Summer celebrations in St. Louis

We celebrated the 4th this year in St. Louis! Derek was able to get an extra day off so we opted to visit his brother and family for the holiday weekend. We had a super fun time and have some awesome pics to prove it! 

We enjoyed a parade in the morning in downtown St. Charles.

We traveled to the St. Louis fair -- first stop: air show!

Michael's had a fun trailer with crafts for the kiddos. The boys made a pop tab necklace.

And Belle made a crown! She said, "I look like Repunzel!!" :)

Belle and Uncle Brad

We set out our blankets and hung out by the arch!

 We ran into KC friends! Brian, a family friend, married Derek and I seven years ago and here he is loving our little girl! 

All of the cousins!

We enjoyed the fireworks that night and then we had an interesting journey home on the city metro, which proved to be a cultural experience at the least for our kiddos. As much as we think our kids don't listen at times, all of the kids did a GREAT job of listening when it was really, really important in the giant swarms of people!

We spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out and spending time with family! Uncle Brad cooked breakfast and read books to the kiddos.

The kids played in the pool

 And we did a few fireworks ourselves!

We ended the weekend with a trip to the arcade- the kids (and dads) had fun!! 

It was a wonderful little trip away. I'm glad I got to experience the fourth at the arch-- it was something I've been wanting to do for years!!! Spending time with Brad and Mary is always enjoyable and I'm glad to provide opportunities for the cousins to play together! 

Being Thankful

I love Thanksgiving! I enjoy the food, time with the family, and just the overall attitude of gratefulness! I have so much to be thankful for in my life. God has blessed me with a wonderful family-- the one I was born into, the one I married into, and the one Derek and I created together! I am forever thankful for the pretty conventional stuff like my home, our health, working cars, jobs, my education, our church, the freedoms we posses in this country and the list could go on and on and on! But I'm also super thankful for other things that are super relevant in our life right now, even if they may seem a little silly.

• Our community
• Netflix
• Our Babysitters
• Mismatched socks
• Grocery Stores Kid Tactics

I had entire descriptions for each of these things, but then I realized that the post was about as long as some short books. So, I'm keeping it short today, but I will be back to talk about these! I asked Jackson to share what he is thankful for: One: Mom and Dad. Two: his blankets. And then when I absolutely made him chose a third, he added Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee. I asked Belle what she was thankful for and she said cheese and candy. True story. 

We are still over in across the state with family and last night, right around 10pm, we decided to make our way downtown for annual St. Louis Thanksgiving day parade. It was SO much fun!! We drove into a closer suburb and then hopped on a train to take us downtown. 

When you add a train ride + giant balloons + marching bands (mostly that's just for me) + yellow "Bumble Bee" cars + candy = the coolest morning ever for the kiddos. 

(and yes, Jackson is wearing a Kansas Jayhawk sweatshirt and yes, it makes me a little ill to know it will forever be etched into the memory of this Thanksgiving. But we only packed a heavy duty winter coat and it just wasn't that cold. So this was all we had to borrow from. At least it's covered in my favorite picture of the morning -- the last one! Oh, and Jackson was wearing his Missouri Tiger shirt underneath, but unfortunately I didn't take any more photos once we came home!!)

(Jackson is a surprisingly good Kazoo player!)

And this is my favorite photo from the morning! I love the Arch in the background.

We had a great day. It's been so much fun visiting our family. And may we never forget the "It's Not Gravy" moment... a story too epic to ever forget. But I'll save Belle the future embarrassment from actually posting the details. :)

Lastly, I'm SUPER thankful that seven years ago today, that Derek proposed! Little did I know that just seven years later that the majority of things on my thankfulness list would all be based on one little question! 

Look-a-likes

The one thing I hear on an almost daily basis is how much Belle just really looks like me. My mom says so, friends at church, random people at the store! One gal who worked at Build-a-Bear told me we were practically twins {yeah, other than the fact that I supplied rather than shared the womb…}. Of course, Belle is the cutest thing ever, so I take it as a huge compliment. I guess I just I don’t really see it like others do. But based on the sheer number of comments we get, I’m bound to believe it anyway. I just give in to peer pressure like that.

I wanted to get a few pics together with her {as normally I’m behind the camera} so I could see for myself. I took a ton, but when you mix a busy one-year-old and my inability to take pictures of myself, we only ended up with a couple. I still can’t really see it, but at least I have a few to document the super fabulous time I had spending with my princess while big brother was away.

{I posted this one just because Belle is making a super cute face. I, too, am a nose-scruncher. Maybe that’s the resemblance!}

The past few days with Belle have been super fun. She has definitely soaked up the attention and I feel as if I’ve gotten to know her a little more intimately—Derek feels the same way! I was able to plan our days around her schedule alone. We had a Parents as Teachers meeting yesterday and I learned she can do a lot more skills than I ever expected! Like, she can follow simple instructions. Chores are right around the corner for this gal!

She has said Jackson’s name a few times {which, by the way, is super cute!} so I think she misses him. I know we do!! Here are a few picture texts I have received of him in St. Louis:

The train ride—looking pretty comfy!

          Jackson and cousin Gabe &
playing at the park {his knee seems back to perfect working order!}

   

Grandma Linda with her two grandsons {Baby Eli will make three this spring!}

Kinda makes you think that one of my siblings needs to start having babies so my children have more cousins to play with, right!? There are three of them—ages 30, 19, and 20… surely ONE of them could join me!

