Silly girl.
Monday, August 31, 2009
breakfast time
Just take a wild guess as to what word is coming out of her mouth in this picture.....
Silly girl.
Silly girl.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
august fun
We are seriously almost in September. Where has the summer gone?! It was fun while it lasted and the weather was even more amazing than I could have ever imagined. Here's a small sum-up of what we've been doing:
Huntleigh participated in a week long music camp at our church and this was her last night during her special performance. Please notice her enthusiasm.
We went peach picking with our good friend Audrey and her two nephews (Justin and Jesser jr) at a new little family farm in Illinois. Here Hunts is with Justin, discussing the "pickability" of the peaches. Yummy. Loved those fresh peaches.
Audrey and Lucy, the handfed child.
My mom saved some of her favorite outfits that I wore when I was little and I have dressed Lucy in the them from time to time. Here she is sporting a sweet dress with her Yia Yia.
My mom and I took the kiddos to the downtown Citygarden one beautiful morning. The Citygarden is one of those new treasures of Saint Louis which is free for everyone and especially fun for young kiddos. There's art to run amongst, water fountains and wading pools to splash around in, and plenty of people-watching for everyone. We had a great time. Bring a bathing suit. The girls loved the water most of all.
Huntleigh be nimble, Huntleigh be quick....
After the Citygarden, we took a little walk down memory lane and went to the Spaghetti Factory for lunch. It's a perfect restaurant for families. The girls loved it, especially the free spumoni ice cream after the meal.
Lucy, with her little face buried in the spumoni bowl.
I turned 32 a couple weeks ago and it was a fun week of celebration. This was one of those celebratory nights when I went out with a few girlfriends from my church. It's always a good time when there's chocolate and martinis involved. Or just chocolate martinis. Thanks to my friend Katie who put the whole evening together!
Huntleigh participated in a week long music camp at our church and this was her last night during her special performance. Please notice her enthusiasm.
We went peach picking with our good friend Audrey and her two nephews (Justin and Jesser jr) at a new little family farm in Illinois. Here Hunts is with Justin, discussing the "pickability" of the peaches. Yummy. Loved those fresh peaches.
Audrey and Lucy, the handfed child.
My mom saved some of her favorite outfits that I wore when I was little and I have dressed Lucy in the them from time to time. Here she is sporting a sweet dress with her Yia Yia.
My mom and I took the kiddos to the downtown Citygarden one beautiful morning. The Citygarden is one of those new treasures of Saint Louis which is free for everyone and especially fun for young kiddos. There's art to run amongst, water fountains and wading pools to splash around in, and plenty of people-watching for everyone. We had a great time. Bring a bathing suit. The girls loved the water most of all.
Huntleigh be nimble, Huntleigh be quick....
After the Citygarden, we took a little walk down memory lane and went to the Spaghetti Factory for lunch. It's a perfect restaurant for families. The girls loved it, especially the free spumoni ice cream after the meal.
Lucy, with her little face buried in the spumoni bowl.
I turned 32 a couple weeks ago and it was a fun week of celebration. This was one of those celebratory nights when I went out with a few girlfriends from my church. It's always a good time when there's chocolate and martinis involved. Or just chocolate martinis. Thanks to my friend Katie who put the whole evening together!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
lucy, nineteen months
This is definitely my second child. Just some facts about this one:
1. Her favorite word right now is "No." It comes in handy in various and sundry situations for her. As in, "No, Huntleigh, get away from me," or "No, I don't want to eat meat," or "No, I am not going to obey you," or "No, I'm teasing you," or "No, I don't like that." With differing inflection and decibel level, it means different things. As her mother, I have the privilege of deciphering which "no" it is. This is usually quite easy for me. Go figure.
2. She has a fierce independent streak. Much more than my first child. I find this fascinating, especially since she is also my snuggly child. I suppose these two character traits can simultaneously exist, as I see that they do in Lucy. It just surprises me sometimes. I love all the snuggling.
3. She doesn't sleep in her bedroom with Huntleigh. I am somewhat proud/somewhat ashamed to admit that she still sleeps in her pack n' play in the corner of the guest bedroom. She loves her space. She will sometimes joyfully run to it when we say "ni-ni." Someone in my life likes to (often) give me guilt trips about how I am ruining my child (I will not name names) and I like to just shovel the guilt right back. I like to think she's adaptable, because she is. And we all sleep great. That's what really matters, right?
