Garden Fun

I love the wine colored tulips that we get in our yard. In all we have red, pink, orange and yellow tulips. The wine ones are my favorite.

Simone loves her slide!!!

Here is Simone in our garden this evening. She was helping Michael with the weeding. We love to get out in the garden as much as possible, especially on these nice days.

Day at the Zoo

My mom bought Michael an annual zoo pass last year. It's good up through the last of August. Well, the other day was so nice so we had to go to our local zoo. Our local zoo is nice, not very big, but nice. We got a good picture of a white tiger. There aren't many of them left. This one was right up by the window so we got a good picture. Here is a picture of Simone on the train. She loves the train ride at the zoo. River enjoyed the zoo as much as he could from his stroller.

Today in the Kitchen

Here's a pic of River today as I was cooking in the kitchen. He was having fun with the measuring cups and just smiling away, so I had to take a pic.

He's 9 1/2 months old now and just the sweetest thing. Doesn't it look like he's playing a guitar? :)

A Day Outside

Today after we got up, we visited "Nanny" for awhile. Then we went to the park for some tag and swing time. When River needed to come home we did and we went outside to the back alley and Simone mud puddled jumped which she thoroughly enjoys. She also made what she called "Stone Salad". She was collecting stones and putting them into the mud puddles.

While we were at the park, we saw a child playing with a kite, so we came home and made one.

When we were finished playing with that we hung it on a tree so we could still see the wind blow it.
Here's a pic of River in his "walker" that we brought outside. He enjoyed walking around on the cement area. He had more fun taking his hat off than anything, but he got some fresh air, while Simone puddle jumped and flew her kite. It's so nice to be able to go OUTSIDE!!!!

Alphabet Walk

Simone wanted to go on an alphabet walk yesterday. While on the walk she wanted to find something that began with each letter of the alphabet. We had a such a good time.
These are the things we found:
Awning
Blue
Car
Doors
Eight
Five
Grass
Houses
I in Oakside (streetsign)
Simone said she saw J in a patch of snow
Kitten
Leaf
Mom
Nose
O (streetsign)
Puppy......we asked the owner if the puppy's name began with a Q.....it didn't
Quick....we saw a car going quickly (we had to improvise)
Road
Snow and Simone
Two
Under and Up....we looked Up in the sky and Under a car
Van
Wet Water
X is always for Xylophone, but we didn't see one of those, so I drew an X in the snow
Yellow
Zipper
We accomplished all this in a walk around the block and had a wonderful time. Simone had an alphabet stencil with her so she could keep track of what letter we were on.

In a World of Their Own

Last night Michael and I went out with Carl and Julie Farmer to a Deaf Performance. It was part comedy, part story telling, part improv. It was Wonderful!! We were definitely in the minority as hearing people. The whole room was almost quiet and groups of people were signing to each other all over the room. I had even gone to the restroom and a lady was chatting with a little girl, she turned to me and signed a question, I signed back and she turned around and continued talking. It was assumed at this event that you were deaf, and if you weren't deaf, you knew sign language. All 4 of us have had some form of rudamentary training in sign language so we would have been able to communicate somewhat had anyone approached us. I have studied sign language for 13 years on my own and can translate almost anything into sign, but reading another person's sign is a whole different world for me. I realize how much that that skill needs to improve. The whole evening was great and it was wonderful to see the Farmer's again. Do you know how to show applause in a deaf community since they can't hear the clapping?????

4 Snowmen in a Row

Simone and I went for a walk today in the slushy, wet wonderful 45 degree weather. When we got home, we weren't ready to go inside yet so we made a snowman. Then Simone decided we needed to make a snowman for each of us.

The first snowman is Simone, the next one is me, the next is Michael and the last is River. We made him a small snowman on purpose. :)

They are all decked out with eyes, carrot nose, mouth, twig hands and a hat. It was perfect weather for snowmen today.