Can you believe it? I actually got the shot I wanted to get yesterday. See....her tongue is hanging out! How cool is that? The zoo has this new giraffe section that allows you to go in and feed the giraffe. How awesome is that? My son was soooo excited. He was screaming "Look a giraffe, a giraffe!" and then he was saying "I love your birthday mom!" It was really funny because their was a HUGE sign saying "shhhh, please be quiet while the giraffes are on exhibit."



I know this doesn't look like much, but this is Samson--the baby elephant. He's only on display for a few hours a day and even though he was already in the back with his mama, he came out to say hello.









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Today is my birthday and I'm going to visit this polar bear.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I. Love. The. Zoo! When we lived in Ohio we were members of the Toledo Zoo and we went there multiple times a week. I miss it.


Now the Maryland Zoo of Baltimore is the closest Zoo to me and it really isn't all that close. So today we are off on an adventure. Cross your fingers that I don't get lost. Seriously. I hate being lost. Especially in Baltimore.

A child needs a grandparent to grow a little more securely into an unfamiliar world. ~Charles and Ann Morse

What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life. And, most importantly, cookies. ~Rudolph Giuliani

There is no grandfather who doesn't adore his grandson. - Victor Hugo

I love this photo because even though my father-in-law is somewhat afraid to go into the pool he is willing to sit there, facing his fear, with his grandson.

The things we will do for the ones that we love.

Happy Wordful Wednesday. To read more posts click on Angie's button below.

My son has decided a few things over the last two weeks. These include:

~ The dark is a very scary, unpredictable thing.

~ Fire is terrifying and happens to houses when people are sleeping.

~ Sleeping alone is the scariest thing anyone could ever ask you to do.

~ If someone agrees to lay down with you, cling to them so they can not escape when you fall asleep.

Today's tribute is all about sleep. Glorious, undisturbed sleep. I miss you and I long to have you visit again.

I am so tired.

I feel like I cannot function today and I need to clean up this house and take the kids to swim lessons. I don't want to.

I want to go back to bed.

Sleeping with my son is like sleeping with an octopus. He never stops moving and always has parts of his body flinging towards yours.

I can't seem to reason with him about these fears of his.

About a month ago, he saw a barn fire and now he is convinced that our house is going to burn down. If you listen to him long enough, his argument is so convincing and so sincere, that it cause you to check the smoke alarms.

Through tears, he says things like, "It's too scarwee to sleep by myself, mommy. Sleeping with you or daddy is better cause all the scarwees disappear."

"How do the firemen know how to get to our house?"

"What if the fire alarm doesn't wake everyone up?"

"Are you scarwed of smoke?"

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I'm literally running on empty and starting to develop a fear of fire too.


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Our friends from Ohio came to visit for a night on their way to Connecticut. It was so great to see them. It has been too long. We went to the park and took the kids bike riding. That was fun, but sooo hot. It finally felt like July



Here's oldest sporting her new ride from her birthday in February. She is still a little nervous about these big new wheels. Once she forgets about the fact that she is riding her new bike she is fine, but still a little wobbly.



Here's little G on the playground. He, too, was riding his bike, but since he is the only one with training wheels he can't keep up and this makes him highly irritated. I think it may be time for him to try a little two wheelin'..

First I want to apologize for how late I posted this. I'm sure all my Eastern Time Zone buddies are long past looking at blogs for the night....okay, not long past. Maybe this is prime time blogging time for the weekend. Who knows. I'm rambling.





I'm posting pictures from 2007 when my kids and a bunch of my friends and their kids all went strawberry pickin'. MMMMMMMmmmmmm.....I like me some strawberries.


The paper is black cardstock and then I cut the pictures out to make a border. I found the strawberry paper at Michaels but I can't remember who made it. I'm terrible, I know. That was cut in one inch strips to make the inner border.




Thanks for stopping by today. Let me know if you made anything this week. I'd love to check it out.

The kids were told to pick the ripe veggies from our garden and they were very excited to show me the two cucumbers they found yesterday. Then apparently they detoured to the bathroom and left the cukes on the sink.

It made me laugh out loud so I had to share the picture.

1. The Dentist: It is no big secret that I'm not a big fan of the dentist. I have had my share of dental work (including three root canals) and visiting him generally puts me into a funk. But this particular visit on Monday was for a filing (my first in 4 years) and the tooth he was filing wasn't bothering me at all. Therefore, I was of the mindset that if it doesn't hurt I shouldn't let him mess with it. But alas, I didn't follow my gut on that and now my tooth is sensitive, annoyed and generally pissed off, sort of like the rest of me.
2. My kids. Don't get me wrong, I love those little buggers, but this week they have been pushing all of my buttons. I can remember holding those sweet little infants and I never once pictured them spitting on each other, screaming I hate you, or destroying the house. I think we may have reached our summer "fun" limit.
3. My husband. He seems to be in a bad mood this week, too. Maybe my funk and his funk are creating a superfunk. Kind of like a supergerm only worse because you can't just spray Lysol and kill it. Or maybe it is all just a figment of my funk filled mind.
4. My house. It is a mess and we are expecting a houseful this weekend. Friends of ours are visiting from Ohio and my in-laws are coming for the day on Saturday. I think I need a Redbull if I'm going to tackle this monster. Of course, it doesn't help that no one can go outside right now and play while I clean because they are currently working on the roof and siding damage we experience from the holy hail storm we experienced in March.
5. My dog. He is barking at every bang, bump and movement. I realize that he is a dog and that expaning roof/siding work to him is pointless, but damn it is getting old. Anyone have a fenced in yard I can lock him in until they are done raining mine with siding, shingles and nails??? Warning: He is part goat and recently ate my neighbors swimming pool. You may want to move your patio furniture.

