Happy birthday, Carl!

 The kids bombarded Carl right when he walked through the door.  They couldn't wait to wish him a happy birthday and show him their handmade cards.

 

 

 

 

 Carl told the kids that he didn't need to make a wish because all his wishes had come true.  Love that guy.

 

 

William had picked out a special card for Carl at the store.  It came with a heroes badge....how fitting for their daddy.

 



Snow day!

 

 Not so sure

 

 Still not convinced

 



Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day.  What's not to love?  A chance to do a mini crafty project (meaning it will actually get finished and not remain in pieces around the house for months) combined with a valid excuse to use puns and clever sayings (I use "clever" loosely here).

 

 "Of all the fish in the sea, you're the one for me!" (with Swedish fish) - how can you resist that one?

 

Cupid's baskets to the kids

Maple Syrup Festival

Who knew that there was an annual maple syrup festival so close to us?  Not me, until this year.  I stumbled upon an ad for this festival while looking for new and exciting hiking trails.  Of course, we had to go check it out.

 

 Lily playing the part of a pioneer woman.

 

 Yummy fresh, warm maple sugar treats

 

 The entire event was free and included the maple sugar treats, pancakes with maple syrup and kettle corn for everyone.  One thing you could never criticize St. Louis for is a lack of free activities for families. 

 

 It was a cold day, but some warm pancakes helped keep us toasty on the inside.

 

 Baby Emilia enjoyed some pancakes while hitching a ride on my back which meant a little extra flair was added to her face, our clothes, and my hair.

 

 

 Flying paper airplanes

 

 Drilling a log

 

 Probably one of the worst face painters ever.  Lily's still rockin' it hard.

 

 Gathered around the fire.  Carl's mom was with us too, but I missed getting a picture with her in it!

 

Lovin' the maple festival.  Ah yeah....

Return of the Lorax

Lily's school put on a wonderful musical program, The Return of the Lorax.  Since this is my blog, I could paint this event any way I want, but in general, I try to be honest and put it out there so.....I am not going to lie.  I cried through the entire thing.  It started as watery eyes that you could probably blame on a fellow audience member's perfume.  It quickly progressed to "man, my allergies are really acting up".  And soon there was no denying that I was headed straight for what Oprah would call "the ugly cry".  This is not the first time that I have been overcome by emotion at a public event (and certainly will not be the last).  The last time that I felt this kind of overwhelming emotion was at Carl's match ceremony.  Since Lily's school put on two performances of this musical, Carl and I agreed to take turns going so that Lily would have someone there for her at each performance.  This meant that I was all by lonesome as I'm sobbing for no apparent reason while other parents are casually chatting about their day in between songs.  I try to give myself mini-pep talks to avoid these emotional public displays but always to no avail.  Seeing Lily on stage as an elementary student was just....well, I tear up just thinking about it.  As you can see above, Lily takes pity on me by giving me the knowing glance.  She gets it.

Lucky Mama

I'm continuing to go through pictures on the computer and add them to the blog as time permits.  Now that Carl and I joined the whippersnappers with their newfangled smart phones, I now have pictures on the phone that I also need to download to the computer and then upload to the blog.  Oh my.  I took these pictures before school one day for no reason whatsoever other than I love taking pictures of my kids.  And it is helpful to look back at the blog and gaze at their smiling faces while Lily screams at William for messing up her latest artistic masterpiece, William adds "big fat butt" onto the end of every sentence, and Emilia whines and clings to my leg as I'm making breakfast because she somehow senses that I'm secretly considering making a break for it, all before 9:00 am.  Okay, so I do like to joke because honestly it gets you through the day.  But in all seriousness, I could not be more proud that these amazing kids call me mom (or big fat butt).

 

 

Louisville

This trip seems like ages ago when in reality, it was just a couple months ago.  This is back when I thought, or rather knew, that we were moving.  One of the very strong contenders was Louisville.  On a Sunday afternoon, Carl was packing up and getting ready to drive to Louisville for his interview.  William and Emilia were sleeping, and I was already missing Carl.  On the spur of the moment, we made the decision to go as a family.  Within a half-hour, the car was packed and all kids were in the car ready to go.  Carl is many things, but spontaneous is not one of the words I would use to describe him so this was a surprise for me.  Little did I know that Carl had more, even bigger surprises in store. 

 

 The kids and I spent the first day at the science museum which was really nice.  We actually spent all our time in the kids' portion.  This museum came highly recommended by everyone.  As in, when I asked anyone what to do in Louisville in the winter, the answer was always, "the science museum".  When I asked what to do beyond the science museum....crickets.  This left a pit in my stomach as I imagined this science museum becoming my second home every winter for the foreseeable future.   The picture above was taken in the bathroom and was highly amusing to our little dino-obsessed boy, and I thought it was pretty funny too.

 

 I love museums that account for younger siblings.  Really, I feel it is a sign of a quality museum when they build a play space for the little ones.  Emmy gave her seal of approval to this one.

 

 Lily is so great at entertaining her siblings, and I just love the way William looks at her with love and admiration.

 

 The museum had some cool features with lots of water elements.

 

 Baby Emmy not looking so much like a baby anymore.

 Kids at play

 

 Our little explorer

 

 Making discoveries

 

 We had to give Lily the full hotel experience with a soak in the tub followed by room service.  She was very comfortable with this arrangement.

 

 Of course, if you are going to Louisville, you have to stop by Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.

 

 One of the best parts of going solo with three little ones is that people take pity on you.  On this particularly cold morning, we got a private tour complete with an up-close visit with a race horse and retired jockey.

 

 To kill a little more time while Carl finished up interviewing on the second day, we stopped by their nature center.  Not really impressive by any measure, but it fit the bill for what we needed that morning: close, indoors, and free.  And just look at those squeezable cheeks on that baby - so precious.

 

The kids enjoyed chasing down the rooster anyway.

 

Overall, it was a nice trip, and I'm so glad that we went.  I'm also so glad that we are staying in St. Louis! :)