Not too long ago Haley took Zeke to a nearby church for the Touch-a-Truck event. He intended to touch more trucks than he did but he kept getting distracted.
Zeke loves art and there were some art projects available. He painted a gutter truck. He colored a picture of a truck.
He also got an icee which was almost as good as getting to do the art projects. Definitely a fabulous time for both of them.
For Mother’s Day Haley and Ani came over and watched the kids while Jamie and I went to eat at Wild, an Asian Barbecue and Hot Pot.
The food was so good and it was really fun cooking it in the little barbecue pit in the middle of our table. The food was so good, too!
Saturday night my mom, Ani, Haley, and I went to see Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. It was so good! They were pretty faithful to the book and the casting was excellent. The little girl who played Margaret was absolutely perfect. Definitely recommend this movie!
Last month I took my oldest two girls to the Sabrina Carpenter concert. I got the tickets for their birthdays (which were in February). I decided to get us the VIP sound check package mainly because I wanted them. I’m so glad I did. Sabrina sang two songs during the sound check and talked quite a bit which was quite fun.
After getting into place just a few rows back from the stage at 6:30, the opening act, Spill Tab, came out at 8 and performed for a half hour.
And then at 9 Sabrina began performing. She sang for an hour and a half straight. It was amazing. She is amazing. She was amazing the first time Ani and I saw her in 2016 when she was just 17. She’s even more amazing now at 23.
She performed most of the songs on Emails I Can’t Send and a handful of others. It was hot (outdoor venue at the end of March in south Texas) and we were packed in tight, but we screamed and sang and danced and had a wonderful time. Our feet were dying after four hours of standing on them but it was totally worth it. I will go see Sabrina Carpenter every time she performs in San Antonio. I just love her.
A couple weeks ago Nicholas got his very first pair of glasses. He’s moderately farsighted so he’s been very excited to see things clearly up close.
It was quite an adjustment wearing them but he’s pretty good about keeping them on now. He pushes them up on his head when he’s watching TV, though. He sees that better without the glasses.
He’s very happy to match his big sister Haley. Honestly, I’m not sure which of them is more excited that they both wear glasses now.
For Valentine’s Day Ani and Haley got me a little stuffed capybara (I love capybaras so much). Joel has claimed it and calls it his MommyBara.
Our newest oldest, our Dukling 0.5, our Haley Nicole, is 24 today!
We got the kids (plus Haley and Ani) annual passes to the zoo this year (my parents got passes too). They were on a great sale making them totally worth it.
We figure Haley, Ani, and my parents can take a kid or two at a time so it won’t always be all of us going together (which can be kind of crazy). I suspect Joel will be making a lot of zoo trips between now and when school lets out.
The last time we went to the zoo was while the kids were still in foster care after their good-bye visit with their bio mom. They were just 19 months to 5 years old then!
We used our new passes to the zoo on New Year’s Eve for the Zoo Lights celebration (no jackets even after dark… gotta love winter in Texas). Six kids in the dark in a place we’ve only been a couple times before is super nuts even with four adults and one marginally helpful teen.
They ran around, they danced, they climbed on the lions. They had so much fun. Even when it’s hard to take all of them places and we’re constantly counting to six just to be sure they are all where we expect them to be, it’s totally worth it to see happy their faces and making memories with them.
Honestly every month Owlcrate seems to get even better. The books and dust jackets are just amazing and the stuff included in the box are such high quality and useful things. I just love Owlcrate.
This month we got this hanging thing with three pouches to put stuff in. I kept that because I really like anything I can put other things in.
These paper these bookmarks were made of just felt really nice. Ani took them home because I have about a bazillion bookmarks already.
Of course I kept the luggage tag pin. I love my luggage tag pin collection. I also kept the metal straws because Ani and Haley already have bazillion metal straws. They are heart shaped which makes them extra fun.
Ani took home these salt and pepper shakers. They are getting a lot of use. Salt and pepper shakers are one of those things you don’t realize just how much you need them until you haven’t had them and get them.
This crescent moon shaped tea bag holder and tea bag for putting in loose tea is one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. Haley claimed that. She drinks a lot of tea so it’s perfect for her.
The book this month is The Poison Season by Mara Rutherford. As always it sounds really good. Check out the cover of the book. How gorgeous is that?
The inside of the dust jacket is absolutely gorgeous, too. (You’d think Nicky is looking at the dust jacket, but he’s actually looking at Haley who is by far his favorite sibling.)
Mayci spent Sunday night with her big sisters so they packed her lunch for Monday. We ran out of time Wednesday night to pack everyone’s lunch for Thursday so Zeke, Mayci, and Anthony bought lunch (Zeke had actually asked to be able to buy lunch Thursday so he was very happy with being told to get a tray). Nicholas asked us to please pack him a lunch since he much prefers packed lunch to buying lunch.
Smaller on the Outside 