Monday, April 30, 2012

2012 Zoo Time!

The Lincoln Children's Zoo has been open for the season for a couple of weeks and we finally got our first visit in last Friday. The boys had a blast. Gabriel's favorite (besides the train) was viewing the penguins. Logan kept wanting to look at everything, "Let's see what's next!"


Even though we regularly avoid the stroller to get Logan to walk as much as possible, we decided to bust it out for this trip. For me, it was much easier/faster to navigate. Although it was easy, I know I must sacrifice my own wants to better his needs - so I will most likely let him walk/stumble/navigate on his own the next trip. It's good for him, but tires him out and me (when I eventually have to lug him around a points). He weighs 30lbs and now that some of his muscles are a little more rigid, he tends to put his legs down straight when I try to carry him - so he's heavy and slips down like a fish when I carry him.


The boys got some new kicks at Payless as their shoes were getting a little worn out. Gabriel, Mr. I refuse any change whatsoever, actually likes his new shoes after trying them on with only minimal resistance. Logan's are hard to see here, but I went a half size up for more room for his superman boots -  but I'm not sure yet on whether or not it makes him trip up more or if it's due to his new boots.

 Krista had "fun night" at her school. She and the boys had fun playing games, winning tickets for prizes and seeing her friends outside of the classroom. Josh and I felt a little crowded, hot and flustered! Lots of people in the tiny classrooms at Sacred Heart School. A new recreational building would be nice, with no stairs and a big room to set up games.

So many stairs in the old school and so many people running up and down them made it a huge challenge with Logan to navigate. I ended up lugging him up and down and around and as I mentioned before, he's heavy! So Sacred Heart continues to try to raise money for the building fund (the fancy recreational building mentioned above), a "central/inner-city" school with not a lot of funding, it's been a long process and I'm not even sure how close we are to making it a reality. It sure would be nice for Logan and the elderly in the parish to more easily attend events.

The boys got matching "face" painting on their hands. Gabriel, or as he likes to be called, "Van," started the trend with his awesome green van. Then Papa wanted a matching tat, followed closely by Logan, who chose a black van.

Gabriel is looking forward to pre-school, still. He is excited to go to school like his big sister does every day. Miss Jessica, Krista's pre-school teacher, moved on to a full-time position. So he will have a new teacher next year. We look forward to seeing him progress through this new phase in his life!

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Super Logan!

We got the new braces for Logan's feet - check out Super Logan!


He chose the Superman pattern. At first he was very wobbly in them, as he had to readjust his balance because it kept him off of his toes more. But on day two, he was walking around everywhere and doesn't want to take them off after they are on. After he has adjusted to these well, we will talk about wearing belt around his waste/wrapped on his legs to correct the hip issue - that causes him to toe-in. We'll see if he is as keen on that, as he wanted nothing to do with them on Thursday when he saw them (didn't have to put them on yet, but still cried/scared). Maybe after Gabriel gets his new belts from Grandma, Logan will want his own "belt" too!

And the socks work great, Grandma! This pic has them pulled up straight, but the next day I pulled them up and folded the top over the top of the brace which keeps them in place better and looks spiffy.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Cleaning Machine

I attempted to clean the kitchen today and got 3 little "helpers" in the process. I gave them each a sponge with water to clean the dirties. Gabriel did the best spot cleaning around and was persistent. He cleaned the water spots off the cabinet fronts, the stains on the floor, and even the finger smudge on the walls. At one point he came to me with a very dirty sponge and asked me to clean it off:

Me: Wow, buddy - you sure are cleaning a lot!
Him: I got the dirties in the window!!
Me: I bet that was dirty after the storm.
Him: (Shrugging his shoulders.) Well... I cleaned it because it looked obvious.

He is obviously a better cleaner than I am.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Luck of the Red Panda

I'm not sure why I didn't post about this before, but during the last zoo "season" I won a Facebook competition from our local Lincoln Children's Zoo. They asked how many lbs of biscuits they feed the Red Panda every year. I don't remember what I guessed, but I did use a mathematical algorithm that I made up - and I won! I got a special "back stage" pass to the Red Panda exhibit, where we got to go hand feed the panda inside the exhibit. The Red Panda's are all adorableness and fluffy.




Anyhow, that brings us to the current week. The zoo featured more Facebook contests and one of the days featured a question on how many lbs of sugar cane the Red Panda's and Tree Kangaroo's eat in a year. Again, my mathematical genius of a mind (haha) came up with a guess algorithm and surprise, I got it the closest!  I never knew I was an expert in all things Red Panda! This year, I won a free premium animal adoption through the zoo. The family chose to adopt the White Handed Gibbons, always a favorite to watch. I'm not sure what we will get with this, but I know it entails free train passes and a meet and greet with the keeper. How exciting for the Hatchell's who LOVE the zoo!!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

That's My Daughter

Wowsa - when did she become an adult?


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Egg-elent Easter

We had an all-around egg-elent Easter. Krista went to her first vigil mass, it started at 8PM with a beautiful candle processional into the church. She lasted through the opening prayers and one of the readings before she was out. The Easter bunny came some time in the night and hid eggs around our house and yard. Gabriel grabbed as many eggs as he could in his arms, he was a real go-getter this year! This was Logan's first year to really participate/walk to find the eggs and he did great as well.











Monday, April 2, 2012