Wild Kratts!

We had an unexpectedly fun outing last week when we found out that the Wild Kratt brothers were down in Lakeland.  Karis decided to take the kids and texted Amy,  who was able to skip out on work a little early to join them.  The kids love to watch this animal show, so they were able to shout out the answers throughout the evening.  We invited the Touchards as well, and our other friends such as Bergherms, Biris, Gordacks and Hazens were there in the crowd as well. Fun memories!

Waiting for the show to begin!

Getting Karis in the picture this time!

And they're here!

Getting something to eat during intermission

That Friday was the long-awaited Christmas gift exchange with our Friday evening group of friends.  The kids were excited of course and there was Christmas paper flying everywhere!

Addison has always been our incredibly clever, mischievous "solve any problem" girl.  We have yet to fully solve her sleeping problem at night, and we had purchased some "rewards" for her should she actually sleep in her own bed all night without getting up and waking the Z parents.  We put them in the cabinet above the fridge as this is the only place where she can't get onto the countertop and reach.....or so we thought....

Now this is ingenious!

Saturday night Karis took the boys to a Solar Bear game - scoring tickets for 7 a piece.  The kids had a fun time although they lost...oh well, it's about the experience right!

Random pictures

Helping mom at the fabric store - the felt is as tall as she is!

We finally put up her horse swing that she got for Christmas.  Fun times!

 Phrase of the week:  Addison was eating us one evening out of house and home...which NEVER happens as she is the lightest eater of all the kids.  Amy asked her "Addison, do you have a worm in your stomach - you're eating a lot of food!" and she replied "Yes mommy, I have a gummy worm in there!"  Ha ha ha ha!

Valentine's Park & Day!

Last weekend, we had grand plans to go out to Blue Springs Park to see the reported 300+ manatees - along with the rest of Central Florida apparently because when we got there mid-morning, there were already too many people in the park and we couldn't get it.  So, we stopped off at the nearby Valentine Park and had fun at the playground and soccer field with the other kids.  There were other Adventists there that had planned on an outing to see the manatees as well, so we just hung out enjoying the beautiful weather all day.

This was like a 'whirly-gig' - she took on it and then you could push it and it would swing in circles...enough to make a person dizzy!

The men and boys playing soccer.

The kids were all defending the net!

The the older boys transitioned to basketball

While the little ones played in the sand

The next day was Valentine's Day, and we repeated our tradition last year of getting take-out and having a family dinner in candle-light.  It was very special, and we enjoyed not making supper ourselves!

Making the shape of hearts with their hands...

Afterwards we each opened our Valentine's day cards...

A friend of mine at work gave us her daughter's old winter coat/pants/boots etc.  They are size 5-6 but Addison was so excited that she had to put them on immediately when they came out of the bag.  She even wore the hat to bed that night (and you can see that she is wearing the hat in our Valentine's picture above with the cards!).

Pick me, pick me!

One more picture of Karis' ski trip earlier this month - beautiful!

Our fire alarms have been randomly going off in the middle of the night - so annoying and why is it always in the middle of the night?  Anyway, we finally decided to switch them out and bought the wired kind that have a lithium battery backup - supposedly which will last 5 years or more....so praying that there are no more middle of the night wake-ups!

Phrase of the week:  During our Valentine's day dinner, Addison declared that when she got older she was going to marry Mommy, and that Zachary could marry Daddy and that Kaleb could marry Grandma...  Ha ha - when they're old that will not seem so attractive to marry their parents!

On the road again.

We were sad to see the Z-grandparents head back to Canada two weeks ago - boo!  We enjoyed having them here, and Karis was able to get the playset put up in the backyard with Dennis' help.  It is much smaller than our last one - which we did not realize when we purchased it (the lure of the circular slide and the play kitchen made us less than diligent as we should have been!) but hopefully she will enjoy it for a few years which will be good enough.

We had the Johnsons over that last weekend as well so that we could for 'memory lane' sake play the farming game.  Amy and Kelli entertained the kids for a while while the rest played.  Addison was zonked out for much of the afternoon - even sleeping on Amy's lap while Amy detangled her hair without budging an inch!

Even Zachary played!

Sleeping beauty does not mind the lights and action around her!

And now finally she got up and started to play Hungry Hippo!

Zachary loves to play hockey in the extra garage, and will periodically just go out there to play even by himself.  Elin found her way out there as well and decided to play as well!

During that Sunday's football game, the other team didn't have enough players show up, so they were so short that the game was defaulted but they decided to play just for fun, so Zachary suited up and played for the other team!

Last week, a very odd event occurred - Amy almost never has to travel but she is rolling out a new labor management initiative in the company and so was travelling to the hospitals 

to introduce it in the West Florida area and Texas.  Well, that SAME TIME Karis went on his once annual men's ski trip!!  What are the chances!?  Anyway, Amy's mom was once again our lifesaver and kept the kids while we were out of town.  That weekend, Amy did come home before heading out to Texas so they had some fun cooking and watching the Superbowl etc.   That week, Blake ended up getting croup which then spread to all of our kids starting with Addison.  Thankfully she was not as bad as Kaleb was at this age, but it still meant that she was sleeping with us (to her delight and our sleep-deprivation!)

