The Richmond Zoo

I woke up the morning of November 1st and thought to myself, "I survived Halloween!"  My kids had three different trick-or-treating events throughout the month, plus a neighborhood party that we missed.  Does that seem like an awful lot of celebrating for a holiday that doesn't actually mean anything???

We managed to do stuff in the month of October that wasn't focused on Halloween-- we took the kids to the Richmond Zoo one gorgeous Saturday.  This zoo is basically the exact opposite of the National Zoo in DC-- it's on the expensive side and it's kind of small (DC zoo is free entrance and huge), but it's NOT BUILT ON A FREAKING HILL, so walking around looking at the animals is actually an enjoyable experience.  And because it's small, you can race around and see everything and then make it back to in time to see all your favorite animals get fed.  So, yeah, I really enjoyed this zoo.  (And in case you didn't manage to read between the lines there, I loath the National Zoo.)  And more importantly, my kids had a great time, too!  The only bad thing is that now they keep asking when we can go back and I don't think we can afford to any time soon!  Ah, the irony!

Kendra with an emu

Ryder, the king of awesome faces, shows us how scared he is of the cobra

Since one of Camille's many nicknames is Chameleon (often followed with the song, "Karma Chameleon"), we HAD to take a picture of her with one!

Seriously the biggest iguana I've ever seen.  This picture doesn't even do it justice.

This monkey sounded like an opera singer getting warmed up.  Really.

This cheetah has a golden retriever as a best friend-- see him sacked out in the other corner of his cage?

Getting to pet a giraffe is just cool.  I know, everyone loves giraffes.  But let it be known that we do, too!

I think a giraffe got spit on Craig's camera lens, because all his shots (that aren't selfies) after this have this soft foggy glow to them...

You could ride on a ski lift that went over some of the animals

Closest I've EVER managed to get to a rhino, ever.  So that was awesome.  Also, I love the face Craig pulls when he's trying to get a selfie lined up just so!

Zebras and ostrich in the background

This peacock stole the last bite of Camille's sandwich and made her cry (she didn't get hurt-- she was just scared/mad).  This was especially funny because I was terrorized by a peacock when I was about three and bolted from my mom and she had to abandon my little sister in the stroller to chase after me.  Guess it runs (ha!) in the family...

Ryder, once again, pulls awesome faces for the camera.  Also, bactrian camels are super cool and super weird.

Waiting for feeding time

Camille kept wanting to lean way forward and I spent the whole ride afraid she'd fall off the lift

It 's hard not to get excited about a Galapagos tortoise

I like Ryder's toothless smile here

Dromedary camels are cool too, I suppose, especially when they have cute babies...  Some zoo somewhere had a baby camel and named him Alexander Camelton.  Brilliant!

We had a great time.  The weather could not have been better!  And as we were leaving, I found out that I would NOT be needed to chauffeur the young women all over the stake that evening, so I got to relax at home after a long day.  So everything was perfect.

Also, it was in the 70s yesterday and today.  Happy November, y'all!!!

Things Camille Says

For only being two (but, as I'm sure I've covered extensively on this blog, but also being very spunky), Camille talks quite a bit.  Plenty of other people have commented on this fact, too, so it's not just me who has noticed.  I figured it was time I recorded some of the things she says, before she stops saying them and I forget...

One of her favorite things to talk about is her own size.  How she perceives herself changes a LOT based on what she's hoping to get out of the conversation.  When she doesn't want to try something new, or when she's hoping for a bottle of warm milk, she likes to talk about how small she is.  "Because I'n just tiny!" is one of her favorite phrases.  But then when she wants to try new things or be included with whatever her siblings are doing, suddenly it's, "Because I'n bigger now!  I not tiny!"

She knows how to work the system.  And as a 2-year-old (and the youngest in our family), she is sort of balancing between the worlds of being a baby and trying to be a big kid.  It makes sense that this is something that concerns her a lot.

Can you guess that she's got older brothers?  Or does every girl nap with a jackhammer?

The other night, we were driving home from our church Halloween party (which someone dubbed a "Fall Festival" even though the night had nothing to do with the season and everything to do with Halloween), Camille noticed the perfect crescent moon in the sky and exclaimed, "Oh, look at the moon!!!  I want to hold it!"  I understand that sentiment perfectly, Camille.

