Happy Father's Day!!

I prayed for as long as I can remember for an awesome husband and a great father to my children...and no one could be better than my Shane!! Fortunately, he was trained by another one of the greatest Dads, Keith Brown, aka Papa. Shane is the solid foundation of our family. God truly blessed me with me him 11½ years ago. We have been through so much and he has always been there for me, and now our sweet children. Claire and Owen think their Daddy hung the moon and love him so much...me too!!

We love you always Daddy!!

Below are some of my favorite pictures of Shane and the sweeties!!

Here are a few pictures of the cousins yesterday at Father's Day Lunch at the Browns...

Friday the 13th...not so bad!

The last day of my vacation, and we actually just rest today...at least the kids are! It is another rainy day, Owen is sleeping and Claire is on her third movie of her movie marathon. I, on the other hand, am just reading my favorite blogs rather than preparing for the dreaded neighborhood garage sale tomorrow =(. I think I have walked up and down the stairs 20 times hauling crates and more crates of "gently used" children's clothing. As well as all the baby accessories that I can find (bouncy seats, walkers, toys, etc). Now before all of the family stresses, NO, we have not decided not to have another baby, I am just so tired of looking at the same stuff for almost 5 years!! When baby Brown #3 comes in late 2009 or early 2010 (that seems so far away...at least that is what I like to think), we will be ready for new stuff.

Since I am just rambling, procrastinating writing $2 on itty bitty tags over and over again, below is a picture of Claire vegging out on the couch watching Charlotte's Web. Her hair looks like I just crimped it (you remember the Crimper, don't you) from her braided pig tails yesterday...she thinks it is gorgeuos and I do too!! Have a great weekend!!

Yes, she is still in her pj's!

Nicole bought Cooper a new collar..."Paw and cross-bones" =)

For the birds...

Day 4 of vacation - THE ZOO!! My Dad and Step-Mom, G-pa and Brandi, asked to take the kids to the Tulsa Zoo. So we loaded up and drove over to Tulsa (2 hours). Tara and Nicole came along too. It was insanely hot, but the zoo was nice. We saw quite a few animals and the kids loved it! Claire loves animals, her favorite was the monkeys...Owen had a good time, his favorite was the Animal Sipper cup of pink lemonade G-pa bought him =). I will spare you of all the pictures of animals you can barely see and the view of a crooked part for pigtails, but we did get some cute pictures. The BEST part was the FeatherFest exhibit! They took you in a greenhouse type place, full of TONS of little parrots. You could buy little sticks with bird feed on them and the birds would come sit on the stick...or you and eat the feed. I have not laughed so hard in a long time!! Claire really enjoyed it, but was jumpy. Every time one would land on her, she would be okay for a minute, until another bird decided to join hers then she would drop it and take off running!! So funny!! But nothing was funnier than Owen's reaction. We had to leave the stroller at the door, so he was free to run. His first reaction was terror, he was crying so hard when I was holding him and a bird landed on my stick. Later, he was not as terrified, but he would just repeat "No, No, No, No..." if we would bring one to him. The pictures of him (and video) below will give you the full effect!!

Before you can enjoy the many pictures...yes, I have another BRILLIANT Claire Isabella quote, #5!!

After the zoo, we drove back in to Tulsa and went to have dinner at Outback. Claire was sitting with Brandi.

Brandi starts rocking Claire back and forth (holding on to her because she was cold).
Brandi: "Claire do you like to rock?"
Claire: "Well, I need my guitar!"

Please enjoy all of our wonderful zoo pictures. Please forgive any bad hair, I cannot describe how terribly hot it was, we were miserable!!

Claire looking at monkeys...

Owen looking at monkeys...

This MeerKat was so cute...

"This cup is awesome!"

My favorite, the penguins!!

Elephants...

FREE!!! In the bird place, "Where am I?"
Claire jumpy at first!She goes in for one...
Then it flies, she screams and jumps!!
Still jumping =)...
O and I go in for one, I have to admit, I was not really digging the whole bird thing...watch his face through out these pictures...HILARIOUS!!

Brave Claire goes back for more...

This my FAVORITE picture of the day, you can just see the worry in his eyes as he looks at the birds above him, but still a strong hold on that Animal Sipper cup =)...priceless!!

Claire was doing really well by the end!

Owen: "No, No, No!"

Claire with G-pa and Brandi...

G-pa trying to get Owen to enjoy it...not happening.
Video of Owen's reaction...

Vacation is almost over, but we had a great week!! I am so blessed to have such adorable, sweet children!!!