When I Grow Up....

Fan-C is my duckling that is always professing to all what she will be someday. Her lists usually always includes at least one of the Disney princesses, this week is Belle from Beauty & The Beast. She will usually also include her desire to be a 'mommy' and that she intends on marrying her daddy. I have tried to explain to her that daddy is not available any longer but her little five year old mind is simply convinced that somehow it will all work out. Yesterday mommaduck and her little ducklings were traveling home from a short visit with daddyduck, at his work. We came upon an accident. A really bad accident. A woman had been T-boned on her passenger side which flipped her around and left her car mangled and she injured in the middle of traffic. The person who hit her, "ran". I can't imagine that they "ran" very fast... they had to have major front end damage but, they were no where to be seen. We were traveling the opposite direction and I noticed that traffic was not stopping to assist this woman. They were merging into one lane and driving on. I flipped my phone open and dialed 911 sure that I would be one of many calling in this major accident. 911 dispatched the ambulance and police per MY phone call. Not one soul had simply dialed 911, even as they merged past her. I drove to an area where I could make a U-turn and get back to assist this woman. Emergency dispatch took my information and during the call informed me that a second call was coming in. This must have been at least 2 - 3 minutes later! The ducklings kept asking why I was upset and why were we going back to help this woman. I explained to them the HUMAN DECENCY that we should all posses and that we needed to make sure that she could go to the hospital and get her "ouchies" fixed. We stayed until the fire department, ambulance & policemen were on scene. We finally pulled away and from the back seat little miss Fan-C said, "I want to be a policeman when I grow up." I told her that was a very admirable job and then told her that a man we already know is a policeman. I asked her why she was choosing this job. Her response, " I want to help people who get hurt in accidents." Well, my little miss Fan-C I hope you do one day become someone who will always help people whether as a policeman or whatever you may ultimately choose.

The Tank is 4!!!!

The Tank with is Jungle/Dinosaur cake
There is the handsome Tank-man!!
The Tank and Fan-C enjoying cake at the party.
Tiggggggger PJ's... LOVES them.

The Tank is 4! Wow, the big man is getting bigger.
He had a great party with family at a pizza parlor that has a carousel.
The Tank has NEVER liked to ride the horses. He enjoys sitting in the bench seats they have on board. BUT, tonight for his last ride... He got on a horse! He was BEAMING!
My brother came to get me and so I went to see what he wanted and there was the Tank riding as proud as can be and waving like crazy. I waved back and then yelled out... 'agggghhhh, I left my camera in the party room!' Oh well, I got to see my big man's first ride. Way to go little cowboy!

Happy Easter

The Tank showing his 'haul' from the egg hunt...
Tiny-T got a few eggs herself at the egg hunt...
The Zoo Crew ready for church on Easter Sunday...
Fan-C with cousins after the egg hunt...

Saturday was BEAUTIFUL! (oh but sooooo cold) The annual egg hunt/BBQ was awesome. Time for the Zoo Crew to have fun and play with the cousins. Our Easter Bunny comes on Saturday since he isn't as good as Santa and can't get to all the houses in one night. So we get to be one of his early stops. Yippee! That means no sugar high for Easter sacrament meeting!!!!

Happy Easter!

For Sale...

For Sale: One Hyper-Active Tank!!!

He is up before sunrise and then refuses to go to sleep at night.

He comes with a huge entourage of animals (all stuffed) which he must sleep with.

He has radar so he knows when even ONE is missing.

He loves his tools one minute but then the next he is dressed head to toe as a princess or a ballerina. (see above picture)

He eats maybe five different foods. (good luck with meal planning)

Forget being able to concentrate on Church meetings... he is climbing, swinging or screaming the entire meeting.

BUT, he does give the best hugs and kisses.

When he wakes up from naps he likes to cuddle.

He is my little love-bug!

He says the funniest things ~ that kid's brain is always running.

