spring at the zoo

We spent a 'nice' morning at the zoo.... The weather was perfect, low 80s, a slight breeze, excited kids.  They have a great sand/river area for kids to play. Jace was ok in the sand, but was petrified of the water. Brenna was petrified of both. She was shaking. She mentioned some fears about other animals coming to the water, we assured her that no other animals were allowed in this area. I finally got her to sit on the rock and throw some sand. Of course, by then it was time for lunch soooooo, it was a bust. Nick and I were shocked. Hopefully next time we'll remember to bring the water shoes and that will help. 

You can see how tense her little body was. 

We recovered with an awesome lunch spot...right in front of the squirrel monkeys. It was nearly a private viewing! It was perfectly shaded (as long as Nick kept moving with the shade) We all enjoyed!

The best part of the day was the 2 mile train ride around Breckenridge park. There were bridges, there was a tunnel, road crossings, lots of 'toot toot,' shade... kids loved it. 

Jace had a whole lot to say at lunch!

Here is the video from Easter morning

Honor society induction

This weekend I was inducted into the nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau. I also had a poster presentation prior to the ceremony. Only 1 person asked me any questions, so it went really well, I guess. Otherwise, it was a nice resume builder :)

Nick and the kids came and there were really well behaved. Brenna was really excited to 'go to school with mama.' Luckily the auditorium had an atrium area right out side that the kids could run and play in that was relatively contained. It was a little rainy out, so Nick let them play with the umbrella. I loved the pictures!! 

cuties

Brenna being 'mama.' She had to have her purse (and she had to fill it with stuff) before we left. Then she needed sunglasses because it was so bright out. 

Jace has been talking more and started kissing spontaneously. "tiss, tiss" Brenna gets a lot of them, but she's been a good sport and doesn't even complain how slimey they are anymore. 

He's a good little hand-holder and will do it about 95% of the time. Of course the other 5% he's trying to run out in traffic.... He's such a tough little guy. One of our worst nightmares occurred last night and he fell onto a fire ants' mound. I grabbed him up as quickly as I could and checked him over for ants. Thankfully I only found one. He never cried or even whined and I found 2 bites on him.

He's definitely not as sensitive as Brenna. When he's being reprimanded, he rarely cries. Often times we'll see the chin wobble and the eyes fill, but he's pretty stoic. We've started 'time-outs' and while they aren't too effective yet, it gives us some time to cool down. He'll learn that they aren't fun soon enough, I'm sure. 

His speech is getting more clear. If he sees words, he gets really excited and says "Cs! Cs!" for ABCs. He tries to count a little and is better in spanish. He still says "no" when he means yes. I'll be happy when that clears up because it is pretty confusing! He's just started saying 2 word phrases. "Cars bye" Man, he LOVES his cars. We actually went to the end of our road to watch the cars at the intersection. 

Brenna is still a bit taller than he is but his feet are only 1 size smaller and his hands are pretty close to her size too! 

Easter

We started off the night before Easter making an 'Easter Cake.' Nothing special or significant about it, other than some mommy guilt for not buying them any candy. (Although the grandparents did send some)

This was the first time Jace 'helped' me make anything. It was exponentially more difficult with the two of the them 'helping' but other than a premature egg crack and a startle from Jace when the mixer started, it went pretty well.

  

The kids were pretty excited to find eggs. Brenna definitely remembered from last year how it went. Jace just followed her lead. Thankfully they are young enough that we didn't have any fights over who found more eggs.  Next year, no doubt.... Basically, once the eggs were found, Brenna took control of them and 'cracked' them into her bucket for most of the day. Jace just mowed and mowed....

They took a quick break for story time and a little sibling love.

And then came the chocolate bunnies.... Brenna loved hers, of course. Jace had a hard time biting through (these weren't those cheap, hollow bunnies!) and quickly threw his in frustration. 

 After a fun day of play, Brenna finally put the  bunny glasses on and insisted on carrots for a snack.  She even shared with Jace!