Meet the teacher

Lots to write about! The next few entries might be out of order but I need to start somewhere!

Last night was “Meet the teacher” night at Emily’s preschool. She was so excited that she barely ate dinner. She was ready to go meet her teachers, classmates and see her classroom before she starts school on Thursday.
There are 7 girls and 9 boys in her class so it’s a good mix. The kids got to explore the room and play. It was basically mass chaos but in a good way. It was interesting to see what toys the children gravitated towards. Many of the girls went for the dolls while the boys went for the trucks. Emily went for the blocks and building toys.
I think Emily is very ready to start school. We’ll see how Thursday goes. See if there are any tears on her or my part.

Mischievous little boy!

Now that Zachary is on the move- watch out!! He is into every thing! He finally figured out that he can leave his room so he is Zachary the Explorer. Emily is quickly learning that she needs to put up anything she doesn’t want him to put in his mouth. Or close her door. I guess we need to really reevaluate the baby proofing.

Good vs evil

Zachary definitely has an opinion!

He really had to work on choking down the avocados. Choking being the key word. He looks like a contestant on Fear Factor eating bugs. Trying really hard to keep it down. Not a hit.
Ice cream on the other hand….. He couldn’t get it fast enough. He must take after his mommy. I think he might be addicted after his first taste.

Elephants, Sea Lions, oh my!

Finally!!!!! We finally made it to the zoo! Taking real advantage of the membership that we have… ::eye roll:: By the time I got off the bench, aka crutches, it was so darn hot. Last week was great weather so Grandma, Emily, Zachary and I spent the day at the zoo. I wasn’t sure how long Zachary would make it but he did great! He lasted until after 1pm. We never get to see everything that we want to but there’s always next time. One of these days, we’ll make it to the Zoomagination Station! We did see the Sea Lion show for the first time. Well, I saw half of it before Zachary decided that it was lunchtime. Emily really enjoyed it though. I thought it was cute- the part that I saw.
Emily really enjoyed spending time outside and looking at all the animals. She made sure that we went to see the elephants first of course. Zachary couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about! He actually did manage to take two catnaps while we were there. I was pretty shocked!
It was a great day! I can’t wait to go back again- this time taking Stephen with us. He will really enjoy seeing the kids having a good time.

Zoo’d out

Meet Ellie #4

A dog’s day

I love that my daughter has a wonderful imagination. I somehow lost mine along the way. It’s probably hiding out with my creativity. Wonder if I’ll find it as my kids grow up??

Last week we celebrated Frenchy’s birthday. For about 3 days. Frenchy is her stuffed dog that she got for her birthday. She LOVES that dog! If you have ever read Fancy Nancy, you know who I am talking about.

For Frenchy’s birthday, I made bones out of plastic bags for gifts and a cake out of tissue paper and ribbons. We put up a happy birthday sign and decorated. Emily told everyone she saw that it was Frenchy’s birthday. It was super cute!

I love it!

Creepy

Creepy McDonalds toys. Madame Alexander dolls. This one is called the “Mad Hatter”. It’s eyes open and close.

Anniversary trip

Stephen and I were lucky to have a night away for our anniversary. My mother-in-law graciously watched the kids while we went to a bed and breakfast in Hermann. It was nice to have the day to ourselves, not worrying about nap times, diapers or snacks. We could do things when we wanted and what we wanted. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my kids but the adult time was FABULOUS!!!

We visited a couple of wineries before we checked into our room at the Schiller Guest Suites.  The inn keepers were fabulous! Very nice people who were very accommodating to our requests. The Guest Suites are located above a bar, The Bank. I wasn’t really sure what to think about that but it turned out to be ok.  Upon checking in and learning that we were celebrating our anniversary, one of the inn keepers (they own the bar) gave us each a drink on the house. I had my first ever martini. Oh. my. Their Poma martini was delish! I could definitely down a few of those! After our drink, we were shown to our room. It was a very nice room, well decorated and spacious. One of the things that I was a little leery of was the fact that there were no televisions in the rooms. What the heck were we going to do in the evening?? Talk to each other or something?? The omission of a tv turned out to be a real blessing. We enjoyed each other’s company without having meaningless distractions.

After checking in, we decided to head over to Stone Hill Winery to check out the tour and have some dinner. The tour was really interesting. And, of course, there was wine at the end. A very good sampling I might add. We grabbed a bottle of their Golden Spumante and headed over to the Vintage Restaurant for dinner. The food was very delicious so it made up for the so-so service. We then enjoyed a trolley ride back to our bed and breakfast.

Hermann is a really nice, quaint little town. You can walk to quite a bit as well. After having some pie for dessert, we decided that we wanted to walk on the pedestrian path on their new bridge. The view was breathtaking. It was a beautiful night with the man who I love. After our walk, we decided to cap the evening off with another drink at The Bank. The place was rocking!! They had live music and was packed! Chocolate martini anyone? We were so tired that we fell asleep talking at 9:30!!  The music from the bar didn’t phase us in the least bit! We went to sleep early and woke up only when my sister sent me a text at 8am.

After church, we made the trip to Swiss Meats. TOTALLY worth the drive. If you are ever in the area, you must visit them. Totally worth the trip off the beaten path. They have something like 54 different types of bratwurst. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. After tasting their samples, we knew we couldn’t leave without buying some. Some being 8 packages! Seriously though, totally worth the trip.

Our vacation get away was rejuvenating. We love our family but feel it is really important to connect as a couple. You can’t be good parents if you aren’t on the same page and you don’t put effort into the marriage. We are truly blessed to have wonderful family that made this weekend possible. It was great to be away but it was super sweet getting back to our kids.

My family

Flowers from Stephen

View from the bridge

7 Years

Stephen and I celebrated our anniversary last week. 7 years on 8/9/10. Bought a lotto ticket…donated a buck to the state.

Can you ever forget the day you got married? Certainly not! It is one of the most special occasions in your life. The words “I do” hold special meaning. These two words bear the responsibility of a lifetime of togetherness.

It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages. I am blessed that I married my best friend. The past seven years have been great. We work through our differences and make it work. I love my husband more now than I do the day I met him. He has been there through the good times and the bad. Tears of sadness and tears of joy. It’s hard to believe that we have been married seven years..

One of the great illusions of our time is that love is self-sustaining. It is not. Love must be fed and nurtured, constantly renewed. That demands ingenuity and consideration, but first and foremost, it demands time.
— David Mace

Then

Now

Month 7

And the months keep flying by!

Zachary is definitely keeping us busy. The little man is always on the go! He has mastered crawling. He can get around zip around on his hands and knees. We are going to have to check the house for child proofing pretty soon. Right now he hasn’t discovered that he can leave his room but I am sure that will be right around the corner.
He can sit up pretty well. He was still kind of at an angle, using his arm to prop himself up but he is getting there. Jumping is one of his passions as well. Many times when he is on the floor playing, he will look up at the jumperoo longingly. Grandma and Papa lovingly call him “Tigger”. If you are holding him you better make sure you are prepared to bounce.

Total unofficial stats: (Sat him on the scale and laid him on the floor for length)
18.4lb
28.5 inches

Month 7 brought a family reunion, Grandma’s birthday, visits with family and the first time away from mommy and daddy overnight. Pretty busy month for a little guy!

Other exciting news for our little guy involves drool. He has been drooling like a fat boy drools at an ice cream store. We finally figured out why all of the wetness of a sudden. He has 2 teeth coming in!!! He has been in pretty good spirits considering. Happy little boy!

Personalize a free photo slideshow

Baby yoga

I think he has downward dog down pat…..