Black- The New Neutral...

Well, at least for me. I'm worried our house will become a black hole since the start of my new relationship with this. Sydney, I stole your stuff in the garage! I hope that's ok...I decided to recycle instead of tossing it. I'm finding myself wickedly glad that you guys forgot stuff ;)! Anyway, these are evidence of my baby steps in developing a new hobby. Hopefully soon I can venture outside my dark circle and incorporate some color!

I only have a before and after picture for the side table.

Still working with what to put on it.

I attempted to distress it...I think it needs more.

Before

After

Zoology...

This past weekend we celebrated the end of Christopher's surgery rotation with a family excursion. So off to the Toledo Zoo we went. We got there right after it opened, scoring an awesome parking space, and getting us there in time to see the shark feeding. We really enjoyed the little aquarium and I wish we would have taken more pictures. But we did get a year pass so I'm sure we'll be there soon enough for more photo ops. We covered just about everything except the Science Museum, the kids petting zoo area, the butterfly conservatory, and the rainforest exhibit, which just gives us more fun and new things to do next time. We wondered how well the trip would go since this is the first time to the zoo for our kids. We psyched Kira up for a week, to the point where at night as we were trying to get her to go to sleep, she'd recite a l o n g list of animals that we would be seeing at the zoo. I think overall, it was a success. Alexis struggled a little due to sleep deprivation, but we finally got her to nod off for about 20 minutes. The girls were good and it was fun for Christopher and I to go to a zoo again. Here's just a fraction of the cool "aminals" we checked out. (Sorry, Kira had no love for the camera that day.)

There was a beautiful garden.

He's a biggun'

Penguins in the background

Mommy and Kira

Sleeping hippo

George

Finally...

This seal loved to swim upside down

Kira and Daddy

Courageous Kira had to do it by herself

Our favorites

"Roundee-round"

We even scored a free caricature. Guess who.

Holy headband, Batman...

Protecting the streets of Gotham Wyandotte, by day and by night (well, until bedtime anyway).

These 'shoes' were made for walking...

And that’s just what she’ll do….every day! Yes, Alexis is walking and has been for about two months. Now that she’s summoned up the courage to brave the slippery, unforgiving hardwood floors in our new place, she’s cruisin’! But she’s discovered how important foot accessories are at an early age. She will insist on wearing shoes EVERYWHERE- outside, in the house, during naps, in the bath. She’s had shoes for a while but would never keep them on. But I guess now that she’s walking, she needs to keep those tiny toes pampered. Alexis just got over a week of extreme fever, fatigue and fussiness. We never pinpointed the exact cause, but she’s doing well now. So, throughout the week in order to try and keep her fever down, she lived in just a diaper- well, a diaper and shoes, as insisted. I couldn't’t help but snap a quick picture of her sickie attire while she followed me around the house. Kira has been a pretty good sport while we've dealt with her sister's illness. She slept through nightly wakings, tolerated an irritable playmate who really didn't feel like playing and parents who've been at another's beck and call. Kira maintained her good humor and did a lot of self-entertaining. please excuse the hair...like I said Kira was a neglected child for a few days

Quick update on Christopher: He passed the boards!!!! WHOOOO-HOOO! I'm so proud of him and glad that this part is over. He's gotten through a rotation of Pediatrics, which ended up being a blessing in disguise. Administration was trying to deal with physicians and scheduling and it was starting to look like he might have had to go downtown to rotate with a peds doctor. Ugh. But he actually wound up with a doctor that allowed him to participate a ton and taught him a lot. He's now on Surgery rotations and and will be on call twice in his first week. Obviously, we haven't seen much of him but we're glad he's having some positive experiences and that he's out of the classroom doing things he worked hard to do. You ROCK, hon!