St. Louis City Museum Party.......

What happened to yesterday? I swear to goodness that we woke up around 6:30am, ate breakfast together, but after that all I remember is falling asleep........wait, there were lots of our loved ones, cake, my legs are sore from climbing and sliding, I remember looking for kids a lot, there were nicely wrapped packages, a band and some games at a street party, crying in a car - oh..........now it is coming back.....yesterday we traveled to St. Louis to celebrate Spidey's birthday with our family and friends. We started at the City Museum - if you haven't been there plan a trip, but don't try to do it all in 2 1/2 hours (although we did succeed in doing much of it - thanks to non-stop moving children). We tackled the outside climbing area (some of us with shaking knees) - then an interesting room that the kids ran all around - onto the caves where you could start underground and make you way all the way up the catacombs and then slide down shoots that were originally usedn a shoe factory (did you know that?) - and then into the original water and climbing area (where JB kinda almost got stuck in a section). After that we caravaned to the Gerstner's house and they hosted us as we did Pinata (because it ain't a party until you beat candy out of something), had cake, opened gifts and shared some down time together. It was a ton of fun. After the party ended we stayed a bit so BigGuy could help with some car troubles - while he did that we went to a nearby street celebration for the Garden District and enjoyed some games, food and music. What a nice end. We were actually home by 9pm and in bed by 9:30pm - Whoosh..........what a day!!

Parts I & II of Spidey's Birthday

The morning started with a Birthday Snuggle. I am so happy to have these - all snuggled up talking about how old he is and when he was born. Sweet and ooooh so short, because we were up and flippin' giant pancakes in what seemed like a morning Birthday Whoosh. On the bus and off he was. Baber's and I stopped at school to deliver Diego Cupcakes and juice - everyone sang and created a Birthday Book for Spidey. As quick as we were there we were off again and then on to Chuck E Cheese. Although CEC was originally planned to be a "family" event, Spidey invited HC, JC and KW along - their families came and suddenly the cake was all eaten (or maybe that is thankfully the cake was all eaten). We were happy to have friends to share the day with. We kinda thought this year we would have more solitude celebrations - happily mistaken. Here are pics for these events - Saturday we head to St. Louis for a big party with family and friends there, so check back to see the rest.

Enjoy!

Shining

This past weekend we did something that SuperStar has been begging to do for months. Amazingly we have lived here long enough to say "months" now. In July three horses moved in down the road. SuperStar has been working on a way to meet those horses since she saw them. We took Jake for a walk and I figured we would be able to see them from a distance, perhaps meet the owner and maybe the next time get invited to meet the horses. Nope, we were called to by MM (the owner) as she stood in the barn and then immediately whooshed in (Jake and all), the stalls swung open and food given to us to feed all three. It was very exciting. MM was very genuine, nice and outgoing. She made us feel welcome and happy to be there - and we left with the same feeling. SuperStar arrived home with Horses twinkling in her eyes and she was splendid to her brothers - even took Babers out to swing in his new swing. The reason she did this was because she was so excited, so happy and was treated so nicely by MM. In reference to that feeling my sis-in-law posted a video (which is the next post down) that is all about sharing your "Light" - or rather, Shining Your Light - and positively effecting another person so that they walk away and do the same for another person. Creating a water fall of positive interactions and effecting many people from just one act of kindness. When I think of MM in reference to the video I can't help but think about all of you. How you check on us, the calls to keep in touch, the emails, the visits, helping us adjust, or those who are here where we live who have made us feel so welcome and happy to be here, our neighborhood, school, groups we have joined - everyone of them being a very positive experience. All of this makes us want to be certain to share positives with you and others we encounter - make them leave our presence feeling uplifted, happy, liked and loved.

To hear the music in the video please remember to pause the music in the side bar.

NEEDTOBREATHE

Ketchin' Up

Spidey has now become a big time speller. The other day I told him to catch up with us and he told me he knew how to spell "catch up". Surprised he thought he could do this (3 letter words he is totally got covered, but two words?) I told him to go for it. He ran over to the refrigerator and took out the ketchup bottle and he proceeded to spell catch up - with a K of course. Now I am catching up. Sunday I woke up and finally found that my stomach was not woozy. Not that it is ready to eat a ton of food, but it is ready to not make me think about what I am eating before I do it. Yea!! That makes four of us totally healthy - BigGuy though, I think he might be getting it now.

