LIONS AND TIGERS, AND 4 BOYS

We went to the zoo today and took Craigs two nephews. I have been watching them while their mom works. All the boys play really well together and they have so much fun. Jaxon is 4 years old, Ayden 3, Mason 25 months, and Gibson is 23 months. I was kind of nervous about taking all of them but we made it thru the day with no meltdowns, everyone was nice & listened, and they all slept the whole way home. Everyones favorite were the bears cause they were fighting. We even saw the red panda. It is always up the tree when we go so the 2 older boys thought that was cool. The babies didnt seem to care. Craig got some really cute pictures. It was a nice day. There was a lady in the reptile house with a baby in a front carrier, one on a leash, and 2 others running around screaming. I was standing next to her and she said, to her husband, " Why would anyone have 4 boys! Oh my gosh! Try birth control." Nice. Oh well. To each their own. I would much rather have 4 well behaved boys then have to invest in leashes for my kids.

We were supposed to close on the house tomorrow but the mortgage guy faxed the papers to the tiltle company and it got jammed. He didnt notice for a few hours so they never got them. We are going to make sure he has his helmet on and a special helper next time. ;) Now we are closing Thursday morning.

Our House

We started our house building adventure last July. Our original lot/house was supposed to be done in November, then February, then June. So we changed to an earlier lot and started the plans and paperwork in December. It was supposed to be done the middle of February, then the end of March, then the mdidle of April. So here we are the day before closing at the end of April to find out the paperwork we sent them 2 weeks ago they just looked at today and they needed more documents from us so we are not closing tomorrow. The loan person says we will try to close Thursday. Which I would believe if I didnt know better. Our friend built a house Two doors down from us and he was supposed to close 5 WEEKS ago! They keep postponing it and two times he has taken papers in only to have them sit for two weeks before anyone looks at them. He told them he was going to fire them cause it has gotten quite rediculous and the papers they are asking for they shouldnt need. But that would be a decline on the loan so he cant do that. Plus the builders will be billing us $100 every day the loan is late. So not a good day!

Anyway here is a picture of our beautiful kitchen which we will not be using for a while i think. If we ever close and move in I will post more pictures. Cross your fingers!

Playin at the Gun Club

The boys LOVE the gun club. We went out to catch some carp and shoot. They had a blast running around with all their friends and playing on the dirt. Ayden was kindof being a terd and sat inside the trailer most of the time.

This is a good picture of Gibs before I buzzed his hair. I miss his mohawk so much. He has had it since he was born. It will grow back pretty quick though. Ayden got his hair buzzed too but he likes it buzzed cause then he looks just like Craig.

This is Craigs nephew Jaxon. He was throwing rocks intothe water.
This rocks was probably the smallest he threw in. The rest were all huge.

I love this picture with the mountains and clouds behind him.

They were watching the carp flop around in the dirt. This is the only picture we got with Ayden in before he got grumpy. He was having a hard day.

This is our friends little girl Ellie. She was so cute. She was telling Gibson stories about all kind of things. They just sat by Duke petting him and talking. So adorable.

The ZOO

We have a family pass to the zoo so we go all the time. The boys love it so much. Aydens favorites have always been the elephants and the rhinos. He is so excited to see the baby elephant this year. Gibson loves all the animals but his favorite is the elephants. We have gone so many times this year that Ayden can tell us how to get there from the freeway exit. He knows every turn and everything. Its crazy how good he is at directions.
Craig got me a new camera for my birthday. Its amazing the pictres it can take. I still need to play with it a little to figure it all out but Craig is quite good with it.

The boys were so happy when they saw the bear out. It seems like we never see it.

I usually take the stroller and have Gibson all strapped in cause he is a little bit too curious sometimes. I didnt bring it this time and I was regretting it as he climbed EVERYTHING he saw.

A lot Of Stuff

Here are some cute "Cheese" pictures. The boys have been so good the last couple weeks. Maybe is because the sun finally started coming out again.

Gibson will randomly decide he is a dog through out the day. He barks, pants, licks people, crawls on all fours, and fetches things. After studying my moms dogs for a while he learned to eat out of a bowl on the floor, at least he is using his hands, and lay on the back of the couch. He also likes to be patted on the head.

Im still working on potty training Gibson. He likes to sit on the potty, especially when Ayden is, but we need to work on timing a little bit. I am so done wrestling him tochange his diaper so hopefully it clicks soon.

We went to the Treehouse Childrens Museum last week. We have only gone a couple times but the boys love it so much and we stay for hours every time we go. It was so much fun. My camera is not working so I have been using my phone which is why some pictures are blurry. I liked this one cause he picked his fire truck shirt that morning and it matched real cute.

They both love this big chess set. They played here the longest. Right to the side of this is a little table with knights and horses and stuff on that they also really liked.

Gibson has found new friends in an old ugly blanket ,who he calls anky (blanket), and a cute snuggly bear. The blanket is not very soft and I would only use it out of necessity when they were babies. With all our stuff in storage I have no idea how he got it but when he lays with them he goes to sleep pretty quick so whatever.

Isnt he so cute? I love how snuggly he has been.

Craig had surgery on his foot to remove the hardware they put in a few years ago. He was off work for about two weeks and is now feeling so good. He says it makes a huge difference and he is so glad he had it done.

He kept posing before the surgery and being wierd so I snapped a couple pictures. He told me they were dumb and not to show anyone but he wil never know they are here. :)

Race Car Speedways

This morning went to the building class for kids at Home Depot. They have one the first Saturday of every month. Ayden and Gibson love going and building new stuff. Today they built a little speedway that had two little cars to race on. It was so much fun! After we got them all built we took them home and painted them.
They were concentrating so hardtrying to get them painted just right. It was so cute.

GIbson was really worried about the paint on his fingers but he didnt even notice he had it on his belly, face, and all up his arm.

Ayden decided to paint his entire track and both cars red. He did a really good job on it. Gibson had so much paint on his tires they got all gummed together and wouldnt even turn! Oh well though. He had a blast hammering it and painting it.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We have been so busy the last couple weeks. Craig had surgery on his leg to remove the hardware they put in it a few years ago. That went very well. He was scheduled for 4 weeks off work but only ended up with 2. We had to be out of our apartment on Saturday the 28th. Which wasn't too bad except for the fact that Craig couldn't stand on his leg so he wasn't a lot of help. But we got every thing out ok and are staying with my mom til the house is done in a couple weeks. We had our tax appointment last Thursday. All our files are in storage so I had to search to find all my Avon and Mary Kay info & everything else. Of course none of it was added up yet. Ayden and Gibson both got way sick and we ended up taking them to the drs. Ayden just had a bad virus. But Gibson had an ear infection plus the nasty virus. Poor kids. Now everyone is better and we are all settled for the a couple weeks. We just need to pick out the rest of our appliances, furniture, & paint for the new house then we will be all set. Yay!