Family birthday party for dd S

Today(Wed) was dd S's 5th birthday. So dh took the day off to spend with us. He fixed our special french toast(or pancake) breakfast with bacon and orange juice. The normal breakfast is a water bottle of chocolate milk. So birthday breakfasts are special. We then spent the morning cleaning up while the 2 girls went off to get dressed and play for a bit. Something ddS likes to do. Around 10:30 we head off to do an errand or two before getting lunch. The one place we stopped at was where we had purchased our kitchen chairs. It's the type of store where you find unusual items not found in Walmart or Target. I found a few Christmas decorations including a set of bears that have lighted bells in their hands. Too cute.

After lunch we head to the zoo for the afternoon. I think ds R (15) is really tired of the zoo, but he's a good sport and just goes along. He was trying really hard to help out dd S, but I think he's realizing that she's really not a little one any longer and she likes doing a lot of things on her own.

When we first arrived dh asked her what animal first. Of course her first response was the monkeys. We tease her that she acts like them by climbing and hanging like they do. I used to tease her that she was a monkey, but then I realized that she might start taking that serious, and since some people actually DO believe this, I felt best to state that she just act like them. Works much better.

Towards the end of the day, we were headed in the direction of the exit, when dh noticed a swarm of nats flying around us. We all stopped and looked. As I did, I noticed that each time I moved the swarm moved. Dh finally realized that yes indeed they were following only me lol. Eventually they moved on after I started walking away, but this incident had us all just laughing so hard that my side ached. Dh made the comment that he would make sure he didn't use my shampoo ever lol. It was quite funny, but after a bit I was getting annoyed by them. Especially once they started heading downward on my instead of just circling around.

We finally made it to the exit and headed in the direction of home. It was now after 4:30 and I think we were trying to figure out whether to have an early dinner(don't think anyone minded that idea) or do an errand while waiting for dinner time. So dh asked dd S if she was hungry. Of course the answer was yes, so we stopped at our favorite chineese buffet place around 5pm. Yum!

We finished up around 6ish and headed home with full and satisfied bellys. Once home I got the cake out and got the candles on it lit. While waiting on the cake, dh put batteries in the main bear and turned it on. It was too cute. They, in harmony, each shake their bells to Christmas music and it's too cute. Finally, though, we got around to lightening the candles and singing to dd S. Then presents since we were still full from dinner. She received lots of cute things. Several coloring books, some hair pieces, some candy and an assortment of other things not coming to mind.

Finally it was time to settle for the evening. I let the girls watch a video with snacks(not sure how they could eat again with all that we had for dinner lol) and then put them to bed. Very tired kids.

Karie