Oklahoma Aquarium

Earlier this summer while Sean was abroad somewhere (Australia, China, Singapore, who knows...), I loaded the kids up and headed south to Tulsa to spend the weekend with Rick and Kathy. Rick's firm had a summer party at the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks, Oklahoma, which embarrassingly I'd never been to, despite the fact that it has been there for quite some time now. So we tagged along, and the kids both loved it, especially Lauren.


The aquarium was really good about having benches so that the kids can have a look, too.

Lauren LOVES turtles, so much so that he wanted to share her favorite toy of the weekend, "Crocodile."  Not sure if turtles and crocodiles are friends in real life, but that was beyond Lauren's concern.

Continuing the crocodile theme of the weekend....
 

Much fun was had over the weekend, and we all left exhausted (me especially).  Lauren cried most of the way home, asking if she could go back to Kakee's house, and telling me that she didn't want to go home with me.  Sigh. 

Lauren 2 Years 8 Months

What. A. Doll. Lauren is so much fun right now. It's like she knows that babies are naturally cuter and so she is compensating to overcome Jack's undeniable baby pull. And, much like Charlie Sheen, she is winning.

Lauren is talking up a storm. The girl talks like she's in her early 20s, not her late 2s. She says grown up thinks like "I'm not feeling well," and "may I eat?" She talks to us about her feelings, she is compassionate and can tell when we're not feeling well and says thinks like "I need to cuddle with you, it will make you feel better." And it does.

Lauren also sings. Oh lord, it's the sweetest thing when that child sings. Sometimes her ABCs, sometimes Twinkle Twinkle, sometimes the Itsy Bitsy Spider...and, my personal favorite, she makes up songs. Typically they're about what she's doing at the moment. Little sing songy diaries of her goings-on. She loves her brother. Sometimes she even shares with him (but only if he promises to give it right back). She takes naps (!!!) in the afternoons (see below for proof). She's a big girl and no longer cries/moans when we put her down at night in her big girl bed (so what if it involves a chart, stickers, and a prize at the end...you do what you have to do as a parent). In fact, it's at night and in the morning, while patiently waiting for her big girl sticker for not crying, that she makes up some of her best songs. Maybe I sometimes sit outside her door and listen to the songs for awhile before I go in to release her from her bed...that's my right as a mom.

Recently, after Aunt Arie referred to Lauren as "The Trash Heap" (I've always wanted to work in a Fraggle Rock reference) because she was sleeping with approximately 82 toys, we had to limit the amount of things she can take to bed with her to two. Pup pup doesn't count, he's a given. Current favorites are Buzz Lightyear and her Nemo fish (pictured above). And sometimes a Magna Doodle, because hey, you never know when artistic inspiration will strike in the middle of the night. Lauren is still a great sleeper, 8pm to 7am no sweat. Bless that child.

Lauren is wildly excelling in preschool. She is learning her alphabet and can identify most letters. She makes her own snacks at snack time, and she throws/puts away her own plate/cup/silverware. She takes gymnastics on Tuesdays, which she seems to love. It is so fun to see her doing all of these adult things in miniature. Picking her up (as well as Jack) is the best part of any day. We are so, so very lucky to have this little monkey.

Deanna Rose

This weekend the weather was gorgeous (we thought, turned out it was HOOOOOOOTTTTT), so we loaded up the Pilot and headed to Overland Park, to the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead (also discussed here). Lauren had been talking about giving the baby goats a bottle for awhile, and who are we to deny a "feed the baby goat a bottle" craving?

Besides goats, we also saw a buffalo, ducks, chickens, prairie dogs, koi fish, bumblebees, butterflies...the list goes on and on.

(The one above is for you, Aunt Jane.)

Finally, the goats. Lauren fed some baby goats a bottle or two (we're really proud of her, those goats are persistent and she manages to hold on to the bottle and fend off other greedy goats once she's selected her favorite...this is probably because she has to play defense with Stella to get out the door).

