raines inc

Snow Day

2012-01-20T08:27:00.003-06:00

We had our first snow day last week. By the talk of the news and the radio and the cancellation of school you would of thought there was at least 6inch of snow outside. But this is what we found when we went outside.

maybe an inch or so. We tried to catch snow flakes on our tongue

we tried to throw snowballs at each other

even the dog tried to have fun....

but in the end it was really cold, the wind was blowing really hard and there just barely enough snow to make our snowmen.....

hopefully our next snow day will be with ALOT of snow.....

I am Three

2012-01-16T07:54:00.006-06:00

The good thing about having a Christmas Birthday is when all the Christmas presents have been opened and played with and they are just about about getting board with them we get to have Cecelias friends party!!! We always wait until January to have it. It just seems easier to have it when all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season is over and we can focus just on her and her special day!

This year we took her and some of her friends to Build a Bear. It had to of been of the least stressful parties I have ever done. And It was still cute and the kiddos had a blast!

We got to stuff and hug our bears.....

Clean and dress them....

This is a picture of a little girl that had a great time....

When we were done there it was time to open some presents and eat some lunch and cupcakes....

Happy Birthday to my big 3 year old girl...And many thanks to Yiayia and Poppie who came out to help us with the party also!

Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

2012-01-09T11:01:00.006-06:00

What do you do when you don't feel so good and the weather is almost 70 in January. You go to the zoo of course..... The weather has been crazy warm here and it was time to get out of the house. Even though Cecelia and I both felt cruddy because of a cold that has been passed around this house since thanksgiving we thought hey why not get out and get some fresh air!!!!

Alot of the animals were out and out about enjoying the weather also.......

We even got to attack a goat.... I mean pet a goat......There were not many people at the zoo. The lines were not long. The weather was great. And we went with great friends and had an awesome time....Till next time big orange monkey......

The Fox

2012-01-06T13:36:00.004-06:00

Not sure how I missed this one but right before Christmas Allies Daisy troop got the chance to dress up and have a night at the fox to see Beauty and the Beast..

The girls were so excited to go and see a production at big theater with live people. They were so happy and had a ton of energy. Looking at everything with wide eyes and smiles....

Here the girls are in their seats. They were not to bad. The way we were angled there was no one in front of us and we were on the floor.

Then after it was over we took them up front to see where the music was coming from and to look up and see how high it went.....

What a great night and memories for all to take home....

Christmas Morning

2011-12-30T13:59:00.006-06:00

Christmas morning brought us lots of fun.... Lots of things to open in our stockings....

Even the dog got to open things.....We got lots of clothes.....Presents to share.....

Big girl gifts.....Even some fun for daddy......And some little girl gifts....We had a great morning opening presents together and having fun.....Look at Cecelias haul.....And Allie did not make out to bad either....

Christmas Eve

2011-12-29T08:24:00.002-06:00

After opening presents at YiaYia and Poppies it was time to get our Christmas Pjs on and head home to feed the reindeer......

Put out the muffins and milk for Santa.......

And wait for the magic to arrive......

Christmas the Totarsky way

2011-12-27T09:23:00.005-06:00

On Christmas Eve we go over to my parents house for our Christmas celebration. The Totarskys do not know how to do Christmas small. I guess I learned from the best. With only 2 grandchildren here in St. Louis they tend to get a little spoiled. But that is fine with them. They love every min of it.....

Sisterly love.....
Look ma I got a cat on my head.....

Even the dog gets spoiled.....Wha HOOOO I got zoobles.....

This little girl had to help open EVERY gift that EVERYONE opened....And even Santa comes to their house..... Fred Bird pillows for all.....Merry Christmas from The Totarsky's

Time to make the Cookies

2011-12-27T09:09:00.004-06:00

Time to make the Christmas cookies. We rolled our dough..... Cut out our cookies and baked them.....

Then it was time to decorate..... Lots of icing....Lots of sprinkles.....

And the end result.....MMMM yummy cookies.....

Class Party

2011-12-23T16:18:00.005-06:00

Allie had her class party this Wednesday. It started with the whole school doing a sing a long in the gym. Can you see Allie????

The singing was complete with Santa and the school mascot. Then it was time to head to the class and have some fun....

There were games....

Crafts......

And some snacks. Hmm not sure why I did not get a pick of the snacks they were cute. Little donuts made to be a reindeer or a snowman.....

Look Who is three....

2011-12-23T16:07:00.004-06:00

I can not believe that 3 years have past. This little booger keeps me on my toes. We had our family party this past week. It was actually pretty calm. We had a local place cook the food and our favorite walmart cake. Opened some presents and then let the kiddos play.....

Despite the look on her face she really did have fun. She just did not want to stop playing with her new toys to take the pictures....This year we opted to have her friends party in January out of the house. So less stress for me!!! and less stuff for me to make. Look for the pics in January.

Christmas dance

2011-12-22T10:44:00.003-06:00

It is that time of year. Time for the Christmas dance at allies school. Here is the older girls waiting their turn to do their dance. Peaking out from behind the curtain....

They did the nutcracker ballet.

She has come a long way since she started 6 years ago....

And now it is time to work on rectal. They have just a mere 6 months to work....

You did an awesome job little girl.....

Gingerbread house

2011-12-18T08:53:00.005-06:00

Every year we get a gingerbread house and let the girls decorate any way they want. Each girl gets their own side. They are not allowed to cross the line to the other side.

They usually do very good about staying on their own side....Look ma!!! We are done!!!!It is fun to see what the sides look like when they are done. Boy do the sides look like their personalities!!!

This one is Cecelia's side....And this one is Allies side!

Growing

2011-12-16T07:32:00.001-06:00

by leaps and bounds....

Pinterest Fail

2011-12-09T12:55:00.003-06:00

Have you ever heard of Pinterest?? It is a crafters dream. You can go on this site, look at others crafts, dinner ideas, and what nots and pin them to your boards. So at a moments notice if the kids are board or you need a dinner idea you can go to your pins and pick something out. One day I picked that we would do this felt tree. Seemed easy enough. I had all the things I needed already in the craft closet. So I pulled it all out. Cut a tree, cut some ornaments out and hung the tree up.

