Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone had a Safe and Happy 4th of July! We had a great one - so in backwards order...

Toward the end of the night - we really don't like the loud ones daddy!

The hit of the night!

A little Sparkler action

Watching fireworks in her big chair!

Snaps - We Love snaps!

Hanging out after the sprinkler with Papa Randy. We got a Suprise Visit from Papa and Grandma Donna right before the 4th! We miss you both already!

Big boy with big food. Chase is no longer eating ANY baby food. He refuses! He LOVES food - as long as it's messy and he can do it himself! Most of the time he eats more dinner than Emma.

Hanging out at the pool!

We LOVE Swimming!!!


So I've been a really bad blogger - but we've been so busy this summer. Zach's starting to work more and more with the Arena opening less than a 100 days away. Things are really starting to pick up. The kids have been very busy with visits from Grandma Debi and Grandpa Randy and Grandma Donna. I've been just working and trying to keep everyone fed and clothed! We been swimming several times, to the zoo splash park (I'll post pics next time) and then of course busy with the 4th events. We took the kids down to the Waterfront concert on the 3rd of July and I wish I had brought the camera. They were both WONDERFUL! It was HOT - but between walks and running through the sprinkler down there - they didn't care. It was our best night out in a long time - no one threw any fits and everybody hung in till the end. We headed to the car right before fireworks to avoid an Emma meltdown. She rode home with her ears plugged even in the car because she could see them out the windows.

On the 4th we had friends over and grilled, did lots of snaps, sparklers and snakes. And then Zach lit off some smaller fireworks before Emma went to bed. It was the 1st time Emma got to see a real 4th of July (at least a kid version) so it was fun. We put her to bed before the loud ones started so we didn't have a post Thunder next few weeks. We've finally got her sleeping in her bed rather than under the crib so we thought that was best!

Emma has figured out how to crawl into the crib - so now every night we find the two of them in the crib laughing and jumping. It's too cute - but of course we have to scold and say it's a no-no because I'm worried she might smother Chase or something!

Other than that - life is good and busy.

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you.

The sweetest girl...

Oh - my daughter is the sweetest girl. Sometimes we get so busy that we forget to enjoy the moment. Tonight - I fully enjoyed it and I'm so glad I did. Here's what happened...

I came home with both kids after work tonight, made dinner, played, gave baths, changed diapers, did the dishes and cleaned up. Time for bed...which is oh so much fun with a 2 year old and a 9 1/2 month old. They really are pretty good - but Chase is usually ready for his bottle and bed about the same time that Emma is ready to sit on the potty 43,000 times. (Yeah - gotta work on this one. I'm determined that we should only go 2 times before bed - but she's got me beat right now!)

After all the potty trips, 2 books and tucking everyone in I went downstairs to clean up some more. About 45 minutes later, I went upstairs and heard Emma talking in bed. I went in to find her naked - yes completely naked - laying in bed talking to a picture of her (as a baby) and daddy. She told me she was sleeping naked (which sounds so funny coming out of her mouth) and then informed me she had to potty - Of Course! So we did - and we went - twice. In the midst of all of this we spent some very quality time talking about all sorts of things. When we finally were done - I took her back to bed and she said - "mommy rocky me" - Ah - how could I resist. My big girl never wants to rock! So we did. We cuddled, rocked and whispered so not to wake up my sleeping boy in the crib next to us.

So the moral of tonight is - if your sweet baby (big) girl asks you to rock - you do. And you love every minute of it!!!

I love you Big Girl!

St. Louis - Day 3

The Family at the Cabin on the Mississippi in May

Em and Chase playing in the pack-n-play

Papa Knute, Grandma Nesie, Emma, Tyler and Chase

Chase rockin his cute hat at the St. Louis Zoo

"I Get You" Emma playing with water in Missouri

Aunt Al and Baby Tyler!

Papa Knute and Em hot tubbin!

The Boys!

Okay - so after the game on Day 2 (which was Amazing - did I say that already?) Zach stayed at the hotel and then headed to Chicago for work early the next morning. We headed back to the cabin and after an interesting ride and Josh almost leaving Andrew out in the dark at the gate (HA - you have to know the story - but it was Funny!) to find Grandma and Papa with a pretty sick Emma and not so good Chase and Tyler. Emma had a stomach bug - which she gave to almost everyone in the next 2 weeks! Poor Grandma had changed diapers ALL night long. And then after all of that was over - Emma threw up all over. Again - I'm sorry!

We had a very relaxing day on Saturday with time to read, lay out in the beautiful sun, play in with water on the deck and just sit around and enjoy the family. We even made smores (on the stove - we were too lazy to make a fire but determined to have them!) And I have to say it - "How am I going to cook on these ducks?" OMG - another very funny story - but I won't tell it or name names because that would just be mean! I had a great day and miss hanging out with the fam since we just don't get home often enough!

That's our trip - we had a great time and can't wait to get together again - just not at that cabin!

St Louis - Day 2

Okay - so back to St. Louis - Friday night we took in a GREAT game from FABULOUS seats! We were 5 rows up from home plate in the Cardinal Club seats thanks to a Great Bud rep and friend of Zach's. Sometimes I Really Love the perks of all my husbands hard work and long hours! We had a wonderful buffet dinner at the club before the game and in-seat service all night. I think we tried one of everything on the menu - oh and we had a few drinks too - which is very evident as the pictures go on. What can I say - work hard - Play Harder!

