Brookfield Zoo Christmas Lights and the mother of all meltdowns.

On the last Day of November we took the kids to the Brookfield Zoo to see the Christmas lights. 

They were all bundled up and we were looking forward to a fun evening as a family.

It started out great, everyone was smiling and excited to see the lights.

The zoo went all out with huge trees and Christmas lights and decorations everywhere.

They even had animal characters dressed up to greet and take pics with the kids. 

Things were going good, but shortly after we arrived we decided to let the kids ride the carousel while we waited for the giant tree lighting ceremony. 

They all had a great time, especially Cam who was enamored with the kangaroo he had chosen to ride. 

The trouble started when the ride ended. 

Cam was distraught that he had to get off. 

He just couldn't understand why he must part with his beloved kangaroo. 

The poor boy cried and cried. 

I tried taking him away from the carousel to get his mind off it. He kept crying, 

"Kangaroo! Kangaroo!" 

I tried buying him treats and popcorn, he didn't want them. 

"Kangaroo! Kangaroo!

I tried taking him to see the actual kangaroos in the zoo, but when he realized they weren't the carousel kangaroo, he really started wailing!

"KANGAROO! KANGAROO!"

So I had no other choice, I took him back to the carousel, to wait in the long line again so he could ride that dang kangaroo. 

And this is where having a kid on the autism spectrum can escalate a situation like this into a pretty epic meltdown... As is very common for spectrum kids, when Cam gets his mind set on something, he can't be deterred, he has very rigid expectations and doesn't cope well with variations to those expectations. Cam's mind was set on riding the kangaroo. Waiting in line was excruciating for him and he cried the whole time. Finally they opened the gate and dozens of kids rushed in to pick their animal. 

There were 2 kangaroos. 

We ran to the first but it got snatched right before we got there. 

I saw the other one across the way. 

No one was on it.

I hightailed it over there as fast as my pregnant booty could hustle. 

Cam saw the kangaroo. 

It was his! 

But then a second before we got there another mom plopped her 2 year old on top of it. 

Cam was hysterical. 

Oh how he screamed and screamed!

"KANGAROO! *loud wailing scream* KANGAROO!!

I politely asked the mom if there was any way her son would be willing to ride a different animal. 

Seeing Cam's hysteria, she tried to coax her 2 year old off but he stubbornly said, "no, my kangaroo."

The mom felt horrible but it wasn't her fault and we were making a scene, so after all that waiting in line, I hauled Cam off the ride to wait in line again. I explained to the operator what had happened and she kindly let us stay at the front of the line to wait for the next kangaroo. 

Having to wait again made Cam crazy. 

As he kicked and screamed on the ground, a small herd of kids pushed past us to the front. 

I was too busy dealing with Cam to say anything and just hoped they wanted to ride different animals.

Then as the ride slowed down, I heard one of the boys claim the kangaroo. 

Oh no he didn't.

Mama bear picked screaming Cam up off the ground and walked over to the boy, 

"Sorry, that is MY son's kangaroo."

The boy's sister said, "well my brother wants it."

I looked at her at the edge of insanity and dared her with my crazy eyes to try and take it from me. 

She wisely backed down and Mama bear and Cam pushed our way back to the front. 

The gate opened again. 

We claimed our kangaroo.

And all was right again in Cam's little world. 

After that we got as far away from the carousel as we could. 

We took him to the monkey house, and with carousels and kangaroos far from his mind, he was finally able to relax and enjoy the zoo. 

Daddys are more fun to ride than kangaroos anyway :)

Grilled Turkeys, Turkey Trots, and Thanksgiving 2013

The week before Thanksgiving, Taber's team had their own little Thanksgiving Feast at work. Everyone brought potluck and Taber, being the stud that he is, volunteered to cook the turkey. He got up at the crack of dawn to grill that sucker up.  I was impressed.

There were a few leftovers but they were quickly devoured by the wild animals back at home. 

The day before Thanksgiving, the Hanks fam came up to spend the rest of the week with us.

Thanksgiving morning Taber and Kevin braved the frigid cold to run a 4 mile turkey trot. 

They both kicked butt and clocked some pretty fast times.

Meanwhile Naomi and I were back at home cooking for the feast we would have with some friends later that afternoon. 

We joined up with 3 other families and a pair of missionaries for Thanksgiving dinner.

 There was a ton of delicious food and we stuffed ourselves silly.

 Always fun to share Thanksgiving with friends. 

 The rest of the week was spent having fun with Hanks fam back at home. The girls gave each other makeovers and auntie Naomi was even game enough to let them do her make up and nails. 

