First Ozark Condo Trip

My parents just bought a condo at the Lake of the Ozarks. This weekend we all went down to help "setup" and hang at the new place. Krista, Brian and the kids came on Thursday morning. Mom and I picked up the kids from school at 1 and headed down. The Jeffs drove down in a UHaul and Amy and Mat followed late Friday night. (Beth had to miss the fun weekend for some event at the studio). Thursday night was INTERESTING because we slept on air mattresses since the beds hadn't been delivered yet! Try doing THAT with four little children!!! I might have slept for 2 hours. Needless to say, we were SUPER excited day two when the furniture store arrived and then our guys and the UHaul later that night!

Uncle Jeff and Julia have a BLAST at the pool.

Mat, Lucas (sleeping in his seat), Dad and Brian chill poolside.

Ryan thinks he is super-cool getting to help the guys assemble his new bunk bed!

Looks like glamma is totally wasted and Amy and Krista are holding her up, doesn't it? And this was taken the night BEFORE we went to Uncle Harry's party!

Amy, Jeff, Ty, Krista, Julia and Glamma having fun. The kids were so entertained just putting water back and forth from container to container.

1st Day of Kid's First

Our angels ready to head to school! I have looked SO forward to this day, yet I am a bit sad too!! School starts at 9:30, and we are, of course, 5 minutes late. Now I know why moms drop their kids off at school in their pjs with rollers in their hair! =) Despite the fact I woke up early enough to shower before they were up, it is still a challenge to get us all dressed, lunches packed, missing shoes found, blankies in hand, Ry using the potty, etc!!

Julia and her teacher, Mrs. Gwen, who reported Julia was quiet today at class, but seemed to really enjoy playing and she ate all her lunch. (Not a big shock there!)

Ryan was SUPER EXCITED to go to school today. He ran in ahead of me and shared a laugh with Izzy O'Day and then turned to tickle his friend Derek. I was sad his friends Charlie Pfund, Tyler Dycus and Peter Underwood aren't in his class this year, but he seems to already be adjusting just fine and making new friends.

Ry is like "Ok, Mom! Let's get this photo over so I can play!!" Derek goes to Metro also, so Ry and he have spent some time together at church this summer and haven't seemed to miss a beat!

Julia just chillin' waiting for me to come and pick her up! We all survived "Day 1" although there were SEVERAL times this am I had a minor panic attack of "where is Julia!?". It might take a little getting used to not having her around like last year!!!

Monday

Today we went to Drost Park with our Mom&Me group. Ry had a great time running around on the playground with his friend Michael Carribean, and Julia on the swings watching all the kids play. We came home to have some lunch, and Grandma and Grandpa Schuette stopped in to visit. Ryan had a complete meltdown when Julia took one of his trains off the table, and I thought for SURE he'd take a nap, but I just couldn't get him to sleep after they left. Think those golden naptimes are a thing of our past for Ry-guy! I am still unable to accept this new reality...Grrrr!Julia and Grandma bond over a bowl of watermelon. They look a bit alike, don't they!?

And the princess keeps a close eye on our dinner!

Our Naked Dog Ryan

Our little boy LOVES to take off his clothes. We went to a party this afternoon for Alex's (on of his favorite babysitters!) baptism. Anyways, I looked up and he was running around in his underwear. (I was pleasantly surprised he had at least kept those on!)

Now we are home and he has just restripped his clothes off and walked out on the back porch. I made him come inside, and he says to me, "But Mommy, Katy doesn't wear any clothes!" I reply, "Because she is a DOG!" he says, "I'm a dog too, Mommy!" And he has been on all fours barking ever since.

Saturday

We've had a fun Saturday. Jeff had leadership training at Metro this am, so the kids and I just bummed around for a bit here. Julia LOVES running around with her blanket over her head. I am just waiting for her to run into furniture, a wall, her brother or something like this. She laughs HYSTERICAL though when she does this, and somehow this makes me overlook the safety issue of her running around this way!
When Jeff returned from his meeting, we went to the Y and rented a court. For the record, I beat him. 6-3. A good match, for sure. I guess in all fairness, I should mention that I have been playing this summer, and he is rusty...so I am certain I won't continue as reining champion too much longer, so I might as well take advantage of this brief, but sweet victorious time when I can razz him about winning. =) (And I hope anyone reading this does also!!)

