What I Loved About Last Week 19th Ed.

So, I'm reviewing my list of what I loved about last week, and I'm like "did those things really just happen last week?"  I know I'm a little off, because I'm not posting till Thursday, but still, seems like much longer than a week-ish ago.  Whatever...

1. I know I've talked about my monthly meal planning before, but lately it had just become too much for me.  So we'd been more like flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants.  Never works out quite as well.  So, inspired by my sis who does weekly meal plans, on Sunday I decided to sit down and plan meals just for that week.  Let me tell you, 100% better!  It is much less overwhelming and a lot more flexible than the whole monthly thing, so I can definitely see it sticking.  I actually enjoy it now and it's nice to get input from the kids and Andy for what sounds good to them.  Plus it makes my days so much easier when I know what I'm making for dinner!

1. Took the kids to the zoo.  On the Tuesday before Ira started school on Thursday, we decided to go to the zoo.  I let Ira pick what we did there (since it was his "final fling" and all.)  The first thing he wanted to do at the Zoo was play at the playground. Oh-kay - sure.  So he and Ruby played at the playground for a good hour or so.  We ate a picnic lunch, then they played a little more before we finally got around to seeing any animals.  I paid a dollar so that Ira and Ruby could feed the giraffe.  It was SO awesome.  I had to help Ruby, so I have no pictures of her (Ira tried to take one and captured maybe the top 2 inches of her head) but I love the picture that I got of Ira!

Sweet little boy wanted to hold his sweet little sister.  She doesn't always oblige so kindly to his "affections" but she definitely did then!

2. Celebrated my dad's birthday with all the family.  It is so fun to see my dad be the "center of attention" because he's more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy usually.  Glad we could help him celebrate his day!

3. Celebrated our 9th anniversary of getting engaged.  What can I say?  Time flies when you're having fun!

4. Went bananas.  Well, sort of, my younger sis had mentioned how they always have bananas on hand because they are like the cheapest fruit, and I was like, "wait what?! - I have so been missing out!"  So now we go through 2 bunches of bananas at our house every week.  And we usually need more by Friday...

5. Ira started school.  Yes, I am now the parent of a 1st grader!  Ira really seemed to grow (physically) and mature (emotionally) a TON this summer.  I really do miss his company while he's at school, but it's also nice to have some quiet time to myself while Ruby is napping.  We've settled back into the "school-year routine" pretty effortlessly (thank goodness!)  Though, I still hate waking up early... blech...

6. Cleaned the house (for no reason, other than that it needed it.)  Usually, I only like to really clean my house when I have some reason to (like someone coming over.)  Alas, last Friday I knew that I needed to clean, so I thought I might invite my sister and her family over to at least make it "worth it."  Why have a sparkling clean house if there's no one other than you (and your hubs) to notice/care.  Yeah, our house will probably never get cleaned when we're old and such (why clean, no one will see it?...)  They couldn't come out Friday, but I sucked it up and cleaned anyway.  And it turns out that they could come on Saturday, so it was worth it in the end.

7.  Rain, glorious rain!  I take no credit for that one, but I was glad to see it happen.  Although now the bermuda grass has taken an even stronger hold on my flower garded... Pffftttt.

8.  Biking.  In the evenings after dinner, we've been going on bike rides.  Andy pulls Ruby in the bike trailer and Ira and I ride our own bikes.  That kid is a HORSE.  He is definitely more in shape than I am!  I have to try to keep up with him.  So far we've done: 5.5 mile, 4 mile, and 7 mile rides.

9. Cat Chat.  My sister gave us "The Ultimate One" and a promo copy of "Amazing Angels & Super Saints/ The Mass Comes Alive."  We ALL love them.  Ira and Ruby sing all the songs and ask for them in the car (and in the house) all the time now.  Ruby will say "Listen J-e-s-u-s!"  I really enjoy them as well and find much comfort and peace in the lyrics of the songs.  It is great to have great music to listen to.

