I Go Back

This is so long overdue it's not even funny.  I feel like we have been on the road perpetually this summer and in reality, it has been just shy of 4 weeks.  Craziness.  But Fun.

We hit the 'Lou again to see my people.  We lucked out on weather most of the time we were there and my kids begged me to stay a few extra days.  Sure sign of another successful road trip.

St. Louis is a great town for kids - a ton of super cool stuff to do and the majority of it is free.
As much as I love NC, there aren't a lot of fun/free/cheap things to do for kids in terms of museums, zoos, etc.  Tradeoffs.

If you visit STL and only do one thing, make it the City Museum.  

Impossible to explain but your children will thank you later.

The rooftop of the City Museum is uber cool - a huge slide, ferris wheel and other assorted climbing apparatus.  A child's heaven.

View from the Ferris Wheel ride with Squeezalicious...

Said Ferris Wheel...

Monkeys...

We hit the Zoo, the old standby.  We hadn't been there in 2 years due to insanely hot temps last year so we did it all this time - children's zoo, train ride, sting rays, penguins, sea lions.  

The whole kit and caboodle.

We hit museums we hadn't seen before…Lewis and Clark and the Lock and Dam.  If you grew up near or on the "Big River", these things are really cool.  If not, well, your loss.

Above, Squeezalicious is hanging with the Piasa Bird, an old Indian legend.  

Inside the type of boat used by Lewis and Clark…very neat.

We "ran up" the River Road, as my dad would say.  He's been going up to these small river towns for more than 55 years or so.  He's been taking me since birth.  No trip back feels complete without this drive.  We ate fresh fish, watched a bike rally and pooped around in the antique shops.

There is also a great little park in the town where maybe I'll retire some day - Elsah.  

Kids caught frogs with local children, splashed in the creek and played tag.  Great day.

Another part of my childhood now passed down to my own little people is swimming/floating on the Black River.  Southern Missouri is its own special kind of pretty.  Windy roads with names like Highway W and Highway KK lead you to crystal clear water, cold from the springs that feed it.  Awesomeness.   My kids didn't want to leave.  They snorkeled, letting the gentle current carry them down.  They fished.  They built rock forts for minnows and tadpoles.

Are these guys tired, or what???

And then this.  I think she was letting me know they didn't want to leave.

Great visit with family and dear friends.  In fact, I caught up with a friend from way back - 6th grade.  We literally had not seen each other in 30 years.  My Gawd…am I old or what?

Looking forward to our next visit!

Another One Begins

So much happens at the end of every school year, especially with 3 kids.  And a part-time job.  

And life.

Sometimes we miss things that we shouldn't.  D received an Academic Achievement Award at a really cool ceremony his school does each year.  They were called to the stage and presented with both a medal and a certificate from the principal.  Good stuff.

We hit the road for the first 2 weeks after school was out-literally the day after.

GoGo had her birthday party the night before we flew out, because there is nothing like trying to cram everything possible into a 3 hour window.  

She got her ears pierced and went shopping with 10 other girls at Justice.  She had a ball.

We hit the beach with family.  

These guys are getting so big.  I think we are approaching the point where they start to ask to bring friends with us to the beach.  Not sure how I feel about that...

We had another sweet baby deer visit us.

Best $20 spent all week - these two had "rafting wars" every day.

And these two dug holes, found shells and played with their mermaid barbie dolls.

At the West end of the island, these huge pools form during low tide.  

Great for floating, shell collecting and general merriment.

Every year I write their names in the sand and snap a pic.  This year, all 3 wrote their own names.  

Times, they are a changin'.

This guy spent a fair amount of time fishing each morning.  He is very patient.  

He has a fall fishing trip planned back here and he is super psyched.

Singing in the Sand.

We celebrated Squeezalicious' birthday at the beach and both girls received belated gifts from family.  Lots of cake and ice cream all week.

The kids are having to adjust to being on summer break-both woke up early Monday and thought they had school.  Home for a while to dig in to some pool time, playdates and general lounging.
Two more trips before we head back to school to see family.  Road trip!!  My fave.

And a few observations…
Squeezalicous has been S.A.S.S.Y. lately.  The other day in the car, GoGo says to her, "What happened to you?  You used to be such a sweet girl."  Response?  "Yep. Now I'm evil."
Seriously??

The kids and I were in a Hallmark store the other day.  They now sell Dammit Dolls, these little rag dolls with a funny poem on the chest.  You are to smack them against the wall and yell "Dammit!" when frustrated.  Both D and GoGo thought it was hilarious.  I, of course, do not need one because I curse under my breath and wave my hands instead.  Good Parenting 101.

So yesterday I'm trying to set up this new building game on the Xbox for D.  Nothing about XboxLive is user friendly.  I was about to blow a head gasket and D was getting upset too.  GoGo walks by and says to us both, "You should have bought those dolls yesterday.  You could each use one."  Touche.

D had money to burn from his Pop-Pop so I took the kids to a "real" toy store.  The kids were all about the "old-fashioned" toys.  In reality?  We're talking cap guns and pot holder looms from when I was a kid.  D got himself one of those cap guns and some metal handcuffs as well.
He tells me, "Mom, when we get home I'm going to chase the girls with the gun and then cuff them to one another."  Absolute glee in this boy's voice.  I really wish he had a brother sometimes.