After our Y visit, we headed to Old Navy..our first time visiting the Edwardsville location. It was an absolute MADHOUSE. I don't think we'll go back on a weekend when they are running a sale again! So we then headed to get MacD's for the kids, and brought that to Qudoba where we ate lunch and then came home for naptime...and BOTH kids napped for the first time in AGES! It was awesome having the afternoon to actually get some stuff done! The house has been driving me crazy lately. Just feeling like we haven't done a good "deep clean" in way way too long. So during naptime Jeff went out back and worked on building a new retaining wall under the deck and I took all the furniture out of the family room and cleaned all the baseboards and stuff that I don't ever get around to on a weekly basis preping it for a good steam clean vacuum. When the kids woke up, they thought it was GREAT fun to run around the newly emptied room with the Olympians who were also running. (see the television).

After a train playing playdate across the street, we came home and had dinner out on the deck. Then we decorated our driveway with sidewalk chalk. Ryan requested drawings of airplanes and school buses (shocked train was NOT on his list for once!) and then we headed to the Dairy Haven to get ice cream. We called Uncle Jeff and Aunt Amy on our way since they live so close, and were happily surprised when they were home and able to come meet us!

When we pulled up, Jeff opened the door, and we all think Julia said "Hi, Jeff!" Our baby is growing up!!!

Playing in the Rain

Today Ry got the opportunity to play in the rain TWICE! During Julia's naptime, I decided we should clean out the garage, so I pulled most everything out in the driveway and Ry was playing around out there while I was sweeping out the garage floor.
All of a sudden Ry is yelling, "Hurry, Mommy! It's raining! Our strollers are getting wet!" So he and I rushed to bring it all back inside during this (no kidding!) downpour. Then he wanted his Cars umbrella so he could go out and stand in the rain, and I figured I might as well let him. (Grandma, if you are reading this: it is a MYTH you can catch a cold by being out in the rain!)Then when Jeff got home from work I was on the riding mower cutting the grass, and Jeff was in the backyard playing with the kids. All of a sudden it started a total downpour. Absolutely no sprinkling warning, just immediate HARD RAIN! I didn't even drive the mower into the garage- just turned it off and RAN for the house. Jeff grabbed Julia, but Ryan didn't follow. Instead he climbed up into his playhouse. He was great up there for a bit, but after a few minutes he was hollering for us to "save" him. Jeff was voted for that job!

Happy 1 1/2 Julia!

It was an awesome day to head to Drost Park in Maryville to celebrate Julia's 1/2 birthday. Thank goodness Glamma remembers these days, because as I think I've mentioned before, I can hardly keep up with the solid years! Oh well...we love an excuse for a party, so we go along with it! =)Our guest of honor with her new baby doll from Glamma and Papa. I have a feeling that Papa had nothing to do with this purchase. =)

Ok, look how BIG our Ryan is getting!!!

Amy was able to swing by the celebration between appointments, horray! Aunt Krista is able to get Tyler to hold still long enough for a quick pic!

Grandma Harrison was feeling well today, so mom picked her up on the way to the park. She'd been wanting to go to the park with the kids, so it worked out perfectly!

Despite the fact you can't tell by her expression here, Julia LOVES to swing!

Tyler, Julia, Glamma and Ry prepare to open Julia's 1/2 present. Ry can hardly contain himself!

Baby sister opens, with a little help from big brother. =)

Julia absolutely ADORES baby Lucas. She is always trying to rock his seat and give him kisses!

And mommy is always trying to kiss the birthday girl!

Ry zooms down one of the slides.

Tuesday at the Park

We had a fun morning enjoying this great weather with a little impromptu playdate at Glik Park, which Ryan calls "Grandma's park" since it is so close to their house. I had been promising to take the kids there because I think Ry has missed going these last few months. While we were getting ready to go, Jamie and Trina called, and it worked out perfectly that we had some company for the park!Ryan with his friends Josie and Izzy O'Day. They all made it (alive!) to the top of the climbing wall. Grandma..could he do this since you left town?!? I was shocked!!

