Mr. Giraffe

This week is Members' Appreciation Week at the John Ball Zoo, we we decided to take advantage of it and go this morning. They had special things just for members including snacks, crafts, and face painting. Esther was really into the popcorn, but not so sure about getting her face (or arm or anything) painted. Peter, on the other hand, actually sat amazingly still while his face was painted. We figured a giraffe to match his shirt was a good choice!

Two Fun Pictures

Esther and her second cousin Jordan

being train engineers.

Peter giving his friend Anna a happy 2nd birthday kiss!

I've Been Tagged!

I've been blog tagged by my friend Tracy.

THE RULES:
1. Post these rules before you give your facts.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) people and list their names (linking to them).
4. Leave them a comment on their blog letting them know they’ve been tagged!

EIGHT RANDOM FACTS ABOUT LAURA:

1. I've ridden my bike across the state of Iowa 3 times with my Dad.

2. In 5th grade I played "Calamity Jane" in our elementary school musical and sang a solo. In 8th grade I played a "Star" and got to be on a ladder behind a curtain so other characters could "wish upon me".

3. I loved The Muppet Show and The Cosby Show growing up.

4. My best friend from elementary school, Kris (DeYoung) Monacelli, and I became friends when we were assigned to work together on a project on Kentucky in fifth grade. Good old Kentucky!

5. My sister Karen and I used to play store when we were little. We saved all kinds of empty boxes and packages from food and labeled them with prices. We played so much that we had all the prices memorized!

6. I lived in a suburb of Indianapolis for about 1-1/2 years when I was in pre-school and kindergarten. I still keep in touch with one of my friends from there.

7. I love popcorn, nachos, and chocolate anything, especially with peanut butter. I married a guy who doesn't like nuts or peanut butter!

8. In middle school I ran for a class officer position (can't remember which one) and I lost. In college, I ran for dorm president with Casey as my running mate for business manager. We won! Oh wait, we were actually unopposed.

I tag:
Shelley

Esther's First Portrait

Esther has been recently getting a little more into drawing specific things instead of just scribbling. She's mostly drawn flowers and balloons, but this morning she decided to draw a picture of Daddy. I was actually quite impressed with her circle for the head, and then she added the eyes, nose, and mouth. I had to kind of explain to her how to add the rest of the body, but she did it on her own. She also added an "owie" on his forehead (the brown dot). Then she wanted to draw a house for him to live in, and some flowers outside the house. I had to label those for her.

My favorite part was her quote when she was finished:

"This is a picture of my Daddy when he laughs crazy!"

Happy 65th Birthday Dad!

My Dad is 65 today! He just finished RAGBRAI, the bike ride across Iowa, for the 22nd time. He runs around and plays with our kids. He stays busy with his work and community service. He doesn't seem like he's 65! Since his Dad lived to be 98, I pray that God will give him many more years as well.

Yesterday Karen and I took him out for breakfast to the Sundance Grill.

In the evening we celebrated with a steak dinner (which he had to grill himself!). We had a birthday rhubarb pie (Mom's specialty and Dad's favorite) for dessert.

Today we are heading out to Lake Michigan for a get-together with his side of the family. It's really because a bunch of my cousins are in town this week, but we keep telling him it's a big birthday bash for him.

Happy Birthday, Dad and Grandpa. We love you!

The Birch Tree

There's a birch tree in my parents' yard that has a crook which is perfect for sitting. My sister and I played in the tree when we were younger and we often had our picture taken by the tree or sitting in it. Yesterday we were at their house so we took some pictures of the kids in the tree. Here are Karen and I (ages 3-1/2 and 6-1/2) and Peter and Esther. The tree has definitely aged and grown in the last 26 years!

Pasta Peter

In case anyone was wondering......
Peter loves pasta!

Lite Brite

Our friends from church gave us their old Lite Brite. My sister had one when we were little and I remember thinking it was a pretty cool toy. Esther was also very excited about it, so we got a new bulb for it today and tried it out. I thought she would get bored or frustrated with it, but she really stuck with it and put in the majority of the pegs herself. As you can see, she thought it was pretty cool when it was all done and we plugged it in!

Bob the Builder

Peter has taken to wearing this hat around the house and when we're playing outside in the yard quite a bit. I'm pretty sure he's protecting himself from his sister. He thinks it's funny when we call him "Bob"!

New Verb

This morning at breakfast Esther sneezed while she had a mouthful of cereal. I don't need to describe what happened. She then announced, "Oh mom, I bless you-ed all over!"

Maybe we can get Webster's to add blessed you-ed to the dictionary for next year.