Field Trip!

Our trip to the zoo was a lot of fun!  Out in the sun with lots of kids... it was also exhausting :)  But Brianna had a nice time with her friends and doing the different art projects along with seeing the animals.  In fact, since this zoo is only about 25 minutes from our house, I think we may buy a year-long family pass so we can all go and enjoy it more often :). 
Brianna checking out what the other kids were doing.

Ok, after a lap around the park she decided she could do it too :)

Checking out the animals... She had a good time, but wasn't her usual smiley bubbly self.  I think she's usually a LOT more reserved at school than she is at home.  Plus, I left the stroller at home (on purpose) and she had to walk a majority of the time.  She was carried some, but she got good and WORN OUT! :)
 
Some of her art projects- this was my favorite and pretty simple too.  They had silicon molds of different paw prints and such and this one was a frog on a leaf.  Brianna was VERY hesitant to start ANY project, but she'd watch the other kids a minute and then she did it (with just a little help so we didn't make a huge mess).  This one they had plastic cups and spoons and she just had to fill the mold with the plaster.  I held the cup and helped her just to make sure the spoon didn't go flinging, but she scooped it out and filled it by herself.   We picked them up at the end of the day and they were dried, removed from the molds, and ready to go.

The theme this year was something to do with space... I'm guessing :)  I don't remember actually seeing it written anywhere... but since all the projects were based around the theme of space...
This is a flying saucer that she colored and put the dot stickers on.  We took it to a nearby bench because she was too short to reach the table.  Then she happily colored!  Go figure she didn't want to color if someone was watching.  Then we went back for the stickers, which she again refused, but if I put them 'on' she would push them on there happily... the third one she did by herself.  Just takes some convincing!

This one she was hesitant to start then took over completely and this morning she finished it with Daddy at home.  It's all stickers and I put the first one on and had to 'push it on' with her hand.  Then she wanted to take the stickers from me and do it herself. YAY!  I know she CAN do these things, and she ENJOYS them, but she can be so shy with people she doesn't know that she'll just say 'no' and watch.

While she did this project (I was holding her for it since, again, she couldn't reach the table...) the ladies at the desk asked about my shirt :)  I was wearing my RR shirt and just briefly said it's a Ds adoption ministry but also does other SN.  They were really interested, was Brianna adopted, etc...  I shared with them that we'd adopted 2 other children, not Brianna, and just a very quick (like, 1 min or less) testimony of Emma.  How she came home at 5 and 17lbs needing heart surgery.  She's now 6, doing great, and we're so blessed to have them each.
I'm glad I also printed out new 'business' cards too and gave a few to the ladies.  They work with "Child Find" which is the group that helps determine whether a child needs to be assessed for ex.ed. services in our county.  

All 3 kids fell asleep in the car on the way home and that was the ONLY nap that Brianna took!  I laid down when we got home too.  Then after the kids went to bed last night I laid down around 7:30 and Mike and I watched a show together until the kids were all really asleep.   I think by 8:30 or 9 I was asleep!  Mike came to bed before 10, so we were both able to get a good night's sleep.  We need to do that more often!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And... just because I thought it was funny... I'll share this little experience from a few nights ago.  I was undressing Emma to get her in the tub from dinner (therefore undressing in the kitchen to leave the remnants of dinner that covered her in the kitchen...).  Kristopher said to me "don't forget her glasses" to which I replied "ok."  Then I put her in the tub.  And realized I'd still left her glasses on!  Oops!  She seemed to enjoy seeing what she was playing with though! LOL  I did take them off :)