A Blogging Frenzy

Last Wednesday Kyle came home from the gym with news of exotic animals in a local parking lot.  We decided we'd go look before church.  Not too long later I decided I was too exhausted to make supper, so we made an evening of it.  After naps and a little play time we left and headed to see what exotic animals they had.


It was a semi trailer that hauled the animals around, mostly as a fundraiser for helping to save exotic animals.  They had all baby animals.  They had a 3 1/2 month old liger (turns out Napoleon Dynamite was onto something...), some animal in the raccoon family that's like a cross between a raccoon and an anteater, a ring-tailed lemur, 2 baby tigers, a baby bear and a baby kangaroo.  You could pay per person to go in with a trainer and pet one of the babies.  We were only allowed to choose between the tigers, bear and kangaroo.  The liger (at 3 1/2 months old) was already too old/strong.  We chose the tigers  since there were two of them.

Leta was scared of the tigers.  But after they had their bottles they fell right to sleep, and one fell asleep right by us and after a while she did reach out and pat it a couple of times.  I got the most petting in.  Kyle took pictures, Leta was scared, and Luke had to look at all the tigers toys as well.  Luke had a good time and I really liked it as well.  They were so cute.  And their little roars were quite funny.

Great Day

Yesterday was CRAZY windy here.  When I woke up in the morning I thought it was storming outside because of all the wind.  No rain, just wind.  But today, TODAY was perfect.  High in the mid-seventies and no wind after noon.

We started off out morning a little rough. Luke woke up early (6:30) and was cranky this morning because of it but as soon as we loaded up and headed to Oklahoma Christian for their annual Easter Egg Hunt, he was all smiles.  Luke had fun playing in the moon bounce before the hunt started.  They had the hunt broken into smaller areas for varying age groups.  Leta was in the 0-2 category and Luke 3-5, so Kyle hunted with Luke and I hunted with Leta.

As good as it got trying to get a picture of the two of them!

After the hunt we ate at Jason's Deli with Brandon, Shanna, and Karter and then headed home for nap time.  As soon as the kids got up they were back outside playing.  Luke has been begging Kyle to take him fishing so Kyle and I decided that today was the perfect day for that as well.  Luke was so excited to get to go fishing.  After getting off to a slow start with the fish, I went and got some corn to use for bait and Kyle found a new fishing location, then managed to find "the sweet spot".  Luke would no sooner get this bobber in the water, than he'd get a bite.  He ended up catching 5 fish in all.  He did much better this year than last.  Last year the flopping fish scared him a bit, but this year he didn't mind that at all.  He didn't want to touch them when they were flopping but would touch and hold them otherwise.  Leta (who loves the dogs but is afraid to touch them) even touched a fish.

After fishing we headed back to the house and Kyle fired up the fire pit and we roasted hotdogs and ate outside for supper.  A little more playtime then bath time and bed.  A fun, but busy day.

Leta update:  Leta has been coughing and having a runny nose lately.  At first I thought maybe she was teething, but wasn't really needing so much tylenol, so then I thought maybe all the pollen in the air was irritating her sinuses etc.  Turns out she was teething.  I knew she'd been working on her 1 year molars (swollen gums) but nothing had popped through.  Well, her bottom right and top left molars have poked through and there is a "horn" on her upper right that is so large I can't believe there is gum still covering it!

So she now has at least 10 teeth.

How old is Leta?

I get asked this question a lot.  And lately my answer always is: She just turned one.  Until I realized yesterday that she is 15 months old.  She didn't JUST turn one.  How did this happen?!?!

She had her 15 month old well baby check up today.  She's teething/has a cold etc so is not really feeling her best today anyway, but on top of that got 3 shots that she wasn't particularly fond of either.  Bad day for babies at the Soper house!

She weighs 19lbs 8oz which puts her in the bottom 5% percentile (but we're used to that...LUKE!)  Speaking of Luke...I weighed him there today and he weighed in at a whopping 30 lbs *wink*.  Leta is 30 inches long (25-50% ) and her head is 50%.

