready To Move) Home!

A year ago today we (cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and then) packed her up in the car...

And brought her home....
So she could meet her big brother!

And with exception of a few pillows to the head, one or two incidents where she's been rolled over, and a recent interest in magic tricks making her disappear, they've gotten along splendidly!

Oh, and Reese learning to defend herself by biting has probably helped too!