A Mom's worst fear.

They say it happens to all Mom's at least once. My day was yesterday and it was the worst feeling I've experienced to date.

After church yesterday morning we (Andrew's parents, his sister, nephew, my two sisters and us) all went out for lunch. I was near the front and Andrew headed up the rear. As soon as we got our table I made a dash for the bathroom. Can't hold it very long now with a 7 month growing baby in the belly :)

I came back to the table and noticed everyone was sitting down except for JaneClaire and my sister Charity. I asked where they were and Andrew replied that they had gone to the bathroom. Next thing I knew Charity was back, but no JC. Fear like none other hit me. "WHERE is JaneClaire??" Charity said she wasn't with her...never had been. No one had seen her. I jumped up along with Andrew and his parents and started running around looking for her. My legs felt like jello. I can remember feeling like I was in slow motion, a dreamy feeling, all the noises around me were muffled. I wanted to cry and scream. I yelled for her. I could see people eating everywhere and no one seemed to pay attention. I looked for any sign of blond hair or a red gingerbread dress. After what seemed like hours I turned around and saw Rocky, Andrew's Dad, walking in from outside. He had my baby!! I ran to her and hugged her, kissed her and cried. She was crying, her nose was bleeding (I assume from being so upset)...her face told me that she had been crying for some time. Her little nose was bright red and her face and eyes were puffy. She was still wearing her coat. I asked her where she was. "I was outside sitting on the curb crying for you!!" She had never come in the restaurant with us. When we were all coming in she said that she stopped "to pick cattails". Andrew said when he and his Dad went outside they could hear her screaming for us. She told me she was sorry. So was I. How could I have let this happen? I have never misplaced my babies! I didn't want her out of my sight. After we had settled down, I took JC through the buffet line for her food. She held my arm as we walked together. "Mom, did you hear my praying?" "No, what were you praying about?" "I said, Dear God, Thank you for this day. Please help me find my Mommy and Daddy."

I cried again and kissed her. Thank you God for keeping her safe!!

Later last night as we were snuggled on the couch watching TV I asked her what she did when she noticed we were all gone. "I sat on the curb and started crying. I yelled for you but I knew to stay in one place. I was scared I would get hit by a car. People even saw me and they just stared and walked by me!!"

At pm service last night, I talked with some friends about what happened. Much to my surprise each Mom had a similar story..."I lost mine at Disney World" "I lost her at the mall" "She was missing at the bowling alley"....

JC fell asleep early last night. As I watched her, I prayed... thanking God again for keeping her safe and bringing her back to me. Anything could have happened and I had to force myself from thinking about it. I have experienced a fear greater than I could have imagined. She was only gone for a few minutes...but those minutes seemed like eternity.

Christmas Ornaments

Every year at the Lamica house we each pick out and buy a new ornament for our tree. I love going through the ornaments every year and remembering why we bought what or who picked out which ornament. A few months ago I received the Hallmark catalog with all the new Christmas ornaments. I was ecstatic to see my favorite Christmas movie, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" have it's own Hallmark ornament. I knew right then that would be my ornament for 2010. Last week Kendra and I went out to Hallmark to buy my ornament. I was so disappointed to find out that the Christmas Vacation ones were all sold out. Even the display had already been spoken for. I asked the sweet Hallmark store girls if the other stores had any and they told me that last time they had checked even their ornaments were sold out. Bummer! I guess I would have to choose something else. Then Kendra being the sweet sister that she is, went out and searched another store and found my ornament!! She called to ask if I still wanted it and somehow I missed her call. She went ahead and forked out the $19 and got it for me. Yay! Thank you Kenny!

I got my cool ornament and hung it on my tree. It's so awesome. Here is a picture:

Notice Silas' little pudgy hand in the picture? Well that's where my story starts. The kids loved the fact that when you pressed a tiny button on the front of the house, the ornament plays "Hallelujah" and the house lights up with little tiny lights. The morning after I hung this baby on my tree I hear "Hallelujah" playing and knew someone was playing with it. Then Silas comes walking up and says "Here Mommy! I took this off for you!" - there lying in his little hand was none other that Clark W. Griswold, missing his shoes and holding a strand of lights! Waaaaahhhhh!! I wanted to cry. I took the little man and put the ornament and him back on the tree thinking I would glue it right away. Wrong. I somehow forgot and later that day when I went to glue Mr. Griswold back to the house much to my surprise he was MIA. I think he's lost somewhere in the tree. I have looked all in the tree, shook it, checked the floor, checked the tree skirt....everything. Nope. Still no tiny Clark. How sad. I guess the ornament will always have a special story for years to come...lol.

