Fall Recital

A has been taking piano lessons and got to play a duet on the organ for her fall recital.

He is finally here!

Okay he was only 3 days late, but 3 days is a long time when you are 9 months pregnant. He was waiting for his aunt to arrive apparently, she flew in at 1:30 we went to the hospital at 6:30 and he was born at 9:30.

9lbs 3oz - 22 1/2"long

A was so excited to come see him and hold him.

D held him for a bit but he was kind of heavy. S would not hold him at all, she thought he was cute and she liked to touch his hair but that was about it.

My sister came to help and I am so glad that she did who knows if he ever would have decided to come: ). She was such a great help to have, we were sad to see her go. Thanks so much for everything.

S finally decided it would be okay to hold him. She is very concerned with him when he cries and tells him "it's okay no one will hurt you". She is having a bit of an adjustment but hopefully the 13 hours of sleep she got last night will help.

He is very long and has now decided that it feels pretty good to stretch out.


Already a week old.

We hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving. We feel extremely grateful this holiday season for such a great family and so many good friends. Thank you all for your love and support.

Over Due

I am not over due, yet, I will be very happy if I never get to that point. Our blog is a little out dated so here is an attempt to bring you up to date.


Now that school has started S and I get to spend all afternoon together. Her favorite thing to do is play games, on occasion I can talk her into helping me make dinner or take a nap(me napping and her reading books).

The first day of school--seems so long ago. He is loving going to school. He says that he doesn't really learn anything but just plays all the time.

Another first day of school. She is also enjoying school, learning a lot and keeping busy.

THis is over due. A just(a month or maybe 2 now) lost her front teeth, she refuses to sing the song "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" because it isn't true--I want something else for Christmas too.

We have been busy this fall with soccer. D loves it and is doing great at actually getting in there and kicking the ball. A was really nervous(her first team sport opportunity) but she does love it and is trying really hard to learn how the game works.


S didn't get to do soccer, but dance. She loves to get dressed up in her dance clothes and has so much fun in her little class.

Fall has been a fun and busy place at our house. I love the fall all the leaves are changing colors, the weather is getting cooler and soon we hope to meet this new little member of our family.

Other Summer things

D played t-ball. He had so much fun.

We took a trip to Minnesota. Joe had a conference and we have some great friends up there that we went to see. I am sad I never did get a picture of them, but it was fun to see them again. We made it to the Mall of America. A got to take her American Girl doll and get her ears pierced, D got to pick something out at the lego store.

We also went to Nauvoo for a day. The kids loved to see everything and do all the pioneer craft/activities that they had. It was a perfect day to go, not too hot.

Chocolate Milk Shakes. . .kind of

I went to this enrichment about food storage and they passed out a few recipes one of them was

Food Storage Magic Milk Shakes

This tastes similar to a Wendy's frosty
1 1/2 -2 cups ICE water-really cold
1 1/2 cups non-fat dry milk powder
2/3 cup sugar (I use Splenda)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2-3 cups ice cubes (I prefer a lot of ice)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil (yes, really- it's an emulsifier)

Place ALL the ingredients in the blender, including the oil. With lid on, process for two minutes. Makes about 4 shakes.
**the notes that are in here are from the person I got it from

So I thought I would try it, a frosty sounds good and I am not sure where a Wendy's is at in this city. They turned out pretty good, okay not Ben and Jerry's good, but good enough that if you are craving a chocolate milk shake and don't want to leave your house or are looking for ways to use that powdered milk give it a shot, your kids just might like it too.

Summer Fun Cont.

St Louis has so many fun things to do. We were able to enjoy quite a few of them. The zoo is always a favorite. The science center, free summer movies, the butterfly house, the library, and many of the parks.




The botanical garden is one of my favorites, it is so beautiful and peaceful there. It did help that the day we went was slightly overcast and 75, odd for St Louis in the summer. The kids like to feed the fish, do the maze and play in the fountains. We have yet to do the children's garden, I was saving that for when we went with Joe.

Summer Fun

We have been doing things this summer, enough to make me exhausted and excited that my kids are back in school. I am sorry that I really don't post much, mostly because I forget to take my camera or when I do I forget to take the picture and who really wants to just read about everything that we are doing, pictures are so much more fun. Not to mention that my grammar and spelling are terrible that it is taking me far to long just to type this. Anyway I did manage to take a few pictures so I will share. . . .



We drove to Utah for the week that Joe was off school. These pictures were at the beginning of the drive, they are all still smiling.

The week was packed with family fun. We got to spend lots of time with cousins and both sets of grandparents(my parents were there from Washington) so that was a special treat.

My sister owns THe Dance Shop so the girls got spoiled by her. S loved it and was not shy in picking out everything that she needed. This is still one of her favorite outfits, along with the sparkle shorts.(I don't have a picture of these, but she wears them everywhere, and people love to watch her and comment about how sparkly they are).

