Como Park Conservatory

After the Zoo and the Carousel we headed over to the Conservatory. It is always so beautiful this time of year. Always a great spot for pictures too. After this we made one more stop at Sebastian Joe's in Uptown for some yummy ice cream. It was such a great day!

"chubby cheeks, chubby cheeks"

The Como Park Carousel

Blake and Chloe enjoyed a ride on the beautiful carousel at Como Park after going through the zoo.

Como Zoo

Yesterday we took Mammaw out to our favorite breakfast...Granite City Sunday Brunch! Seeing how it is quite a bit of food (and it was a GORGEOUS day), we thought it would be nice to go to the Como Zoo and Conservatory. We invited our friends, the Lamothe's, to come along too. Blake and Chloe had such a fun time looking at the animals. I think their favorite exhibit was the seals/sea lions. Blake also enjoyed nearly an entire bag of popcorn and almost all of Michelle's snack stash. This was Luke's first time at the Como Zoo. He was such a trooper...no nap and no meltdowns! He just rode along and took it all in.

The BIG day!

About 2 months ago we asked Blake if he wanted a birthday party (I know, what 2 year old is going to refuse a party). When he said yes we asked him who he wanted to come to his party. His first answer was "Donald." I was slightly confused for a minute because my Dad's name is Donald. I thought to myself, surely he doesn't know his real name. So I asked Blake if there was anyone else he wanted to come. He then went on to say "yeah, Goofy too!" Ah ha! Thus began our planning of the BIG Mickey Mouse Birthday Party! Blake wanted a Mickey cake (he actually wanted 2 cakes, but I had to put the kabosh on that request) and Mickey balloons.

So, Saturday was the BIG day and what fun we had. Everyone we invited came so it was really fun to see Blake and all his best buds - Chloe, Aleksandra, Abby, Jonny, Devon, Kedar, Brandon & Nick. We played parachute, tunnel, water colors, ate cake and mostly squealed and ran around for about an hour and a half. The kids all got along so well. It was so hard to look at this little group and not remember when they were all little babies in the Step by Step Infant Room!

We were also so lucky to have Mammaw come up to visit and come to the party. Here are a few fun picks of the day. There will most likely be more to come...our good friend Liz played photographer while we stayed busy entertaining.

A quick family picture!

The boys and Mammaw

Who wants cake?

Blake and Chloe being silly!

Water Fun

Friday night it was really warm out so we broke out one of our water toys and Blake got to splash around. Luke was interested in the water...but not the grass. See video below of Luke's love of grass!

Sooooo BIG!

Luke's new trick! I guess Blueberry muffins will do that to you!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! Today was Daddy's first Father's Day as a father of two! I am pretty certain he would agree that made it "double the fun!" We did have a great day/weekend. This morning Blake and I got up and made blueberry muffins from scratch - yummy! Then Daddy took Blake on a father/son bonding activity...to buy a new bike (for Kurt, not Blake). Then it was back home where we tried to capture the moment with a picture. Which is quite difficult with two boys and their varying tolerance levels for pictures. Strike that. It's nearly impossible! So I've included a few different takes!

Later today we were off to a cookout with some great friends. One of Blake's school friends invited us and two other families over to have dinner and eat smores! It's always fun to see Blake and his buddies play together. Saturday we were so happy to finally meet little Miss Tess Triplett! Our friends came over to our house for a cookout and Blake and Stella got to play while I oogled over tiny little Tess...who might be one of the most perfect (in cuteness and personality) newborns I've ever seen!

So, Happy Father's Day to all! Especially to my Dad who knows I love him dearly and I thank him always for raising me to be who I am today. And I thank his Dad, Pappaw Grady, for being such a great example to our family and wish he had had a longer life to have met my little boys and teach them a few things about life. And a special Happy Father's Day to our other Grandpa's, Dave, Great Grandpa Jarrett and Great Grandpa Risley.

We are so lucky to have one of the best Dad's in the world right under this roof. We of course let him know how much we appreciated him today, but hopefully he knows every day! We love you!

