toledo zoo

at the beginning of march, mom & dad kauffman came out for a visit. saturday was forecasted to be sunny and spring-like (with a high in the mid 40's!), so we decided to take mattie for her first trip to the zoo. we had a great time watching mattie's reactions to the animals. she liked the elephants best!

eating funny cake for breakfast before we left - yummy!

monkeys!

we all enjoyed watching this chimpanzee eat his apples

watching the big gorilla

fun with gramma & grampa and the stoic gorilla. what is grampa doing?

are you finding any bugs?

i love this one of you two, mom & dad!

colorful fish!

octopus!

elephants!

we loved her reaction to the elephants. she was in awe, speechless. they're for real!

pretty lizards

family pic with the tortoises

lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

watching the birds

taking a stroll with grampa

laughing with mommy

look at daddy!

these eagles put on quite a show for us. in this picture, glenn caught one in mid-flight!

what a great time! we will definitely be back this summer!

beating the winter blues

here are some fun shots from the month of february. they are in chronological order from top to bottom this time. enjoy!

i came downstairs one morning to find mattie and glenn playing in a fort they had built around the dining room table

complete with DVD player and toys!

mattie asks us to "sit" in the funniest locations sometimes

reading "numbers on the farm" with daddy before naptime

daddy's awesome hat. he was dressed up to go out on a date with his sweetheart for valentine's day. :)

valentine's day flowers from my wonderful hubby! mattie liked them, too!

mattie enjoys filling laundry baskets with toys, books, etc. and pushing them around the house. sometimes they are really heavy!

tea party with monkey

one of mattie's new favorite things... she brings her "pups" (cups) to the sink in the bathroom, stands on her step stool, turns on the water, and fills and empties the cups to her heart's content. here, she's asking me for her bib.

pizza night at WUPO (west unity pizza oven)!

this one's for you, grampa! she pushed her rocking chair and "table" all the way to the kitchen.

videos!

This photo slideshow made with Smilebox

random fun & visit to dalton

entertaining mommy and uncle joel

look at my crazy hair!

grampa attack!

having fun on gramma & grampa's bed

reading with gramma - love you forever

reading with grampa - pat the bunny

stuffing her face full of banana

the crew

these pictures are making me hungry!

joel, the master fryer

egg rolls of every shape and size! waiting to go in the fryer.

mom showing dad how it's done

making egg rolls!

it's much more fun to eat it with my fingers, daddy!

a new favorite - chocolate pudding!

playing a duet with mommy

strumming daddy's guitar

getting bundled up to play in the snow

mattie, the sheik. ask her daddy about this one!

brody and grace

hanging out with friends at a sunday school class get-together. great smile, jace!

getting some reading done

watching a DVD before we headed out to watch daddy's church-league basketball game - thus, the sporty north carolina shirt. go tarheels!

side view

daddy put her hair up in a ponytail. what, you want me to look at the camera?

helping daddy put together her new potty. she still hasn't shown much interest in learning how to use the potty, but it's here for when that time comes! she uses it as a step stool to wash her hands in the sink.

mattie wearing a pretty dress from grandma nofziger. thanks "ma"!