Balloons and Boys

After what seems like an eternity (one month) of having our house on the market we're officially under contract!

We decided to take a little break from "house stuff" and spend a weekend away...well just 20 miles away in St. Louis. Every September, The Great Forest Park Balloon Race takes place downtown. About 16 Hot Air Balloons spend 2 days in St. Louis for the race. The first night all of the balloons fill up at the same time and "glow". The second day the Energizer Bunny balloon takes off and all of the other balloons "chase" it.

Two years ago we spent over 2 hours in traffic trying to get there and after we arrived we had to walk miles to make it to the balloons. This year we went early, stayed in a nearby hotel and had a great time. Only no pics! The camera battery is dead and the battery charger is locked away in storage with numerous other necessities. Regardless the boys had fun. We got there early enough to see the balloons fill up with air. It's amazing how huge they are. Alex and Bryce hardly made a peep while watching the balloons fill up. That is until it got dark and the glow-in-the-dark swords appeared. Then we were on a 20 minute quest to find the man selling them. Nate bet me that they wouldn't last until we got back to the hotel. I said they'd at least last a day. Nate won! Bryce broke the tip off his within an hour and then completely broke Alex's by whacking it on the floor in the hotel.

The next morning we made a quick stop at the Zoo before heading home. The St. Louis Zoo is one of my favorite spots in MO. It's an amazing display of tax dollars and donations at work. The boys and I go about once a week when the weather is good. It's beautiful just to walk through and the exhibits are WONDERFUL. This year a lot of babies have been born and I had a few pics of another trip we'd taken there to post.

My favorite exhibit is the hippo's. They swim around in this huge outdoor glass tank that's 3 times the size of the kids. The last two times we've been there the hippo's have been really active. They swim around, push off the bottom to get there little noses up out of the water to get air and then continue to swim. Alex was standing right next to the tank when one of the hippo's pushed off the tank with his foot. Alex was so excited because the hippo put his foot on Alex's had and gave him a high five! His little face lit up. He just couldn't believe it.

Another great exhibit is the Ape's. This trip the baby orangutan was swinging on the vines and the chimpanzee's went on a chase for a little squirrel who unfortunately found its way into their home. Luckily the squirrel climbed up a big rock wall and escaped. Thank you St. Louis for such a great Zoo and great memories.

Preschool!!

Alex started school on Tuesday. He went to this cute little preschool for 1/2 a year last year and loved it. He's excited to be in a new class room...the frog room...and have new teachers...Mrs. Debbie & Mrs. Debbie. It's a great church run school (Grace Preschool) where all of the teachers have been there for 15+ years. Last year the teachers were worried about him because he didn't talk much (amazing considering who his parents are!). I think this year will be a little different...he's already told me more about what he's done in 2 days then he did in 4 months last year. Last year if you asked him what he did at school he'd tell you "it's top secret". If you asked if he had fun he'd always say "yes", so we just went with it.

Bryce was cute with Alex on his first day. When we took him into his classroom he gave him a hug and told him "Lub you, Alex". The whole way home we have to talk about Alex being at school and how we'll pick him up later. He misses his Big Bro even though they fight non-stop.

Labor Day Fun!

We had a fun Labor Day Weekend. The weather was great so we spent most of our time in the water. On Saturday we took a fun trip with our friends, The Condiff's, to a little water park in Ballwin, MO. They had a great kids area that the boys loved, complete with a water slide, lazy river, vortex pool (the toilet bowl), and little fountain area.
Definitely a theme at our house...if it can go on your head, it will! Not sure where this little bag came from...not ours!! We spend TONS of time at our little neighborhood pool during the summer. During adult swim (15 min. lifeguard break) the boys will wrap up in towels and have popcorn. Bryce knows the routine, so no matter if we're playing in the water in the backyard or at the swimming pool, if he's cold and wet he'll ask for a towel and popcorn. He's so sad if we run out of popcorn.




On Sunday the boys played in the sprinklers and bubbles while Nate bar-b-qued some hot dogs.


Later that night our neighbors, John and Greg, and our friend Dave came over for some late night "shoot 'em up" Playstation time. We don't let the boys play these types of games so the "big boys" have to play when the kids go to bed. Dave was a first timer, but the other 3 get together and play every few months. It's always a crack-up to walk into the living room and see 3 grown men, sharing a couch, in the dark, focused on shooting each other. I took this pic before the real intense playing began. Earlier in the night these same 3 "boys" were hitting bouncy balls with a bat at each others houses. Luckily they only broke one bat and no windows. And we wonder why my boys act the way they do??