Forget it. I'm going to keep this one.

Please disregard this advertisement.

This Tank is no longer for sale ~ he's stayin' with his momma!

Gone fishin'...

The Zoo Crew up close and personal with the starfish... Fan-C & the Tank were fearless...
The Tank and Otter
Fan-C visiting with her Otter pal...
The Zoo Crew in the Passages of the Deep... note that the Tank pulled his hat on... he was convinced that he was going to get wet since this is a giant glass tube that you walk through. They really LOVED the section that had all the sharks in it.

WE took the zoo crew to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, OR. We had never been there before. It is NOW the Tank's "most favoritest place - EVER". He was so excited that they LET him touch starfish, sea anenomes, sea cucumbers... and more spiky slimy scary stuff. Okay so it is only slimy and scary for mommaduck, the Tank had ZERO FEAR. I kept having to pull him out of their touch tank. Give him hip-wadders and he would have been gone. Fan-C loved the huge tanks of jellyfish. They look like they are ballet dancers, slow & graceful... beautiful to watch. (also Mommaduck's fav) Tiny-T loved the Japanese Spider Crabs. HUGE! They live in the bottom of the ocean, down deep where it is all but black. They have eight long legs like a spider and then on their two front legs they have these tiny pinchers. They are giant creatures but tiny little pinchers. They must eat small fish or whatever goes down that deep. She walked right up to the tank and kept saying... "Hi doggie..." Oh, Tiny-T they are not doggies but you could be their lunch. Their bodies were bigger than the kids heads.

The Zoo Crew gone Wild!!!

The Zoo Crew posin' in front of flamingos at Wildlife Safari.
The Zoo Crew showin' their true wild side...
Tiny-T my cute little lambi-kins...

We took the crew to Wildlife Safari, again. Per an earlier post, to say that the Tank loves this place is a complete understatement. We drove through their park (twice!) and then go inside their little "Village". That is where the pics were taken. We got to see the hippos running around and then rolling in their "pond". The park keepers were taking the three elephants for their daily walk around the park... oh my word! I pulled over and rolled down our windows. The elephants were maybe two feet from our faces! No one said one word. My kiddos just sat in silent awe. That was amazing. The Tank got to stand two feet from the cheetah (his animal of the week). No tigers ~ they are not shown during the winter months. We'll go again in the Summer... then the zoo crew can ride an elephant and go on the train through the park... two of their most favorite things to do at Wildlife Safari.

Snow days...

The Zoo Crew bundled up and having fun.
The Tank, my little mountain man, did NOT want to come in even after two hours in the snow!
Fan-C enjoyed the snow and hitting daddyduck with all her snowballs.
Tiny-T stood in one spot the entire time. She laughed and squeeled and did NOT want to come in either... she is usually my "first one to call it quit-girl" but not today!
Daddyduck takes aim at Mommaduck (who was inside the house - nice & warm)

Okay, I know it has been awhile. But, we got snow.... LOTS of snow at the end of January. At one point we had over eight inches of snow in our backyard. It was so beautiful. Snow makes the world calm to me. It is so peaceful and quiet. Then I unleashed the zoo crew and well, pretty tranquil snow was no more... Enjoy!

"Hide in Sink!"

While finishing up with dinner-prep I overhear the Tank counting really fast all the way to twelve... followed by, "Ready or not... I'm coming!" The Tank is on the hunt. He is trying to track down Tiny-T who hides in the exact same spot every single time. She crawls into the shoe corner~ now Tiny-T LOVES shoes so this is an obvious spot on so many levels. But the Tank always heads off to the bedrooms first. I guess he is sure that this is the time Tiny-T will finally pick a new spot. But, in the end he comes out into the dining room and shouts..."Oh I found you!". They both squeal like it is a new thing. On their way back to the Tank's counting corner he stops and says, "We are playin' Hide In Sink!" I said, "Oh, that sounds cool... but don't you mean hide AND SEEK?" He stopped once more and says, "Nope. We are playin' hide IN SINK." I laughed at him and said, "Okay, well dude that is going on the blog."

