Meet Me in St. Louis....part One

This past weekend we loaded up the two kids in the car and decided to drive 7+ hours south of us to St. Louis, Missouri.  Yes, that would be the longest trip we've taken with the boys in the car to date. Yes, we realize that we might be labelled as crazy by some...

We were going to celebrate my cousin, Sam's godfather's, 30th birthday -- only he didn't know that because it was a SURPRISE party.  Shh... (oh wait, he knows now).

Chris and his wonderful wife, Laura, were living in Chicago the past few years, but a job relocation took Chris to St. Louis (he works for Hyatt).  Chris is one of my most favorite relatives, so I was beyond excited when Laura emailed us about coming to visit for the surprise party.  Of course, I said, count us in!

And then I realized that we needed a suite, or two rooms to make this trip happen.  Which meant that I was going to have to get in touch with Chris to have him help us book a room -- and after much debating and planning, we worked out a story where I was coming to St. Louis to visit my good friend Emily.  He was none the wiser (or so he says...)!

And let me tell you, he hooked us up with some pretty sweet digs and his hotel.  See for yourself:

The bed and TV, bathroom is down the hall on the left...

 This was the bar and 'sitting area' in OUR room.  Pretty nice!

The boys' had their OWN room (the key to a successful vacation, in my book) with a DOOR that SHUT between our room and their's.  We brought along the video monitor and the noise machine...both of which made sleeping in a strange place a success. 

The view out of the boys' room.  Stunning!  Little Max was SOOOOOO excited to see the "rainbow arch" and he kept calling it.  For the entire week preceeding our trip, I told him stories about the Arch.  I told him that the city was named St. Louis -- and hey -- isn't that YOUR middle name?  I told him about the Arch and how it looked like a big rainbow and it was so tall that it touched the sky.  I told him that you could ride an elevator allllll the way up to the top and look out of little windows -- and that I had done that when I was a little girl.  To say he was excited to see the Arch was an understatement.  He was O.B.S.E.S.S.E.D.  From the moment he saw it in the car to the moment we left St. Louis (and admittedly even now at home) he has asked about it -- if we can go visit it, if we can go touch it, if we can go see it.



Saturday morning was a bit rainy and cloudy when we woke up, but we didn't let that get us down.  We were especially excited to see the Arch during the daytime...and from the comfort of our hotel room!

Our plans for Saturday were very simple -- there were two things I wanted to do while in town (since we were only there for a short period of time) -- to visit the Soulard Farmer's Market and to show Little Max the Arch.  We accomplished both (posts to come) and we got to do it alongside Emily and her beautiful family!  We couldn't have asked for more!!!



We took our time getting ready on Saturday morning, and Sam explored the room.  He was a little unsure of his surroundings, so he followed me around for the most part.



I can't believe how BIG my little baby is getting!

Betty Brinn

It has been awhile since we were last at the Betty Brinn Children's Museum -- the last time we were there, Sam was still in utero!

This time we met up with some co-workers and their adorable kiddos.  This is Angela -- can you believe she is only a month older than Sam -- look how mobile she is already!!

Sam had lots of fun in the "pre-school" area -- lots of things for the wee ones to play with...

Including these "musical mushrooms".  Sam is into ANYTHING musical -- especially if HE is the one MAKING the music.  He could've stayed here all morning long...

Max was busing playing 'newscaster' with Daddy and spelling his name with these magnets...

And then he found the train.  HE could've stayed HERE all morning long...

Mommy and Sam put on a little puppet show...

And then Sam tried to do a little rock climbing

 

After that, Daddy was teaching him the proper way to build a fire.

The entire morning was great.  The kids had a ton of fun, and Sam passed out before we had even left the parking garage -- SUCCESS!

T-ball

Our lives are uber busy right now.  Getting the house ready to go on the market (shooting for June), work, kids, extra curriculars.

So, I'm going to be short on words and just post some pictures. 

Here are some of Max's first T-ball lesson with the Brookfield Park and Rec department.  It is definitely hard to keep a group of 3-5 year olds in check...and to tell them where to run or throw a ball, but these guys did a pretty decent job.  And, lil Max appears to have a pretty decent arm on him....

Max's friend and neighbor, Owen, is taking the class with us.  Such a cutie!

Max is the eternal goofball....

Swing Batta!

Sam's FIRST Birthday Party - Elephant Theme

This Sunday morning was different.

Instead of waking up and making pancakes (our Sunday morning tradition), we had more exciting things on the horizon...like someone's FIRST birthday!!

So, we started out the morning with:

BALLOONS!  Always exciting stuff for the morning!  You can't see it in this picture, but I had special 'First Birthday' balloons....

After breakfast (and a morning nap for Sam), we headed over to our neighbor's house to celebrate ANOTHER birthday!  Owen, Max's little friend across the street, turned 4 on the SAME DAY as Sam (I had a pretty valid excuse to be absent from his party last year...LOL).

While the kids took their afternoon nap, we got the house ready for the big party:

Balloons galore, and homemade tissue poms....

A homemade felt birthday banner (reusable for Max as well)...

another view of the banner...

Homemade cupcakes with elephant-themed cupcake toppers (big Max even helped assemble these!)

