Riverbanks Zoo Field Trip

Early March brought us to South Carolina and we had the opportunity to go to the Riverbanks Zoo while we were traveling. I had heard great things about this zoo and it was a great field trip!

Several of the animals seemed to be taking their afternoon nap when we first arrived, but the elephants were all out having a snack.

The squirrel monkeys were one of Rachel's favorites. Those little monkeys were incredibly fast as they jumped around those branches!!

This little lemur seemed to want to hang out right above Rebekah's head and get its picture taken!

Allie liked watching the wallabies!

Bethany liked them too!

Each wallaby had a name. Our Rebekah is standing in front of Rebecca Wallaby!

Allie loves all kinds of "sishies" (fishies). She was enthralled!

Rachel and this gator were seeing eye to eye.

Rebekah was so excited when she found out we were going to Riverbanks because they have (lots and lots) of flamingos. This was one spot she made sure we didn't miss!

They also have penguins, which are another of her favorites!

Because this was a field trip as part of their school day, we made sure to spend some time learning a bit about each animal we saw. I learned something new as well. Apparently harbor seal can actually be found on East Coast beaches at times as well!

They were cleaning the sea lion habitat when we first arrived and it was closed. We were all a little disappointed. It was funny though, we could hear the seals barking all over that side of the zoo even though their habitat was closed. We were headed to another exhibit and realized they had reopen the sea lion habitat. They were so playful!

It had been drizzling a little bit and they seemed fascinated by Bekah with her umbrella. One of them kept looking right at her!

On our way out of the zoo, we had time for one more stop. Otters, along with fishies, are hee very favorites right now. She even has 2 otter stuffed animals that she sleeps with every night! Well, the otter was out and very playful! It even swam right up to where we were watching! She was so excited!!

We got to see several animals that we rarely have seen before at a zoo! We had a great field trip to Riverbanks Zoo!

24 Weeks: Little Buddy's update

We went for our 24 week checkup on February 21st, which was the day I reached 24 weeks. Everything looked good! Little Buddy is growing right on schedule by the measurements and his heart rate was 158. I had gained 7.8 pounds since my last checkup about 5 weeks ago, so that was good news too. Though I still am sick at times, it is a blessing to finally feel better and be able to not be so sick with this pregnancy!
Next month will be our 28 week checkup and also the dreaded glucose test. I have never had problems passing the glucose test, thankfully, but always have trouble not getting sick before the test is over because of the glucose drink. Hopefully, it will be smoother sailing this time!
We are thankful for such a good checkup! It's hard to believe that we will be finishing out the 2nd trimester soon!!

Valentine's Week Fun

We started Valentine's Day week with cookie decorating.

We had a mix of Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day decorations all together!

Allie was very excited to be included in the cookie decorating this year! This is her new "cheese" smile now when she's very happy about something!

She even put on some sprinkles by herself and had a few extra to share with her sisters!

Here are our happy little cookie decoraters!

We also painted Valentine's day paintings on canvas this week too.

We made a few Valentine handprint hearts too. These are my favorite!

I loved their creativity with their Valentine's Day painting this year. Bethany came up with this all on her own. See the heart in the paint plate too...

Again, Allie was old enough this year to do a little painting too. She loved it!

Look at that happy face!

We were able to get Krispy Kreme Valentine's Day doughnuts on Valentine's Day! Yum!

We celebrated 23 weeks of carrying Little Buddy on Valentine's Day too!

Thankful for all the love from my favorite Valentines each and every day!

New Hairstyles for Allie

 I looked back and I think the last time I did a blog about hair was summer 2017 when Bethany cut off almost ALL her hair. Thankfully, no hair incidents since then and this is a happy hair post. The past several days we've been pretty much stuck inside between the super cold weather and some of us being under the weather. Rachel decided that her smallest sister's hair has suddenly grown out and that she would try out some new hairstyles on her longer hair. First, we had a little braid down the back. The first sight of Allie after Rachel braided her hair made me stop in my tracks for a second because first I was surprised she could get that long of a braid in her hair and second, because she looked SO grownup all of a sudden!!

 Later that same day for lunch, Rachel carried her in the kitchen sporting a high ponytail. We had done a first ponytail a few weeks ago but big sister gave it kind of that messy bun type of fun style. Doesn't she look proud of herself and her big girl ponytail!

 Later this weekend, Rachel gave Allie her first set of pigtails. Just the cutest thing!

 Again she looks so grownup and so cute all at the same time!

I have no doubt with 4 girls that we have literally thousands of hairstyles ahead, but it sure has been fun watching this week as biggest sister gave baby sister some of her first new hair do's!

19 Weeks: Little Buddy's Update

                                       

 Earlier this week, we were able to see this handsome little buddy for his 20 week ultrasound  (about a week early since I started 19 weeks on Thursday). It is so hard to believe we are almost at the halfway point in this pregnancy already!!

He is growing great! According to my due date, I was supposed to be at 18 weeks and 6 days and his growth measured at 19 weeks and 2 days. So that was a blessing to know that he is growing well since I've been pretty sick so far. They estimated he weighs 10 ounces already.

He likes his knees to his nose too. We have pictures of each of our babies with either their knees to nose or feet over their head. So cute watching all his little wiggles on the ultrasound!

Almost 19 weeks!!

We are so thankful to God for such a good ultrasound and report that our Little Buddy is growing so well! We are so looking forward to our home growing by another precious two feet in June! We love you, little buddy!
"For You formed my inmost parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made,
Marvelous are your works,
And that my soul knows this very well."
Psalm 139:13-14

10th Birthday Celebrations with Rachel!

Our firstborn just turned a decade old this past week! So hard to believe and it arrived so quickly! We started her birthday celebrations on the afternoon before her birthday by taking her on an outing with just her Daddy and I. She got to choose the outing and picked ice skating.

 I love this picture of her Daddy helping her lace her skates. She tried skating a couple of years ago but wanted to try it out again. There was no skating for me this trip, but I enjoyed being the photographer and all the fun and watching how much fun she had skating with her Daddy! Then we took her out for supper afterwards.

She woke up the next morning on her birthday to a bed full of balloons as is tradition!

It was forecast to be in the 60s and 70s for her birthday weekend so she asked if we could spend a couple of days at the beach. It's not often that we get weather like that in January so we were glad we could celebrate her birthday with such beautiful weather!

We drove over the new high rise bridge to Surf City for our first time since it opened in December.

After a few minutes enjoying the porch swing, it was time to enjoy a little birthday beach time with Rachel.

She loves to look for shells and there were quite a few shells to be seen and this time Allie wanted to be her little shadow!

 Birthday hugs from her sisters too

 Her birthday picture on the beach

and chocolate dinosaur cupcakes and presents to finish out her birthday!

We started the next day with doughnuts for breakfast on the porch swing!

 It was 70 degrees by early afternoon so we had an awesome day to walk in the pedestrian lane over the new high rise bridge and back.

 We had a fun couple of days celebrating Rachel and her 10th birthday! We are excited to see how God grows her closer to Him and all that comes ahead for her in this next decade! Happy Double Digits, Rachel B!! We love you!