The girls had a blast taking the ornaments on and off the tree. However within a couple of min. the ornaments would fall off and not stick that well. And within a day the tree kept falling off the wall. (I used packing tape to tape it to the wall)

The tree only lasted a weekend and now the ornaments are in the play microwave as food and the tree is off the wall and back in the felt pile in the closet. I guess all the crafts can not be a winner....

It is starting to look.......

2011-12-09T12:30:00.005-06:00

Like Christmas. Our tree is up, the stockings are hung and we are ready for Santa to come visit us......

Santa

2011-12-09T12:25:00.003-06:00

The fire house up the street from us had a free Santa event. You got to sit on Santa's lap in a room by yourself with no one pushing or screaming. (I think this helped Cecelia not be afraid of him.) She climbed right up and told the big guy what she wanted for Christmas all with no tears!

And when then were done they got to see the fire trucks and sit inside.

Not a bad little trip to the fire house to talk to Santa!

Christmas activities

2011-11-29T12:45:00.005-06:00

Grandma and Grandpas church had a free Christmas Activity at their Church. You got to see over 100 different nativity sets and dress up like they did way back when.....

Play with some play dough....

Make some ornaments for our tree...and do lots of crafts....It was a great free event that we could do as a family and have lots of fun...

zoo wild lights

2011-11-26T13:58:00.006-06:00

The day after Thanksgiving it was 67 degrees out. So we all hopped in the car and headed to the Zoo to see some Christmas lights. Even with it being 67 we still needed our shirts, sweatshirts, coats, and hats. I could not imagine going to see the lights when it is 30 or even 40 out. So this was perfect.

Only half the Zoo was light up and open. You could only see the penguins and the bug house and ride the carousel.

All the lights were so pretty.This is the zoo from the other side. Look at all those lights. I think they said they had half a million or something like that....

Some October Crafts

2011-11-23T07:53:00.006-06:00

Pumpkin painting.....

Hand bats....

Feed the bird bird feeder!

Warren Fall Fest

2011-11-23T07:48:00.004-06:00

During the month of October, And yes I know I am only a day away from thanksgiving but I forgot about my small pocket camera that stays in my purse, Allies school had a fall fest. There was bounce houses, music, games, food and fun. We started out by taking a picture in front of this awesome back drop! (Thanks Katie for helping me and Cecelia put this up)

Then it was off to the bounce houses.....

And fun with games.....

There was a great turn out and I hope the school does it again next year

Halloween

2011-11-17T08:57:00.005-06:00

Finally I am getting to Halloween with thanksgiving only being about a week away! We started our Halloween out with our pumpkin shaped pizza thanks to papa murphys. MMM gotta love their pizza. Then some pics before we headed out the door.

The little girl does not know how to smile!!! UGH I think Allie went through the same thing at this age.....

Still no smile. But at least she is looking at the camera.

We headed down the street where our neighbors daughter live. They block off the street and have a huge chili cook off and 3 bonfires lots of food and lots of candy!!!! We just pass through and say hi. We are on a mission for CANDY. We saw carol who was oddly dressed like Allie!

And candy who was dressed as the oberwise cow!

Then it was time to do some serious trick or treating........

We had to dump their buckets at least 4 times in our block and half walk.....

And yes you do see some peanut candy but don't worry together we separated what she could eat and not eat that way she knew what was good for her and not so much good for her!Then our last stop is always grandma and grandpa who always fill their buckets with peanut free stuff!

School Parties

2011-11-11T17:09:00.004-06:00

I got to be up at school for allies school party! They always start off with a cool school parade. You get to see all the costumes that the kids have picked out. Some are really neat and took a lot of thinking to make.

Then we headed back to the classroom for her class party. Here is her and one of her good friends...

We took lots of pictures....

Played lots of games.....

Did crafts.....

And took a class picture.....

Trick or Treat part 1

2011-11-04T14:17:00.008-05:00

Part one of our Trick or Treating started out on Saturday at new town. They have put a great trick or treat for the past 5 or 6 years. They have a costume parade, trick or treating to all the stores and shops. And this year they added a hay ride around new town. Fun and free afternoon event!

We started out with some pictures

While we waited for the trick or treating to start we did some dancing to the music.And then it was time to get our candy. I mean trick or treat.

pumpkin carving

2011-11-03T13:20:00.004-05:00

I hope you Dance

2011-11-02T08:56:00.006-05:00

Every year for the past 3 years Allie has done different dance clinics trough out the year. This one landed her at FZE. She got a day of dance and fun on a Saturday. And then she got to dance on the football field during a soccer half time show. She loves this stuff. She eats it up. She had a smile on her face from ear to ear that I could not wipe off if I tried. And when the day was done she said MOM this is what I want to do when I get to high school. Lets see if she is right. She still has 7 more years to go.

Pumpkin patch #4

2011-10-30T08:54:00.005-05:00

This patch brought us to the last patch of the season. I don't know what happened the month just seemed to get away from me and we only made it to 4 patches this year. This patch was way cooler than all the others. It felt like a real fall day! We road the hay ride.....

Climbed to the top of hay bails many times....

Played on the pirate ship.....and slid down high slides.....we were our ornery self as you can see....yet we still had a ton of fun.....we took way to many pictures yet again......and had fun going in and out of all the hay mazes!We found out later in the day that the hay does not like Cecelia just like it does not like mom. She had head to toe hives and was beside herself. But a good dose of benadryl and a good oatmeal bath always helps...

Grants Farm

2011-10-20T15:46:00.007-05:00

The other day the big kid was off of school. So we loaded the car with snacks and our best friends and headed to Grants Farm. (why this is all underlined is beyond me!)There we got to feed the goats.....

Watch a bird show that boared the tears out of the little ones. Making us have to leave the show early. Oh well maybe we will see the whole thing sometime.We got to ride the carousel...And eat yummy snow cones....Take some family pics....And most of all have A LOT of fun with our BFFS!This picture is worth a thousand words.... These girls have been friends since they were just 6 months... I hope it last another 20 years and more.....

