The Traveling Zoo....?

I don't know where these animals come from or where they are going, but they come around this time every year. They set their tent up in random parking lots and hang out for a long weekend, letting people come check out their animals. They have all sorts of animals, like, the cool ones. I saw a tiger, a small kangaroo, llamas, a baby lion, lemurs, they even had a camel...it was pretty cool. Their cages were so close you could practically touch them and some of them you could. You could purchase food for the less cool animals, of course, but the kids didn't care. They got to feed animals they would never be able to in real life :) They were able to pet the cows, goats and the scarey looking llamas...

While we were there, the kids got to take turns riding the ponies, which they LOVED. I got a picture of each one...

Kenzie riding like a pro :)

Braxton...he was so excited :)

Madison loving the ride!

Bailee couldn't stop smiling :)

If we had come earlier during the weekend, we could have rode the camel. But, we went on the last day, so that old camel was all pooped out...poor old camel. What the crap is a camel doing in Amarillo. LOL!! 

He was HUGE!!

Before we left, we HAD to get our picture made with the baby lion. They were so cute and of course you couldn't take their picture unless you purchased one...ok, we were suckers and did it. I was a little nervous about the kids trying to touch her at once, which was highly frowned upon considering their aggressive behavior and crazy sharp claws :) We were put into position and told, Do. Not. Move.....you don't have to tell me twice. He quickly put the baby into position, laying her in Braxton's lap, and snapped the picture. I can not believe every single one of my stubborn children smiled on the first shot. After he took the picture, he quickly grabbed the baby and held her face away from us long enough for us to pet her.  She was so cute!! 

Awww!! They did so good....

Here are a few other pics of our trip to this random zoo...

The little kangaroo was so cute :)

Big tiger...

Braxton petting a goat

kinda curious to see how he will get his head back in :)

Madison feeding a cow :)

Bailee feeding her too...she was hungry :)

Tina! Eat! LOL!!!

Love their expressions looking at the black llama...

Me and Miss Madison having fun :)

Madison petting a goat

Move it! Move it!!!

So if you ever see a random tent set up in the middle of a parking lot, you should go check it out. You might be surprised at what you find :)

Yayyy for Family Night!!

We have done four family nights now and are absolutely LOVING it! We are having to tweak it here and there. There was a night that Kyle had to work over and missed the whole thing. Then the next one, Madison ended up being sick and then this last week, Bailee was at "Megan's" house. We really hadn't put into consideration the nights Bailee will miss out...that was a bummer, for us and for her. Anyway, I just wanted to take a quick sec to share a little of each night we have had so far...

Our first night was Oct. 14th when we went to the Discovery Center for the hot air balloon lift...

Madison and Daddy

Me and the kids, minus Bailee :(

One of the balloons that lifted that night...

We had a lot of fun that night, but planned poorly so we did not start our Bible Story lessons until the following week...

Our next family night was Oct. 21. We did our first lesson this week and it was over Creation. Our story came out of the book of Genesis chapters 1 and 2. This is for kids, so it obviously was not the entire chapters, but rather a condensed version for small kids. 

Our verse was,"Through his power all things were made-things in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen." -Colossians 1:16

I am LOVING this book and highly recommend it! The name of it is Our Together-Time Bible by: Gwen Ellis. We found it, with the help of my friend Krystole, at Mardell's for five bucks. AWESOME DEAL!!!! Ok, moving on....there is also a section at the end of each lesson where you Talk About It...the kids love this. It has questions that get discussions started about what they learned and how they can apply it to their lives....and then after that, there is an activity that everyone can participate in that goes along with the lesson. 

God Made Them All

They had a blast making these! They got their magazines, glue and scissors and just went to town. Loving the memories we are making with them....

Our third family night was Oct. 28th...our lesson was over patience, YES!!!! So happy to do this one :) We all could use a little patience. I tell them to patient all of the time and of course their response is basically, "whatever". So it was nice to be able to show them that it was also biblical. Our story came from Genesis 7:12 and 8:1-19...Noah's Arc. It talked about how patient Noah must have been waiting on a boat for so long. Great story with a little different perspective that what they usually learn from that story in bible class.

