February Zoo Trip with Nebraska City Grandma

Last Tuesday when the weather was oh-so nice, my mom came up to go to the Henry Doorly Zoo with the kids and I. It was almost 60 degrees that day and we barely needed jackets! It was amazing! This was the 1st time that my mom had been to the zoo with the kids, so it was really fun. We started out with the giraffes, which were all inside because of construction. :( After some pictures on the giraffe statue, we walked to the zebras and the kids seemed to enjoy watching the ostriches with them. Next we walked to the sea lions, which were getting fed at the time, so the kids loved that. Since it was my mom's 1st time at the zoo with the kids, we trekked up the hill to the elephants and rhinos. We were very mad because neither one was available for viewing and the hill was MASSIVE! :) Next up were the gorillas, which Alden liked the best. He could have stood there for hours just watching them. We saw the lions and then the penguins and fish and sharks before heading home. We spent the whole afternoon there and we were all pretty tired from the day. The kids napped on the way home and my mom and I got Applebees for supper and she stayed for awhile and played with the kids when we got home. It was a great day! :)

Play 'n Wave

Samantha has been doing a "Play 'n Wave" class at the Community Center this fall & winter. They play games in the gym for 45 min and then they go play in the pool for the last 45 min. Samantha really enjoys it, when the boys cooperate. :) She's not really a fan of getting wet though, especially her hair! She doesn't like it when the boys splash her and get her hair wet. But she is the only one in the class that does what the teacher asks her to do, so I guess that counts for something. She only has 1 more week of the class, then I think we'll start swim lessons at the Community Center. She can now be in the 3 year old class, where they actually work on the swimming strokes...and an added bonus for me...I don't have to get in the water with her anymore for lessons!!!! But, this summer, I'll have to do it with Alden. :(

Play

Sam's 1st Sleepover

Last Saturday night, Sam had her 1st sleepover. Sam's friend Alexa came over to play and then spent the night. We went out to Grandma & Papa McKnight's house to tell them the good news about the new baby, and brought them pizza. After playing out there for awhile, we came back to our house and the girls enjoyed playing dress up and playing with Sam's toys. Alden enjoyed playing with Alexa too, even if Sam got jealous! :) Both the girls slept in Sam's room downstairs. After about 1 1/2 hours of talking/getting up to go to the bathroom, they fell asleep and stayed asleep until I got them up at 7:30 the next morning to get ready for Sunday School. Sam & I took Alexa to Sunday School with us and then her mom was at our house to pick her up when we got back. Sam has already asked if Alexa can spend the night again....I told her "yep...someday"...mainly because I'm not quite ready for that just yet! :)

Super Bowl Sunday

For Super Bowl Sunday, we went to Doug's parents to watch the game. Alden & Doug wore their chiefs gear, because Doug always says that at the end of the Super Bowl, the Chiefs are tied for 1st place (because everyone is 0-0 again). Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa McKnight and Greg were there to watch the game too. We had a giant sub sandwich, Buffalo Wild Wings' Wings, Soup, and other munchies.

The kids were in the beginning of their sickness, and ended up getting Doug's mom sick in the process. (Sorry!) But, the kids had fun running around, even if they were coughing and blowing their noses all night.

Sam had fun with the 3-D glasses. I don't think she knew what 3-D meant, but she thought she was pretty cool wearing them.

Samantha & Alden have some news to share...

Since we never really got a good picture of Alden's shirt that you could read...we had to take a picture of the shirt at the end of the day. We made trips to Nebraska City to see my parents and to Doug's parent's house today to share our news! When Nebraska City Papa asked Samantha if she wanted a baby brother or a baby sister, she replied "BOTH!" I hope that meant that she already has a baby brother, so she would like a baby sister, and not that she wants twins! :)

Random Pictures...

Here are some random pictures taken in January 2009. Enjoy....

Story Time with Sam

Sorry, we haven't been updating the blog regularly. We just haven't done a whole lot since New Year's Day. Not much to add, as I haven't been the best at taking pictures while we are at home. Alden is also not a very photogenic boy right now. He loves to run away just as the flash is about to capture the moment.

One of Samantha's favorite things to do to entertain Alden is to get out a book and pretend that she's reading the book to him. She makes up her own story and some of the them are fairly clever and she even uses some big words. I'll try to catch a few of her next "stories" and put them on her for you read. She always starts them with "Once Upon A Time..." and Alden just loves to sit and listen to her talk.

Gator Bowl

We went to Nebraska City to watch the Gator Bowl with my parents on New Year's Day. My aunt Lisa, Aunt Sue, Uncle Jim, and Cousins Kayla & Traci were all there to watch the game too. We had lots of good food and when the game wasn't entertaining enough, we always had the kids to watch. Alden played with his little Husker football. He would squat down and it almost looked like he was getting ready to run with it. :) Samantha was good at being a cheerleader and when she stood by the TV, it almost looked like she was at the game standing next to Bo. Samantha & papa also played with papa's race track and cars. Everyone enjoyed putting my old Cabbage Patch Doll's underwear on Alden's head. He seemed to really enjoy it....I think he was pretending it was a bandana? :) We were all just glad the Huskers won!!

New Year's Eve

Doug & I went to a movie on New Year's Eve ---- at 4:30pm. (I know we are getting old....) Doug's mom volunteered to watch the kids while we went to the movie and Jodi came down to help watch the kids. We saw "Yes, Man" and it was really good. Sadly, it was only the 4th movie we saw in 2008! After the movie, for some excitement we went grocery shopping! haha. The kids had a great time at Grandma McKnight's house. They wore their sweaters that match their stuffed monkeys! We watched a movie when we got the kids to bed and we barely made it to midnight!