SkateWorld Party...

Tiny-T loved the glow-sticks
Not the Tank's best picture... but proof he was in skates for a minute!
Fan-C thought she was the 'bomb' but....

this is how she looked most of the time... (1st time on skates)

The Zoo Crew was invited to a birthday party at a local skating rink. Fan-C informed us that she was going to do great and didn't need any help. She already knew how to skate. She had never had skates on in her life. She got her skates on, informed her daddy that she didn't need him to hold her hand and BOOM! She was sitting on the floor. Fan-C became one with the floor the majority of the time. She even got to the point where she was crawling on the carpet to get from place to place.
The Tank got on his skates and grabbed mommaduck's hand and off he went. He kept his balance really well. He took small steps and coupled with the fact that he weighs nothing... he did fine on the skates. He got tired really fast and when I suggested that he could take off the skates for a "break" ~ he took me up on that and that was it for his skating experience. He ran around in his stocking feet and still had a great time. He requested a song and belted it out with the crowd. "Sweet Escape" ~ Tank refers to it as the "WooHoo Song".
Tiny-T is only two, so we didn't even attempt skates on her. Daddyduck and I figured we each already had to hold up a duckling a piece, so she just hung around with her daddy. She was loving her glow-stick. They had the lights off a lot of the time so she really could see her necklace. She is all girl, 'have accessories ~ will travel'.
Daddyduck and I were tired! My arms felt BUFF, holding up falling ducklings is a workout. We had a great time, tons of laughs at mommaduck's siblings expense. They all thought they could skate like they could twenty years ago... they soon discovered that it is not quite like 'riding a bike'. The Zoo Crew had fun and Fan-C wants to go AGAIN!

New Year for the Zoo Crew

"What - eVER"
The Princess
"Driver's start your engines...."

Another year has flown by and we are on the verge of entering another exciting year. Christmas was great. The ducklings are getting old enough to figure out that there is something exciting to wake up for on Christmas morning. Tiny-T got a new princess dress that she wore the entire day. The Tank got a Lightening McQueen Power Wheels car... ugh! Oh my word... this seemed like such a great idea in September when I found it online and with FREE shipping (my favorite selling point). My son, the Tank, is bound for NASCAR... he is obsessed with his wheels. Fan-C got a dress up carousel closet with dress up outfits. She spent the day changing her clothes like fifty times. You think I am exaggerating... I bet I have understated the actual number. She wanted me to take her picture with each change. He favorite phrase for the day, "What - eVER" (emphasis added by her). She is only five years old... "and so it begins". :o)

Christmas~~~

Hello ducky friends...

We hope this finds you all happy and healthy and having the best Christmas season ever.

Our little ducklings are so excited about Christmas... we went and cut down a tree on the 15th. Tank found every stick in the forest, Fan-C kept tromping off on her own which caused Mommaduck much stress and little Tiny-T stayed right with me the entire trip. Tiny-T is NOT a lover of the outdoors. She doesn't like getting cold, wet or dirty. Kind of kills the outdoor experience for the Northwest. We found a beautiful nine foot noble. Now, if daddyduck tells the story... he had to haul it five miles uphill to the truck. We were only about 1/4 of a mile from the truck, it was downhill the entire way. BUT, the tree is heavy. I couldn't help haul it~~~ a HUGE rain/wind storm came up on us really fast and I had to literally hold up the Tank and Tiny-T to keep them from sliding off into the giant mudpits. The kids were soaked, cold and hungry. Makes for a great combo... but the tree is big and beautiful. Pic in the corner is the tree with the cute ducklings...

November come & GONE!

This is either Dasher or Dancer...
Zoo Crew w/cousins in sleigh for two...
"Oh Good Morning Guys!" Tiny-T & her BIG hat

I just thought I would jump back onto this fun little thing. Holy Cow! A complete month has come and gone! So I will just give you a quick run through of the fun filled events of November.