4. She has subsisted on a (mostly) liquid & carb diet for some time, now. For awhile the only thing she ate was crackers. That was about a four month period. It has been a battle to get protein in her diet other than through milk. Josh has been the one to battle this out with her, as I wasn't willing to deal with the stress of it. He was successful, because now she will eat chicken without crying, but only if we put it in her mouth for her. She loves yogurt, too.
5. She is our family ham. She often provides comic relief.
6. She's really laid back about things, but has the will of a Missouri mule. Her tenacity is incredible.
7. Being the younger one, she has taken a beating from her older sister her entire life. But she's tough and I love that. Huntleigh can dish it out, but she's not so often tough.
8. When Lucy says "more" it really sounds like "Mao?" and for awhile there we responded to her with "Zedong?" but she didn't get it. She still says, "Mao?" It's super cute. I'm going to miss it when she outgrows it.
9. We sure love this kiddo.
1. Her favorite word right now is "No." It comes in handy in various and sundry situations for her. As in, "No, Huntleigh, get away from me," or "No, I don't want to eat meat," or "No, I am not going to obey you," or "No, I'm teasing you," or "No, I don't like that." With differing inflection and decibel level, it means different things. As her mother, I have the privilege of deciphering which "no" it is. This is usually quite easy for me. Go figure.
2. She has a fierce independent streak. Much more than my first child. I find this fascinating, especially since she is also my snuggly child. I suppose these two character traits can simultaneously exist, as I see that they do in Lucy. It just surprises me sometimes. I love all the snuggling.
3. She doesn't sleep in her bedroom with Huntleigh. I am somewhat proud/somewhat ashamed to admit that she still sleeps in her pack n' play in the corner of the guest bedroom. She loves her space. She will sometimes joyfully run to it when we say "ni-ni." Someone in my life likes to (often) give me guilt trips about how I am ruining my child (I will not name names) and I like to just shovel the guilt right back. I like to think she's adaptable, because she is. And we all sleep great. That's what really matters, right?
4. She has subsisted on a (mostly) liquid & carb diet for some time, now. For awhile the only thing she ate was crackers. That was about a four month period. It has been a battle to get protein in her diet other than through milk. Josh has been the one to battle this out with her, as I wasn't willing to deal with the stress of it. He was successful, because now she will eat chicken without crying, but only if we put it in her mouth for her. She loves yogurt, too.
5. She is our family ham. She often provides comic relief.
6. She's really laid back about things, but has the will of a Missouri mule. Her tenacity is incredible.
7. Being the younger one, she has taken a beating from her older sister her entire life. But she's tough and I love that. Huntleigh can dish it out, but she's not so often tough.
8. When Lucy says "more" it really sounds like "Mao?" and for awhile there we responded to her with "Zedong?" but she didn't get it. She still says, "Mao?" It's super cute. I'm going to miss it when she outgrows it.
9. We sure love this kiddo.
Monday, August 17, 2009
here it is.
This is it. The playroom. I love it. As I was uploading these pictures, I was reminded of all the time I spent this year pouring myself into designing it. This playroom is one of my favorite projects that I have ever created. I can still remember when Josh and I walked through this house for the very first time in March of 2005. I was about 8 weeks pregnant with Hunts and when I poked my head up through the door to the attic, I told Josh that the space would someday be a great playroom. Here we are, 4 years later, and that dream has become a reality. A most practical and exciting reality, I must say. It is such a stress reliever that the toys are no longer all.over.the.house. They have a home. And it is on the third floor.
Here's the overall view of the room, from south to north. The room gets a ton of natural light, which is, I think, one of the best features about the playroom.
Remember my chairs from Ikea? Well, this is what they became. I have the most amazing upholsterer, Harold, who comes directly to my door, picks up my furniture, and returns it to my door in one week or less. These are beauties. I love how Harold can take any fabric you give him and stretch it over any shape of canvas and produce an amazing product like this. Thank you, Ikea, for making this project incredibly affordable.
I bought a few of these frames from Ikea, spray-painted the mattes, took a couple of my favorites of Huntleigh's drawings that I've been saving and one of Lucy Walker's and made some fun art out of them. I love how the assortment looks, which includes a painting that Josh's sister did for Huntleigh's first birthday.