Our verse, "We show that we are servants of God by living a pure life, by our understanding, by our patience, and by our kindness." -2 Corinthians 6:6

Our activity was to come up with activities that we could do while we were waiting for someone or something. They said things like play a game or read a book. It was a great lesson! And then...we made cupcakes!!!!!

Their Halloween cupcake creations!!

Poor Madison was sick and watched from the couch :(

Our last family night was Nov. 4th...our lesson was over kindness. Another great topic for my gaggle of children :)  Our story was from Genesis 24:15-20, a story about Rebekah fetching water cheerfully for Abraham and his ten camels. 

Or verse: "Do not forget to do good to others. And share with them what you have. These are the sacrifices that please God." -Hebrews 13:16
Definitely another great lesson for my greedy little children. LOL!!  Our activity was to see how many toys they could put away in five minutes. Needless to say, they did not believe me and I had to let them read it for themselves. LOL!! But they did it anyway and thought it was fun. After that, we just decided to play games...this was also a night that Bailee had to miss :(  Hopefully her last, but that is a whole other post...

Can't go wrong with Operation...

And Sorry is an all time favorite too!

Next week our lesson will be about anger and I have a feeling I will learn more than the kids :) If you haven't already started a family night, but have been thinking about doing one, JUST DO IT! We have already been so blessed by this.
Hope you all have a terrific week!!

That Time Again....

I can't believe that Halloween is already tomorrow. Where has the time gone?! Well, my "kiddos" decided, ok maybe I decided, that they were going to be pirates this year :) They ended up matching perfectly together, which is super important, and they looked sooooo cute. Let me show you :)

 

We went to our church's Fall Festival that night and the kids had soooo much fun. They all played games, sang some karaoke, had hotdogs, hung out with friends....it was just a really fun, and safe way to celebrate Halloween. Tonight, we are going to gut and carve our pumpkins. I have some really cute ideas, but of course, I will let the kids help too. Maybe :)

With Halloween almost over, it brings me to the scarey realization that we only have four paychecks until Christmas!! WHAT!?!?!!! Luckily, I have been picking up items here and there for several months now. I have been desperately trying to get solid answers from the kids on what they will ask for from Santa. This is always the stressful part of Christmas for me. We go see Santa half way through December and then I have to scrounge for the next two weeks finding what they asked for!!! Too much stress!!! Not this year....I made the kids make a list of what they want for Christmas and then made them rate their top 3 items. Then I told them to choose wisely because there will be NO changing their minds. Brilliant!!! Then I told them they needed to decide pretty quickly what they wanted to ask for from Santa. The girls are adamant that they want a LalaLoopsey....say that again!! What the crap is a LalaLoopsey??? So I did a little research on Amazon.com and found that they are dolls. Dolls? They can ask for anything, within reason, they want from Santa and my 9 and 8 year old decide on a doll? I questioned them a little and tried to convince them to choose something else, that they probably wouldn't even play with them...no. They weren't budging. So now I have to find the doll they want. See, you get to choose the doll you want. They come in different colors, different hair, each with a different pet....crap! There are TONS of LalaLoopsey dolls! Let me show you what they look like...

They are cute, but this is something I see my 3 year old asking for...Well, nevermind. If this is what they want, at least it doesn't cost a small fortune. Braxton says he wants Super Hero action figures from Santa. Cool! I can do Super Heros. Now Madison is a different story. She doesn't really play with toys and still a little young to grasp the complete idea of Santa. I ask her what she wants and she has a different answer every time, usually being stuff she already has. Any ideas of good toys for a 3 year old?? I will try to plant an idea in her head and see if she goes along with it...I'll keep you posted :)

In other news, my brother is turning 30 years old this month!!! Man! We are getting old!!! Let me see if I can find a picture of him....

She will probably kill me, but this is the best picture I have of them. Anyway, this is my brother, Paul and his wife, Hali. They are the ones that I talked about in an earlier post that just bought and moved into their first house. I can't wait to see it all unpacked and decorated when we have Thanksgiving over there this year :)

This time of year is always so hectic and crazy, but just make sure you take the time to enjoy every crazy second cause they will fly by before you know it.