Pumpkin patch #3

2011-10-19T10:40:00.007-05:00

The third pumpkin patch of the season brought us some family time..... Lots of hugs and smiles...

And even some pouting from a certain little two year old. Sometimes I forget she is STILL a toddler......

It brought some fun in the corn boxes.....Fun on the tire swings.....It even brought us some fun on the horses....It brought us fun on the slides and in the mazes.....However it was HOT and did not feel like a day at the pumpkin patch... Maybe the next patch will be a little cooler and feel more fallish....

pumpkin patch #2

2011-10-13T16:18:00.007-05:00

So this patch was one of the fastest ones we have ever been to. I think we lasted maybe 10 min at the most. Karrie suggested that we go to a little patch that she new of near her house. It is called lakeview farm. I don't think it has anything to do with the lakeveiw farm off of Mexico road. When we got out of the car this little girl told us that you can not have a wagon unless you are going to buy a pumpkin. UMM ok we thought. Lets just look around then.

We did see some cute animals.And petted a goat or two.

Got some pictures by a tree...

But we felt like we were being watch the whole time by the lady that owns the farm. And when Allie asked to play on the playground she said UMM if you must. REALLY?? Well then the girls had to go to the bathroom and there was no place to go so we left. Not even buying a pumpkin. Wounder how that family keeps their pumpkin patch open. Needless to say we will not be going back to that one!

Bike Ride

2011-10-13T15:49:00.004-05:00

Look this girl can not even ride a bike without stopping to pose!

The girls love to ride their bikes. If only I could get the big one to take of her training wheels and the little one to move to a bigger bike we would be good.

Hey I told you I was hungry. Can we stop taking pictures and go inside to eat???

Wait what was I just saying? Time to ride!!!!!

And pose some more. Man this kid knows how to rock the camera!

I TOLD you I was hungry.... now put down and the camera and lets go eat......

Pumpkin Patch #1

2011-10-09T09:33:00.005-05:00

Don't let this face fool you! She really does like going to the Pumpkin patch. And that is good because we go to a lot of them in the month of October. However going to them in our shorts and shirts just does not seem right. Hopefully by the end of the month we will be in our pants and sweatshirts.

The first pumpkin patch of the season was spent with our good friends Thomas and Karrie. We sat on pumpkins.....

Pulled wagons.....Ate a snack or two....Got more pictures than mommy knows what to do with. And this is only the first patch of the season.....Saw Bert and Ernie..... Wounder why they were not at Sesame Street??And most important had fun with our friends and made great memories....Oh and we did do a little swinging also...and tractor riding...And now off to pumpkin farm number 2 and 3..... And more...... I wounder how many I can fit in this October...

Botanical Gardens

2011-10-08T13:38:00.005-05:00

Last weekend we took the girls to the Botanical Gardens for thier fall event. We have not done this in over 2 years. I think we like to stay away because of the crowd. But this year we just stayed in the kids area and it was not to bad.

We started off with the kids garden and let the girls run and play....Then we went to the kids area. There we petted some animals, milked a cow, picked out some pumpkins....Made a hator two....Drank some kool aid....and ate lunch....We ran out of time because daddy had things to do in the afternoon but I think we will be back next year!

Waiting

2011-10-06T14:08:00.006-05:00

Every afteernoon Cecelia and I go outside to wait for the big girl to get off the bus. We like to get our outside fun in at this time. We have been know to draw with chalk, play with bubbles, ride our bike. But today we thought we would ride the jeep.

Science Center

2011-10-06T13:51:00.006-05:00

Last month sometime in September Cecelia and I had a hot date with our good friends Blake and Katie. We were going to take the kiddos to Grants farm. But as soon as we got into the car it started to rain. So we headed to the Science Center instead. Even though we thought there was not a lot to do the kiddos still found a ton to keep them busy.

We knocked down the arch. Katie and I tried to build it back up but, by the time we got to the higher numbers the kiddos were gone and onto something more exciting.

We watched the cars go by under our feet.

Touched all the fun buttons and made things dig and move.

Then we got to go into the discovery room and play with water.....

Animals......

doll houses and more....

What a great trip we had... And I think the kiddos had fun also

Gymnastics

2011-09-30T19:09:00.004-05:00

We are now in the second year of gymnastics for Cecelia. And she is doing great. I can not wait to see where she will be at the end of the year. Here she is practicing her forward roll!

Jumping over the rope. Harder than it sounds for a two year old.

Waiting her turn on the parallel bars

Toe touches on the bar. This girl has an amazing upper body strength.

Forward flips on the single bar.

And finally the bear walk. This girl amazes me every time she walks into class. Now if we could only get her to like the balance beam.

Crayon Art

2011-09-28T13:16:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the bad pictures that are out of order. But I took these pictures with my notebook because I was just to lazy to get the camera out of the and change the lens on it. I guess this is what I get for being lazy. Bad pictures and out of order. But hey the outcome of the craft is the important part.

Step 1. Get a canvas. I got one at big lots for only $4. And some crayons. I got mine for .25 during school supply sales.

Step 2. Line all crayons up. Use hot glue gun to glue the crayons on

Step 3. I have seen people use a hair dryer but I used my embossing gun. I held the canvas at an angle and made them drip until I thought it was enough

Step 4. Enjoy.

So for $4.50 I have this great art to hang, give as a gift or just enjoy. Who knows maybe I will make more of these for Christmas gifts!

7 meets the friends

2011-09-23T11:04:00.008-05:00

The weekend after her 7th birthday we had all her friends over for a glow party. Glow sticks, glow hair, glow body glitter, candy bar, glow water. You name it we had it glowing.....

Even our treat bags were glowing.....

These two have been friends since they were 6 months old!!!Time to get our glow on.... Happy Birthday to you!!!!And of course there was a candy bar..... These girls destroyed it in a matter of min....And this is what it looked like when the lights went down and black lights went on......Of course one with the flash.....Lets see what theme she comes up with next year!