10. Rubyisms.  "Tomo leche" when she wants to drink milk at night (and only then oddly enough.) "Don't get it all gone! (or "Don't drink it all gone!")  WhenEVER ANYone handles ANY kind of food/drink - this is what we hear.  Not sure what makes her so paranoid about it, but it is really funny, because you can nearly guarantee that if you pick up your water, or pick up the cheese to put it away, or let Ira have a drink of your water in the car, she's going to yell.

11. Work perks.  Andy brought home a HUGE roll of paper that was going to get thrown away on his job.  It is essentially construction paper.  The kids have had a blast drawing big pictures together.  I thought this picture (of Ira and Ruby holding hands on the top of a hill) was too cute not to share!

I think that's about it for this week.  Just wait till next week - I've got a doozy of an"Ira-ism" to share!

What I Loved About Last Week 9th Edition

Here's what I loved about last week (May 14-20):

1. Birthday.  Monday was my birthday and Andy found the most awesome card by one of my favorite children's authors, Sandra Boynton.  On the back it says "Boynton!  Trying to think of a motto since 1973."  If you haven't seen any of her books, you seriously need to go buy one right NOW.  Some of our favorites are "Moo, Baa, La La La," and "The Bellybutton Book."  Andy also made my day by having flowers delivered.  It was such a sweet surprise and totally made my day.  We took the kids to a Japanese Steakhouse (where they do tapanyaki cooking right there at your table.)  Although initially scared by the fire, Ira recovered nicely and said "awesome; that is so cool; and, how did you do that?!" for the rest of the dinner.  Ruby was pretty enthralled too.  They both had fun using chopsticks with little helpers on the end (plastic pieces that made them almost like a clothespin.)  I hadn't been there since my 20th birthday (long long ago) so it was fun to go eat some delicious food and see a fun show again (and of course the mom in me loved sharing the experience with my kids as much as anything.)

2. Fieldtrip. I helped chaperone Ira's kindergarten class' trip to the zoo.  It truly was a ZOO!  I only had 3 kiddos in my group (Ira included) but the zoo was so busy with other schools' fieldtrips that about the only thing I did all day was make sure that I hadn't lost one of my kids.  By the end of the day, I had a killer headache and a backache to boot, but it was fun getting to see Ira with his friends.

3.  We went through some boxes at my parents' house last week and found our old Geo Safari with about half a dozen sets of cards.  Nobody else wanted it, so I snatched it up thinking that it would entertain Ira this summer.  Boy oh boy, is it entertaining!  We've been learning all kinds of things from Geography to Spanish and Landmarks to Puzzles.  He loves playing it by himself, but we've also had fun playing 2 players.  I foresee the Geo Safari getting lots' o' use this summer!

4. Rubyisms.  Sheesh, this is becoming almost a weekly feature, but I tell you what, the girl cracks me up.  Her latest are: pree-dee-ah-school (preschool - we drive by her cousin's preschool on our way to pick Ira up from school.)  And then there's this: We duh duh duh cleem uh def uh Lord, we da cleem uh resuhrehtion, an you not tome a din, an you not tome a din!"  (The Mystery of Faith that we sing at church "We proclaim your death oh Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.")  She is also really into singing "O Saving Victim" at the top of her lungs all throughout the day.  It's a hoot that I've yet to catch on video (because although she sings it at the top of her lungs, she gets all shy about it when you start paying attention to her.)

5. Schooooooooooooool's ooooouuuuut for Summer!  (did anyone else's mom sing that on the last day of school each year?.... just mine?.... hmmm...)  Ira finished kindergarten on Friday and (surprise of surprises (to him at least)) he gets to go to 1st grade next year!  I am SO excited about having him home for the summer!  We have plans to do a little learning and a lot of playing and swimming and I CAN'T WAIT!