Look how close we are!

Uncle Drew, Me and Aunt Al


After the game - our boys - why must they always have thier mouths open?

Again - mouth open - and yes - shots anyone?

And then there are the girls - no mouths open here - boys - take a lesson!

Aren't they Sweet! Uncle Josh and Aunt Carrie

What are you doing Uncle Drew???

Again....???

That's much better!

Me and my man - Boy I love this guy!

Carrie - it's night time - take off the shades!

Again with the mouth - really?

We had a FABULOUS time at the game and After the game - if you can't tell by the pictures. Thanks again Mike for the great tickets. And a HUGE Thank You to Papa Knute and Grandma Nesie for watching my poor sick kiddos and baby Tyler. I'm So SORRY! Will you ever watch them again??? (Jury is still out according to Papa!)

Check back for more fun and Day 3 of our St. Louis Trip!

My New Car!

Isn't it pretty!!!

We got this GMC Acadia last Monday. It seems to fit our needs very well right now and I really like it. It was either this or a mini-van - and there was no way I was was settling for the mini-van!

It has bucket seats in the middle so that you can still pass through to get to the 3rd row seats with the carseats in the middle. It has much more room for our family so traveling will be much more fun!

St. Louis - Day 1

A few weeks ago we took a family trip to St Louis to stay in a cabin on the river and just hang out with Papa Knute, Grandma Denise, Aunt Carrie and Josh and Uncle Drew, Baby Tyler and Aunt Allison. We had big hopes of everything working out just perfect - but as usual - that was not the case. We headed to the cabin on Thursday and got less than a mile away and couldn't get any closer. Missouri had just gotten a ton of rain and the river was up and the roads were FLOODED. It was awful trying to get there in our SUV and we knew there was no way the cars would make it through. So after driving through lots of water over the roads that looked like full rivers (heart racing - and racing) we made it back to St. Charles and headed to a hotel. We spent the night there and relaxed with the family that night and then the next morning before heading to the Zoo!

Chase, Josh and Carrie sleeping Friday morning!

Aunt Carrie and Chase - I love this little guy in a hat!

Emma on the slide at the zoo - she had a blast on the playground and could have just stayed there all day!

Those goats are crazy!

So light on the pictures - we didn't take a ton at the zoo and our day went from good to bad towards the end of the zoo trip. We didn't think we were going to be able to get into the cabin at all so planned to stay at the hotel again. But we got a call at 2:30 saying that we could get there and there was only 1 section of flooded road on the way. Well - great - except it was already after check out time and we had plans for the evening. So we raced back to the hotel - checked out 1 room having to pay for a 1/2 day in it and then kept the other room for Zach to stay in since it wasn't much more and he was having to get on a plane at 6 AM the next morning for Chicago. We threw everything in cars and headed to the cabin.

Once there we literally threw the bags and 3 kids (2 yrs, 9 mo and 6 mo) into the cabin and wished Grandma and Papa good luck. Then we headed to the Cards game (pictures to come in next post).

Poor Papa and Grandma, both my kids got sick and grandma spend the rest of the night changing diapers and getting thrown up on...Sorry mom - we love you! Which was quite an ordeal considering they didn't know where anything was and had to dig for diapers, clothes and everything else they needed. They survived - but were not offering to babysit again real soon!

The cabin was in less than great conditions - while very cute - it had ants and a mouse problem...and when I say problem I'm not doing it justice. I would NOT recommend it to anyone. And to top it off - I'm still arguing with the owner about the charges.

We ended up having a great time - but we'll try a new house next time we're in St. Louis. There's more pictures and stories to come - check back soon!

Where did my baby go?

Okay - really - where did my little baby go? Because all I see at this house is Big Kids! It's official. We have a crawler and a big boy that can pull himself up. And the biggest news - it happened all within a weekend really. Chase has been on the verge of crawling for a Long time now - and this weekend he took off. He'd been rocking and crawling just far enough to reach things for months now - but now we crawl from room to room and can reach any of Emma's toys he wants. Emma is not so thrilled about this of course!

Tonight I actually caught Chase pull himself up for the very first time on video!

Emma is getting bigger by the minute - and her latest news is that she now sleeps under the crib - Yes - Under the crib. I'm not really sure why - but it started about 2 weeks ago and almost every night we find her under the crib with a pillow, blanket and George. We do move her to her bed later - but she also has found it necessary to get up EVERY morning at 5:00 AM. Yes - 5:00 AM. Boy I can't wait for this stage to end! It is nice to cuddle in our bed in the morning - but I'd be a little happier if it were 6 instead of 5!

Her other big news is that she has decided to potty train herself. She now refuses to wear cloth diapers and tonight even refused to wear a diaper to bed. I was able to talk her into a pull-up for bedtime tonight, but that was it. No diapers! Tomorrow she'll start wearing training pants to school (since she decided to wear her Elmo underwear over her diaper today I think that will be an improvement!). We'll see how it goes. I really think if we hadn't had Chase to take up so much time she would have been potty trained months ago - but I'm excited that she's making these decisions on her own and we haven't pushed her to be ready.

(This doesn't do the crib sleeping justice - but I guess she likes it under there where it's all dark or something! Who knows - we're just riding this one out to see how it goes!)

We've all been very busy so I haven't taken too many photos lately - but I will try to be a better blogger as the summer begins. We can't wait for our zoo trips, waterpark fun and swimming time!!! Have a great weekend everyone!