Quote

Recently my friend quoted something to me.  She said she heard it once, probably from some wise and calm mother!

" Your children need the most love when they are the least lovable".

I am so thankful to have a friend who would tell me these wise words just during the time I need them most.  Love always wins even when it is hard to give.  A little extra love when it is possibly unexpected can calm a hurting little child (or a screaming one in my case tonight!)

The Little Boy

This photo is a perfect blend of Power Rangers meets Star Wars with eye protection courtesy of Craftsmen!!  All boy.

Our Daddy

We have the best daddy!  We love Father's Day because it is a great day for us to get to show him how much we love him.  The girls woke up early and wanted to make daddy breakfast. Scott was on call Saturday night so the earliest he would get home would be 7:30 am and we were planning to go to 8:30 church so I knew that he would not have time to eat this breakfast but I thought it was sweet of them and so I got up and we made blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes.  We saved Scott's for him because he did not make it home in time to eat them-bummer.

After church we came home and the kids were very eager to give him the many handmade cards they had made in the art center on Saturday and the ones they had just made in Sunday school!  The kids and I went shopping on Saturday to get daddy a few things.  We got 3 things so they each had something to give him.  Emma got daddy a tie, Claire got daddy a shirt and Sam got daddy some pants which are the ones he really wanted!  Then we went to Maggie Moos to get daddy the special cake we had ordered. 

Our daddy is a great horsey even on his day off!

A nice picture of the crew before the opening of the Dad's day gifts

For the cake we chose Acuity Anesthesiology colors for the tie!!  It was chocolate and banana ice cream with Reese's cup mix-ins and chocolate cake!  It was soooooo good!

Can you beat a tie made out of icing and ice cream??

My grandparents, sister and brother-in-law came up to celebrate with us.  We enjoyed a "linner" (between lunch and dinner) around 2 pm.  We had ribeye steaks, salad and baked potatoes.  We were all stuffed after the cake!  

Sometime after dinner, about the time the men were all about to fall asleep, my grandma suggests we take the girls shopping!  She loves to shop and she also loves to plan ahead so it made perfect sense to her to go shopping for Claire's birthday in August!  So all the girls plus Sam headed to the mall for a little fun!  Sort of a strange thing to do on Father's Day, but it was 98 degrees and the mall sounded like a good way to get out and get some exercise after a big meal.  We shopped for the kids first and then we ended up in the women's shoe section of Macy's.  I quickly got to snap a pic of Sam trying on and walking around in some blue patent leather high heels!  He was having a lot of fun!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Picnic in the park

Anyone who has spoken to me lately has heard about my new love of Forest Park.  In fact, I have been there 3 times in the last month.  It is just so beautiful and I definitely have a new appreciation for this gem of St. Louis.  My favorite spot is at the bottom of art hill next to the fountains.  I love to feel the mist off the fountains, take in all the green grass as well as the beautiful site of the art museum.  It is a great place for a picnic.  It has everything we need for fun: wide open spaces, hills to run up and roll down, biking path, canal for fishing (even if we didn't catch anything) all we needed was a few blankets, chairs, bikes, bug spray, pizzas and rootbeer!

The Fountains

Emma and Daddy

Mommy in the park-photo by Sam

Emma and Sam running down a part of the hill

Claire and Sam enjoying their picnic

Emma's Day/Week

This week Claire and Sam have been attending soccer camps. Since Emma cannot commit to any sports camps yet she has decided to spend the week with mommy! We have had two days together and they have been quite nice to say the least. She is really a great kid one on one. She has agreed to do whatever mommy needs to do which so far has involved getting caffeine and going on errands!

This morning I decided to take her to a park and take some pictures of her. I try to do this every now and then however I have not done it in a while. She picked out her dress and we didn't do anything special to her hair. We just dropped off the siblings and headed to Oak Knoll park for a fun photo shoot. She brought her seashells as props. They are her favorite thing!

Here are some of my favorite photos...let me know your favorites too!

Zoo and high of 72!

Today was a beautiful day here in STL. June and 72 seems unheard of. Some moms invited us to join them at the zoo for the afternoon. When it is too cool for the pool we are eager to head somewhere else for the day! I think everyone in STL had the same idea!! We had 4 moms and 9 kids to keep track of. We only made it through 3 exhibits, but I would still call it a success. The best part was going to the ZooImagination room for a relaxing 45 minutes. The kids all played at different centers while the mommies got to sit and talk. We did help clean up during the last 5 minutes...when you are cleaning up with friends it does not seem so bad!


Here is the gang. They actually would have been quite happy climbing all over the beetle most of the afternoon. Next time if the budget allows we will have to go see those sting rays!!

Dog Gone It!

Red bouncy ball.
Promised lots of summer time fun.
Created 2 games to play with it.
Gone, like a popped red balloon.
Dog got it.

I have still not pulled out my sewing machine for my destructive pet.

1 Down, 54 to go (not counting weekends)

Today was our first real day of summer or should I say my first real day back as full-time mommy! I was convinced it was going to be a good day. It started by having to wake Sam up so that I could get Claire to tennis camp promptly at 8:30. I ended up having the first kid at the camp, I guess I overcompensated! After we had her dropped off we headed to our beloved Target to stock up on pool snacks, bike helmets and bike bells. Oh, and an awesome red, bounce playground ball--I had a plan for this that I recently saw in my Family Fun magazine!! In the same plaza we headed over to PetSmart. We had to buy a leash to repair Blitzen's Gentle Leader. I won't go in to anymore detail than that. All you need to know is that I am pulling out my sewing machine for my dog...I know, I can hardly believe it myself. While in Petsmart Emma wanted to pet the kitties but they were cleaning the cages so I got out of that. She also wanted to buy her own pink leash with rhinestones so she could use it to play "doggy" at home. This is of course a game she plays with her siblings or a stuffed animal where she would use a leash to walk them around. I told her she could buy it with her own money next time we come to Petsmart. We returned later that day with exactly $6.46 of her money and she bought it!! And she got to pet the kitties on the second trip!



When we got home from the first Petsmart trip Emma and Sam played outside with the new bouncy ball while I made them smoothies! The ball idea involved me taking a Sharpie and writing lots of different things on it like, "on one leg", "over your head", "eyes closed", etc. It is basically for catch but when you catch the ball you are supposed to throw it back doing the action that is closest to your right hand! It does help if you can read! I did try to draw symbols for some of them. Claire also drew a four square grid with sidewalk chalk and that has proven to be much more fun than my game! I think it is great that we have options for the red, bouncy playground ball. I am just waiting for Blitzen to decide it is his ball and sink his teeth into it, popping it.



Then the afternoon came... the lull in the day. The girls each wrote in their journals. Sam did some of his school worksheets, they watched 1 hour of TV, they got on their suits and played in the sprinkler. We then headed to the pool when it opened at 3:30. It was crowded to say the least, but we had fun! After dinner we headed up to the park and Claire and I hit the tennis ball a little bit. She has a lot of room for improvement but after one day of tennis camp I actually thought she learned quite a bit. The other two rode their bikes (wearing their new helmets) to the park with Scott. Sam then had a major meltdown on the way home. It lasted until bedtime which was too late for him.

Pretty good for the most part. Only regret is that I did not have a 3pm cup of coffee like I usually have when my kids are in school. I should have. The second half of the day was definitely not as good as the first half. I know it was because of the lack of coffee. There is just something not appealing about a cup of coffee at the pool. I will need to do iced coffee at 3pm for the summer!