Update on Hannah

Our little Hannah Jo is growing too fast! She will be 11 months old in three days. Hannah has changed so much since her 9 month blog post. She has 4 teeth with another pair about to break through. She stated slithering or army crawling around the house a little over a month ago and has been crawling on her hands and knees for almost a week now. She is all over the house! She can pull up onto things and loves to cruise along furniture. She can push her walker real well too. I think she will be walking by her 1st birthday.

Hannah still loves to snuggle and is full of infectious smiles. She loves her brother and sister. They make her laugh and grin. She is still an awesome sleeper and now enjoys a variety of food. Our little Hannah is growing up!

Peter's Birthday Party

We decided to do a little party for Peter. We felt it was a good opportunity to get our friends from various circles together. It was a beautiful day at the Park. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather. Here are some pictures of the fun:

Peter's 4th Birthday

Let me just start by saying... I can't believe Peter is 4! He is such a big boy. He is independent, smart, funny, clever, but still loves to snuggle. We love our Peter Allen! He is such a blessing and joy to have in our family.

Monday, June 9th was Peter's birthday. And boy did we have fun! We started the day off with some strawberry pancakes with Nutella on top. Yummm! Then daddy went off to a meeting :( and we got ready for our fun day. 

The day before, I gave Peter a few options of special places we could go on his birthday and he chose the Discovery Center! We love that place! The kids all had a blast! Even little Hannah. :)

Then we came home had a delicious lunch with dad and the kids went down for naps. Except, Peter was too excited! I made the mistake of telling him we had another present for him that he could open after his nap. He got way to into it. He couldn't sleep and even tried to guess what it was. We let him come out and play with us but told him he needed to wait till Evelyn woke up because the present was in where she was sleeping. Peter did real well waiting. And he kept telling us, "Thank you," for the little helicopter he opened that morning.

When Evelyn woke up we grabbed the present and snuck it into the garage. We had prepared a scavenger hunt for him to find his present. When Peter opened the giftbag and saw only an index card with a picture drawn on it, he has a little disapointed. He had worked himself up for something grand and the index card just didn't cut it. He didn't cry but he was on the verge. I quickly explained that we needed to look for all the clues and then we will find his present at the end of the hunt. He smiled and ran from clue to clue until we landed in the garage where he found his new bike! He is a quick learner. It is fun to see him build confidence in himself as he works hard at learning new things.

The bike provided entertainment till dinner and then we had a fun birthday cake. I showed Peter different pictures of cakes that I thought I could recreate and he choose the basketball cake. (Made me happy! I love basketball. We will let Peter choose what he is interested in and what sports, if any, he wants to pursue, but I sure love the game of basketball!). The cake looked alright and tasted delicious! Score for Peter!

Stats for our big boy:

Weight: 37lbs. 4oz. in the 65%

Length: 42.5in. in the 95%

He is tall and lean. Runs in the family... I think he will be taller than his dad someday :)

A Trip to St. Louis

David only gets one week off this summer, his week off was 2 weeks ago... so this post is a little over due. Anyway, we decided to head to St. Louis during his week off! We had a blast! We stayed with David's Aunt Jana and Uncle Rod Thorley. They are amazing people with amazing kids! We sure love them. They showed us several St. Louis sites and introduced us to some good food.

The first afternoon we were there, they took us down to the arch. AMAZING! We took the little ride to the top and looked out the windows at the top of the arch. It truly is an incredible landmark. The museum was fun to poke around too. We tried some yummy salt water taffy there and then the Thorley's took us out to the best frozen custard ever! Ted Drew's = Delicious! It was there that Hannah had her first treat. Peter and Evelyn's first treat was their 1st birthday cake. But we caved a couple months early for Hannah... She kept grabbing at everyone's frozen custard. I guess I got a little soft and gave in to some peer pressure. ;)

View from the top.

View from the top.

The following day the Thorleys took us to the St. Louis Zoo and the sites adjacent to the zoo within Forest Park. After walking around the zoo, seeing tons of neat habitats and animals, and riding the train within the zoo... we headed to the World's Fair Pavilion for a picnic lunch. Before heading back for naps they drove us throughout Forest Park. There are so many things to see and do. You would have to stay for an entire month or more to see everything! Then, that night they introduced us to some amazing pizza! Wish I could remember the name of the company... So good! And we watched the spelling bee, who knew a spelling bee could be that intense and entertaining!

At the World Fair Pavillion. It was humid, but beautiful.

The next day we visited Grant's Farm. It was a neat place and free to the public! The zoo was free too... so many free, fun things to do in St. Louis! We went on a little informative tram ride throughout the Farm and then visited the various animals and watched an animal show. The show was cut short though... it began to rain. It started as a sprinkle and we were a little sad that they stopped the show for a sprinkle. But it grew into a downpoor! It didn't last too long and luckily we were already under shelter, but it sure made the remainder of our visit muggy. I believe it is more humid in St. Louis than here in Bolivar. I could be wrong, but it seemed that way to me. We fed the goats some milk and then we went back to the Thorley's for lunch and kids naps. Once the kids were down, they watched the kids so David and I could attend the St. Louis temple. It's always wonderful to visit the temple. :)

Our final morning there, we joined the Thorleys on their doughnut quest. They have a list of the top donut shops within St. Louis and they venture out to a new place on their list every Saturday and evaluate the donuts and the shop. Last time we visited we got to join in on the deliciousness too. :) We got our donuts and then headed to Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center. First, we ate our donuts then we headed inside the neat exploration center they have there. The center is another free place to visit. The kids loved it! There were trails and things to explore outside as well as the neat indoor center. I was like a miniatre of the Discovery Center in Springfield. Then we headed home. We had lots of fun and made many memories. We are grateful for family and the Thorley's willingness to take us into their home and show us around St. Louis. It was a great vacation!

Fun With Kids

Water Play! A fun, cheap way to stay cool and entertain kids for an extended period of time...

Tornado In  A Jar! I found this idea on Pinterest and had to give it a try. Peter got so excited and then it didn't work very well. It's just water in a jar with a little dish soap. The lady who blogged about the idea said it didn't matter how you shook the jar, just shake it and a tornado will appear. Well, I had to swirl the water. So, Peter couldn't make a tornado like I thought he was going to be able to... However, the kids still thought it was neat. But it didn't entertain them very long.

Body Paint! The kids loved this and would have painted all day if I let them. The pictures tell enough!