Here she is lit up! Beautiful.

And this is where he stood. Notice the little shoes still stuck in the snow. RIP Clark.

Oh those sweet children of mine!

S - I want my sippy cup!
JC - Here you go little buddy.
Me - JaneClaire, that was so sweet of you to get brother's cup for him, thank you!
JC - And I even got him a pop-tart out of the garbage can this morning when he was hungry!

Me - What did you learn in Bible class yesterday?
Silas - God made animals, the moon, stars and gingerbread houses.

JC - Mom, the computer games are not working!!
Me - Hmm. Oh the computer screen is frozen
JC - *reaches up and touches the screen* "Mom, it's not frozen, it's not even cold!!"

JaneClaire and Silas' Poppy and Mimi bought them an early Christmas present...The Elf on the Shelf (go here if you are not familiar with it. http://www.elfontheshelf.com/home.php )


Our Elf - who JC named Twirly Whirly, appeared on Dec 1st while JC was cleaning her room. She came into the living room and he was sitting on the entertainment center. Her eyes were huge and she asked how he got there. We told her we didn't see anything and she gasped and said "it's magic!". She was extra, extra kind that night. She even picked up Silas' toys for him. At bedtime she told everyone to keep quiet and whisper because Twirly Whirly would tell Santa if anyone was loud. The next morning she woke up while I was taking a shower and said she was going to check out the living room for a minute. She came back and said "You won't believe this!! TW is on the lamp looking at me!!" haha it was hilarious. She had to show me...when I went out to look I made the statement that TW was sooo silly. She said "Mom, he isn't silly, I love that little elf! She went over and said “Twirly Whirly you aren't silly. I love your big blue eyes!!" She's been talking non-stop about him. Silas on the other hand hasn't paid much attention to him. Twirly Whirly has been moving from place to place every morning...he's been in the Christmas tree, in the stockings, hanging on the door knob, hanging on the advent calendar, sitting in the hurricane globe on the mantel. That little elf sure gets around!!

And lastly.

This past week has been very tiring for me. Silas started running a fever on Wednesday night after church and lasted until Saturday morning. I am already having problems falling asleep and staying asleep due to a growing Rossin in my belly. Silas has been keeping me up all hours of the night tossing, crying and burning up. I swear I've gotten about 5 hours of sleep total the last week. It's miserable and needless to say, Mom here has been a little on the grumpy side. My patience has been wearing thin and I knew it when...

after about the nine hundredth time of hearing "Mom, Mom, Mommy, I need this, help, Mommy, Momma, would you do this, I'm hungry, please, Mommy, I'm thirsty, I want this, I want you, hold me, Mommmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyy, Silas hit me with his purse, Mommmm!

I came into the bedroom and plopped myself on the bed and shouted. "That's it! I'm changing my name!!" - at the same time thinking "Now I know what my mom meant all those times she threatened to change her name." Mom, I love you. Thank you for not changing your name even though you probably needed it. And I now know EXACTLY what you mean!!

JC heard me and came running. "Mommy, please don't change your name! I don't want another Mommy and I love your name. I don't know what I would call you if you weren't Mommy! Maybe I would call you Candy? But I don't like Candy, I like you as Mommy!"

hahaha

And I'm back to being Mommy.

6 Months

Here I am. 6 months pregnant with Rossin Dean. And this is when it starts getting uncomfortable...

Wonder what this little guy will look like. I'm guessing bald and blue eyed to start with. And later will come the curly locks of blond hair :)

Thanksgiving

This year just like every year, we went to celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents. We usually split the day up and do lunch with my family and dinner with Andrew's family. Unfortunately, Andrew's family are still in Mass and won't be home for another week or so.

We arrived around 11:30 to help with any last minute cooking. I brought my deviled eggs, green bean casserole and white chocolate, cranberry cookies (which were amazing I must say!). Most of the food was already cooked but I did help warm up a few things they had prepared the night before. There were sooo many yummy foods to choose from...turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, corn, pinto beans, pineapple casserole, mashed potatoes, pinto beans...
and then the desserts...coconut cake, pecan tassies, chocolate cake, pumpkin cheesecake pie.

