Play Group

Amy hosted play group this week and I was her helper. It was a lot more calm at her house this week. We actually got through a few songs, at my house Crystal and I just sang to each other. I am not sure if the kids are getting better and figuring things out or if there were just more low key this week. We had fun learning about things that start with the letter D. We grew dinosaurs, colored diamonds ,danced and tossed diamond shaped bean bags into a laundry basket. It was fun to see all the kids play together and learn. They are doing really well with sharing and taking turns. They are so smart--all of them! I am glad they are all having fun together each week.

Metal Museum

Saturday was free museum day! You could pick a museum from a list of 4 in the area to visit. We picked the ornamental metal museum, we have wanted to go check it out but haven't made it there yet. So it was fun to have a good excuse to go. I packed up the kids (JJ works on Saturdays) and we were excited to visit someplace new. We had fun walking around together looking at all the things. They had an exhibit inside--we ran through there pretty fast. Or Garrett ran through there pretty fast. So we spent most our time outside, I had to explain to them several times that you could not climb on the metal pieces. We also watched the blacksmith working in the shop. The kids thought it was fun to see the river and the bridge that we cross on our way to St. Louis.

After we walked around for a while we decided to go across the street and see the mounds and run in the park. Lucy and Garrett both ran up and down the mound hillside several times. We then sat on the bench and had a snack. After we were all done we stopped at Lenny's for some lunch and headed home. It was great to get out of the house together, the weather has been beautiful lately and spending time outside was great. Plus when we get out and enjoy time together it makes our day go fast and before we know it JJ is home to spend time with us!

Our Last SCO Homecoming

We have enjoyed attending the SCO homecoming celebrations each year. This was our last year to attend and we had a lot of fun hanging out with friends and playing games. We enjoyed some good BBQ for dinner sitting with friends. This year they had kids meals and it was nice to have something a little more kid friendly.

We made sure to take advantage of all the games to play. The kids had a blast playing them all. They had a fun time in the bounce house but things got a little crazy and Lucy got scratched. Garrett enjoyed just walking around with some freedom and playing basketball and any other game he could.

Last year JJ and I had fun doing this together and we decided to do it again this year. It is always fun and JJ always wins.

Lucy and I climbed to rock wall together. She did really good and made it about half way up.

I made it all the way to the top! I got up there and then looked down to see what I was suppose to do and I have to say I got a little nervous up there so high! I have wanted to do it every year and this was the first year I did and it was fun.

Lauren and Braden rock climbed together and Lauren won but couldn't find her buzzer.

We then waited in line for the kids to get balloons. They loved standing so close watching him make animals and swords.

Lucy got a black dog and called him Dorey Joe, just like the dog at JJ's work.

They both got dogs with a leash. They love them! As we were walking away Garrett tripped with his dog and it popped. He was SO sad and so we had to go back and he made him another one. The balloon guy was so nice!

As always we had a fun time together. I always enjoy seeing all of JJ's friends up there that I usually don't get to see. It is nice that we have made so many great friends over the years at school. Everyone is so friendly!

Botanic Gardens as a Family

Friday afternoon we headed up to the botanic gardens as a family. This weather lately has been beautiful and we have been trying to get out and enjoy it as much as we can. We played in all our favorite parts of the botanic gardens. The kids always love the slide and all the little houses. We then went and feed the fish. I love feeding the fish, they are just so fun. The kids love how crazy the fish get.

Lucy was telling the fish to stay down!

New Bike

Garrett is a lucky boy, last night he got a new bike! He is in love with it. When he got home with it last night it was to late to take it out and ride it. He woke up, ate breakfast and then went right out to try out his new bike. He can ride it so well and now both Lucy and Garrett have bikes they can ride together. He is in heaven and I have a feeling we will be spending most of our day outside riding his new bike.

There really isn't much new at our house. It seems that for the past week we have had a little cold bug at our house. JJ started it and it seems it is just lingering and making it's way through all of us. Luckily it isn't to bad, just a sore throat and a tiny cough. So far Garrett has remained healthy. Lucy has had a cough for a couple of weeks ago and we took her into the Dr this week to have her looked at. Turns out she has allergies and he put her on Zyrtec. So every night she gets to take some medicine and hopefully she will be feeling better soon. She said she feels so happy to have a bottle of medicine with her name on it. She has never had that before! Oh the simple things that she finds so much fun. JJ is enjoying his extern this semester and is learning a lot from the Dr. . He has been able to learn a lot of the business side which he really enjoys and will someday be really help full. He has been able to receive lots of good feedback from the Dr. and has said that something like this experience he wishes he would have had while at school. The one on one attention as he does things is very help full. He has learned a lot and I am sure he is very grateful for this opportunity.

I am adjusting to the new hours of life and have found my motivation again to be a better housewife! I lost motivation last week, it was hard especially being every ones ride to feel motivated to have dinner on the table. I love to have everything clean and ready for when JJ comes home but most nights we push dinner back until about 6 and if he is home great and if not we eat. I put several meals on this weeks menu that I am excited to make and with Fall on it's way I am looking forward to using the oven again and making some yummy soups.

I also signed up to run a 5K at JJ's school which will be in a couple of weeks. I have been working on a 90 day workout program but it is fun to incorporate some running into the mix. It has been since abut mid summer since I have really been running since it has been so hot. This cooler weather makes running much more enjoyable. Hopefully I will be able to do good on the race and make my goal time.

Garrett lives outside. He loves to be out there riding Lucy's bike. He has figured out how to ride it and loves it. They now fight over the bike but I must say he has some good coordination and does really well. We are looking to find him his own bike so they can ride together. He barely will eat with us at meals anymore because he just wants to ride the bike. He obviously doesn't care that it is a girls bike.

Over the weekend we really didn't do anything. We ran a few errands and just hung out at home. JJ has been fighting a cold so we relaxed and watched a few movies from Red Box. Lucy got invited to a party of one of her classmates Saturday afternoon. She was so excited to go. We waited to see if JJ was going to be home in time to take her since it was towards the end of Garrett's nap. We ended up just waking up Garrett and headed over. Lucy was so excited to go! The party was for her friend Carter, he is sitting next to her. She says she enjoys playing football with him at school.

Our friend Lisa was there with her little boy Noah. He goes there as well , he is in a different class then Lucy and Carter but they both stay for afternoon's. It was fun to see Noah and Lisa and visit with them. Lisa recently started working so I don't get to see her as much with our Mom's group or working out together in the evenings. They had a giant slide there at the party and Lucy was so excited. They had a lot of fun playing in the hot tub and going down the slide.

Garrett enjoyed playing in the dirt with the trucks. At first he was sad that I didn't bring his swim stuff but he got over it quickly and enjoyed playing in the dirt with the trucks.

Friday morning while JJ had the day off we went up to the mall. Lucy was at school and it was fun to spend time with Garrett. We just went to a couple of stores and then rode the carousel and then headed back to pick up Lucy. We also picked up our car, all fixed like new. It drives great and really is like a whole new car. The clutch if really different and the car in general has more pick up. We are so thankful to have it back and working great.