Now let the lounging commence.

That Third One…Turns 4!

Ahh..the third child.  Thank God we did it.  My Squeezalicious is so amazing.
We leave tomorrow for some time at the beach so I thought I'd post her birthday wishes a day early.
She was born at 1:23pm to complete our set of 3's…4:23pm and 7:03am, respectively.
The biggest baby of them all - no surprise there with all the cake and ice cream I ate with her.
Happy baby, easy going.  So easy that at times we would forget she was there.
Not so much anymore...

She sang before she spoke - and still loves music.  She likes the music loud like her mother.
She loves to play outside - swings and riding bikes, scooters.  She also loves to play with "little people" and make voices for them.  It kills me every time.  She entertains herself well with Barbies and Polly Pockets.

She likes to perform - singing, dancing, etc.
She has a bit of a lisp and I really should see someone about it but Good Lord, it's cute.
(Mother of the Year Award on the way!)

She is absolutely hysterical - and very intuitive.  She asks good questions and ponders things, much like her older brother.

She is precious, my baby, and I'm very thankful for her.

Somehow this…

Turned into this...

And then this...

And alas, this...

Happy Birthday, Sweetness!!!  We All Love You.

GoGo Grows Up

My sweet and sassy GoGo turned 8 today.  At 7:03am, to be exact.  She is just as precious as she was that morning - love this girl to pieces.
She received the only thing she really asked for, which is an electric scooter.  I hope that wasn't a mistake.  She had a longer list, of course.  GoGo likes to ask for the Moon and then some.  But she kept coming back to this one thing.
She's getting her ears pierced too, which is a huge deal for me.  I wasn't allowed to do that until like my freshman year in high school or something.  But she's proven to be very responsible with her glasses for  almost a year and a half.  And I take that to mean she's ready to have holes punched in her ears.  Whatever.

This girl is really smart, funny and creative.  I see the most evidence of birth order/gender/nature with this child.  I try to be cognizant of that when I parent her.  She is quick to have an outburst but also quick to apologize and I dig that about her.  It's called being human.

She is a great helper with her little sister.  Of course, they have their moments.  

Sometimes I can hear "POOPYHEAD!" being screamed by one or both of them.

Such is life with siblings.

This girls likes to win.  I mean take someone down kind of win. 

 I think I know where she may get that from.  Tenacity, especially in a girl, is a good thing.

I love those lashes and blond hair.

She is Silly.  And loves to make people laugh.  And she likes to dish some sass sometimes.

She likes her some glam-sparkles, "cute" clothes, etc.  

She is a girly girl who doesn't mind a little dirt sometimes.

She tells me she wants to "do hair" or be a singer.  Sweet Mercy.

But I find her reading books about volcanoes and sharks and playing school more often than not.

I am confident this girl will do great things.

She has a good heart, a great imagination and is very bright.

Love you, Sissy!!

GoGo Makes It

So this is late in coming but GoGo celebrated her First Holy Communion about 2 weeks ago.
It was an incredibly cold and windy day for May-more like November.  Her hair blew out of it's original "style" by the time we even made it into Church.  But her dress was beautiful and she was excited.  Naturally, my big camera's battery died about 2 pictures into the whole thing.  Thank God for the iPhone.

I asked her where she wanted to go for lunch after with the entire family.  Her suggestions?  Five Guys or Chik-fi-La.  Definitely my non-foodie child.
We settled on Brixx.  This allowed my kids to play on the playground after we ate.
So there was GoGo in this beautiful white dress, running around screaming as she froze her behind off.

I pray she never forgets this day or what it really means for her.  Love you!

Masking the Crazy

So the kids made these incredibly sweet Mother's Day cards for me.  It cracks me up the things they sometimes think to include.  Makes you really wonder what's going on in those little minds sometimes…
This is by Squeezalicious…all of the moms were supposed to guess which kid wrote what.  As the teacher was reading Nora's, I totally was not thinking it was me.  Except for the nuggets and fries comment.

Not sure why GoGo's loaded in sideways…this is so sweet.  I almost had to read it in the bathroom to hide the tears streaming.

Or D's…not sure why he thinks I love country music only.  

Must be my thing for Keith Urban's guitar work.  I thanked D for not including the things like I'm terribly crabby without my coffee or that I yell sometimes.  He said, "Yeah, I didn't want to say all that."  Thanks, buddy.

In other news, we continue to treat Kitty as a 4th child.

So Squeezalicious went to a friend's bday party and it was Dinosaur themed.  She scored this purple mask.  It reminds me more of something from He-Man cartoons but she loves it.  In fact, all 3 loved it and fought over it one day in the driveway.   This girl here has been heard singing "Going Potty Like a Dinosaur" while wearing said mask and on the pot.  Memories.

I hope this isn't some elementary school gang sign that I don't recognize.

Shortly after this mask extravaganza, they were playing "family".  This is something that very rarely happens now that D is getting older.  But maybe the mask sharing made them feel all warm and fuzzy inside because before I knew it, they were in the back of hubs' car.  I overheard them assigning names to one another.  Squeezalicious was BISCUIT.  How appropo.  They pretended to drive the the Teeter, Target and school.  Life, in a nutshell.

Our pool opens this weekend - getting our beach towels, sunscreen and pool toys ready!