Tuesday, July 31, 2007

daddy's shoes


Huntleigh's new favorite pastime: walking around in our shoes.

Monday, July 30, 2007

ah, summer salads


This is the first recipe/food item I have ever posted on my blog...I'm so excited. This is Josh's favorite salad ever. It is easy to make and it looks so delectable, doesn't it?!

Insalata Caprese

Start with some perfectly ripened summer tomatoes. Slice them to a thickness of your preference.

Then, slice mozzarella cheese to a similar thickness. Buffalo mozzarella is the best variety for this salad.

Chop some fresh basil and place it atop the cheese.

Ground salt and black pepper over everything.

Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the entire salad just before serving. Mmmm.

Josh likes balsamic vinegarette on the salad, but most recipes I have researched say that the perfect insalata caprese has no vinegar on it of any kind. So, it is up to you. But Annie Gunn's serves their insalata caprese with balsamic vinegarette, for whatever that's worth.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

camo



we spent today up at Raccoon Ranch. everybody's got to have a little camo in their lives.

Friday, July 27, 2007

tower grove park

Huntleigh and I loved this park so much, we actually went here twice this week. I highly recommend it if you haven't gone yet.



good morning, abby.


hope your coffee is good this morning.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

rainbow of huntleigh

red shoes. i noticed the collection just keeps growing. the converse were josh's when he was little.

as is commonly known for this furry orange creature, this is winnie the pooh. huntleigh calls him "poop." that's just what she thinks his name is. we love to ask her who he is, just so she can say his "name" and our hearts can melt. it's so cute and innocent.

yellow. it's huntleigh's favorite color. it's the only one she seems really interested in. here are some of our favorite yellow items.

green is a color she will not eat, unless it is hidden or disguised as guacamole.

blue, the color of these piercingly honest eyes.

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain, has such small hands
e.e. cummings

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

good morgan

what a great morning. the sunlight is pouring through our front and back doors, the jane austen companion is drifting in the background (I highly recommend this cd) and I am eating cheap, sugary doughnuts for breakfast with my sweet daughter. what could be better?!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

big nose


This is my sweet and pitiful hubby a day after his deviated septum surgery. After his fourth sinus infection this year, he was ready to attack the source of the problem. He really wasn't that pitiful, but he looks kind of pitiful in this picture. His nose is about twice the size that it is usually and so I have been calling him "big nose," a name his Chinese partners like to affectionately call him when he is over there. His surgery actually caused us to slow down for a week and we have spent a lot of quiet time together as a family. It has been quite relaxing.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

raw silk treasures


I bought this dress when I went to the Philippines for the first time in hopes that we would have a daughter someday. It was about $12.00. I couldn't resist it. And she looks so sweet in it.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

sunflowers at sunset




Abby and I "kissing our guns."

the sunflower fields


Raccoon Ranch has these amazing sunflower fields that are planted every year and somehow I have managed to not get a picture of us in them until just this year. You see, there is a very delicate science of planting them, having them grow to just the right height and everything and then killing them at the appropriate time to make them ready for Dove Season, which opens September 1. (The boys are just drooling right now.) Don't get me wrong. I love Dove Season, too, but I really love that I finally remembered to have my camera with me at the farm at the same time that the sunflowers were still alive and gloriously yellow instead of wilted and deathly brown. So kudos to me and thanks to Abby who stood on top of our car to capture about 50 pictures that look a lot like this one.

Dragonfly Designs



My sister-in-law, Abby, is a very talented and creative person. She owns her own shop where she sells a lot of fun merchandise that is cleverly placed in ways that make you want to buy it. She just moved into a brand new location and we went out to visit her in Eureka. If you live anywhere in Saint Louis, it's definitely worth the trip out to her shop. If you live anywhere else in the country, you can still go here and find some fun things to buy. The store is nice and wide open, so you can easily maneuver a stroller around and you don't have to worry about your children getting into too much trouble if you let them out of your sight momentarily. Huntleigh really loved this little kids' cove, where Abby has brilliantly placed a table with crayons and coloring books near all the children's goodies. She makes fun blankies for kiddos and onesies and she can monogram just about anything. She also sells fun stationary and invitations for all kinds of events. Very fun stuff.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Zoo train


My mom and I took Huntleigh to the zoo the other day and all we did was ride the train. We didn't even see a single animal. And Huntleigh was mostly afraid of the train that day. (I think it was the little boys in front of us who screamed through the tunnels.) So, all in all, I'm not sure how "successful" of a trip it was. It's a good thing the Saint Louis Zoo is free.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

il mare




We ate Italian our last night in Mexico because I was so tired of Mexican food. (Being pregnant, it is the one type of food I have not wanted my whole first trimester!) The restaurant, Il Mare, is on the edge of a cliff with this incredible view of the Pacific Ocean.

