Sprinkler Fun with Friends

My kids are water babies! They love to play in water. Whether it be swimming, sprinklers, water guns or a plan ole tub of bath water. We were dropping off friends after a fun day of playing together and it erupted into a spontaneous sprinkler evening instead. I love these times when I get to be a yes mom! They had a great time and I got to chat with a friend. It was a great way to end the day.

Take me out to the Ball Game...

For those of you who didn't know... I happen to be an avid Cardinals fan. Like I LOVE baseball. Thankfully so far 2 out of my 3 small people also love the game! We got to go on Monday to the ball game thanks to Leanna's good friend Cadence being a girl scout! It was so much fun and the kids were awesome. I love that they watch the game and cheer and clap and ask all the right questions. Hudson and I were talking about how maybe Freese would hit a homerun like he did in the World Series... for a five year old I think that is a pretty fabulous baseball conversation! We had a great time with friends. It was a great night at the ball field and even though we lost me and the small people cheered and clapped like we were in the Championship game :) It was a great time!

Mother Daughter Banquet

Did I happen to mention that amongst the chaos of moving, last day of school stuff, field day, preschool graduation, karate awards and just general life craziness that Beth and I happened to also get the awesome privilege of being in charge of hosting the Mother Daughter Banquet? Now to be fair when we agreed to do it I had no idea I would be moving or that all that other stuff would be just days after the banquet. I also had no idea just how crazy the end of the school year(s) was going to be either! However it went over swimmingly. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed themselves. Our theme this year was You've Got "Purse"onality. It was all about what a lady carries in her purse and what it says about us being mothers and daughters of God. I got to plan the devotion for it. Isn't that awesome? Anyone who knows me also knows I was ready to vomit over it too! Beth and I worked so very hard though and I think it paid off. Beth is such a creative little soul and she can bargain shop like nobody's business! So our strengths played with one another. We had the lovely Felicity sing for us... she did Carrie Underwood Don't Forget to Remember Me, the lovely Tina V. and Melissa H. with their skit and song, Anything you can do I can do better. We played some fun games. We laughed and we enjoyed being mothers and daughters. We enjoyed this walk together. We celebrated and we loved. That is all I could have asked for. Mel and Tina's skit.

Felicity singing. She did such a wonderful job!

Beth and her girls.

Our tales. Our colors were purple and green and the centerpieces we just did purses with potted flowers in them :)

Some of the lovely momma's and daughters that were able to join us.

One of the many families that joined us that day. 4 generations in just this photograph!

It was just flooring to me how many families we had there with four generations present at the event. All those ladies in a church loving their mom's or daughters or sisters. Truly awesome. Exhausting but worth every minute of the work.

Sprinkler Fun

We have had some crazy weather here lately! One minute it is 80's the next 50's and then it sky rockets into the 90's. Sunday the 7th of May was just going to be ridiculous! And I mean it... Josh and I are really trying not to turn the air on right now. With us moving every penny counts. So Josh went to work and I took the kids to church and I really wanted to avoid being in the house at all costs if I could help it. So the kids and I went to church and go invited out to lunch :) It was delicious and fun (and air conditioned) and then the boys got to go over to Pawpaw John and Meemaw Mary's house to play and Leanna and her friend Cadence got to run errands with me. We had to return some clothes to Goodwill (the shorts were to big on Hudson and a top for Leanna too), return a vacuum cleaner (it was broken) and some clothes to target (someone got Leanna the wrong size) and just little things like that. Again all air conditioned and not in the house! So I went to drop off Cadence at home and ended up hanging out with Beth for a little while. We decided to let the girls play in the hose. So we ran and grabbed the boys and let them play too! It was a great afternoon they played together so well and came up with fun games and water slides and everything. Not to mention it was cool and fun for everyone!

Thanks Aunt Beth for letting us hang out and have some fun on a hot summer day!

Snow Fun!

We haven't had a great winter involving snow so far at all. My kids have been super bummed about this. So I knew when they woke up to those snow flakes and a couple of inches on the ground I knew I was in for a significant amount of time outside!

So we got all bundled up...(there are so many layers here!)


gathered our gumption (okay maybe this was just momma's problem)and went to play outside...


They had so much fun... cleaning off cars and throwing snowballs. Making snow angels...this one was Nolan's First!


Hudson was under attack here...

All in all we played outside for about an hour and a half! Way longer than I ever imagined they would hang it was soooo cold! But we laughed and enjoyed so for me the memories were worth it.

Ringing in the New Year

2012...

Wow that seems crazy to me. Those numbers all strung together... how is that even possible???

We aren't big New Year's People normally. But this year our church had a fun little game night and we had a "fake" new year for the small people :) We had no shortage of fun for sure. Masks, games, snacks and treats. At 9:00 we went outside (too dark for pictures unfortunately) and banged on pots and pans and blew our noise makers and shouted Happy New Year!!! It was so fun to watch the kids ring it in with friends and fun.

These girls had some fun!

How can you not love all these little faces?

What is better than ringing in the New Year with friends?

The best part of this party? We were all home tucked in and safe before 10:00! What a great way to ring in the New Year!!

Cookies with friends

We thought it would be a super fun time to have friends over and make Valentine's Cookies. So we did. It was a fun time for the kids. They had free rain on the icing and sprinkles and to be fair the moms didn't have to bad of a time either ;)

Leanna and Cadence were by far the most serious decorators we had. They really enjoyed taking their time on the cookies.


