Glen Carbon Homecoming and Father's Day

The kids look forward to the Glen Carbon Homecoming every year, and this year was no exception!

The swings are always a favorite, although this year Ry did tell me at one point he thought he might throw up from being dizzy.

Shorty Em has to sit out and watch this year, but she WANTS  to go on the swings too!

Father's Day Morning daddy and his munchkins!

We asked Jeff what he wanted to do, and he wanted us to take a family bike ride to the pool and tropical snow place.  It was quite an adventure getting there..we've got great trails in our area, but this trip still required some off-roading, which was a little interesting with a bike trailer, and tandem bike! At one point Ry stopped and sat down and said "I'm done!"  I honestly felt like joining him!  But we persevered on for Daddy's sake and all had a great time once we made it to the pool! 

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Schuette!

We decided to "birthday bomb" Grandpa Schuette after swim team practice today, so while Ry swam, we girls ran around and picked up our supplies.

Grandma and Em enjoy some pizza before Em runs off to explore! She's not the greatest  dinner guest these days!

Uncle Rick stopped by whil we were there so we got a pic with him too!
You can't see it too well, but the kids made a big poster sign for Grandpa wishing him a great birthday.

Swim Team

I talked the kids into signing up for swim team this year.
On the way to the first practice, Ry says, "This is not a good idea. We might drown. I think you better sign us up for tennis instead."  After two practices, the coach decided Julia needed another year of practice before participating on the actual swim team. I thought she'd be disappointed, because she was more excited about participating than Ry, but she seemed just fine when he recommended this to us.

Ry's first meet, he's never dove off a block before (and had only practiced diving off the side of the pool about two times the day before at practice!), so we weren't sure what to expect.  He and I watched a few races before his, and he saw how "swimmers take your marks" and then the actual "beep" to dive.

He lost a few seconds at the start, but I was very impressed with how brave he was!

We had a little celebratory St. Louis Bread Co after the meet.

Strep Throat

Our miracle worker lifts her hands and says, "Be healed, sister!"
Oh, how I wish it was so easy!

We thought summer would bring good health and an end to strep sickness...boy were we wrong.
Both girls ended up with a bad case that came along with a 5-6 day high fever.
I have a zillion pictures of scarlet fever rash...I'll refrain from posting those here. =)

The upside of this is mommy and daddy get lots of extra love and snuggles!

Julia Dance Recital

Julia and her friend Annie signed up for a dance class this schoolyear.

The excitement of attending the class fizzled a month or so in, but what kept her going was the promise of the fancy recital where she would get her hair done and get to wear makeup.

When we're at the grocery store, and Ry is begging for candy at the checkout lane, she's asking for the flower bunches. So she was pretty excited about the flowers she received at the conclusion of the recital too!

Aunt Stacy brought some flowers for her favorite little neice!

Ironically, the title of the song they performed was "Smile".

Juls and her friend Annie play around after the show.

Memorial Day 2013

Ry and Jeff were itching to head to the lake for the season, so we wasted no time and headed there Memorial Day weekend to start off the summer.

My pool loving girl!

Amy and Jeff had the same idea, so we met them there!

Em and I relaxing and being the watchers while Ry tubes.

The kids wanted to swim in the lake (ICK!!) so we pulled into a quiet cove and took a little break.
Isn't this pure sweetness? Em soooo wants to be a big girl!

And my other baby girl didn't want to miss any of the action with her Daddy either!
Love those little toes! =)

St. Louis Magic House

My friend Tarra called this morning to see if we had any interest in heading with them to The Magic House.
Um, YES!
Julia, Maddie, Mason, Rhett, Ryan and Emerson wait for us to buy tickets.

The Magic School Bus was the traveling exhibit, of which the kids are HUGE fans.
They had a great time pretending to forecast the news and holding down the local news station.
I think Julia might just be a natural at reporting. Just sayin'...

Pulley fun!

I never realized how into babies and taking care of them Emerson was until we visited the hospital area of the Magic House.  She could've stayed in here all day just being "mother"!

Future babysitter of the year?!

Last Day of School!

Remember these sweet kids on the 1st day of school?
2nd grade for Ry.
Kindergarten for Julia.

Ry hopped on the bus before I could snap a picture.
Julia prefers I drive her these days (she likes to sleep in and she is sooo slow in the mornings!), so we had an opportunity for a quick photo.
Look how much my little kindergartener has grown up over the last school year!
I laid out her clothes this morning and she told me "Mom, why do you always pick out such lame and boring clothes for me?!" Oh geesch!  This diva is going to keep us on our toes! I'm blaming my mother for this...seems the bling gene has hit Juls! 

Sunday Funday

Every few days we seem to forget we have an active toddler and attempt a sane meal out with the kids.  Daddy and Ry voted Denny's after church today. Em actually sat through most of the meal, but didn't change her habit of trying to tour the restaurant and check out all the other guests.  Did I mention she is fast these days? She might just be a track star someday.  She's sure giving her workouts 100% effort these days!

On the way home, we stopped at Township Park where the Junior Service Club was hosting the grand opening of the new playground they've been fundraising for the last year or so.  Ry and his friend Nicolas check out the teeter totter. Jeff and I noticed how different these are made than in our day--when if your friend got off, you went crashing to the ground, or where your friend had the ability to teach you the real definition of launch!

As part of the JSC's fundraising, we bought a brick. I wanted to put something on the brick that would be more than just our family name, or the kids names, or really self promotion.  After pondering over the right saying that would fit the number of spaces given, we came up with this one. And there was just enough room at the end to put the kids first initials. Yea!