Reston Zoo

Grace's class went on a field trip to The Reston Zoo yesterday, and Liliana, Moira, and I were able to tag along with the class. We had never been to this zoo before, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's just the right size for a half day excursion, with LOTS of hands on experience. We were able to feed barnyard animals, pet rabbits and turtles, and even a kangaroo joey. The bigger animals were part of a zoofari tractor ride where some of the kids were able to touch bison or African bulls from their seats in the wagon. All in all a good day, minus some tantrums from Moira.

Liliana feeding the goats.

Moira throwing a fit.

Looking at the caged rabbits (vs the ones that had their own habitat- wonder what the caged ones did wrong)

This is the turtle/rabbit habitat. Oh, and Grace :)

A semi-happy picture of all the girls

My Ballerina

Tough Love

Liliana has been moody and at times unpleasant lately. I finally had it when this morning she refused to pick up her toys that she had dumped out last night when she was supposed to be sleeping. So I pulled out one of my mom's old tricks and asked if she wanted me to put all her toys in a bag or if she was going to pick the toys. She just looked at me and said, "In the bag." So I got a bag and started putting her toys in. She just sat there, cool as a cucumber. But Grace lost it. She started trying to pick up Liliana's toys for her (she didn't get much- I was much faster) and crying because she "loves Liliana's toys and wants to be able to play with them." I put the toys in my closet and Grace continued to sob in her room. Liliana came in to tell me that Grace was crying and that I should go see her. I explained to her that Grace was crying because Liliana's toys were gone. Didn't even phase her.

Grace finally admitted that she had helped make the mess, which gave me an out to let them BOTH clean up the mess (which Liliana agreed to do). But seriously, how bad is it when you set out to punish one child and end up punishing the other inadvertently?

Mischief

I've blogged about this before- I was able to catch it on film tonight though. Here are the two youngest bonding over mischief.

Yes,Liliana just knocked her down.

Revenge!

For Grandma Elyse

Grandma Elyse,

We know how much you wanted to see the cherry blossoms- if only we had known that the trees lining our street ARE cherry trees.... So here are some shots for you, since you missed them. Next year we will plan your visit for April! (And everyone else can enjoy them too!)

Liliana pouted in her room for at least an hour because she didn't want to wear this dress. I didn't give in- and I got my way :) It is so cute I couldn't not make her wear it!

The girls posed this way all on their own- turned out adorable!

Our Garden!

We've decided that the lack of a yard will not keep us from fresh fruits and veggies! We now have on our deck: 15 or so strawberry plants (hanging), 2 tomato plants, 2 green pepper plants, and tow yellow pepper plants. I also bought a yellow squash plant that Kaylon says will not fit on the deck so we're gonna gamble by putting it outside the basement, hoping that the squirrels won't eat it. We're pretty excited to have strawberries in June! I'll post pictures later!

Irrevernet Prayers

We were bad parents tonight: we shopped at Target until 9:30pm and on the way out bought the girls hot chocolate and an icee. The fatigue combined with the sugar made for some really hyper girls. After rushing through a needed bath and some betimes songs, it was time for prayer. Liliana begged to to say it, so we let her. She was became distracted and started acting like a snake, followed by a monkey. I told her she had to be reverent so she said she was going to be the king. So as she started to pray she used her "deep voice" which sounds like a monster voice. After one sentence she stopped herself and said, "no, I be the queen." She started her prayer over with a slightly higher voice, but stopped again after one phrase. "No, I be Liliana." Again, she started over, again she interrupted herself. "No, I be a dinosaur." She then proceeded to pray in her 'deep/monster voice', "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day. Amen."

Kaylon, Grace, and I all lost it. She told us not to laugh, but we just couldn't stop. Life is good here. :)

Petite Theif

Moira, Moira, Moira...
What am I going to do with you?

She's cute- I'll be the first to admit that. But she gets into EVERYTHING. My wallet has been disassembled numerous times, she threw raisins all over the floor this morning, Yoda's dog food often ends up in his water bowl, and anything left on the edge any table is coming down if she has anything to do with it. Anything in reach is game, according to her.

Case in point: We were checking out at the grocery store on Monday when I look down at the little car she was riding in in the front of the cart, and see her little hand grabbing a Rolo candy. Thinking of my quick instincts and how talented I must be to catch her in the act, I grabbed the chocolate away, only to discover that she had already eaten a third of another Rolo. Grimacing, I paid for the already chewed candy and made the decision that for the next shopping trip, she was going to sit on the other side of the cart.

She IS really cute though. She's very good at mimicking. If I start drumming the table, she does too. If the girls are running around, she isn't far behind. When we go down a hill in the stroller, she squeals in delight along with the other two. She blows kisses, waves hello and goodbye, walks and 'runs,' and tries to sing with us. She gets into trouble, but she's a sweetest girl at the same time. I can't imagine life without any of my girls!

Moira's New Trick

Happy Easter

We had a great Easter today. We woke up to find lots of eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny. We let Moira have a head start, but she still didn't get many eggs. Course, this was all her fault, since as soon as one of her eggs fell open and she figured out there was candy in them, she just sat down to eat them. Liliana did get it this year, though, and Grace, of course, was a champ.
We got to listen to General Conference most of the day, which is when our church leaders
speak to the entire church, twice a year. There were many talks about the resurrection,
along with other inspirational topics, so I really felt like I got to spend my day focused
on the real reason for Easter.

Still, we had to carry on one of Kaylon's family tradions of "egg rolling." We took our decorated hard-boiled eggs out back to our hill and raced them.

Check out Liliana diving after her egg!

This, of course, later turned into an egg fight, but it was a lot of fun. At one point Kaylon tried to use Grace as a human shield. (Like I would throw anything with Grace there!)

Later she came to my aid, yelling, "Momma, I'll be your human shield!!"
I explained that being a human shield meant that Daddy would hit her instead of me. Without a hesitation she then yelled, "RUN!!" and did so herself!

Hope you all had a great Easter too!