Getting Settled

Of course our first outing was to a zoo. The Franklin Park Zoo. We went on a Wednesday morning and were there with roughly 5 different school field trip groups. It was crowded. The parents accompanying the school groups were infinitely worse than any of the children!

 Galina got to ride a carousel (her first!) and a Jeep ride. She loved the Jeep and I'm quite certain that she actually thought she was driving that thing. I loved watching her! And she very patiently waved for me each time she went by :)

 Johnny wasn't happy that he had to sit the jeep ride out. He did ride the carousel, but those pictures are on Brian's phone (see pic above:).

Galina riding a "horse".

I know this trip was more for Galina than it was for Johnny, but he did enjoy looking at the animals. I promise!

I asked Brian to build an extra shelf for me in the laundry room, and that, of course, required a trip to Home Depot. When Brian got back he had enough wood to make about ten shelves, and he also brought home a bird/squirrel feeder and cracked corn seed. He also brought seed packets to grow his own corn (which he planted, but apparently it's my lot to water and weed...). 

Anyhow, the feeder is a hit. I don't think we'll be able to afford to keep it full at the rate the squirrels and birds are emptying it out. But the kids enjoy watching them! The dogs, however, want to eat the squirrels. Good thing squirrels are fast!

 We even have a little chipmunk that visits!

 Yesterday the feeder was empty and I swear a little squirrel walked up to the glass sliding doors and looked at me like, "Well? You gonna fill it up?"

So we did, and he was happy.

The kids playing:

We don't normally do bubble baths - they're not sanitary. But we had a bottle of bubbles and I figured I'd see what Johnny thought of them...

Not too much to begin with!

 He started to warm up and then Galina joined the party. 

 He ended up enjoying them, and thank goodness they're all gone now!

Yesterday I sat down to practice on the piano for a minute, Brian entertained the kids for me. Once I was done, and walked out, Johnny stopped me in the hallway and wouldn't let me pass until I picked him up. He's pretty convincing :)

Well...I'm home. With two kids. No truck. It's overcast outside. My fabric is on its way (to recover a couch) and I want to go to an Estate Auction tomorrow because I want a dresser for my bedroom (and a thousand other things that I won't be able to afford!). We'll see if I make it. I don't know if I need to bring cash or not...I guess this is a good time to go look up the pin number on my debit card!