Living Planet Aquarium

The Living Planet aquarium is one of the neatest places! I can't believe we waited this long to go there and I can not wait to go back again!

I love how the starfish was right up to the window so we could get a good look at it.

Jellyfish!

Brooklyn's favorite animal was the penguins. She found a stuffed one in the gift shop to bring home with her.

Sharks!

As we're watching the sharks, out of nowhere comes this eel. It really scared me!

McKenzie's favorite part was the stingrays. She did not want to pet the ones in the petting tank but when I finally got her to she was glad she did. She ended up finding a stuffed one to take home. It was so crazy how they come up and out of the water right to you.

Of course Nemo was there. No fish collection could be complete without him!

I love the seahorses! Reading about them and seeing how little and delicate they are was so neat!

So there's this funny thing that happens when you ask Chad what he wants or what sounds good for dinner. He always says "Steak and Lobster" When the girls saw this lobster they knew that Chad would love it because it was soooo big! We had to take their pictures with it so he could see just how big it was!

Electric Eel. It was weird to be in that hall and hear the hum to indicate he was in stunning or hunting mode.

Brooklyn couldn't get enough of the machine that allows you to "Feel the Eel" She kept doing it over and over and just giggling. McKenzie wouldn't even touch it!

Had to post a picture of a piranha. Funny they look so cute but are so vicious!

Deuce Bigelow anyone?

Read-A-Thon Reward Party!

Tonight we got to celebrate McKenzie's success at a Read-A-Thon Fundraiser Party. Over a 10 day period from February 28th to March 9th she set a reading goal to read 200 minutes in those 10 days. She collected pledges beforehand and over the 10 days we read 232 minutes. She was able to collect $168.20. For the money she raised, we got to go to a party tonight. They had pizza for dinner, a coloring corner, face painting, a storybook corner, and if you brought a can of food to donate you got a raffle ticket for one of many prizes. She also got to collect the prizes she earned. For prizes she got an extra raffle ticket, skittles, a free ice cream cone, a giant cookie coupon, a bookmark, a movie pass, $6 to spend at the upcoming book fair, a "Reading Sparks the Imagination" T-shirt, a book and a bean-bag chair. (She was one of less than about 15 kids from her whole school that earned enough for all the prizes!)

Chad won a hat and I won a refill mug from the raffle. McKenzie also won a 2nd book! Poor Brooklyn didn't win anything but she had so much fun with all the other stuff going on she didn't even notice. Everyone who pledged and donated $20 or more gets a book donated in their name to the school library. All together the students read 26,731 minutes. It was one of the best fundraisers I've ever seen. Much better that buying a roll of wrapping paper or some other over priced item from a silly catalog! We are so proud of McKenzie for doing so well with it and can't say THANK YOU! enough to those of you who pledged and gave money for this!

Finally ... a complete big girl bed!

We FINALLY have Brooklyn's new big girl bed ready.... Blankets and all!

We got the bed a couple weeks ago and had planned on giving her the blanket set for her birthday but it's been a disaster actually getting one. We found one we loved online and when we ordered it, it was supposed to be delivered during the week before her birthday. It kept getting delayed more and more to the point that it would not be here in time so we found one at the store we loved and when we got it home we discovered that they had shipped the other one that day and we could not longer cancel it. It turned out that the one we found was a twin/full size and a little too big so we took it back and decided to wait for the other one to come. It arrived 3 days after her birthday and was only a duvet cover. (I realize it was totally my fault for not reading that part carefully but it didn't make it any less frustrating!) So since we had a trip planned down to Salt Lake on Saturday we decided to just return it to the store and pick up the actual comforter set while we were there. Well, wouldn't you know that they were out of that one in a twin size. Luckily she saw this one and fell in love with it. I doesn't have any yellow in it to match the walls but still looks very cute in there! I'm so happy to FINALLY have it and as you can see so is she! :)

Rock Star Birthday Party!

I can not believe that my baby girl is already 4 years old! Where does the time go? This year we chose a Rock Star theme for her party. She really is our little Rock Star! I took the day off and we spent the day together making dinner for our party guests and making/decorating her cake and cupcakes. It would not have been complete if I hadn't let her lick the frosting off the decorator when we finished and put sprinkles on the cupcakes!

I let her open one present before the party... a new outfit (with a Rock ★ shirt) that she could wear for her party. I also made hair bows to match the shirt and all the decorations!

All dressed up and ready for a party!

I let her help me decorate...

and set out her presents.

Finally it was time! She blew out the candles...

We ate cake and ice cream...

And she opened lots of fun and very much loved gifts!

She was so excited to get the Rockstar Zhu-Zhu pet from Kenzie!

And Kenzie, being the great reader she is, was so sweet to read all her birthday cards to her (including this one she made special, all by herself!)

We sent everyone home with a treat bag full of everything a Rock Star needs... tattoos and ring pops, glow-bracelets and so much more! Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us! We love you all!

(She got to go shopping and picked these out with $ she got from Grandma Jean, Aunt Wendy & Roger and Trish) Thanks everyone!

Happy Valentine's Day!

All dressed up for Valentine's Day!