Ali's 1st Haircut

On commenting...

I changed a setting to allow those without a gmail account to comment. :)

Memorial Day

I know it will shock no one to find we opted to take a daytrip over the holiday weekend. :)

Oaklahoma City! Being how fond we Fiats are of zoos, what better target?

This shot is from outside a sitdown Sonic restaurant right next to world headquarters. The fountain outside was more fun than the actual dining experience. The lines were insane...college baseball tournement across the street. We did ofcoure hit the Bass Pro Shop...can we say HUGE?!?! The kids of course loved it. Being the little rednecks that they are.

From there, we went to the memorial from the Federal Building bombing. It was amazing. Very sobering to walk through the gate and much more tranquil than I would have thought (especially being as populated as it was). Tre and I got out of the car to go take pictures. Shown here, is the 9:01 gate, the "before" the bomb went off and one of the memorial chairs made for the victims. That day killed 168 people.



Then, it was off to the zoo. Total bargain...half off to get in. Love that reciprocal list.

Ali noticed the Meerkats and really wanted us to all look. Tre and Giuliana were busy shoving cotton candy in their mouths. :)

I wonder if the meerkats remind my family of any 4 legged family members?


It took awhile, but we finally found "the Oklahoma Trails." It's a new exhibit. Very nicely done. Kudos to the landscape architect. ;)

The kids loved the misters that were everywhere- especially Ali. She squealed with delight any time one of them hit the button.


For Dad. :)


This was one friendly beaver. Whenever he'd catch someone in the corner, he'd "play" with them.

No promises on formatting here...so I'll just give up on that and publish it. ;)

She's a first grader!

That's right folks, last day of kindergarten. Here she is getting off the bus. She decided in honor of her last day, she'd let Tre choose her outfit. IMHO, he didn't do a bad job. I don't think it's really set in to her that she won't be catching the bus again until August.

3 steps!

That's right, lazy, bring everything to me, baby is finally attempting to walk. Tonight, she let go of the chair, turned around and took 3 steps toward me. Proud mama moment.

Giuliana finished another scrap layout. She's so pleased. Now I guess I need to either send photos to the printer for her or purchase more photo paper (gotta love the Canon MP160).

Tre worked on perfecting the art of tormenting one's older sister. Sometimes she can be such an easy target. But such is life with siblings. :)

In shock...

School lets out for summer on Thursday!!!! I don't think G is trully ready for that. Which means, the countdown to our summer trip starts. That's right, 2 fabulous weeks in the car to see family and friends in Washington and Idaho (you're all totally worth it). What can I say, we are the Griswolds. :)

Have I mentioned lately just how wonderful my husband is? I know, I know, this is the "Fiat KIDS" blog, but bear with me. Last night, he sent me out, all alone, for a trip to Hobby Lobby. I'm tellin' ya, the scrap section is so nice when you're by yourself. ;) Then, tonight, he asked who wanted to go caching. Yep, he took all 3 out and let me stay home in the peace & quiet (ok so relatively speaking- still counts when it's your own favorite music turned up).

The kids are all tucked in bed. I was scrapping. I'm thinkin' I might head up and read for awhile. I have no pictures to post today. I am lazy. :

Ok, well I could post a pic of Al flying a kite. Seriously, Angelo let her hold the string. She thought she was so big. Here they are. In the beginning, it was just reaching and grunting for the string/holder.

Then, being the cool parent, he just let go and she flew it. She's apparently been watching G enough to know moving your arms moves the kite (seriously, watching G is hilarious as she dances across the yard).

3.2.1...Penggguuuuiiiiinnnnnns!

Angelo had a fantastic idea today as we left church. Yep, the new penguin exibit at the zoo opened this weekend. Special bonus- members only!

While Giuliana was taking pictures of the 4 of us, a kind passerby offered to take a family shot for us. (Yes, Ali is really in the backpack.)



It was mere coincidence that Tre chose his "Plays well with Otters!" shirt today. Unfortunately, we didn't get to actually see any otters today though. Apparently, there were otter pups born on March 26. They are expected to make a "public" appearance any time now. Ali fully enjoyed her ride today. While it normally draws attention as a "cool ride," it drew more than normal today. I think it must have had something to do with the stud carrying it. ;)
We took the boat tour for the first time today. Well worth the $3/person. You get to see the lemur islands "up close." Very cool. Not surprinsly, Tre didn't want to get off the boat.

Pics From Thursday...

I really had all the intention in the world of posting these Thursday night. Then, a bright, shiny object caught my eye (meaning I am easily distracted- hmmm wonder where that trait comes from?). Anyway....all 3 kids slept until 6 this evening. It was odd. Angelo and "the bigs" are on a Home Depot/Lowes/some kind of hardware store run to obtain string for the spintrimmer. Any bets on him picking out a gas powered one?

This is Ali's look now any time a camera comes out. At this very moment, she is in fact in baby jail, talking on her cell phone. She likes it because it talks to her. It says thinks like "hello!" "hola!" etc and she's sure it's all for her. :) Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she can't just look like me. She is in fact scrapbooking in this picture. This was her 1st 2 page spread! Oh, and for those wondering, yeah, she's almost as linear as I am- but she did use fibers.
Mr. Charming would really like to know where his scrapbook is. I convinced him the book he and I printed out from PlayHouse Disney was just as cool- especially when he could cut apart the last "ZooBooks" we got and glue pics in.

Let's go fly a kite....

Yes, that song from Mary Poppins is stuck in my head. Is it in your's now too?

Kansas in the springtime...skunks & roadkill, tornadoes and kite flying in the backyard. Does it get any better than this?