D was not as excited about the Dance Shop so we had to do something a little more manly. . . Lucky for us Uncle C works for the police department and they just moved into a new building so we got a tour and some pencils that change colors(a hit with all the kids).


We did do some boating(the pictures weren't the best so I will spare you). Spent some time up at Grandmas cabin--Joe like the fishing, the kids enjoyed playing in the tree house with cousins and the sandbox and some of the river. We also got to go to Grandma Z for a pizza party she was so sweet to have everyone over. We were lucky we got to spend some time with her, she passed away a few weeks later after we were home so only Joe went out for the funeral.


We went one afternoon to Salt Lake to see friends from NW. It was so fun to see them and some of their kids. We stopped by the temple for the kids to see.

That was the big trip for the summer. I will post more later, I have to get A off to school.

Happy BIrthday To You . . .

We feel so lucky to have such a sweet little girl in our family. She is so fun and full of life. She did have a great birthday with "presents, cake, balloons and dreams".

Spring

I know that is a really creative title, but I decided I better just type something before I give up on blogging all together and I think that just about every other entry is "long time no blog" as if you don't know that if you are still reading this sad attempt at blogging.

We are still alive, some of us barely. The potty training is more parent training. S will do things when she wants. She is getting it most of the time, just not the times you really want her to.



A turned 8 and got baptized. She was so luck she got to celebrate her birthday for a few weeks with a trip to Dallas to play with cousins and family coming to visit St Louis for her baptism.


Joe and I got to take a little trip to Washington to do a little job exploring. THANK YOU to Grandma P for coming out and taking care of the kids. They loved being spoiled by her for almost a week.

We are expecting. I am almost 14 weeks and am looking forward to feeling better. D is very excited about the possibility of there being 3 boys in the house and asking "how big is the baby and the tummy going to get". I wish is was "the tummy", like we could take turns passing it around, the joys of pregnancy.

I am excited for school to be out(a week left) so we can enjoy some of the fun things to do in St Louis. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures so I can post more.

All Aboard

This week we are potty training. S is excited about it and tells everyone "I potty train", not sure she realizes what that means, but she did say yesterday that we were going to throw away the diapers. I was planning on starting today, but she decided yesterday was the day. The morning went okay but after church was not so great. She keeps saying I went already as if going one time a day will do it. Wish me luck.

Snow days

The first snow day you can see there was barely snow but they were so excited.

The second snow day, a lot more snow. The kids were so excited to get two days off of school they wanted to go sledding, but it didn't end up to be as fun as it would have been with dad(he never gets a snow day).


Snow shapes


A few days after the snow it was 70. I think that is the best way to have snow, a few days then sunshine and 70 or even the 60's is great. The groundhog did see his shadow(I think, I don't really remember and don't want to look it up) so we are having 6 more weeks of winter. D is counting down the days to spring, he tells me everyday how many more weeks then goes to the computer to check the weather. He is big into the temp and the real feel.


Our Valentine Flowers

January Blah

I am actually not that Blah anymore, but I couldn't come up with a better title. I don't have any new pictures and it has been a while since our last post -- my new goal is to take more pictures so I can write less next time.

We have been slowly getting back into a schedule and out of holiday mode. This week we have especially been working on getting off the holiday diet of treats everyday, just in time to start the valentine treats.

A is starting piano lessons again, she is very excited. D is loving the wii from the moment he got Maternational(I don't really know what it is called) and would play all day if I would let him. S is growing to be more independent then either of her older siblings. She makes me laugh and keeps me going all day long--she isn't napping anymore. We are thinking of potty training and have attempted a time or two, but she doesn't seem to get it quite yet and I am a little unmotivated about it(Now accepting all the potty training tips you have).

Joe is still in school and loves seeing patients. While I am having my patience (sounds like patients) tested. A little attempt at humor.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. So I am a little late with the Christmas, it was a busy month. I thought about sending out a Christmas card, but the thought process never actually carried through to action so this may be as good as it gets.

Our busy month started off with the ward Christmas party. Joe is the activities chair so we were busy planning, buying and everything that goes along with that. It turned out as good as a ward party can and just in time for Joe to start studying for finals.

After finals were done we headed down to Nashville to visit our cousins, grandparents and favorite Aunt Carrie. We had a fun, fast visit. Thanks for the fabulous hosting. We came home and spent Christmas with just our little family.




A few days later the party really started when my brother and sister's families came for a visit - 15 in all, under one roof. Luckily the house accommodated all fairly well. We had fun visiting the Arch, the Cahokia Indian Mounds, and Ted Drews famous frozen custard. The kids had fun with their cousins, especially D loved having a boy cousin to play with. The Wii had a serious workout during this week. But the girls (6 in total) ruled the house.



We finished off the week with celebrating Joe's B-day, bringing in the new year, and doing a little shopping. We wish you all the best in the new year.