Fun time with friends! (Warning, long post with LOTS of pictures)

Okay, so you have been warned...although you should all know me better by now.  I'm horrible at just picking a couple!  LOL  This past Saturday was part of Doug's week off of milking.  He really wanted to do something with the girls and decided that we would make a trip to Fort Rickey Discovery Zoo again.  We invited a friend from church to come with us.  Amanda and the kids showed up and we hung out while we waited for stuff at the farm to get figured out so we could go. 

 Madalyn is in love with the baby.  Her name is Jennifer and she is 3 months old.  She is a doll and I have to say I'm in the same boat as Madalyn!

 I absolutely LOVE this little guy!  His name is Jesse "Junior".  He is a character and a half and he knows he is cute!

 Marissa joined in the making faces fun.  Poor kid is still swollen from her bites 5 days prior!

 Finally Madalyn couldn't contain herself anymore...

"Ms. Amanda, can I hold your baby???"  LOL

 He had a thing with that face!

 Sooo cute!

FINALLY, we headed out!  We had plans of meeting our friend Mike and his two boys and Laurie.  The day was so beautiful and the kids had a blast for sure!  They had a lot of fun with the other kids to run around with!

 The deer were in rut still, but must be worse than prior, because they were all locked up.  The kids didn't mind it one bit though and I think they were still one of their favorites!

 Isn't he gorgeous?

 I made a mental note to never leave Junior and Madalyn unattended.  

They both share the "NO FEAR" thing and I'm sure would be a dangerous pair!

 I opted out of the snake show this time and sat with Amanda while she nursed the baby.  I did however hear that the kids got to see "Jasmine" this time. 

 They all look the same to me!

More deer...Sika's I think they are called...

 Looks like Junior just got missed!

 LOL...that look again!

 YEAH!  He is such a cutie!

 I love him!

 Every animal we went to, Marissa tried to "talk" like them and teach everyone else...it was so cute!

 The buck had a thing for Doug...

 Laurie

 Marissa was bound and determined to make friends with the baby and love on it.

It's Llama time!

 Mike found out that they LOVE leaves!  So the kids had a blast de-leafing a nearby tree to feed the "starving" llama.  Connor and Marissa supervising Madalyn.

 I kept saying that I don't know if I can put cute and Llama in the same sentence.  There was nothing cute about that face...I don't think he appreciated it very much!

 He wasn't helping me change my opinion of him!

 Mike and Tannor

 Connor and Junior

 Wish this was a closer pic of him, I think I'm getting a look!

 Dude what is up with your ears!  You would be so much cuter if you put them up!  

He didn't listen or didn't care. 

 "Goodbye Llama!"

 "Bye Puppy!"

 Okay, one more!

Wallabies!

 So cool to see them this close this time around!

 I'm not sure if we were suppose to feed him, but he wasn't a fan of the cracker anyhow.

 But he loved to be scratched

 Off he goes!

 Back to play with his roomie

 

 Well what do you know!  He can fix his ears!!!

By the time we got home and ate, everyone was pretty tired including the grown-ups!  So we offered for Amanda and the two little guys to stay over since they would be back for church the following morning anyhow.  They live 45 mins. away so it only made sense.  It was nice having company.  The girls even helped in the morning watch the baby while Amanda and I were getting ready. 

 They arranged her like this, and then asked for a picture.  She had the hiccups horrible but was still a happy girl!

 Silly girls!

I can't get over that head of hair!

Hope you enjoyed!  Sorry for the length!

1st Day of School

Even though its feeding week for us and we would normally go to the barn, we skipped out this morning per Marissa's request in order to start school early.  It worked out really well, because Madalyn went with Daddy and we were almost done by the time they returned 3 hours later.  We got dressed, ate breakfast and brushed our teeth so we were all ready for the day.  We started about 7:30.  (I wonder how long this excitement will last?)  We went over school rules at first.  She was really good about separating Mommy from Teacher and was great at recognizing that we were "at school".  I can definitely see her getting bored with some of the stuff, but she handled it well.  One thing I know we are going to have to work on is Reading Comprehension.  I'm not sure if she was bored, or if she just wasn't listening but she had a rough time remembering things from a short story I read her.  But some of that could just be from not knowing exactly what to expect and the excitement.  Just something I'm going to keep my eye on.  Tomorrow is a lot more in depth and more school like.  

All ready to start!

 "Ok Mom, enough of the pictues...lets get going!"

 She did an awesome job with the picture she was suppose to color

 Merit/Demerit system...She starts the week out with 5 apples.  If she keeps all of them, at the end of the week she gets a special treat of some kind. 

Her curriculum...She LOVES it!

Shhh...

Don't tell Doug you saw this!  

LOL  

Its too cute, I couldn't help sharing!  

I love it that Daddy and big sister are passed out and the littlest is WIDE awake!

School...

...starts tomorrow for us!  We are both excited, but I have a little nervousness added in there too.  I'll update tomorrow night and let ya'll know how it goes!  Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

Annual New York State Fair Adventures

Ever since Doug and I got married (possibly even before) we have made a trip to Syracuse for the Sate Fair.  We have a thing for fairs.  It starts during our county fair, then we got the neighboring county for their fair the following week.  Then we attend the NY Sate Fair!  LOL  For the past two years we have met my parents there.  They spoil the kids by getting ride tickets for them and we all have a blast.  This year was even more fun as both the kids were big enough to enjoy it a lot more!  