The big 7

2011-09-20T07:38:00.008-05:00

Well the big girl turned 7 over Labor day weekend. She threw me a curve ball when she asked for a peace sign glow in the dark party. I think I nailed it!!! We had everything glow in the dark. Glow in the dark nail polish, glow in the dark makeup, glow sticks, glow head bands, glow lights you name it we had it!

So here is her family party in pictures.....

Last swim of the season

2011-09-11T09:23:00.005-05:00

We were lucky this summer to have free swim passes to a neighborhood pool. Thanks to Katie Reece and her family for adopting us as part of their family so we could swim all summer!

the girls are getting crazy good at their swimming. I think they will be swimming soon without any help from their noodles, tubes and arm things.

They both also went down the slide but I did not get a picture of that!

The Beach

2011-09-07T15:30:00.006-05:00

Or as some people call it Creve Coure Lake. After Allie started school Cecelia and I had more time on our hands. So we pack the car up and headed to the lake. This is as close to a beach as we are going to get for awhile. But, we still had fun. We had our snack near the lake....

Made a friend with a duck.....Played in the sand... We had sand in our toes, sand in our hair, and sand in our fingers... but we did not care we were having fun....

Cheese.....We even brought our own sand toys to play with...We had so much fun.. We will have to go back again soon to the beach.....

Peach Picking

2011-09-07T13:51:00.004-05:00

I took Cecelia peach picking a while ago. And I thought that I would get some great pictures. I always see these great photographers take these great pictures in the orchards. And the one thing that those photographers have that I did not have on this day was a willing girl to help me out.

See what I mean.....

Maybe if I put it in black and white it will not be so bad....

Nope still an unwilling subject......Even in color she still was unwilling.....At least she wanted to pick the peaches.....Not even a willing subject when she was done!

This girl

2011-08-20T07:18:00.005-05:00

And her trains. After a year in a half of her obsession with trains... I happy to say she still likes them just as much now as she did back a year ago. She loves to make tracks (with a little of mommies help) and she loves to sit there and make the trains go!

watch me.....

Even though we have a TON of tracks I think more are in order!!!!

Next time we need to make one that goes ALL the way around the house!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-10T07:11:00.004-05:00

Stupid Growing

2011-08-08T12:23:00.006-05:00

Well here it is again... The first day of school... This girl is getting way to big for me. She got up, got her breakfast, got dressed, brushed teeth all with out my help. At least I got to do her hair and remind her to put her shoes on. Ahhhh I am still needed.

So here is the big kid ready for school. Mind you 30min early... This wont last long. Soon I will be getting her out of bed and telling every step what to do... Oh how soon they forget....
The little girl is going to miss her playmate sooooo much.

Daddy even stayed around and watched her get on the bus...

one last hug.....

And she is off to start a new year, new adventures and new friends....

Wait did you think I would just let her get on the bus and go??? Heck no I was waiting at school for her to get off so I could take pics.....

Hanging up her bag...

Sitting at her new desk. Yes they have desk now. No more tables..

Not sure what the teacher was thinking here. 3 good friends all sitting next to one another. Oh the teacher has a lot to learn. I wounder how long this will last before one of them gets moved!!

Extrem Heat

2011-08-05T16:17:00.004-05:00

This summer has been a hot one! I am not kidding you 100 or more for at least 14 days or more. Hot like you don't even want to go out hot. So what do you do with kiddos who are driving you nutty?? Well after you paint, color, read books, watch movies, play dress up, play dolls, play barbies and what ever else you can think of you make a fort of course!!!!

Red Robin YUM

2011-07-29T13:40:00.007-05:00

Have I mentioned how awesome my moms club is?? It is made up of an awesome group of women who get togther and do fun awsome things. Well this time the kiddos got to do some neat things. This tour was set up by our friend Sommer. Who knew that Red Robin did tours?

The kiddos got to be big red himself. Which Cecelia kept saying it was Fred bird.

They got to make their own lemon aid...

Tour the kitchen and eat lunch. When lunch was all over they got to make their own ice cream! Cecelia put whipped cream and chocolate on hers.

Look mom I did it all by myself!

MMMMM

What a happy little girl! Don't you just want to eat her up?

Cheap summer fun

2011-07-24T14:31:00.004-05:00

So it is not free family fun but cheap is good also. I try to keep the kids busy this summer. And so far so good. There are only 2 weeks left of the summer and I think I only heard I am board once or twice the summer. Not bad if I say... So for only $7 I take the 3 of swimming at one of the local pools around here.

Look Cecelia if you stand her long enough this big bucket will dump water on you.....
I am not up for letting water dump on me lets just go down the slide.... over and over and over...

me too... over and over and over and over......

Ok lets try this big bucket thing again....

and as you can see I did not get a picture of them getting wet with the big bucket.... And why you ask.... Because I was standing a little to close and got hit by the bucket of water instead of them..... Laugh if you may the girls got a kick out of it....

free summer fun

2011-07-24T14:22:00.005-05:00

We have a zoo pass which gets us into the zoo for free! Gotta love free. Free train rides, free sea lion show, free carousel, free children's zoo Free Free Free. We go there about 10-12 times a year. On this day in July it was HOT. Way to HOT for us to stay to long. So we made our rounds

Train ride!!! UGH HOT!!!!
Seeing the monkeys... Even they look HOT.....

Ahh lets cool down and see the penguins. Group photo. Yeah I think not.... The only one who listened in this picture is the almost 7 year old....

And finally to pet the sting rays. I wanted to jump in the water and cool off.....

So until it cools down a little, OK A LOT... I think we can say good bye to the zoo for a little bit....

did you get that it was hot?????

The 4th part 2

2011-07-17T08:28:00.005-05:00

This year because the 4th fell just a couple days after William surgery we could not go to a big fire work show. He just could not handle the crowds, the looking up for long periods of time and all that walking. Well in comes Uncle Danny and Aunt Catherine. If you can not go to a big firework show we will bring one to you they said. And boy did they not disappoint us.

Thanks Uncle Danny and Aunt Catherine for making our 4th a fun one.....

We did lots of sparklers....

They look really cool when it is really dark....

