So Many Pictures of the Zoo, You Will Feel Like You Are Right There with Us!

So much birthday celebration going on!! I love birthday season for our family, with all eight nieces and nephews being born between the end of December and the end of March. This weekend, my youngest nephew Will's birthday party was at the Fort Worth Zoo. The weather was perfection. We had a blast!

Oliver peeking at a meercat.

Gigi, Oliver and Nosy check out some deer-like creatures.

Clayton loved the elephants. Too bad this one just would not turn around!

Papa helps O stay balanced atop this pillar.

There's the Birthday Boy, with the best seat in town!

O kept us heading in the right direction.

Noah could see everything from his lofty perch.

When did Owen start to look six? Seriously.

A few of my favorite monkeys.

Every single trip to the zoo, Jeremy takes a picture of this same mountain goat.

Feeding the birds. This was the best $1 spent, for sure!

In fact, feeding the birds was O's absolute favorite part of the whole day!

He eventually was brave enough to do it on his own, although right after I snapped this photo, the bird fluttered its wings a bit. O got so flustered that he dropped the stick. The bird flew away to safety.

My favorite picture of the day.

Maddie, Mia, O and Clayton

The Birthday Guy again. Check out the amazingly cute monkey cupcakes Julianne made.

Owie sure enjoyed his!

Mia takes such gentle care of Noah.

Will needs to make a phone call.

Mia looks as if she is just waiting for her prince to come whisk her away!

Ally and Oliver in the stagecoach

Will, you are such a special Guy to all of us! We love you! Happy, happy birthday. And thanks for a fun-filled day!

Upon Our Bulletin Board

I feel so much better about not keeping every piece of creative artwork my Boys make when I at least post pictures of their projects. That way, I can still look back at all the wonderful things they made without cluttering up my house! So here are a few masterpieces we have made in school lately:

We studied orderliness last week and thought of just a few of the many ways God brings order to our lives. One thing we thought of was how God orders our years by giving us months and seasons. We listed all the seasons and glued pictures of things we think of that go along with each season.

Next, we studied being servant-hearted, focusing on Galatians 5:13 "Serve one another in love." Talk about a HUGE concept to impress upon little people! We made tool belts for the Boys to wear, symbolizing that they were well-equipped to serve others with their God-given gifts. Not only were these fun to make, but they were such a fashion statement!

Another really fun project involved a very tickel-y process! We painted each other's feet and carefully made footprints on butcher paper. The making of the picture was a lot of fun, but the real lesson came afterwards when we took turns washing each other's feet in a tub of warm, soapy water. We talked about how Jesus, the ultimate Servant, humbled Himself and washed the feet of His disciples.

We have such a wonderful time in school, learning about God and His creation and about how He desires each of us to live. The projects we do are a lot of fun, but I pray that my Boys are beginning to grasp some of the character concepts that are behind the art work. I see many more days ahead, learning these same concepts on ever deeper levels.

Pet Rock Experiment

Auntie LouLou gifted O with a crystal growing kit for his birthday. We could hardly wait to try it out! When we opened the kit, out fell a teeny tiny pair of blue safety goggles. When O saw them, he rushed to the play room yelling, "I need to find my work hat for this 'periment!"

I do believe I see just a bit of mad scientist in that Boy! Can you see it?

We gathered up all the random supplies called for (plastic bucket, 4 unsharpened pencils, white glue...all of which were listed in the supplies list; none of which we actually used) and got to work.

The kit also contained a magnifying glass. We have had so much fun closely inspecting things around the house!

We did so much mixing, boiling, dissolving, combining, magnifying...What was O's favorite part? Smashing the large rocks provided in the kit into smaller pieces for the crystals to grow on. That's what made the headlines when recapping to Daddy (which is the true test of what was special about the day!).

Experimenter O examining our crystal-growing tubs for any sign of a teensy crystal making its appearance. It has been a couple of days now with nary a crystal in sight. It makes me wonder if maybe we did need the bucket, pencils and glue for some crucial step we overlooked. We'll give our baby crystals a little more time and then re-evaluate.

And just because I want to record what O's writing looks like at 4 years old, here is his thank you note to Kyle and LouLou for the gift.

Let's Party!

When we talked to Owen about what kind of birthday celebration a brand new four year old would love, this was his response:

"A real life bowling party...with a bowling ball! And all my friends!"

We did our best to make his dreams come true.

Let me just preface with this statement:

I have never taken worse pictures than I did this night. The lighting was funky, and although I had my camera around my neck the entire night and took zillions of photos, almost all of them were terrible. Many thanks to some awesome friends who lent me their photos. If there is not a good snapshot of your child, I apologize. I do have pictures of him/her, just blurry, dark ones...

Got to love Main Event!

Calyton, Oliver and O are ready to bowl!

Everyone wants to start!

Codys and McCrackens catch up.

Nosy finally succumbed to wearing the dreaded bowling shoes so he could play too.

Wonderful Chrys and Truett

I LOVE this picture of Jeremy and O!

Will waits for his turn.

Oliver has the hang of it now!

O got a kick out of the black light.

Happy Birthday O!

Blow, Owie! A true friend lends his air when blowing out the candles. Thanks Preston!

Suzanne, Erica and Julianne appease me by posing.

While O was being sung to (Oh, how that Boy glowed when being sung to!), he stuck his chin in the cake icing. Little Brother came right over to help scrape the icing off O's chin and feed it to him. Yummy!

He couldn't be more thrilled!

The Amezcua Girls

Enjoying every last bite.

Can you tell O wanted chocolate cake this year? Telltale crumbs were everywhere! One of the blessings of holding the party somewhere other than the House of Halpin? No clean-up!!

Hayden and Evan

Opening gifts

I shouldn't have been surprised when DeAnn's clan showed up dressed just like the Birthday Boy. Not only do we think alike, we shop together! What a cute camo crew!

Riding rides in the arcade.

Owie, I hope your birthday party was just what you wanted. I enjoyed nothing more than watching you enjoy your party. Love you, Son.