St. Pat's Round 1

I got my green on!

The view is better from the top

festive parade goers!


We headed out to the Shawnee parade this weekend for our first taste of St. Patrick's Day fun! It was a pretty nice day, a bit chilly, but worth it to be outside! Sophia's favorite parts were the motorcycles and the girls doing cartwheels. We have plans to go to the big parade tomorrow, it'll be the first time for me, so we'll see how it goes! Look for more pictures!

The Best Laid Plans...

Just a little health update from our end:

It seems we can't fight our way out from under the cloud of illness over here, but hopefully it seems to lifting, just a little bit! In spite of all my efforts, I inevitably had to cancel our weekend trip to St. Louis this weekend. I had it all planned to a T! We would cheer on Charlie at his rugby match and get to spend some quality time with Kathleen and family. But, alas, my miserable, sniffling self stayed home with Sophia while Charlie made the trek alone! I just couldn't bear the thought of taking this awful cold across the state to infect others, not to mention that I did feel a tad like death warmed over! I was seriously bummed, but hope to get out there sooner rather than later as I'm anxious to see their new house and experience all the toddler joys the "The Lou" has to offer!



I am ready to be back up and running at full speed, for sure! My house has suffered in this month long battle between me, Sophia, and the stomach flu. I have only done a minimal amount of laundry and have barely cooked dinner 2 nights in a row! Thank goodness for grandmothers and understanding husbands! Plus, we are hosting a birthday party at our house this weekend so we need to be disinfected and ready to rumble! Cross your fingers!

Who Needs a Bath When There's a Water Table

so serious about water play

This was the result of a boat full of water to the face!

Angela got into the water too, it must have tasted pretty good

even Daddy couldn't resist the temptation to build a water sculpture!

So we revisited Wonderscope Children's Museum and although I'm still curious about it's upkeep, Sophia had a wonderful time! We invited her cousins to come and play too and I think everyone was happy. The water room and the golf ball room were still the clear favorites as Sophia and Angela had a great time in both. It's so cute to see them playing side by side now that Angela is walking and they're both growing up so much! We needed a full outfit change when we got home, but if that's the price for hours of fun I'll take it!

My Girl Gretchen!

Our tops....
...and our bottoms! Gotta love it!

Sophia the helpful baking assistant

I'm just sitting her being good...plotting my next moment of destruction! :)

So these are really the last of the Seattle pics...I know it's taken a while to get them all out, but I couldn't be finished without a shout-out to Gretchen and our shoes! Anyway, I met Gretchen a couple years ago on a business trip to Denver. Some of you may remember this fateful trip as it is the very one where I contracted my almost deadly case of scabies during my 8th month of pregnancy! Okay, so not so much deadly, but I almost went mentally insane, let's just leave it at that!

Anyway, there I was on this trip hugely pregnant, tired, and slowly becoming swollen from all the sitting and altitude, when Gretchen arrived! Yay!!! She quickly became my friend, as we are frighteningly similar, and the rest is history! It was totally great meeting her, it was like we just 'clicked' (doesn't that sound romantic! ;) Anyway...people thought we'd known each other for years and our friendship was just beginning. We had some crazy adventures that week, for sure! Well, because we're half a country apart our relationship thus far has consisted of emails and phone calls and I was so happy to see her again! Plus, she finally got to meet that little baby with whom she spent so much time! Haha! She was quite a trooper as we dragged her to all the best places in Seattle like our favorite diner dive and the mall!!! We also helped George make scones, which was a big success and then we managed to have some kid-free time for dinner. As you can see we made some very stellar footwear purchases! Seriously, these shoes are fantastic! They were on sale for a bargain price, what's a girl to do! All in all it was a great day and much more fun to catch up in person!

Seattle Snapshots

One of the rare times Ash was still enough for Sophia to pet him

This trip to Seattle was definitely our most low-key one to date. We had a great time and mostly just hung out doing "normal" stuff. Zoe ran around with her friends most of the week, Steph and Jonathan worked and George, Sophia, and I did our thing. The whole family was a huge help to me during the week and Zoe is so responsible and trustworthy when it comes to leaving her in charge of Sophia. We all enjoyed each other's company. Both the kids are growing up so much and Zoe is preparing for high school.....AAAAAAAAH! As always, I left sad and ready for my next visit but I was happy to be home with my husband once again. It's not so much fun to vacation without him! I wished they lived closer but I do love Seattle (I could totally live there!) and always have a good visit...so until next time!

Birthday Fun!

The birthday girl!

Aunt Cathy and two wiggly party princesses!

opening presents is so much fun..too bad Angela didn't have any help! :)





On Saturday Sophia's cousin, Angela, turned one year old! I can't believe how time flies! Thankfully Sophia had recovered from her illness and was ready to partake in the festivities. She really needed it too! She had grown extremely restless over the days and was ready to burn some steam. Sadly, I missed the party because my darling daughter spread her virus my way! Charlie was instructed to be my photog for the day and he got some cute shots.





Thank goodness for grandmas, because my mom has been an angel taking care of Sophia yesterday and today! Charlie is really hanging in there too! I haven't left the house in virtually 8 days and I'm getting a bit restless too! I feel better today though and hope to be up and at 'em tomorrow!

Snow Bunny

Finally outside...yay!

wait a minute...it's kind of cold out here

Stop torturing me and take me inside!!

All for a few pictures? Was it worth it, Mother?!


So we had an In-Like-a-Lion snowstorm this weekend and it was really the first good snow that Sophia has experienced. With her being sick all week, we weren't sure it was a great idea to take her out but she was very restless. And, when Charlie went outside to shovel, she was beside herself that she couldn't go too. Soooo, I bundled her up and took her out. You can see how well she enjoyed herself! She outgrew the snow boots that she hasn't even worn yet and would have nothing to do with the sled, Charlie even fashioned a little bunny hill on the side of our lawn, but no-go. Aaaah, there's always next season...too bad the snow suit won't still fit.