This past weekend

It seems like the last several months, we have had nothing but jam packed weekends. The thing is, our kids are in a really fun stage where they can really enjoy a lot of different things and the weather has been so good we just want to cram as much memories and experiences in as we can. And although our house if messy and our chores are unfinished, we are having a great time and loving our weekends of fun. This was our recent weekend of fun:

Friday- Tom and I got to eat real people food out at a nice restaurant to celebrate a friend's birthday while my parents babysat the bambinos.  After dinner we rushed home to watch the Cardinals clinch the national league championship and head to the world series. Go cards!

Saturday- We bundled up and headed out to Grant's farm. My sister and our friends Derek, Marcelle and Brock came along with us and beside the temperature, it was a lovely time and day.

Waiting for the tram to start our tour. They had the Clydesdales all harnessed up for a commercial they were shooting down at the farm that day so we got to see that during our drive.

Reese liked feeding the goats but we did not go in the pen this time as we saw how muddy everyone going in there was getting. The dirt was not dry enough for us to tempt that fate. Donovan wanting nothing to do with feeding the goats and flat out refused. So I go to do it. I liked it.

Donovan did feed the lama, or the alpaca, whatever it was. Reese did too, but again, both wimped out before the food was all gone so I got to feed some too.

We discovered they had camel rides and of course the kids wanted to do it. We learned the camel's name was Sara. She was so nice of a ride that the kids went for a second ride a little later. Donovan was a bobble head the whole time and he was exaggerating it majorly so the two of them just cracked up the whole time about that.

After Grant's farm we all went for lunch at a local restraunt where Reese started her "I am over due for a nap" meltdown. After lunch it was home for naps. After naps we all got bundled up again and went to my work friend Julia's house for a pig roast. Two of the surgeons I work with were there so we got a nice visit with everyone and there were plenty of toys and kids for both Reese and Donovan to run around and play with. The kids were pretty self sufficient and even Reese we were comfortable loosing site of every once in a while. It was a nice change of pace for the hip tumor she usually turns in to around new people. Over all a great night.

Sunday- Sunday's weather was an even prettier day and was a little warmer so we could not have asked for a more beautiful day. Tom donated platelets for the first time so the kids and I hung around the house in the morning and painted a picture for him, took baths and played. I got them down for early naps so we could get ready for the main event of the day, which was going to Purina farms for a special Halloween afternoon.  The kids both dressed in their costumes and in addition to all the usual fun stuff they have there, there was a little "haunted" house where they could get candy as they walked through. There was also food and face painting. We went with our friends the H's; Kris, Lynn, Penelope and their new baby Charolette.

Kitty Reese petting a bunny and a chicken in the petting area.

Donovan, dressed as a ninja turtle (Donatello) getting his face painted with the Batman symbol.

Dono, Reese and Penelope eating some snacks and waiting for the dog show to start.

Before the dog show started they had a costume contest. Donovan decided he wanted to be in the contest last minute so Reese, Donovan, and not-in-a-costume Penny (she wanted to keep her costume "clean") went and lined up to be in the contest and got a free frisbeef! A cute little boy dressed as a lion won but our kids looked pretty dang cute if I do say so myself.

After the show Reese got her face painted and we had a cute little photo shoot.

Then it was a hay ride with the whole gang and then heading home for dinner and sleeping. Poor Reese started looking strange after dinner and I realized that the little girl was on fire. She had spiked a temp and was so pathetic. I wiped off her kitty face paint while she was going to the bathroom and when she had realized what I had done so was so distraught. Combine that with her feeling suddenly terrible and she was such a sad sight. Sitting there, naked, on the potty, crying, she asked me, "Am I still a kitty?" I told her she was but when we brushed teeth and she finally realized what she was looking at in the mirror is was sobsville all over again. Poor little kitty. She ended up with a fever all of monday (got up to 103 plus) but she was under the wonderful care of Dr. Mimi so she was back to practically normal with no fever today. 

And that's the recap of the latest weekend adventures. 

More fun stuff we have done

Several weekends ago on a rainy day we hit the butterfly house. Donovan was thoroughly bored but also thoroughly cute. Here he is posing by a butterfly.

Then sissy joined in the picture.

Checking out all the baby butterflies getting ready to hatch.

Then we took some rides on the Carousel. Dono even went willingly! Once. Reese went twice of course.

Then a couple weekends later was the annual "things that go" day at our local school. This is the day where there are all kinds of cars and vehicles that he kids get to climb on and explore around. I was on call for work so I didn't get to go but it looks like all had a good time.

Fun with friends

We have had a lot of fun with friends this summer. And due to my slacking blogging, not much of our fun times were mentioned. Here are two of the fun mornings we had with friends in the last couple months.

On Aug 3rd we went to the Missouri Botanical Garden with 2 other families we are friends with. The kids were super cute and the weather was great!

As always, Reese is leaps and bounds ahead of her brother in the bravery factor. He wouldn't even think about going down this long net thingy until he saw little missy tackle it.

We took swimming stuff for the kids to play in the splash pad together and they had fun. Ian man cannot get enough of getting sprayed right in the face. Such a funny kid.

Then we went and fed the fish where my kids had to beg off of the good mommies that remembered quarters to buy them some fish food. One of these days I will have some quarters in my wallet.

After fun at the gardens we hit Macklin Ave Deli, a favorite and an old neighbor hood deli for our friends. The 4 big kids sat at the little table behind Reese in the below pic and they were so cute! All sitting there eating their meals. The age spread between the 4 kids is only 2 yrs so they get along great. Of course I would not get a picture of the kids all eating together, but hey! I was actually enjoying my own meal for once. This is Reese enjoying her push pop they got as a treat after lunch.

Then a couple weeks ago we went to a walk to benefit Hydrocephalus, a cause near and dear to a friends heart. The kids were PUMPED because Fredbird was going to be there. When we were driving there Reese was like "I am so happy to see Fred Bird. Freddy. I call him Freddy. I am excited to see Freddy. Fred. I call him Fred." So apparently they are so tight that she is already giving him not one, but 2 nicknames.  Here they are giving him high fives after we got there.

Ian man and Donovan walking. Tom, John, Emily and Colin were all there too. Dono got this new shirt for us donating some money. He was so excited he took off his old shirt and put that one on right away and then cried when I told him he could not wear the shirt again the next day. I had to sneak it in the laundry and he was not happy when he had realized what I did. Kid loves to wear a dirty shirt.

Reese walked for the most part but did like the occasional push.

After the walk we played in a massive bubble machine (awesome), ate some ice cream and got to get balloon animals. Reese got..... wait for it...... a kitty and Donovan got a frog. They were both pretty excited.

I tried to get Ian in the above pictures but he refused. He got some sort of hat made. Here was his person picture.

Before the walk the kids saw a playground in the park and begged to go play so we promised them we would after the walk. Reese was so excited she took off running with her balloon kitty in her hand and then, BAM! She trips and falls and kitty is blown to smitherines by the sharp grass and the weight of her body. She was CRUSHED. Poor girl. Such a short but strong love affair. She got over it pretty well and hopefully next time she gets a kitty balloon, she remembers to WALK.