And then it was time for the fireworks. We thought ah because they were bought at a little stand they would be little ones. But OH NO these suckers were big like right in your face big!!!!!And bright like need your sun glasses bright!!!!!

They did not disappoint. It was an awesome show and best of all we did not have to fight the crowd to get home when we were done!

The 4th part one

2011-07-15T07:10:00.005-05:00

Ever since Allie has been little I have packed her and snacks up and headed to a 4th of July parade. This is not daddy's thing at all. Get up early rush to find a spot only to sit and wait for the parade to get to you. Yeah totally not his thing.

So I take my parade gal with me. She has been going to parades with me since Audrey and Allie were one. And now look at them. Both almost 7!!! UGH where has the time gone???

Who knew that on July 4th it would be cold, wet and raining?? But hey we still went. It was like god knew we wanted to see the parade. It rained the whole time we were waiting (which was fine we sat under a overhang and waited it out.) But the min. the parade hit us the rain stopped. However the min. the parade was over the heaven let loose and it PORED on us!!! All the way back to the car!!!!!

Lots of candy and lots of things to see. It was a great parade with our friends!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-13T19:50:00.002-05:00

A 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 2, and a one year old......

makes for a crazy picture.....

Take me out to the ball game

2011-07-10T14:23:00.003-05:00

While daddy was recovering from his surgery, Grandpa had the pleasure of joining me and the girls at the baseball game. We warned Grandpa that a baseball game with these two meant that he would not get to see much of the game. And the girls did not disappoint me.

There was a lot of moving from seat to seat.... Climbing back and forth... And making silly faces....
There was a lot of nacho and popcorn eating......

And even some playing on the playground.....

Not sure there was much if any baseball watching going on! But Hey we warned Grandpa!!!!

Outdoor fun

2011-07-10T14:18:00.003-05:00

Some dollar store spray bottles and some powdered tempera paint makes for a fun afternoon project.

If you stand to close the paint gets you in the face....
That is better.....

Cool paintings to hang on your wall when they are done!

Cheap fun that last about 20 min. What more can a two year old for???

Free summer fun

2011-07-07T14:28:00.003-05:00

There is a park in Creve Coure that has a fenced in water sprinklers. I took the girls there the other day and they had a blast running around. Getting wet, and playing in the water. A great free activity that only cost us the gas to get there! I think we will have to go back.

Day Camp

2011-07-03T15:39:00.006-05:00

For the second year in a row Allie has been able to attend a week long Day camp with the Girl Scouts. She loves all the friends she makes, the crafts she gets to do, the fun cooking she gets to do, the hikes and so on and so on. I could keep going. This is Allies perfect way of camping. You get to go all day then you get to come home to your own house and sleep in your own bed. I don't think she will ever go away to sleepover camp.

Allie sporting her new tie dye shirt that she got to make
And all the swaps that she got to make and exchange with her friends.

Until next year!

And just a little something that the girls sang at closeing cerimonies.

Fathers day

2011-07-03T15:34:00.003-05:00

We had a low key Fathers day. Just the way daddy likes it. He got to sleep in late.... Then Home Depot had a special fathers day project for them to do. So we took daddy over there and got another pin under our belts. You should see our aprons now! Then after nap from daddy and Cecelia we went to YiaYia and Poppies for dinner. Low key just like daddy likes it

Happy Fathers Day Daddy

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T09:04:00.005-05:00

To Dad on Father's Day
I sure hope this Father's Day is your very best by far.
Extra nice and extra fun the way you always are.
Times are fun when you're around no nicer dad could ever be found!
You're the greatest kind of dad any kid has ever had.....

Wordless Wednesday

2011-06-15T15:39:00.006-05:00

mini golf

2011-06-14T07:20:00.005-05:00

The other day was kids golf free at a local indoor glow in the dark mini golf. What a better thing to do when it is 100 outside. And bonus it only cost $10 for the 3 of us to golf!!!

Little bits had fun at first. Maybe lasting 2 holes! Then she just enjoyed running around and climbing on things.
Allie on the other hand took it real serious. She had a blast trying to get the ball in the hole. Which most times you could not see because it was so dark in there.

Yet the sites were really cool to look at in the dark....

And fun to take pics of also.....

Allie even got a hole in one on the last one!!! Way to go girl.

We will be going back when it is hot again!!!

Creve Coure Days

2011-06-09T12:40:00.006-05:00

Not sure how this got missed. But back in May we went to Creve Coure days. Something that I have been doing since I was the girls age. And you know what?? Not much has changed.

Well maybe the prices has changed. It cost $5 to play a game and win a dollar prize. So we only played two games.
The rides are the same. And each girl got to ride every kiddie ride twice.

They were in heaven.....

I even have a pic of myself riding on the same motorcycle. I will have to hunt it down and put it on here!!!

They always have music to dance to and during the day they have little girls doing their recitals on the dance floor. Which I did once also.....

The girls always have a blast. It was not to hot and not to crowded. So until next year.....

Summer has started

2011-06-06T07:18:00.007-05:00

Hi! Have you met my fish. Her name is Cecelia. This girl loves water and anything that has to do with water. She has been asking to go swimming since Valentines Day. Walking around the house in her swimsuits saying we go swimming, time to swim and I want to swim. So when it was the first really warm day last week I pulled out the water table and the pool.

This girl was in heaven.

I am not sure how many times she went down that slide but boy did she have fun.

We spent 2 hours outside which made for quite a nap for her later....

It is a good thing that we talked daddy into getting us a pool pass for the summer. I think we will be there a ton!!!

Now if I could only teach her to swim!!!

Stupid Growing

2011-06-03T08:46:00.002-05:00

As one of my mom friends would say Stupid Growing..... She looked like a baby the first day of school. And now on the last day of school she looks like a big kid!!! Happy Summer!!!!

City fun

2011-05-31T12:53:00.010-05:00

We spent our Memorial day down in the city at the City Museum.

There was so much to see and so much to do that there is no way could get it all done in one day... We are going to have to go back....

They had fish that would manicure your hand.... Look at the manicure that Poppie got....

