An afternoon at the pool

My mom's community pool opened for the season, and we are so excited. Lily has been asking when the pool will re-open since about the day after it closed last season. We have already been there twice since it opened on Friday! On the first day, the waters were absolutely frigid. But Sunday was a super hot day, and the water while still cool, felt great. William seems to like the water just as much as his sister, and we plan to spend a good deal of time in the water this summer.

Sunday at the Strawberry Patch

Saturday at the Science Center

Both of the kids were into this tornado simulator. I think Lily was particularly into it due to all the tornado business around here lately.

Daddy survived a day with the kids at the Science Center :)

Summer is here!!

The summer is off to a fantastic start! Friday was the first day of Lily's summer vacation, and we hit the Magic House for a members only morning to check out the new exhibit, Alice in Wonderland.

William's favorite exhibit

Lily with Alice

Lily loved the Mad Hatter. He was really funny!!

The outdoor garden was open just in time for the beautiful weather!

A little cautious at first...

Frolicking fun in the sun

Hop on pop

You think they like it when Carl's home?

Lily's book reading

Lily has only three days left of school for the year. It is amazing that in 3 short months, she will officially be a Kindergartner. I am so excited for her! Her Pre-K class has been winding down the school year with some fun activities. Today we went to see Lily read her ABC book that she worked on throughout the school year. The first video shows her reading her book, and the second video is the "Question and Answer" session after the reading with the class in which the students really just told Lily their favorite part of her book. As with most five-year-olds, she was a little silly with all the attention on her, but overall she did a great job, and as always, we are so proud of our girl.

Gymnastics meet

Lily had her end of the year gymnastics meet yesterday. All the girls did a great job!

William enjoyed running across the trampoline over and over again before the meet. We really need one of these at home so he can expend some energy!

Beginning applause for the girls

Our sweet girl



Ready for the Olympics



Below are some videos from the performance:






The opening procession






Lily demonstrating her trampoline skills

Lily did quite well on the balance beam. The teacher had been holding the other girls on the beam, but Lily told her teacher when she started that she could do it herself and didn't want help. That's our Lily! We are so very proud of her!!

Grant's Farm

Carl is on vacation all this week which we are all absolutely loving!! Sunday was another gorgeous day so we decided to spend the morning at Grant's Farm. Besides seeing a lot of great animals, William and Lily also enjoyed a carousel ride, feeding the goats, chickens and llamas, and shared a blue raspberry snow cone together which resulted in bright blue lips for the rest of the day. What could be better, really? Below are some pictures of them with the goats.

Grant's Farm was established by Budweiser. Besides free admission, the perks of the farm are 2 free Budweiser beverages for all (non-pregnant) adults and getting to see the famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses. "Lee" is pictured above.

May 21, 2011

On Saturday, Carl and I celebrated 10 years of marriage together. We had a couple of pre-planned events scheduled for that day so we decided to postpone the actual celebration until Wednesday and Thursday of this week. The first event we attended on Saturday was the WUMCHA Spring Picnic. We always have such a nice time at these events, and Lily loves to see her gal pals. Below is a picture of Lily with one of her besties, Amelia, after they had their faces painted.

I honestly didn't know that Lily could do the monkey bars, but apparently she can!

The second event that we attended was the end of the year dinner for the Pathology department. They certainly know how to do it right! We had an extraordinary meal at a very lovely venue and enjoyed the night out among adults (thanks mom and dad for babysitting the little ones!)

Young love

Lily and her classmate at school on "messy art day".

This picture was sent to me by the little boy's mom (who happened to be helping out on messy art day). She had told me before that her little one had a crush on Lily, and he informed his mom that Lily is his girlfriend. When his mom asked him if Lily knew about this, he said that he thought so. I'm pretty sure not. But at this age, it doesn't seem to really matter if it is a one-sided love or not, it is all just too cute.

Zoo date with daddy

Carl's schedule this week is really light, and since he works across the street from the zoo, we were able to do a lunch break date at the zoo. The weather was perfect, and we all really loved spending time together in the middle of the day!

Looking so big on the carousel


Daddy and William check out the penguins in the very chilly penguin house.

The tie-dye twins check out the zebras.

Nothing better than an afternoon at the zoo with daddy. It just doesn't get any better than this!

Perfect night #2

Damsel in distress

Lily shows daddy how to wear a pager fashionably. And, yes, she will be taking the calls tonight.

Best friends.

Can't forget about Terradog!

Dinner on the patio

Yesterday Carl got home early at around 4:30. I had just put dinner in which had to cook for an hour and a half, so we took the kids outside to play in the backyard while our meal was cooking. The weather was beautiful, and we had so much fun together. Since the kids were completely dirty by 6:00, and we wanted to give them dinner before their baths, we brought dinner outside and ate on the patio. We headed in at 6:40 for baths, and the kids were settled down in bed by a little after 7:00. It was as perfect as any night could be, and I am looking forward to recreating this night as many times as possible while the weather stays nice!

