4.10.12

Another zoo day :)

The day began with an incident between Jaidie and brown marker (see below),

we really got going once I realized that Mason is going to be a horrible big brother,

and ended with everyone happy (for the most part) eating dip-n-dots ice cream!

 Owen (almost 3) and Evan (1) were in town so they got to come along too!!

They are such sweet boys, and it must come from their Momma because there Dad was a terror when he was little!

These 2 have so much fun together...wish we could see Elijah more often!

Ready to race the cheetah...
Elijah was concentrating so hard!

 The kids got to take turns trying to out run a cheetah...it was timed and they obviously never stood a chance but it was still fun to watch!

Side note:  notice the brown stain on the back of Jaidie's pants?!?!?
On the way to the zoo she was drawing in the backseat with her coloring book and markers and somehow a brown marker escaped and positioned itself right under her bottom.
So, everytime she moved in her seat it drew on her butt just a little bit.  By the time I noticed, the damage had been done and she walked around the zoo all day looking like she had sharted herself!
Of course it just had to be a brown marker, and of course I didn't have any extra pants....oh, the luck of it!!

Cousins!!
Owen, Jaiden, Mason, Elijah, and Evan :)

Can you see the uneasiness on Mason's face??
He was placed just a little to close to Evan and he was not impressed with it at all.

And here he is in the double stroller next to his cousin...

This was about 30 seconds before he started crying because he wanted Evan out!
He's got a blanket I brought from home balled up so tight...he didn't even want Evan looking at it, let alone touching it, and you should've seen the fit when I tried to use it to cover both of them up.
At one point, I thought he was hugging Evan and finally accepting him in his stroller only to notice on closer inspection, that he had his head lowered and he was trying to forcefully shove Evan out.  All Evan could do was let out a little cry :(
We got Evan out of Mason's death grip and Mason responded by throwing Evan's blankie out of the stroller onto the ground...he wanted no trace of him around his things.

When we bought ice cream for the kids and set them all side by side on a bench to eat it, we made the mistake of putting Evan and Mason next to each other and I watched as Mason slowly but surely scooted closer and closer to Evan so he could shove him off the side of the bench onto the concrete below.
Threats and time out's didn't phase him on this day.

And for another example, Mason was spotted trying to shove Evan's head into the dirt when I turned my head away for 3 seconds. 
He loved Elijah and Owen but he just couldn't handle a baby smaller than him coming along.  I don't know why he is behaving like this but we are in serious trouble at my house.
These are just a few examples of what went on pretty much all day long.  I'm ready for the next time Evan comes into town when he'll be big enough to give it right back to Mason :)

The new baby will be here in 4 months and I've got to get this under control...and I'm open to ANY ideas!!!

But we all survived the day and overall had a pretty great time!