Eating doughnuts on a string with Bentley

Tough Girl

And yesterday, I was hugging Colton (who was sad).  He was laying on my bed sucking his thumb and pouting, and I was draped over him trying to cheer him up a bit.  Camille decided to lay on top of me and declared, "We're a sandwich!"  And then it turned into a whole game and Colton couldn't stay sad any more, so it was a win all around.  (No one even got hurt-- always a plus!)

She also has her lovey, a pink little giraffe-blanky thing, which has been named Gah.  (I think that was short for giraffe, but I honestly am not sure where that name came from.)  We actually have two of these.  We lost the original when we took the kids to see the Christmas lights at the temple.  Because we knew how much she loved her Gah, we ordered a new one on Amazon as we were driving home.  (It was Amazon that confirmed for us that it was indeed a giraffe-- I'd always wondered if it wasn't actually a cow...)  The new Gah arrived two days later, to much rejoicing.  And the next day, we discovered our original Gah in Craig's coat pocket.  Naturally.

So we have two of these now, which is great for washing them.  But sometimes I mess up the rotation and Camille ends up with both of them at the same time, much to her delight.  When this happens, she shows them off, proclaiming, "Twos Gahs!"  I love the "s" on the end of the word "two" there-- so logical, and so very very wrong.  It makes me laugh.

At a football game-- she had more fun than any of her siblings

Decorating a bat for art class

This girl!  She keeps me laughing!

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I am constantly bemoaning my inability to ever actually accomplish anything.  Oh, sure-- I get laundry done.  And dishes.  But those odd little errands that force me to leave my house with two (or more) small children in tow and that shouldn't take more than one trip to the store-- those have a strange power to become major obstacles in my life that never quite get crossed off the To Do list.  I find it wildly frustrating, to the point that I need to blog about it here...


So.  At some point, a shower curtain liner gets gross enough that it's just not worth it to keep trying to scrub it clean.  It's a bit of a headache taking down the old one and hanging the new one, but as far as monetary price goes, replacing a shower curtain doesn't cost much.  Mine got to that point a couple weeks ago, so I dutifully picked out a new one at Target, washed the actual shower curtain*, scrubbed the shower floor clean, and then hung them both up, all ready to pat myself on the back for a job well done.

But then I discovered that the liner I'd bought was about three inches too short.  It didn't reach the shower pan, so water would end up dripping all outside, rendering it useless.  This seemed odd to me, since I thought liners came in a pretty standard size.  Target is a half hour away from me, though, so I couldn't drive back immediately to return it.  But I couldn't very well USE it, and I'd already thrown the old one away, so like anyone does when dealing with a store with a REALLY good return policy, I simply ordered another one, this time from Target.com.  And then Craig moved the shower rod down a few inches, leaving the curtain to drag all over the bathroom tiles.  Classy.

Shower curtain liner #2 arrived and I excitedly hung it up.  I'd splurged on a nicer, cloth one, figuring from here on out I'd just wash it rather than buying another new one every year or so.  The reviews had complained that it was a bit long, but I figured that should work out perfectly for my situation.

I was wrong.  Liner #2 was at least 8 inches longer than the short one.  Craig moved the curtain rod up so high up that I could no longer reach it and the actual shower curtain was dangling several inches above it (which sort of gave it a "your slip is showing" look that was NOT desirable).  And the blasted thing was STILL dragging all over the shower floor!  It was ridiculous!

I finally found a chunk of time when I could go back to Target and return both of them and try for a third time.  I even measured to figure out exactly the length I wanted (73 inches).  And as I stood in the aisle, contemplating all those shower curtain liners I discovered that I had been right all along: they do come in one standard size, despite the wildly different lengths of the ones I'd just purchased.

So this time I bought two more (yay for a good return policy!)-- another nicer cloth one, and the absolute cheapest one they make.  I figured this way, if neither was the right length, I could hold on to the cheap one until I could try out Bed, Bath, & Beyond or something.  Fortunately, the cloth one (Try #3) works fine.  I wish it were an inch longer, but it'll do.  And hopefully from here on out I can just wash it rather than having to go through this all over again.

Who knew stuff as dumb as this could be so complicated?  How many brain cells (of mine, but now of yours, too!) have been wasted on such a worthless endeavor??? 




