Week with Mary and Katie

These pictures are far overdue, but better late than never I suppose! They are from our whirlwind week in June when Mary and Katie came to visit. We packed so many activities in that one week that everyone was exhausted by the end and needed a vacation to recover from the vacation. Included among our activities were: a trip to Missouri Botanical Gardens, two trips to the pool, a "Mad Science" program, a ducky program at the library, a picnic lunch at Faust Park, a birdwatching program at the nature center, an afternoon at the Magic House, William's naming ceremony, and my cousin Maria's wedding (and Katie's spa birthday celebration which I already posted). It was a lot, but we really had a blast.

So, after only a mere two months, here are the pictures. As you can see, I took the easy way out by creating a slideshow. I also got tired of doing the captions after the fifth picture so Carl volunteered to do the rest (well maybe volunteered would not be as accurate as conned into it). So this is a disclaimer that the majority of captions were created by Carl. Proceed at your own risk.

Make a free digital slideshow

Birthday party #2

Lily's BFF's brother had his 2nd birthday party Saturday evening. He knows how to do it right. He was the only boy amidst 8 little girls, something he'll probably appreciate much more in about 10 years.

The birthday boy

Hangin' with the girls

Mary's Golden Birthday

We had three birthday celebrations this past weekend. The first was for my niece Mary. Mary turned 6 on the 6th this month - wow! We had a very fun "girls only" tea party. The Tea Room that we went to was adorable. The upstairs "attic" was filled to the brim with every imaginable dress-up item for girls (and even adults). The girls got to choose their tea party attire from their endless selection of dresses, gloves, bracelets, necklaces, wands, tiaras/hats, sashes, wings...and the list goes on and on. The girls were in princess fairy heaven!

The girls in one of many combinations of outfits that they had on that afternoon

Mom gets diva-licious

This Yankee-turned-Southerner is right at home at the tea party

Mary opens her presents

Mary beams behind the glow of her teapot birthday cake

Making an extra-special wish

Blowing out the candles

Happy birthday, Mary. May all your dreams and wishes come true.

Dreams fulfilled

As long as I can remember, my dad has been talking about owning a log cabin on a large lot of land in the middle of the country, along with his hunting rifle (with special scope) and his Big Horn Dodge Ram. He is truly a country boy at heart. However, with four kids (spaced 16 years apart), these dreams were put on hold for a long, long time. Finally, after so many years of working so hard, my dad has retired and put his energy into seeing his dreams realized. We stopped by my parents' cabin on their 10 acres on our way back from Jeff City and took a few pictures to share.

The road that they cleared leading up to the pond and cabin.

The stocked pond

The porch of the cabin

The girls standing in front of the cabin. Unfortunately, as I was taking this picture, the key broke off inside the lock! so we were unable to take pictures of the inside. However, I'm sure that we will have a few family get-away weekends in the upcoming months, and I'll take more pictures then.

Congratulations to my mom and dad! After so many years of putting us first, we are so happy that you were finally able to make this long-time wish a reality.

Journey with a Capitol "J"

William, Lily, my mom, and I journeyed to Jefferson City (our state capitol - hence the "Capitol J") on Thursday. Suzanne had a conference there so we met her, Mary and Katie and watched the girls while Suzanne attended meetings. As you can imagine, a political hub (in the middle of nowhere no less) does not exactly have a lot of activities for children. So we spent most of our time at the hotel pool and at the indoor playgrounds in the mall due to the excessive heat.

A shot of the capitol from the road

The girls at the play area in the mall

Mary & Katie

Lily - 4 years, 9 months

William - 9 1/2 months

My big boy at the pool

The girls take a dip

Katie's spa birthday celebration

So, yes, this happened about a month ago now, and I am late in getting these pictures up. The main reason for the delay is that our computer is on its last leg and needs a complete overhaul in order to run faster than a snail's pace. (Thank you to Ryan who has generously loaned us a computer until we get everything off of our computer in an attempt to save it.)

These pictures are actually from Angela's camera. I will try to post pictures from other events during our week with Mary & Katie after I transfer them. It was such a fun week filled with great memories for us all - summer fun at its best!

The girls begin their spa experience with a foot soak and massage in their lush robes

Enjoying some bubbly (grape juice) and candy treats

The nail treatment

Shh...don't tell the daddies - make-up for the girls!!

The birthday girl getting primped and pampered

Our pretty girls

As a bonus, they were also ready for a wedding & reception later that day!