Three blondies!

Holden and I love getting together with my good friend, Annie, and her two sons, Colin (3), and Cade (8 mos.) The boys go to the same babysitter during the school year and always have fun hanging out. Last week, Colin and Annie had a zoo class and Cade came over to hang out with Holden and me for an hour. I thought, "just one extra baby, how hard can it be?" I now have a new appreciation for Lori, our sitter!!!! Cade was happy, drooly, and also very MOBILE!!! He has recently mastered crawling and is now also CLIMBING! Pair that with Mr. Evil Kneival Holden and they are quite the pair! They tag-teamed me!!! At one point Cade spilled the cat food and while I was cleaning, I realized Holden had dumped the water bowl and they were splashing in it, laughing. Holden was saying, "NO NO, BAY!" (his version of baby) and giggling because he knows he's not supposed to do this. While I was cleaning THAT up, I looked over to see Holden HAND FEEDING cat food to Cade! AHHH!!! Annie informed me it's okay because he's already eaten gerbil food at her mother's school! Too funny! As you can see below, Holden still knows what to do with a paci even though he has none of his own anymore. He enjoyed stealing it from Cade all morning. They also had some fun with the paper towel roll I forgot to pick up.....and I think the top right picture might indicate I was breaking the child labor laws, but this is really what they wanted to do!!!! ;o)

After the zoo class, I packed up Holden and Cade in the van and we headed to meet Colin and Annie at the zoo. (More hilarity ensued as I realized Cade's car seat must not have been buckled correctly; I turned a corner and it tipped sideways! He stayed asleep and Holden alerted me by saying, "Uh-Oh!" and "No no!") Sorry for almost killing your child, Annie! I really do love him! Annie has a zoo pass so she got us in for free and the boys had a great time exploring and seeing all of the animals. The little make-shift restaurant set up in the zoo lab was a big hit! AND...we actually got a picture of all three boys sitting down, facing the same way, and if not smiling, at least not crying!! Small miracle! =o)

After the zoo, Annie was nice enough to have packed us a yummy picnic lunch with Avanti's sandwiches and other goodies. She even thought of the few things that Holden does like to eat and had packed those for him. Thanks, Annie! I had a funny Colin moment when he and I walked Holden to the park. Annie had to go back to her car for something so Colin "helped" me with the stroller. I love how kids his age say exactly what you know we are all thinking as adults. As we approached the park, there was an open picnic table right next to some rather um, interesting individuals. Let's just say the term "WT" came to mind. One man in particular looked like a redneck version of Charles Manson. Colin turns to me and VERY loudly states, "Katie, I don't want to eat over there next to that WEIRD man!" I had to bite my cheek so hard not to laugh!!!!! We quickly steered way over to the other side of the park where we found a nice table under a tree. After our meal we changed the boys into their swim gear and headed over to the brand new water park right next to the zoo. It is really cool; has a pirate ship, huge slides, all kinds of sprayers, etc. Of course my little sissy boy is the one SCREAMING in the middle right picture because someone sprayed him with (gasp!) water. It was only 90 degrees out. He loves water but hates the element of surprise...he needs to be in control. I got some dirty looks from other moms as I sat laughing and snapping his picture. He's fine, people, just needs to get over it! I also love the picture of Cade in the giant swim diaper! It was just LITTLE bit big on him! =o)

We love our blonde little boys! They are stinkers, but they sure are cute!!!!