The kids woke up and were in awe of all the decorations.  Guests started arriving at 4pm sharp and the house quickly filled up.

 

Everyone had a great time drinking, talking and eating.

Our menu for the party included:  homemade meatballs, wienies, potato skins, fruit, veggies, spinach dip, cucumber tomato salad (yummy, Mom!), cheese and crackers and chips.

Everyone wanted a chance to hold/snuggle with Sam.  He was completely content to be passed around and be loved on (and he got LOTS of loving from everyone).

There were also lots of friends for little Max to play with...like his girlfriend, Payton...

and his OTHER girlfriend, Nina...(she is seriously adorable).

There were lots of NEW(er) guests as well....like Connor and Matthew....

Mark was trying to entice Connor with a cold beer... 

Here is Sam sporting his handmade Elephant birthday shirt and his handmade felt Elephant birthday hat....ok, so yes I got a little carried away with the crafties, but it was TOTALLY worth it.  Everything I tried making this year TURNED OUT!  And, the number on the birthday hat is attached with Velcro...so I can reuse it again (at least as long as the boys LET me reuse it...LOL).

Granna made the MOST BEAUTIFUL elephant cake I have EVER seen (not that I've seen a lot of elephant cakes in my lifetime).  Isn't this SERIOUSLY ADORABLE???  She gets an A+++ for making this cake and for all the help (emotional plus more) support she provided.  LOVE YOU MOM!

Sam had some cake-eating practice on Saturday during his cake smash photo session (pictures forthcoming)...so he was no stranger to cake on his birthday.  This meant that the ENTIRE PIECE of cake made it to his mouth at once...

And boy did he think it was Delicious!!

Post cake milk break...

People were overly generous with the gifts...and Sam got a LOT of great new toys, books, clothes, puzzles, etc.  In fact, little Max has already tried stealing many of the new toys (the most coveted toy being the Toy Story ride on)...

Overall, little Max did REALLY WELL considering it was one of the first times that ALL of the ATTENTION was blatantly pointed at Sam, rather than him.  I'll have to upload the video of us singing Happy Birthday to Sam and presenting him with the cake...it was SO  OBVIOUS when I went back and watched that video how much Max was struggling with the lack of attention on him.  And, it explains a lot of the 'over acting' during the birthday party.  Still, he did remarkably well (for a 3 year old sharing time, attention and new toys).  I was proud of him.

Granna and Grumps were smart and brought him his own present to open up.  He was SO excited to get rain boots and a rain jacket!

He wore the rain boots to school every day this week.  :)

All in all, I'd call the party a TOTAL SUCCESS!  I can't lie, the preparations nearly killed me, but in the end, I don't regret a single thing...and I wouldn't have done anything differently (except maybe have a little bit more food because people were HUNGRY!!).  It was fun to plan, prepare and MAKE fun elephant themed things for his birthday...

And again, a BIG THANKS to ALL our friends and family who took the time and made the effort to celebrate Sam's first birthday with us.  After all, you only get ONE first Birthday!!  I am so happy that all the important people in Sam's life were there to celebrate this milestone with him.  I look forward to when he is older and we can look back through his photo albums to talk about all the people who are in his life and who came to celebrate with him!!  It was a ONEderful Day!  :)

Happy Birthday Sam (ONE)

Happy Birthday to my sweet Sam (or Sammers, Sammie, SammaLammaDingDong).  I can't believe an ENTIRE year has gone by already. 

and I can't wait to see what the NEXT year has in store!

XOXO

your Momma.

Springtime in WI

is seriously bi-polar.

We had a beautiful weekend last weekend -- with temps in the 80s on Sunday.  EIGHTIES... IN APRIL!  As I type this blog post right now, it is SNOWING outside.

How's that for bi-polar?

We took advantage of the warm weather to head down to the park at the end of our street.  I really am going to miss that park when we move....

Loaded up in the wagon ready to go!

Mason bids us farewell....

When we got there, Sam was enthralled with sitting in the grass...

He was especially excited about PICKING the grass... 

and of course EATING it too... 

Then he decided to try rolling around in the grass...

He wasn't really sure about the sensation of the prickly grass on his head.

Meanwhile big brother Max was all over the play equipment.  Climbing, swinging, sliding...

All that hard work calls for a snack break!

Mom and Sam cuddling on the swing...

Max finished his snack and went back to climbing...

Then it was Sam's turn for a little snack...

We saw these guys playing in the creek right before we left and watched them for a couple of minutes.

I love springtime in WI...the rebirth after a long, cold winter.  Green poking up through all the winter brown... I just wish Spring wasn't so bi-polar...that it could stay awhile once it comes...but I guess that wouldn't be spring as we know it...

And yes, the snow has stopped as I finished up this post.  Let's hope it stays away for awhile longer (like until NEXT winter, ok?)

Hail Storm

A few weekends ago we were playing with the Xbox Kinect (bowling...and yes, I was winning...) and the skies just OPENED UP.  See for yourself:

Since then, I have overheard Max asking God if he could "rain the white rocks from the sky again". When I ask him why, he says "because it was cool".  LOL

1 year ago today...

This is what I looked like,

and I had no idea that in one week, I would have a beautiful, blessed, perfect baby boy in my arms.

Catching Flies (Video)

The video I promised: