Circle G Ranch

A year ago (I think) my sister posted facebook pictures of this place in Strawberry Plains she and her family visited called The Circle G Ranch. Basically you got up close and personal with the some animals, and feed them and she was on this huge jeep looking vehicle. The animals are fenced in, but roam free as they choose. A few months later I saw a groupon for it and bought one. Then a friend of mine, went to the same place-and drove through in her minivan. I laughed so hard at her pictures I was crying. Animals faces/heads/most of their bodies were in her car as her family was feeding them-her two year old was freaking out, etc. And I knew we must go, and then it was winter, and then my groupon was about to expire-so I called one of my brave adventurous friends and she and her sweet daughter (who also happened to be a buddy of Reese's) came along too.  Let me apologize ahead of time for the lack of pictures, because-well, it's hard to drive, comfort your children, not run over animals, and take pictures all at once-all the while animals faces are inches from yours wanting a snack.

It started out innocent enough-we got our little buckets of food and were given the instructions-"stay in your vehicle at all times, if the animals get too intense-throw the food away from your car, don't hand feed certain ones with large teeth, drive really slow, etc. We nodded and smiled-and off we went.

It started out innocently enough, saw different species of deer who ran along side our car, pigs looking like there were about to pop because they were so pregnant their bellies literally dragged the ground...

We went on and didn't see many animals, and then came along this black llama. Llamas.....cute, not aggressive-but very persistant/stalker-ish. I am not afraid of llamas, however, it is a bit intense when their faces are in your car, inches from yours and you have to roll up your windows a bit because of "personal spaces issues" and then they proceed with face in your window as the run along side you at the 3 miles an hour speed limit. I was laughing and screaming at my friend Alex to throw the food!! So I am driving, laughing and dodging these HUGE pellets of food that Alex was throwing across my face and out the window to get the llama away. (Please note that I am sacrificing my personal humiliation of this 8-chinned-because-of-nervous-laughing picture so that the story will make sense).

We think we are clear of the llama and go down and hill and see this......

It was as if all the animals stopped in their tracks as our vehicle started toward them. They only stopped for a sec and started charging my car! We were surrounded! Alex started taking video of "when animals attack", we were laughing and screaming and trying to control windows, she was aiming her phone at every window. Did I mention that these animals are wickedly smart? And that one animal with stand in front of your car so you can't go forward while the others are sticking their heads in your windows? Alex and I are hysterically laughing, Reese is throwing food and hitting the animals in the face (not on purpose mind you, just because he's got a good arm and their heads were inside his window) Alex's daughter was screaming "I don't like this anymore!!" and Abram was screaming, "They love us Mom! They really love us!"  These were the only pictures I took because of much multi tasking that was going on at the moment....

......unfortunately, we lost the video. This was a very sad moment-because not only would it have been hilarious, I feel sure we could have entered it in any contest and won a trip to Disney or something.

Abram LOVES him some zebras and was bummed he didn't get to pet them during the "safari" so we took the rest of our food to the entrance of the "drive thru" and it was perfect timing because a couple of the zebras (including a baby) came along about that time and Abram and Reese got to feed them, while Alex and her daughter were being stalked by the super preggo piggies.

And a random emu....these birds freak me out, I'm not going to lie.

Afterwards we went to the "petting zoo" area and Abram had a little breakdown over the 6 roosters all crowing (he is not a fan of roosters, or they loud sounds they make that echo in a barn). We saw sheep, lambs, piglets, wallabies, and the biggest camels I have seen in my life. So my oldest that had just been crying over a roosters crow-says to me "Can I pet a camel?" I said "Sure, but we don't have any food left. You can see if it will just let you pet him." After a couple tries, you better believe that camel kept on until Abram pet him. It was so sweet and he was so brave and excited.

It was a perfect day and I had a headache from laughing so hard. We will definitely be making this trip again.

Getting Crafty

I am so excited about Spring, I decided I needed to make a wreath.
Styrofoam circle + yarn + felt + glue gun + ribbon=Cute Spring Wreath.

Their Father's Children

First of all, let me say beforehand, that this post will be too much information. For sensitive viewers-please disregard this post and continue on with your day. This post is for memories, and potential blackmail if needed in the future.

Yesterday at church Kris and I were "interviewed" by one of the people who work with Abram in primary. They do something called "Spotlight" which the kids love, and the give out clues about the child-and the kids get to guess who they are talking about. So we were telling her Abram's favorite color, etc. One of the questions was about his personality traits-after we listed a few, she asked which he got from which parent. We answered as best we could and that was it. That night, Kris and I were talking about it when this event took place.

We put the kiddos to bed and had the monitor on downstairs. The kids were chatting away like they normally do, before they go to bed. All of the sudden they were HYSTERICALLY laughing, as in-uncontrollably. Kris and I looked at each other and started laughing, I said, "We should probably go see what that's all about." Kris replied, "They're fine." So we continued to listen to them laugh until we hear Reese yell, "DAAAADDY!! I NEED TO GO POTTY REAL BAD!! I THINK I HAD AN ACCIDENT!!" Kris and I look at each other and Kris goes upstairs.

