Goodbye, St. Louis

I have really enjoyed living here.  After only a year, I'm a little sad to be moving away tomorrow.  Knowing all along that this was only a temporary gig makes it a bit easier, though.  On to California!

British Soccer Camp

The Boy had soccer camp this week.

We loved Coach Mike and Mike and their British accents.

It was so hot all week long, but he never complained once.

Happy Birthday, Girl

She'll be two next week, but we celebrated tonight so Papa could be there. I seem to have lost her birthday sash so we got a ribbon instead. I think I like it more than the sash idea - way easier and something she might be willing to wear every birthday up until 18.

The ice cream cupcakes were a hit with her. Then she opened presents:

A baby doll from Papa.

 A backpack with Mini Mouse inside from Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Jim.

A few things from Daddy, Mommy, and the Boy including her own vacuum cleaner.

Happy Birthday, my beautiful baby. I can't believe you're so big already. We love you!

I Want...

Yesterday the Boy kept telling me things that he wishes he had. At some point he became slightly whiny about it.  So I decided to have a brief discussion about how "stuff" does not make us happy, and how we are most happy when we are grateful for the things we have. To which he responded,

"But Mom, I want to have more things to be grateful for".

All I could do was giggle.

Sing a Song

She loves to sing in church now.  It is followed by walking up and down the aisle to avoid sitting and to gain attention from as many people as possible.

It Begins

This was the first day of my soccer mom life.

He had a good time - I'm hoping soccer is his sport.

Missouri Drivers

My sister has listened to me rant about Missouri drivers since I moved here.  She visited us back in February and realized I wasn't kidding.  Seriously, they just cannot stay in their lanes.  So when she saw this card at the store, she couldn't resist sending it to me as a reminder to be careful what I say in front of the punks.  Hehe...

Yay!

I love summer TV for one reason alone...So You Think You Can Dance.  Should I consider that a guilty pleasure?  If you don't watch, you missed something amazing last night.  At first I thought this guy and his description of his dance style was creepy and weird.  Then he started dancing. Admittedly, what he said is still weird and creepy, but he is incredible. Watch this.

Back From Phoenix

We spent a week in Phoenix with The Man's brother and family. I tried to blog from there using the iPad, but apparently there isn't "an App for that". At least not a good one.

We swam a little, and went to the lake a little, and watched a lot of TV. The Man and his brother spent a good while filling up water balloons for the kids. 

The fight lasted about 1 minute.

It was a nice break.

Last Day of School

On to kindergarten....how did he get so big so fast?

Because They Looked So Sweet...

...we took pictures

I Love my Ward

The Young Women sold pre-made, uncooked pizzas as a fundraiser for girl's camp.  Someone from the ward bought one and secretly sent it to us.  Wasn't that nice?

I added some fontina cheese, fresh tomato, goat cheese, kalamata olives, and basil to it.  It was sooooo good.  Thanks for the pizza, whoever you are!

Bad Parenting

Today my house smells like bad parenting.

I gave the Girl her milk before nap time today. When she was finished, I scooped her up hard and fast and plopped her onto my hip to carry her to her room. Ten seconds later she tossed half of that milk up onto her clothes and the floor.  A quick bath ensued, but that smell is hard to get out of carpet.

Second, while we were at Wal-mart this morning I let the Girl have four, yes four, of those fruit/applesauce snacks.  The ones where you suck it right out of the bag.  That much fruit wreaks havoc on a baby digestive track, which in turn wreaks havoc on her diaper and clothes about 7 hours later.  Know what I mean?

Finally, during the Girl's nap the Boy and I were roughhousing on the couch.  That ended up this way:

It may be hard to see in the picture, but we did a number on his left thumb. We aren't sure if it's broken or just sprained - we are waiting for the doc to get home and decide.  At least this doesn't smell.  While he was still recovering from the pain I asked the Boy if he was mad at me for getting him hurt. He said through his tears, "It's just too hard to stay mad at you".

Gas Money

My gas light was on all day yesterday and I still forgot to fill up. I forgot until about half way to church this morning. I told the Boy we'd have to stop and get gas or we might not make it, but then I realized I had no money with me. We made it just fine there and back, but that's not what this story is about.

When I picked up the Boy from his Primary class after church, he had a dollar in his pocket. I inquired of his teacher where he got it (since he was too busy to answer). She said a lady came to visit their class and tell a story. When she was finished, the Boy asked her if he could have some money. Yep. So she gave him a dollar.

I turned to the Boy and asked what happened. He said, "I have some money, let's go get some gas!" I died laughing and felt embarrassed at the same time. My five-year-old pulled the old "we need money for gas" bit with success.

Happy Easter!

The kids and I spent last week in Arkansas with my family. We had an Easter egg hunt down there as well as one today. The kids enjoyed both very much.

Before church we took some pictures, too. I felt the pain of my parents and photographers everywhere trying to get both my kids to stay in the shot and smile at the same time.

I think we managed to get a few cute ones in there.

Happy Easter to you all!

Rocking Chair

When I was a little girl, a friend of the family gave me a small rocking chair. It's been at my mother's house for years until she brought it up to me a few weekends ago.

The Girl loves it.

Permanent

They have been working on the water main on our block for over a month. They tore up the entire sidewalk on our side of the street. Yesterday, they finally poured a new one. Wet cement and a little boy? We had to make a hand print.

The Boy's turned out great. The Girl's? Eh....it's pretty much just a smudge. I sort of regret this now since this isn't our house, but we just couldn't pass it up.

Stake Conference

My grandmother and two of her friends came up this weekend to attend my stake's conference. They did that because our former Stake President from long ago was going to be there. It's this man:

We got to sit close and listen for both sessions. On Sunday morning, the Boy came with us. I asked him if he wanted to meet Elder Bednar and shake his hand. He was indecisive at first but finally settled on being shy and not meeting him.

While we were sitting in conference, the Boy leaned over to me and asked, "What's he like", meaning Elder Bednar. I said, "Well, he's nice, and smart, and he loves Heavenly Father and Jesus very much". The Boy got excited and said, "He's just like me!"

After that he decided it would be okay to meet him. He drew him a picture and went up to give it to him after the meeting. They shook hands. Elder Bednar squatted down, asked the Boy his name and his age, and thanked him for the card. It was very sweet and I felt so blessed not only to be there myself, but also to give my child the chance to hear and meet an apostle in person.

St. Patrick's Day

We didn't go to a parade or have cute food. We didn't celebrate in any other way, but dang it we wore green.

Self Inflicted Time Out

Feels Like Summer

Yesterday was a full day for us. Since we had a playdate scheduled and it was over 80s degrees out, we decided to meet the Boy's friend in the park.

They had a good time playing together for nearly three hours.

In that very same park, on that very same day...this guy showed up.

The playground ended up being a very strategic and uncrowded spot to get a look at him. My camera is not zoomed in - we were that close and exchanged a "Hello, nice to see you".

After we got home, I made carrot cake balls for the Book Club I hosted last night. I only had one that turned out pretty. But they still tasted delicious.

We all crashed hard at the end of the day.

Wacky Wednesday

The Boy's school celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday last week by having Wacky Wednesday. They encouraged the kids to dress up and look crazy.

How handy was it that he was Thing 1 for Halloween?