Naomi and I went Black Friday shopping which was hugely successful

 We also got a babysitter and went to see Catching Fire. It was awesome!

 And the girls had a blast playing the wii and just being cute cousins together. 

All in all it was a great holiday and such a blessing to have family close by to share it with. 

The cutest little Pilgrim that you ever did see

Back in November Brinley had a kindergarten performance about the first Thanksgiving.

She played the part of a pilgrim woman. Cutest little Pilgrim you ever did see. 

After the performance the parents got to go up to their classroom and see the things they'd been working on.

Brinley was very proud to show me her sweet little hand print turkey. 

Kindergartners are just the cutest. 

Phone Pics from November 2013

 Here are some of my favorite random pics from our phones that we took in November:

 Brinley discovered she could do the splits

Baby bump was still just a bump :)

 Hit Graham's for some hot cocoa with my cute young women from church. 

 Brinley had several playdates with her new BFF from Kindergarten. They love to give each other makeovers.

 Also caught Brinley strutting around the house in this fabulous beach hat/pajama/granny glasses combo. She's a cutie that girl. 

 Now that Teya can read I often find her with her nose buried in one of the blog books I've made. It's moments like this that motivate me to keep blogging, even when it gets hard. (or when I'm 3 months behind ;)

Taber took Brinley on a special Daddy/daughter date. They went to lunch and then got ice cream at Graham's. Love these pics of their ice cream faces.  

We had our first snow fall

 And even though it was barely an inch, that didn't stop the girls from going out there and building some snow cones. 

We did lots of baking with friends

 And Cam caught the baking bug too. Now whenever he hears the mixer turn on he comes running to help.

Cam also discovered a passion for making and drinking smoothies. His number one request for breakfast: "pink smoodie"

He likes to be the one to push down the blender.

 Just two boys makin' a smoothie. 

(This may be one of my all time favorite pics of Taber and Cam. Love their twinner hoodies)

Despicable Me Party

 Back in September we had a Despicable Me party for a Young Womens activity and it ended up being a blast! 

 We all had to dress as minions. Baby bump was just 17 weeks along at that point but still made a nice minion face :)

 We had minion cupcakes

And minion cake

 And ate our minion yummies while we watched Despicable Me. 

It was a great night and as always, so much fun hanging out with these awesome young women!

Happy Birthday to me...I turned 33!

This year on my birthday some of my girlfriends took me out to lunch at Foxfire, one of my favorite restaurants in Geneva.

It was so fun getting away during the afternoon for some grown up girl time.

 I ate the most amazing burger ever because when it's your birthday, you can eat whatever you want.

When Taber came home from work he had a cake and party hats to celebrate.

 The best present ever: being with these guys.

 33 candles makes for a pretty fiery cake, I may switch to the big number candles next year…

Later that week Taber took me out for lunch and a movie and some ice cream at Graham's. We saw Thor 2 and had a great time walking around downtown just the two of us. It was a great birthday :)

Only Real Men Wear Pink: Updated 12/9/13

I guess with 2 older sisters who love pink, it was only a matter of time before Cam decided that he too must love all things pink.  

 It started with wanting to wear the girls pajamas. He refused to wear anything else to bed. 

 Then he realized they had pink shirts he could wear during the day and he started insisting on wearing those. 

 At the height of his pink madness, he actually tackled Brinley, ripped her pink shirt off, and then came over to me and demanded I put it on him (while simultaneously shedding his  NOT-pink, and therefore NOT acceptable, brown shirt)

 Since they really don't sell a lot of pink boy clothes, and I thought it might be best to avoid wearing girl clothes in public, we decided to contain his pink clothes obsession to night time only. He couldn't wait till the end of the day to put on his "pink sleep clothes" They made him so happy :)

And of course he needed a pink pillow, and if you look in the left hand corner, a pink bunny, to complete his perfect pink bed-time paradise. 

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UPDATE:

The pink fever died down for a little while, but recently it's come back in full force!

 Brinley is always the victim since it's her clothes he wants, and he'll throw some pretty impressive fits until half the time she can't take it anymore and just trades with him.

 Her coat is his favorite

But he makes her trade shirts sometimes too.

I think it's great he likes pink, but I've been struggling because I haven't found any pink boy clothes in the stores and his sisters are getting tired of him stealing their stuff.

Thankfully my awesome sister Naomi noticed his obsession, and the lack of boy clothes to feed this obsession,  and decided to make him some manly pink clothes.

Now he's one happy, manly, pink lovin' little guy, with his OWN pink duds that he doesn't have to rip off his sisters back. 

Thanks auntie Omi! You are the BEST!!