We wanted to utilize the west side of the room as efficiently as possible, so we created some built-in shelves to accommodate all these bins I got from Ikea. My brother-in-law, Bill, built these to fit 32 buckets to hide all the toys. I loved this part of the project. I'm all about hiding stuff in an organized way. We added the dentil trim to give the shelves a bit of fun texture. That little support in front of the shelves had to stay there, so we thought it would be fun to create a little "window" in between the supports with a ledge for imaginative play. Huntleigh loves making use of the little window. I totally owe that idea to my friend Mary Ellen.
I spent hours on the labels for these buckets. And I mean, hours. I loved every minute of it, but I used a lot of quiet time to think through all the toys we have and to come up with custom labels for all of them. And then when the labels arrived, I spent a ton of nap times sticking the labels to the bins so that the kids wouldn't know they are actually just stickers. This was one of the most time-consuming projects of the whole room, but the result was completely worth it.
The project corner. Their little table fits just perfectly into this space. The paper roll was another thing I spent a bunch of time on, thinking how to best incorporate it.
The alphabet, up close. These make the best border for any child's room, whether a playroom or a bedroom. I had to bring these back up into the new playroom. They were the border in our old playroom, as well.
This bookshelf is another one of those well-utilized spaces in the playroom. It was good empty space put to use and it gives me a place to put all of the board books that I used to have on Huntleigh's windowsill.
Another treasure from Ikea. Huntleigh used to call this "the shower," but lately she's been calling it a tent. If you look behind the tent, you can see the window seat. We use the window seat all the time. It's become a favorite napping spot in the house.
This is just the view heading down the stairs to the 2nd floor. The original color I chose for the room was a light gray, but upon seeing the whole room painted in that color, I had was sorely disappointed and so I opted for a more friendly and uplifting blue. It has proved to be such a better choice than the gray. I was afraid to pick a color that could be a bridge between children and adults, but this blue has done that trick. It's a superb blue.
Overall, I had a great team of people who helped me pull off the vision of this room. My husband was awesome throughout the whole project, and has taught me a great deal about patience. My brother-in-law was an excellent listener as he heard my thoughts and applied them as he built this room for his nieces. Mary Ellen, who gave me her time and expertise when it came to giving me insight with all of my design questions. Audrey, who made a special trip to Ikea on her vacation in Phoenix because she knew I needed more red bins! My painter, Aaron, was also patient as he spent hours painting layer after layer of that bright white for all the trim. And he graciously accepted the fact that I hated the gray after he painted every single wall in the room with it. Excellent work, Aaron. I hope everyone who enjoys this room is blessed by it. I am so thankful for it.
Here's the overall view of the room, from south to north. The room gets a ton of natural light, which is, I think, one of the best features about the playroom.
Remember my chairs from Ikea? Well, this is what they became. I have the most amazing upholsterer, Harold, who comes directly to my door, picks up my furniture, and returns it to my door in one week or less. These are beauties. I love how Harold can take any fabric you give him and stretch it over any shape of canvas and produce an amazing product like this. Thank you, Ikea, for making this project incredibly affordable.
I bought a few of these frames from Ikea, spray-painted the mattes, took a couple of my favorites of Huntleigh's drawings that I've been saving and one of Lucy Walker's and made some fun art out of them. I love how the assortment looks, which includes a painting that Josh's sister did for Huntleigh's first birthday.
We wanted to utilize the west side of the room as efficiently as possible, so we created some built-in shelves to accommodate all these bins I got from Ikea. My brother-in-law, Bill, built these to fit 32 buckets to hide all the toys. I loved this part of the project. I'm all about hiding stuff in an organized way. We added the dentil trim to give the shelves a bit of fun texture. That little support in front of the shelves had to stay there, so we thought it would be fun to create a little "window" in between the supports with a ledge for imaginative play. Huntleigh loves making use of the little window. I totally owe that idea to my friend Mary Ellen.
I spent hours on the labels for these buckets. And I mean, hours. I loved every minute of it, but I used a lot of quiet time to think through all the toys we have and to come up with custom labels for all of them. And then when the labels arrived, I spent a ton of nap times sticking the labels to the bins so that the kids wouldn't know they are actually just stickers. This was one of the most time-consuming projects of the whole room, but the result was completely worth it.
