Springfield Zoo

The day before Easter, April 23, we headed down to Springfield and since our friends the Pankow's were headed that way as well we decided to meet up at the zoo. It was a wonderfully humid day, but the kids had a fantastic time seeing the elephants, hippo, feeding the goats at the petting zoo, petting a baby camel, and admiring the monkeys.

Allee, Jadyn, Pierce, and Brendan

Feeding the giraffes. I have NEVER had the opportunity to feed a giraffe and the entire family loved every minute of it! Their tongues are unbelievably long and as Pierce says, slobbery! The kids couldn't get enough of them. By the time we left I think the giraffes were sufficiently full, because Pierce found one more little piece of cracker and he couldn't get even one to come over and eat it. It was amazing and such a fun memory!


Beth and Brendan feeding the giraffe who loved to snort and blow air at everyone. The first time it happened to Allee I think she jumped four feet of the ground!
We found every character from the movie Madagascar, which was apparently very important (who knew?!). We had a great time and it doesn't matter how many times you go to the zoo, it is always so cool to see which animals spark your kiddos interest and watch their faces light up when they finally find the one animal they have been searching for! For Pierce this time it was the monkeys, and for Allee it was the giraffes.
We love this zoo and how amazingly close you get to the animals!

Father Daughter Dance

Allee was so excited for the father daughter dance this year. I almost blew it by waiting too long to get tickets, and I got the second to last pair ANYWHERE in town! Whew, major disaster avoided!

Allee got a beautiful corsage and was so excited to spend the evening with her dad. And once again, they wouldn't be a proper couple if Derek didn't have a matching tie! Allee helped him pick this one out.

The condensed version I got was as follows:

The lines were so long! We got cotton candy, candy, got Allee's face painted, and danced on the slow songs. The fast songs Allee and her friends Parker and Olivia were cutting a rug, and Derek said they were pretty cute!

I LOVE that there were able to spend this special time together!

Allee getting her face painted by her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Johnson.

Soccer Girl

Derek's love of soccer has definitely passed onto our Allee. Spring soccer started a few weeks ago, and Allee is having a blast. She has improved so much since the Fall, and we are so proud of her. On her first game she scored two goals and this past Saturday she scored another goal.

A big difference for her this year is she has taken on the role of defender all on her own. She is very passionate about her defender job and gets upset if the other team scores on her.

We are so proud of her determination and her hard work. It is so fun watching Derek "coach" her from the sidelines and give her pointers at half time. He can't sit down on the bleachers with the other parents, he is constantly walking the line shouting encouraging words.

We are so glad she is having such a great time!

It's A Girl!

There is absolutely NOTHING like getting an ultrasound! I am always completely nervous the night before. Are they healthy? Any problems? I haven't felt the baby move yet, is it ok? And then add the suspense of finding out if a little boy or girl is in our future! I was up tossing and turning most of the night, plus as an added bonus, my sister Stephanie called about 1:30 am to tell me she was in labor! So add nervous excitement onto nervous excitement. Derek and I drove the 45 minutes to the hospital and by baby #3 I think my nervousness is an annoying joke to him! I would ask him for the millionth time if he thought everything was going to be ok, and he would look over at me and say, "It's fine, stop worrying." The inevitable next question was, "Do you think it will be a boy or girl?" His response was always, "It's a girl." At my ultrasound at 12 weeks, the sonographer was having a hard time getting the right pictures so she asked me to drink some more water. This time I didn't want to have any problems, so a chocolate milk and two water bottles later we waltzed into the office. I thought I was going to burst! Luckily after a few quick measurements the sonographer took pity on me and let me use the restroom. The rest of the ultrasound was much more relaxing!!

The first shot the sonographer got was this one below. It was amazing. I knew she was a girl. She has been in my dreams so many times! I kept my composure for a while, but once her initial measurements were taken and I was in the restroom, I couldn't help but sob. I know she is meant to come to our family.

I got a huge box of Golden Grahams and wrote the letters GIRL and BO on some of the cereal. That evening the kids got to dump out a whole box of cereal and search through it to find out if they were having a brother or sister.

Pierce's response was, "Wahoo!" and Allee said, "I knew it would be a girl!"

They were both very excited. We all sat on the couch and Derek explained our ultrasound pictures to them. It was an awesome moment for our family, and we are so excited for our new daughter!

Our 3 Year Old

Happy Happy Birthday Pierce!

We had a great time celebrating Pierce's 3rd Birthday. He got to go to Wendy's for lunch his absolute favorite place to eat and he invited his buddy Jackson to come along. After that we had a day filled with playing whatever Pierce wanted, which was Lego's and monster fighting.

He picked spaghetti for dinner and then he was able to open all his presents from our families. I love his new smile. He looks like such a little cheese.

Allee gave him Scooby-Doo and a hippity-hop. He got walkie-talkies and a new Curious George movie from Derek and I.

Pierce is so fun to have around. His favorite saying right now is, "Boys rule and girls pee." He loves to fight monsters. He is constantly wrestling with his dad. He always wakes up and says, "Is it wake up time?" every morning without fail. He will always give hugs and kisses. He brings such a happiness into our family and we love him so much!