 

 Upon approaching these "statues", we almost thought they were actually statues, but every few minutes they would move.  Mind you it was at least 90 degrees out and the sun was beating down on us.  They were really good!  Mom wanted us to pose with them so we did.  The whole time I kept saying don't touch me!  I was so afraid he was going to put his hand on me and I was going to flip!

 Next we walked past the Duck races.  We had never seen them before and the girls wanted to watch.  So we sat down and waited.  They chose volunteers to race the ducks.  At one point in time, the guy points on the other side of me and says the little girl right there.  I look over and Marissa has her hand up high!  I was shocked!  So Daddy and Marissa got to race.  Their duck started out really fast, but as Marissa put it, he got tired. 

 Marissa's duck was in lane 2

 Of course they had to ride the carousal.

 You have to search for Madalyn in both shots I guess.  She blended right in!

 The girls, but especially Madalyn, were all into the roller coasters this year.  Madalyn has no fear so it really didn't surprise me.  But I was so proud to see Marissa ride this all by herself in the seat.  It was a full track coaster.  They both did GREAT!  Madalyn had to be accompanied by an adult and she chose Daddy.  I think it made his day!

 This was Marissa's favorite ride!  She LOVED it!

 They had the circus back again this year.  I felt really bad because Madalyn fell asleep right after we finished riding.  She missed out on this portion of the fair.  I told Marissa to keep it to herself so she didn't feel bad.  Marissa did a great job at doing just that!  This picture is dark, but you get the shadow effect of Marissa feeding the giraffe.

Last of all, Marissa got to go on a pony ride.  She picked her own horse out and picked out the one Mommy would have picked!  I was so proud!  She said she needed me next to her, but she did just fine!

Hope you enjoyed!  I'm going to try and do alot better about posting more often!

Fort Ricky Discovery Zoo...or at least I think that's right! ;)

I don't know what has taken us so long to find this place!  I keep saying we need to go to the Syracuse Zoo, but this place is a lot closer and awesome!  The girls LOVED the hands on capabilities of the "zoo".

Madalyn was VERY protective over "her" turtles.  No one was allowed in the box according to the sign, and Madalyn made sure they followed the rules.  She was even kicking adults out of the box..."The sign says you can't go in the box...you have to get out."

 

 

 My favorite part...I LOVE otters!

 Both girls seems to be taken with the ring tailed lemurs.  They were quite the characters. 

 They got to hold tiny pygmy goats...

 ...and feed swans.  This one was Marissa's favorite

 and this one was Madalyn's favorite.

 I'm not sure what he/she actually was, but its very pretty!

 Marissa's favorite was the owl.  She would copy his sound and he would respond right back.  She came to the conclusion that she could speak owl and was quite proud of herself!

 My Mom's favorite was the spider monkey...they were pretty cool!

 I have a thing with Nubian goats!  Someday I will own one!

This rabbit had to have been 15lbs.  I have never seen this big of a rabbit before in my life...of course this picture does not do justice to its size.

 I think this tortoise was close to being big enough for Madalyn to ride.  He was really neat!

 Dad's favorite...I have never been so close to a wolf before!  They are amazing creatures.  It was neat to see them wag their tails and whine like real dogs.  They have the biggest feet though!

 The girls felt bad for this little guy because he was all by himself.

 Mom and I decided to just take pictures when this guy showed up.  I'm good at a distance...

 ...the girls however did just fine with him.  And yes, "Boris" is setting his head on Marissa's head!

 We kept going back and checking on the otters.  They were just too cute!  I really wanted to take them home...

 ...I mean how do you resist those faces!

...and apparently they wanted to come home too!  They were going to town moving rocks and digging!

Grateful...

Have you ever noticed that in the midst of rough times and troubles that we forget all the good things that we have to be thankful for?  My head has been very full lately and I feel like I'm neglecting my thankfulness.  So I decided to make a list....Here goes!

-I have a wonderful husband, who is also my best friend.  He is always there for me and we have an awesome relationship.  I don't know what I would do without him!

-I have two beautiful girls who are healthy and happy.  The Lord is good!

-I'm a sinner saved by Grace!  With that comes the peace that God will take care of us.

-We have a job

-I have a great relationship with my parents/inlaws

-We own our own house

-I'm able to be a stay at home Mom

-I'm able to homeschool the girls

There is sooo much more, but I can see his is going to make for a super long post if I continue!  How about you?  What do you have to be thankful for???

Long overdue post...

I know its been a while.  Whoops.  Things have been a little crazy...I know you have heard that from me before!  I have been super stressed lately and havn't wanted to post anything until I was in a different state of mind.  I HATE depressing posts!  So we are just going to skip that portion.

.................................................................................................................................................

Marissa is starting school!  My baby is starting school!  I'm in shock.  How did we get here so fast???  Thankfully she actually isn't going anywhere.  Yup, that's right.  We are doing the forbidden homeschooling option.  I had no idea how much opposition I was going to run into when we made this decision.  It doesn't really bother me and I don't really care because we are still going to do it, but I was still surprised.  Anyhow, we decided to use ACE curriculum and I have it already and have already looked it over so I know what I am doing.  Yesterday we went and got school supplies for both Marissa and Madalyn.  Madalyn has a bunch of work books that she will work on throughout the year alongside her sister.  Now that we have everything Marissa is super anxious.  She wants to start right now!  I have to admit I'm a little excited to....I have no idea why, but I am!  

Today is garden day.  I have lots to pick, blanch and freeze.  I love this time of year!  Hope you all have a great day!!!