St Louis Temple

We spent a Sunday afternoon walking around the beautiful St Louis Temple grounds. I love it there and it brings on some good family discussions.

Library Renaissance Fair

One hot summer day our public library featured a Renaissance day. Have I mentioned how much I love our library. All the workers are wonderful and personable. We have come to know them well and appreciate all their efforts in our community. Their childrens' programs are amazing. So naturally we try to support their efforts when we can and thought what a fun educational experience for the kids.

A local renaissance chapter set up tents with period food games, displays and even some jousting duels. It was hot and they were decked out all day in the traditional clothing, obviously meant for a much colder climate. They did provide fans and snow cones which helped. Not many people showed up and I felt for these great people. They were wonderful with our kids and very interactive. Glad we went.

Well lets get to it...

We're back to the summer recap. It's one of my weekend goals.

Tyson turned 10 in July. The boy grows so fast its scary. Yep, stars wars request again. It's a classic favorite. No big party this time, just the fam. We sure had fun though and again not many pictures. We actually celebrated all week leading up with a star wars marathon, one a night, after the girls went down of coarse. On the the big day, we played games, hit our homemade pinata, the death star in case you couldn't tell. Then after his icecream cake and presents, Tyson and Heath had a Father-son night out to see the Captain America movie while I stayed and played with the girlies. So he chalked up another good b-day. Until, next summer...

Some of my favorite memories are just hanging out with our little family at home...

Some guitar lessons from Dad. They loved it and actually caught on pretty quick. So who knows what the future holds there. Little musical prodigies I'm sure ;)

Valentine's Day

Today was Valentine's Day. A good fun day. Tuesday is also our playgroup day so we hosted at little Valentine's party at the house. We made valentines and decorated all sorts of cookies and cupcakes and treats to take home to our families, and of coarse eat right away. I love lots of beloved people crammed into our little home. Crazy and cozy just how I like it. And like always, kicking myself for forgetting the camera.

We enjoyed the rest of the day playing and relaxing as a family. Perfect. Holidays always do make us a little homesick for our families though.

As we were getting the girls ready for bed, it struck me how fast this wonderful day rushed by and how fast our kids are growing and time in general has been flying. Suddenly I felt panicky and a little sad not being able to slow it down. So we stopped right there and took some pictures, girls in their jammies and all looking not so glamorous but very real at the end of a good tiring day.

After the girls went down, I took a few more pictures. I love holidays. And they've gotten even more fun with kids around. Its easy for me to get caught up in their enthusiasm.

We haven't decorated for Valentine's day much in the past. So this year we had a few homemade ones to make it feel more festive. Of coarse our little family room already feels like an ode to Valentine's day, what with all the bright red and heart curtains. I cut out some hearts out of cardstock and the girls thread them together with some yarn I had to created a simple banner. I wrapped some large cardboard letters in yarn and we printed off a free LOVE you printable I found here through pinterest.

Some yarn balls we made for our Christmas tree this year. Love transitional decor.

Growing up my mom didn't decorate too much for holidays, except for Christmas where she went all out. She really didn't have to since she had 7 little kids to do it for her. And I love that she let us fill her windows and walls with our little festive creations.

I'm sure they lacked some real Martha Steward beauty and sophistication. But she never seemed to mind. And now as an adult I really appreciate that she allowed us to express ourselves, no matter the tackiness. I'm sure we thought it was just beautiful and she never made us feel otherwise.
And while I do love to decorate, I think its also important that my kids feel valued and encouraged to create without me stepping in to manipulate the outcome. And that's how we end up with a few very random "decorations".

These melted crayon hearts were another idea found on pinterest.

Some valentines with Christmas stickers.

I guess that's enough peopless pictures, eh? And by the way, quite unintentionally, we've kept some news from some of you far away. Since blogging has been sporadic I haven't been featured in any pictures recently.

Yep, I've put on a few pounds and we're expecting a baby boy the end of this next month. We're so excited and eagerly awaiting his arrival. I'm also excited to have my sister come help and a week later my parents and Tyson will be here too! We have a lot to look forward to in March.

Winter?

I thought I'd throw this little post together in hopes to get the blog a rollin. Unfortunately I have found since I stopped blogging in the present I've also stopped taking pictures in the present. Coincidence maybe.
This past week, we've kicked off February with some beautiful mild weather, the play outdoors kind of weather. Ahhhhh. It was much needed despite the girls' ongoing prayers for snow. We've had a very strange mild winter so far. No complaints here, despite my own occasional yearnings for a few fun snow days. You know the kind that only hits our backyard and snow hills, leaving windshields, sidewalks and roads ice-free. I don't ask for much ;)

So after a week of enjoying the outdoors again, I dusted off my camera and snapped a few of the girls in our backyard. I miss capturing the sweet everyday memories.

Elli's "Oh no you didn't just chalk over my masterpiece!" expression. Saydee was innocent and a potential meltdown adverted.

Have a wonderful week!

More summer in St Louis...

There is a fun little splash park by the Arch in St Louis. Our 3rd attempt to do the Zoo was again crazy busy so instead we hit this little spot. No regrets. It was pretty hot and such a great place to be that day. Not very crowded and so much to do. We had a wonderful relaxing outdoor day and no heat exhaustion.

Grant's Farm, run by Anheuser-Busch, is like a little wildlife reserve right in St. Louis. Ulysses S Grant owned a portion of the land, thus the name. I was excited about this place and heard such great things. In fact it was named the 7th best family friendly attraction in the nation. And the only fee is parking.

We took a beautiful Tram ride through the conservation part, with animals roaming about.

Grant's cabin. He built much of it himself. I was impressed.

The ride ended at the farm where the kids could bottle feed baby goats and pet animals. They were most excited for this but we arrived after a huge group of people and all the animals were full and not eating and we barely missed the elephant show. Elli was extremely tired and unhappy by the time we got to the farm. Definitely would have endured a lot less whining and complaining had we brought a stroller. Everyone was getting hot, tired and hungry so we took off early just sneaking a glance at all the beautiful Clydesdales.

This was a brilliant idea. Kids kept running through until they were soaked.

Maybe we'll try this one again earlier in the morning and enjoy it a bit more. It was beautiful.