Here's hoping my funk dissipates along with this cloudy, chilly, just plain yucky weather. My birthday is next week and I want to be in a better mood.

P.S. Don't forget to enter my adhesive giveaway and to tell all your friends about it.

P.S.S. Come back tomorrow and share something you made this week for Let's Get Crafty Saturday.

Today Mama Kat's writer's workshop asks if you had the time and money...what charity would you help raise awareness for? This is not a difficult question for me. In fact, it's very easy.

It is estimated that more than 3 million American children may have type 1 diabetes.

Every year more than 15,000 are diagnosed with diabetes in the U.S.

That means 40 children and the lives of their families will dramatically change today.

Signs to watch for include: extreme thirst, frequent urination, drowsiness or lethargy, increased appetite, sudden weight loss for no reason, sudden vision changes, sugar in urine, fruity odor on breath, heavy or labored breathing, stupor or unconsciousness.

These symptoms, most likely, will occur suddenly.

Find out how you can get involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation by clicking here.

I recently finished reading 3 Willows by Ann Brashares. She is the author of the bestselling series The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I saw someone reading this book at the YMCA during my kids swim lessons.

I must confess the line The Sisterhood Grows under the title kind of scared me. I didn't want to read a want-a-be sisterhood book.

Though it started slow, the book really picked up for me once I figured out which character's voice was speaking. The three girls in the book, Jo, Polly and Ama, are entering 9th grade and the book takes place the summer before.

They have grown apart in their friendships and long to fill the gap this has created in their lives.

The title comes from the fact that in 3rd grade the girls planted three willow trees side by side. Each chapter starts with a random fact about willows, which I soon found fascinating.

The author cleverly intersperses secondary characters from the sisterhood books throughout this one.

For example, Polly babysits for Tibby's younger brother and sister and runs into Brian, Tibby's boyfriend. Jo works at the beach at a restaurant with a beautiful waitress named Effie, Lena's sister.

I found the whole idea of these random connections so fascinating and completely maddening to write about. However, because they are only secondary connections, one need not read the first series to understand 3 Willows.

The book was a good read that made me want to call some friends I hadn't talked to in a while.

What are you reading?

Today is Tuesday's Tribute. What is it? Well, I'll tell you what it is NOT... It's Not About YOU. It's about SOMEONE ELSE. It's our chance, each of us, to shine our light on someone else.

Huh? Whaddya mean?

We each spend a lot of time talking about ourselves and our lives, but we are also fairly GIVING people too...Tuesday's Tribute is a chance to talk about OTHER people, OTHER blogs, OTHER lives.

Now's your chance to shine your light on someone or something else.

Click on the button below to read more posts or to play along.





Today's post is all about my dear friend, Jean. She puts up with my many quirks and she always makes me laugh.

She will not get mad at me because I posted this picture. Besides, I think she looks good in it.

She comes with me on my bi-annual scrapbook beach trips and she doesn't like to scrapbook. Often times, she gets recruited to cut stuff from the cricut for all the other scrappers. She likes to help us out.

This weekend was jammed packed with activity. We met up with hubby parents to ride a steam engine train. The kids were impressed, but kind of freaked out by how loud the whistle was.






Here's the gang in the car we rode in. It was nice to see them and it was about half the drive for them and half the drive for us. We met for lunch, which was sort of funny, because there weren't any "real" restaurants there. We ended up eating out of a teeny, tiny concession type stand no bigger than the bed of a pickup truck.

I had cheese fries. I will admit to you that I'm not about eat any type of meat out of the back of a truck.




Also on the train, was a large group of Amish. Apparently my middle daughter has never seen them this close up before, which is funny to me because we live in what is considered Amish Country.

She says, quite loudly, "Why are those people wearing costumes?"

I couldn't help but chuckle.



The kids and I and our friends went on a hike to find one of the letterboxes we were looking for for our library summer reading club.

It was hot and I was irritable. I wish I would have been more happy go lucky on the hike. Next time will be better.

"I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got."

"I think it is absolutely essential in a democracy to have competition in the media, a lot of competition, and we seem to be moving away from that. "

"In seeking truth, you have to get both sides of the story."

"There is no such thing as a little freedom. Either you are all free, or you are not free."

"America's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system."

For this weekend's Let's Get Crafty post I'm showing off some birth announcements I'm working on.

Of course, everything is last minute in my house and the baby shower is tomorrow. Hopefully the entire set will be complete.