Early Birthday Present

We bought the boys their "shared" birthday present this past weekend. They love stroller rides together so we figured they would love to ride in a bike trailer too. Mommy and Daddy wanted to ride their bikes again too! First ride to the park went pretty well. It will be so nice to have another activity to do this summer. Happy early birthday boys!

Outdoor Fun

We've been spending as much time outdoors as we can lately (weather permitting sadly) and Blake has been fine tuning some of his big boy sports!

First things first, Blake can finally pedal his tricycle! Mammaw and Pappaw - thank you for the trike! We've been anxiously awaiting the day when he could ride it himself. He has been very proud of himself and we even bought him a horn to fancy up his trike! The horn is extremely loud and I told him he couldn't honk it until we were out of the store....the minute we hit the threshold of the store he started honking it like a crazy man!

He's also mastered the climbing wall at one of our nearby parks. The first time he did this I thought it was going to be a little too advanced for my little guy...but low and behold he had it mastered after just a couple of tries. I can't get over how much he has changed in the last year. He is finally turning into a little boy and is clearly not a little baby/toddler anymore. Sniff sniff.

Happy 11 Month Birthday Luke!

Eleven down ONE to go! It seems crazy to think that a year ago I was 8 months + pregnant and dying for you to just enter the world! Now you've been a part of our world for almost a year and I cannot imagine this life without you in it. You are my sweet little baby and will be forever!

You are up to about 20 1/2 pounds though it feels like 50 most days. You are in the stage where you have to be carried around because you aren't "all terrain" mobile, but when being held you want to reach and move around which makes it tough on Mama! You are chasing that brother of yours like crazy too. He can usually turn your bad moods around in a flash. You have the sweetest little blue eyes and some pinchable cheeks. You have a million nicknames, but "little L", "Louie", "Lukie" and "Lukie Padukie" seem to be the most used. You've learned to wave bye-bye. You love to spit...much to your teachers' dismay. You absolutely HATE to have your hands, face or nose cleaned. I think I've mentioned this before, but you LOVE to splash in the tub. You have the ability to soak the bathroom (and Mommy or Daddy).

We are having so much fun with you...trying to keep up and soak up all of these milestones and memories. I want to remember each moment forever! Happy 11 month birthday my dear sweet Luke! I love you!!

I love this picture...he fell asleep sitting up!

"Summertimes"

Blake's been talking like a big boy for a while, but I keep forgetting to write some of the funny things he says down. So here are a few recent ones...

Blake has started saying "summertimes" instead of "sometimes". It's so funny and I haven't started correcting him yet, because it makes me laugh every time!

When you ask him why he did something he simply responds "because I did it." At least he's honest!

He's also started to monitor Luke's behavior. Luke pulled his shoe off one day and Blake told him to put it back on. Well of course Luke couldn't, so he then proceeded to tell Luke he wasn't being a good listener and refused to give him his shoe back until he said he was sorry. Needless to say that never happened either.

I've realized I must say "not today" an awful lot, because if you tell Blake something in regards to going somewhere he will get a really serious look on his face and say "not today." For example, going to school, some mornings I will say "let's get up we have to go to school today" and he will say "not today." Oh how I wish it worked that way!

Oh and he can tattle! He tells us about which friends got in trouble at school and what they did. There's one little boy in particular that he always says is a "bad (or naughty depending on the day/teacher) boy." Of course he also tattles on himself. He will be the first to admit when he's been told he wasn't listening well!

I used to keep a list of all his new words in a journal, and then one day his vocab exploded and I couldn't keep up anymore. It's such a fun thing to be able to have a conversation with him and know that for the most part he understands.

And if you are wondering, Kurt is back from Mexico safe and sound. Aside from a piece of the ceiling tile on the plane falling and hitting him (waking him up too), everything went smoothly. The boys were little angels and we had a ton of fun!

Let the games begin...

This moment marks the start of my 3 day single mom adventure! Kurt left for Mexico this morning (3 am - just ask him how exited he was about that!) for work. Nothing too exciting...just Mexico City. We told Daddy to bring us back souvenirs - and not the swine flu!

Obviously this is not a big deal to most moms, it's just my first overnighter with both boys. The hardest part is always drop off and pick up with two, so if I can get through those 20 minutes this morning and tonight I'll be just fine!