Boo at the Zoo

Our local zoo has a trick or treat day where everybody gets dressed up, wanders  around the zoo and gets candy. It was pretty fun. We met my friend Denise and her son, Brady. Of course, I was the only mommy to actually dress up with my kid. Kind of embarrassing, but we did get big kudos from all  the zoo employees. For those of you far removed from children's books, we are Curious George (and Georgette) and the Man in the Yellow Hat. Yes, my hat was big. These costumes will be making another appearance this weekend, so I'll get better pics of the kids.

What about Merli?!

So it seems that Merli has been neglected on the blog and so here's a pic of her doing yoga. In my defense, she doesn't do a whole lot yet. Just kind of sits around smiling at everybody and watching her big brother. Oh yeah, she eats too. ALL THE TIME and with gusto! She'd make any Italian grandmother proud.

I do have video of her to post, but for some reason the "add video" button isn't showing up on my toolbar. I'll wait and try to add it again tomorrow. Sorry!

Hank and his new shoes

These are Hank's new shoes, which he picked out entirely on his own. He calls them his Fast Shoes and he insists that they make him go Fast. And, of course, Hank likes anything that goes fast.

And, here is a picture of a building that Hank built entirely on his own. He loves his Lincoln Logs and I do believe that this was his best work yet!

The Teddy Bear Parade

Teddy Bear Parade Prep

So yesterday was the Teddy Bear Parade at Hank's school and let me tell you, this was no rookie parade. Each kid was required to build a float that they could push or pull by themselves and it had to in some way honor their favorite teddy bear. This was also my first assignment as a mommy and I was not going to let Hank down.

So we sat down early in the week and brainstormed float ideas. Of course, there was no question about which bear to use. The obvious choice was Big Bear. Hank got Big Bear from Uncle Bubba and Big Bear is, well, big.

That decision aside, we moved on to the important task of the actual float. There is absolutely no shortage of rolling equipment in our backyard, but most of the equipment involves steering, so we settled on Hank's wheelbarrow, which he got from his Grandpa Paul. Hank loves his wheelbarrow and is good at maneuvering the wheelbarrow around with his tools and equipment, so I figured he could maneuver it around the parade route.

Finally, we had to come up with a theme. I threw a couple of ideas out at Hank and we agreed on a pumpkin and fall theme.

So here's how you build a float for the Teddy Bear parade:

Step 1: Get your wheelbarrow.

Step 2: Surround it with streamer bunting.

Step 3: Get the Guest of Honor

Step 4: Dress the Guest of Honor as a pumpkin. Yes I knitted the pumpkin hat. You can call me Martha now.

Step 5: Add a frame made out of PVC to prop Big Bear up and keep him in the wheelbarrow. Yes, this involved a trip to Lowe's, measuring and sawing the PVC, gluing the frame together and then duck taping the frame into the wheelbarrow, because we all know that no project is complete without duck tape. (Thank you Dad for that lesson).

Step 6: Have a big fight with your 3 year old as we're walking out the door the morning of the parade because he suddenly decides he doesn't like pumpkins, finally give in and go with a football theme. Yes, the beautiful pumpkin hat that I knitted was a complete waste....

Parade Day


So the parade was hysterical. Here's the line up  before the parade. Notice the creepy twins to Hank's right. They ALWAYS dress the exact same and I've never seen them in anything but smocked dresses with matching bows, socks, and shoes. These girls have a LOT of shoes.

You should be able to pick out Big Bear. If you are unable to do that, then you seriously need to go get your eyes checked.

So finally, the parade begins and they're off. (The parade route was a loop around the playground).

Well, we ran into trouble immediately and I realized I made a tactical error. You see, Hank did fine maneuvering Big Bear around the backyard. What I hadn't anticipated were the 200 screaming parents taking pictures, yelling at the kids, and cheering. It was all just too much of a distraction and Hank couldn't concentrate on his route. So Big Bear didn't even make it around once. Hank took out the cowboy float, the Miss Teddy Bear Parade float (yes, some mother really made a Miss Teddy Bear Parade float), and finally dumped Big Bear out onto one of the 8 LSU football floats. It was chaos. Stuffed animals, streamers, and screaming 3 year olds everywhere. Here are a few pics of the carnage (of course, I continued to take pics):

Finally, Big Bear was removed from the parade and Hank walked the parade route with his teacher, Miss Mickie.

Hank wasn't too upset. here are a few more parade pics:

All things considered, the parade was still a big hit. The kids had fun, the teddy bears had fun and the parents loved it all. When we got home that afternoon, Hank disappeared into his room for a few moments and came out with a very small teddy bear. He held it up to me and said, "Mommy, next Teddy Bear Parade, we'll use this teddy bear." I wholeheartedly agreed.

Hank's Pick Up Tricycle

Aunt Cynthia and Uncle John sent Hank a tricycle for his 2nd birthday last year. Well, Jason added a bed with tailgate to it and now Hank uses it to haul his tools all over the yard. Hauling tools is very important work!

Hank is a big boy now!

Hank often tells me that he's a big boy and that Merli is a baby. This is a big deal- the difference between babies and big boys. For instance, he explains in great detail that Merli can't eat real food because she doesn't have any teeth! Genius! However he does take very seriously his role as Sissy's big brother. Merli is not quite crawling, but she can roll wherever she wants to go. And she always wants to be near Hank, so whenever he's playing and she's hanging out on her blanket, she'll roll over to him and knock down his Lincoln Logs or his legos or his Thomas the Train or whatever he's working on and he isn't so happy about that! So I was explaining to him that Merli is growing up and getting bigger and would soon learn to crawl, walk and eat and would become a big girl. I also explained that since he's her big brother, he needed to take care of her and teach her things. Well, he took that all in and was thinking about it and then very seriously told me that when Sissy is big, he'll take her in a boat and teach her to catch a trout. I forgot to mention that Hank apparently is an expert at catching trout. He tells me constantly about how many trout he has caught. Hmmmmm.......

Anyway, Hank likes to dress himself these days and we have pretty big arguments about what he can and can't wear to school. (I don't think the AC/DC t-shirt- which he calls his ABCD shirt- is appropriate for Catholic school and he does). He very proudly came out to play yesterday after he put his pants on ALL BY HIMSELF. He couldn't understand why his pants kept falling down! Ha!

Hank and Merli's trip to Arizona!

So the Brown's were all over the place this past month. Jason spent a week fishing in Alaska with his folks and then hunting in eastern Oregon with his Dad, Uncle David, and buddy Lonnie. In the meantime, I took the kids to my parents for some fun in the sun...lots and lots of sun. I spent a week there with them and then I headed off to Cabo with my girlfriends. However, I don't think I was missed. Hank and Merli went swimming every day at G Nana and G Papa's pool and we discovered a wonderful park in Anthem that has a train and a water park that Hank really enjoyed. Hank also got up on a horse ALL BY HIMSELF and was only disappointed because my mom wouldn't let him go fast. Merli just sat around looking cute and smiling at everybody, which has become her MO. Here are some pics!