She's a City Girl Alright

This afternoon Annabelle and I went to City Garden, a beautiful new park downtown full of water fountains for kids to cool off from the hot summer sun in. And it is HOT here!

I wasn't sure how Annabelle would do, but she LOVED it. Here are pictures from the day. Also, look how pretty it is, you can see the reflection of the buildings on the wet slate.

This one went right up in her face...this is the "surprise" face!

Yay water

Wait, where'd it go?

She kept trying to catch it

What the heck mom...where's the water again?

Trying SO hard to catch her shadow.

SPLASH

Double Splash

Examining the water

Oh, and on a side note, poor Maddie has to wear a cone. We're really afraid it's messing with her self esteem. Her poor paw is red and she keeps licking it. We've tried to reason with her, but she just keeps running into walls and has a hard time turning corners.

Happy Memorial Day Maddie, we got you a cone.

Love, Mom, Dad & Annabelle

(She thinks Bailey put us up to this)

"I Am"

Amy: "Who's ready to wake up from a nap?"

Annabelle: "I am!"

Annabelle's room.

The espresso this morning gave me the shakes. clearly....

She loves her train.

We love the song it sings.

Breakfast & House Pictures

Adam had a late start to work today, so we all went to breakfast! Annabelle's SO big, she sits in her own highchair now, no problem. She also started drinking from a straw, which is pretty funny. Sometimes she sips too much and all the water runs down her chin. She also may or may not get ice-headaches. There was a funny face, so that's what we assumed.

Chillin out maxin and relaxin all cool

So, here are some pictures of the house. I probably should have used the regular camera, not the i-phone... oh well. Mom & Dad, it's a preview for your visit THIS WEEKEND!!!!

Adam painted the whole downstairs last weekend! It looks wonderful. The only thing we need to do is fix the corner desk area. Someone (me) bought the wrong paint....whoops.

Good thing Adam's a super-husband and likes painting.... :)

From living room

Desk area (one of my favorite places)

I'll really love it once the paint is right!!

I love the teapot (thank you Margaux) and the tray (thank you Marilyn)!

Kitchen, (duh)

Can't WAIT for the wall to come down...

Dining Room & Bailey :)

Master Bedroom

Bedroom again...


Windows from 3rd floor

Backyard from 3rd floor deck

It's so nice to have the giant shade trees!

Patio from 3rd floor deck

The girl has a lot to say

Last night, crawling took a back seat to talking.

She has a lot to say about her trip to the Art Museum!

Telling stories and playing fetch.

She's just like a Japenese Movie.

Laumeier Sculpture Park

Yesterday, Annabelle and I went to Laumeier Sculpture Park. It is a beautiful park with trails through the woods, open fields and artists sculptures throughout. We had lovely afternoon and Annabelle really enjoyed looking at all of the shapes and colors. The next day Adam has off we're excited to go back and bring a picnic lunch.

It's so nice to enjoy the outdoors again. Also, I think I want to learn about photography as a hobby- maybe I should ask Kendall for a lesson!

Here are some of my favorites from the day:

This reminded me of a Frank Gehry design

This is "Redwood I". He's (I made him a he) the tallest continuous wood sculpture in the country. The artist carved him with a chainsaw. He's very impressive up close!

You wouldn't know from this picture, but those stairs were very steep and very high. Once we were at the top I told Annabelle it was a horrible idea to climb up there and that I shouldn't have listened to her. We made it down safe and sound and I reiterated to her that I still don't like heights.

A pretty covered bridge going across a creek

This is GIANT in person. Absolutely massive.

It looks like a bizarre water park ride.

The park is HUGE. So much to look at, which Annabelle loved.



Haha. The one picture I put up of Annabelle is blurry.

Go figure.

Busy busy

We've had a very busy and fun week! Tami and Emmersen came to visit and we saw so much more of St Louis.

We went to the City Museum, which truly is a fascinating place for kids! The girls drew and colored in "Art City", built towers with all of the wooden blocks, watched a circus, climbed up jungle gyms (well, Emmersen did), played in ball pits and just took in the wonder of the City Museum. I'm so excited to go back when Annabelle is a bit older!

The next day we visited the zoo-- it was a perfect day for it and the girls enjoyed all of the animals. That night we went over to the Cardinal's game, but it was a bit too rainy so we left in the 3rd inning or so.

Overall it was a wonderful trip and we're very excited to visit them in Wisconsin this summer.

The only bummer is we didn't take many pictures at all.... here's what I've got:

Not the most flattering picture of Annabelle. But, she's too young to care!

It's fun that Elle is old enough to play with things now!

Emme at the City Museum in "Toddler Town"

Maddie steals Annabelle's ring toys and they play tug-of-war.

Both by mouth.

Annabelle's first time in a restaurant high chair!

I left her in the middle of the living room while I was in the kitchen. I heard her laughing and went in. She managed to roll to the vacuum cord, and sit up. While I have yet to see a crawl, she's officially mobile!

Next up, Gammy & Pop-Pop over Memorial Day Weekend. Can't Wait!!

Kind of crawling

Hit the play button, and the video should come up!

Annabelle is SLOWLY becoming a crawler. Hopefully now that I have the flip video camera back out, we'll capture the first official crawl....!

Weekend Photos

This makes me laugh.

Under the steps to the third floor there is a window you can look into Annabelle's room from. I feel like we're conducting some sort of baby experiment while she's playing.

She saw me today and figured it out.

Shoot.




Another trip to Lowe's....
Annabelle did the product research

On this trip we purchased the 6th member of our family. Adam affectionately refers to him as R2. To everyone else, it's a ShopVac. They have become the best of friends. Adam Shop-Vac'd for about 5 hours on Saturday sucking up every single helicopter that fell from the trees. The patio and deck are SO clean!

Annabelle has a new favorite, mangoes. She squeals and kicks her legs as she eats them. This morning she ate an entire mango.

Yesterday we went to a great Antique Store and bought a Steamer Trunk for the 3rd floor. So, when you're a guest here, please put your keys, wallet, etc. in the drawers. That will make us feel good and that the purchase was a necessity. Thanks!