Quilts

Since last year Ashely has wanted to make quilts for each of the kids. We got the supplies together and she finally was able to get them done this last February, after months of working on them in the free time she had. She put a lot of effort into them and had a few trial and error experiences, but she worked through all that, with some of the kid's help along the way and managed to get them done. They ended up turning out great. It was funny when Ashley told Adahleigh she was making her a blanket and it had flowers on it, this was after she had already started, and Adahleigh said,"I don't want flowers I want butterflies". She ended up putting some butterflies along the edge for her. She loves her quilt now and demands to sleep with it instead of one of her littler blankets.Charles quilt probably took the most effort and trial and error. Ashley found a picture of one she liked on the internet, but no description really of how it was made or pattern available. We blew up the picture and just used it as a template, that didn't work out very well at all. Looking closer at the picture we decided that each lizard had been pieced together, so they all weren't the same. Instead of doing that Ashley decided to just cut the lizards out individually and allow enough overlap between the different colors, so she could just zig-zag them together. It ended up working out really well and the end results looks great. When Adahleigh saw it done, she changed her mind about her quilt and said she wanted the lizard one instead. We had to tell her she had one and this one was Charles. In the end she decided she liked hers just fine and would be ok with letting Charles have this one. He isn't as picky with what he sleeps with yet, but if Adahleigh wants hers and he sees then he wants his too.

One Last Stop at the Zoo

In April, we were lucky to get one last stop at the Pocatello Zoo before moving. The weather even cooperated enough for shorts and T-shirts. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to go back up to Idaho Falls to visit the zoo there, which was a little disappointing. The kids really enjoyed going around again. It was particularly fun for Charles since he has gotten into animals lately and is big enough to walk around on his own.

As usual Adahleigh had to hang on and jump off everything in site. Charles was a good sport for the most part, but we had to carry him around on occasion.

This time while we were there the petting zoo was actually open, so the kids got to interact with the goats (since that's all that's available to touch in the petting zoo. Adahleigh has become willing to touch animals again and Charles is now shy, go figure, she went right up to the goats and started petting them.

No matter what I tried Charles wouldn't touch them, he'd get close and then pull away.

We tried to get a nice picture of the two of them in front of the buffalo cut out, but needless to say you can't ever get a good picture with more than one kid in it. These are our best attempts.

Of course the both got right up next to the fence to get the best view they could of the animals in their enclosures.

The whole time your in the zoo you can hear the the peacocks calling all over the place because they run loose. Just before leaving we came across one in an area the kids could get close enough to get a good look at. Adahleigh thought she was going to get up close and personal, till the peacock started walking around then she decided it was a little too big to take on, so she ran away.

The kids also enjoyed playing on the learning toys, beside the slide and tree fort, the spider's web was a big hit. Adahleigh enjoyed playing on it, Charles tried but he wasn't quite big enough to climb around on it and really have fun.

We all enjoyed our day out in the sun, we even had a picnic after the zoo. Now we just wish it would get warm enough her that we could enjoy some time outside and some pool time, hopefully by next weekend.

More Monkey Business

We've been really bad with keeping up on the blog lately with everything going on, between finals, packing up and moving, and Keisha's blessing. Now that we are pretty much settled in we will try to catch up on recent events and keep everything else up to date and the posts more frequent.

The move went really well for the most part and we really like our new apartment (we'll get some pictures and put them up). Adahleigh and Charles are waiting for the pool to open up so that they can go swimming. They both really enjoyed swimming at the hotel with Kenya and Azure when they came to Pocatello for the blessing. Adahleigh asks every day if she can go swimming.

Charles has enjoyed the freedom that a bigger place allows and the lapse of supervision that has occurred while we've been unpacking or taking care of Keisha. He likes to play a combination of hide and seek and peek-a-boo, so he knows all the good places to go (he especially likes the front closet since there really isn't anything in it yet. He recently discovered all the stuff to get into under the bathroom sink. Luckily it was his bathroom so there isn't too many dangerous things in there to harm him, but he does like to eat soap.

He has also enjoyed full access to every room in the apartment since the doors don't have regular round handles, but have the ones with an arm on the side so he can open any door with ease. To keep both the kids in the apartment we had to get one of those safety latches that go toward the top of the door so they can't get out.

He is still honing his climbing. Which looks like he has pretty much mastered. We are constantly hearing him playing with stuff he shouldn't be in or even able to reach for that matter. This evening we heard him banging dishes together and found him on top of the kitchen counters.

It doesn't even phase him when he gets caught he just continues to go about his business until we pull him down.

We weren't quite sure how he got up because the boxes that were stacked weren't that close to the counter. He was nice enough to show us how he got up there as soon as we put him on the floor.

I took the orange tool box off after recording his climbing and he attempted to get back up by standing on the box left and them putting his foot on top of the cabinet door. He didn't have a good enough hand hold or he would've been back up. I didn't get a picture of this because by the time I got the camera back out he had given up the attempt. He has had a few mishaps in climbing, especially with out 3' chair that he likes to climb. He has had them fall on him a couple of times, worst to come from that is a bruise on his thigh though.