Exciting News

Howdy loyal readers and thus the bestest of friends-

I am now a contributor at Just for me...and you.  I am so excited to be a part of this fabulous blog.  Head on over, add us to your reader and become a follower!!!  Megan has some serious grand plans brewing in her head for this pet project of hers (and now mine, too) and you are each going to want to a part of it.

See you there!

Monkeys in Trees

A girfriend took some shots of the kids a couple months ago and I just got my hands on them.  It was way too freezing of a day to capture anything remotely beautiful, or even frameable.  But, if you enjoy children looking pained, constipated, and sometimes obese, these shots are for you!

Valentine Week

Because really, what holiday only lasts a day??  

Before I begin, my camera is broken, so no pictures of the little monkeys.

Wednesday Ryder and I began our LOVE festivities by dipping pretzels in chocolate, as seen in Make and Takes.   Obviously this is her picture as my camera is broken, remember??  I would dare say that our pretzels turned out even more adorable, but you will just have to take my word for it.  We ate too many then packaged the rest up for Valentine's gifts.

Thursday we spent the morning making Valentine cards for Ryder's Pre-K class, then spent the afternoon at his school party, which I was so wonderfully in charge of (gag me).    Ryder was also selected to be Student of the Month for all of Wilson School (the only kid chosen among preschoolers, Pre-Kers, and kindergartners)!  Such a stud.  I promised him ice cream.  Dad came home with a new PS3 game for him instead.  Obvious who the cooler parent here is.  Whatever.

Friday was the church play group party where the kids ate way too many cupcakes and decorated sugar cookies, and exchanged more Valentine's.  Far too much sugar was consumed here.  I now have nearly as much candy hidden as Halloween.  This is unfortunate.  

That evening I dropped the kids off at the sitter and met Allen and one of our fave couples from Texas in the city.  It was so fun seeing you Stubbart's!!  We had dinner at the Tribeca Grill then gorged ourselved on cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery.  Allen ate three.  I still have puke chills thinking about it.  Gross.  Then we had to say goodbye.  Thanks for letting us crash on your vacation guys!  It was so fun seeing you.  Next up: Cruising in 2010.  We can't wait!!  (Well, hopefully next up will be seeing everyone in Dallas, but I have been saying that for 3 years... so I suck).

Saturday we took the kids out to Friendly's for lunch.  I figured that after they had consumed their chicken and french fries and huge servings of ice cream I was done with the Valentine goodies.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing and showing love at home.  I think.  I don't really remember the rest of the day.  I'm pregnant.  So shoot me.

I love Valentine's Day.  I love my manly Valentine and my mini-Valentine's.  Hope you all had a fabulous love-fest day (or week) as well!!

On My Knees

Dear March-

I have a huge favor to ask.  Could you please come sooner?  You see, February just isn't working for me.  Let me expound.  Today:

It is snowing 18 billion inches outside

I am on my 6th load of laundry....two of which have included peed on bedding by both of my children

I have wiped far too many poopy bums today

I have removed poopy from a place other than a toilet or a bum

I scrubbed my walls down to remove the layers of grimy fingerprints

Some of the grimy fingerprints did not wash, so I re-painted

I tried to fix Linley's blinds, and in so doing, sliced my thumb nearly off.  I really need stitches, but who has time for that?

Linley refused to nap, for a second day in a row.  She is way too grumpy of a girl right now.

I have heartburn and am fresh out of Tums, but can't run to the store because that is way to huge of an ordeal with the children in the snow and the friendly Peapod man is suppose to be delivering me my groceries shortly.

I forgot to buy ice cream.

I will stop.  I am not complaining.  I love my life.  But I would love my life even more in March. When I get to go to Mexico.  With the hubs.  And without the children.  To be pampered, and bask in the sun, and swim in the crystal blue waters, and eat decadent and succulent meals until my heart and tummy are content.  I need these things.  Right now!  And mostly, I need to be able to miss my children.

Please take my plea into consideration.

Sincerely,

The Zookeeper

The Results Are In...

The boys needed a few moments to accept the fact that they will be outnumbered by females, but I think it is safe to say we are all excited for more bows and pink!!  Let the shopping begin!!

The Deets

That's short for details, daddy. First,thank you everyone for your sweet comments. You are all liars and are going to hell, but I appreciate it being on my behalf. Such good friends I have! I am half-way baby. Here are my 20 week shots. Looking a lot more like 30 weeks, but this is out of my control. Well, at least that is what I tell myself when I load the bacon, guacamole and cheese onto my otherwise healthy sandwich. We find out the gender of this chimp on Tuesday. Excited am I? Yes. Now the official name fighting and contention over paint colors and bedding in the Zimmerman household may begin . Our estimated due date is June 16th.  And Linley laughs at me every time she sees my tummy. Rude child. Oh, and don't judge my pasty legs okay. What's a girl to do??? Well, maybe get a spray tan, or wear tights. Whatever. This is all beside the point.

A New Day

This afternoon the kids and I cuddled together on the couch and watched our new President take the Oath of Office.  I may not be his biggest fan, but I did feel a rush of excitement as I watched Barack Obama be sworn in.  Even Ryder felt the importance of the event.  He was so curious and inquisitive, trying his hardest to understand the meaning of it all.  By the end he jumped up and down pointing at the screen every time Barack's face was shown, yelling, "Barack's the new 44th President of the United States."  When Bush's face came on he would yell, "Bye bye President Bush. Thank you." 

As we were driving in the car to drop Ryder off at school he was explaining to Linley everything he learned.  The conversation went like this:

"Linley, did you know we got a new President today?  His name is Barack Obama and he is the 44th President.  His wife's name is Michelle.  He has two little girls.  He also has a Vice President which is his helper but I don't remember his name.  President Bush use to be the president but now he is going back to Texas.  We use to live in Texas.  Wait a second, I thought Thomas S. Monson was the old President."

Conversation ended. 

 Lesson learned: there is clearly no separation of church and state when you are four.

Where's the Green

It snowed again this morning.  Can it all go away now?  We snuck in a few minutes of play before church.  It was too powdery to do much, but we still managed to enjoy it (and by enjoy, I mean got out of the house and briefly tolerated our lives).

Catching snowflakes

Sliding down the slippery slide

Snow angels!!

I think Ryder said it best this morning: "Mommy, why did Jesus make it snow again?  The plants are all dead and we have enough water.  We don't need any more snow.  We need it to be summer." Amen my child, amen.

Al Gore is Dumb

It was 4 degrees when I took Allen to the train this morning.  Actual temperature.  Wind chill was somewhere in the negative freeze-your-face-off cold range.  No, wait.  Fargo can take that title. Negative 48 degrees.  Did you know that was even possible??  Global warming my eye (whatever that saying is suppose to mean).  Gross.

No Use For a Name

Or in this case, a title.  As in, this one is pretty self-explanatory folks.