Babies at the Zoo

we went to the columbus zoo again today. i wanted a second chance to get pictures of the baby colobus monkey, but i didn't grab the batteries for my camera from the charger before i left! looks like there will be another visit to the zoo this coming week.

we also visited the goats and sheep. they're neat because you go into a yard with the animals. shelby really liked the animals. nathan showed her how to brush the goats, but they got a grouchy goat. whenever they tried to brush the goat, it would head-butt nathan. it was hysterical!

more pictures

look mommy, there's an airplane up in the sky

shelby and i were playing at academy park this evening while stephon and nathan were fishing. when we were getting ready to leave, shelby noticed an airplane for the first time! she was so amazed by it. she watched it for a long time and then tried to follow it. it was really cute :)

i didn't get a picture, but here are some good pictures from academy park a couple of days ago.

how did stephon and nathan do while fishing? well, thank goodness for chipotle's!

the columbus zoo

we went to the columbus zoo today :) shelby was into everything so i thought she would like to go play with the monkeys.

it was a beautiful day! one of the colobus monkeys had a baby last month and we got to see it. it was so cute!

shelby's fun to take to the zoo now because she watches the animals. if they are active she points to them and talks about them and reacts to them. it's pretty neat. nathan does all of that, too, but somehow it lost it's cuteness over the last 15 years.

he is such a good big brother, though. he pushes her around all over the zoo in her stroller when she's not walking, and holds her hand when she is, if she'll let him. i try to have her walk as much as possible so she'll be too worn out to get into things once we get home!

more pictures

today nathan went to taekwondo and hapkido after the zoo. shelby and i met terry at cord camera to work on our scrapbooks. i have been trying to finish this one page for the last three times i scrapped! i don't know what the problem is, but i just can't get it done. today i was distracted by a lot of chaos going on in our neighborhood.

apparently there was a shooting close by and the suspect ran and was caught just down the street last night. there were tons of cops and a helicopter overhead. today stephon and the neighbor discovered that the van parked out front for three days was stolen and we had the cops here for quite awhile today. they caught two of the three kids that stephon and chuck saw, hopefully things will calm down... or there may be another shooting!

mopar nationals and hotpants

we went to the mopar nationals today for nathan's birthday. the drag races are SO cool :) somehow i have pictures of several cars, one picture of nathan, and no pictures of anyone else who was there! go figure.

more pictures

i have to tell the funniest story of the day, which had little to do with the nats. last night i washed clothes for stephon and i to wear today. i got a bit behind over the last week or so, and one of the things i washed was stephon's underwear because he would have been out of them today. i was really tired so i figured i could just dry the load of clothes this morning before we had to leave. we woke up to no electricity!

while i accept responsibility for slacking on my laundry duties this last week, what happened next was not my idea. stephon thought he could dry his underwear on a pizza pan on top of the stove! he brought them in to me with a look on his face like he was going to choke me. he had caught his underwear on fire!

oh yes, he still wore them with two burn holes in them!

my new pet-name for stephon is hotpants :)

the grocery game

if you get a chance, check out the grocery game. i have been saving a ton of money on my groceries. tonight i saved 44% off of my grocery bill :)

inniswood metro gardens

shelby and i went for a walk at the park today. i did try to keep her out of the roses. well, i kept her out most of the time, but she looked so pretty running around in them!

more pictures

i started re-organizing nathan's room today. i gave him three days notice before he left, so whatever is not done has been left to my discretion!

july pictures

july 1	nathan and shelby in the secret garden at inniswood metro gardens
july 2	nathan is mowing the lawn these days
july 4	4th of july
july 6	stephon and shelby riding the tram and playing at sharon woods park
july 8	nathan and shelby at an energy program at inniswood metro gardens
july 20	westerflora tour
july 23	nathan and shelby at a caterpillar program and the playground at sharon woods park
july 26	nathan is buried for his birthday

shelby loves music

today i finally replaced the batteries in her music chair and turned it on for her. i handed her a book and she sat in the chair tapping her toes together with the music for quite awhile. quite awhile for a toddler is about 15 minutes, but hey... do you know what i can get done in 15 minutes!

more pictures

a visit from mom... and peanut butter

we did great on the garage sale! i was trashed and uncomfortable afterward, sick yesterday, but am feeling better today.

mom and nathan came home yesterday from the family reunion and spent the night before going to the ohio state fair today. they hung out awhile this morning to play with shelby. i'd like to believe they missed me just a little, too :)

nathan called from the fair. they saw the budweiser horses getting hooked up to the big wagon. they also competed in a nascar simulation. nathan came in 2nd and mom came in 6th. finally, they saw toby mac in concert! i spoke to nathan after the concert, boy was he excited :)

shelby and i hung out at home. we had peanut butter crackers for a snack... i couldn't believe she could get that much peanut butter on her. it was in her hair, her hands were covered, on her face and on her eye lashes. she went from the high chair to the bath.

more pictures

garage sale day one

we did very well today :) we had a nice steady flow of customers for our garage sale today. it was hot, but we stayed reasonably comfortable in the garage with the fan running.

nathan and aaron did great with shelby today. i always talk about how great nathan is with her, but aaron was absolutely wonderful today! he played catch with her, played with her on her new sit-and-spin that my mom brought her today, and even kept her out of the street for me. he's going to be a favorite uncle someday and an ornery dad, too ... whether he likes it or not, he is so much like his father!

nathan left me today :( it was great to see my mom for a little bit, but then they left. they are off too have a fun little vacation until next weekend. after i got home, gave shelby a bath, and put her to bed i was all alone! have i mentioned before that i think my babies should be home in their beds by evening.

i got to pick up terry's daughter, brittney, from her very first day of work. i felt important :)

man, i think the heat got to me today. i feel really sick this evening. don't tell my mom.