Superheroes at the Zoo

Due to this week's special anniversary post, I'm behind on my usual posting...as usual.  Maybe with this post I'll get back on a regular rhythm.  One can hope.

Last weekend we spent a LOT of fun time in our backyard with friends.  On Saturday the Lovelady family came over and we had fun with sparklers.  Thankfully, no one hurt themselves this time, but Uncle Jason did have to smother some sparks in the grass.  Needless to say, I am ready for these sparklers to be GONE!

 Even Niki got in on the action with us, which is good because she wasn't herself for a few days this week.  She usually sleeps in our bed and wakes up in the middle of the night and either we let her out to pee or she pees in the living room.  A couple of nights this week she came in and instead of getting on our bed, she cried.  The first night I let her out and then she came back in and slept on the couch in the living room.  The next night Chad tried to let her out and she wouldn't go and then she slept on the floor by our bed.  She usually does that when it storms and it wasn't storming that night.  The next night again she slept on the floor, but then she seemed to feel better and is now back to her bed sleeping, peeing on the floor self. 

On Sunday we took the boys to see Suessical at TCU and they LOVED it!  In the car on the way home Carter kept saying "That, again."  He was so sad it was over and the only way to get him off repeat was to start playing the soundtrack in the car.

After the show, the Psencik family came over for dinner.  We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and corn and Rhonda brought sugar cookies for dessert and the boys all got to decorate their own cookie.  They had a blast!

The boys all had a blast running around the backyard.  It was fun to watch Paxton and Riley really interact with each other.  (You wouldn't know it from these photos, Paxton's so big, but he's just over a year younger than Riley!)

This week at work was great!  I got so much accomplished and was really able to buckle down and focus on getting a lot scheduled for a big conference next month.  Wednesday was Administrative Professionals Day and my office didn't do anything last year that I can remember.  This year my two bosses took me to lunch at Uncle Julio's and when we got back to the office these flowers were waiting for me from them.  I felt very valued and appreciated.  It was a great day!

On Friday morning we hit up Bluebonnet Bakery for our usual Friday morning donuts and the boys brought their leftover donuts in to school to finish.  Later that afternoon Chad and I got the following message from the daycare director:

"I wanted to tell you a quick story about your boys from this morning.  [One of the dads]brought 14 dozen doughnut holes for breakfast but we ran out before you and the boys got to school. The late breakfasters got poptarts and I don't think they realized they missed the holes. Riley ate a couple holes after you left, Sarah, and then stood up and said, "I'm going to share my doughnuts with the other kids." He then got up and passed out his remaining holes to the kids eating poptarts. Carter did the same thing. It was the cutest and sweetest thing! You both would have been so proud of your boys!"  I have to say I AM very proud of them!

Friday night was The WARM Place's annual fundraiser, Friday Night at the Zoo.  It was superhero themed this year and we had so much fun.  You check in just in front of the monkey house and then you take the train back to the Texas section.  Then you can ride the carousel for FREE and when we walked into the Texas area, each kid got their own black superhero cape.  We of course started with a carousel ride before eating some dinner.  The carousel was so packed that Carter and Chad couldn't find a free horse!

After we ate we sat and watched a Wild Wonders animal show.  Carter got antsy so Chad took him for a diaper change and not long after Riley decided he was ready to go decorate his cape.  He stuck all the letters and stars on himself and did a great job!  We then decorated masks for him and Carter and then took them to Chad and Carter who were riding the carousel.  We took one last carousel ride before calling it a night and riding the train back to the front of the zoo.

Yesterday morning we started off our day right with cinnamon french toast before heading to Celebrations for Zachary's 2nd birthday party.  Carter had a blast with this toy rollercoaster and preferred riding it backwards down the hill!

For most of the party, the boys were a blur!

Chad wore this funny party decoration as a hat the entire party and he really enjoyed the looks the other parents gave him all morning!

Carter really enjoyed his cupcake!

And we all had fun playing some air hockey.  Even the little guys!

Carter is giving Aunt Kate the "shy face" here

After the party we went up to the hospital to visit Grammy who was checked in on Thursday night with respiratory distress.  Her oxygenation levels were low and she needed oxygen.  We had been waiting for a home health study to be scheduled to get her oxygen at home so this was not a surprise to us, but frustrating nevertheless.  She also is having trouble hearing and will have to have fluid drained from behind her eardrums by an ENT once she is released from the hospital, so to communicate we have to write things on a dry erase board for her to read and then she can talk back to us just fine.  She seemed very happy to see the boys and commented on how much Carter had grown since she last saw him.

We then took the boys home for naps while I headed up to the Jake Remembered Golf Tournament and the boys and Chad met me up there later.  Both boys had a blast playing on the greens. 

They especially had fun with Nana, when she taught them how to roll down a hill.  It was awesome to watch!

Carter would not leave Papa's side and Riley discovered that Tristan was there and he did not leave Tristan's side.  Kevin even picked both Riley and Tristan up at the same time!

The tournament was a lot of fun to experience and it ended with exceptional weather and a beautiful sunset!