Friday, July 06, 2007

beach family

the beach experiment

Huntleigh spent a greater portion of the week fearing the beach and the ocean. We tried to work on conquering that fear on the last day in Zihuatanejo. She actually ended up swimming in the ocean with Josh. He was so proud of her and we are still talking about the beach at our house!




Thursday, July 05, 2007

the whole gang


together again after our hospital fiasco.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Zihuatanejo

Okay. It is about time for me to get back into the habit of blogging. Life has felt very crazy lately. Maybe you'll understand a bit more how I feel after I tell you about Mexico.

"Because nobody does it better than you."

This is Continental Airlines' slogan. I just want you to pause and reflect on it for a moment. Aren't I paying Continental to be better than me? I really hope the slogan doesn't refer to the pilots because I certainly pray they can do it better than I can. It does, however, refer to checking your own baggage, printing out your own tickets, pouring your own drinks, finding the new toilet paper roll in the bathroom, and paying your airport tax. This is exactly where we ran into a problem--an hour before we were supposed to take off. We were checking ourselves in when we discovered there was no record of our child in the computer. Now, even though she is a lap child, this presented a large problem with her international tax record. She was not allowed on the plane until she was internationally recognized...for $12.00. At this point, someone from Continental did have to step in and help us, and he spent nearly an hour waiting on the phone for someone to help him try to solve our problem. At first, I wasn't paying attention to the clock, but our babysitter pointed out that time was slipping away quite quickly and if Continental couldn't figure it out, we would not be going to Mexico that day. I was not yet resolved to believe that things would not work out in our favor and within 10 quick minutes, the guy waiting on the phone was talking to someone, we paid Huntleigh's airport tax, ran through security, and made it to our gate with a few minutes to spare. The Lord was gracious to us in that stressful moment. It's a good thing his motto is not the same as Continental's. Here's what we did after a crazy day of travel.





La Clinica Mediciel:

We arrived at our resort on Sunday afternoon and on Tuesday morning our sweet babysitter, Katie, said that she had been sick all night. We thought it would pass after a bit of rest, so she slept all morning with us going in to check on her from time to time. Katie was still napping after lunch, so we brought Huntleigh up to the room so they could nap together while we went to get a 50-minute massage. When we returned 55 minutes later, we heard these odd breathing noises coming from the room. I thought Katie might have just been having a bad dream, so I went to check on her and after verifying she was awake, she said to me in halted breath, "Can't....breathe....!" Seeing as neither Josh nor I are medically inclined, I called the front desk and told them that we had a medical emergency and would need a doctor. All of a sudden, there were about 8 people in our room, helping us attend to Katie with buckets of ice water to make cold towels while we waited for the doctor. She had spiked a fever of about 104 (we were crazily trying to convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit in the midst of the chaos) and her muscles were severely cramped. After two injections into her body (a muscle relaxant and a fever reducer) we ended up in an ambulance on our way to the hospital. Josh stayed behind with Huntleigh while Katie and I were zoomed off.

Josh and I both have international calling on our cell phones, so we were able to be in touch throughout the whole ordeal, but it was still somewhat unnerving. A gentleman, Andres, came with us who worked for our resort but was not a doctor. He spoke impeccable English and stayed with me for awhile, for which I am still so grateful. Katie suffered an electrolyte imbalance in the midst of severe dehydration and she had to spend two whole nights in the hospital, La Clinica Mediciel. She was attached to an IV with a potassium and a calcium drip the whole time. We listened to a handful of different doctors come in and give us their assessment of her situation in their varying forms of broken English. With Katie's recent year of Spanish and my two years in high school, we were able to get by for those few days. Katie was so brave. So much braver than I would have been, had it happened to me. The Lord really took care of us and provided for us in a situation that was completely beyond our control. We must say, though, that we were glad to be all back together in our resort on Thursday evening.

We drank a lot of bottled water the rest of the time we were there.