This year before we blessed the food and ate my Mom asked everyone to go around and list something they were thankful for. My Mom started and of course broke down and cried some...poor Mom can't get through anything without crying now days. I'm sure I will be like that when I hit her age (love you Mom!). Most everyone said they were thankful for family, health, our homes, our salvation...and so on. But when we got to little Silas he had something else in mind. "Silas, what are you thankful for?" With his little head down and arms folded he looked up a little and in a tiny voice said, "I thankful for flowers and Kindergarten!" It was hilarious and of course no one had a straight face. I'm not sure where Kindergarten came from...totally threw me for a loop. I thought it was too cute and I plan on making it a tradition to asks my kids every year what they are thankful for.

Back to the food. I have been looking forward to pigging out on Turkey Day for quite a while now. The last few months of pregnancy have brought on the cravings...and those cravings have been Thanksgiving type foods (turkey, casseroles...etc) and party foods (like they serve at Christmas functions...dips and finger foods). I was ready to dive in! I got me a nice big plate loaded with food. I thought "this will be my first trip...I'll be back later". I sat down and started chowing. Sooooo good I must say. Sadly after about half the food was gone my stomach was full and I couldn't even finish my plate. Thanks Baby Rossin for taking up so much room that I could not enjoy a delicious, WHOLE plate of food. I've been looking to it for so long....what a let down :) haha. And I must mention I didn't even have room for dessert. And I always have room for some kind of chocolate. I did manage to eat some leftovers that night and the next day. I love holiday leftovers.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope you did too!!

And next is my favorite time of the year....Christmas!!! I have finished all my shopping (whoopee!), our tree is going up tonight, planning on sending Christmas cards out later this week and the Lamica calendar is already filling up with Christmas parties and Holiday functions. So exciting!!

JC being a teacher.

Last night on the car ride to church, JC was sitting in the backseat giving Silas a lesson on words. She would say a word and then ask Silas to repeat it.

"Say dog"
"Dog"
"Say moon"
"Noon"
"Say pool"
"Fool"
"Not fool, pool" - Silas has issues with his Ps

This went on for quite a while. I just smiled and listened.

"Say Chimpanee"
"Chimfanee"
"That's very good little buddy! A chimpanee is kind of like a gorilla and a monkey."
"Ohhh. That was easy"

:) I could listen to their little conversations all day. Never fails to entertain me.

Oh that Silas.

See this little guy? He's pretty cute isn't he?

But sometimes....sometimes he can wear his Momma out.

Last Sunday at church while the Lord's Supper tray was going around and there was silence.

In a very loud voice. "What's that Momma?"

Whispering. "It's a cracker....shhhh."

Loud. "MMmmmmm. That looks good!"

And here comes the juice tray.

Loud. "What's that Momma?"

Whispering. "It's juice....shhhh."

Loud. "MMmmmmm. That looks good!"

This Sunday. Same time. Lord's Supper. I'm thinking to myself..."here we go again"

Loud. "What's that smell?"

Whispering. "I don't know....shhhh."

Loud. "I smell dog poop! It's dog poop! Kia pooped!!" - Kia is Mimi's dog.

I wanted to crawl under the pew.

Join us at a nearby pew. You never know what you'll hear.

My little joys.

I bought the new baby a cradle this week. I find something like this in it almost every morning :)



JC asked me to wrap her up "like when you have a tiny baby and you wrap them tight in a blanket". Silas of course had to join in. He changed his mind quickly.




‎"Mommy, I picked this for you cause I know that the new baby is making you sick and I want you to feel better" - I want another one just like her :)




He was trying to get the last drop :)

Silas was helping me tag clothes for the kids sale. I thought he looked like a little hobo living in his box. haha. The hat was from last year and as you can tell his head is still growing. That boy has a big head!! And yes, I promise I dress my kids. Silas is going through this stage where he loves to be naked. It drives me crazy!

JC was at her soccer game and was sitting, waiting for the coach to put her in. I looked down to see her casually putting on my lipstick. She is such a girly girl! :)

Superman Silas

Superwoman JaneClaire

Sunday Funnies

Silas dressed himself. He loves to carry "his bag, wear his hat and push his baby". Somehow the baby came up missing during this photo.

JC got my lipstick out and put it on. After application she said "Now I'm beautiful!"

‎"Mommy I want a shake from Drama Queen! You remember you took me there a few days ago?" "Ummm do you mean Dairy Queen?" "Yeah, Drama Queen! I love that place!"

"Silas, come here and give me a kiss" "No, I gumpy!" (Grumpy :))

‎"Mommy, I tell secret"...Silas leans over and sticks his wet mouth to my ear and whispers "secret".