The week was fast. Most likely because I helped a friend by watching her son all most of the mornings. Plus we met up with another friend each day to do stuff at parks and what not. Then there was Superstar's operation on Friday - that had us focused on the end of the week. She had two teeth pulled - just like Spidey (only he had one pulled). We rented movies and she picked two ice creams - Blue Bunny (that is a shout out to Iowa - go Blue Bunny) Orange Dream and a new flavor, Cinnamon (not as good as you would think - er, I would think). She picked mashed potatoes and tapioca pudding too. In all it went well - she came out of the anesthesia without problem and the operation itself took all of 15 minutes. Total trouper. The Fairy brought gifts for two teeth - even though they were both half gone. Our Fairy rocks. Spidey didn't go without a big event either - why would we want to have an easy week? At the same time SuperStar was under Spidey and BigGuy were off to his first Field Trip. They went to the firehouse and to Safety Town. Wish BigGuy had the camera because it sounded way cute.

This weekend we did a lot of different stuff. You will get totally different answers about what was most exciting depending on who you ask. BigGuy will say that we finally went to the local meat store to check it out. He found that they make fresh bratwurst in many many flavors. He brought home Cherry, Apple & Tomato Basil. We liked them all, but voted Cherry the best. Spidey would probably say that riding his bike around the neighborhood was the best part. Babers would love that he got a new swing for our backyard set and now he can swing at home. SuperStar would say that meeting the neighbors horses and feeding them was the best part. My favorite part would probably be the visit with Papa & Grandma - well, that was every one's favorite. We played putt putt at the park and visited the cheese farm. Plus the weather was gorgeous!! That alone made anything we did easily Fun!

My Apologies to SuperStar

I must make a public apology to SuperStar. Last spring when we were making the move to our new home SuperStar (and the rest of us) had a large amount of anxiety about leaving our home in St. Louis. Some of this came out for her through multiple visits to the nurses office at school. She bumped something, something ached so badly she should to home, she was sure she had a fever. Once I came to pick her up because she had her teacher totally convinced she had a stomach bug. I didn't think she looked too bad, but she had been laying in the reading area moaning - so I took her home. As soon as we were in the van she opened up her lunch box and gobbled down everything that was in it. So medical drama is something that she has a history with (not the McDreamy kind). About two weeks ago the boys and I all had a tiny stomach bug. Kept us from eating really big or rich things, but didn't keep us down or come with fever or anything like that. That Friday SuperStar was sent home from school. She appeared sheepish and didn't really seem too terribly sick, but through the weekend she didn't eat much at all, slept a lot and generally kept a low profile. On Monday she asked to stay home and I figured better safe then sorry. However, once back at school on Tuesday I received a call that she didn't feel well and wanted to come home - I talked to her and she still hadn't eaten anything that day, I encouraged her to eat, she did and then started to feel better and stayed at school. Now - because of that I figured the whole thing was probably dramatized - until I got it. Whatever the boys and I had held absolutely no candle at all to what SuperStar had. It was awful. Like her I laid on the couch for four days and did not eat more then toast each day. By Saturday I felt better and could eat some, but still felt nauseous and exhausted. Heck, I still feel like I am recovering. I completely underestimated the pain she was in and have since realized that she was probably even being a trouper with the way she dealt with it. So..............I am so very sorry SuperStar.........you were Super Sick!!

Well, the weather was nice............

This past weekend was much different then we planned. Our orignial plan was to have the Papa's come visit, we were going to have our first school friend play dates, we were going on a family bike ride and we were going to check out a neighboring towns festival. We didn't do those things - any of them. Through the week 4 out of 5 of us had a stomach bug. The bug chose to torture us all in different ways and it continues to linger with all of us, but it hit SuperStar the hardest and the last - thus transforming our weekend. No one wants to visit sick people with stomach problems (except maybe the other people we knew who had it - and they probably didn't want to be in the car for a long time away from a bathroom). So our visitors rescheduled. You know - now that I reflect back they really did miss out. There was this really exciting moment Friday night where Babers made a huge gooshie, disgusting smelling mess in his pants - I asked BigGuy to pleeeeaase take care of it because my stomach had still not fully recovered and smells like that make me lose it - only just as BigGuy did take over (because he is a wonderful man - I wish everyone a BigGuy like mine), Spidey rushed in and said, his words, "SuperStar is making a big mess in the hallway" - like she should be in trouble - so we peek out of Babers room to see what she is doing and she is vomiting - quickly I asked BigGuy to switch me responsiblities because I knew the smelly mess was better then the vomit. He did (again - have I told you how wonderful he is???). The rest of the weekend SuperStar sat on the couch and watched movies. Spidey and Babers got undivided attention doing things around the house - and sharing the movies that were rented for SuperStar. I did little things that I have been meaning to do forever (like put pictures in the bill organizer we bought a year ago and organize a few other things), make chicken soup and all our other meals (well except the one from Culver's on Friday - which didn't go over well with most of us - thus the Chicken Soup). Thankfully the weather was nice - so we had the windows open all weekend getting some of those germs out.