*Funny story about my shower curtain: The previous owners left it hanging in the shower and I liked it, so I never bothered to replace it.  It took me a year to figure out that it's actually a REGULAR curtain, like you would hang in your window!   I'd thought it was odd that it had so many loops for hanging it that they'd tied them all together in knots to make it line up properly with the curtain liner...  Oh, well.  I think it works, so I'm sticking with it for now!

The New Portraits!

Our photographer sent the link to our new portraits yesterday and I'm so excited to start designing Christmas cards and ordering prints for Grandparents!

I'm going to start with all my favorites, but I'm putting all of them on this post.  So you'll kind of be ending on a low note, but that way if you're getting bored and don't want to finish looking at them all, it's okay.  (I know-- looking at pictures of other people isn't nearly as interesting as looking at pictures of your own family.  It's just like how hearing about someone else's dream is the most boring thing ever, but it's so fun talking about your own dreams!)  So, yeah, if you don't want to examine every single shot, we can still be friends!  Also-- there are a couple of the kids' pictures where I have a hard time deciding between my favorites.  So those kids get two.  It's not favoritism-- I like all my KIDS the same.  Just not necessarily their pictures!

I seriously can't believe she got a picture of all of us smiling at the same time-- is that even possible???

This one is almost identical, so much so that I'm having a hard time choosing which I like best...  Feel free to weigh in!

I love Ryder's eyes in this picture

But this is how he actually smiles-- so I also love the honesty of this picture, slightly squinted eye and all...

This is my favorite of Camille, but Craig doesn't like that she isn't looking at the camera. (I should clarify-- he doesn't like that it doesn't match the other kids' portraits.  If none of them were looking at the camera, he'd be fine with it.)

So this is our favorite of her looking at the camera

Despite the funny look on Bentley's face, this is the best shot of all of us walking-- I love how we're backlit so my hair is glowing.  AWESOME.  I should have glowing hair all the time.

So those were my absolute favorites.  These are the rest of them and they're ALL runner-ups...

Kind of a funny smile from Bentley, but I still love this.

Notice we managed to re-tuck Ryder's shirt since the group shot!

Camille looks a little dreamy here, but I still love this

Colton kept jutting his lower jaw forward...  I don't know why...

He looks like he knows a secret here...

Kendra wanted a picture of herself with this tree-- she's got a nice smile, but is holding her arms out awkwardly...?

Funny smile from Bentley

How is my little boy looking not so much like a little boy here?!?!

Bentley also decided he needed a picture with the tree, and also managed to make it totally awkward

I really wanted this picture to turn out.  I LOVE the lighting.  I'm not as big of a fan of Craig having crazy eyes, Ryder's mouth wide open, my lumpy knees, and Camille sticking her tongue out...

This one's a little better, but this time my eyes are squinty and now Colton is smiling weird.  And my knees are still lumpy.

This is what our poor photographer REALLY had to work with.  Now you can appreciate just how magical that first wonderful shot is!!!

Another walking picture-- I love that Camille has her binkie.  And I still love my glowing back-lit hair.  It's too bad that you can't see Colton (behind Bentley).

And this time Ryder is getting blocked by his big brother...

This is almost cute except WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY NECK???

Seriously-- how many chins do I have???

I hate my profile.

Anyway, if you want your very own copy of any of these, watch for them in a Christmas card coming your way!  (And if I don't have your address, you'd better send it to me!)

Weird Coincidences

These are not earth-shattering, or even all that interesting, but they amuse me.

First of all, as most of my readers are probably aware, the BYU mascot is a cougar.  When Craig got his first job teaching at Manassas Park, their mascot was also the cougars.  That was fun, but not a huge deal-- cougars are fairly popular as far as mascots run.  But then, when he got his master's from George Mason University, their mascot was the patriots.  And now he's at Albemarle High School where the mascot is also the patriots.  What are the odds?  (And H/T to Kendra who pointed this out to us!)


And then there are people's names in my neighborhood.  Our community is called Foxcroft, and I think I remember Craig telling me that there were about 125 houses in the neighborhood.  So obviously, it's not shocking that you'll run into some repeat names.  The fact that there are two dads both named Dave on our street does not surprise me at all.  And the two Mackenzies living next to each other are also not shocking.

But I now know of FOUR women named Molly.  One is a middle-aged single woman who lives across the street of me.  Another is a teenager who lives two doors down.  And two are mothers of Ryder's classmates (and the classmates have different first and last names, so I don't think their mom is actually the same person or anything)...  What are the odds?  Where was I when Molly became such a popular name?