Let me just interupt this story by saying how much I love baby monitors, so that I can overhear conversations like these.

All I could hear was Kris. His voice was shaking as he was trying to be serious...
Kris: "You were having a tooting contest to make each other laugh?" (His voice starts cracking, still trying to be serious.) Guys, that's not a good idea-because when you do that........accidents can happen."

A few minutes later, after helping Reese get cleaned up-he came downstairs. His face was red and he had a huge grin on his face and started laughing.

I simply said, "Uh yah-wonder where they get that trait from...."

We Are Okay, Really.....

I have been feeling unmotivated about blogging-sad, but true. It seems like we have been sooo busy lately and at the end of the day I would rather let my brain turn to mush in front of the TV than open up the computer to log it all.  My kids are growing at an alarming rate-seriously-jeans that I bought a couple months ago are quickly turning into capris. My "baby" will be turning three next month and my oldest will be (sniff, sniff) starting Kindergarten after this Summer. The weather has been amazing and we ventured out with some friends to the zoo.

Reese a.k.a. the "Elephant Whisperer", no joke-this kid LOVES elephants. Both were facing us with their "best sides" until Reese started yelling for them. "Hi Elephants! I love you!" and one turned around and started walking towards us....

We took a quick engagement picture, 20 years ahead of time...(half joking, they are good buddies).

Went for a drive, and pretended to be the Wild Kratt brothers.....

Later on we went to see the gorillas. I have never seen one come up to this window before, and it was the sweetest (scariest) thing. Reese went up to the window and looked over the gorilla's shoulder and yelled "Peek-a-boo!" and he looked, then he did the other shoulder, and the gorilla looked!! It happened three times, and I missed it each time with my camera-I should have got in on video!!

The pictures do no justice to how massive he was.  The kids weren't impressed, I however, couldn't stop staring.

How to Properly Use a Pinwheel

Valentine's Day

It was Abram's first Valentine's Day this year-where he actually passed out Valentines (sigh). I decided to go for the creative factor and go copy cat style. I was laughing to myself as I helped him with these, thinking about how dramatic and stressful it was to pick out the perfect Valentine to give to each classmate, especially the boys.  You didn't want certain boys to get the wrong idea that you were in love with them, etc. Not knowing the whole time that boys only care about the candy and don't even read the valentine.

 I wanted to find something "boy friendly", so I went HERE and printed them out. And then we decided his friends should get huge bouncy balls and loaded up quarters in our pockets and went to the Old Navy bouncy ball machine. It was at that moment I realized that my kids had never done that before. I remember getting jelly bracelets and charms for my charm necklace out of those things nearly everytime I went to the grocery store-a long, long, time ago. You should have seen their faces-oh the magic a quarter can bring. And there are only 10 kids in his preschool class, which made the deal sweeter. Abram's teachers gave us a print out of the kids names so they could cut out names and tape them on the Valentines, then match them to their bag.

Supplies Needed:

Apparently they were quite the hit with 4 and 5 year olds.

It's a Small, Small World

So I had heard Extreme Home Makeover was coming to Knoxville. Awesome, and I went online to find out who the family was, etc. AND I HAVE MET THE MOTHER!! Picture this, I am at the zoo with the boys and this was a little over a year ago or so. We are at the playground and Abram makes it up to the very top and starts FREAKING OUT and won't come down the slide. Inside I start to panic. Do I go up the slide and leave Reese? So I ask a kid to help him, to the kid's credit, he REALLY tries, but Abram isn't having it. It was funny because the kid's mom yells, "Atley, just grab his hand and go with him down the slide!" The kid yells back, "Mom, I tried! He's too strong!!!" So I look at Reese, and say "Reese, you are going to have to come up that slide with me." And Reese did not agree. I tried to carry him, but then Reese starts screaming and bucking up and down.  There was no way I could make it up with him. I think Reese was barely walking at the time. So I was calculating in my mind, if I strapped him in the stroller and went up as fast as I could, would someone have time to take Reese......Abram was hysterical, Reese was crying, and this lady offered to hold Reese-but one-she was a stranger and two she had her own baby. So I asked her to watch Reese while I went up. I parked the stroller next to the bottom of the slide and as fast as I could I ran/crawled up the slide. Can I just say that the twisty slide was probably a half a mile long at least it seemed that way. I get up there, grab Abram and slide down as fast as I can. I was sweating, embarrassed, and relieved. I thanked the lady and there was some clapping and calling me "Supermom" from the small crowd of mothers that had gathered for real, they were not there when this started. I hung my head, a little humiliated, and told the boys we were leaving. Looks like I trusted the right lady-here she is getting a brand new house. It's a small world afterall. See her here.