Sunday, June 12, 2011

the newest member of our family

Welcome Ferdinand Bartholomew!!

Ferdinand found us June 11th, he was only about 2 weeks old. We have been loving
and nuturing him back to health, so far so good! Welcome to the family ferdie!

Friday, June 10, 2011

splash plad

We were invited to go to one of the many local splash pads with out friends Olivia and Robbie. We had a lot of fun, got really wet and afterwards, took a great nap!! I don't know how we didn't even get one picture of Olivia! Sorry Olivia! We had fun with you guys!

Saturday, June 04, 2011

the 844

Union Pacific had a contest and the STL route won. We were excited to see the Steam engine and headed to Dupo, IL as t came through. Too bad it wasn't disclosed that it would not actually stop for us to climb on it that day. It honestly came into Dupo, stopped for 2 minutes, and then left. Lucas was excited to see it but wanted to get closer and touch it. We will have to take a trip to the Museum of Transportation so he can see some trains up close.

The History of LIVING LEGEND NO. 844

THE LAST OF THE STEAM LOCOMOTIVES

Many people know the engine as the No. 8444, since an extra '4' was added to its number in 1962 to distinguish it from a diesel numbered in the 800 series. The steam engine regained its rightful number in June 1989, after the diesel was retired.

Steam Locomotive No. 844 is the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific Railroad. It was delivered in 1944. A high-speed passenger engine, it pulled such widely known trains as theOverland Limited, Los Angeles Limited, Portland Rose andChallenger.

When diesels took over all of the passenger train duties, No. 844 was placed in freight service in Nebraska between 1957 and 1959. It was saved from being scrapped in 1960 and held for special service.

The engine has run hundreds of thousands of miles as Union Pacific's ambassador of goodwill. It has made appearances at Expo '74 in Spokane, the 1981 opening of the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans and the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Los Angeles Union Station in 1989.

Hailed as Union Pacific's "Living Legend," the engine is widely known among railroad enthusiasts for its excursion runs, especially over Union Pacific's fabled crossing of Sherman Hill between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming.

Monday, May 30, 2011

the 13 year cicada's

quite possibly the only person is STL that is happy they are here. Amelia loved them, was namimg them and holding them all day. umm....yuk?!?!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

congrats Ally!

Class of 2011 Fox High School
We are so pround of you!!

Friday, May 20, 2011

zoo, first trip of the year

We love, love our STL Zoo. It has a ton of great animals, tons of things to see and learn and it is free! Plus we are zoo members so we get ea few extra perks - free parking, free train rides and free carousel rides. Every year the kids pick a *new* favorite animal. Some fav's of the past are: giraffe, giraffe, hippo, hippo, lion/big cats. This year it is the elephant. We had to stay and watch them for an extended amount of time. There were 2 babies this year, and they were playing by spraying water on each other. In a brief admission of my nerdiness - i always dress the kids in an animal shirt when we go. i can't help myself!! this year is a monkey for amelia and a elephant for lucas! We has a few challenges while trying to get to the zoo (car mysteriously broke down, AC in house wouldn't come on. etc) but we made it and had a grand time! Maybe next time you can join us :)

Lucas is all about trains right now, so we had to ride the train! he loved it!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Lovely Words for Lou

Sunday, May 15, 2011

a day to celebrate

on 5/15/2011 we reached a milestone. Lucas had been seizure free for one year!! We were so excited to reach this first for him. While we will never forget the week spent trying to diagnosis him and control the seizures, we are thankful they are controllable, the medicine works and Lucas is growing and thriving. We had a little celebration for him with our family and friends. congratulations sweet boy, we love you!!!

Surrounded by family*surrounded by friends*surrounded by love

We had everyone that came sign the guest book with their thumbprint, turned out super cute!!

Thanks Pam Q for designing this for me!

Lucas with his biggest fans!

the thumbprint guestbook and all the kids!

robbie, tyler, madison, amelia, lucas, bella and avani

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Pre-K graduation

Amelia graduated from Pre-K. we are so proud of her and all she has accomplished. I hope she loves kindergarten next year! I hate admitting my baby is growing up, but she is!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

need a hug?

Lucas is your man! He wakes up so happy and gives the best hugs!! love him so!

Friday fun and PSA

Lucas has tumbling on Friday mornings. I take the back roads through the "country" part of our town to get to his classes. Usually the cows are out by the road grazing. if we have time we stop and open the van doors and talk to them. That entails Amelia saying "mooo, moo, mooooooo, moooo" etc. She thinks she speaks cow i guess. Lucas then starts up with "mooo cow, moooooo cow, moo cow" etc. That makes Amelia continuously tell Lucas that it is not "moo cow" just "moo" and to stop saying "moo cow". Lucas ignores her and continues to say "moo cow", which makes me giggle! they are so funny! here are the cows/moo cows in action!

move it now mister!

my favorite baby! how cute is he?!?!

a cow college

On to the PSA part. How sad that these cows are subjected to your litter. Amelia was quite upset that these momma cows and their babies had to eat around your water bottle and Gatorade bottle. She kept asking me to get out of the van and go pick this up! if a four yr old can find the trash can, so can you! otherwise,

Please Keep your trash in your car!