We took all the little ducklings to the zoo for my birthday. The Tank is obsessed with animals. He eats, breathes, LIVES for animals. To say he was in heaven is the world's biggest understatement of the century. He had a specific list of his must-see animals. They included (in no particular order) elk (reindeer), giraffe, tiger & alligator. We enter the zoo with the Tank telling the ticket taker that he is on his way to see the "reindeer", I kinda whisper "the elk" before she shatters his hopes and dreams and says something completely ridiculous like, "Oh, we don't have any reindeer." She heard my interjection and said, "Oh, wow... that should be really neat." I flash her a relieved "Thank you" smile and we are on our way. The girls were excited too. But one minute of looking at the black bear and they were ready to move on. The Tank, on the other hand, could not bear (no pun intended) to pull himself away from his new friend. We finally find the "reindeer". The Tank leaves me in the dust and runs up the steps to the lookout point. I join him and find that all the elk are being snobs and hanging out in the nearby trees. They must sense the crispness in the air and just instinctively know it is hunting season. I pick him up and point at the only visible part of the elk... it's rump. Well, the Tank was looking for the huge racks and not being able to see them was not convinced that this was his beloved reindeer. He heard them bugle a couple of times and finally decided that was enough of that.
We finally get to the area where the giraffe is supposed to be and there is NO giraffe. Well mommaduck is about to have a complete meltdown in the Africa Safari section of this zoo. I have been listening to every known fact of the giraffe since leaving the elks. My Tank MUST see his giraffe. A zoo keeper comes around the corner and I ask where the giraffe are. He tells us they are getting him ready to go in a crate to the doctors. (Flashes of Madagascar the movie start up in my head.) We find the huge window where he is eating. The Tank was like five inches from the giraffe. The kid went nuts. That made the whole trip for me.
We have been wandering through this zoo for over three hours now. We have been inches from a polar bear (highlight for the Tank as well), watched the live feeding of the penguins and witnessed a cougar eat his dinner (a little brown calf). I thought that might freak the ducklings out... nope, they didn't even flinch. Mommaduck flinched. We go around the final corner and there are two GIANT Siberian Tigers. The Tank was so in awe he was actually speechless and when he spoke, it was only to whisper. He kept telling me that he loved the tigers. They were amazing to see. As we are leaving the Tank checking off all the animals he has seen on his fun filled day comes to the alligator. He quickly informs us that we have missed an animal. I really don't know how we could have. But, he was correct. We did not come across the alligator. I am one wore out mommaduck and so I said it, "Well, Tank... it is just so cold today that the alligator didn't want to come out. He likes hot days, not cold days. Guess, we'll have to come back on a hot day to see him." Daddyduck raised an eyebrow, the Tank was satisfied with his momma's lie... I mean answer. Life was good. We experienced the zoo. As I was seat belting him in he looks at me and says, "When can we go to the Safari again?" (another animal center in our area) "Not until Spring." Tank then starts running through all his plans for the upcoming trip... heaven help me!

This last weekend was Thanksgiving. It has been sooooo cold! Really unseasonably cold, for our area. One of the local malls does a tree lighting festival. We took the ducklings to that. Tiny-T was wearing a hat that was wayyyyy too big for her. I kept having to pull it up so she could see. She was riding on her daddyduck's shoulders and I reached up and pulled it out of her face... she looked at us surprised and yelled, "Oh, good morning guys." It was so funny. My brother and sister-in-law and their crew were with us and they thought that was the funniest event of the night.
Fan-C thought the pretty trees and a sleigh set up for picture taking was "so cool". I've decided that she is growing up way to fast for me. We loaded six kids into a two person sleigh and clicked away. Frosty was walking around and our kiddos all went over and danced with him to the Christmas jazz music being played in the center of the courtyard.
The Tank got to see two reindeer. A local farm brings them to all the Christmas events. He stood by their cage and kept talking to them. One was getting pretty feisty and tired. She didn't want to be there any longer. She yelped out and came right up to the cage leading with her horns and freaked the yogi right out of the Tank. He ran for me and then wouldn't approach the cage any more. We got some great pictures - up at the beginning of this post.
We hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving holiday and are all ready for Christmas... We ARE!