This, folks, is better than the electricity ball at The Magic House! =)

PB&J is practically a requirement of any park visit! The kids enjoy their gourmet lunch.

Julia practicing her independence. She talks a mile a minute, but still doesn't get too far too fast...

Nicolas and Lexi made it to the last part of our visit too!

Our Rockstar

rIt is currently Ryan's "quiet time" where he stays in his room for 40 minutes looking through books and being quiet so he doesn't wake baby sister from her nap. Well, I keep hearing noise coming from up there and I opened the door to tell him to keep it down, and find him standing on his bed singing and dancing with a maraca as his microphone. It took all I had to not bust out laughing it was so darn cute! For sure a moment I wish I had the camera!!!

Monday

Welcome home to us! It's been a fun Monday so far...I think these little out of town trips without the kids sure do help! We woke up this morning and the kids played so great together while I started up the laundry. We made eggs, and Julia and I had that (Ry doesn't eat eggs...was hoping it was just a phase, but it's lasting long enough I think he might not really like them!) and Ry had cereal. Then we went for about a mile walk around the neighborhood. I pushed Julia in the jogger, and Ryan pushed his little US Postal Service vehicle/car in the play baby stroller of Julia's. (Guess this is the difference between boys and girls? Julia pushes dolls around in her stroller, and Ryan loads it up with vehicles. hehe!)When we came home from our walk, we noticed our bird feeder was getting low on seed, so we filled it back up. Ry is checking it saying to me "Yup, there is seed in there, Mommy!"

Then we came inside and Ry played on the computer while Julia ate lunch (Ry insisted he wasn't hungry!) After that, I pulled out the coloring bin for the kids and Julia made a lovely (yes, I admit that is a very very biased opinion) marker drawing and Ry colored an apple coloring page his new teacher sent home from Open House last week and asked them to return on the first day of school.

I noticed the newspaper had a coloring contest, which Ry thus far has had total disinterest in coloring, but today he was easily convinced!

Look at this potential winner!!!

Here is a crazy story from last night:
We get home from youth, get the kids to bed, and I am shockingly not ready to drop over from fatigue. (Maybe we should go out of town every weekend! hehe). Anyways, I decide to use this opportunity to run to Walmart and get the rest of the things on the kids school supply lists. TWO HOURS later, I still was not home. I checked out at 11pm when they were closing, after feeling like I was playing a scavenger hunt trying to find the stuff. For those of you who haven't been in our local WalMart lately, maybe just stay away until they finish this current construction...NOTHING is in the same place as it once was. And NOTHING is grouped together..you would think they would TRY and put all the school supplies together, or even in the same vicinity, right? NOPE. It didn't help that I had some fairly specific things...I did try and find the "two fat pencils" and the "Crayola So-Big Paintbrush" at Target last week unsuccessfully. Had I not already been there, I for SURE wouldn't have stuck out the scavenger hunt as long. I asked 3 separate employees during my visit about stuff and the answer I got (no exaggeration!) was "your guess is as good as mine!" What a LOVELY shopping experience.

After leaving Walmart, I notice the gas light came on in the car, so I decided to fill it up so Jeff didn't start the morning on "E"! So I stopped to pump gas, and I am guessing during this stop my wonderful husband tried to call my cell phone..of course, I didn't hear it, and thus, did not answer. In an absolute panic, he calls my mother to report me "missing" telling her I left two hours ago to buy school supplies and grab a jug of milk and have yet to return. Thankfully, my mother realized that it wasn't unheard of to spend 2 hours on a "little" shopping trip, and told Jeff she'd try and call me before she rushed over to watch the kids while he went out looking for me. Of course, by the time she tried to call, I was back in the car and SHOCKED that this search was nearly underway. When I got home and asked Jeff how many times he tried to call, he said "Once!" Ok, ladies...if we freaked out like this every time our husbands were unreachable....well, it'd be nearly daily!!! To his credit, he is reading some crazy terrorist type of book right now...and, well, I think his imagination got the best of him...

