We all had a wonderful time in Newport and Bob and I made an important decision on the way home from Newport a few weeks ago. No matter how difficult it proved to be we were going to get Annie potty trained - and soon! We got home on Thursday night and on Friday morning Auntie Meg's babies recieved Annie's share of diapers and Annie put on a pair of big girl panties. When Annie put her big girl panties on - Mommy had to pull hers up and get tough! Potty training is not for the weak and Annie certainly made me struggle the first day. Not because she wasn't ready or the process was difficult but because when Annie makes her mind up about something - she generally does not give in. On the first day she went 7 hours without going pee even once - I think she figured I would give in eventually but I stuck to my guns. Fortunately, after the first day things got much easier. For one thing - Grammy and Papa took over for a day or two and reinforced the cheerleading and affirmation. This went a long way in impressing Annie and to be honest - Annie now ranks right up there with Molly for fairly easy potty training. She has no accidents and is a pretty conscientious hand washer. To prepare for potty training we found an easy incentive to hold out as the carrot - Annie loves zoos. She will do anything to get to see the animals and petting them is just icing on the cake. Once potty training was under control we needed to deliver on our promise quickly so we arranged a trip to the Beardesley Zoo in Bridgeport, CT. We had orginally planned to go to a huge zoo in Menon, MA - the Soutwick Zoo but decided to save that trip for a day when Molly was with us. She and Abby were at the beachhouse with Grammy and Papa for the weekend and since Molly is also a huge zoo fan we couldn't bear to go to Soutwick without her so we chose a smaller zoo.
Annie had the treat of her brother's undivided attention and Peter did a great job of making Annie feel special on Saturday. He walked with her and let her pick everything we did from which direction we went in to where we ate. For her part Annie just could not get enough of her brother and when we offered her something from the gift store she said that Peter could get something instead!
I love this picture - Annie was so excited to check her wingspan!
Our boy has some serious wings!
They had these cute little misters all over the zoo so that we could cool off!
Annie did not miss one single animal. She listened intently and watched everythign that ahppened while we were there. Her favorite animal was the pig - there was a Mama pig with 12 baby piglets - cutest thing ever!
Everyone loved the rainforest exhibits - Ellie thought the snakes were really cool!
Lizzie saw the snake and jumped in Bob's arms - she had quite a grip on him for a while!
Annie and Lizzie talked to the this parrot for quite a while because he answered them back. Lizzie kept saying - "Ooooh, Mama, Look!" I would say that counts as a sentence right?
Ellie loves anything in water so I think our next trip will be to the aquarium.
At one point Ellie was whining and Peter walked over to tell me that he defintely knew why. He was pretty certain that she had a headache from the elastic bow I made her wear on her head!
How sweet does she look? Annie could not have been happier! Everytime we saw one animal she would start breathing fast and pointing at the next one.
While riding the big tiger Annie found some wild peacocks walking around. She was SO excited!
The only animal that creeped the kids out were the roosters and hens that walk around freely all over the place. They were bold little animals and the kids did not like that!
The chickens loved Lizzie!
Annie and I were enthralled by the bunnies. Probably because we have a family of bunnies living in our backyard and they have made a nest in the kid's playhouse. We also got there at feeding time so it was fun to watch them eat their lettuce and carrots.
Annie being silly over by the pigpens!
The kids all loved the alligator but the twins would not let me get a picture of them sitting on it!
Lizzie can actually balance on the curb and walk quite a distance - it was pretty amazing!
Peter and Lizzie headed for the Prairie Dog exhibit.
Bob came out of these tunnels tellling me that I would never in a million years have let Annie go in there if I had seen how dirty they were. She loved seeing the prairie dogs from that vantage point and luckily Bob has a stronger stomach than I do.
Just before we left for home we let Annie take her shoes off and dance in the fountain to cool off. The twins and Peter ended up joining in but my camera batteries were dead!
Annie thought this was the funniest thing ever!
My handsome boy - never too old to do something silly for his sister!
Our little angel!
The trip to the zoo was a blast and we are down to only 2 kids in diapers! Hooray! Lizzie has shown some interest in sitting on the potty but Ellie just wears it as a hat so we'll see what happens with the twins. I'm not ready for everyone to grow up at once! We are just about entering birthday bonanza time - all 5 kids celebrate their birthdays over the next 4 months! It looks like Auntie Meg will also be adding a few more August birthdays to the mix and Auntie Beth is due home again - August is going to be an exciting month so stay tuned!
GNM - ILY!
One day this week Annie woke up for the day at 3:45 a.m. She proceeded to fall asleep at 7 a.m. covered in blankets!
Lizziebug at Grammy's birthday celebration!
The birthday girl and just a few of her grandchildren! The kids were excited for icecream cake and to find out how old Grammy was!
Grammy and the girls opening presents!
I would like to say that grammy gets the royal treatment on her birthday but we never have any idea what to get her. This year Karla and I got her the same thing - books! In our world you can never have too many books!
One day last week I was having a bad day so the kids walked to Stop and Shop with Bob and got me flowers. What a lucky mom, I am!
One of the greatest blessings in the H-W house is the swing set that my parents neighbors gave us when their kids outgrew it. I am amazed at how often we are outside in the yard pushing swings and playing thanks to that wonderful playscape!
KK and Ellie on the swings.
Lizzie loves to do anything that her big sister does so she is actually learning to pump her legs already! Molly is such a wonderful big sister - she spends a whole lot of time pushing Lizzie and Annie on the swings and teaching them how to pump their legs to keep going!
Ellie grabbing for leaves! Yes - she is still in her pajamas - we have actually had neighbors offer to help us buy shoes for our kids because they are always outside in their pajamas and with no shoes on. I happen to love the grass between my toes so I don't worry too much about it!
Lizzie loves her fluff!
Auntie Beth sent us one of her famous care packages and the kids had a blast!
Lizzie all decked out thanks to Auntie Beth!