Hudson was one of our most exuberant decorators. Quickly dashing from one sprinkle to the next.


Beth was very professional in her decorating. She had some of all of our favorites of the day!


These were just a few of our fabulous cookies. We made almost 4 dozen cookies. It was a great way to spend our afternoon!

Fun at the City Museum!

Part of the small people's Christmas present this year from Josh's Uncle Jim was a trip to the City Museum.

My kids had been once before for a birthday party. They only got to see one room though. As it was crowded and crazy and just wasn't safe to try and see anymore with that many children. The birthday boy's mom said we were going to stay in the one area.

So it was hilarious when we went this time and we didn't even visit that room until the end, Leanna came up to us and said "Mommy this place is like magic... it just keeps getting bigger and bigger".

It really is a fun time! A little pricey but worth every penny!

Some pictures of our fun day...

Mommy was smiling through her gritted teeth here. This was a tunnel over in the air climber thingy. It was pretty closed in. I am not afraid of heights... however closed in spaces??? Make me verrrryyy nervous!

Daddy was such a trooper and carried Nolan for over two hours! Nolan was such a good sport that day... he had another ear infection and just wasn't feeling great but he had a blast!

They had a free art corner with clay (which I have stories of for another post!) and painting and mask making and it was so awesome and fun! This is Hudson's masterpiece!

HI MOM!!!

A picture down from the tunnel!


All in all it was such a fun day. My kids absolutely loved it. There is a kids circus there and we watched it. We played on skateboard ramps. We made things out of clay. We climbed and ran and slid. To our hearts content. That was just the inside too! All of the outside stuff was closed due to ice. Really an awesome time! The kids are saving money to go again!

Momma to 3
*Shay B*

Day 24...Fun boys!

Hudson is sadly one of very few boys in our world. However, this makes playing with boys that much more of a treat for Hudson... hey gotta milk it for what it is worth right?

He has one little friend named Craig. He is so fun to play with. We love when he comes over. And Monday was just such a great day. Craig's momma volunteered to help with his older brother's class that day and we were lucky enough to get to keep him that day!

They had a blast...







These boys were so much fun to hang around with each other! We had a great time!

Momma to 3
*Shay B*

Beautiful Day!!!

Thursday was absolutely, positively, without-a-doubt GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!

There was no way I was letting it go by without doing something fantasticly outdoorsy!

While I am no hiking momma strapping my 25 (or so) pound small person to my back. We did get some friends together and make a morning out at Suson Park. It was lovely. The breeze was blowing, the animals were out, the ducks were in the water, the sun was shining and my heart was bursting with thanks for the GREAT DAY! Much needed after the oppressively hot summer we have had.

The kids had a great time. We strolled around the pond and saw fish swimming, got up close to some ducks. At 10:30 the barn doors opened and then we petted the horses, we saw the milking exhibit, we looked at some really big pigs, saw the hens, Hudson and I personally had a great time imitating the strutting rooster (we were a sight to see!) we had a picnic lunch! It was such an amazing and beautiful day. While I don't often wish time away... today I was secretly wishing for the beautiful red and orange and gold leaves to be blowing across the ground. Fall is my FAVORITE time of year. So today was a glorious taste of the coming months!

Thanks to some awesome ladies (Ms. Beth and Ms. Heather) for making a lovely day even lovelier!

Zoo Trip

Ms. Beth and I decided to have a last group hurrah before our older girls, Leanna and Cadence, started school. We lucked out to have a day with lower humidity and the temperature wasn't melt-the-mommy degrees outside!

So we got there as the zoo opened. Why you ask? Two reasons: 1. It was cooler out! and 2. We had some kiddos who wanted to pet the stingrays!

The stingray exhibit is a favorite of all of ours. They are amazing, beautiful and so graceful. Hudson wants to swim with them someday. Leanna loves animals of all types, really I wouldn't be surprised if she is a veterinarian when she grows up! However the exhibit costs... $3.00 a person normally or $1.50 a person for zoo members (which thankfully we are!). With a group of 8 of us? That can get expensive.

Now let me share a secret with you... In the first hour the zoo is open... they are free to visit! So is the Children's Zoo and the Carousel.

So we got there nice and early and pretty much walked right in...and the kids had a BLAST!


Then we hit the River's Edge. Hippos, Elephants and Cheetahs and at least 2 of the MUST SEE animals are in that list. The Hippos were in a mood that day though....

And there is always time to play in the fountain too!


Then we climbed the HILL OF HATEFULNESS (more commonly known as Art Hill) to see the Giraffes, Lions, Tigers and Zebras. We also saw the Chimpanzees that day too! We actually saw a lot more this trip then I thought we did!

After this we of course had to visit with the penguins as well! This wall has housed many of our group photos! I think I have at least the last three years on this wall with these very same people (plus or minus a baby depending on the years!)

We also got to visit the Butterfly House this day too. Which is always a great time.

Nolan and Danika did great that day too! They hung out in the stroller way longer than I or Ms. Beth expected them too. Nolan by the end of the day was done. Poor guy.

It was a great day. I am very thankful for St. Louis having one awesome and amazing FREE zoo! We are so blessed. Today was one of the days I am grateful for my city. I am always grateful for fun filled moments with my small people and for memories made with great friends!

Momma to 3
*Shay B*