Shopping stud

William and I went shopping with my mom yesterday morning while Lily was at her dance & gymnastics class. They had this play shopping cart there that I thought William would enjoy pushing around the store while we shopped. I was surprised and completely amused when he actually imitated me shopping. He would push the cart, stop and push aside a few clothes items on the rack, then go back to his cart, push it a little farther, stop and do the same over and over again. It was so cute, so of course, I had to get the shopping cart for him to play with at home.

Just because...

There's no rhyme or reason for these pictures, just a moment of cuteness captured on camera for each munchkin.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy mother's day to the best mom and grandma around. We love you!!

Also, happy mother's day to Carl's mom, Grandma Deetz, and Grandma Murphy! We are so lucky to have you all in our lives!!

Reflections on a journey

Yesterday I learned the sad news that one of my college professors had passed away. This hit me harder than I expected and set my mind into an endless stream of thought which I feel compelled to share. Ron Miller was a Professor of Religion at Lake Forest College. He was also my Freshman Studies teacher and advisor. As a girl leaving home for the first time and not knowing a soul within 5 hours of my new town, I felt like a fish out of water. It was very difficult for me to get my bearings that first year, and more than once I seriously considered throwing in the towel and heading home. But with the help of some new friends and great classrooms experiences, I traversed the rough waters of the first few months and went on to years of smooth sailing with many, many happy memories. One of the people that helped me in those beginning months was Ron Miller. His advisory meetings were more like chat sessions with a great friend, truly invested in your well-being and happiness above all else. As a fellow St. Louis native, he was also my connection to my hometown.

He had an even more profound impact on me as a person through the teachings in his World Religions class. The statement that I remember the most from that class is, "You don't know any religion unless you know all religions". This was a game-changer for me in a way that I am just beginning to fully appreciate. You must understand that up until this point, I attended Catholic schools for 13 years straight. As a Sophomore in high school, one of my classmates told me that she was not Catholic. I laughed and gave her a playful nudge and then realized that she was serious. I actually did not know anyone to that point who was not Catholic. I had never once questioned my religion, and as I sat in that classroom my Freshman year of college, I realized that after 13 years of Catholic religion classes, I truly did not know my own religion.

Ron Miller was a great scholar of religions and an equally great teacher. He taught about the similarities and differences in religions in a way that even a naive 18-year-old could comprehend. Above all, he encouraged dialogue and discussion about religion in the hopes that knowledge would lead to understanding and discovery. He co-founded Common Ground, "a center for inquiry, study and dialogue". Whenever I see the bumper-sticker "coexist", I can't help but think of him.

As I stated before, Professor Miller's class was a game-changer for me. This, along with exposure to a much greater variety of people with various backgrounds and beliefs, as well as a hefty dose of Sociology/Anthropology classes (one of my majors in undergrad), made me question all that I knew to be an absolute truth. These influences set me on a path to discovering my own beliefs. A path which, although not easy and extremely uncomfortable at times, I am truly grateful for.

My journey ultimately led me to depart from organized religion. I realized that I could not be part of any organization that went against my core values. I could not be part of something that excluded individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation, did not see women as equally capable of leading and connecting to God, or thought that contraception was a bad idea. And while I addressed the religion I knew best, there are ideas in every religion that do not reflect my beliefs. I also could not bear to think of a "buffet-style" approach to religion in which I chose to adhere to some of the beliefs while turning a blind-eye to others. After much contemplation on this issue, I discovered that spirituality for me, in its truest form, is being a humanitarian. The idea that we should treat one another with dignity, love and respect, not because we fear punishment from our Father or we may not be rewarded with eternal happiness, but because we know in our hearts that it is the right thing to do.

I have never been able to discuss this journey or my beliefs with anyone other than Carl. The fear that I would offend my friends and family weighed so heavily on me that I've avoided this subject as best as I could for many years. I did not know how to explain my choice while trying to show that I also respect everyone for the choices they have made in their lives. I fully realize that this is my journey and my conclusions, but I would never be so brazen to suggest that others should believe anything other than what they feel in their hearts is right and true for them. I know that I don't need to explain this decision, but I have truly wanted to for so long. I suppose thinking about my former professor and his teachings made me hope that with knowledge, there could be understanding.

Adventures in self-feeding

The clean-up crew, ready and waiting

18 months

We had William's 18 month check-up last week, and all is well. Stats are: Height: 35.5 in. (99%) and Weight: 29 lbs. (85%).

In other news, William has now graduated to the booster seat. Once he learned how to get out of his high chair, there was no stopping him. For safety's sake, we moved to the booster seat, and he seems to be enjoying his "big boy" status.

This morning, the kids decided to switch seats. So Lily sat in the booster, and William sat on the chair. As long as they are eating, it's fine by me!

Little brothers