Ayden's new red hat

This cowboy hat was supposed to be a Christmas present from my mom to Ayden last Christmas, but it was forgotten about. I have been meaning to bring it home since then and have not remembered to do so, until tonight. We finally made it home with Ayden's awesome red cowboy hat! Of course he had to wear it home (in his car seat) and while he was eating his before-bed snack. He was in a goofy and compliant mood, so I was able to snap these cute pictures while he made funny faces for the camera.

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo

Yesterday, as the title suggests, we visited the zoo. This was our first time going this year and we were really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, all the elementary schools in the area were having their last big hurrah of the year at the zoo as well. It was packed! I have never been to a zoo that was so overrun with people.

It definitely wasn't the most relaxing zoo visit we've ever had. I had to maneuver the stroller and make sure Ayden didn't get lost in the throng of people, so I didn't get my camera out nearly as much as I was hoping. I did get a few cute pictures, though.

Resting in the shade

Gotta love the cheesy fake grin

Cousin Levi sportin' his new haircut

Oh no! Is Anna working on her own cheesy fake grin?!

Awwwwww. Too bad they aren't looking at the camera. Stinkers!

Chillin' in the stroller

Bunch O' Pics

You'll definitely want to click on the bubble pictures to enlarge them. They turned out pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

The many faces of us

Angel face

Super sweet, I-just-wanna-eat-your-cheeks-off face

Peanut butter face


Cheesy peanut butter face

Not quite sure what this face is called

This is the I'm-smiling-for-the-camera-because-mom-told-me-not-to face (reverse psychology, baby! Oh yeah, it works!)

Yesterday, Anna learned how to climb up and go down the slide all by herself! So this is the I'm-such-a-big girl! face

Upside-down face

And just for fun, I'll throw in some of Eric and me. (I'm sure he'll kill me when he sees this)

These next two are the gotta-hurry-up-and-stick-my-tongue-out-at-the-camera-'cause-I'm-a-goober face

The durrr face

The mock irritation/trying-to-look-like-The-Rock face

Our McCall Adventure

Last week my sister, myself, and all our kiddos went up to McCall to help out our brother by watching his kids after school while our sis-in-law was in Boise training for her new job. Whew! What a job it turned out to be! My 9-year-old niece and 6-year-old nephew ended up sleeping at the condo with us and we took them to school each morning. The noise level in the condo was at a constant high with so many kids running around and our 2 bedroom condo was overflowing at bedtime. Overflowing as in my sister and I got splashed right into the living room!

It was a fun week, though, and all the cousins had a blast playing together, as did Brandy and I. We played Settlers of Catan almost every night and when nap time would allow. We each brought up quite a few toys to keep the kids entertained, and thankfully Brandy thought to bring Toby's Spider-man and Batman costumes as these turned out to be the most popular items of the week.

Twice the webbing, twice the cling, twice the adventure these two will bring!

The Caped Crusader. . . well, minus the cape

Don't you feel that much safer when superheroes team up


"Alfred, do you have the rest of my bat-suit pressed yet?"

The rare, silly side of Spider-Man

While waiting for his bat-suit to be pressed, Batman takes a moment to look cute for the camera. (The belt is there 'cause he wanted to be buckled down like the babies were. We forgot to take booster chairs with us, so we had to tie those stinkin' babies to their chairs)

The surprise favorite (just behind the costumes in the ratings) were the bath mats found in each bathroom. These were magically turned into "treasure maps" and entertained the boys for hours!

Even Anna got in on some of the treasure-hunting action

Cutie-patootie babies

Some rare down-time


The Starrys gettin' goofy