The ladies making banana bread muffins!

 Jennifer came up with a great outreach idea for the kids at church and had them create Valentine's cards for the widows.  Zachary made one for Aunt Louise and Kaleb made one for Ivalee.  So sweet!

On Sunday before the big game, Blake and Evan came over to play for a while.  The kids had fun, and even managed to make their "gold fish" valentine's treats for class!  Blake and Evan even helped so that it would go faster!

 The Sunday evening of course was at the Cochrans watching the Superbowl.  We were a house divided - with Zachary hoping for the Panthers and Kaleb and Amy rooting for the Broncos.  We all know how that turned out.....  It was a great evening as always with friends!  They had a really clever "bingo commercial" game and the winners were able to choose their prize.  Kaleb was the first winner, followed by John Mark!

Showing off their spoils!

We left at half-time, and came home to watch the rest with Grandma who was watching Addison (didn't take her with the croup).  You can see how happy (not!) Zachary was with the score of the game, and also who Grandma is cheering for with the look of happiness on her face!

And Kaleb is just tired....

Karis on the other hand was enjoying some beautiful weather and skiing - he always has such a great time going.  This was standing at the top of the giant slalom course at Snow Basin.

During Amy's Texas trip, she encountered the largest gas station ever.  It was HUGE.  Two super long rows of pumps plus it was the size of a strip mall inside the station - you could get full on food, groceries, home decorations, a gazillion kinds of jerkey and Icees.....you name it.  The second odd things is that there was a huge parking lot.....for who?  Do that many people come and just shop?  And there were no semis allowed!!!

Phrase of the week:  During tonight's supper, Addison told Amy - When I am older, I am going to marry you!  And Daddy will marry Zachie and Kaleb will marry Grandma B!  Apparently we are all marrying each other.... :)

This Little Light of Mine

Addison, along with her other Sabbath School mates, had the spotlight at church last week when they went on at the 3rd service to sing This Little Light of Mine.  They were as cute as ever - which allowed for many mistake to be made and the audience to still think it was precious!  There were two little boys who were fascinated with the microphones, and it was not long before Addison decided that she couldn't resist either and reached out and grabbed it like an apple!  Thank goodness the sound manager had turned off the sound we believe, because it didn't register the bang it surely would have made with her hand over it!  She was so proud of herself!

Getting all lined up

The family had a fun outing this week when they went to the Solar Bears game. Addison did not need a late out night, so she came for a date night with Amy to Amy's office, and then out to Tijuana Flats. Each respective party had a great time!

Karis' iphone is TERRIBLE at taking pictures, so this was the only good one even though many were taken.  BOO!  The grandparents were here and of course the little kids as well. Blake and Evan came as Amy and Addison didn't come.

Addison was quite pleased to see Amy's office and the picture of the kids there!

Enjoying our dinner date out!

On Friday, we headed over to Tampa Zoo for the annual field trip!  It is always a fun outing and it has become a tradition for Amy to take off the day.  This year Gram-Z and Papa-Z joined our fun!

He's a great horned owl!

Macaw!

Evan kicked his foot and his shoe flew up into a tree that was in a segregated area right by the alligator pond.  Kaleb was brave enough to be lifted up to retrieve the shoe!  He saved the shoe - what a hero!

The carousel is always as hit!

Even the big boys enjoyed it!

There is a section with little kid rides that we spent quite a bit of time at - riding the train, the banana boats, eating lunch etc.  The favorite tiger roller coaster was not up and running, nor was the water ride - Alligator Falls - much to the parents delight! :)

Finally, it was time for the BEST part of the zoo - the giraffe and Lorrikeet feedings!  Amy was determined that Connie and Dennis would experience both activities as it would be a first for them.  The timing was perfect for both events, so we didn't have to wait long at all!

This couldn't have been more perfect if we tried!  Look how close the giraffe is!

Connie managed to touch the giraffe's nose, and laughed with delight afterwards!

This was Addison's first giraffe feeding - she was a brave girl this time!

Dennis got up close and personal when he left the giraffe eat his lettuce!

Then Addison had one last chance to feed the giraffe!

In the Lorrikeet cage, they were all eager to eat the nectar so they immediately came over to start eating.  Several ended up sitting on Zachary, Connie and Amy's hands.  Kaleb fed one on the chain fence and Addison just watched.  Amy did have the "joy" of having one leave a dropping on her hair, but thankfully Papa-Z came to the rescue and cleaned her up! :)  

Throughout the day, there are always the attempt to get nice pictures of the kids just having fun with their friends.

What a great natural smile picture!

The little boys are always charming!

Enjoying their Icees and ice cream cones - yummy!

Minor miracle to get all 3 looking at the once!

Good-bye until next year!

Phrase of the week:  Kaleb was talking to Gram-Z early one morning and asked her - "Gram, were you born in 1778?"  Ha ha - Yes, and I am over 200 hundred years old!!  Goodness gracious!!