Easter 2012

Yep, this is the best shot we got of all of us. It's an honest and true representation. : )

Kate and Grandpa

This girl loves her Grandpa. Every time we tell her that we're going to see Grandpa she runs to the garage and says, "pa-pa, pa-pa". It's so sweet. They're going to have a blast together in Florida in just a few short weeks. So sweet. 

Spring feels like Summer - 2

It's hard to believe that on the 1st day of April the kids were playing in the sprinkler and swimming pool! Seriously, did we have a winter? Will we have a Spring or skip right into Summer? No complaints here, just feels strange. Last Summer Kate was not mobile (good and bad), so I wasn't sure what to expect with the water activities. However, like everything else I tend to over-analyze and worry myself with, she did great. She climbed in and out of the pool just like her brothers and would timidly run through the sprinkler. For the boys - it was like riding a bike. They jumped right in and had a blast. The temperatures have since dropped and I get an earful daily with requests to play in the sprinkler. Soon boys, soon.

These two guys were obsessed with squirting each other with the little nozzles that shoot of the sprinkler. 

Spring feels like Summer - 1

We had summer temperatures this past week and we spent as much time outside as possible. The kids played in the water table, dug in the rocks, played on the swing set, swam (walked/jumped in)the pool and ran through the sprinkler. And I enjoyed watching them do all that while soaking up some sun. It was lovely. 

I just love their little chubby feet and hands

These are some baby bunnies we found in our backyard. So sweet. We covered them back up and have peeked on them now and again to make sure they're doing ok. They've put on some fat, so I guess they are. Precious.

I love seeing new green pop up throughout the yard. Spring is great!

Making Pizza

The boys LOVE pizza, well maybe it's just Luke that is obsessed with it lately. Regardless of who likes it the most I thought they would enjoy making their own pizzas . . . and they did. I am so type A, so it was a wee bit of a challenge for me to hang back and let them slop on their own sauce and cheese, but I did. And the best part - we all had a great time in the process. They had fun making them and really enjoyed eating them. And to satisfy my controlling tendencies - I made Kate's pizza. Ahh, perfect (freak) amount of sauce and cheese. I'm only kidding . . . maybe, a little!?!

Fun with learning

Luke has been super interested in learning how to spell words lately. So when J was working the other night I took the kids to B & N for some dessert and some train table play time. On the way out I noticed the pre-school teaching section and grabbed some flash cards for Luke and Evan. For Luke I got a box of 3 letter words (so cool). The idea is to start forming/spelling 3 letter words by completing the picture. Once he's gotten the hang of that there are letters on the back of each card so we can start building our own words. Simply put - he loves them. He requests that we "play" them at least a few times a week. It's pretty great. For Evan I picked up a box of cards that works on letters, colors, shapes, numbers and matching. Also a big hit. I had no idea how well Evan knew his numbers until we started working on these cards. (for the record, he's great with the other stuff, too : )).

And not to be left out - Kate LOVES to color. She is fascinated with holding the crayon in her hand and making marks on paper. It's really sweet. I just have to keep and eye on her because she also enjoys eating the crayons. ; )

What we've been up to. . .

 Little miss has started eating "big kid" cereal on her own. She does a pretty good job, too. As long as it's heavy on the cereal and light on the milk, she can manage it. She's getting so big. 

 These two are infatuated with their Leapsters. They're really great about sharing their games with each other and Luke helps Evan when he gets frustrated. Now if we could just figure out the battery situation. Ugh, they go through them like water. Maybe we should invest in the rechargeable battery pack?!?! 

 The table is a success. The boys play at it all the time. J and Luke play their nightly game of Chutes and Ladders at it, too.

 J bought me a bench for the dining room table, which is awesome! I love it and it's great for the boys to sit at. No more boosters at the table for now - that is until Kate is out of the high chair.

And, finally we are so happy that Spring is here! This week we busted out the water table, bikes, shovels, dump trucks and other outdoor fun and had a blast. I love warm weather!!! Oh and I even planted some flowers in the window boxes, woot!

Mini-Vacation

Justin had the week off and we decided to take a last minute trip to St. Louis. We has such a GREAT time. We haven't been there since we moved back to KC nearly 2 years ago. As soon as we got there I whipped out my camera and (eek) the battery was dead and I had left the charger at home. I had a brief a moment of panic and then quickly realized that we could snap pictures with our phones and I would probably be more present anyway. So, I relaxed and had a wonderful time. Anyway, we stayed at a hotel just outside of the city. They had an indoor pool, which the kids LOVED. We packed our days full of kid-friendly adventures. We were able to go to the zoo (amazing, as always), Suson Park, Lewis Park, West County mall play area (due to rain), the Museum of Transportation, and the Chesterfield Mall play area on the way out of town. We absolutely wore them out, but we think they had a fantastic time in the process. Oh and we were going to hit up The Magic House but remembered that it was Spring Break and decided to avoid that mess.  We hadn't realized how much we missed St. Louis until we were there this week. It's an awesome city that offers so much for kids (lots of stuff is FREE!). 

After dinner dessert and coffee in the Central West End on our first night in town.

Suson Park. I asked Luke if he remembered going there. His response, "nope". 

Our first visit to the Transportation Museum. OMG, I can't believe we missed out on this little gem when we lived there. So cool. A bit pricey, but they do have membership options that would have been great to know about back then. 

Randomness in these pictures. Two exhausted babes, a delicious night out to eat, dinosaur friends, stink face, a little spring shoe shopping and cute boys. 

Oh Dewey's Pizza how we missed you. This was our "we're leaving" meal. Oh this place is good. We rarely were able to eat out when we lived in St Louis but when we did we splurged on Dewey's. J and I have been disciplined with our eating over the past few months but this was so worth the fat/calories/carbs, blah, blah, blah. So good.

Our kitchen

The kids have a table and chairs that were given to us from J's sister, but after much use the table leg decided to give out. There was only so much wood glue the poor thing could stand. So began my search for a new set. I knew that I wanted a bigger table this time and 4 chairs. We found a cute table at Nebraska Furniture Mart, but with a 200 dollar price tag, it just wasn't cutting it. That and I didn't like the color and definitely couldn't justify paying that much and then having to paint it. So, I turned to craigslist . . . 

I found this baby for 60 bucks! It is a SOLID piece of furniture, is larger than our previous set and has 4 chairs. PER-FECT. It was in pretty good shape, too. Nothing a little sticker peeling (Ev thought it was pretty cool that his name was on this chair), sanding and paint couldn't fix.

This is the table and chairs now. I love it. I painted the table with Martha Stewart's Seaglass (so pretty) and then painted the chairs a gunmetal gray. Now instead of having a table in the kitchen that we never use and collects junk, the kids have a place to do artwork, eat breakfast at, play cars on, etc.... (and collect junk). Fun.

While I was at it, I figured the rest of the kitchen could use a little face-lift. I painted the walls in Martha Stewart's Bedford Gray (so soothing), found some cheap accent pieces and even re-purposed a couple pictures. I am super happy with the change and it was just over 100 dollars to change (that's including the table and chairs!!). Awesome. 

A quiet morning at home

It was 70 degrees and sunny yesterday and it's snowing today. Good grief, only in the Midwest. So . . . this is how we're spending our day. It's lovely. 

I snuck up on Kate playing quietly in her room. She's really getting much better about entertaining herself. She's a sweet baby girl.

She's very interested in watching the snow fall.

Who needs a chair when you have a tote to sit in?

Pants are optional around here.

A sweet look from a sweet boy. I love these kids.