1st day of Spring?

Well the calendar says it's Spring. Not so much in Grand Rapids!!!

I think in the past 48 hours we have gotten about 4-6 inches! I am soooo done with the snow!! Even Cohen said today "Mom, can the snow go away now?" I soooo wish buddy!! 

Our day started with Kirsten's 7 month dr appt. She is now 17 lbs and 27 1/2 in tall. Our pediatrician said she is doing great. He was however surprised at how much stranger anxiety she is already showing and the fact that she is still waking up at least 2x during the night. He said we really need to let her start "crying" it out. I told him we have tried but unlike our other 2 kids, Kirsten could seriously scream for 2 hours straight! He told me that was fine - we just want to stop her complete dependence on me now before it gets to bad. I agree with some of that but part of me likes that she needs me - they grow up too fast and I want to spend this time snuggled with my baby :)

Kendall loves the toys at the dr office and holding Kirsten's hand when she gets her shots.

After picking up Cohen from school, I realized that today was going to be one of those days that my to- do list was going to have to be put on the back burner. My kids needed me.

To play dragons

To snuggle in bed

To give lots of kisses

After nap time, Cohen asked if we could go outside and ride in his yellow car. He has been really missing his car this winter. Especially this last week. He and Kendall have fallen in love with the movie "Wreck it Ralph."  The movie involves race cars and I can tell it has given Cohen the itch to race his yellow car. So once again I went down to the basement and found a box. I told Cohen I would make him a race car. He didn't believe me at first but as it started taking shape he started giving me things he wanted for his "super racer."

Cohen said we needed wheels and lights

Cohen asked for 3 pedals like in the movie - Stop, Go and Super fast

Cohen asked for doors that opened

As a last request Cohen asked to have it "Go, Go Blue colors."

All in all it was a good day. My laundry still needs to be done, floors and counters are still dirty, bathrooms need to be cleaned but I made memories with my kids and that is so much more important!!

with love from the zoo

Butterflies are Blooming

Today I really wanted to take the kids to see the butterflies at Fredrick Meijer Gardens. It's probably one of the biggest draws to the gardens during the year. Today was no different - IT WAS PACKED!!! But the kids did awesome and stayed close by. Cohen was a little scared at first when the butterflies would fly right at him. I reminded him that butterflies do not have teeth or stingers and they just wanted to say hi. Then he relaxed and kept asking me to take different pictures of different butterflies he saw - so we could show daddy :)

My babes so excited!!

Kendall and Aili

"Look Ms Carrie - a butterfly"

In awe of all the butterflies

With love from the zoo

The Circus Comes to Town

This past weekend the circus came to town. Cohen was super excited to see some Tigers and Kendall not knowing what to expect was just excited to be going. We went to the 11:00 show Sat morning. AND IT WAS PACKED!! Because of the huge crowd the show didn't start until almost 11:20. The kids did very well with standing in line for a while. We found our seats - not the greatest but the kids didn't seem to mind.

Welcome to the circus!

Tigers and Lions

Trapeze 

Juggling

Magic show

Elephant

Motorcycles

Mommy and Cohen

Daddy, Cohen and Kendall

Even Kirsten had fun!!

with love from the zoo