A Day out With Animal Planet

Max started the day making a strong attempt at looking mischevious with a marker moustache ... waterproof thankfully.
Then we headed out to Shelby Farms for the Animal Planet Expo. The place was filled with parents and pets kids and kitties ... and lots of LONG LINES! The event was free ... so every moonbounce, inflatable slide and exhibit was met with an uber wait. Totally worth it! Great time had by all...

Two hours of waiting later...

After seeing kid after kid with really cool face paintings ... the boys decided they too had to have them. So we stood in line, chatted it up with all sorts of friends from Bartlett Child Care who passed by and Jennifer and Mary Beth from WREG ... and we stood in line some more, caught two showings of the exotic animal show and the frisbee dog show. And we kept waiting for our free face painting. And after TWO HOURS ... yes I know I'm a little looney ... we made it up to the tent and here's what happened next : )

Max in the hot seat.
Porter watches

And Max the Tiger likes what he sees.

MEOW!
Porter takes his turn.
Puuurrfectly Pleased : )
Tiger Brothers... ROAR!!!!

We are big kids now!

I can't even believe I'm writing this blog. 5 years have slipped through my fingers. Photographs and memories are my only witness that the last 62 months actually happened. We went from bibs and binkies to lunchbags and backpacks in the blink of an eye. So here we are on the first day of kindergarten, sweetly dubbed, "big kid school" at Cordova Elementary. Every step of the way, there was another mom consoling a teary eyed little one not ready to leave mom's side just yet. Another Kindergartener filled the hallway with painful screams as his mommy walked out the door ... head in hands. (He quieted down as soon as she was out of ear shot ... God I know that routine sooo well!) These encounters reminded me of the first few days of day care. BRUTAL! So you might imagine my sheer disbelief at the complete opposite reaction to this first day routine. While I was shuddering at the thought of the fit that Porter would inevitably have upon separation ... he must have been planning the quickest escape from mom and dads tight grip. And Max ... heck ... he barely noticed we walked him through the doors! They were absolute troopers for their first day. Me on the other hand ... Joel did his best to keep me smiling. I was completely flooded with more emotions than I could keep up with. Sad, proud, excited, scared, there was so much to take in. But all in all I LOVED this day ... and I adored the looks on their faces as they sat at their desks and waved goodbye. I liked it even better when we got to pick them up at the end of the day and hear how much fun they had ... Life is good, and it just keepd getting better : )

Flower Power

We have this great patch of sunflowers near our house it's part of an educational agriculture field. The boys had a blast running through the rows and mingling with the butterflies and bees.