Lauren was a little grossed out by this adult goat with the long beard. Me, too, kid. Time to wash your hands.

We also visited the Kanza Indian encampment that's located on the Farmstead, which included a pond of bullfrogs (photo above).

Lest you think that I only post perfect photos of my children, or rather photos of my children being perfect, check out the shot below. It's a fairly new thing. Everything we read says that you're not supposed to tell them that it's wrong, it encourages them to continue, blah blah blah. Ugh. So there you have it, my beautiful little girl with her finger up her nose. Welcome to twodom.

End of Summer Randomness

Here are some random photos I snapped recently around our house, out and about, etc. Lauren is pretty obsessed with Sean, and perhaps even more obsessed with "helping." So she was happy as a clam in the photo below to help Sean put together a dining room table we snagged on Craigslist (Burke, circa 1960, if you're wondering).


Sean celebrated his 40th (!) birthday in August, and Lauren was the happiest of anyone about it, for obvious reasons (below). Happy Day cakes for everyone! Or just Lauren, whatever.

Below, witness Lauren and Jack's first fight. Jack mostly sits in the stroller like a normal kid now (instead of using the bar you see to snap in his carseat and ride backwards). Which we thought would be great, because it gives Laur a little more room to ride on the front (not a sanctioned seat, by the way, but it works, so we roll with it). Unfortunately for Laur, however, Jack has long legs, and little control over them, and so he just sits there and kicks her. If Lauren's screams are any indication, constantly. Below, she pretends to ignore him.

And finally, below, Lauren and her umbrella. Or "uhn-a-brella" as she calls it. These are the days when Lauren looks like a child genius: umbrella and rain boots, on a rainy day. But don't be fooled, she still wears the rain boots every day, and if it was up to her she'd carry her umbrella every day, too. Her school, however, does not enjoy our permissiveness and prefers that she not bring this "weapon" with her to school anymore. They didn't say that, it was implied.

There you have it, some end of summer randomness. Some of our favorite things that she's saying lately:

(To a housefly near her cereal bowl): "Walk away, dragonfly!"

(When the sun shade on Jack's car window fell off): "Don't worry mommy, daddy will fix it."

(Negotiating her breakfast menu): "How about candy?" Me: "no, cereal." Laur: "no, candy."

(In an attempt to visit the doctor, where she remembers there being Buzz Lightyear stickers): "My stomach hurts. Need to go to the doctor. My head hurts, too. Need to go to the doctor. Buzz Lightyear sticker."

Photos I Would Have Missed Without My Phone

I would like to dedicate this post to my cell phone. Last week it wasn't working so well, for some reason it was really slow. I checked the photos I had taken with and saved on my phone and realized that there were well over a hundred (there's the problem). I would like to say that I make it out the door every time with my fancy mom camera, or even my point and shoot. But I don't, as I've admitted before. I always have my cell phone with me, however. It's a hard worker. I make all of my calls from my cell phone, answer work emails, and keep myself busy surfing the Internet when I'm nursing in yet another dressing room or parking lot. Thus, I use it to capture a lot of my favorite everyday (and not so everyday) moments.

So thank you, cell phone, for always being there for me. For keeping me entertained, and for taking some of my favorite photos of my children. This is just a smattering, and I'll keep 'em coming. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite cell phone photos.

(Nelson Atkins Museum of Art)

(We were trying for the flat rate)

(One of many walks in the Westside)

(A look of approval (we think))

(Who says you have to wear pants to garden?)

(A visit to Children's Mercy for a toe issue)

(Stella (Clifford) the Big Black Dog)

(Labrador abuse)

(First snow of the winter!)

(Tragic tent collapse of January '11)

Sunday at the Zoo, or, A Break in the Heat

If any of you are wondering why there was no blog post of our weekend activities last week, the answer is simple: we barely left the house. We were bad parents. It was hot, and we were exhausted. Such is life. To rectify, and because there was a break in the heat on Sunday morning, it was off the zoo. Sean's parents were also in town on Friday and Saturday, so we hit the Farmers Market on Saturday morning, but Farmers Market mornings are crazy, and I spend 90% of the time making sure neither of our children are lost or kidnapped (this is a typical parental fear, right?), and the other 10% of the time scoping fruits and veg, thus there is no picture taking.