Allie even gave it a hand....

There were things to touch, things to climb and things to try on.....

They even gave some of the climbing tubes a try.....There were things to paint, things to glue and things to cut.....

There were even sponges to jump in......

There were things to slide on... things to ride and many things to find.......

There were so many things to do and see that it drove this big kid nuts......

and drove this little peanut right to sleep......

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-25T13:46:00.002-05:00

Girl Scouts

2011-05-20T14:55:00.005-05:00

Night at the Ball Game. We got to go to the Cards game earlier this week to celebrate Girl Scout Night at the park. We had 4 of the 9 families come out and enjoy some baseball fun with us.

This girl was smiling the whole time and full of energy.

They were not bad seats either. I am not sure who we were playing or what the score was as I was dealing with a very rowdy 2 year old...

All the girls had a blast. Have you ever tired to get a pic with 4 6 year olds and try to all have them look at you and get a pic with all their eyes open?? I tried! I had 5 shots of them and in all of them someone was either not looking, had their eyes closed or you could not see them. This is the best I got!

And this poor thing. See the rash on her face? I should of know that this was the start of her peanut allergy! She was bouncing off the walls and I just thought it was with excitement until I took her potty and found a head to toe hives. And with that we left the game once again before it was over. I don't think we will ever make it through a full game with this one!

However that did not stop her from enjoying her nachos and cheese!

And fun was had by all! Until next time.....

I LOVE.....

2011-05-18T07:30:00.003-05:00

That I get one on one time with my little peanut. And I get to take her to some her most favorite places....

I love that I get to see her laugh and smile. And I get to see her lean new things everyday.

I love big fluffy sweatshirts that are way to big for my peanut but she still insisted that she wears

I love that all the good times out way all the bad times and all the test that this little girl puts me through daily...

I love my little peanut!!!!!

Walk, Run and Roll

2011-05-11T07:32:00.004-05:00

My Sister in Law's work was one of the sponsors for the Walk, Run and Roll. I am not an exercise by all means. I walk the block with the kids and play with them outside sometimes. But exercise not me at all. So when Veronica said that we could come to this event and walk the fun walk and the kids would run the tot run I was not to thrilled about. But the weather was nice and we had nothing to do that morning so we went.

The girls and I had fun!

Here they are before the tot run. Allie missed the cut off age for the run (there was ages 1-2 and then age 3-5) But the lady was nice and said that Allie could run with Cecelia.

We did crafts.

And more crafts.... The girls also got their hands painted....

Here they are running.... First place. Not hard with a bunch of tots and your big sis dragging you behind her!!!! Can we say a little competitive....?

They both got metals and a pic with Fred Bird!

After the race we played in the sand near the lake. The girls did not want to leave so I promised we would go back and play there again.

Happy Mothers Day

2011-05-08T08:14:00.003-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-04T08:55:00.002-05:00

This little guy spent over 30min just laying here sunning himslef!

Gymnastics

2011-05-03T13:10:00.004-05:00

The year is coming to an end. And this girl has learned a ton at gymnastics. We are having a hard time deciding whether or not to keep her in gymnastics or try her and at soccer. HMM not sure. This girl is crazy good at gymnastics.....

Case in point.... The butterfly.....
Her table... Which is one step away from a bridge.....

The balance beam....

And she is crazy good at the bars.... At the rings.....

So what do you think??? Keep her in gymnastics... Who knows she may be doing flips next year.... OR try her hand in soccer???

Easter

2011-04-28T14:51:00.005-05:00

Easter this year brought us lots of things.....

The Easter bunny brought us lots of stuff in our baskets....

It brought fun times with Grandpa.....

Fun times with our cousins..... Ages 6,4,3,2,2,and 1.

It brought us lots of eggs to hunt.....

Fun times with our sister.....

Big hugs from our Yia Yia and Poppie.....

It brought us more eggs to hunt....

Fun times with our mom and dad......

And Greek egg games.....

Which we did not want to stop playing.....Notice Cecelias egg is really cracked.. But she did not care she wanted to play over and over......

Happy Easter from our family to yours......

Egg Dying

2011-04-25T15:17:00.005-05:00

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-23T13:46:00.006-05:00

It was raining cats and dogs and William asked if we still wanted to go? I said we had to because this was the last time they would be able to do a hunt this year. The last egg hunt we did not do due to high winds and cold temps. So we bundled the kids up in their rain coats and got our umbrellas and headed to our neighbors church for their egg hunt.

They had snow cones

As soon as the priest said it was time to hunt, it was like God was watching us and said HOLD THE RAIN THE KIDDOS NEED TO HUNT! The rain stopped and the kiddos hunted...

And hunted.....
And hunted some more....

And hunted some more.... They did not mind that the grass was wet.... There were eggs to be found.....

So many eggs that each girl needed 2 buckets to hold all their eggs....

They both won the Easter give aways!!! Bubbles for Allie and a stuffed Bunny for Cecelia

To end our hunt they had face painting. Well the girls don't like their face being painted so Cecelia got a fish painted on her hand....

Despite the rain and the cold weather the girls had a blast! Thanks Scott and Carol for inviting us to your church.

April Showers

2011-04-22T07:51:00.003-05:00

In April the Girl Scouts do what is called April Showers. They take green bags and drop them off to houses. The houses are then to fill the bags with things like shampoo, soap and other stuff. Then the next weekend the Girl Scouts go back out and collect the bags. This year we got to choose drop off or pick up. We choose drop off (which I shall say is torture for a bunch of 6 year olds!) There were lots of house and big yards to cross to drop the bags off.
Our future Girl Scout helping out! She only lasted about a block before she was done and in the car.

The girls did a great job running from house to house.

They were so determined to get it done. We did the whole subdivision in a little near a hour.

However I think we learned our lesson and next year we will do pick up!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-20T08:51:00.002-05:00

We did it. We saw the Easter bunny and did not cry....

Maybe next year we will get a smile!!