She is throwing pretty good little fits and we've been given the all clear for disciplining her "angry reactions" that go along with fit throwing.  She bangs her head on the floor during her fits, which I just ignore and figure she's disciplining herself.

 Leta 15 months old.  She loves her baby.

 Luke at 15 months.

Aunt Mary's Chocolate Cake

This is some seriously good chocolate cake.  Aunt Mary sure knows what she's talking about.  I don't have an Aunt Mary....and I don't think my mom does either.  But I got this one from my mom, and who knows where SHE got it from, but someone, somewhere has an Aunt Mary who can make some pretty good chocolate cake.

Aunt Mary's Chocolate Cake
1 cup sour milk
3/4 c vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 T baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 T cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Mix the first 3 ingredients together.  Add the remaining ingredients (minus water) stirring well.  Add boiling water, stir and pour into a greased 9X13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Top with chocolate frosting.

Max Quinten Soper

Sorry the pictures of Max are so tiny.  All the others we got prove he's a boy.  There is no doubt.  Kyle scanned these for me and he has been beyond crazy busy lately.  His website dropped in Google and he's been a mad man trying to figure it out and fix things.  So anyway, that's why they aren't bigger.

Good Morning

Our mornings go a little something like this:

Between 7 and 7:30am we hear the pitter patter of little feet.  If we're lucky, those little feet go to the living room and play quietly.  If we're not so lucky, those little feet get in bed with us and "snuggle".  This continues until Luke starts whining, "Daddy, I'm hungry.  Daddy, let's go eat breakfast" etc. The boys go into the kitchen and start eating their cereal.   I lay in bed until I hear the rattle of the crib bars and Leta's yelling from upstairs usually around 7:30, 7:45 if I'm lucky, which I'm not very often.

I go upstairs and get her.  I put her on her changing table to take off her sleep blanket.  The first thing she does is grab her bottle of Tylenol and hold it while she points to the mouse on the painting that hangs on the wall nearby. Then she points to the balloons the mouse is holding and last at the feet on the baby sampler my mom made her. The mouse painting is one that my Grandma Key painted for me "way back" in 1982.  It's currently getting another round of love.

After Leta's out of her sleep blanket we go and pick out her clothes for the day. She fusses to get a pair of shoes (which she never does because her play shoes are already down stairs.)  Then we go to Luke's room where we get his clothes for the day.  In his top drawer I keep his socks and underwear.  Leta is always hopeful that I'll get a pair of socks for him because she loves to carry them downstairs for me.  Which is funny to me because Luke loved the same thing at her age.  Lately, it's been flip flop weather, so no socks.  Leta ha to "settle" for underwear, which doesn't disappoint her at all because she immediately grabs them from me and  clutches them to herself and hugs them.  Yes, that's right.  Leta hugs Luke's underwear every. single. morning.

Then we go put back the tylenol bottle and head downstairs for our own breakfast.

Meal Plan? huh? What's that?!?

You all probably thought meal plans were a thing of the past, but I assure you...I HAVE been keeping up with them, I just haven't been keeping up with blogging about them.

Today Kyle turns 2 3's.  33.  Luke is very excited since he's three and daddy's two threes.  Exciting manly stuff.  We'll be having homemade Polynesian pizza for supper with strawberry shortcake for dessert.  There might be a present or two for Kyle if he behaves himself.  He already got a vegetable pan for the grill for his birthday.  He's excited to take it to the lake house.


Now, on the the important stuff, right?


Meal Plan
Spaghetti
Breakfast for supper (I'm thinking waffles)
Grilled Chicken
Grilled Steak
Shish-K-Bobs
Pizza and Strawberry Shortcake
Greek Chicken Pasta
Poppyseed chicken
Cheater Chicken Divan
Crockpot Tomato Basil Chicken

I was in the mood for grilling when I planned this menu.  We'll see if I'm in the mood for grilling when it comes to be supper time in the next few weeks =)