End of School Carnival & Escape to St. Louis

At the end of the school year, our school has a Family-Fun-Night. It has been rainy the last couple of years, so this was actually the first one we've been to. The kids had a fun time. There were several inflatables for the kids to play on & lots of raffles & snacks to be had for all.

Poor Allison was too little for most of the inflatables, so she spent several turns in the Moon-Bounce.The big girls liked it too.This is Corny. I swear he reminds me of the mascot off The Simpsons. What is that team - The Isotopes? Anyway, he is the mascot for our local baseball team, The Corn Huskers.A friend of mine took this sweet pic after I left Bryan & the girls to enjoy the carnival. I had to take Adam to a birthday party. Well, I screwed up the day but they were nice enough to let him hang out @ their house, so he didn't have to go with me to the fabric store. I think I can chalk that up to "Pregnancy Brain"._____________________________________

Our school district is a little dumb when it comes to the end of a school year. I mean, they always plan an inservice day for the last week, and the very last day only lasts 1 hour. That's right, they run the buses to & from school for 1 hour spent in the gym. DUMB!

This year, the inservice was Wednesday & the 1 hour was Thursday. As far as I'm concerned, the kids last day was Tuesday, and I decide to take them to St. Louis to visit the Cowands. We had a fun time. It was very near Jessica's birthday, so I baked her a yummy cake to take & had a little gift for her that I had made. I even got to help her with dinner by mixing up some meatloaf too. I felt good & she felt spoiled...Totally WIN-WIN. We spent Wednesday night at their house & just hung out letting the kids play & reconnect. I think it's great. Just like Jess & I, no matter how long it is between visits, they all kind of fall back together & pick up from where they were as friends. So Great!Allison found the Sleeping Beauty wig from Halloween. I love it! But, is it just me...Or does she look like E.T.?Thursday morning we got a late start, so we had our picnic in Forest Park before going to the STL Zoo.I love this Mob of Munchkins!Sometimes I worry about leaving out Liam, because he has special needs. I know I try to include him & treat him as normally as possible, but sometimes I feel bad for him...I just think that sometimes it's easier to ignore people who are different, because it actually takes more effort. I love this little guy though. And, I know he loves his Aunt Kimmie...BIG Smooch!This picture cracks me up too...I can still hear his giggle every time I look @ it. Can you hear it??What can I say? If they didn't want people ON it, there would be a sign or rope or guard, right?
Adelaide cracks me up. I couldn't help catching this one.The "Little Kids" - Nolan, Amelia, McKenna, Adelaide & Allison.These girls are too cute together, but I think McKenna has to adjust a little when we visit. She's definitely accustomed to being THE girl in her family. Jessica's pet-name for her is Mikiboo. That's what Adelaide calls her too. It makes me laugh to myself every time.

Adam's "Angry Monkey" pose in the primate house.I don't know what it is about the STL Zoo. We have been 3 times, and I think we've seen some "frisky" animals every time. Thankfully, this was taken before the male zebra got a little twitterpated. We also saw some Gila Monsters "wrestling".

The kids were annoyed, because I wouldn't buy any snacks or ice cream. Whatever. I did buy a drink & I think we probably refilled it 3-4 times in the few hours we were there.

A Bunch of Cuties on a fence.OK, maybe I had a lapse in my parenting-judgement, but no one fell off. And, I only let them climb up after I saw another party climb up for a picture. So, YES. My defense is..."They did it first."My 4 Rebels.