Put Me In the Zoo

Jana and I took the girls to the zoo yesterday afternoon. It was a madhouse because of all the kids there on field trips but we managed to keep up with our kids and have a great time! We took advice from a friend (thanks Janelle!) and went backwards through the zoo to avoid the crowds and it worked. We got to see all the animals up close and the girls really enjoyed walking around together. The weather was perfect, Rane was great in the stroller (most of the time) and Jana and I had fun as well so it was a very fun morning and we will be doing it again together soon!

Watching Tara the elephant eat her celery.

Rane pretty much enjoyed looking at the sky and trees the whole time!

I had to post the picture that Ella Ann took all by herself!

At the gorilla exhibit.

I had to take a picture of this crazy meerkat! He was asleep, not dead!

At the giraffe exhibit. I think that that was the girls' favorite one.

A lady asked Jana and I if they were twins! We actually get that fairly often when they are together. They may not be twins, but they are for sure sisters!! :)

Being silly!

Mara Kate took this picture of us! She is quite the photographer!

Our Newest Physician & Other News

Yes we have a new doctor in the family, a Little Doctor Jensen that is! My dear friends, Laura, Andrea, Katie and Emily gave Rane this adorable pair of scrubs when they came down in March for a visit. They finally fit! I've been secretly waiting around for Spencer to come home in his scrubs (he usually wears a tie but if he works on Sundays he wears scrubs) and stay in them because I KNOW he would never, ever simply change into them for this photo op! I cornered him in the dining room this morning and pleaded my case so he would oblige! Spencer is making me include a disclaimer saying "this was not his idea and he did NOT want to do this" but I told him his mother would love it and my friends will just be giddy! :) So here you go girls!!! I absolutely love them and if he hadn't spit up all over himself after I took these pictures I would've paraded him around the Virginia Highlands this afternoon!! I'll save that for another day!

P.S....Craig, I look forward to your comment! :)

I can already hear ya'll squealing, "Ohh my goodness, he's precious!" Yes, I agree! hahahaa!

The little doc already needs a new pair of scrubs, only because he was the one who dirtied himself!

I'm lovin' it!

My sweet friend, Andria, gave Ella Ann a t-shirt from Guatemala for her birthday because they had recently gotten back from visiting that country. She had also kindly bought one for little Rane and now he is big enough to wear this as well! Thanks Andria!!!!!!

Rane is just dying to eat Ella Ann's fingers!

Rane finally found his thumb yesterday but he really doesn't know what to do with it once he gets it in his mouth because he gags! I think Ella Ann taught him on the sly! :)

I missed him sucking his thumb by a half-second so in this picture he was trying to get his entire hand in his mouth, which is a usual occurrence!

Yesterday morning we drove up to Alpharetta to go to a birthday party for one of Ella Ann's little buddies, Gerrick. His mom, Rebecca, and I have become good friends through our playgroup at church. We had a great time at the party, especially Ella Ann! I actually managed to get her to try one bite of pizza (her first ever). I told her that she couldn't have any cake unless she tried one bite....it was an easy one! She then proceeded to eat two huge pieces of cake since that was the only lunch she had!

She was the one and only child who avoided the pizza!

Her good friend, Diego, was also there so she hung out with him the entire time.

Singing "Happy Birthday" as they patiently waited for the cake.

The birthday boy!

Ahhhhh cake!!! I love this picture of her. She is really turning into a little girl and gone are the toddler days. Sniff, sniff....

A Tumble

So for those of you who have not been to our house or taken a trip up or down our deck steps you must know that they are super steep and there are a lot of them. It is sooooo not fun to carry Rane in his car seat up them, hold Ella Ann's hand AND carry an armful of groceries all at the same time. Another benefit to the move! :) Anyway, we always have to hold Ella Ann's hand up and down the steps even though she throws a huge protest at our outstretched hand at times. Below is why I should have walked her ALL the way down the steps the day before yesterday. Poor girl. I was holding Rane while holding her hand as we walked down the steps so she could play on her playground. I stupidly let go at the second to the last step (the very last step is concrete that also starts the beginning of our brick sidewalk) and told her she could walk down the last one. Well walking down the steps, I should have known, is not in her vocabulary because all she ever wants to do is jump off of things, including steps. That's exactly what she decided to do and as soon as I turned around all I heard was SPLAT. I turned around and saw her laying on her side on the brick sidewalk screaming but with no sound coming out. I ran up the steps and put Rane in his bouncy and ran back down to hold her. She had a big goose egg on her head, scraps on her right elbow, the inside of her right elbow, right leg and knee and she somehow managed to skid her chest just below her neck against the pavement. She cried....hard. I called the pediatrician and Spencer. The doctor (not Spencer doctor :)) told me that the goose egg was actually a good sign...it's when it goes in that we should worry and to look for signs of abnormal behavior for the next week. Great. So after much cuddling and time with the bobbie/horsey Ella Ann was back on the playground about 20 minutes after it happened. Ohh and poor Rane was crying as well because Ella Ann was screaming so loudly that she had upset him. What will I do with a third baby?? I only have two hands!

