Zoolights 2014

The Sunday before Thanksgiving we made our annual Zoolights trip at The Phoenix Zoo. As zoo members we get to go the night before it opens to the public which is really nice. It is still busy, but nothing like it is during the rest of the season. It is also usually not super cold yet which is nice, too. Justin's sister and niece and her baby also came with us for the first time this year. Also on the member night the carousel is free so that was a nice bonus. My sister spoiled the kids and bought them glowing necklaces and Everly asks for hers every time we get in the car. This was obviously Aspen's first Zoolights trip and Everly's 3rd trip. Here is a post from our visit two years ago. We had a lot of fun this year and I definitely recommend going if you haven't been.

I love me a bundled baby.

 

Checking out the talking giraffe and turtle.

Everly is an expert on-camera kisser.

Our family!

Aunt Katy and sleeping Aspen.

Hailey, Carly, and baby Remi

 

cuties

Anniversary Date Night

The weekend before Thanksgiving Justin and I had a date night for our 4th wedding anniversary. He had bought a groupon for us to do one of the bring-your-own-bottle-paint-night things that everyone has been doing. Before heading to the painting event we grabbed a quick beer and shared a burger at Ten at the Esplanade. It is pretty new and it was really cute. Unfortunately we didn't have time to stay long but they had $3 craft beers and a yummy burger and fries. I would definitely like to go back sometime. The painting event was in downtown Phoenix at a place called Brush Party and it was pretty full. It went from 6-9 pm and you pretty much use the whole time. We brought a bottle of Dreaming Tree wine (Dave Matthews' wine company) but you can bring beer and or snacks as well (just no hard alcohol). Out instructor was really nice and it was interesting to see how the painting progressed. We picked a night where the painting was of the Eifel Tower but they constantly have different paintings you can choose from. They also do this really cool thing called "Pop Art your Pet" once a month (and it usually sells out) where they print a picture of your pet in black and white on a canvas ahead of time and then teach you how to paint it like pop art during the class. It looked really cool and we may have to go back and do that sometime. All in all it was a really fun night and thanks to my mom and sister for watching our babies so we could go!

Pre-painting beers

 

getting our drink on. I am nursing so Justin had to drink like 3/4 of that bottle, haha.

 

 

Our finished paintings.

Butterfly Wonderland

A couple of weeks ago during Maternity Leave we took our first visit to Butterfly Wonderalnd in Scottsdale. My sister has an annual membership so we tagged along with her. We had been to the small butterfly exhibit at the Botanical Gardens before but this was a completely different experience. When you first walk in you can enter a theatre and watch a 3D film about butterflies. Everly actually did really good with the 3D glasses and I thought the movie was fascinating. They showed some really up close views/simulation of butterflies and the life cycles and travel they go through.
Plus, who doesn't love 3D? After the film, you can visit the aquarium area where they have some fish tanks and sting rays. It is nothing huge but the kids love it. You can try to feel the sting rays if they come up to your hand but it is not like feeding them at the zoo. The staff was very nice in explaining everything but the toddlers did not have the patience to wait for the sting rays to swim up to them. After the sting ray area, we moved on to the bug/insect area. This was super creepy because, bugs, but it was cool too. They had some scorpions in a tank and a blacklight you could shine in to see them glow which was really neat/freaky. Just typing this I am getting all grossed out because Tarantulas freak me out and the black widow too and bees. Yea, I don't like bugs, but thankfully they all stayed in their cases. Before you move in to the actual butterfly garden, there is a room where you can see all of the caterpillars in their cocoons and it is pretty crazy looking. Once you enter the garden it is insane how many butterflies there are. Like you have to be very conscious not to step on any but, wow, there were some very pretty butterflies. There were just so many different varieties and sizes. Everly was a little worried about them touching her because they are literally flying all around you, but she warmed up a little more by the end. Also, I got a picture of one that landed on her and she had no idea. All in all, I thought it was a really fun trip and the kids liked it too!

 

She actually did really well but this picture is too funny not to share.

 

 

 

 

 

These two crazies...love 'em!

Craft Day #6

A couple weeks ago the kids got to paint again for Craft Day. This time the painting was with legos. My sister let the kids dip big block legos in brown, orange and yellow paint and then stamp them on a white piece of paper. Teddy excelled in this as usual and Everly didn't want to share the paint...shocker! For the most part, though, they did pretty good. After they were done making a random pattern of dots on the paper my sister cut the paper into the shape of an ear of corn and added some brown leaves to the top. The dots from the legos made it look like indian corn and it turned out really cute. Great for fall painting!

 

 

I don't have a picture of the final product but this is the idea from pinterest.

A Visit from Grandpa

Just before Aspen was born my dad had to move to Michigan for work. Even though he travels a lot and we don't see him a ton, it still sucked that he couldn't be there for the birth, baptism, or Everly's birthday. He did happen to be back in town for work a couple of weeks ago so we were happy to have him over for dinner. We made a comforting pasta dish with cappers garlic bread and busted out a bottle of wine we have been saving for about a year and a half from when we went to Keuka Lake for my family reunion (it was delicious by the way). Everly was very excited to see her Grandpa and he brought her a hello kitty pez dispenser which I just caught her sneaking into after dinner last night. A couple days later we went to dinner for Justin's birthday and invited my dad to come along. It was nice to spend a little more time with him before he had to go back. I am thankful for technology because we have been able to FaceTime while he is in Japan for work and well it is no replacement for getting to actually see him it is definitely better than nothing. We miss you, Grandpa!

Everly made a mess that night. 

Aspen joins us for dinner

Wine from Keuka Lake and pasta recipe from Skinny Taste. 

Fishing with Grandpa

At Jusitn's birthday dinner. 

Aspen's Ear Piercing

A couple weeks ago we got Aspen's ears pierced at Fashion Square Mall. She had gotten her 2 month shots and my mom offered to go with me so we headed out to the mall...with two toddlers as well. Just going through the mall with two toddlers is challenging enough but they were actually pretty good. They enjoyed smelling perfumes in Victoria's Secret. When we took Everly to get her ears pierced, she was screaming before we even started. Aspen in general is much calmer. They were able to get both ears pierced with very little screaming and she took her pacifier and was fine. I know lots of people aren't a fan of ear piercing, especially when they are little, but at this age they don't grab at them so it actually works out good. We had no problems with Everly's and have had none with Aspen's either. Thanks to my mom for helping out again and then sweet lady at Claire's for giving the toddlers some lollipops!

she went through like three outfits this day

checking out Santa

shopping at Zara

such an angel. this was about 1 minute after they did it.