JC picked up a sucker stick and put it in her mouth. "Mom, is this one of those smoking things?"

Me - "What? You know about smoking things?"

"Yeah, you put them in your mouth and smoke comes out of it!"

I asked her what they were called and she didn't know (Thank God!)

I asked her where she saw it or heard of smoking things and she said she couldn't remember. Scary!

4+1 = 5

The Lamica Bunch will become a family of 5 this March :)

Our newest addition due March 14th.

This is why I have been MIA the past few months. This little bean may be small but it sure is causing a lot of sickness for me. We are thrilled to add one more to our family. JaneClaire is super excited about being a big sister again. She wants to feed the new baby green beans, change it's diaper and rock it to sleep...she is hoping for a baby sister. Silas doesn't have much to say. Andrew asked if he wanted a new baby and he replied "NOPE!". I think he wants to be the baby forever :)

I have so much to do before this one arrives. Our car will need to be up sized. I have always said I will never be a mini van mom....I will be eating those words very soon. JC and Silas will be moving their bedroom into the computer/office room so the baby will have the nursery. I want to get Silas potty trained and I want to use cloth diapers with the new baby. And try finding a sling........................the list continues. I'm trying to keep calm and work on one thing at a time :)

And I want to enjoy this pregnancy to the max. I have a feeling this will be it for the Lamica's.

Look What JC Got!

Ever since JaneClaire was born I've been dying to get her ears pierced. I think little babies with pierced ears look so incredibly cute. I'm sure a lot of Moms out there would disagree with me and that's OK, just my opinion. I had my ears pierced when I was a few months old and have always been a lover of cute dangly things hanging from them. I begged and pleaded with Andrew to have JC's ears pierced. He always had the same answer - "No way!"

When JC turned one, Andrew surprised me and everyone else with a special gift at her birthday party, a beautiful pair of baby diamond studs! He was going to let me pierce them. Little did I know that a few days later Andrew would back out of his promise. He felt it was really a decision JC needed to make on her own. "I feel bad poking holes in her ears when she doesn't even have a choice, this should be something she decides." I had to admit he was right. We decided then that when JC was old enough to ask, we would let her have her ears pierced.

Fast forward 2 1/2 years...

As I mentioned before JC played T-ball over the spring/summer. A little girl on her team had earrings and JC fell in love with the idea of having her ears pierced. She started asking everyday "Can I get earrings, I want them, Hers are so cute, Can I pick out some, Does it hurt....etc..." I was so happy!! She had asked without me telling her about them. I guess it never occurred to her that Mommy wears earrings everyday. It only hit her when a little girl her age had some on. After JC asked and asked me I told her to go and talk with her Daddy. Andrew was a little saddened by the thought of his little girl growing up and getting something "mature" as he called it. He told JC that after T-ball was over that we would take and get her some earrings :) We didn't want the T-ball helmet (which fits soooo snugly around her little ears) to bother a newly set of pierced ears.

JC finished T-ball about 2 months ago and our promise to her has been pushed aside. We have had a busy two months (notice my lack in blogging) and totally forgotten about it. This morning JC and I were talking while Andrew was mowing the yard. She asked "Hey Mom! Are we ever going to get my earrings?" I'm telling you, that child never forgets anything! I realized that today we had nothing on the calendar, no youth group activities and my housework was all caught up....WHY this is a perfect day. The stars never line up like that :) I talked with Andrew when he came in from mowing. I think he had hoped JC would have forgotten. So we made plans to hit the mall this afternoon.

I took my little sister Charity to have her ears pierced years ago at Claire's Boutique in the mall. They did a great job and pierced both ears at the same time. I called and made sure two people would be on staff when we arrived so we didn't have to do the one-hole-at-a-time kind of thing. They told me to come in after 2:30. We all loaded up and drove into town. We hadn't eaten lunch yet so we decided to eat at the food court. JC picked Chick-fil-a, her Daddy's favorite :) She talked non-stop on the way over! She was so excited. She asked me lots of questions and I made sure to tell her that having her ears pierced might hurt a little bit but that it would only last for a little while. I gave her the facts about cleaning them and turning the posts daily. She said she understood and still wanted them.

We arrived at Claire's and I begin to fill out paperwork. JC climbed into the big chair and started chatting away. She met the two ladies who would be working with her, Michelle and Shay. They were very nice and liked JC a lot. She got to pick out her first pair of earrings. She wanted some Hello Kitty ones but Michelle informed us that because they were stainless steal sometimes they lead to more infections. She suggested we get some 14k gold ones for the first time and then after 6 weeks she could put the Hello Kitty ones in. JaneClaire decided on some pink diamond daisy earrings. Good choice! They would have been my choice for her if I had to pick. They got their gloves on, her ears cleaned and the earrings ready.