THANK YOU KRISTA, MOM AND DAD!!

This weekend we had our ?th annual Arkansas lake trip. (Geez...Amy, how many years has it been now?) Krista helped out watching the kids for a few hours on Thursday so we could take off, and mom and dad came to our house straight from the Ozarks to take over. (Krista...does 3 kids still sound like a great idea?) =) Thank you SOSO much for helping out so we could get a little weekend away!

Amy took photos, so as soon as I get my hands on some, I will post!Ty and Julia hang out on the couch..
apparently, all is still calm with the childcare situation.

Ty, Lucas and Julia chill for a moment...
I wonder if Aunt Krista snapped this photo
before or after the golf club "situation"? =)

And on our return-
I think Julia was UBER glad we were home. When she woke up from her nap, I went upstairs and got her out of her crib. She normally DEMANDS to go downstairs immediately to check out with big brother is up to, but today she just rested her head on my shoulder and smiled...it was the absolute sweetest. After my back got tired of holding her upstairs, we came down and I sat down with her. Daddy wanted some of the great sweetness too, and I thought in the pass off we would lose the moment, but she did the same thing to him...and continued to lay this way for a LONG time!!! Awwwww....

We brought back a toy for each of the kids. There was some debate on if we should give them to them upon our arrival, or add them to the Christmas stash, but apparently, in a weak moment, Jeff caved. =)

Ry plays with his new Seaport Town where there was a storm coming, and all the cars had to hurry and head to garages, or any other cover they could find. Hehe..he has quite the imagination!

Riding Horses and Visiting Greats!

Today our Mom&Me group went to a farm right outside of Marine. The kids had a fun morning learning about horses.Ry wasn't shy about wanting to pet the horse.

Julia wasn't so trusting of the horses - check out that face!
Haven't seen that expression since she saw Santa
or the Gateway Grizzlies mascot!

Ryan and Adelle Stanko concentrate on coloring photos of horses.

What a natural! The guy helping walk the horse around with the kids told Ry to give the horse a little kick and Ry looked at me like "huh? we aren't supposed to kick!!" He ended up just giving the horse more of a little pat with his heels. Then, as he was on his ride he was saying "Choo, choo!" like that would get horsey moving like it does his trains. Somehow, no matter the activity, our train-crazed boy always works the locomotives in. =)

On the way home we stopped by to see Great grandma and papa Schuette. The kids had fun playing with their "antique" cars and the pool table, of course!

Happy 1st Birthday, Samantha!

Mandy, Guy and the sweet birthday girl!

Sit N Stand Double Stroller For Sale!

Sit N Stand LX Tandem Stroller
with Car Sear Snap N Go Attachment System
(Great Condition!), $75 OBO.

This stroller has a 5 point harness seat, and also a jump seat that does have a seatbelt as well. This model does adapt the stroller to carry infant car seats - The Snap N Go attachment system is easily configured to carry most infant car seats in the market. Includes a parent tray, child tray and a large basket under the stroller. This is the Chatham design, and currently retails for $129.99 + $19.99 extra charge at Amazon.com. It is also sold at some Target stores. To see more information, please visit: Amazon/Target Stroller.
(Sorry, the cute girl in the background is not included in this sale!). Hehe.

Ryan's Invited To Dinner

Today Ry had a BLAST playing with Daniel (the boy who lives behind us) and some of the other "bigger" boys in our neighborhood. I was thrilled with how kind they were to Ryan letting him play on the slip n' slide with them. I could tell how "cool" he thought he was playing with all these boys. It was SO CUTE to watch and how they tried to teach him how to slide down like they were. At one point Ry got hurt (very minor!) and Daniel went and put his arm around him and was making sure he was okay. I am SO thankful these boys have been so great at including Ry in their "big kid" play all the time!!!
After this fun, Daniel's family invited him to have dinner at their house. I think this might be his first "nonfamily" dinner invitation. Sure hope he behaved himself! They had rice and salmon for dinner. Rachel told me her mom "hid" the salmon under the rice and had him take a few bites.
Here is a pic I snapped as Rachel walked Ry home from dinner.