These aren't very good pictures, but this was that evening after bath. You can barely see the scraps that she's pointing to but they bled and still look bad.....kinda like she got into a cat fight!

Can you see the raised egg??

She never complained about any of it hurting afterwards, except for the spots on her body she could see that all required Dora bandaids....of course!

Bubbles

Ella Ann has always enjoyed bubbles, but at the cost of me nearly having an asthma attack having to blow them all for her! Finally, finally she has mastered the art of bubble blowing! We usually hand her the wand to let her try to do it...her idea of how to blow bubbles includes putting her lips ON the wand and have the soap dripping onto her toes....but last week she figured it all out and now is a bubble-blowing professional! She is really good! Yesterday we were sitting on the deck so I captured a few pictures of her doing her new thing. Yes, I remembered Rane this time!

Yes Rane has his clothes unbuttoned.....what can I say, it's hot here!

Her new favorite way to go down the slide......

and fall off of it at the bottom!

Workin' the tummy time! He does much better with it than Ella Ann ever did but that's not to say he actually likes it!

A Mara Kate & Ella Ann Post

Well forget spring it is now summer here in Hotlanta! I do love living far down south, but I tell you I do miss spring. We never really have a spring, we just go from cool to hot in a day! We have spent a lot of our time outside by going to the playground, for a walk, eating meals on our deck and playing on Ella Ann's jungle gym in our backyard. Ella Ann's eczema has been terrible lately so I took her to the doctor (I think that's the third or fourth time I have been this month) on Friday to get her checked out. She will tell me often that her "skin hurts." I got another allergy medication (she already takes 3) to give her and a steroid cream to put on all her spots. The doctor seems to think, and Spencer and I agree, that it is our house that is causing all the problems. Our landlord decided to convert the basement of our house into a livable space (yes, so kind of him) so we are dealing with a lot of dust and possibly mold coming up through our vents. Needless to say, when our lease is up at the end of June we will be moving. I love, love living here in the Highlands but not with the cost of my kid's health (Rane has bad eczema as well) and the constant noise of the workers below me.

Okay enough venting and on to other news. Jana and Mara Kate came over this past Friday for a long overdue visit. We hadn't gotten together in over three weeks because of our crazy schedules and travels so we were so happy to spend some time together. The girls really enjoyed seeing one another and playing. We made up for lost time by visiting a couple of times this week....see below!

Spencer was fortunate and got Saturday off and already had Sunday off so we had the entire weekend together. Yeay! We went and looked at rental property Saturday morning just to get a feel of what is out there and played around the house in the afternoon. We walked over to Taco Mac for dinner and sat outside and enjoyed the evening.

On Sunday afternoon Jana and Mara Kate came over again so that we could walk a block down the street to the fire station for free ice cream and story time. We had the best time! We were the second ones in line to get the ice cream and got to talk with the firemen for a little while before we went for a quick walk and then back to the fire station to listen to the stories. When we got back the station was full of kids and their parents. We threw out a blanket and listened to the firemen read a few books. Mara Kate had brought a book about firemen so she could show the firemen at the station and after meeting the Captain he asked Mara Kate (in the middle of story time) if he could read her book. Everyone clapped and said thanks to Mara Kate for letting them read her book....it was so cute! :) Jana and I said we felt like we were on a field trip....especially when one of the fireman slid down the brass pole for the crowd! ha! We also had an opportunity to tour the fire station but we ended up leaving because Rane was getting fussy.

So our week has been off to a good start with a fun Sunday. Spencer has Monday afternoon off so I think he will be taking Ella Ann to the zoo. As far as the rest of the week goes....just busy! :)

Our sweet girls are growing up so fast!

Playing the fishing game. It's nice they can play a game together and the adults do not have to join in to help!

The girls waiting on their ice cream.

Ella Ann eyeballing those rainbow sprinkles!

Ella Ann has been to the fire station many times with Spencer and I to talk with the firemen and check out the truck if it's parked out front but this was the first time I actually had my camera to take a picture of her "driving"!

Mara Kate checking out the truck.

The Captain reading Mara Kate's book!

Sorry, Bad Mommy forgot to take a single picture of Rane! Woops. He was asleep for all the festivities anyway!

Better Late Than Never

So I meant to do this post on the official start day of baseball season (my Dad expects it) but since I was in Kentucky then I obviously missed it and forgot to do it before I left. Soooo, better late than never with Rane in his Cardinal gear! Ella Ann also has a cute St. Louis Cardinals shirt but she refused to wear it so it's just Rane supporting the Cards in this photo session! We will try again another time with Miss Priss who thinks if it doesn't have pink in it then it's just not wearable!

On a side note, Rane his found his feet this week. He has been eyeballing them for a good two weeks now and I think he's been thinking, "What are THOSE things?? I MUST get my hands on them but I cannot figure out how to do that!" He finally stuck his feet in front of his face the other day and made a grab for them! Now it's his new thing to do at all times.

Do we have the cutest kids or what??!!! ha!