teeth

happy apple eaters

how 'bout them apples?

Now that Josh is out of school, we have our Saturdays back and I am capitalizing on family time. I love it. I want to do everything that a Saint Louis Saturday has to offer. Josh is more concerned that I just want to blogument it, but trust me...I am just glad to have my husband back on Saturdays. And so are our girls. We had a lot of fun this weekend...and I have a lot of apple crisps ahead of me.




I only love this picture so much because of the little hand peeking out from the background.  

Hunts sharing with Lucy. I love this.

underground eating

Our friend invited us to partake of some good eats on Friday night and we are so glad that he did, because his food was excellent. Six courses, paired with wine and all....yum. It was so good. Everything is locally grown and/or raised and he really spends a lot of thought into how he serves his guests and involves them in the eating process. He got Zach to eat mussels for the first time ever. That's a feat. Check out his plate. And those short ribs were to die for.

ami love

Oh Ami, you're falling apart. You are so loved. But you have no face. Have you noticed? Oh wait. You're a doll. Your stuffing actually looks like a beard. How is it possible that 10 months ago you looked like this, but now you look like this? (Do not go to that link if you are afraid of dolls. I'm serious.) Do you know how often I have to shove your stuffing back into that hole? A lot. I'm sorry you look like this, but it's for a good cause. We have got to get you nip/tucked. Stat.

standing

This one cannot get enough of pulling up and standing on her own. She gets so excited whenever she's on her feet. She's my little happy one.

pumkim patch

It seemed wrong to be picking a pumpkin with the temperature in the mid-80's, but Huntleigh enjoyed it in spite of all the sweating. She made Yia Yia slave away while she drank her juice, as you can see. Huntleigh just kept choosing "pumkims" and putting them into the cart, so we came home with $40 worth of them.

tuesday morning conversation

I got Hunts this cheap tracing and coloring book from Sams and she loves to work on it because it helps her draw shapes and trace lines and stuff. Well, the other morning, we brought it outside to work on while Lucy was taking her morning nap and Huntleigh said, "Wait a minute. I have to go get my fart gasses!" Sure enough, she came back outside with these fun sunglasses. "I will wear them, Mommy, because I'm really fart." Even though I know that Huntleigh has trouble with an S+ another consonant, there are times, like this, when I have to take a moment to translate it so I know what she's talking about. It's all contextual. Like furl=squirrel, fell=smell, sop=stop, Sott=Scott, fing=swing, fart=smart...you get the picture. And she knows exactly what she's saying, because when I repeat it in exactly the same way that she has said it to me, she'll "correct" me until I say it properly.

So I said to her, "Those are your fart gasses?"
To which she replied, "No! They're my fart gasses!!"
She's one fart cookie.

little feet

Little feet, I am grateful for the gift of being your mommy for a time. My prayer is that the time I have with you is long enough for me to meet your grandchildren, but I am thankful for whatever time the Lord gives us together. Being your mommy is a role that I grow into on a daily basis. Someday you will understand that I am far less than perfect and I fail you quite often. But forgiveness is a big part of our relationship and that is the thing I want you to understand more than anything. I love when those little chubby fingers enclose my cheeks and say, “I forgive you, Mommy. Does that kiss make you feel
better?” I need that more than you even comprehend. Let’s keep doing that, okay? Even when you’re 20 and I’m 48 and it may be more difficult for both of us because age makes things harder. We’ll never regret the results of forgiving one another.

I am beginning to get small glimpses of what it looks like for you to have to wrestle with the consequences of your choices. I think this will be one of the most difficult things for me as your mommy because I won’t always be able to make things better. And even when I can, it might be better for you for me to choose to not do so. Like when you got your balloon from Trader Joe’s and I told you to hold onto it really tightly because if you let go of it, we wouldn’t be able to get it back….and then you let go of it and started crying as you watched it disappear into a perfect summer sky. You didn’t know how easy it would have been for me to go back into Trader Joe’s and get you a new balloon, but I did. I knew it would be better to let you wrestle with the consequence of your choice. Or when I reminded you for the tenth time to be careful with your slushee at Target, but it was only a few moments later that you dropped it and spilled it everywhere and started crying (albeit slightly dramatically). It would have been easy to get a refill, but I chose not to do so. You may not believe me, but choices like those are not easy for me. I just think small situations like those don’t hurt you too much and there are lessons in them that are more powerful than anything I could teach you with words at this point.