Here is the video :)

Poor girl. I don't think she liked it too much. She cried about 20 seconds longer and then she was good to go! She looked at her earrings in the mirror and liked what she saw. We paid for the earrings...a whopping $40! I told JC earlier that if she did well and was brave we may stop for some ice cream later. She didn't forget that either! :)

Here we are back in the food court for ice cream.

On the car ride home I asked JC did it hurt. "A little bit. It felt like a beast pinched me!"

Haha. Whatever that means.

When we got home she called her Grandma and Mimi and told them about her new earrings. And then she drew this picture of herself and her new pink daisy earrings.

She asked me "Can you tell which dots are the earrings?" I died laughing! Oh MY JC. I think she is the funniest!

He's talking more

Me - Silas, did you eat?
S - Cookies?
Me - No cookies. Did you eat?
S - Ice cream?
Me - No ice cream. Did you eat?
S - Cake?
Me - No cake. Silas Andrew, did you eat your peanut butter sandwich?
S - No!
Me - Why not?
S - Cuz!
Me - Cause why?
S - Ice cream....yummy!!!

Some cute things

Some cute things being said at the Lamica House lately...

Me: Silas, are you ready to have your hair cut?
Silas: No
Me: Why?
Silas: Cause...

JC: Guess who died?
Me: Who?
JC: DeeDee (her imaginary friend). She's in Heaven.
Me: Oh really? How sad. What happened?
JC: She ate a turtle and it had germs on it. I told her it would make her sick. She didn't believe me.

JC: Silas, what does a chicken nugget say?
Silas: Bock Bock!
JC: That's right little boy! You are so smart!!

JC: I want to be a firefighter, a dentist girl, a doctor and an ice cream girl!!
Me: Awesome! You are going to be a lot of things.
JC: Yeah, and I'll give you and everyone free ice cream. Then at night I'll be Sleeping Beauty!

Silas comes running to me with a clear cup. "Wommmm!" "Pillar!!!" giggle....giggle.
He found a little worm and dropped it into the cup. He grabbed it out and it started wiggling around. He screamed, dropped the worm, jumped back and said "I not ike it!!" "Bye Bye wom, See you!"

Hello, Santa Claus?

Today as I was sitting checking my email and facebook, JaneClaire and Silas decided to crawl under the computer desk to play. I saw JC's hand reach up...

JC - "Mom, can you hand me my cell phone please?"
Me - "Here you go" - passing a pretend cell phone to her hand
JC - "Hello, Santa Claus? Hi, this is JaneClaire. You can please remove Silas from the naughty list. Ok? Thank you!"

JC then looks at Silas and said "See what I did for you little boy? I took your name from the naughty list and you will now get presents."

I'll take days like this over a paycheck any day!

We're off to see The Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Last night JaneClaire and I had a Mommy/Daughter date. We went to see the Wizard of Oz at the Fantasy Playhouse. Our friends Kristin and Jakob also went with us. JaneClaire has had a weird fascination with The Wizard of Oz since she watched it on TV 2 years ago. She could watch it over and over again without taking a break! I've always found the movie to be a little strange and somewhat depressing. Not sure why. My friend Natasha told me a few months ago that The Wizard of Oz would be playing in April at The Fantasy Playhouse. I marked my calendar and made sure to buy some tickets for us to see it.

My friend Kristin snapped these. JC was kissing me all over and making me laugh. She is such a goofy girl.

I made the mistake of telling JC a few days ago that we were going to see the play. She has been asking me nonstop since "Is today the day we see The Wizard of Oz?"

We dropped Silas off at Grandpa and Grandma's last night (Andrew had a Youth Group Bible study) in Hazel Green. Every 10 seconds (I am not kidding) I heard "Are we there yet?" It was a long 45 minute ride...

We finally arrived and waited for the show to begin. The props, costumes, acting and makeup were all really good! The play was a little different from the movie. I'm guessing the play was based on the book and not the movie itself. I was surprised to see actual flying monkeys, flying witches, fire and a melting witch :)

JC and Jakob waiting for the show to start.

