Winter in St. Louis

The kids have had no school for two days now due to some ice and mostly snow. Thankfully it isn't as bad here as it is for our friends to the east of us in NKY/Cincy. It's pretty to look at, but gets old quickly for me at least.

Boys night out... at the Rodeo!

Jeff and Jake had boys night out... while Michelle, Natalie and Maggie had a girls night out. Jeff took Jake to the rodeo of all places!! And, in true Jake fashion... he went with his cowboy hat and ended up coming home with a rope and is now interested in lassoing anything in sight. The girls and I went to see a movie... Marley & me and if you have not seen this movie and plan on going... take the tissues!! Needless to say, our dog Molly has gotten some major attention since we got home. A few pictures of Jake and getting caught up in his rope.

A Texas Christmas

This year we made the drive to Austin to spend Christmas with my family. We went through Kansas City for a Christmas dinner with Jeff's family and to drop off the dog. Oh... the joys (not really) of having a dog. We enjoyed our time with both families and the kids really enjoyed being with their cousins. Jeff and I even got away for a couple of days down to San Antonio and a HUGE thank you to my family for keeping the kids while we were down there. The kids all were happy with what was left under the tree but most especially, just being together. We hope everyone enjoyed the holidays with family and friends and have a blessed upcoming 2009. **Lots more pictures in the Texas Xmas '08 link**

Krysta's Day!!

Hmmm... where have the last 19 years gone? Happy Birthday Krysta!! Hope it's a great year for you. :)

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a nice Thanksgiving weekend with Krysta being in town. Some of Jeff's family was also able to be with us on Turkey Day and we enjoyed lots of food, playing games and just being together. We woke up to our first St. Louis snow on Sunday morning and Jake was thrilled to be able to go out and play in it. We hope all of our friends and family had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Happy Birthday Jake!!

I don't remember any of my girls being as excited as Jake is to turn 5. In his mind, for some reason that I don't know, this is a big one!! For the last couple of days he keeps saying, "I can't believe I will be 5!" So... first thing this morning the words out of his mouth were, "Mommy... I'm 5 today!" And he has proceeded to tell that to anyone who he is in contact with. Yes, my baby is 5 years old today. It makes me a little sad to see him growing up. We had his birthday party over the weekend with a pirate theme. We had a treasure hunt that included walking the plank, pin the patch on the pirate, crawling through a tunnel, treasure toss game, jumping in a bouncy house and then finally finding the treasure which was a pinata. Overall it went well but I'm glad it is over. Happy 5th Birthday Jake! We love you.

Let this be a lesson...

Well, I have finally gotten a treadmill... and of course, right away... there is an injury. When mom's away... the children will play. Jake, under Natalie's supervision, decided he wanted to go faster and Natalie thought, or actually really didn't, okay!! So... she proceeds to push the speed up and even though I did not witness it, Jake fell flat and went flying! It really could have have been much worse, but I did not think the crying would ever stop.