Yellow River Game Ranch

While Audrey was at preschool today, Ian and I took advantage of the gorgeous weather and the one-on-one time and went to the Yellow River Game Ranch. We got there early and spent time playing at their little playground.

Though he enjoyed the playground, he was anxious to see the animals, and chased after this peacock who was out of the enclosure.

And took a ride on an antiquated horse. After I put the quarter in and he started to move, Ian said, "Yee-haw!"

Once the ranch opened, we headed in, bought some crackers, and spent over an hour walking the mile loop and enjoying the animals. This peacock proudly showed his feathers.

Ian got a kick out of feeding the deer (and donkeys, goats, sheep, ducks, geese, chickens, etc.) He was a bit apprehensive at first but soon was happy to walk up to any animal and offer a cracker.

He LOVED this little lamb wandering about. Ew, he kissed it before I could intervene. Just building immunities, right? He spent a long time petting it and feeding it corn kernels.

My attempt to get a picture of him petting the lamb. Animals and children don't hold still.

This place was a bit of heaven for Ian; he kept saying, "Hi deer!" and "Hi squirrel!" and he was delighted by the bunnies. He told the donkeys, "Too loud, Donkey!" when they made noise. Such a fun morning with my cutie.

Everyday life

I took these on Valentine's day: Audrey loved her new "heart" shirt.
Ian is such a character. I could not capture the sweet moment I came upon, but tried to anyway. Audrey was not bored, as she looks; both kids were super into Daddy's great voices at story time.

Valentine

I think maybe Audrey is my Valentine this year. I've never been caught up in Valentine's day; although Mr. B and I have celebrated it in the past, we don't always. But I find that having kids makes the holiday a lot more fun. Audrey and I made mini-cupcakes and decorated them with some fun sprinkles my mom bought me about a hundred years ago. It was nice to finally use them. I'd never made mini-cupcakes before--LABORIOUS! After 48 cupcakes, I spooned the rest into a cake pan and made Mr. B his own cake. Of which I ate probably half.

We made a few deliveries, but we ate a lot of cupcakes. Mmm.

Audrey had to bring Valentines to her preschool class party, and I didn't want to buy them, so I cut out hearts and squares (used a cookie cutter for the heart pattern), had Audrey help me paste them together, and then we taped chocolates that my mom had sent to the front after writing "Love, Audrey" on the back. Fun little project to do together and I was able to avoid a trip to the store. Thanks Mom, by the way, for making this Valentine's day fun and easy with your great packages!

Augusta day trip

On Saturday I met my friend Beth and her two kids in Augusta for a fun outing.
The place where we planned to meet was closed down and while I was parked figuring things out and cleaning up a diaper AND a potty accident, a parade started on the street and we got stuck watching it. Finally we met Beth and played at a park along the river before heading to lunch and dessert and lots of outdoor time in the beautiful sun! Audrey playing with ladybugs.

Affectionate Ian and a very tolerant Boston.

Trying to get the girls to pose while keeping the boys alive, I wish Laura were here to take my pictures for me...

The boys were shouting, "Whee!" on the way down the slide--such happiness after a 2 1/2 hour car ride!

I hope Beth isn't mad if I put this picture up, I think she is still gorgeous even while blinking! And it's the only picture of the two of us. So hard to take pictures and keep track of four kids!

Update

I have fallen into the trap of never taking pictures of my kids anymore, and I regret that sometimes. However, here are some shots from the past month. Apparently I only take pictures at bedtime, evidenced by all the pajamas.
Ian is 22 months old!

And stinkin' cute all the time!

Even when he takes all his clothes off and shows the world what he's got! I saw this, took a quick picture, then took him down. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough because I noticed some snickering middle school students walking by. Sorry kids.

Audrey just gets more grown-up! She's becoming a good helper and she is also bossy a lot.

Ian thinks he's just as capable as Audrey and wants to do everything she does. Cute, but obnoxious too.
Loved this impromptu parade one night. My kids are delightful!We had a week of snow and ice and everything closed in early January. Mr. B took the kids out to play in the snow one day. Sorry about the pink hat Ian, but your head was too big for the boy hat and that's just the tough breaks of having an older sister. I'm sure you'll protest such things one day, but for now, you are at our mercy. And Audrey's gloves; well, you can tell we're not well equipped here for this kind of weather.

Ian has become such a snuggler (on his own terms). Mr. B is showing them a video he just took of Audrey's awesome dance moves. Mr. B is such a fun and loving dad and takes good care of all of us!