Then there are those times when I have to watch you hurt because of someone else’s choices. That hurts like hell. Like the day I watched that little boy pull your hair and when I came over to pick you up, I saw the big clump of your gorgeous blonde locks lying on the ground next to your sweet barrette. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for that time and for all the times in the future that I won’t be able to reverse a situation or repair it. My heart was inflamed with a righteous (I hope) indignation because I wanted it to be made right, but I could do nothing other than to use it as a lesson on forgiving someone when he has not asked for forgiveness. There will be those times when I will speak up for you, (for us) and trust me, I will speak. I promise to always be your advocate. But there will also be those times when holding my tongue is the better thing to do until my heart has had the time to process the circumstances. Your hair will heal. And I know that my heart will, too, but only because of forgiveness. No amount of vengeance on my part is match for the justice of holy and righteous God. That sounds a bit dramatic in this case, but I don’t mean it in an ugly way. I just know there will be situations in our future that will be exponentially more complicated than losing your hair to an undisciplined little boy who just needs boundaries. All you needed was a hug and some juice to make the tears go away. In the future, we’re both going to have to learn how to forgive.

Little feet, sometimes I wish I could build up a hedge around you so that you wouldn’t have to experience disappointment or hurt or pain, but I know I can’t. And if I did that, you would resent me for it, because you’d eventually encounter pain—it’s impossible not to in a world that is wrecked by sin—and I wouldn’t have prepared you for it, as best as I am able. I know I could have chosen to not bring you into a world like this, but I’m not really into that argument. I think it’s lazy. Pain exists and is palpable and can often lead to something more beautiful than there was before.

Little feet. I love you so. There are times when I look at these little shoes and wish you both into sizes much bigger than the ones in this picture and then there are those days when I am reminded—by strangers—to revel in this time of your young lives and not to wish these days away. I am thankful for those strangers. I can see how the Lord has grown me, not so much in my shoe size, but in the size of my heart. Now I love these days more than ever. I mean, don’t get me wrong….we still have “those days” when the drama is worse than ever and I put myself in as many time-outs as I do you…remember yesterday? Yeah. I think we still have a bunch of those days in our future. But I love all the days with both of you. My life is fuller because you are both in it. You’ve both taught me more about myself in a few short years than I have somehow learned throughout my life. That’s invaluable.

the world is alive now

I cannot get enough of this album. I think everyone should go get it. It might surprise you. It will be different, but it will not disappoint. Go and listen.

beads

this face is all about focusing. i love it. i love watching this one grow into her upcoming age. it's awesome.

tomboy?

Here is my soon-to-be 3 year old just a few minutes before her first soccer class. I just love this girl. She is awesome.

balk, balk, balk.

This is our good friend, Glen Woita, at the Cubs-Cards game on Wednesday night. That's right. For those of you who know Glen, you may be reading this in disbelief. Josh quizzed him on basic and intermediate facts of the game and Glen actually knew the answer to each one. Then, Josh tried a masters level term on him--balk --but it was a bit much. Surprisingly, a balk was called during the game, which is somewhat unusual, so we all had a firsthand learning experience. Anyway, I must say that for a non-sports fan, Glen passed the evening with flying colors. Kosher dogs with onions & kraut, beer, Fredbird and the spray-tan bunnies....we had a blast. Let me also note that this will be the night when we learned Glen "once had an addiction to Marie Callendar strawberry pies." And we still love you, Glenny.




watching a flying hot dog


with the bling


sambaing up the steps after the game

lafayette square

This is just one of the many reasons why I love Saint Louis so much. Lafayette Square has so much to offer when it comes to dining: SqWires, Vin de Set, Baileys' Chocolate Bar, 1111 Mississippi, Square One Brewery :and it is set in the midst of a gorgeous historical district. One day I found this awesome playground tucked into the middle of the park in the very center of Lafayette Square. There is actually another playground right behind this colorful one that is geared toward older children. It's a really peaceful place to play and a nice change from all the regular playgrounds we frequent.

afternoon sun

biking to her liking

saturday morning sass

rainy day thursday

don't cry over it

Well, this is how my Thursday started. As I was unloading the Oberweis delivery Lucy crawled over to see what was going on. Before I knew it, she had grabbed on to a bottle and as it hit the ground, the glass splintered and milk went flying everywhere. Lucy was quite fortunate to not get hurt, but Huntleigh cried like there was no tomorrow, and she wasn't even hurt. She is a little girl who really loves her milk.

"verde."

34 months and 8 months

mmm...my children. how i love you both!