August Part III: Cousins Visit!

Another super fun thing that happened in August was that Jimmy's brother and family visited us for a couple of days.  It was a tight fit in this apartment (only one bathroom!) but I'm SO glad they came here and stayed with us.  We had the best time.  And it was great to spend time with the adults while all of the kiddos were asleep.

The kiddie table.  Much fun was had, not much eating occurred.

Building an arch out of blocks at the St. Louis Science Museum.  The daddies held it up.

This is too cute.

So fun to have a cousin old enough to read to you!

Dewey's Pizza.  A St. Louis must-do.

Going robber hunting, a fun past-time here (well, at least for our boys!).

Amos was nice.  That was really thoughtful of him.  (Amos is the cat, by the way.  The little boy is always nice!)

I included this so you could see a pic of Zach in-utero.  I felt pretty ginormous, as you might imagine.

Legos.  We own all of Jimmy's old Legos they get played with All. The. Time.  It was a great cousin pasttime!

Thank you for visiting us!  We hope you can come back wherever we are next.

August part II: Sculpture Park and First Day of School

Back in August the boys and some friends and I went to the Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis.  It was really neat!  There were all kinds of giant sculptures.  The huge eye was a little strange, I'll have to admit.  The other weird thing was that there were signs all around saying not to stand on them or to touch them.  I found that very odd.  Rain, snow, hail, wind--no problem.  Little fingers--BIG PROBLEM.  It's not like these things are delicate.  They're made of metal (usually).  And they're big.  You can't really get a good picture of how big that red one is, but Nathan is hiding down in one little corner of the sculpture.  It was probably several stories high.  Anyway, even with its oddities it's a really fun place to run around.  It's a really big park with lots of sculptures everywhere so it's a good place for busy bodies to get out some energy.  (I will say, though, that at 37 or 38 weeks pregnant, it  was  kind of a haul to get all around the park!  I did not go to the gym that day!)

Sweet friends who went with us to the sculpture park.

Later in August was Nathan and Isaac's first day of school.  Nathan is in Kindergarten this year and Isaac is in Pre-K 3.  Nathan is full-time and Isaac goes three days a week.  They both love their teachers.  Jimmy and I love them, too!  I got the privilege to work at their school for three semesters so I  already knew their teachers.  One of the things we will miss the most about St. Louis is the boys' school.  There is not a teacher there I wouldn't be very excited for them to have.  So, if you're in St. Louis and looking for a good school, let me know!  I've got a great recommendation!

Botanical Gardens in August

In August, Jimmy and I went on a morning date.  A morning date is especially wonderful because we are actually coherent enough to talk and understand one another. :)

We went to the Missouri Botanical Garden.  I've gone many times and am always amazed at its beauty.

I will admit; I was hoping all of the walking would put me into labor.  It didn't.  But we enjoyed our morning all the same :)  (And Zach was eventually born, never fear!)

Babymoon/Anniversary Trip

Before the birth of each of our children we have tried to go away for about 24 hours. It's been a really nice break before we launch back into the work of a newborn. This time it coincided with our 6th anniversary, which was July 23. We got away thanks to wonderful grandparents!

We went to The Jefferson, a fancy schmancy hotel in Richmond, VA where we spent the first two nights of our honeymoon. On Sunday morning we went to their champagne brunch. Oh. My. Goodness. I cannot even begin to put into words the gluttony that is The Jefferson's champagne brunch. It was a completely full breakfast + a completely full lunch (complete with carving stations) + a completely full line of amazing desserts + unlimited champagne. And ice sculptures. Until that day I had never eaten so much that I was literally uncomfortable and in pain. And that was only from breakfast food! (Ok, I admit it....I also had dessert.) It probably didn't help that I was about 34 weeks pregnant.

Anyway, here's a picture of the outside of the hotel and then a picture of the happy couple.
Funny story about this picture of us. When we were taking it I felt like we were really close together. I was thinking, "Oh, this will be cute, we're finally close for a picture." But no, our heads are not close at all. I just think I felt like that because my belly was so utterly gigantic (this picture does not do the huge belly justice). It made everything feel close!

July Part III: Visiting Papa and Grandma

On this trip, Nathan got his first real experience with a Lego set. He received a Lego set for his birthday and Daddy and cousin Samuel were excited to help him build it. (By the way, we have all of Jimmy's old Legos in our basement and those have provided hours of fun, but this is the first one Nathan did with actual instructions.)



Those are some seriously blue eyes. Nathan and I are the only ones in the green eye club around here.

Reading with Papa is always a highly-anticipated activity. We discovered that while in the past many boys could fit on Papa's lap in his chair, it's now down to two or three since they're getting so big!

And crafts with Grandma. Grandma has great crafts!


We went to cousin Samuel's birthday party while we were visiting. It was a Star Wars birthday party and Aunt Jane made all of the guests his or her very own Jedi costume! She is very clever!

She also made this R2-D2 cake. Amazing!

July 2011, part II: The Beach!

I love the beach. Thankfully, so does the rest of my family. This love developed every summer of my childhood when my family took a week-long vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Living in Long Beach spoiled me and now that we live in land-locked Missouri, I'm quite sad that we can't go to the beach for an afternoon.

This past summer our family went with my parents, sister, and nephew to the Outer Banks for a week. It was wonderful. It was relaxing. It was just exactly what my gigantically pregnant body needed to rest for a week!

There's not much more to say; the pictures speak for themselves. I didn't get many pictures of the adults on the trip, but we all had a really great time!

July 2011, part I

In July we spent about three weeks in Virginia. My mom flew out to St. Louis at the beginning of July and she and I drove back to Virginia with the three boys. (Well, really four. At that point I was about 30 weeks pregnant and so Zach definitely took up some space!) We spent a week in my hometown before Jimmy met us for the rest of our vacation.

Here are the boys helping Gran Gran in her garden. Her garden is significantly smaller now than it was when I was a child, but I think that's because she does it for fun now instead of feeling like she has to!



The last of the potatoes. If you have never had freshly-harvested potatoes you are seriously missing out. They are absolutely, hands down, a completely different creature than the tough-skinned Russet potatoes you can buy in the store.
Same goes for tomatoes. A home-grown tomato tastes nothing like its grocery store counterparts. When I went to college I was, for the first time, subject to eating mostly store-bought produce. I didn't know how good I had it growing up on the farm, eating home-grown produce year round until I didn't have that luxury anymore.

And a picture of Toby because he's cute :)
Earning his keep.
Out on the farm with my dad :) They *love* to go see the cows and see how close they can get to them (which is not very....cows don't take kindly to loud, crazy boys).

July 2011 Parts II (the beach!) and III (visiting Jimmy's family) coming shortly!