Museum Pictures

Okay, even I am a little embarrassed by how many pictures there are on this post. Part of the fault is Bethaney's, for taking so many pictures (I forgot my camera) and part of the fault is mine, for thinking they all had to be put up here. Trust me, though, there are lots I left out. So feel free to skim through here... Except when there's pictures of my kids or nieces or nephew. They're really cute, and worth looking at.

In front of the big aquarium near the entrance.

This is one funny looking fish-- a unicorn fish, I believe.

Gilbert, sliding out of the clubhouse in Berenstain Bear land.

Aunt Lindsey positioning Gilbert on the slide, while Elliott runs around crazily-- very unusual.

The Berenstain Bear school! And if you didn't crave to go to that school, with its blocks and modeling clay, you had a different childhood than mine.

Rilla turning the wheel to play the xylophone.

Gilbert and Evan, sharing their passion for onions.

Lily, the chicken farmer. (Evan claims that should be "egg farmer". I stick to the point that there are chickens involved, hence it is a "chicken farmer.)

Gilbert's caught a frog!

Lindsey putting her farm-girl experience to work, building a rock wall.

My sweet pea.

Wow, I love this boy.

Lily, dangling in the boy's clubhouse.

Cheyenne playing the xylophone. This is a pretty cool thing-- you put the wooden balls in little indentations, and when they fall off, they strike the xylophone. You can make a tune by putting them in different spots, but Marilla wanted them all in a perfect row, so her tune was a little monotone.

Racing around the diner.

Rilla, making sure Daddy gets enough... mustard on his cantaloupe? Intriguing...

Cheyenne looks like she has high maintenance customers here. Lindsey looks skeptical, I'm interrogating Cheyenne over the menu, and Evan is just waiting to interrupt with a complaint. Or at least that's what it looks like...

Lincoln, scooting around on the floor and checking out the undercarriage of the stroller.

Papa Bear's workshop.

Kids with the Bear Family.


Shopping at Wegman's.

This looks a little scary-- Elliott in charge of something with wheels.

Lindsey, taking a step up her career ladder by becoming a cashier at Wegman's.

Showing Lily the ropes.

Rilla, shadowed by Daddy.

Two sweet little buddies dealing with a honey purchase!

How cool is it to be able to turn the conveyor belt on and off? Pretty cool.




Time for a train ride! The boys hung out with Aunt Lindsey.

Gilbert smiles for the camera!

Cheyenne and Orianna were at the head of the train, in charge. TOTALLY did not expect these two oldest girls to want to be there.


Lily and Rilla in the caboose with Evan.

Chug, chug, chug!

Lincoln and I, waiting for the train to finish. You might be surprised to learn that I had taken a library book from the shelf and was reading it. Or you might not be surprised.

An artifact map of the U.S. Unfortunately, I cannot read what the t-shirt over NY says.

I love some of the plaques they have, with sayings about "play".



Bethaney and I were wondering, if you took a kid to this museum and explored all the different things there every day for six months, how the kid would turn out compared to a kid that spent those six months in a traditional classroom setting. I think it would be an interesting experiment-- except for the commute time.







This table was a huge hit.

Evan says building an addition to the house modeled after this room will be our little home project after the bathroom is done. THAT should help the kids with cabin fever!

Some of the things that have been inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame are kind of funny.

Loved this little Lego scene.

There was a huge model train set-up, and the scenes were all composed of things that have been inducted in the Toy Hall of Fame. Hence, a carousel made out of playing cards-- and Lego horses.

The sun was made out of Tinker Toys.

Nifty house of cards.

Building table. Blocks, Tinker Toys, Legos...




Very cool old quilt.

They had a huge Barbie exhibit. Some of the older Barbie mansions.

Retro!

Clean-cut Barbie and Ken, in love!

Not sure what this picture was on, but I love how short the girls' skirts are in this wholesome scene! Though I've seen lots of pictures from that era, with skirts that short. Funny!

Slightly surreal.

Little dioramas.

Love this quilt store one.


These were all made by one lady, who made these meticulous little dioramas to commemorate her travels, which were rather widespread.



The little dishes in the corner hutch are too cute.

I like this little plane.

Okay, it's time for bed, my brain is mush. I'm finally better, but Lincoln and Rilla both have runny noses, and Cheyenne has a cough/sore throat/runny nose thing. Nothing too bad for any of them, thankfully. Lincoln turned eight months old on Wednesday, and today is Elliott's half birthday! I think of him as JUST having turned five, but he's five and a half now!

Oh, Yeah, My Blog!

As you'll note, I didn't give a time frame for when I was going to continue my last post. And actually, I'm not really continuing it too much tonight. I just threw up some recent-ish pictures and figured we'd call it good. Even though my throat has stopped feeling like I gargle with razor blades, I still sound like a cranky frog in the morning, especially if I don't get enough sleep! Which was last night-- for some unknown reason, Lincoln threw up once last evening, and then had a high fever all night. It did not make for a restful sleep.

Today, Elliott had tubes put in his ears! We've been concerned about his ears for about a year now, but the length of time required to get into any ear specialists around here is insane! Anyway, I was really hoping it would all go well, and it did. Evan took him in early this morning, while I stayed with the kids. Elliott bounced right back from the anesthesia and didn't complain of any pain after the first few minutes. He was home by 9:30, and was my normal, bouncy little boy all day! The doctor told Evan that one ear had "very thick fluid" in it, and the other ear had "thicker fluid!" The doctor thinks we should notice a difference in his hearing ability almost immediately.

Bethaney is responsible for these pretty icicle shots.

Although my husband is highly embarrassed that there are icicles on our house. It's a sign of poor construction practices. In his defense, it's mostly because the attic was open to the heated house for several weeks when Evan tore out the bathroom.

We had to have cinnamon rolls when Lily and Orianna were down. Evan likes spoiling Cotten kids. And the White kids don't object. Rilla looks highly intelligent in this picture.

Playing meeting. I love the grown-up crossed legs on Orianna and Cheyenne.

Lincoln had lots to watch that week!


Cheyenne and Orianna comparing notes.

Rilla, singing her little heart out.

Gilbert stuck close to Mommy's side, while Aunt Lindsey started her taxes. It was a bonus day (for me!) because Lindsey's flight was canceled because of the weather, and Bet stayed here the extra day because it was snowing and blowing, especially north of here. I didn't mind having them stay! Although I do think it was poor form on Bethaney's part to beat the hostess at Garbage.

I celebrated my 33rd birthday with lots of help!



More icicle shots. The other ones must have been from Bethaney's camera.


And, the cinnamon rolls again!

Mr. Lincoln is eight months old today! I snapped a bunch of pictures of him the other day, when he was in a smiley mood.

He's usually in a smiley mood, but I actually had the camera out at this point!

Dimple boy!


He's already gritting his teeth, even though he only popped his top two teeth through last week.

Man, he's perfect.

So, at eight months, Lincoln is getting pretty good at eating finger foods. He's capable of crawling, but he still prefers creeping. He can sit if you set him down that way, but he doesn't get into the sitting position himself. He loves pulling himself to standing (note the head bruises in the above pictures) but he doesn't have a really good method from getting down from those standing positions! He growls like a lion when he's happy, and talks lots of baby talk. We're still madly in love with our dessert baby!