The project corner. Their little table fits just perfectly into this space. The paper roll was another thing I spent a bunch of time on, thinking how to best incorporate it.
The alphabet, up close. These make the best border for any child's room, whether a playroom or a bedroom. I had to bring these back up into the new playroom. They were the border in our old playroom, as well.
This bookshelf is another one of those well-utilized spaces in the playroom. It was good empty space put to use and it gives me a place to put all of the board books that I used to have on Huntleigh's windowsill.
Another treasure from Ikea. Huntleigh used to call this "the shower," but lately she's been calling it a tent. If you look behind the tent, you can see the window seat. We use the window seat all the time. It's become a favorite napping spot in the house.
This is just the view heading down the stairs to the 2nd floor. The original color I chose for the room was a light gray, but upon seeing the whole room painted in that color, I had was sorely disappointed and so I opted for a more friendly and uplifting blue. It has proved to be such a better choice than the gray. I was afraid to pick a color that could be a bridge between children and adults, but this blue has done that trick. It's a superb blue.
Overall, I had a great team of people who helped me pull off the vision of this room. My husband was awesome throughout the whole project, and has taught me a great deal about patience. My brother-in-law was an excellent listener as he heard my thoughts and applied them as he built this room for his nieces. Mary Ellen, who gave me her time and expertise when it came to giving me insight with all of my design questions. Audrey, who made a special trip to Ikea on her vacation in Phoenix because she knew I needed more red bins! My painter, Aaron, was also patient as he spent hours painting layer after layer of that bright white for all the trim. And he graciously accepted the fact that I hated the gray after he painted every single wall in the room with it. Excellent work, Aaron. I hope everyone who enjoys this room is blessed by it. I am so thankful for it.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
summer water fun
We've been spending a lot of time around water lately, indoor, outdoor, in the city, at our house....water and kids is such a great combination. They love it, I love it, they sleep well: everyone's happy. Since we do not live near any beautiful natural water other than our own muddy Mississippi, we like to seek out non-muddy man-made options in fun parks around the city.
Here we are at the Children's Zoo. We went to the zoo with every other person in Missouri (and Illinois) one Sunday afternoon, and we ducked into the the children's zoo for some quiet....we played there for over an hour.
And then at Tower Grove Park, a few days later. I love my water babies.
Here we are at the Children's Zoo. We went to the zoo with every other person in Missouri (and Illinois) one Sunday afternoon, and we ducked into the the children's zoo for some quiet....we played there for over an hour.
And then at Tower Grove Park, a few days later. I love my water babies.
Friday, August 07, 2009
july
So here we are a week into August. Where has the summer gone? July just breezed by....it was so busy for us. Here's Lucy and my brother hanging out on a lazy summer afternoon. Scott's been helping me with some of my decorating projects, which I'll be posting pictures of soon....
We took a short road trip to Kansas City with our good friends, the Woitas, for just a quick overnight and our friend Clarke came from Omaha to join us. The Suburban was happy to be on the open (midwestern) road. It's always good to get a night away from the kiddos and they're just so awesome to come home to.
Here's our friend, Glen, proving that he does eat fast food. And trust me, there was nothing grilled about that meal.
The boys (Glen, Clarke and Josh) at the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning
I had Josh go "off-roading" with my vehicle into a small field of overgrown grass just so I could get these shots of the five of us in front of this cool brick wall. It was worth it.
My hubs. I love him so. We're seven now.
We ended the weekend at this great Jazz Bistro with an excellent outdoor meal. Fun times. My husband, the pirate.
We took a short road trip to Kansas City with our good friends, the Woitas, for just a quick overnight and our friend Clarke came from Omaha to join us. The Suburban was happy to be on the open (midwestern) road. It's always good to get a night away from the kiddos and they're just so awesome to come home to.
Here's our friend, Glen, proving that he does eat fast food. And trust me, there was nothing grilled about that meal.
The boys (Glen, Clarke and Josh) at the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning
I had Josh go "off-roading" with my vehicle into a small field of overgrown grass just so I could get these shots of the five of us in front of this cool brick wall. It was worth it.
My hubs. I love him so. We're seven now.
We ended the weekend at this great Jazz Bistro with an excellent outdoor meal. Fun times. My husband, the pirate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)