My Little Politician

Tonight when Nate and the boys returned from shopping (Best Buy of course) Alex was trying to convince me that he needed to watch just one hour of his new movie "Mickey Mouse Club House". When he realized I wasn't giving in he sat down on the couch and said with a sigh... I'll just watch John McCain then. I laughed and looked at the TV and saw that the Democratic National Convention was on and an older gentleman was giving a speech. I told him that wasn't JM but that the man did look like him. Then I asked what he knew about John McCain. He said that he was from America. As I wandered around the house a little more wondering where this came from I heard him say, "I'll just watch Obama then!" What the heck! He's three!

These comments coming from the same child who asked me last night if "Mario and his crew could come and visit!" We recently got the new Mario Slugger game for the Wii and Alex loves it. We discussed in 3-year old language how Mario lived in Super Mario Land and couldn't come to visit. We agreed that we'd play the game again tomorrow so we could see Mario. That seemed to work...he was off to bed.

No wonder the kid has nightmares every night.

Fun With The Family!

For the first time in almost a year I had some pictures developed. Since I can't find the cords to download the pics (I'm sure they're in a box in storage) I had to resort to devloping them. I was happy to see so many cute pics of the boys.

Some great pics are of the boys with their cousin Khloie! My mom, sister and neice came to visit us a few weeks ago and we had a ton of fun showing them what we do here in St. Louis. We were really lucky that the weather cooperated and we were able to go to Grant's Farm, take numerous trips to the swimming pool, spend some time at the parks and show Khloie our favorite "jumpy place", Jump 4 Fun.

We started the week by making slime. I'd volunteered to make slime for a Primary Activity and needed to test out a few recipes. Who better to be the testers than three little mess makers. We dressed them up in my old shirts and let them go. They loved it! I'm sure this will become a regular thing around our house.

We spent an afternoon at Grant's Farm, feeding the goats and camels and watching a little elephant show. As always, feeding the goats was the big show!! It's always mass chaos when the baby goats see the feeding bottles. Kids who can't wait to feed the goats always end up terrified when they step foot in the pen. Ours were no different. I think Bryce lasted the longest with the goats. The last time Bryce fed the goats one of them ended up sucking on his finger. This time he left without any scars.

Here's a first time bloggers mistake...I can't figure out how to get this the right way. Tilt your head...it's a cute pic! Alex and Khloie spent more than a few hours at the swimming pool. Once we got Khloie some goggles and floaties they were unstoppable. They loved jumping in the pool, being thrown in the pool, and playing fisherman (I was the fisherman catching the little fishies). Bryce thinks he needs "doggles" also. Just like shoes, he loves the accessories. Our favorite "Jumpy place" was a big hit. It's a building full of inflatible slides. What little kid wouldn't love it. Even Bryce joins in the fun, climbing the stairs by himself (most of the time) and taking his turn...or as he says..."Stop Mommy, my turn". We had a great time with the family. I'm so glad they came to visit us. Last but not least I have to highlight something that was a bit of a theme in picture taking. Khloie can't take a picture without posing, and her pose of choice is "Rock On". I hear this is compliments of Aunt Jo. Thanks for coming to visit..."Rock on, Ko Ko"

Let's Blog!

I've decided to follow the ways of many of my friends and start a blog. My children are always doing crazy things and everyone asks, "Do you write these things down?" The answer is "no". I don't journal, scrapbook, or even keep my photo albums up-to-date. Since the day they were born I've meant to make baby books, but sadly they don't even have those memories. So this is my attempt. I guess now is as good a time as any...we're only in the middle of one of the most stressful times in a persons life...we're selling our house and moving to Michigan.

I'm always up late doing housework, catching up on my DVR and surfing the net so why not make it a little more productive.

To my boys...I hope when you're 20 we can look back at this and laugh.

To my family...I hope you enjoy seeing pics and reading stories about the boys.

To Nate...don't laugh...I know you think this stuff is stupid (oh wait, we don't say that)...I know you think this stuff is silly. Oh well, maybe one day you'll look back and laugh also.

Here we go!!