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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Birmingham Zoo

Monday we went to the Birmingham Zoo since Patrick had Veteran's Day off.  It was an easy drive down there and the weather was great.  We didn't get overheated despite the full on sunshine.  After seeing the first animal (besides birds), which was an elephant, Connor said, "Wow!"  After that he was pretty quiet, but was very into exploring the animals and going from exhibit to exhibit.  Eamon got snugged into the Ergo in the parking lot and slept until about 5 minutes before we left.
Best buds.
Giant wisteria arbor.
The lions were sunning themselves a lot.
We saw a Red River Pig, just like in Dublin!
I see you pig!
Connor asked to wear this necklace before we left.  He asks to wear
"that yellow" a lot, but I never let him since my friend Katie made it
for me, but it was a special day.  He was really happy.
Poor Connor.  It was high noon.
Connor snacking.  We technically weren't supposed to bring food in,
but that's just silly with a toddler.
 There is a train that runs through the zoo and we thought Connor would totally love it.  As soon as we got on to wait for other passengers to embark, he started sobbing.  He was miserable for about half the ride and then quieted down.  He was really happy to be off of the train when it was done. The funny thing, though, was that when we were driving home, we asked him what animals he liked and if he had fun, and he replied, "Rode a train.  It was fun."  Children are inexplicable.
At this point in the day, I was tired of taking pictures of the back of Connor's head, so I started taking more pictures of animals.  The birds were much easier to take pictures of than the large animals behind their fences and plate glass anyhow.
Flamingoes.
Blue crane.
Alligator in duck weed.
My favorite of the day, a black swan.
We got to see the hippo moving!  It also bellowed, which
Connor thought was cool.  He said, "Whoa!"

Monday, November 11, 2013

Highlights

It's been a lot of fun at our house the past few weeks.  We had some sniffles and a couple nights with wakings, but other than that, we've been going out a lot and just having fun living life.  Both our boys are growing and are pure delight.  Connor is speaking with more clarity and eloquence and Eamon is getting extremely better at moving his little limbs and mimicking sounds.
Connor invented a new place for lounging.
He will sometimes just lay down for a few seconds.
Beautiful fall days.
Halloween outfit!
Pumpkin butt.
Connor the ghost.
Sitting pretty.
How Patrick found him after a nap one day.
Mr. Goof
Plum slaughter.
I love him!
My three wonderful guys.

Patrick's Birthday/Halloween Party

The previous two years we have had a Halloween party for our friend with kids so all the babies we know can dress up and we can dress Connor up.  This year, I waffled about it, mostly because I'm too tired to make a bunch of party food, and Jerod and Britni aren't in town right now.  Then I realized if we had the party on October 18th, Jerod and Britni could come, and we could also celebrate Patrick's birthday.  What cemented it was that I could call it a potluck and get away with only making a couple dishes.  

So.  This was like 6 days before the party and we didn't have costumes, or even a plan for costumes.  Then we got a package from Jenny and Chris with the cutest outfit for Eamon in it.  I said that maybe Eamon could be Radagast the Brown and Connor could be a a hobbit again.  Then I though about it some more and thought that maybe we could all dress up like different wizards from books that we like.  Connor could be Howl from Howl's Moving Castle (movie version), Patrick could be Chrestomanci, and I would be a Ravenclaw student.  We went to the mall, Jo Ann, and poured over Amazon, and I spent quite a bit of time working on Connor's Howl jacket.  It didn't quite get done for the party, but enough of it did to be good.
Eamon as Radagast the Brown from The Hobbit.

Mama and Eamon.
Cutie Connor.
We took more pictures this week since we only got a few from before the party.

Connor playing with Evie and Jewel.
I think he stole 5 or 6 people's phones.
Here are some more pictures I took of the costumes on Halloween day.  Patrick didn't dress up again so I never got a picture of him!
A laughing skeleton.

Connor is so precious.

Forgive the formatting.  I can't get it to do what I want.