First stop, Happy Gills Cafe and Hangout. We need energy for the zoo walking. Lauren can have nuts now, and went nuts (sorry) for the yogurt with fruit and granola.



Half of the fun in going to the zoo is riding on the various forms of transportation: trains, trams and sky lifts. Above and below, Lauren checking out some of the animals from the tram (today's favorite animal: elephants).

Above, Lauren is almost too close for comfort to one of the gorillas (there were two more to her right). I think the glass could be thicker. Personal opinion.

The pictures below are from the new sky tram at the Kansas City Zoo, which takes you through the air over "Africa." Jack and I stayed behind, but the reviews were positive. And Lauren even came back with her boots on (I was sure they would fall off, which of course I didn't think about until they were well on their way, but Sean thought of it, too, and held them on). I like the progression from terrified to enjoying the ride. Next stop: skiing in Colorado this winter.

And there you have it. Now we're back to oppressive heat. It was nice while it lasted!

Sunday at Powell Gardens

This 4th of July weekend, as most if not all since we moved into this house, was unseasonably tolerable, weather-wise. Saturday was still mind-numblingly hot, so off Sean and Lauren headed to the pool, while Jack and I went to a friend's house to stay cool (Jack inherited Irish skin from his father and breaks out in a heat rash every time he's out of A/C).

But then Sunday morning, rain, and a heat break. Off we headed to Powell Gardens, a botanical garden about 40 miles outside of Kansas City, for their Jurassic exhibit.

I should note first that really this is a post for our new Power Family blog, but as Sean and I have yet to come up with an awesome name, such Power Family blog does not yet exist. But it will. In the meantime, let's be honest, even with a new baby in the house it's still all about Lauren. So her blog gets the post. Also, I forgot my camera for this adventure (insert gasp from Aunt Jane, on behalf of both herself and my mother), so these were taken with my phone. Apologies for the photo quality, but what would we do without camera phones?!?

First, a stop at You Say Tomato for brunch. You need lots of energy to spot dinosaurs.

Lauren attracts quite a bit of attention with her green rain boots. Some of you might be thinking, "smart girl! It's raining!" But you would be ignoring the fact that she's worn them for three months straight, rain or shine. This is her second pair, she literally wore the soles off of the first pair. Here, Sean and Lauren head back to the car...Lauren insisted on carrying her own 'brella:

Baby Jack arrives at Powell Gardens.

Sean and Lauren spot a dinosaur. Pretty sure it's a T-Rex. Also pretty sure that 1) Lauren thought they were real and 2) she obviously doesn't understand the ferocity of a T-Rex, as she asked to "pet him."

Honestly, water features were just as good as dinosaurs.

Waiting for the trolley...in case you can't tell, Lauren is in full meltdown mode.

They also had this cool harvest garden exhibit, and of course it included Lauren's favorite fruit: apples. Not necessarily to eat, although she like them, more just her favorite fruit to spot out and about.

Today for the 4th we drove around a bit, hit Home Depot, made pizzas...you know, the typical 4th of July traditions. Currently our neighborhood is celebrating the 4th in true Westside style...there are a billion fireworks shows all across the horizon, and our neighbors on either side are putting on quite a show of their own as well. Our street is packed with partygoers and Sean and I realize that we've gotten old, or gotten old enough to have children, rather, as we wonder aloud when is an appropriate time to throw open the windows and yell "enough already! We have children sleeping in here!" as quarter sticks of dynamite explode outside Jack's room. So far we have exercised great restraint.

Hope that everyone had a wonderful 4th of July and everyone still has their fingers and eyeballs. And now off to bed to the sounds of Chinese-manufactured explosives....