BigGuy though did something that I thought was even more amazing and beautiful then dealing with vomit. Now, remember I love to organize things - especially closets! As you enter our house there are two closets in the vestibule (yes, we have one of these). We don't have that many coats so one of them is really a wasted space. Awhile back he asked me to draw a picture the way I wanted one of our front closet to look. I did - and he built it. It is beautiful. The bottom is a large three drawer cabinet - flanked on both sides by a small amount of storage for umbrellas and our music class stuff - then the middle section is three cubbies for all the kids school stuff. My heart is now beating with joy just thinking about it because this means that the school stuff is no longer going to be as scattered around(I use the word "as" because I am realistic that things still will be scattered a bit - we are talking 3 kids). Then the top portion is a shelf for odds and ends. It is gorgeous and it was worth the stomach flu to cause us to be home to do it. The corn festival will happen again next year - heck it happens in an other town next weekend, plus a pumpkin festival (beat that Pagan Festival). The Papa's rescheduled so no loss there - plus........now when they visit we can share the joy of our beautiful new closet with them. Most likely they will just stand in the vestibule the whole time and think amazing thoughts about BigGuy . I know, because that is where I have been all day.

Enjoy the pics.

Someone help this Baby.........pleeeeaaase!

Yes, he is the third child - Yes, he gets lots of attention - Yes, he is sometimes shuffled about even though he gets lots of attention - Yes, he is ultra cute - Yes, he is ultra smart - Yes, he is mega snugly - However............................he can throw a tantrum like neither Spidey nor Superstar could ever have imagined. Babers is having issues with "endings". The end of anything he is enjoying will cause him to flip out. End of a song, end of a book, end of a game, end of a segment of Sesame Street (which is a lot of ends in an hour), any end. He loves to play with the train set, but insists on pushing the train from behind - causing the train to kinda crumple, causing Babers to freak and start launching the train pieces as though he were a giant alien tossing about helpless train cars through the universe (I find then all over the basement - Jake does too which he then chews up like a giant alien eating helpless train cars). These tantrums we have been able to watch, comfort, deal with and move on - some are even kinda funny, like when he throws a fit while buckled in his car seat - he grabs his foot and using his hands will hit himself in the head with his foot - not enough velocity to really hurt him. Today he upped the anti. Not happy about something (we hung up the phone after talking to BigGuy) he was screaming and tears were streaming. Then he leaned over and whacked his head on the wood floor - threw himself to the ground - rolled over to look at me (without an audience it just isn't as worth it I suppose). When I offered to hold him he kinda came toward me, walked up two steps on the staircase and then kinda threw himself back down the steps - he did it carefully, but you could tell he was trying to make me jump. I did. I ended up holding him on the couch watching Sesame Street....................................He won.

Endings and Beginnings

.............and so the summer comes to an end...........................We are very ready to start creating a life here now. This has to have been the busiest summer we have had in many many years. It was wonderful to have all our friends and family come to visit - through the whole summer there were only three weekends that someone wasn't visiting and of those three weekends we spent two of them back in St. Louis. We are whooped!!!

This weekend we took a short moment to ourselves. None of us were doing fabulously because the school routine has changed our body clocks and we are wiped out - the thought of packing up and traveling was overwhelming and I found myself in tears - so we stopped for a few days and just did stuff around here to give ourselves a break. It was nice and it made it easier to travel and do the things we needed to do (fascia boards on Nanny's house, visits, birthdays, etc.). In the end it was a very nice visit - the kids saw cousin's and grands, we saw friends, had sleep overs, attended a party and got little sleep. What a nice way to end the summer and start the school year permanently. Still, by the time we got home yesterday afternoon we all just kinda sat (well, I went to Michael's to use a 50% off coupon - then sat). This morning our bus changed a bit and the kids are being picked up thirty minutes earlier - so by tonight we are going to be really whooped! I predict an evening of homework, Little House on the Prairie (thanks to the Papa's for this) and little movement.

We will now start all the building - PTO starts, classwork starts, there are Pampered Chef parties to atend, yards to landscape, brithdays to plan - So when does Fall really start?