We have a lot of catching up to do around here. It has been quite busy at our house getting ready for the new baby. With exactly one week left I am starting to get nervous. I have a bunch of pictures to share, starting with a trip to the zoo the day after Thanksgiving. Joe and Jack went alone and had a wonderful time.

Here is Jack admiring the giraffes:















And here he is posing with a Big Horned Sheep. If you look at the picture closely on the upper left part of the mountain you will see the sheep:















Of course he visited the lion who was making a rare appearance:















And the Baboon:















One thing he got to do that is not on our normal zoo schedule was comb the goats. He loves this activity – I just haven’t had the stamina to take him for a while. We have a million goat pictures, but here are just a few:








































































His final adventure that day was a ride on the carousel. Again, not a normal part of our zoo experience. This one he didn’t love as much. Here he is getting ready:








































Apparently he cried a good portion of the ride, and seemed scared for the rest of it. Other than that, though, the boys had a great outing and are ready to go again tomorrow.

Now on to the birthday shots.

A hippo flashlight – what a combination!




























His own baby grand piano:














Blowing out his candles:














And eating a piece of birthday cake:














And I have one more video to share of Jack showing off his knowledge of the alphabet. I can't get the normal link to work right now though, so I'm going to try this one.


I have a few more pictures in the camera, and will likely take some over the next few days as well. I will get at least one post up before the baby is here, and then I will have Joe post an announcement sometime next Friday with all the details of the birth. That is if I don’t go into labor before then. (Considering I never went into labor on my own with Jack and he was two weeks late, I doubt we will be having any surprises over the next week!)