I'm surrounded by monkeys.

Yesterday we took the kids to the Oklahoma City Zoo. The kids were out of school for President's Day and the hubby had the day off as well, so we decided it'd be a fun outing. Our apartment gets small when the 5 of us are sitting around with nothing to do. We found out from a friend that the zoo was offering free admission on Mondays in February, so that sealed the deal for me. Even with it being cold and windy. Passing up a free zoo day was NOT something that I could swallow...I do have Dutch blood running through my veins you know. We are a thrifty people.

Anyway, we didn't spend a ton of time there because of the cold...the animals weren't very active either. But I did get some great pics of the kids.

And this one is by far my favorite.

Enjoy it while it lasts!

Last week I was sitting in my house shivering as I looked out the window in disgust. For the second week in a row the kids had more than one day of school cancelled due to snow (6 snow days in 2 weeks people!!) and I was at the end of my quickly fraying rope.

But this week?

This week has been lovely. Well, except for the "breezy" 30+ mph wind we have everyday. But gale force winds aside, the weather has been almost perfect. Two days this week we got up to 80. I was in heaven! Today was a little cooler, and the ever-present wind made it feel more chilly than it should have, but we decided to celebrate the sun and above-freezing temps by meeting the hubby for a picnic at the park since the boys were out of school.

Again. This time it's for teacher in-service day or something. (I'm seriously beginning to wonder if Oklahoma schools EVER have a full 5 day school week!)

The kids had a blast getting outside, and this park- despite being sandwiched between the interstate and one of the main roads outside the base-was alot of fun.

The kids said it was the best picnic they'd ever been on. Looks like we'll be frequent guests there....as long as the weather allows.

Snow.

They're calling it the Blizzard of 2011. My hubby (who was born & raised in the Adirondack Mountains of upsate New York) begs to differ.

All I know is that there's about a foot of snow, the wind is whipping like crazy, the high is 16* and the windchill is -15. For this Southern girl, the term "blizzard" sounds about right.

Disney Pictures. Better late than never.

Here are the super late (I'm talking over a month folks) pictures from our Disney trip the day after Christmas.

Happy Halloween, Shearer style.

We started our morning with orange colored pancakes that we decorated as "jack-o-lanterns" with chocolate chips. This one is the hubby's; apparently this is what you come up with when you're studying crime scene investigation at law enforement training. Gross, if you ask me. Then we went and bought some more pumpkins to carve. The ones from Noah's birthday party were a little yuck.After a super yummy dinner, we got the kids dressed and headed out for some Trick or Treating. Here's my pirate and my crippled shark.And the "Queen Bee" herself. Apparently she felt that her stroller was her chariot and I was her horse and footman. She was quite demanding about where I should stop the stroller and how long to wait for her to get back in.Trick or Treat! With daddy, who was dressed as a blind hockey ref. He got lots of laughs with that one!

The kids had a blast and were so happy that their daddy got to stay later this Sunday than normal. They got TONS of candy, too. Noah counted his and had 167 pieces. Jonah counted his up to 208. I told people earlier in the week that I guaranteed the sling would get Jonah "sympathy candy"...sure enough he did. I should've bet money!

Fun at the Fair

Over the weekend we went to the Coastal Carolina Fair. We spent a few hours there and it would've been longer if we had more money!We played a ton of games. (sorry..there are no games of pictures because both the hubby & I had to help...I helped Sophia and he helped Mr. One-arm.)

The kids really enjoyed the 4H Animal tent. The cows, chickens, horses, and pigs were a hit with my munchkins!I would NOT want to be a momma pig. I thought nursing one baby at a time was bad enough...this poor lady has 6 piglets going at it at once! And lemme tell you-they were NOT gentle!

Our family also was taped & interviewed for CBS Channel 5 news in Charleston! They did a piece on the cost of the fair for a family. Me & my goofy self was shown answering questions on the 11pm news on Saturday, 30 Oct. I'm famous! (Haha!)

The kids really enjoyed themselves, despite not going on any rides. Jonah wasn't able to ride anything with his arm in a sling, so we just decided to nix rides for everyone to keep it fair. The each ended up winning at least one game- Sophia won the first game and told everyone that it was the highlight of her day.

I hope that Oklahoma City has some good fairs...the kids really got their feet wet with this one and can't wait to go to more!

A Halloween Birthday Party

Last week Friday my firstborn turned nine. NINE. How is that even possible?! Anyway, he decided on a Halloween themed party and everyone came in costume. Here are my personal favorites: a shark, pirate, and bumblebee.

We had an eyeball race (think an 'egg & spoon race', only using eyeball painted ping pong balls)

...bobbed for apples And each family got to carve a pumpkin!

The hubby got home from training just in time for presents, cupcakes and the pinata.

It was definitely one of the most fun parties we've had!

Sun & Sand.

I've got my toes in the water, toes in the sand.

Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand.

Life is good today....

Life is good today.

-Zac Brown Band

(Okay, I didn't have a beer in my hand, but I did have a cold Dr. Pepper!)

You've got some cotton candy on your face.

We went to the Charleston Riverdogs baseball game the other night (hooray for Military Appreciation Night and free tickets!!), and we splurged a whopping $3 and let the kids split a bag of cotton candy.

It may not look like it by her expression, but Sophia really loved eating spun sugar!

Sunny Sunday Afternoon

Today was a perfect day for playing in the sprinklers,

...falling,

...and mud monsters.

I have to say, she's the cutest mud monster I've ever seen. But then again, I'm probably biased.

Ice Time

Tonight was my little monkey's first time ice skating. And yes, those are tiny hockey skates. She loves them and to say she was very upset when she had to take them off would be an understatement.

A Week in the Adirondacks. Part Six.

Fourth of July was a very bittersweet day for us. It was wonderful because we added another family member by way of a marriage proposal (Nick & Justine we love you!) and had a fun day with family. But it was sad becuase it was our last day in Indian Lake, and none of us wanted to leave in the morning.
The town of Indian Lake had a fishing derby in the morning, and the boys participated. Even though they didn't catch anything, they had a really good time hanging out with their cousins and aunts. And they even won brand new fishing poles from the raffle!
Here's Sophia and one of her new favorite people, "An Day-bee".

Fishing Derby time!

Hubby's niece Jennie and Sophia were inseperable most of the day ;)

Jonah in the casting contest.

For lunch we had hamburgers and hotdogs. Sophia decided that she wanted the bun from the hamburger, and just the hot dog. She'd take a bite out of the bun, wash it down with some diet root beer, and then take a bite out of the weenie. It was pretty funny. (And yes, it was just a bit windy.)

After the derby we hung out with all of the family, had some delicious food for dinner, watched fireworks, and had a fire. It was a great way to spend our last night in New York. We can't wait to go back again!