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The big field trip of the year happened this week - the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. I got to go as a chaperone along with many other parents. One of the highlights of the trip was that we rode in a school bus there and back. Here's Molly gazing at school as we pull away.

Once we got to the zoo, the kids were excited to see some animals. I believe Molly and Taryn are looking at some cranes here.

Here are Cole, Indraja, Jenna, and Molly watching the ducks in the African Aviary.

We saw lots of big animals as well, like rhinoceroses, leopards, lions, chimpanzees, and more. This cheetah was sleeping pretty close to the glass, so the kids decided it needed to wake up. They proceeded to shout "wake up" over and over at it. It didn't work, as the cheetah merely opened its eyes slightly for a second before closing them back.

The kids even got to feed a giraffe. Here's Molly placing her leaves on its very long tongue. I'm surprised she was brave enough to do this. She's usually scared of animals, and this was a pretty big one.

I think he likes it. And don't worry, Taryn and Ava already had their turn feeding it.

After feeding the giraffe, the kids got to wash their hands in this big basin with shower heads. They all got a kick out of it, especially Molly.

All the kids climbed up to see the elephants. This picture is typical of most of what I saw all day - the backs of the kids as they looked at the animals.

We tried to take a picture of the six girls that stuck together throughout the trip with the giraffe in the background (to go with their shirts), but posing six 3-4 year olds can be challenging. This is the best I got.

We had to book it to get back to the bus on time, as no one wanted to leave. Fortunately, more fun was still in store for us - a bus ride home. Here, Molly and Jenna are having fun with the wind blowing in their hair on the bus ride home for a few seconds before being told to sit down.

It was a great trip, and the kids in our group had a great time. I'm very glad I got to go with them. There are a bunch more pictures on Flickr starting here.

The girls and I headed to Port Discovery Children's Museum with our playgroup this week. Leah loved playing in the Wonders of Water room.

Molly and Simon had fun filling this cylinder causing it to spin due to the power of water.

A couple of our playgroup dad's came along for the fun too. Zach is doing a great job overseeing the boat building.

The museum has three floors of exhibits for the kids to discover. Any kind of "shopping" area was a hit!

While the big kids played in the three story tree house, the toddlers checked out the new Tot Trails exhibit. Leah liked making these pegs light up.

And she thought it was fun to sit in these seats that looked a lot like turtle shells.

What happened to waiting until 16 before she got behind the wheel?

The Music Studio was great. They loved playing with the Boomwhackers and the big drum.

Queen for a day...or may be just a moment!

Before we left, the kids requested to play in the Wonders of Water room again. Standing inside the big bubble was a must-do since you've already seen that Molly loves bubbles!

The girls and I went to Toys R Us armed with a gift card from Molly's birthday. We returned with bubbles, including this bubble gun.

Do you think she likes it?

When was the last time you frolicked with bubbles?

And I may have got in a little bubble gun action too!

We've already had to replace the bubble solution and the batteries. The girl loves her bubbles!

It's time for soccer again. This year, Molly's not just doing clinics. She's on a team with practices and games. These are some shots from her first practice.

She's ready to go!

Excuse me, Ava.

Molly and Simon are having fun trying to chase Coach Joe to get the ball away from him.

Five of my friends and I competed in our own friendly Biggest Loser competition. We started January 2nd and competed for 12 weeks. We reported in to each other every 2 weeks with our percentage of weight lost, which was a great way to stay motivated. There was talk of sabotage since I was often baking treats for playdates and passing them on to my friends...I mean their kids! But several of them would fully admit to the occasional self sabotage too!

It was a nail-biter to the end, but after all the results were in, I was the big winner! I lost 15 pounds (or 10.2%, and reached my goal weight!) and was treated to a Girls Night Out at the restaurant of my choice - eating tapas at Ranazul. It was a fun evening and we've decided to continue on for another 12 weeks. So stay tuned...

Molly's teachers asked parents not to bring in cake or cupcakes for birthday celebrations since preschoolers + icing = a big mess! So, in an effort to follow the rules yet still sneak in a bit of birthday cake, I made Mickey Mouse Cake Pops.

You've never heard of cake pops, you say? It's cake mixed with icing and covered in chocolate. How can you go wrong? It's not the most healthy treat, but oh it's yummy goodness! Check out all the amazing cake pops at Bakerella.com.

If you decide to make some, here are a few tips from a rookie:

• I melted my candy melts in a double boiler. When melted, I removed the boiler from the stove, but left the bowl of chocolate over the warmed water while dipping. This kept the chocolate warm and thin.
• The chocolate coating cracked on several cake pops during my trail run. After much googling, I realized that the cake balls were too cold before I dipped them. So, when I made the Mickey ones, I let the balls sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before dipping. I'm happy to report there were no cracks the second time around!
• I inserted the chocolate dipped lollipop sticks while the cake balls were sitting out. The coolness of the cake balls set the chocolate quickly so they were ready to dip.
• I had some streaking showing up while dipping my Mickeys. I thought it was because of the 2 Tablespoons of shortening I added to thin out the melted chocolate. But I realized it was from the ears melting! I used milk chocolate candy melts for the ears, and dipped in dark chocolate. So, if you make the Mickey Mouse cake pops, I'd suggest using the same kind of chocolate for the ears and dipping.

Now go make some of this yummy goodness for yourself!

We decided to have one more family fun activity while G'Mom and Grampa were in town, so we headed to the National Aquarium. Molly loved it, and got excited about almost everything we saw. She just kept running up to each enclosure and exclaiming "Mom, look, more fish!"

We made sure to hit the newest exhibit, Jellies Invasion. There were so many jellyfish!

One of the highlights of the trip was the dolphin show. It's not Sea World, but it was good stuff.

Molly decided that she wanted to use the map (like Dora does).

Molly's checked out some very large sea turtles in the "Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes" exhibit, though she wass so close to the glass that we got two pictures of her.

More fun pictures from Molly's party...

Even Leah got in on the fishing action.

But Aunt Caroline, isn't this supposed to be a Mickey slipper, not a chef's hat?!

Or maybe it's a hair net? Pop thinks so.

To minimize the gift opening chaos, I delayed opening family gifts until after the party. Do you think she's excited?

Leah had a fun time at the party too.

Our family, plus a few mouse friends, at the end of a great party.

We celebrated Molly's 4th birthday yesterday with a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party. I made the cupcakes to resemble the man of the day - Mickey Mouse!

As each child arrived, they received Mickey ears, and were instructed about four stations to visit.

Bean Bag Toss: I got creative with cardboard and made a Mickey-shaped bean bag toss.

Quacky Hoopla: tossing rings around pictures of Mickey's best bud, Donald.

Fishing for Mickey: I made a magnetic fishing game using Disney paint samples from Home Depot.

And it wouldn't be a "Jen" party without a craft! The kids all created their own Mickey goodie bag.

After finishing all four game stations, the kids were awarded with kazoos.

Aunt EA had fun playing tickle monster with several of the girls, who taunted her by playing their kazoos.

We ate lunch, then sang to the birthday girl. Watch the video too.

It can be a bit difficult to convince 3 and 4 year olds to sit when opening gifts, but at least they're now old enough to all pay attention.

And as a party favor, everyone left with a Mickey-shaped cookie.

We celebrated Molly's 4th birthday today (which you'll hear more about shortly). For now, here's a very happy girl getting sung to and blowing out some candles. Enjoy.