Chace pictures

I try to post equal numbers of pictures of Alana and Chace, but sometimes that's difficult. Here's a couple of just Chace.

Have I mentioned Mango is a lap cat? He will just snuggle in.

Chace's 3rd grade school photo.

Boo at the Zoo

Halloween events have been getting rained out left and right here, but fortunately it stayed dry enough for us to go to Boo at the Zoo Sunday. The zoo in Asheville is one of the largest in the States, but we only saw a few animals this time. The kids were having too much fun playing games, painting with water, playing on the playground, and riding the carousal to actually look at the animals! We had to insist on at least seeing the elephants and polar bear, and happened to walk by the ostriches, zebras, giraffes, and gorillas.

Chace is in a "too cool for school" phase right now, and thinks scowling for photos looks good. He's been having a lot of fun with his friend Jacob.

Obviously, we have been raising Alana right since out of all the different animals, she wanted to ride the alligator.

The boys were too cool to ride. Apparently swan seats are more manly.

Alana has gotten her picture taken on this bug for the last couple of years. Look how she's grown!

The zoo has this great playground with oversized vegetables to climb on.

Mural

These boards are to go outside Chace's classroom. They're from the Lorax by Dr. Suess.

Alana has discovered Dr. Suess and they are now her favorite bedtime stories. Especially Green Eggs and Ham. I even made green eggs for her the other day, but she wouldn't eat them.

New Friends

You know its love when a dog will let a kitten eat out of his food bowl. Or the dog really understands his place in the world.

"Napping" with Mango

Alana loves loves loves Mango. She hauls him around and tries to do whatever he's doing. Here she is "napping" on the back of the couch like Mango.

Blue is boring....

New variation on an old favorite in honor of Halloween. Instead of coloring herself blue she decided black lips would be much more fun. At first I thought she'd stuck a big bat sticker on her face.

Fall Festival

Posing with balloon animals.

Fishing for prizes.

Chace's school had their fall festival on Saturday. We brought along Chace's friend Ginny (which led to our new kitten, her mom has been trying to get one more of the kittens adopted). Chace and Ginny especially enjoyed all the games. Well, really they liked the prizes- they each had a collection of vampire teeth by the end. There was also pumpkin painting, mask decorating, clowns, balloons, free popcorn, snow cones, and cotton candy. Alana liked the inflatable slide the best. We spent a fun two hours at the festival- and it was all free!

Introducing Mango

It was inevitable. I finally broke down and brought Alana's favorite kitten home on Saturday. The kids both love Mango, but Lolly and Tony are less than thrilled. Mango is very gentle and loves attention. A real lap cat. Last night I ended up reading a story with both Alana and Mango in my lap! I'm just hoping my allergies settle down quickly.

Firefighter Alana

Dance Time

The kids have some new moves....

McTeacher's Night

Last week we went to McTeacher's Night at McDonald's, where the teachers serve and cleanup. Chace spent the whole time up in the tubes somewhere, only coming down briefly to go see his teachers. Alana liked this slide, since it was just her size.

Baking "Cupcakes"

One of Alana's favorite things to do now is make "cupcakes" (usually blue berry muffins). She loves putting the papers into the muffin pan. She will get out everything we need and pull over the chair herself. On this particular day, she kept telling me to go sit down, since she wanted to do the whole thing herself.

Rainy Day Fun

These two have never met a puddle they didn't like.