Dance Time

2011-04-19T13:58:00.005-05:00

It is that time a year again. Allie has 6 more weeks of classes before she does her dance on stage. This will be her 5th year of dance and her 3rd year at this dance studio! The years are starting to pay off. She is starting to get real good at what she does and the most important part is she is STILL loving every minute of it.

here is a sneak peak at one of the dances she will be doing at recital time!

Cows and Chickens

2011-04-15T07:38:00.006-05:00

Oh My! The playgroup drove down to Purina Farms to see the Easter village that they have every year. This is the first year in 3 years that Cecelia did not cry at the Easter Bunny. Even though she did not sit on him at least we got her close enough for a pic. There was lots to see and do.

We petted a goat.....

some chickens....

made friends with a sheep....

And even milked a cow!

We got to watch the amazing dog do their tricks.....

Look at that dog fly......

And to end our day we had a hay ride....

Puddle jumpers

2011-04-14T08:52:00.007-05:00

The other night it was well over 90 here. It felt a little like summer. So what did we do? Pulled out the slip n slide, the sand table and the sprinkler. Soon after we got in the back yard the neighbor kids had their suits on and were in the back playing with the girls. It soon turned into puddle jumping more than slip n slide.

If this is what summer nights are going to be about around this house I can not wait for it to start.

Friends

2011-04-08T14:44:00.004-05:00

It is a funny thing about friendship. You can go FOREVER without talking to someone or seeing someone and then get together for a night of dinner and drinks and talk like you have just seen each other yesterday. Laugh like no time has past. And tell great stories until you cry and feel like you are going to pee in your pants. (hey we are all getting older and have a hard time holding it LOL) Mary, Inga and I met at our local Melting Pot. Yes very expensive. But I found this deal for ladies night 4 courses for a great price. Under $40!!! We all jumped at the chance. We ate.... A TON.....

We laughed.... A TON.....

Made fun of each other.... A TON......

Reconnected with old and new stories... A TON......

And vowed that we would do it again soon.....

So until next time... We will have the memories of our good friends to get us through our days!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-06T07:43:00.001-05:00

Progression of painting

2011-04-01T17:34:00.007-05:00

I love to get into a toddlers mind and hear what they are thinking. That would just be so cool. But since I can not do that I got a bunch of pictures of the progression of Cecelia painting the other day. And I can only imagine what she was thinking..... Look, I bet these two colors would look good on my paint brush...... Hmmm what happens if I do this with my paint.....

Ahh there you go... That looks good right there......

Hey mom look at what I did........

Hmm What would this feel like if I did it with my fingers....

This feels a little cold and slimy......

Fingers are not cutting it anymore.... Time to get down and dirty.... Time for the whole hand.....

Squish Squish.... This is great fun......

Wounder what it would feel like if I did it down my arm.....

Look Mom it feels great.......

Ok I think I am done now..... I am dirty and this stuff is starting to itch me........

Really put down that camera and wash me already!!!!!!

I bet that is actually what she was thinking... And this only took about 2 min of painting before she was done with it!!!!!

Last day of spring break

2011-03-30T08:47:00.006-05:00

Our last day of spring break we went out with big bang... We took Poppie to see Disney on Ice. And even better we had first row seats (thanks to an amazing friend from the moms group who hooked over 100 of us up with great seats in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rows!) We were so close I had to take my telephoto lenses off the camera and use my regular one. OH what a problem to have... Allie of course loved every minute of it. She was a old pro at this. I think this one was her 5th or 6th show.

Look how close we were...

We were a little afraid of how the little one would react. She does not have the best track record with things in costumes. And being so close we thought she would freak out. But she showed all of us. She just smiled and waved and everyone going by....

We took some great shots during intermission...

And then ended the show with all the characters...

and even peter pan fly right over our heads. How cool was that.....

Spring Break the zoo

2011-03-28T19:11:00.006-05:00

So this spring break has been full of well lets see, sun, rain, warm temps, cold temps, snow and then back to warm temps. So when we found that it was going to be warm in the middle of the week we packed up the car and headed to the Zoo!!! What a better place to be after it just snowed 3 days before. Well the whole world thought the same thing!!! The place was packed.... But we still had a blast... In the Childrens zoo we played on the frogs....

petted some goats..... Then moved on to.....

LUNCH YUM......

then of course you can not leave the zoo without riding the train... Choo Choo

so far a very eventfull spring break....

Spring Break....

2011-03-24T09:12:00.005-05:00

Monday of the 2nd week of spring break started off with snow. It was a good thing we had a play date planned with the playgroup at the gymnastics place. Allie loves these play dates. Because she is in school most of the time she misses the good play dates like these.

Cecelia doing her table...
and the rings....

and the balance beam....

Allie trying to balance....

Monkey see Monkey do... However who is following who here???

time to jump....

and the foam pit. One of the best inventions to wear a child out....

Girl Scouts turn 99

2011-03-22T19:41:00.004-05:00

What a great time to be a Girl Scout. This year was their 99th birthday and boy did they have a great party. A party of the Decades. We dressed as the 80's. They had 4 places to dance, free food and lots of music!

Gracie and Allie. (you would of never known that we were at urgent care just a couple hours before for a double ear infection for Allie. She was a great trooper and lasted just about 2 hours)
These girls really now how to bust a move....

I wounder where they get their moves from...

We had 4 out of the 8 girls from the troop. I am hoping to get all 8 next year....

Next year is their 100Th Birthday and they have already said that it is going to be even bigger than this one!!! WOW I would love to see what they have in store for us.......

St. Pats Parade

2011-03-18T16:48:00.003-05:00

On Thursday it was cold and rainy. Not a fun day for spring break. But on Saturday it was sunny and in the 70's. Yes a much better day for spring break. So on this day we (and about 5000 other crazy people) headed out to Cottelville for the St. Patricks Day Parade. It was great weather and great floats. However not a drop of candy was thrown out. Oh well we still had fun and we got lots of beads.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-16T09:52:00.002-05:00

Monkey see Monkey do.....

Spring Break

2011-03-13T09:47:00.005-05:00

Not to sure why they call it spring break. It is not even spring and it is cold!!!! So what do you do when you are on spring break and it is cold?? Go to the hottest place in St. Louis. And when I mean hot it is a nice 85 degrees in there!

