M is for...

Mommy! (ME) and monkeys...

I am sure I could come up with More...but these were the first "M" things to come to My Mind. :-)

Anyway, we took the girls to Tautphaus Park Zoo in Idaho Falls. It's not a real big place or anything. And they are missing some major animals compared to a large zoo but they still had quite a few neat things. They had a lot of birds...of all kinds. Emus, penguins, pelicans, swans, ducks, kookaburra, macaw, parrots, storks, and the list could on and on. They also had some wallabies(kangaroo-type things), a tiger, a lion and lioness, a frog exhibit, different kinds of primates, something fox-like from the canine family, humongous turtles, a yak, donkeys, chickens, goats, llamas, camels, red pandas, sea otters, and camels. I'm sure I am missing some things but basically what I am saying is it is a decent little zoo. They have a zebra but it was not out or visible or something while we were in that area... :-( We hope to make it to the Pittsburgh Zoo while we are in Pennsylvania in a couple weeks. Riley will just love to see animals such as giraffes, bears, elephants, apes and much more. But the Idaho Falls Zoo was a good warm up for us. The farm animals were in kind of a petting zoo section of the park and Riley got to feed the goats. She thought it was so cool! I have to say my favorite thing was the Monkeys though! Man, were they entertaining! I could have looked at them all day long. I uploaded a video below of a couple monkeys. And pictures of plenty of other animals. Some are hard to see because of the glass or wire cages...but oh well :-P

Lion and lioness

Wallaby
Penguins!

These monkeys were really small but you can't tell from looking at a picture
boa

alligator Black swan
kookaburra peacock
pelicans-they were so close I could have reached out and touched one
Riley checking out the ducks

donkey!
stork, i think?


some sort of smallish cat

no clue what these are called
Riley feeding a goat
She must have thought it tickled because after each time she fed him a bite, she looked at us and giggle/smiled huge. It was so cute!

Riley was too busy looking at animals to smile or look at me
These monkeys were so entertaining to watch!!!

My baby...

...is 7 months old today!
Yes, that is right. Isabelle Jane Anderson was born December 10, 2007. 7 months already?! Wow, where does time go?? By the time Riley was 7 months old I was already pregnant with Isabelle. So I thought it was fitting that I had my yearly check-up with my OB/GYN this morning. My IUD is in place, so am happy about that. YAY for no more babies any time soon! We are happy with our little family the way it is right now :) Anyway, since Izzy is 7 months old, I thought I would post a little bit about her.
She sits on her own
She will probably be crawling soon :(
She has started eating solids (or mush, really)
among those she has tried are bananas, applesauce, pears, oatmeal, rice cereal, green beans, carrots, and sweet potatoes. She hates it all...except for those carrots. Weird kid. I don't know when she will start eating consistently. Riley loved getting new foods.
She weighs just over 18 pounds and is 27 inches tall
She babbles a lot
Her sweet little laugh is adorable!
She likes to watch her bug sister play
She tries to put EVERYTHING in her mouth
She likes the bathtub
She smiles so much
and our favorite:
She will now bounce (we call it dancing) to music!
Video to follow!!!

4th of July..

Here are a few photos from our 4th. We really didn't do much. Just spent time together as a family. And Travis went golfing...(of course).
We picked up a few of our own fireworks (little things) that were kind of dumb but we thought the kids would like. We were wrong. It was all tears. We set them off with our neighbors. Then once the kids were in bed, we played a game with them. My friend Jodi was in labor on the 4th and so Grammy Jane and Jodi's 3 kids were over at our house for a little while as well. Little Madison was born at 1:03 am on Saturday, July 5th. So there is a photo of her below.
Steph and Caden. He didn't like the fireworks...they were too loud! But at one point, he actually fell asleep while she was holding him!
Travis showing Riley a sparkler.


Isabelle crying about the older kids crying
Riley scared of the fireworks.

Fine one minute...
...and so sad the next :-( Baby Madison

Look at allllll that hair! I am so jealous. Isabelle could use some of that! haha.

L is for...

my LOVES, life, and laughter (to name a few!)

I love my life, my family and the fun times we have! And that is all I want to say about the letter "L". I have more photos that I didn't feel up to posting last night! YAY!



Mmmm, yummy blueberry waffle.
Isabelle wants anything and everything that Riley has, anything that is in her sight, and everything she shouldn't have, of course. `

I'm finally not using the baby bathtub anymore! She is stable sitting on her own in the big tub now! SO BIG!

Isabelle getting kisses from the neighbor boys. They like her; a lot!
Riley went to the dentist the first time this week. Just to get used to the idea and let him take a peek...it didn't go so well...This was before the dentist even tried to look. So yeah. No fun.


After the park the other day. Girls in their matching suits.

Riley climbed into the baby swing again...
She is warming up to the camera again these days, smiling for it (or trying to? some of her faces are pretty goofy).