Lately...

I haven't done a lately post in awhile, so here's what we've been doing for the last couple of months...

Alex celebrated many firsts at school...

His first school Valentine's Day party.


His first 100th Day of School.
(Posing with the poster I helped him make. It has 100 stars on it.)

His first Western Day. 

And his first Moms & Muffins Day.

Addy attended 4 Girl Scout meetings,
a GS field trip to the bank,

a service project where she made cat toys & dog blankets for the Houston Humane Society

and a troop activity where she made a sit upon

and a poncho for camp.

We celebrated Nick's 38th birthday (with pizza & cookie cake & cheesecake... or with lots of food!)

St. Patrick's Day.

Down Syndrome Awareness Day

and Mother's Day!

We've been on lots of walks.

Which usually end up at the playground!

We went to Lone Star Bounce.

and to Orange Leaf

and swimming.

Well, the kids went swimming, the water is still too cold for me to get in!

I went to the Maroon 5 concert at the Rodeo

And Nick & I went to the Foreigner concert at the Woodlands.

Nick went to a practice round of the Masters with his friends!

And I went to a painting party with my mom & sisters.

Addy buried a time capsule (that was full of toys & washed up a week later when it rained.)

And Alex played dress up.

Which is one of his favorite things to do!

And that's what we've been doing.

There was a safari in Sienna!

So Sienna put on a really cool event a couple of weeks ago! It was called Wild on Sienna & had well, a bunch of wild animals.

As some of you may already know, Addy has been asking to ride a camel for months. So that was the very first thing that we did when we got there.

Then we went to the petting zoo where the kids got to feed & pet goats

and camels

and even a yak (which got up close & personal with Addy!)

After that, the kids played on the bouncy slide

and jumped in a bounce house.

And then they tried their hand at hula hooping!

Then we took a family picture. 

Look how brave we are, that lion didn't even scare us, lol!

After that, the kids were ready to see the exotic animal exhibit, but there was a pretty long line for that. So while Nick waited in line, Addy & Alex rolled down the hill

And Addy rode a pony.

Just as Addy finished her pony ride, Nick & Alex were at the front of the line for the animals, so we jumped off the pony & ran to meet up with them!

In the exotic animal exhibit, we saw kangaroos

baboons

spider monkeys

kinkajous

lemurs

a tortoise

and this lion cub!

There was also a white tiger & a panther but they were in cages in the back of the tent so I wasn't able to get a very good picture of either one. 

It was an absolutely beautiful day, it wasn't crowded & everything was free!

This was by far the best Sienna event we've ever been to!

Girl Scout Spring Fling 2014

On April 26th, Addy & her Girl Scout troop went to Spring Fling, which is the community wide camping trip at Camp Windemere in Alvin.

We met up with our troop & left Sienna around 7:45 (which is super early for me, even earlier than Addy has to be at school!) and got to Camp Windemere around 8:30ish.


We had 12 of the 20 girls in our troop go to Spring Fling!

As soon as we got there, the girls started trading SWAPS with girls from other troops.

Around 9:00 am, we attended the opening flag ceremony.

And when that was over, we unloaded all our supplies & set up our troop's campsite.

When we were done setting up, we had about 2 hours before our first session. I had remembered that last year we had a lot of unscheduled time without much to do. So this year I brought bug boxes for all the girls. They were the highlight of the day! All the girls loved them! Addy caught a moth & a couple of ants, another girl caught a beetle & one girl even caught a lizard!

After looking for bugs for about an hour, we hiked back to our campsite to make & eat lunch.

Last year, the girls all brought sack lunches from home but this year we decided to have the girls cook their food at camp. We split the girls into 2 groups or patrols. Addy's patrol were the hostesses for lunch which means they set out the blankets & sit upons & served the food after the other patrol was finished cooking. We had ham & cheese sandwiches, bananas & goldfish. And for dessert, zebra cakes!!!

After lunch, the girls went into Lindsey Lodge where they got their faces painted & had their first camp session of the day. 

Addy got her face painted like an elephant. (This was not a surprise to me because she's been googling elephant face paintings for weeks now!) Look how happy she is seeing her elephant face in the mirror!

When she was done with the face painting, she did her first camp session, which was making trail mix

and making SWAPS.

Our second session was Camp Basics where the girls learned how to pitch & take down a tent.

Addy got to help put up the tent

and then roll on it to flatten it out before putting it back in its bag.

Our third session was Songs & Games. 

Look at Addy participating in the motions of the song. I was so proud of her!

After singing several camp songs, they played games with a parachute. 

Some with a ball

and one like Duck Duck Goose, which is one of Addy's favorite games!

After Songs & Games, we took a little break before our last session to let the girls get sno cones.

And then we went to our last session which was Bounce Houses!

After that, it was time for snack. Addy's patrol cooked the meal this time, which was smores made with marshmallow fluff instead of roasted marshmallows. They were so yummy that Addy even ate a whole one!

After snack, we had about an hour of free time before the day campers could check out for the day. So we let the girls just run around & play. Addy spent some of that time back in the bounce houses

and some of that time checking on bugs!

At 5pm, we checked out for the day. It was a really fun day, but by that time, I think we were ALL tired & ready to go! 

Addy had such a great time even though we didn't get to sleep in a tent or cook over a campfire, which she really wants to do, because that's what camping is all about, right!