More Visitors

Our next visitors in May were Luke's Grandpa Al and his Uncle Paul, who live in the Seattle area. They managed to see quite a lot of St. Louis during their stay!

Here they are with Katie and her friend Chloe, hiking in Powder Valley.

They joined us at Katie's closing preschool program, where she sang so well with her friends!

Alex and Katie at the Missouri Botanical Gardens

also at the gardens

Alex, Luke, and Great-Grandpa

Great-Grandpa trying his hand at the tile saw!

Visitors, Baby News, Home Improvement Projects!

May proved to be one of the crazier, busier months of our lives, as we simultaneously hosted lots of loved ones and remodeled parts of our home. Ambitious, I know!

Oh, and on top of this . . . I don't think I've mentioned on this blog yet that we're expecting our 4th baby! That's right . . . another little girl is due to arrive September 20th.
We had so much fun with Lance (Luke's brother), Teisa, their daughters, Emie and Bayla, and Luke's sister, Lara:

Lance, Luke, Emie, and Katie--near the Gateway Arch

Bayla, Emie, and Katie at the zoo (Emie and Katie were born only 2 weeks apart!)

Emie, Katie, Lara, and Teisa at the zoo

Emie, Katie, Lara, and Alex at the Mississippi River near the Arch (Don't do it, Alex! Don't jump in!!)

Luke and Carrie in the construction zone

cute, cute cousins  :)

Luke salvaging the Mother's Day feast!

Carrie, Alex, and Lara on the tram at Grant's Farm

Adults' dinner out at Favazza's on The Hill (yum!)

Alex and Emie at the park

silly princess cousins

Lance and Emie joined us at Abby's first-grade play, "Arf!", where she was an adorable dalmation.

Even Lara got roped into helping her brothers with the destruction. (We'll post "before" and "after" pictures when we finally get to the "after" stage! We're still plugging away . . . )

I can't believe how much we packed into just a few days. It was awesome to see everyone!!

Easter 2011

The Easter Bunny came through again.  :)  This year she sneaked Squinkies into many of the hidden eggs (shown here by Katie). Is anyone else caught up in the fad of these tiny, squishy characters?

We went to an egg hunt at a local park that was rained out and moved to the gym of the nearby recreation center. The kids loved it anyway! (And when they told us, "You're the last group, so find the rest of the eggs," . . . Abby sure took them at their word. She made quite a haul!)

Abby's Birthday

OK, so Abby's birthday was in mid-April, but I've got to start somewhere with catching up the blog! (It's been a rather crazy spring.)

Abby turned 7 years-old!!

She had fun celebrating with some friends from school and church. (It was a high-energy bunch, for sure!)

Here's Luke manning the pinata . . .

 . . . and Abby showing the cute "Pin the Tail on the Mouse Critter" game that she made by herself.

The best part of Abby's birthday was sharing it with GRANNIE! Their birthdays are a day apart, so we celebrated them together. Mom stayed for a few days and planted an abundance of gorgeous flowers for us:

(I don't know how I ended up with so many more pictures of the flowers than of Grannie. I think we were too busy having fun and digging in the dirt to think about the camera.) It was SO fun to have her visit us!!

Our Spring Break

Spring break last week wasn't very . . . well . . . spring-y. In fact, it started off with a blizzard, so we spent much of the week just relaxing at home. This little Easter craft project kept everyone busy for quite a while (notice all the un-spring-y snow through the window):


Abby's masterpiece . . .


. . . and Katie's . . .


. . . and Mom's.

(When I was little, I used to spend hours making little creatures out of pom-poms, often with help from my mom. I called them "cucuns." I guess now I'm passing along the fettish to the next generation!)

Katie looking oh-so snuggly in her bed created from couch cushions (building things out of the cushions is a popular pastime around here).

Alex at his train-watching post (you can just barely see the train tracks from this window). He gets so excited when he hears that whistle.

We did venture out to the library, the children's museum, and a playdate with friends . . . but overall, it was a week of sleeping in and laying low. No homework to check, lunches to pack, or buses to meet. Sometimes that's exactly what you need!