To the Zoo

We went to the zoo! It was Christopher's first real time. (And of course, Michael's first time.) (see the elephant behind us?)

We saw baby Zuri. We went right when it opened, which is a great idea because around lunch time it was very crowded.

My sister Cambrai went with us.

A Golden Eagle was on a leash when we first went in.

Bright orange bird in the bird house.

Christopher compared to an ape. You know the difference between a monkey and an ape is a monkey has a tail and an ape doesn't. We saw an ape on the doing the monkey bars. Christopher got a kick out of that because it is a recent accomplishment if his.

My sister Danielle and her husband Keith also went with us. Michael liked watching these really big turtles crawling-just like him.

I wish we could have seen Christopher ride this one. Oh, and on our way home Christopher said he was surprised the zoo was outside. He thought it was going to be like the Bean museum (taxedermy animals).

We watched this one crawl over to this clump of grass. (There was a lawn near where he started out.) It seemed to take so much effort to get there, but we watched him take several bites, savoring the grass.

Pink bird in the bird house.

Michael loved watching a bird walk back and forth on a log. We felt bad moving on to the next thing.

Christopher and Uncle Keith being prairie dogs. Can you see the prairie dog on the left, eating his lunch?

We at lunch by the prairie dogs, cougars, and play ground.

Michael was roaring like a tiger, but by the time I got the camera out, he wouldn't do it anymore. This tiger was sleeping in the lean-to. Three other tigers were sleeping at the top, where another people trail was. We saw those tigers first.

Christopher was very excited to see the giraffes.

There were 4.

Tall skinny door. Christopher was also excited to see the crocadiles. He was happy to see 3 of them-2 adults & 1 baby. One thing that surprised me about this zoo is there weren't any lions or bears.

Recently...

For Mother's Day, Rob cut these beautiful tulips for me from our yard. And he made a yummy roast-my favorite. His least favorite. Oh, I almost forgot. These tulips come with a funny story. After I was put Michael to bed the night before Mother's Day, I noticed the outside light was on. That's weird. Maybe a cat turned a sensor on? I don't think we have sensor lights...I look out the window & Rob looks up with the bouquet in his hand, shaking his finger at me. I smile big, but feel bad that I ruined his surprise. (which I was expecting sometime that weekend...)

Hi mom! I learned to crawl on my 10 month birthday. Thanks for buying the baby gate the week before to keep me safe!

Playing in boxes.

Being silly

Christopher thought he was so clever wearing my clothes. Well, technically the shorts are Rob's from his mission in the Philippines. When Christopher was little I wore them during the summer as pj shorts. One day Rob put them on. Christopher (2 at the time) couldn't stop laughing that daddy was wearing mommy's shorts.

Oh, and it was a good thing we went to visit Grandpa Bingham when we did, because 2 weeks later we attended his funeral. Sadly timing wasn't good for Rob's family to come (H.S. graduation and State track), but we enjoyed the funeral and seeing extended family members.

Visiting Great (Great) Grandpa Bingham

4 generations (missing Rob's dad). Rob, Michael, Grandpa Bingham, Grandma Stephenson, Christopher.

Grandma Stephenson (Rob's paternal grandmother) with Michael and Christopher

Grandpa Bingham & Michael. We enjoyed visiting Grandpa Bingham in a nursing home in Ogden, and Grandma Stephenson who was visiting from California. The kids did well on the long drive. Christopher loved the ice cream and puzzles at the nursing home. (we stayed for 2 hrs, so I'm glad they did so well...after sitting in church for 3 hrs, sitting in a car for 1 & 1/2hrs, then staying in a nursing home for 2hrs. That's alot of quiet/sit still time!)

Michael loved sitting on (Great) Aunt Sharon's lap.

Artistically documenting The Chub

Brothers enjoying the beautiful weather. They are definately two different body types. (Christopher's almost black eye is from hitting heads with a boy at McDonald's after getting his 5yr old shots.)

By our tulips

Of course he wouldn't give me a smile. Too much to look at.

I just can't get over those shoulders.

He loves watching Christopher play basketball on our real full size basketball hoop.

He is so close to crawling.

Thanks Aunt Trish for this cute outfit.

Does he even have knees?

Stats

These guys had doctor appointments this week.

Michael likes it when we put him standing up next to things (he doesn't pull himself up yet.)

At a duck pond by our house. Christopher weighs 31.4 lbs & in 39 inches tall. This puts him in the 1% & 3%. So we are calling an endrocrinologist to see if we need to do something to help him grow, or if this is just the way his body wants to grow. He also has an appointment with a cardiologist because he has an innocent heart murmur (has always had one), so we are going to make sure it really is innocent & isn't hindering his growth. And we signed him up for kindergarten.

This sneaky baby opened a ziplock bag & pulled out a piece of Christopher's licorice. He was not happy when I took it away. He weighs 22lbs & is 28.5 inches long. He is in the 75%, but his head is 3%. His softspot is gone (too early) so he had his x-ray-ed (he hated it). The doctor said the side parts....sutures? (sp?) aren't fused together so we are just watching it to make sure his head doesn't look like mountains on the sides (think plate techtonics). Let me know if you think his head starts to look like a funny shape. We don't want any crainosynisis here. The dr. hasn't mentioned surgery, but that's what the internet said would need to happen if his skull fused together.

getting into drawers already. happy 9 months. he isn't crawling yet (and he is very frustrated with that fact), but he does scoot backwards.

Christopher's bday

We decorated cupcakes at Christopher's first friend birthday party.

on his birthday, cutting his cake. (he could dish up as much as he wanted as long as he ate it all.)

sorry these are out of order. he added the checkered part for the start of a race.

I tried making him a racecar cake like the one my friend Natalie did for the BSA birthday party. Hers was much better. Oh well, I made my frosting with peppermint extract instead of vanilla. Yum!

decorating airplanes because Christopher wanted to have an airplane throwing contest.

decorating cupcakes.

With his friends and presents.

Hunter gave him playdough & they all wanted to play with it!

what Chrisotpher's been up to...

He loves doing tricks on his scooter

especially since his bike tire is flat.

writing, drawing, tracing

building

hiding