Ten on Tuesday

1. Sunday evening we had a post race celebration at Able and Kari's house. It was still a little chilly so we got to sit by the fire while we celebrated. These two little boys sometimes just sit and chill together. It always seems strange when Rowan just sits in a chair somewhere, something his big brother never does. 

 Also I found this post race selfie of Zach and I that I forgot I had taken. Fun times. 

2. Last month I ordered an Animal Tracker Club box for Zane that comes once a month. The first month he got a tin lunch box and his initial set up of fun animal tracking things. Each month after that it comes with information and activities about a specific animal. Currently learning about different animals is Zane's favorite thing so this box has been perfect. This month's animal was  a zebra. We got this fun Zebra craft, some Zebra themed worksheets, a zebra mask, info sheets on zebras, a zebra magnet for his lunch box, and a plastic toy zebra. All these things fit in his tin and he loves it. I think this would be a great gift idea for any animal lovers in your life. Here is the link to the website, which also has a monthly space explore box which looks pretty fun too.

Zach writes and draws all the animals we see each day in his animal tracking book.

This month's zebra craft.

 3. As all of you know Mooly is Zane's beloved stuffed cow that he has had since he was a tiny baby. Mooly goes everywhere with Zane and is definitely "real" by Velveteen rabbit standards. She has been loved hard and it shows. Thursday evening, in the rush to get out of school and to his baseball game, Zane forgot Mooly at school. First thing Friday morning we had to go rescue her. Ever since then Zane has been very concerned about Mooly. Yesterday he asked if we could give her a bath, which we did and most of the afternoon was spent drying/brushing her hair. When daddy got home he jokingly sad that Mooly might turn into a real cow like in Velveteen rabbit and Zane burst into tears at the thought of losing Mooly. Zane has told us on multiple occasions he will NOT be giving Mooly to his kids when he grows up. In the midst of this love Rowan has desperately wanted/needed his own Mooly, which has been ordered and will be arriving any day!

3. Yesterday it rained all day long. These two also woke up early and decided to not nap well, which meant we had a very, very long day. By four we were grasping at straws for entertainment, so we made a Jungle diorama complete with the sponge painting the forest trees/grass.We painted foot prints in the jungle with plastic animals and then the animals and the boys needed baths. Lot of rainy day fun around here, but ready for some sunshine!

 

4. By dinner time both boys were pretty punchy and then spent all of dinner making each other crack up. It was very entertaining, even if little to no food was eaten. Here is Rowan's new giggling face, with the side way looking eyes. It's too much for me.  Love that Zane and Rowan find each other so entertaining!

 5. Needless to say today we needed to get out of our house. We took Maggie and Grandma with us to Otto's house first thing this morning. Today we saw lots of different things than what we usually do. The kids spent a lot of time looking at the Oklahoma rocks section, which is very old and I think terribly boring, but they enjoyed it. We saw the trains, the planes, played in the huge tree house, and of course had nature class outside, which was cut short by the rain. We will so miss Maggie joining in on our adventures next year when she is in Kindergarten.

 Rowan could have watched the trains all day. There were four of them going today and a guy there fixing trains as well. It was the train jack pot today.

 This was a new bike/helicopter set up outside which Zane could have pedaled all day.

6. Since it is almost May that means that Zane is in full party planning mode for his birthday. I am pretty sure the party planning phase of his birthday party will be his favorite part by far. He loves to decorate and come up with themes, a child after my own heart. Yesterday we landed on a Hawaiian penguin party. He recently discovered Lilo and Stitch on Netflix and loves it, and all things Hawaii, but also really loves penguins so why not combined the two. We might have gotten some party supplies already from Dollar Tree. Now trying to figure out what to buy the kid who has everything and doesn't play with toys, is another problem.

 We spent the afternoon practicing the limbo, which will obviously be happening at the Hawaii/Penguin party.

7. When I asked Zane what he wanted for his birthday he said, and I quote, "Maybe a book about good and bad snakes so I can teach zoo classes." Zoo classes are when he brings out a stuffed animal and a book about that animal and teaches Rowan, the other stuffed animals, and I about that animal. Here he is yesterday, being a zoo keeper. He taught up about cheetahs, penguins, and snakes! So any animal teaching present ideas people have, send them my way.

8. May also means that it is almost farm camp time. Planning is underway for the last weekend in May. Mom is getting farm activities planned for us and I am trying to pull together all sorts of crafts and inside entertainment ideas. The kids voted on shirt colors today, with blue winning by a land slide. Since Rowan and I were both sick for last years festivities this will be Rowan's first year to attend and I am sure he will love it. Here is hoping we can stay well this year, fingers crossed.

9. This afternoon, once the sun came out, so did the spring time animals. Zane found another frog, this time in our backyard, which was equally as entertaining as the last frog. Zane drove him around in the back of his toy trash truck, made him a little pond, and let him hop off of all sorts of things. Rowan and Zane both carried him around, I'm sure nearly killing him. Finally we decided to set him free by the pond. Zane gently put him in the pond and was ecstatic when he came swimming back to the side to see him. You have to love an afternoon of frog fun. 

 "Mom he is not scared, he is looking out the windows." In response to me telling him to let the frog out of the trash truck because he was probably terrified.

 "Bye froggy, love you."-Ro

10. The only thing that could overshadow finding another frog is today's biggest news, Marty and Mary have had baby ducks!!!!! They have been MIA for a while and we were hoping that they had a nest somewhere and then today, on our way to get party supplies, we saw Mary with about a dozen little baby ducklings. It was the cutest thing in the world and the boys were completely thrilled. We kept our distance, so as not to scare them away, so I only have this terrible picture of the adorable brood. They had gone back into hiding when we came back later to see them. Here is hoping they come out more often. What a wonderful springtime surprise.