Who loves Mickey Mouse???

Jo loves Mickey Mouse (I wonder why?) She has to sleep on a certain blanket with Mickey Mouse, and if she sees Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, she starts dancing. Pete caught it in tape finally. She is so darn funny! Also, when Pete changes diapers, he NEVER puts their bottoms back on. I have no idea why.

Jo has also moved classrooms at her daycare. She is now in the Blueberry Room (appropriate for her since she lives on blueberries!) I will miss Margaret & Becky in the Apple Room so much. They were awesome teachers, but it was time to move on. Jo is doing great, but she is exhausted at night. Only one nap now & she pretty much falls asleep at lunchtime. I remember Anna doing the same thing when she was 1 year old & moved classes. My kids like their sleep!

Is that Nastia or Shawn Johnson?

I forgot to mention that Rosie finished the summer at the St. Louis Gym Centre camp. She had a great time, but she did tell me on the side that she missed Anna. I knew it!!! She said that there were a lot of things they did that Anna would have enjoyed. Anyway, the week went by very quickly - Anna had a 9th grader watch her at home. They walked to lots of places by our house & did tons of artwork. All in all, a good week for the girls!

Rosie after her show with her "sparkles." She can almost do a walkover & can't wait to do a back flip without any help. We're very proud of her & I love her confidence she continues to gain in all she does.

Back to School

Rosie & Anna started school on Wednesay, and I am just now getting around to posting these pics. We had a special sign on our lawn, and Anna was very excited to see it. She attended pre-K at St. MM, so she wasn't very nervous at all. She is really reading well and as you can imagine, wants to be reading the same books Rosie is reading. All in due time is what I tell her. No competition at all with my daughters! Our 3rd Grader & Kindergartner Back in 2005 on Rosie's 1st Day of Kindergarten
One more week & then the soft cast is only needed for sports. She may be able to do gymnastics when the new session starts. That puts an even bigger smile on her face!

Daddy with his girls

Caught them being goofy on the couch - it was too cute to not post!

No more cast for Anna

Yesterday, Anna had her cast completely taken off! She is very happy, and she has to wear a soft cast for one week. Each week for the next 3 weeks, she gets to wear it less & less. The best thing is that she can officially play soccer next week. We also organized closets, rooms & basically got ready for school starting on Wednesday. It has been too long since we just stayed home all day, and I had put some organizing on hold for most of the summer. I have lots more to do, but it helped to work on it all day long. Threw out & gave away lots of stuff to the Goodwill. The kids are going to Mary's for Monday & Tuesday - her sitter will watch them along with their cousins. They are very excited to be with Caty all day. Well, I better get back to my chores.....

Back to the grind

Back to work & back to our last camp before school starts next Wednesday. Soccer practice starts on Wednesday for Rosie, and Pete is coaching her. I am the information messenger for him because he is the worst about disseminating info to the parents. Soccer for Anna starts on Thursday nights, and I am just assisting with her team on game days. Pete & I take turns with sports because someone needs to be with Jo! Soccer is not my sport anyway, so it works out well.

On Sunday, we had a pickup soccer game with Drew, Ian, Paul, Gabby, Rosie & Anna. Anna should not have been playing with her broken wrist, and at one point, Drew stole the ball from her & she fell on her elbow. She was fine, thank goodness. I don't know why we let her play but how do you stop them?

Most of the weekend was spent watching the OLYMPICS! We love them and how exciting was the men's relay last night???? Pete & I were screaming for USA & they beat France. GO USA! I'm addicted to TV for 2 weeks - it's the only time that I don't mind the TV on for most of the day.

Special time with Dad

My vacation ended early since I had to go to Portland for a client meeting on Thursday & Friday. Pete stayed home with the girls and did a few more fun adventures on his own (I was quite jealous!) He made a beautiful planting table for me with Rosie & Anna (their first woodworking project with their Dad). It is really nice, and I am excited to use it. I can finally get organized & it has wheels! On Friday, they went to the History Museum to do an art class of some kind. I came home around 1pm, and then we headed to the pool & gave Dad some time alone!

On Saturday, we went to Joanie's pool & had a great time, as always. Thanks Joanie for a great time & a great dinner!!!

Rosie, Anna, Alison, Wil, Jo & me having popsicles!

Jo swimming with Dad & laughing the entire time!

Mmmmm - this is delicious!

Day at the Museum?

That's what we thought, but it only lasted 30 minutes. We tried to go to the St. Louis Art Museum to show Rosie & Anna some really interesting art since they are so interested in drawing, painting, etc. They tried their best to be interested, but the real issue was Josephine. What were we really thinking - a 1 year old would want to view paintings? Come on....

Next stop - the Zoo! Got some good pics before we went into the Museum though!

See Anna pout....

See Anna smile.....

Trying to keep Jo out of the fountain.

Pete & Jo on the train at the Zoo. She is totally Daddy's girl!

As we were leaving the Zoo to get some nourishment, the Gombas' arrived. Rosie was so happy to see her best friend, Gabriella. So, we walked around & the kids used my camera to get some great pics of the animals (I won't bore you with them). Then, we went to Fitz's for some hamburgers & Fitz's root beer. A very fun day!

National Night Out

The 1st Tuesday of August is National Night Out, and Cottonwood Court is the place to be (every year except this year). We were out there for 1 hour before the downpour! The evening cooled off & it was a perfect night to hang with our neighbors, have fun with the police cars & fire trucks, but alas, it rained! The best part of the night was learning how to hula hoop! Teresa & I figured it out after Rosie showed us. It uses some much needed stomach muscles too!

We usually have a great crowd but the "fun people" only showed up until it started raining!

Go Anna & Rosie Go!

Our next adventure in St. Louis - Grant's Farm

I guess I took a break from my computer this week too.... Sorry - I'm going to enter a bunch of blogs now!

Tuesday's event:
It was a hot & steamy day, but we went to Grant's Farm anyway. It's funny that the heat doesn't even affect Josephine. She just keeps going & going!

Who said vacation at home can't be fun?

We are being boring this summer and just taking a week off & staying home. We did go to Disney World in March, so we can't really complain too much! Anyway, we are doing St. Louis sites each day this week & probably hitting the pool every night. It is really HOT & STEAMY this week, but it is August! We went to the Arch today, and then we ate lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I did hear "it's so hot" a few times from Anna today.

Having fun at the pool!

Taylor running through the fountains!

Anna in the same fountains - did you notice her cast is half the size? It got cut down since it is healing so well!! Yeah - 2 1/2 more weeks of a cast (right in time for school to start).

Seems like all I do is post about getting wet, but it is August in St. Louis. Not much to do but swim since it is so muggy & hot. I don't mind because before we know it, we will be back at school & in the heat of soccer practices & games.

Tammy asked us to go to Des Peres pool since it is practically a water park! Paul is in Rosie's class, and they are good buddies. Taylor is in Anna's class, and they are also friends. It worked out great, and they had a blast doing the slides, lazy river & just playing in the pool. I only got 2 pics all day because Jo was attached to my hip all day. She has a little cold and probably should have been taking a nap at home, but she will get lots of sleep on Sunday....

A really cool art camp!!

Above is a showing of their creations!

One of the best camps we did this summer!! This camp was called Camp Confetti, and this woman puts in on in her house. She uses recycled stuff to make all kinds of interesting art projects. Rosie & Anna loved it. They each drew a leaf that I plan on putting up in our new bathroom. Seriously, they are very talented at drawing. They gave me an A+ for finding this camp. Yeah for me (for once!)