Things I love about Sweet Caroline...

1. Her musical giggle...it makes me happy.
2. She is probably my best cuddler. :)
3. She holds her own with her brothers quite capably.
4. She sings herself to sleep. She'll either do that or has her stuffed animals talk to each other. I love to listen outside her door.
5. She makes a mean tater tot casserole. And she can now crack eggs when we make cookies!
6. She has a very curious, fast mind, and comes up with fabulous questions.
7. She's a fun playmate.
8. She looks out for her little brother.
9. She's the perfect mix of pretty princess and tomboy.
10. She's our little girl.

One of those days...

Today was one of those days.

Let's start by saying that Dave spent the entire afternoon yesterday changing the tires from our old van to our "new to us" van. Just before we bought the new one, we had replaced the tires on the old one. So, naturally, we wanted to keep the newer tires.

WELL, apparently you can't do that (my cousin, who is a mechanic, confirmed this). Because (I know I shouldn't start a sentence with "because", but it seems more dramatic if I do in this case.) after we had gotten everyone ready, packed the car, and were looking forward to a day at the lake, THE CAR WOULDN"T MOVE.

So guess what Dave did this afternoon? That's right...change 8 tires again, the same 8 tires he had changed not 24 hours ago. Ugh. He wasn't too happy. And the kids weren't too happy. (Me neither.) So we unloaded the car and spent the day at home.

After Dave finished changing the tires, we tried to rescue the day by taking the kids out to McDonald's and then to mini-golf. Only it didn't work out that way. Henry started feeling sick on the way there, so he and I hung out in the parking lot of McDonald's until he started to feel better. We cancelled mini-golf, and decided to rent a movie.

At least the movie was good. We highly recommend Madagascar 2. :)

(On a happier note, here's some pictures from our visit last year to the farm, the one with the butterflies and the silo.)

Comfortable, Evan?

Can I get some more pillows for you?

He has preferred, as of late, at least 5 pillows when watching his episode of Word World. It takes some effort on his part to set it up, but apparently it's well worth it.

Ahhh, the life of Reilly (I mean Evan).

The Farm

Today we met up with my dear friend, April, whom I've known since junior high! She has two boys, and I brought our oldest two boys. (I left a napping Evan and an under-the-weather and napping Caroline with my husband.)
What fun! We climbed a silo...

...gazed out over BEAUTIFUL farmland...

...went on a hike......and went in a butterfly house...
The butterflies were sooo tame. We were able to get so close to them without them flying away. The kids were fascinated, and I was able to practice close-up shots with my camera. :)
This is the picture that I took for Caroline, as her favorite color is pink, of course. We'll be going back to the butterfly house next week, as soon as she is feeling better. :)

Zoo Two

When we arrived at the zoo this morning, and it was raining pretty steadily, I was wondering what in the world we were doing there. But the weatherman was right...it cleared up by the afternoon. Again we had cool weather and small crowds, so it was a perfect day for the zoo!

We got a season pass this year for the first time, and because we had such a fabulous time when we went last week, the kids were very excited to go today. Of course, we had to go visit the dinosaurs again, but there was plenty to see today that we didn't see last time, so we had a very full day. On our way home, we hadn't been in the car for more than ten minutes before all four kids were sound asleep!

The highlight of the whole day was when a lion was just on the other side of a thick window within inches of us. WOW!

Spy vs. Spy

Behold...the wild 4th grader walking through his natural habitat.

I find his kind to be very curious, so I decided to observe them this afternoon. Ok, "observe" as in "spy." (Hey, they started it!) I located a hideout, and saw them making plans with all of their spy equipment.

They started off on their mission, unaware of the super-secret surveillance I had on them.
Until they spotted me.
Its difficult to keep undercover. These fourth-graders are wily...
...and fast.

But it was well worth it, especially to get pictures like this one. :)

Two wheels!

Way to go, Caroline! She is officially a two-wheeler! Check out this clip...

Caroline was so thrilled by her success that she insisted on wearing her helmet at the dinner table tonight. She reasoned that she'd be ready to go riding again right after her last bite! We were able to convince her not to wear her knee and elbow pads, but it did take some doing.
Yum. Frozen barbequed ribs for dinner. In my defense, there was a lot of bike riding and picture-taking tonight. That didn't leave a lot of time to cook. :)

...and, not to be outdone, Evan had his own accomplishments on wheels today. This boy learned how to pedal and steer! Perhaps Caroline inspired him. :)

These kids are all wet.

Here's four wet boys clowning for the camera...can you guess what they were doing right before this picture was taken?
And, to whom it may concern...these are the cookie men! (Henry, Seth and some of their friends had baked some cookies that didn't quite turn out. We made some more today with the friends in the above picture, and then secretly delivered some to the first friends' doorstep. :) They were very stealthy, and even left a phone message with a disguised voice alerting our friends to their secret package.)