Birds of Prey!

One of the major developments this summer has been Rose's obsession with birds of prey. Owls are her favorite, but she likes them all (well, vultures don't really do much for her, but she loves eagles, hawks, and falcons). It started at a local festival when they had an exhibit where you could touch real birds of prey and watch them fly around. Rose stayed there for over an hour and was especially fascinated by the owl (check out the picture she took with it). After that she was pretending to be an owl for weeks. We had to ask her to wash her talons and not to talk with her beak full.

We fed the obsession later this summer when we visited the Carolina Raptor Center during a visit to my parents home in Charlotte (check out the second picture). She learned to imitate the calls the birds were making, and wasn't grossed out when she saw them eating baby chicks. We got her an owl toy and a miniature field guide, and she was in heaven. (Side note: The field guide is now her bathroom book--she leaves it in there to read while she is going potty. Anything to get her to try!)

Since then we have enjoyed videos, books, and google searches to fuel her desire to learn. She also got a giant owl from her Aunt Dani, which she is very fond of. One of the highlights of the summer was when we saw a hawk hunting in our very own park right up the street! The squirrels were freaked out, but Rose was in heaven.

Zoo Pals

One of the fun things we did this summer was to buy a zoo pass. This meant that we could go to the zoo whenever we wanted for FREE! Realistically, we couldn't go whenever Rose wanted because we would have had to move in. But we did go a lot! An awful lot. We really liked it, and our pass let us get friends in free so we often brought someone along. In these pictures we are hanging out with our cousin Toby. We squeezed Rose into one of John's onesies so that they could have matching outfits. I know, kind of pathetic, but really cute.

The Big 1!

Happy Birthday to John! Our little boy is officially a year old. We had a great celebration, starting with his favorite dinner (chicken nuggets, corn, and peas!), way too many presents, and a delicious "pancake cake." We knew he loved pancakes, so we just stacked a few up with frosting in between and let him loose. It was so good, I think I could eat it every day. But I won't. He didn't get nearly as messy as Rose did, but he really enjoyed his cake (and mango ice cream, yum!).

ARG.

Okay, so I really have to get better at posting regularly. I will try to catch up on major events (John's first birthday!) and cutsie pictures. Sorry it has taken so long. Although, in my defense, chasing two (and sometimes three on babysitting days) kids around doesn't leave a lot of free time. Although, not so much in my defense, said free time is often used up reading library books and playing on my new digital piano. I will strive for a balance. Fair enough?