Spring break ramblings

• Yes, it’s spring break! It’s only Tuesday and it’s already been fabulous! Who knew I’d be 27 and still loving every moment of not having class!? I’m enjoying it so much I don’t really want to be on the computer very much so this post is a bunch of mini-topics all thrown together!
  
  
• Jackson is doing MUCH better. I know I should have updated everyone sooner, but I haven’t been on the computer much. I feel so blessed to have so many people checking in to see how he’s been doing. Friday and Saturday were hard—taking care of a three-year-old who can’t walk is very challenging. He started taking some steps on Sunday afternoon and has progressively become more active. He’s still not running and jumping, but he’s on the mend. The doctor said it was most likely what they call an occult fracture, which is a tiny fracture that doesn’t appear in an x-ray and it will just heal itself. I kind of figured it was just a heal-itself sort of thing, but I really needed to make sure it wasn’t something bigger, just in case! Mommy worry, I guess!
  
 

• Lately, I’ve been looking for healthy snack ideas for the kiddos. There were some good fruit sales this week and so I decided to try dehydrating. I borrowed my father-in-law’s dehydrator and have been experimenting! The results have been good and people keep eating them, so I guess that’s the real indicator of a successful treat! I’ve done strawberries, apples w/ cinnamon, banana w/ coconut, and two batches of fruit leather {like a fruit roll up}. The process does demand some time in cutting up and preparing the fruit, but I’m super loving the fact that it’s a healthy treat without any added sugar or preservatives. Having a decent stash with what I’ve already made, I was planning on packing up the dehydrator, but I stumbled across a great deal at Aldi’s today and got 15 peaches, 10 nectarines, and 5 plums for 10 cents EACH! I couldn’t pass it up! So on the schedule for this evening: slicing and dicing!
  
  
• Jackson is headed out with Derek’s parents to go to Saint Louis for a few days to visit his cousin Gabe {Aunt Mary and Uncle Brad, too}. They are taking the train and he is SO excited. I’m gonna miss Jackson {not going to miss having him climb into bed in the middle of the night} but I’m really excited to get to spend some time with just Belle. Derek and I both agree that her personality has just blossomed so much just in the last week or two and I’m happy to get some one-on-one time with my second baby!
  
  
• This weather is phenomenal! I am so in love. We have played outside so much!! Of course, the kids love it and really, this weather makes me so productive {hence the abundance of dried fruit, cleaned-out van, and raked flower beds}. Another nice day tomorrow… Yes, please!! Here are a few pictures from this evening:

Jackson is showing off his skills! {which currently include standing, walking,AND bouncing a ball!}

The primary reason I dug out my camera was to capture Belle’s curls! Her hair is typically so, so straight… but today, little locks of curls have become apparent and it is SO CUTE!!!

Check it those cute curls!! I love it!

This is a normal push toy, right??

Nose, nose! Belle’s a genius.

• The Sticky Bellies giveaway ended yesterday.

AND THE WINNER IS...
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Entry #14 Michelle T.

I will send out an email and get you hooked up with Carly. If I don’t hear back within 48 hours, I will pick a new winner.

• Lastly, happy 30th birthday Uncle Philip!

Whew!

In the TWO WEEKS it's been since I've blogged, we have been very busy. This has been the longest time without a post since I first started! Here's light review: Hopefully I will get around to posting more details about our end of summer fun!

Derek took a couple of days off work and we traveled to St. Louis for a mini vacation. We went to visit his brother and family and we also squeezed in some time at a few of the local attractions.

On our way to St. Louis, we grabbed some McDonalds for dinner. Much to my surprise, there was an 8gb micro SD card included with my cheeseburger. I did happen to take the card back (after browsing the contents, of course) and for my "troubles" they comped my meal. Not so sure I think that's enough. Even though no harm was done, there was potential for major damage! I mean, it easily could have been in Jackson's food and those cards are tiny. 

Derek and I went to a Royals game with Derek's company one Sunday afternoon. We were in the dugout suite and it was cool. Like, dugout as in the other half of the dug out that the players are in. Great view!

A friend from high school came down to visit last week. It was fun! Exhausting, but fun. She has twin two-year-old boys... so add that to my two year old plus an infant-- we were outnumbered and busy! So glad she could spend a few days with us!

Breakfast for three! 

We visited Deanna Rose Farmstead last week and got to see how they milk a cow. Jackson was pretty interested and enjoys telling people that milk comes from cows. 

Last weekend was Derek's army duty weekend. Jackson was invited to go to the State Fair with Derek's parents. He had tons of fun and even got to ride a pony. I took Belle and visited my parents house to spend time with the family before both of my sisters leave for college this week (crazy!!). I worked at a wedding at the Ranch on Saturday night. 

Yesterday, Belle started CRAWLING! Seriously, I was so not prepared for her to be on the go quite so soon. And in our attempts to get our house organized and rearranged, we put together a new (hand-me-down) bed for Jackson. He loves it, but has a hard time staying in when it's time to actually sleep.

And lastly, I've been pretty crafty lately, so I've been spending the time I would typically be going through pictures and blogging working on some super fun crafts. I can't wait to share about them. I'll leave you with this: these are the goodies I picked up at a Salvation Army while we were in St. Louis and all are being upcycled to cool things for the house. Two are completed, one in progress, and another is awaiting more supplies!

I still feel like I just need to sit and say, "whew!!!" In fact, I just did. Ha. I'm a dork.