janie – Page 12 – mauter.com

Zoolight Safari

It’s Sunday evening. Sam is asleep and Ellie should be asleep. It’s dark outside and it’s almost Christmas. We realized that we had not taken the girls out to see Christmas lights. Janie had the brilliant idea to go to the zoo.

Right now the Birmingham Zoo has “Zoolight Safari“. I’ve never seen so many Christmas lights and decorations in one place. Yes, there even was an entire 12′ by 12′ winter wonderland. They had two snow-making machines near the entrance and since it was 38º, it stuck. Most of the animals were not available, but the petting zoo was still open and it’s always a hit with Sam. We got in free since we’re members so we just had to buy tickets to ride the train and carousel. Both were quite decked out as well. There was lots of music going and some of the lights were synchronized to the music. Janie and I had Shazam going for several of the songs.

You should have seen Samantha. She RAN everywhere and wanted to do everything. Well, almost everything. She wasn’t too keen on seeing Santa Clause (who by the way was sitting on a rather spiffy Zebra fabric chair).

Here Janie and “Baby” are posing as elves.

Ellie was a good sport all night (and never took that nap). I guess she had plenty to look at.

Some of the decorations. I was planning on making a panorama with Hugin, but my hands were too shaky.

Jingle Bell Carousel. Check out the video. Sam finally spotted me about the fourth time around and from then on yelled “Daddy! Daddy!”

The Train Ride. This is a big deal since Sam has been very weary of riding the train lately.

We plan on going back next week. Anyone else want to come?

The Last 2 Weeks

Samantha went to her Nana and Papa’s house last week. She spent 4 nights/5 days away. It was sure quiet around here. I was glad for the break, but so glad to have her back. I thought I would get so much done during that week, but Ellie decided not to cooperate. She has decided that 4 o’clock (both AM and PM) are her trying times. Oh well.

We didn’t have any plans last Saturday morning, so I asked Sam what she wanted to do. She wanted to go to the zoo. Since we’re members, but haven’t been since before Ellie was born, I thought it was a great idea!

Samantha took a nap that afternoon, and continued to take a nap all this week! Yay! I think it was because her room wasn’t so bright and hot. The weather earlier this week was dark and damp, so it must have been easier to sleep. Today broke the streak though. I think 6 days was a great run!

In the midst of that though, I got a stomach bug. Ew. I was out of commission for about 24 hours. Brian did a great job keeping the girls away from me in the midst of his busy work week. Thanks!

News

We haven’t been doing a lot around here lately. We’re doing our best to get sick and stay sick. 🙁 Ellie is even fighting her first cold! She has a nasty sounding cough, so I hope it’s not croup. The rest of us (including Sam) don’t sound croupy, so I hope it’s just normal drainage. But, we are definitely a goop factory around here. Everyone is ooey goey.

Some good news though: we got a contract on our house last week! It’s contingent on the sale of the buyer’s house (and she has a contract contingent on the sale of her buyer’s house). So, I’m not holding my breath for a closing date, but we’re moving in the right direction. We lost the contract on the house that we wanted to buy. However, to make a long story short, it’s now back on the market again. It’s still my favorite house, but we are currently looking into others to see what else is on the market. Brian found one that he likes better. My gut says No on that one.

We are becoming a coffee drinking household. Brian started drinking coffee a while back in order to cut out sugary sodas. He still drinks a soda about half the time. After my maternity leave, I started drinking caffeine because Ellie was not sleeping through the night yet. I really try not to drink it because it’s so horrible for you. At any rate, I got started on Diet Dr. Pepper, but now drink coffee at home on the weekends. Ellie is still not sleeping through the night, but I’d sure love to cut my caffeine habit. I had a headache by 8:55AM one morning because I hadn’t had my drink yet. Too much dependence for me!!!

I finally got a ticket out to Denver! I’ve been watching ticket prices for a year now. Whenever I find a good deal (which isn’t often) I can’t go for one reason or another (like Labor & Delivery!). However, a deal came up this past week and I decided enough was enough and I booked a flight for February. I’m excited. And nervous because Ellie will have to come with me. Merry Christmas to me! See you soon Lizzie and Guillaume!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

We headed down to the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday. What a beautiful day! It got rather warm if you were in the sun, but that was remedied by a cold treat in the shade.

Samantha wasn’t thrilled to go on a hayride, but you have to to get back to the big pumpkin fields. (We were towed by a big noisy tractor!)

Ellie didn’t seem to mind.

Once we got there, Sam was in search for a little pumpkin. 🙂 I think she was trying to find one that she could carry because she would pick one up randomly then decide it was too big or too heavy! We got the smallest one that we could find, but it’s still a mostly normal size pumpkin. I guess she was thinking she could find something like we have as decorations all over the house.

(Brian, why didn’t you tell me that Ellie had a tail?! I would have fixed that!)

We skipped out on the hay maze, but maybe we’ll try it next year. This was the first year we tried the jumpy things. I knew she would have a blast. She mostly played in the big pumpkin, but went down the Sabertooth Tiger slide once!

Samantha and I had shaved ice as a treat. Hers was blueberry and bright blue! Here she is trying to do “silly eyes.”

(Ellie isn’t doing it right either…)

We had a great time. We saw several families that we knew, so I guess it was the weekend for picking out your pumpkin! Now it’s time to research how I’m going to carve my pumpkin.

It was a Blustery Day

Last weekend, we traveled to the Huntsville Burnses. (Happy 1st Birthday Penny!)

It was almost cold and pretty windy, so we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves outside. Here’s a family picture. (And don’t mind my hair, as I said, it was windy.)