Ballwin Days

The town next to us has a festival every summer, and we have yet to miss one.  This has become our St. Louis equivalent of the "Taste of Baltimore" which we attended every year we lived there.  Lily was definitely more interested in playing games to win prizes rather than going on the rides, but she did enjoy the swings.

William, on the other hand, loved all the rides.  He is a fan of all transportation in general, so he was in his glory on the helicopter, motorcycle, and plane rides.  (And please overlook the fro here; it has since been cut so that he no longer has to endure the embarrassment of people mistaking him for Mr. Kotter.)

But, hands down, the "Jumpin Star" was the favorite of both Lily and William.  I was worried that William would be terrified once he was actually on the ride, but he loved it!  He surprises us all the time by his likes/dislikes.  For example, just today we went to The Butterfly House, and he was so afraid of the chrysalis.  Who would have guessed?  In fact, "scary" was one of his first words (first used when he saw/heard a dumpster being unloaded into a garbage truck).  I have to admit though that I don't mind the extra reassuring cuddles required when something is "scary".

 The festival is held in a beautiful park, and Lily & William took a quiet moment at the end to enjoy the water (one of the very few quiet moments of the day).

Oh, and we wouldn't want to leave out our Emmy baby.  Adorable and happy as always.



Donut Day!

Krispy Kreme offers free donuts on National Donut Day, and I thought, "Why not?"  Lily and William were quite pleased with the outing.  I'm not sure Emmy was quite so excited.  Next year, munchkin!

We have never visited Krispy Kreme before, and it fun for the kids to see the donuts in the making.

Happy girl

We had to head to the park later that day to work off those donuts!   William is so tall that he is able to navigate most of the playground equipment now.  Even better, he is able to stand with no problem in the pool which is just awesome.  We have been at the pool so much this summer, and we are loving it!  In fact, we are going again this afternoon.  Maybe I'll try to get some pics while we're there.

 My big girl Lily

My stinkypot William 

Lily with her lilypad

Father's Day 2012

Morning at the park 

Lily with Papa at Aunt Kathy's house 

Grandpa at bat.  Ninety years old and still going strong! 

 William with cousins Abby & Nick

Mom with her sisters, Kathy & Chris

Yes, I've been on hiatus for a while for no reason in particular, just busy with life.  If you think this Father's Day post is late, just know that I have pictures from November of last year that I have not yet posted - yikes!  I will try to get some pictures of sweet (8-month-old!) baby Emilia up soon.  The summer is our biggest time of transition since Lily, Carl and I all operate by the school year calendar.  But Lily is now done with summer camp, my summer class has ended and Carl is officially a FELLOW!  We have been thoroughly enjoying the summer despite the high temps, and I have a lot more pictures to come!

So happy together

Farewell (almost) to residency!

Carl has about a month and a half left of residency which is just unbelievable.  What a journey this has been!  The Pathology program had their end of the year party to say good-bye to the residents and fellows leaving the program.  Carl will be switching hospitals for his fellowship so this is the end of the line for us.  We are looking forward to new adventures and friendships ahead.  In fact, we will be attending a meet & greet party for the next placement this coming weekend.  But the best part is that we don't have to say good-bye to the very good friends we have made through our affiliation with his current hospital since we are staying in St. Louis - yay!!

 Carl at work

Carl at play

Happy Mother's Day!



Summer fun

Summer fun in April/May, you ask?  Okay, maybe you didn't ask, but the answer is yes!  With temps in the 90s the past couple weeks, we feel like we have already hit the summer season.  We have been doing a ton of outdoor activities lately despite the heat, but I am happy that the rest of the week will be in the 70s - much more pleasant!  The pictures below are from last week when William and I decided (well, maybe I decided and William went along) to make a river with some aluminum foil and the hose.  The design was definitely flawed, but I'm having fun dreaming up some new approaches to this and other outdoor activities in the near future. 

Laundry room makeover

The laundry room: one big, messy closet

Yucky shelves removed

New paint job - thanks to my ever-patient and understanding husband

My updated and oh-so-me laundry room

The most exciting part of any project (and the thing that always makes me question why I did not do this sooner) is using things that we had around already. We found the cabinet downstairs. I think the previous owners may have ordered too many or changed their mind when ordering the kitchen cabinets?? So I painted it white and added the knobs, and my dad hung it for us. I also found an old mirror and painted that white and hung it. I had the baskets and added some leftover ribbon from a previous project. The candlesticks were gifts from Carl's grandparents and needed a home when not in use. Then we used picture frames from my sister and Carl's sister to display two of my very favorite pictures. All in all, I'm happy with the way it came together. Thanks to my dad who also hung the new light fixture and fixed/reattached the closet door across from the washer & dryer. Thank goodness for dads who know their stuff!