During scene changes and prop switches the lights would go out and JC would ask "Is it over now". By the 4th or 5th scene change and the same question from JC, the lady next to me started giggling and asked "Is it over now?" JaneClaire loved the play. She watched with big eyes and an opened mouth! I wish pictures were allowed to be taken inside. Her facial expressions were adorable. When the show finally ended JaneClaire cried and cried. She wanted it to go on forever! I told her that Ms. Natasha, Ms. Jackie and Ms. Jackie's 2 kids were going Sunday to see it. She asked "Can I please go with them to see it again? I promise I'll be good and I won't ask is it over yet!!" haha.

The best part about the show was meeting the cast and getting autographs afterward! JaneClaire was so excited I thought she might explode :)

She liked their makeup and wanted them to fly.

Getting a paw print autograph from Toto

Dorothy and JaneClaire. Is she not the cutest Dorothy ever? I think she has Judy Garland beat! That blue mark on her head is a kiss from the good witch.

Getting a hug from The Tin Man

The Scarecrow and Lion

Glenda the good witch. She was by far JaneClaire's favorite. JaneClaire said "I love your sparkles, I want pink sparkles, I have 2 pairs of pink sparkle shoes, my Mom got them at the Kids Sale, I want my birthday party here, you are a good witch, I like you better than the bad witch" - all in one breath!

This one cracked me up! This witch must use some whitening toothpaste or something. Those are some pearly whites! :) JaneClaire wanted to tell her all about being a bad witch and wearing green makeup.

The tickets were $12 each and well worth it! I'm so glad we went! I got to spend some time with my baby girl and watch her enjoy her favorite movie :)

I want to purchase season tickets next year and see all the shows that the Playhouse does. They did an amazing job!

A Date with Daddy

A few weeks ago Andrew had an off day and announced that he was taking us out on a date! How exciting! He got the kids ready for me and let me take my time getting myself together. I was going to fix us something for breakfast but he told me not to worry, we would be eating breakfast out too. I hoped he would take me to my favorite breakfast restaurant, Cracker Barrel. We all hopped in the car to get ready for our date. JC was so excited...she giggled and squealed the entire ride and her happiness caught on and soon Silas was laughing too. He had no clue what was going on but he was happy to be there.

Guess where we went for breakfast? Cracker Barrel! That Andrew, he sure knows how to treat a lady...this lady right here! I got my favorite, blueberry pancakes. Yummo. After we ate and shopped around in the store we headed back out. Andrew drove us to the Botanical Gardens. They are having Treemendous Treehouses right now. The Garden has turned many of the big trees into different kinds of treehouses for the kids to climb and explore. Did I mention it was an absolutely gorgeous day that day? Sunny, breezy and warm. Perfect weather for a perfect outside day.

I see JC poking out of a flower.

JC standing in the birds nest

It's Si's turn

I will never understand JC's fascination with rocks.

I love this face! Silas got splashed with water.

Silas and I playing in the fountain.

JC looking down at us. I don't know if this is the one that she got stuck in, but Andrew had to rescue her from one of the treehouses. What a good Daddy!

Is that a handsome boy or what?

The monkey was telling us that the next Treehouse was up ahead. JC thought he was telling everyone he was 1 :)

Sliding out of one of the houses.

Now it's Si's turn!

Weeeee!

This was our favorite. It's was the "Wizard of Oz Treehouse" And no, not because I'm a fan of the movie. But....

Because of this!! Isn't that hilarious? And it did cross my mind about sneaking those shoes off and taking them home with me ;) I love anything red and sparkly!

They even had the monkeys and the Yellow Brick Road.

Taking a break to enjoy the sunshine and swing. Silas would not swing by himself. Notice the death grip on my shirt?

JC's hair was a mess. I was anxious to get home and comb through that hair :) I think she had lost her bow by then too.

The Botanical Gardens also had a turtle and canary exhibit during the time we visited. These turtles were so cute. They were sunbathing and didn't move from their position the entire time we stayed and watched them. And we seriously stayed for about 30 minutes.

I wish I had pictures of the canary cage. We parked Silas' stroller up next to the cage and he squealed and giggled the whole time at the "birrrs". It was so cute. During this time JC asked me if she could poke her fingers inside the cage and pet the birds. I told her no, the birds may bite. She then replied with "Well if they do I'll just cut their little heads off with scissors!". Again shaking that blond head back and forth. Where does she get this stuff? I told her "No Ma'am we will not!" She then got a talking to from her Daddy about being nice to animals and never using scissors to cut anything but paper. And that goes for hair too Miss JaneClaire Elise :)

We had a great day all thanks to a wonderful Daddy! We sure are blessed.