Tre and his Spiderman kite. Not surprising, he figured it out rather quickly. He was nice and shared with Daddy (who had forgotten just how fun it was to fly a kite).

Giuliana is a kite flying natural. She was having a blast. Who knew she could dance and fly a kite all at once? ;) We won't mention the kite getting stuck up on the roof or anything like that.


And then there's this one. Teething anyone?


It's all fun and games until your pony gets tangled up with the kite string. Good thing Daddy's nice.


I wish I could remember what he was telling us about his kite here. The look was just too cute to have left it out.









Lastly, I have to apologize. In the preview window, all the formatting looks great. I have a feeling it might not be as cool once I publish. :( (Seriously, spacing and everything tends to change. I'll figure it all out one of these days.)

Our Flock Rocks!

Before everyone gets too busy laughing, you should know that the float won the "People's Choice" award. :D You'll also be thrilled to know that one of the 3 songs that were played over and over the approximately 1.8 miles is still in my head. Should said song get out of my head, someone is happy to help it re-enter. Sadly, I do not know the title of the song, so I might share it with you. Oh and being as I have no speakers on this system, searching iTunes probably won't do me much good.

Perhaps the funniest part was walking to the staging area. Everyone wanted our duck hats. People wanted to actually purchase them!

The kids of course loved their hats! I'm betting they didn't see anything wrong with the t-shirt color either.

Being the good daddy that he is, Angelo carried Tre most of the parade route.

It's no surprise that Ali didn't want to wear her hat. Being the thoughtful toddler that she is, she wanted me to wear it. She was adorable the whole route. She waved her little hands at the crowds and giggled.

Chaos has a new name...

It would be K-1 Field Day! Actually, as usual, it was extremely well put together. The staff at Giuliana's school is amazing! Above is Giuliana sporting her new (temporary) tatoo. I believe it is roses. Her buddy for the day got a kitty cat on her arm.

Angelo took half the day off to watch the little ones so I could help where ever needed. Typically, the gym teachers had it all under control. The paras were all out in force so parents could enjoy field time with their kids. Again, I'm impressed.

Afterward, we had our end of the year, Spring Party. I am "Crazy Craft Mom." We made a mosaic of sorts. I went in to take a pic of the class yesterday. Unfortunately, we just couldn't get a day with everyone there. Hence, our picture frames with a class picture turned into mosaics/collages. I cropped everyone's face into a 3/4 in square and made them into stickers. They turned out really cute. Then the kids ate, played hot potatoe with water balloons and ended with limbo and dancing (which they just all started on their own). Apparently "High School Musical" is big with kids this age. I'm so out of the loop on that one.

Silly side note. We picked up a scrapbook kit for Giuliana at Sam's the other night. In it, is an 8X8 book. The project today was done on 8x8 cardstock. Seriously- I didn't plan it that way. Her first page is done in her book! :)

Just in time for the River Festival...

The Arkansas certainly is mighty mighty after all the rain fall. We went to Big Arkansas River Park tonight to check out the water again. I thought it was strong last night, let's just say wow for today.


While I hiked under the freeway bridges, Angelo took the kids to throw sticks in the water- a favorite past time for the older 2. Ali was the first to see me up on the bank with the zoom lense.

The kids (and Angelo) are standing on what was the river path. Currently, there are sections under water.

They found great joy in traversing the sides. Yes, they know the word AND use it in context.

With all the fisherman out (yes, there were a ton), talk ofcourse went to Uncle Melvin. Specifically that "Uncle Melvin is a fish slapper." Giuliana was quite concerned and didn't think she would want to go fishing with him for fear of being fish-slapped. She was only minorly comforted when she learned that it's probably only Grandpa that gets fish slapped by Uncle Mel. (Insert audible laughing here.)

Water goes in one side:

And out the other:

Feeling like such a pioneer!

Tre and I made laundry soap today. He was very "helpful." Made a mental note- "carefully & slowly are different when you're 3."

We've had a rather productive day. All 3 bathrooms are clean, 2 boxes of donation stuff have been dropped off and we returned library materials. Oh, and a few loads of laundry (now if I can just get it all folded and put away).

Giuliana is still really into pony tails. Poor girl doesn't realize she needs just a little more hair. She got rather irritated today when she couldn't get it in on the first try. She made a little mental note "badgering Mommy doesn't get her help any sooner and will probably resort in not getting what you want."

For Dad...

Here's our backyard from earlier. Typically, we got a huge downpour moments after I took these. I should have shot the front too. The water was literally rushing to the drainage trench.

CF by our numbers...

Can you just hear Giuliana's inner monologue? "He's not shaking the pom poms! WHY isn't he shaking the pom poms. You know I'd be dancing and cheering. Why? Why? Why?" Meanwhile the kid is thinking "Uh, I signed up to hold a number card."

The walk was a great experience. The Kindergarten contingent was the best part (in my humber opinion of course). We all brought up the end together.

Ok, so those that know us will find this really funny. You've seen me craft and how I set up...picture Angelo with a tv tray set up with cardboard on top. Then, the banana hanger with a bison tube hanging off it. Then, there's a set of pliars also set up as a drying rack. Topping off the image with little jars of earthtone paint and you can really get folks wondering. He did do a nice job though. If I didn't value my life the way it is, I'd probaby snap a couple pics. ;)

Good news and....

Ok, so geat news, Ali is in her bed as we speak...and it's nighttime!

Not so great news, it's 3:30am and mama has a migraine.

She's growing so darn fast. Today, she kept telling Tre to "GO!" and thinking she was so funny.