The Zoo

We finally made it to the zoo this year. We tried three times to plan for a day to go, during the week (fewer people to contend with), with decent weather, and the first two times we had to give up due to rain. We didn't get many pics ... Mom had the camera, and mostly I just pushed the empty stroller and found places to sit (stroller wasn't quite sturdy enough to hold my mass, or I would have insisted that they push me!). But it was a really good day, even if we didn't document it thoroughly with photos.


Great pic of Aleaha and Daddy.


Requested "belly shot" (taken whilst eldest child attempts to climb over fence and pick all the flowers). Calendar says I'm 33 weeks along. In pregnant-old-woman terms, that means I'm about 2 years overdue.


Aleaha contemplates the highest speed the zoo train is likely to reach.


It really was a great day: We started by sleeping in (glory be, even the kiddo!), then broke our fast at The Broken Yolk cafe (which Aleaha calls "The Broken Yoken"), hit Coastal Farm in Albany for a few essentials, then made our way to the zoo. We were there only a couple of hours, and that was just fine. See some animals, dodge some people, eat a sno-cone, and we're ready to go, right? Then, on the way home, we found a Red Robin in Wilsonville and had an early dinner (read: Mom didn't cook a thing that day!). Here's Miss A enjoying a bit of a fuzzy raspberry drink.

Eating, Underwear, and More Eating

Aleaha and Mommy went to Pastini's the other night (while Daddy had a work session for racecar with his crew). It was a more upscale place than I would normally patronize with a little kid, but she was pretty good. Noodles with butter, how bad could it be? And chocolate cake for dessert. Yeah, it rated pretty high.


Should we be seeing this? Clearly not. (First, it's a flash of her underwear, which we are teaching is not something to be shown in public. Second, uh....if I can read it like this, it means they are on inside out!) Obviously there was a dress-yourself opportunity earlier in her day.



Happiness is sharing a big chocolate milkshake with your dad. :)


I've gotten some requests to post "belly shots" here. Will try. We are so danged busy lately it's hard to find a few minutes....

This weekend we finished setting up the pig pen for '09, and we trekked out to the farm and picked up our 5 little oinkers for this year. Pics of those soon, I hope. Two of them are smaller than the others -- small enough to escape through the side pannels of the pen! We had a bit of a situation yesterday when a little one got on the wrong side of the fence. He got a little scared, jumped the hot wire, went through the openings in the pannel fence, and was free. After a panicky moment where we all sort of froze in place, I thought to turn off the hot wire and let his social instinct to be with his friends take over. He quickly found his way back in, at which point I promptly turned the electricity back on, to discourage that sort of thing again! That seems to be the only escapee case. The piggies are pretty fun to watch, as they frolick in the dirt, lay in the sun and shade, and learn to eat from the "big pig feeder". They are still struggling to learn how to drink from the hose, but they are getting there. They were accustomed to living in a barn, no access to the outdoors. So they seem to be understanding that this ranch is a pretty good deal . Yeah, that's the way we want them to think about it.... a really great life. With purpose. A higher purpose. More on that later. ;) (And no, NONE of them are named "Babe" or Wilbur"!)

Mother's Day!

As our Mother's Day tradition (well, second year running), we went to our local cafe for breakfast on Sunday morning. Miss A gave a nice grin for the camera. She loves going out for breakfast, because she can "order pan-takes, syrup, sausage, and eggs", which are her favorites (and I don't make pancakes at home, so that's a real treat for her). She was bit disappointed later that day when we went out for dinner at Elmer's with Gramma Patty, because she couldn't order the very same thing.





She made a lovely 4-course meal for us the other night, and I asked her what was for dessert. She said, shoulders shrugging, "But Mom, I no have anything to make you for ba-ssert." Well, I had stashed this fabulous wooden birthday cake for later in June (do you just love stuff by "Melissa and Doug" or what?!), so I pulled it out a couple of weeks early. Lemme tell you, it's a hit! I've had many quiet hours and some delicious ba-sserts (served with tea or coffee, even!) from this little gift. The pieces stick together with velcro, which can then be cut apart with the matching knife ("Be careful, Mom, it's very sharp and dangerous!").

Feeding MamaLlama

MamaLlama is a slut for alfalfa treats. We recently discovered that she especially loves the cubed form, even over the pelleted form. (Great, those are cheaper!)

Aleaha had fun feeding her while Mom rearranged a few things in the barn. Kept them both busy!

Nigel's Birthday Party

This is a shot from a b-day party we attended last weekend for Nigel, a friend in Aleaha's class at school. It was held in the back area of a local toy store, "The Toy Factory" (great facility). This photo summarizes a good portion of Miss A's attitude during most of the party. She retreated to herself quite a bit. (And when Mom knocked her juice cup over and spilled it all over her from the head down.... well, that didn't help much, I'm afraid.)

Things picked up a bit for her when it was cake time.

Here's a couple of great pics of our friends Leo and Nigel. See, they had a GREAT time!

As we left, I wanted Aleaha to test-ride a horsie on her wishlist for her birthday. I'm glad we tried him out first - he's too small for her. No room to grow. I'm looking for one a tad taller (maybe just one more hand) that we can all enjoy for a little longer. Helps to, you know, postpone the inevitable...."Mom, when do I get my own real horse?!"