horseback riding!

i just loved this - it was a a lucky shot! 

Happy 4th birthday Lucas!!!

I love tradition. Love it!! And birthdays are a big tradition for me. Traditionally, we celebrate with the kids on the day of, and have their party on the weekend. Lucas birthday will always be tricky. His birthday is August 18th. In Illinois, we start school around this date. And Lucas' dad is a teacher to boot. See how it just got trickier? Yeah. Since Lucas isn't in school yet, it's not too bad, but I'm sure it will be one day soon. This year, Lucas wanted a red party. A red cake with all things red on it - Spider-Man, Otis and fire trucks! So I made it happen.  We invited friends and family over and celebrated my sweet boy turning FOUR! Happy happy birthday to my big boy! You are the light of my love and the love in my heart!!!

happy sixth birthday amelia!!!

 

we can come out and play!

 

all the great dancers get flowers.....

 

boogie shoes

 

girls just want to have fun

 

last dance class

 

Watch out Mia Hamm!!

My Mia Rose is a natural! i was really impressed with her soccer skills, especially since she was barefoot and has never played! Just wait till I get her shin gaurds and some cleats!

 

crawl, walk, ride

 

ready to splash!

 

I love a good splash pad! We will travel far and wide (in st. Louis) to visit them! Imagine my surprise when I found out we had one here! In Illinois! What! Excited doesn't cover it! My neighbor Melissa told me about it. We went today and it was two thumbs up! It is a new park, the pavilions are spacious and close, the bathrooms are nice and there is a ton of WATER! Can't wait to go back again!

nightly entertainment

 

gateway grizzlies

 

Amelia's school recently participated in the American heart association jump rope for heart. Since she participated and raised over $100, we got to go to a gateway grizzlies game! Nana and pawpaw joined us, which thrilled us all! The kids love their grandparents and spending time with them! We had lawn seats, which were crowded, but fun! The weather started off hot, but by inning five, we were rained out! Boo! We all decided to meet there for more ball games this summer. The players were super personable, taking time to say hi to all the kids. The prices are very reasonable too! we will definatley be going back.

meet the machines

 

For the last two years, I have heard about meet the machines. I always had to work, but not this year! I took amelia and Lucas and it was SO fun. The kids loved all the big construction equipment, getting to see it up close and sit on some. Amelia also got to ride on a mechanical lift that was 3 1/2 giraffes high! Lucas said, no mommy, I no ride on that! The worker said he was a smart boy!

Amelia Rose, girl of mine

Amelia Rose, age 5
she is funny, sweet, sassy, independent, determined and oh so lovely on the inside and out. I love love love this girl of mine.  

 

fun with bubbles!

Had some fun playing with the bubbles last night! the kids loved it and it made for some fun shots!!

 

Summer, we can see you!!

This week was filled with parties and fun days! We started off with a party for our friend Tyler! He turned three! We celebrated with him and his family. It was a hot hot hot day, but we stayed cool and still had fun! On Friday, I had a surprise free day from work, appointments and such, so I took Lucas out for a mommy and me day!! We went to the zoo! We love love love the st Louis zoo! It is an outstanding zoo. We were able to see the baby lion cubs, the zebra and the giraffes! They were all out playing and running about. We rode the train too! It was super fun! And now you are up to date on us!! Life is great here!

Meetings and such

April 29th-May5th

Amelia had her last daisy meeting. While I think she enjoyed it, I hope next year holds more activities and crafts! I think that would make her enjoy it even more! Her leader this year was Amy, and next year will be Leanne. She did earn about half of her petal patches and was able to memorize her girl scout law for her center patch. After her smock has all it's patches. i will come back and post a picture of it!

On the 6th we participated in our 3rd march for babies!! Nana Kathy came and walked with us. The kids enjoyed it and we all got some much needed exercise! Unlike last year, we walked around edwardsville instead of the middle school track. While that sounds like a great idea - i had worked the night before and wasn't really prepared to walk a 5k that day. Had I not grabbed Lucas' stroller, we would have made it to the front of the school to wait for the others to return!! Amelia did really well, especially since i let her leave in flip flops! I hope next year to plan better and raise more money!!

Critter crawl, camp out & a car accident

 April 23nd to 28th

Our week started out with a bang, or a bump if you ask Lucas. We were hit by a 16 y/o girl. We are fine, the van was not so lucky. The important thing is both kids and myself are perfectly fine. The van can be fixed. And Amelia's booster seat held up in the crash, which made me very happy. I had a lot of anxiety out of moving her out of a 5 point restraint and into a booster. I looked at a ton of boosters, asked everyone their opinion and finally settled on the britax parkway SGL. the L stands for Latch!! it is latch equipped and has a extra part to keep the seat belt on Amelia's lap. She fits in it well and love the cup holders!!
 We went for a Friday night visit to nana's, which the kids loved. We had pizza and salad, followed by a cake. It was a happy day cake, just to celebrate ourselves!! Saturday morning Amelia left for her first daisy overnight camp out. I really wanted to go with her, but I missed the meeting where they talked about it and missed the sign up. I hope to go with her next year! I love to camp and want to share that with my kids.
While Amelia was camping I took Lucas on a critter crawl. The park had spread little plastic bugs all over the walking trail for the kids to hunt and find. Lucas was equipped with his bug catcher and we were off. He found about 25 bugs at the end, and he even shared some with Olivia. We didn't get a special prize bug, but we had a super fun time! The cupcakery van was there and we enjoyed a sweet treat afterwards. Another week down, more memories made, lots of fun for all if us!!

Fast forward

It seems like someone hit the fast forward button on life, and I need to find the pause! The last month has been a blur of activity, always some where to go or somewhere to be. I will do a week by week recap to get you updated!

April 15th to 21st

The kids and I went to the health fair at local high school. I really wanted to go for the bicycle helmets! St Louis children's hospital was there selling helmets and fitting them to the kids. The kids also got to climb in the cab of a fire truck. Great fun when you are 3 & 5! It was such a last minute thing, i wasn't able to get any pictures.
Later in the week we to the book fair and bought the kids some more books! Amelia got a rainbow magic, rainbow magical animal fairy book. It is a book series that was recommended to us by a friend. She chose Ashley the dragon fairy. She loved this one and I think we will be be getting more of them. She also picked out summer pony. We are still reading that one, so far it has been a good read for her.  Lucas picked out when a dragon moves in and duck at the door. We even bought a book about the presidents for amelia's classroom!! The school had a snow cone truck out front so we bought the kids a snow cone and sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather!! The kids love getting new books and I enjoy the change too!
April 18th Amelia celebrated her birthday with her school friends! She was given a special crown to wear, a certificate and I brought cupcakes for the kids! I think she enjoyed all the attention from her school friends! She was queen for the day! It was definitively an eventful and fun week!