Surviving in the Wilde: September Fun 2009

What a busy month September was! And I have a feeling that it was nothing compared to what's in store now that we've officially entered Fall. :) Here is a photo recap of some of the fun things we've done over the past few weeks:

1. During our Wilde Staycation 2009 we purchased a membership to Discovery Place - which also included admission to the Charlotte Nature Museum. Eager to finally have time to check it out I packed a lunch, printed the directions off of mapquest, and loaded up the kids. Almost 1.5 hours later I FINALLY found our destination. (Those who live here can attest to how poorly the city layout is uptown... In this particular instance I was to take Queens Rd. - which comes to an intersection with Queens Rd. That's right - Queens and Queens. What.The.Heck?!) I could go on about that, but the important thing is I found the Charlotte Nature Museum so when we go back I won't need the additional 40 minute detour.

The museum was great! Beautiful scenery, a butterfly pavilion, fun little play areas for pint-sized terrors, all sorts of indigenous creatures like skunks, 'possum's, snakes (both venomous and non-venomous), turtles, frogs, owls, etc., and a nature trail. We can't wait to go back soon!

Don't let the smile fool you...He was scared to death of the butterflies flying all over the enclosed butterfly pavilion! LOL! Granted - there were a LOT of butterflies flying around and I think Eddie was just a little overwhelmed at first.

Jack was all smiles with the butterflies. He was also fascinated with the large shadow-box type incubator that held close to 100 metamorphosing caterpillars. When he found it he turned to me and said, "Mom, Look! A here's where they make their chrysalis!" Smart boy. ;)

This was my best attempt at a picture of the boys together...You don't want to see the other twenty. ;) I finally got them BOTH to simultaneously look at the camera when I said, "Make a monster face!" Eddie's has potential, but Jack's just screams 'inbred hillbilly' to me. I guess that IS kind of scary. ;)

Most of the butterflies we saw were this black/yellow variety. Although there were quite a few hatching monarchs in the incubator, most of them were still drying their wings. So beautiful!

Norah had a great time looking adorable and watching her brothers go crazy. :) What else is new? :)

2. Fun at the Park:

Lately, Miss Eleanor just hasn't been satisfied with sitting peacefully in her stroller when we're out and about. Since throwing rocks in a drainage pipe was keeping the boys adequately entertained I decided to let her explore the park a little bit. Can you tell she was So HaPpY to be out of her stroller?! :)

Her first order of business? Downward facing dog pose. (I know you'll appreciate this one, Dalee. ;)

My Jack

My Eddie (who has recently NOT been too keen on having his picture taken. Can you tell?)

3. Cousin Oliver's Birthday! Last weekend we drove down to SC to celebrate Ollie's first birthday. The whole time we were driving down I remembered like it was just YESTERDAY that I was making the drive to be there for his delivery! How did a year go by so quickly?!

The Birthday Boy! He did a commendable job on his cake (this isn't an 'end result' pic. He became quite a bit more messy as the sugar kicked in. :).

And of course Ollie's favorite cousins enjoyed their fair share of cake, too. :)

Are there words to describe this AMAZING cake?! Jayne spent HOURS and HOURS prepping, freezing, carving, making and rolling fondant, star-tipping homemade cream cheese frosting, etc. to create this spectacular piece of edible art. Why the Alligator? Oliver - Ollie - Olligator... you see the progression. ;) It was painful to watch Seth cut into the cake after the birthday song was sung and the candle was blown out. But alas... it tasted just as wonderful as it looked and besides, we've got pictures. :) I told Jayne that while her end result was truly amazing, she's pretty much set herself up for failure for all future birthdays, lol! Seriously, how will she top this?! I'm excited to see what's in store for next year! (No pressure, Jayne-o! :)

4. Family Home Evenings outside! The weather has been SO lovely lately - not too hot, not too cold - that we've been able to spend a lot of time as a family outside after dinner. We take walks, swing on the swing-set, play soccer, and, of course, bounce. The boys' FAVORITE outside activity is being 'bounced' by Justin or me on the trampoline. It's a great workout! :) (Don't worry - there is a strict 'no bouncing' rule when Norah is on the tramp with us. :) Just this past week Jackson surprised us by confidently declaring he could do a back flip like Daddy. He surprised us even more when he actually DID it! I was probably 50% freaked and 50% impressed. He hasn't been able to land and stay on his feet, but he makes it all the way around and has gotten better by the day. Eddie has been trying to follow in his footsteps, but his 'back-flip' is really just a horizontal dive into the side of the net. It's SO funny to watch! And he's so proud of himself when he does it, too, saying in his excited high-pitched voice, "Mommy, you see my fwips?! Daddy, you see my fwips?! I do fwips!"

5. Random Funny... Last week we had stew for dinner one night. Typically the boys' favorite part of the stew are the potatoes. I usually use regular potatoes, but for this batch I had a bunch of red potatoes to use up instead. I always leave the skins on for the nutrients and have never had a problem, but apparently the color of these particular potatoes didn't appeal to the boys as I turned around from feeding Norah to see the boys doing this: