mmm ice cream cake

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE ice cream cake??? It's one of the perks of having a summer birthday! (Although I've been know to purchase it in the winter too!) Being out of town prior to Jonah's birthday and having no time to bake was the perfect excuse to get one last weekend for his celebration! I think he loves it almost as much as his momma!

ONE!

Jonah is one! A year ago last Friday I spent the day twiddling my thumbs waiting for the pitocin to kick in. I spent 3 hours feeling the pain and about 3 minutes pushing him out! I then spent 30 minutes waiting to hold my cold, congested baby boy. What a year it's been. The sleepless nights are sort of coming to a close. We survived the first few months of projectile puking, the burn, and other aches and pains. Our mellow mushroom has blossomed into our crazy monkey full of personality and attitude. Love you baby boy!

And we're off . . . .

No photos for this post. I'm blogging from gate C18 at the Saint Louis airport. Paul & I are headed to Puerto Rico for 4 nights. The kids are hanging out with Grandma Helen & Grandpa Lee for the week. I think we'll all have fun!

Monkey Boy

Have I mentioned that we call Jonah "monkey boy". He is a climber. Refuses to sit in shopping cart. Tries to scale the bookshelves in the YMCA childcare room. Hangs from the crib rail. Climbs backward up the slides at the playground. Regular little monkey.

This is how he arrived on the back of the couch.

mmm Fritz's

"What would you two like?"
"Brown ice cream"
"chocolate?"
"yeah I want chocolate" "yeah me too" (said while jumping around in circles!)
"with sprinkles?"
"yeah sprinkles" "yeah sprinkles" (also said with jumping around with excitement!)
"okay two chocolates with sprinkles"


So Carter and Leah totally got to order for themselves tonight. I'm not sure I paraphrased their conversation with the girl at the window correctly because their order was complete and they were off running before Jen and I even walked up to the counter! Good thing we had the money to pay for their treats!


Mmm Fritz's sure tasted good tonight. Oh and it's custard not ice cream. Frozen custard seems to be the thing in Saint Louis.

And Jonah was happy about the free baby cone!

STL City Garden

So have I mentioned that I really like living close to a big city? More than I ever thought I would!! I wish I had the time and energy to explore more of the cool neighborhoods, nooks & crannies of STL but I guess that will come with time. Today we had a blast at the newest park downtown , City Garden. I guess it's not really a new park, but a newly renovated space. Regardless, it was a great time for the kids on a hot day! Makes you want to come cool off here doesn't it??

Baby's First Trip to Hooters

Yes, it does seem a bit "wrong" to make note of this but boy did it really crack me up! We have always been fans of the chicken wings at Hooters and stopped there for lunch on a visit downtown today. We figure Jonah will think this photo is really cool when he's 18 or so.

Lonely Blog

Yes this blog has been neglected a bit lately. The kids and I were up in Iowa at my parents for a week while Paul was in Dallas, TX for work. We got our fill of the Iowa countryside, picking raspberries, fun times with the aunties, campfires, good times!

The kids with Grandma Helen & the garden

And Paul joined us at the end of the week to celebrate the 4th!

ETA: notice that last pic of us. It's the night of the 4th and we are NOT at the fireworks. Why not you ask??? Well because Leah is terrified!! She has developed a fear of all sorts of loud noises including: fireworks, thunder, & loud flushing toilets. So since Jonah was asleep & Grandpa started a great fire we skipped out!

The Price of Beauty

So all girls know that a made up face, great hair, etc, don't come with out a little time working on them. And fabulous curls take a LOT of work when you have the long, straight, smooth hair that Leah and I have. She has been asking for weeks to try out my hot rollers since she spied them in the closet a while back. This Saturday I pulled them out since Jonah was taking a nap and she had a birthday party to look cute for!

All was well until I told her they were hot. She freaked out!! Somehow I talked her into letting me put them in anyway. Guess I should be glad she wasn't impressed since I don't have time for hot rollers everyday!



Anyway, this is the finished product which she was quite thrilled with!

Conversations With Leah

Leah is at the age where she says some stuff that really cracks us up. Paul and I keep commenting that we really need to write this stuff down. So here are some good ones.

Leah says "Dad, what is that your drinking"
Paul says "Scotch, Leah"
Leah says "Like hopscotch daddy!?"



Paul says "Leah, who's my princess??"
Leah says "I am daddy, and Jonah is mommy's princess"

In the Island

So you would have thought Leah would have figured out how much fun this was LONG ago. Nope, took the sneaky little brother to show her how fun hiding out in the cupboards is. Goober is constantly unloading the bottom cupboards and climbing in. About 4 boxes of cereal and 2 boxes of crackers were displaced for these two monkeys to fit!

Finger Painting

Yes, I let my baby finger paint. At 7:00AM. Can't deny the art bug for too long you know! He thought he was totally cool!

Honestly, he made less of a mess with finger paints than he did with the bowl of refried beans he had for supper on Monday. This kid LOVES a good mess. Note, there is no cover on the highchair due it constantly being filthy. It's easier to wipe down plastic.

Berry Picking

After last year's adventure to the berry farm during which Leah shit her pants, I wasn't sure she would be too excited about returning again this year. She remember the big storm and asked many times if there was going to be thunder. (Her biggest fear at the moment!) We went right AFTER a storm this time.

We got there nice and early and before the crowd and the heat. Strawberry picking was slow since Leah wasn't much help. Too many mushy berries for her. It was tough work for me with a 20lb baby strapped to my back as well. We quit and headed to the raspberries which was much easier. There was room for Jonah to explore and to munch on dropped berries and Leah & I could pick standing up.



Seriously, Leah is pro raspberry picker. She knew just which ones were ripe and exclaimed "Mom these red ones are just flying off the trees!" If she was a bit taller I'd rent her out to the farm to pick berries!


We ended up with WAY too many berries considering Paul won't touch raspberries. It was a challenge to use them up. We did strawberries with french toast, ice cream, & in a dish with sugar, made strawberry pie, and made some fab freezer jam. MMM good summer eats!

FFF - On the Farm

Last weekend I decided it was time for a little FFF. Forced Family Fun!! I gave Paul the option of picking the activity and handed him a list of "50 fun things to do in Saint Louis with your kids!" He was hoping to score tickets to the Cardinals game but there were no good deals to be had so he opted for a trip to Purina Farms instead. Dogs & cats instead of hot dogs & beers.

As far as family activities go, this one was much more exciting for the kids than it was for us. Small place, lots of farm animals, dogs & cats, a dog show. We managed to pick a stormy afternoon to go so the place was pretty empty which was nice. Gave us lots of quality time to feed the pigs & chickens while trapped in the barn as the thunderstorm passed over. The highlight of the day for Leah was watching the cows get milked. I didn't really appreciate the obvious comparison between the milking machine and my breast pump however.

All in all a good day and we came home with two sleeping kids!

This chicken had a crush on Paul!