A Look at Life Around Here

If you come over to our house ...

...Teddy might ask you if you want to pretend to be sick and then order you to lie on the couch so he can check you.  Chances are, you will have a stomach ache and will need to be fixed

...You will find a lot of books like these lying around.  These are the kinds of books Millie is checking out from the library (both school and public) these days.  She has been declaring that she wants to be the first woman president when she grows up ... I think she is studying up already!

 ... you will likely be handed a love letter (or three) from Merrill.  There are literally thousands, hundreds, okay, dozens of these all around the house (this is just one example)

... you might find Teddy sitting in a basket

... you will have a hard time finding a place to sit because all of our couches and chairs look like this;

 ... or this:

...you might be asked to join a family art session

...or play little legos in the basement (I will not subject you to a picture of what that looks like around here ...)

...and you'll probably be offered a piece of cake ('cause I like decorating them, but I certainly don't want to be eating them all!)

We have our ups and downs around here like all families and some days are better than others, but we're learning to navigate this crazy, messy, loud little life of ours.  So, come on over -- just please excuse the mess.

'Reading'

If you need help translating, change all of the 'd's to 'c's -- it will help :)

Valentine's Day

Like most holidays these days, our Valentine's day celebration spanned a good part of the weekend.  Thursday the kids had their classroom parties followed by a school dance that evening,  (Which, I was leery of attending because last year we all got sick that night -- though not because of the dance ...  it just brought back bad memories!), Friday we made chocolate covered pretzels with my sister and her kids, Saturday we exchanged gifts with the kids, and Sunday, Scott and I were treated to an afternoon out thanks to friends who offered to have ALL of the kids over for a playdate followed by a pizza dinner for both families.  Whew!  And now here we are on a snowy President's day (okay ... a few days later...) and very little on the agenda for the day.  The girls have played little legos almost ALL day, Teddy and I shoveled the driveway (which is a pretty big task) and that's about it.  Tomorrow it's back to our regular schedule!

Millie's party

At the dance

 There was not a whole lot of dancing going on ... mostly running around the gym chasing/being chased by the boys ;)

Singing a little "ABC's" before making pretzels

Yes, there is a pretzel under that mound of chocolate and sprinkles...

Peyton was not stingy with the sprinkles!

Our afternoon out took us downtown to do a little exploring in what is essentially a junk yard for salvaged home materials and to Cherokee Street to do a little antique hunting.  We didn't buy anything, but it was fun to walk around together in stores that are DEFINITELY not child friendly.  We used to go to antique shops all the time before kids, but haven't really been much since.  It was a VERY cold afternoon with snow on it's way, and it was a Sunday, so only about half the shops on Cherokee Street were open by the time we made it down there.  We happened to be right near where we got married, so we drove by and pulled over for a few quick pictures of the site of the best.wedding.ever (yes, we are biased.  I hope every couple thinks their wedding was the best wedding ever!)

The warehouse holding salvaged materials is to the left there -- no lights and no heat!  We did our research though and came prepared with a flashlight.

 Ten and a half years later ....

Snowy Day

Teddy enjoyed his first real day out in the snow -- AND he helped me shovel the driveway!  He was a super-trooper and stayed out the whole time with me.  He fell face-first into the snow once and that caused some tears, but after we went in and dried off and found some better fitting gloves he went right back out.  Once the driveway was finished he was rewarded with some hot (lukewarm...) chocolate.  The girls waited until later in the afternoon to go out (once the shoveling was done), and did not last nearly as long.

ready to go out!

Much easier to shovel when you can use your thumbs :)

Someone needs to work on his hot-chocolate-drinking technique

Sisters were out for about 10 minutes

Hello, Winter!

So very nice of you to show up -- we've been waiting for you!  You've visited many of our friends this year (and perhaps over-extended your stay in some areas, ahem, the Northeast...), but we haven't seen much of you here.  We're happy to have you and your fresh coat of snow and even your chilly temperatures.  You chose a perfect day as the kids are home for Presidents day and we have no need to leave the house.  You've given us the perfect excuse for a lazy start to the morning and a day in front of the fire (and maybe even some hot chocolate).  We might even come out and play for a bit to really enjoy your presence.  So, thanks again for coming -- just make sure you don't stay too long!

70 on February 7th

You can always count on St. Louis weather to throw a few 60+ degree days into the winter mix to break things up (though I have nothing to complain about in terms of winter, this has been an incredibly mild winter -- I'm not even sure we'll see a real snow this year! [and I kinda don't even care that I may have just jinxed that...] ).  Today was one of those days -- sunny and 70 degrees.  Perfect day to get out of the house and enjoy some time with grandparents.