We love our visitors!

Thank you so much for coming! Oh, What fun we've had! Please come again in the winter, even if it's 30 below!

Summer Fun with My Family

Q sizing up the dance floor! My little stud!

Sloan dancing to "tonight's gonna be a good night"...she's so serious

It's about 11 PM in this pic...

Brad, my bro and our fav cousins

Grants Farm

We love our CC

We were able to make it back to St. Louis at the beginning of the summer! I love it when we have the time to do so, however, when we're there the time flies by, could we just pause the clock just for a week?????

I've decided I should take a month off work to go and have the kiddos enjoy all the adventures I loved when I was a child. Six flags, the zoo, magic house, swimming/skiing at Nana and Papa's lake house and much more.....

While we were "home," my cousin got married, so that was a blast being ALL TOGETHER. It was awesome to see Sloan and Q on the dance floor, idolizing my cousins and never wanting to leave....I think we rolled out of there at almost midnight. Then, we were able to spend a nice visit with My Nana and Papa---Q is so proud to call them Great Nana and Papa. They are 82 and 83 and love to have these kiddos around. It is a joy to have the kids show them their tricks and watch the smiles on their faces!

Lastly, My mom and I took Q and S to Grant's Farm. That place is so cool and not to mention sooooo CLEAN for basically being a zoo! The goats, merry go round, the train and animal show were all great! The kids were in heaven!

All in all a awesome trip and we hope to make it back really soon....we miss CC and DD!

ALWAYS, up for a bargain....

Ok, ever since we bought our house, I have had a master plan to redo our main level bath (Aaron was not so much on board with me, in fact, I can hear those whispers, don't do it!) I've known what I want, but could never really describe it, and then one day, I'm strolling along Big Lots, of all places and come across what I think I needed for the bathroom. What do you know, Aaron and I had to go back, I really wanted his approval, "whatever you want honey, this is your project" Need less to say, I spoke with the manager and negotiated a deal and it was a pretty good deal!

Thanks to Papa for installing it and to my wonderful hubby which turned "my project" into "his project", he did all of the painting and texturing....love you babe!

This post is so long overdue that it is now complete.... I am excited about it and am happy it turned out how I envisioned it! What do you think?

Getting caught up

This made me smile!

OMG...I have to get back on this blogging bandwagon, it's been forever, i miss you! I have about 20 posts in drafts that will be up soon!

I forgot to mention....

Daddy got a new camera for his special "days" and he is loving it.....!!! Photography has always been his passion and that makes me thrilled to see his excitement, especially when he gets a great shot.

I have to admit, I sometimes poke fun of him, because he photographs EVERYTHING, however we get home, download the pictures, and I am so happy that he was able to capture that exact moment in our children. It's priceless, It sometimes brings tears to my eyes.

So honey, cheers to many more captures memories that we will have for a lifetime in a photo!

Happy Bday and Father's Day!

What an awesome week for celebrations!!!

My parents Anniversary (34 yrs), Aaron and My Mom's birthday (on the same day) and Fathers Day!

We were able to celebrate over the whole week and weekend. Q was insistent on going fishing with his Daddy as a special date...they did and brought home 2 fish to show for it! Go Gentlemen! Then we had our fill of flash light dance parties (power outages) bike rides, great food (Dad's choice: PF Chang's, and Weber Grill) and fun family conversation and laughter!

Aaron, we love you so much and are so proud to call you daddy, hubby and most important best friend in the whole wide world!

I hope my mom and dad were able to enjoy their special day(s) together, and I know they are looking forward to their trip to Vegas this week! We Love you guys!

Papa we love you too and look forward to your visit to Chi-town very soon, where we can celebrate a belated father's day!

Go Cards....and

Cubs! I know my dad will not like this post, but we just had to get one hat, since we are here in "CUB country"!

Q's last week of school was a baseball theme and he needed a hat to compliment the outfit, right? Then, Sloan loves to steal it and get that curly hair out of her face!

We still love our Cardinals and will always stay true to our home base in St. Louis!

Part of the Fam

So we're all sitting at the dinner table the other night and Q says, "Hey mom did you know that Nicki is part of our family?" She just has a different last name.

Oh, how true! Nicki, we are so blessed to have you in our lives for almost four years. Wow, does time fly. Thanks for all you do every single day!

Check out her blog, she is so good with updating it with fun things she does with them on a regular basis.

It's Rainin, It's Pouring

It has been raining cats and dogs around here, so we decided to make a slash! The kiddos had a ball! Q was just jumping too fast for me to get any good pics.

Friendship

Are they going to Prom?

Now that's love!

Sweet!

I am so happy to see Q and Sloan sharing, playing and smiling together. Tonight I was putting Q to bed and he was asking a lot of questions, hard questions, I might add. "Where will you be when I am married? Will your hair be gray? Did you meet Daddy when you were a little kid like me? Did you go to the same primary school as him?

So I start to question, where is this coming from? and so inquisitive at such a young age. The sweetest was when I talked about marriage and I asked him who he thought he would marry?

He said, "My sister, because I love her the most, mom! 100 million times over and over!"

Now, I am definitely not saying they are perfect all the time, nor even 1/2 the time, but it's great to see the coaching about loving family, friends, and neighbors that we sometimes feel goes out the window, pay off!!! Yeah....

Q I hope you continue to love your sis even more by the day!!

Q's new hobby

Sloan chilin'

Look at him go

He is proud

This post is just about a month late....oh well, right?

Riding a bike with no training wheels has opened up so many doors for Q and our entire family. He enjoys riding up and down the sidewalk, showing off to the cute little girls on our street. Did I mention, he rides a little to crazy and too fast for momma! We're working on that.

We went on about a 4 mile bike ride the other day because it was so beautiful! We stopped about every mile for the kiddos to enjoy some play/park time. Needless to say, it was a hot one and we all ended up coming home to slam some lemonade and nap on the couch, those little legs get tired fairly quickly and these parents were exhausted too! Guess, I know a way to get them to bed early at night! Keep pedaling....Just Kidding!

We are so proud of Q and thankful that his favorite cousins in the whole wide world let him borrow their bike. It fits him just right!!!!

We love our new....

Friends

Parks

Play Set and Yard, (not very big, but better than our last house)

Sloan's Birthday!

"the BIG 2"!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a gathering for some friends and family here in Chi- Town. It was a wonderful celebration and appreciate that everyone came. The theme was ice cream cones and wow were there some creations! Sloan you continue to grow and develop right in front of our eyes!

Her two year stat:

Weight ---24 lbs

Height ---34 inches

We're so proud of you going pee pee on the potty and talking on the phone at the same time. She finishes many sentences for us, loves to read books, sings songs and performs for any a crowd.

In fact, the other night I was putting her to bed, reading "Good Night Moon" she started to finish all the words, bear, chair, balloon and then we got to the page, "a comb, a brush...a bowl full of ICE CREAM she repeats," Well guess she was just thinking of her birthday, since every party we go to is "Her" birthday! These little ones can always make you smile after a stressful day!

Easter 2010

We were able to celebrate in Morton before we left! Fun Fun!