Visit to St. Louis

We just arrived home from Grammy and Pop Pop's and had such a great visit.  It couldn't of been easier flying with the kids by myself... all 3 of them were on their best behavior for me!  Were were only in St. Louis for 4 full days but we did a lot.  On Tuesday we went to Grant's Farm and it was HOT there! We fed the goats their bottles of milk, went on a tram ride and looked at all of the different animals.  The kids loved it and so did the adults as we got to taste Anheiser Busch's beer selections. On Wednesday, Pop Pop blew up the crocodile pool and we played outside in the St. Louis heat!  On Thursday, we visited the Magic House.  It is the best Children's Museum the kids have ever seen because it so large!  Lots of exciting exhibits.  Luke's favorite was the construction site where he got to pretend he was a building a house.  The girls and I had fun with the static electricity as we got to see our hair stand up in the air.  We had some good quality time with Great Nana Betty too and she took us out to yummy ice cream to celebrate Sydney's 2nd birthday.  The girl's got to pick out a new outfit for their bitty babies as well.  We already miss you, Grammy, Pop Pop and Great Nana.

Big boy

So proud of my little helper sitting in a row by himself. 

Here we come stl

Getting ready to board plane.... so far so good!

We have walls

They started building our walls last week!  We were able to walk through our house for the very first time.  They are slated to start installing the second floor this week while the kids and I are in St. Louis visiting grammy and pop pop. 

Sydney's 2nd Birthday!

My baby turned 2 yesterday. The poor birthday girl went to bed with a fever

and woke up with a fever. Since the weather wasn't great and she wasn'tfeeling good, we decided to move the party from the beach to our home. Wetold everyone invited about the situation and those who felt comfortablecoming, showed up. We had a good turn out! All 3 kids had a blast with theirfriends. Little Miss Sydney had a great time too but did not like being sung"Happy Birthday" to. We blew up the bounce house and put it in Luke's room.The 5 year olds wrestled in it while the 3 year olds played doll house inAva's room. The little guys played with all of the cars on the ramp. I madeBarefoot Contessa cupcakes.... some with homemade raspberry icing, some withbutter cream chocolate. The theme was Curious George and the favors for thekids were Georgia crayon wallets with their initial on them. We grilledburgers and had lots of dip!Sydney received a lot of very special presents that she loves! Her favoritesare her American Girl Bitty Baby wagon, the bitty baby bday party, and hernew shoes. Ava loved all the gifts and had a little trouble sharing ;)Developmentally she has come a long way this past month. She is now tryingto imitate the words we say to her. She can say Shoes now and about 25 otherwords. I can leave her for minutes at a time in the house with her Big Sissyand Brother and trust that she will be ok. I have not yet taken down thebaby gates as she is still working on being stable on the stairs. She lovesthe ladies! Whenever she sees any of my friends, she wants to be held bythem. I always wanted a kid that liked to hang out in my lap and be held andGod gave me her. From just a few months till now her personality has beenthe same. Strong willed, passionate, emotional, loving and an uncanny loveof shoes and socks. She is snuggly and the best waist hugger I know. Sheloves to give kisses and if she is not in the mood she will just say "No,"with lots of conviction. She definitely knows what she wants and doesn't want and will definitely let you know her opinion. She knows how to getMommy's attention by sticking small chokable toys in her mouth and openingwide to show me or by standing on the edge of furniture like she is justgoing to jump right off, no big deal.... She still likes to bang her head onthe floor or bat her hand in the air when she does not get her way. Shecertainly has a lot of passion for life!