Day of Ouchies...

I have to repent of sorts today... I know why Tiny-T is a whining mess. All FOUR of her eye teeth have decided to make their debut at the same time. She climbed on my lap this morning and said, "I hurt..." I asked her where and she opens her mouth as big as she can open it and there they were. The tip of FOUR eye teeth all pushing through her red swollen gums. Poor baby. She got a couple of gogurts today to numb out her gums. She was a breeze today. A few moments of meltdown but, NOTHING like yesterday.
Fan-C went to the doc today. Her five year old check-up and shots. The poor girl had to get FOUR. Not little prick shots. Full length "burning" shots. She added the burning part. She did great. Our nurse is FABULOUS. The best nurse EVER. She keeps the kids so entertained that they don't even realize she is giving them shots. Fan-C usually falls for it too... but today by shot number three, distraction was NOT working. Never fear, mommy to the rescue.... hold still and we will go buy some shoes! It worked. She is sporting new purple sketchers. The shoes were part of the plan all along... but she didn't know that. Whatever works.
Finally, the Tank. I get home from the doctor with Fan-C and bribery shoe shopping to find the Tank running out into the garage to meet me. "Mommy, you're home." "Yes, I am. What happened to your HEAD?!?" "Daddy hurt me." said while wearing the world's poutiest mouth ever. "Uhhhhh, honey what happened?" For the next five minutes I listened to Tank trying to explain and my dear sweet husband trying to throw in the real story in between breathes. Long story short, 'daddy' was taking toys away from the Tank and Tiny-T who were in World War Ten over these treasures and the Tank's head collided with dear husband's finger nail. Now the Tank is playing up his war injuries to the hilt.
So, we end our day with OUCHIES but all is well. The ducklings are tucked snug in their beds refueling their energy cells for another fun filled day at the pond. Yippee tomorrow is Friday!
Have a wonderful day y'all.

As the pond swirls....

Okay, so this has been a day from honky-doo. My lovely ducklings have been in rare form today and driving me about crazy. Fan-C woke and declared that she would NOT be going to school today. I quickly informed her that school was not an optional thing. By the time I needed to be getting her to school, I checked to see if she wanted to go. She said, "I want to go..." I had almost hoped that she didn't want to go any more. But, off to school she went.

Tank pipes up on the way to Fan-C's school to inform me of his planned menu for the day. This is a daily occurance. I have learned not to confirm his impending menu because then he won't let it go the entire day. He just keeps asking over and over when his next meal or snack is. Now, this child eats. He is a picky eater. But, what he will eat, he eats. If outsiders were to hear how "obsessed" he is with his daily menus they might think that this boy is being deprived meals. Which he is not and trust me, HE would inform the world if he had to miss even ONE snack.

Tiny-T has spent her fun-filled day (term used loosely) whining. I swear there has been maybe one, five minute time frame where she actually played and it didn't involve whining or crying. She gets tons of sleep. She eats great. She just is having that kind of day.

*sigh*

There are days where I feel like I am in the movie "Groundhogs Day". Where you wake up day after day and it is the same story and events repeated. How do you get out of that movie???

This is mommaduck's endless quest... I'm off to tame the zoo crew.

Have a great day!

Welcome to the Zoo Crew...

I'm a SAHM of four. "Stay-at-home" is very misleading. I'm always on the go...

I want this space to be a place where I can share the funny stuff my ducklings are always doing.

So, welcome to Mommaduck's crazy world.