While our Daddy was away...

we had LOTS of time to play. :)

While Wade was in China/Japan (see post below), we tried to stay really busy. Our sweet friends were kind to invite us on several fun outings. We had pool playdates, lots of lunches out with friends, went to the zoo, dog sat for a sweet little pooch, went to the Children's Museum, and had Vacation Bible School at church. Whew - it was a busy 2 weeks! All of those activities definitely helped the time pass quicker, though.

The zoo was a BIG hit, of course. There was a semi-cool front (the high was in the mid-80s) the day after Wade left, so Leah & I took advantage of the lower temps and took the munchkins to the zoo.

Drew really liked the flamingos. They came up so close to us.

This was our first visit since they opened the Museum of Living Art (MOLA) building. It is filled with reptiles and amphibians. Right up my biggest boy's alley. :)

He thought that the Burmese Python was pretty cool.

Drew liked the turtles

and the smaller snakes.

Clayton asked this poor guy approximately 1,278 questions about tarantulas. Bless his heart.

The Komodo dragon was the grand finale of the MOLA.

The birds were the biggest hit of the day, though.
Sweet Mags was lovin' life!

Two birds at one time. The boy's got mad bird skilz. ;-)

Drew preferred to feed them from afar. The first one that he held spooked him a bit.

Kelli & Doug got a new miniature Dachshund. Her name is Teener the Weiner Dog. Ha ha! They let us dog sit for them one night while Wade was away. Teener is a cute little pup, and the boys absolutely adored her. Clayton spent every waking moment snuggling with her or playing with her. He really enjoyed taking care of her. We had her from Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning. Drew woke up that Sunday morning and the first words out of his mouth were, "Puppy! Puppy!" He remembered her from the night before and couldn't wait to play with her again. :) He was S.A.D. when Kelli picked her up. He stood at the door and cried big huge alligator tears. I'm sure that our neighbors could hear his wails of "Puuuuppppeeeee! Puuuuuppppeeeee!" three doors down. It was pitiful.

Clayton made a point of walking Kelli to her car and trying to get her to make a deal with him. He said, "Kelli, I have a deal for you. You can have Sydney and we will keep Teener." Ha! Needless to say, she didn't take him up on his offer. ;)

Sydney & Teener managed to get along with only a few small girl fights.

Can you tell that Clayton kinda liked her???

We ran a quick errand that didn't require getting out of the car, so we took Teener along for the ride. Clayton fell asleep petting her.

We went to the Children's Museum with the Brewers, too. It was fun to watch Drew & Luke really play together and get into all of the activities. They were very cute together!

Loaded up in the Burb

Last week we had Vacation Bible School at our church. I got to teach in a Kindergarten class and the boys each went to their own classes. It was so much fun! I loved our sweet little group of Kindergarteners. They got REALLY into all of the activities - recreation, snack, music, crafts. They were so excited to be there!

Clayton & Drew had lots of fun in their classes, too. The curriculum was called Saddle Ridge Ranch and was western themed. The boys brought home TONS of super cute crafts from the week. Picking them up and seeing everything that they had made was the highlight of my day. VBS made for a very long week, and the kids were all exhausted by Thursday. But, it was so much fun! I am already looking forward to serving again next year. :)

So, that's a little recap of our two weeks sans Daddy. We managed to survive and thrive while he was away, but we sure were glad to get him back!