We saw a tunnel of yucky bugs eating their breakfast....
Looked on our map to find all the butterflies. We could only find about half of what was on our map...

Get a cheesy picture on the butterfly chair....

And of course ride one of the fastest carousels in the state...

Hope the second week of our spring break is much more warmer and much more springier

Dentist

2011-03-12T14:56:00.003-06:00

It was time for little bits to go to the dentist for the first time. Even though she is two and STILL does not have all her teeth we wanted to get the ones she did have cleaned. And the doc did say they would come in eventually. And all 8 at once he said!!!

The brave little girl....
She was doing fine for the first couple of min... Then she clamped down and would not open her mouth for the life of us!!! But they got them all cleaned in a record 5min. Wow I wish the dentist was that fast when I go..

It is old hat for the big kid. She has been at least 6 times already.

Sale Time

2011-03-02T15:03:00.004-06:00

Twice a year I get all the kids stuff that they have out grown or the toys they do not play with together to sale at the consignment kids sales. The money that is made at these sales goes to pay for birthday parties, contribute to family vacation and goes towards new clothes and other things that we may need at that time.

As I sit here with TONS of clothes that both girls have out grown I get a little sad and teary eyed. And if you know me I am HELL BENT on not having anymore kiddos. But I am a little sad that some of these clothes have been around for 6 years and gone through both girls. I can see Allie wearing that 4th of July shirt to the parade and just 4 years later her little sis wore the same shirt! and now the shirt is going to another family!!!

I wish I could stop time and have my little ones. But it is time to grow. Time to buy bigger clothes that will go through both girls. And more memories in the clothes.

Ok off to tag some more.... The sale is in less than 2 weeks

Learning to skate

2011-02-23T18:41:00.005-06:00

Now dont look at this at this picture and say awww poor girl. She fell and now she is really hurt. UM no she was on the ground for maybe 5 seconds and then was back up and trying it again. She is my brave one. If this had happened to the older one. We would of been done, skates thrown in the trash and her limping for days!

But because the little one is so determined to teach herself to skate, the big kid is also determined to teach herself not to fall!!!

So for this extra warm day in Feb. we took the advantage of it and tried our luck at skating. No to many falls and not to many tears. So hopefully we will get another warm day and we can go back out and try again

Trains!!!

2011-02-20T09:01:00.005-06:00

I took my train loving fool to a little store out in Valley Park. Near 141 and 44. It is a little old brick building behind all these other big buildings near a rail road track. And when I say near a rail road track I mean 1 street away maybe about 10 steps or so!!! So for my train loving kid this was a perfect outing for us.

The store was filled with train tables, train puzzles and a train show playing on the tv! All of this for the little ones to play with for free.... And for as long as they liked!!! YEA!!!

Here is a shot of one of the big tables.....

She loved every min of it.... Putting different trains together and walking them around and around.

They had a whole wall of trains to buy. All made by this store

Do you remember that train track I said was about 10 steps away? Well it was a working track! And what is more exciting than playing with trains?? Seeing a real train!!!! She was OHHHING and AWWWING and THIS IS COOL.

When the train past it was time to go explore the tracks. She thought it was so cool she even wanted to take a rock home with her....

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-16T08:50:00.004-06:00

A tribute to my Bunco friends who know how to let loose and still have fun!!!!
A good friend is hard to find, hard to lose, and impossible to forget.....

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-14T13:00:00.004-06:00

The big kid got to make a Valentines box. Her choice a princess castle! Of course.

And the little one got to enjoy her Valentines with a Pillow Pet. Which she has carried ever where today. Including the dollar store and to Allies school for lunch....

But we would never leave the big kid out.. She also got a pillow pet!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL!!!!

Valentines fun

2011-02-12T09:11:00.004-06:00

I guess this is the teacher in me. I have a simple worksheet...Some candy and Walla I have an activity that will keep her occupied, have fun and learn all at once!

I gave her some candy hearts and asked her to match the colors. I did not expect to much out of her. She is only 2. But she blew me away matching almost all the colors the first time......

And of course sneaking in a couple to eat.....

But hey she IS cute....

After about 15min of this I finally had to take them away.... To many were being eating and it was right before lunch... Maybe next time we should do this on a full belly.....

Snow day

2011-02-02T10:47:00.003-06:00

What is the best thing to do on a snow day???

Please no pics.... I am trying to sleep.....
The best thing to do on a snow day is cuddle on the couch with your sissy, the dog at your feet and watch TONS of movies!!!!

Ice Ice baby!

2011-02-01T18:10:00.002-06:00

Powder Puff Derby

2011-01-29T10:04:00.006-06:00

Being a Daisy has brought a lot of fun and new things to do in this house. On this day Allie was able to compete in the Powder Puff Derby. Otherwise know as the Pine wood derby for boy scouts.

Here is the proud little girl and her car....
This was mostly about Daddy and Allie building the car together. But mommy helped paint it.

They were very strick at check in. They weighed the car (it could not be more than 5 oz) the measured the wheels and made sure that it would fit on the track. Who knew this was such a big deal.

Grandpa and Cecelia waiting for the race to start.

This is the track that the cars got to race on. They raced 8 heats. Going down 4 time in a heat.

The cars all lined up and ready to race. She is number 31

are we ready to start yet!!!!

and the race is on!!!!

Number 17 won 1st place!But, Allies car won the most colorful!!! Way to go Allie

Snow day 398574839

2011-01-28T12:45:00.003-06:00

Ok so we really did not have that many snow days but 3 snow days in row can really start to feel like that high of a number. And of course how many snow pictures can you have. Here you are in the snow... You had fun.. here you are in the snow AGAIN.... you had fun.... Here you are in the snow YET AGAIN... and you STILL had fun....

so here are some more pictures of the kiddos in the snow HAVING FUN STILL!!!

peek a boo

2011-01-24T12:23:00.002-06:00

Where are you????

Hmmm I think I will throw this box away that is in the hallway.....

Oh wait it makes a great hiding place also!!!