Shut Down

Some last-minute plans were made yesterday that require all of my house to be very presentable by this afternoon at 4.  But, as of 8:00 this morning, the main problem areas look like this:

Yes, our studio is a constant and necessary thorn in my side.  What you don’t see here is the majority of my mental overwhelmedness.  Yes, I made up that word.  We always have so much work to do with our photography business, and things are especially pressing right now.  We’re about to start a rather large marketing campaign for next year, too.Another view of the studio.

“Sitting Room”, AKA, Studio Overflow!The dining room, which actually isn’t too bad, believe it or not.  It’s the catch-all.  (And me in my robe… ::: sigh:::)The real messes!   Do you see Rollei trying to steal a bite from Nathan’s plate?  Those 3 keep me hoppin’ all the time!Yikes!

No, I’m not going to show you my bedroom and our bathrooms.  Suffice it to say that Rollei just got a bath in the hall bathroom. 

So, with all the physical messes in my house at this moment in time, the real mess is me!  Today, I just don’t want to do it.  But, I will.

A Little Spinning and Singing Before Bed

Nathan has been singing a lot lately.  This is a little video of him singing his ABCs, spinning in circles, and exherting as much energy as he could before he went to bed tonight.

The Camera Phone

I thought it would be fun to share some snapshots my mom got with her phone over the last few weeks.

Logan

NathanOur little familyMeeting sweet Cousin Daniel

Nathan liked Daniel.  He repeated “shhhh” the whole time we were there. 

Daniel and his Daddy, my cousin Jim.

Playing Ring Around the Rosies.

They found Timpa’s toy Volkswagen.

A Perfectly Wonderful Day at the Zoo

Tuesday was just completely perfect.  Aunt Pat and I had scheduled this trip to the zoo over a month ago, and I’m so glad we got to go!  The weather was completely beautiful, there were no big crowds, and the boys have become independent enough that it is not as much of a challenge to wrangle them (Especially with Pat’s help!). 

We got to feed the giraffes!

We rode the carousel, too!  I can’t say that everyone loved it, but I sure did!

I took the bar off their stroller and did not use the seatbelts while we were there.  This worked great because they would climb in the stroller between exhibits, then would jump out on their own when we arrived to the next animal.  It helps that they are pretty good at {usually} following directions.  Okay, Logan bolted a time or two…

We saw so many wonderful animals… Lions, tigers, bears {oh my!}, monkeys, giraffes, turtles, birds, goats…

This cracks me up. L & N both climbed up to get a good look at the tiger, both are equally intrigued. Aunt Pat looks like she’s amazed, too.

L & N talked to each animal at every exhibit.  We sang animal songs {quietly} and the boys talked about what each animal was doing.  Logan would say each animal name over and over.  They were so excited. 

We ate lunch, saw some more animals, enjoyed a Dippin’ Dots treat, then rode the train around Herman Park.

We called it quits after 3:00, which is normally when Logan and Nathan start waking up from their nap.  The boys were just so good all day long, despite being way off schedule.  I am very proud of that.  Aunt Pat and I got a good workout pushing the stroller, and we all had a perfectly wonderful day at the zoo!!!