6. Lawn and Garden. We spent all day Saturday outside work work workin'.  I weedeated and mowed the WHOLE lawn (we have a BIG lot - like over 1/2 an acre.)  The weedeater must have rattled every muscle in my body because I'm achin' like bacon right now (does bacon ache?) but the lawn sure does look nice.  While I lawned (should totally be a word), Andy gardened (see what I did there, lawned... gardened... forgive me, I'm apparently a little loopy today.)  He built structures for our cukes, tomatoes, watermelon, and cantaloupe to climb.  It turned out pretty awesome and we can't wait to see how it'll work out this summer.

The garden all but done (just need to put straw down between the last 3 rows.)

Not really a picture of our lawn, but look at how big my flowers are getting! 

 7. Kids in the same bed.  The kids had (because they broke their streak last night) gone to bed in the same bed for the last 3-4 nights very well.  It helps that we completely wore them out all weekend.  I guess we'll have to see what this week brings to see if it was luck or learning that led to those 4 nights...

With that, I'll bid you adieu!  Thanks for hanging with my goofiness this week!

Just like the good 'ole days

Ira was off school last Monday,  so he, Ruby, and I headed to the Zoo for some animal fun.  It was the first time Ruby'd been to the Zoo since she was like 6 months old, so really her first time of really experiencing it.  She was pretty intrigued.  She loved peeking over the railings and saying "boo" to the animals.  She had a lion about 40 feet away (behind glass, obviously) drop some kind of animal it was eating to run and check her out.  It was kinda creepy, but I guess they are still wild animals and they still appreciate an easy target. 

Ira was also fun to watch since he could read all the informational signs about the animals.  He was also very interested in the world maps showing where the animals are typically found.  (He has a new-found interest in world-geography thanks to my uncle who sent him a huge world wall map.)   We learned lots of cool facts.  I sure hope he continues to have such a love for knowledge as he grows.

We had a wonderful time and it made me miss those days of having him around all the time.  Both kiddos were troopers, walking around the zoo for several hours (Ruby insisted on walking, not riding in her stroller.)  I guess I tired them out pretty good, because both of them fell asleep on the way home.  Ruby woke up enough for me to change her diaper and get her a cup of milk when we got home, but then I laid her back down (around 4 o'clock) thinking she'd sleep for at least a little longer.  Boy was I wrong!  She slept until the NEXT MORNING!  Didn't wake up 'till 6:45!!!  I think it's the longest she's ever slept in her life.  It was nuts!  Ira woke up in time for dinner and then went back to bed.  Who knew that the Zoo would be such a great sleep-generator!  Maybe I'll start going everyday...
 
I was also thrilled to get some cute pictures. 

Good friend, good time

A dear, dear friend of mine just returned home from a 5 month mission trip to Bolivia. So of course, I couldn't WAIT to get together with her when she got back. We decided to go to the Zoo so that we could blab and Ira could have something to do (other than be bored to tears by "grown up talk".)



We had an amazing time catching up. And we also got to see some really cool things at the zoo! We watched the river otters eat lunch, the gorillas getting fed, and the coolest thing happened in the Apes and Man exhibit. For one, there was a (just shy of) 2 month old baby chimpanzee. He was the tiniest little adorable thing! He was the seventh baby for his 40 year old mother. He had quite the curious personality (sounds like a little boy I know) and the zookeeper told us that he has fallen off of his mama's chest more than once because he's too busy gawking around and forgets to hold on!


The zookeeper was absolutely fascinating to talk to. She told us a lot about the mama chimp and also about another female chimp who positively loves babies. She (this other female chimp) happened to wander over to the glass where we were talking to the zoo keeper, so my friend held Ruby up to the glass for the chimp see. Then the chimp put her hand up on the glass where Ruby's hand was! It was just absolutely amazing to watch. It's no wonder the chimps have always been my favorite thing to see at the zoo.


After about 5 hours at the zoo, we finally decided to call it a day! We went to Sonic afterwards and got half price drinks (2-4 happy hour!) Brianna introduced me to Strawberry Vanilla Limeades. If you've never tried one - do next time you're at Sonic - they are positively delicious!!