Little Family BBQ and Kickball

Josh's sisters and cousins decided that we needed an annual get together, kinda like a family reunion, so that we could at least see each other and make sure the kids all get to know one another. Such a fantastic idea, since all of us are so busy trying to live our lives, we kinda forget to make plans with each other! Deer Creek Park is the setting for this event and its the same park that they used to go to when they were kids with their grandmother. It is complete with pavilions, a huge playground (including a sandbox and rocket ship slide) and kickball fields. I think everyone had a great time (even after we had to declare ownership to our paid for BBQ grills!-its a long story). The younger kiddos really enjoyed the playground and everyone else had a blast playing kickball. Definitely worth it! Next year we'll have t-shirts printed up :-)

Happy Mother's Day!

The day started out with us having brunch at Nana & Pepere's house, where I made lovely cheesy potatoes, and everyone made: banana french toast, cheese and zucchini quiche, shrimp cocktail, sun dried tomato & mozzarella salad, mimosas and brownies for dessert. It was quite a spread and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. We sat around in food comas for a while, then put the kids to bed for a mini nap. After nap time, Emaline and Piper decided to get in some of the first jacuzzi/pool time of the summer. Then Dad saw how fun it was, he jumped in too. Mom got to relax and get some sun bathing time in!
After drying out and getting dressed, we ventured over to Josh's parent's house to pick up his mom and take her out to dinner. We went to our local Outback and enjoyed a really nice meal! Unfortunately, Josh's dad wasn't able to join us cause he had to get back on the road after being at home on the weekend. We then went back to Audrey's house to have some dessert of ice cream and magic shell :-) It was good to visit with everyone and get to spend some quality time together. The kids absolutely love it!
Thanks to Josh and the girls for my great new chair for my office/craft room! It is really nice and I won't have any back problems...now just have to get a worktable to go along with it!

Dino Quest at Missouri Botanical Garden

While Uncle Mark and Memere were here, we decided to take Memere on a trip to the Missouri Botanical Gardens for DinoQuest! An exhibit they have with plants and climate that were most likely similar to when the dinosaurs ruled the earth. It was pretty exciting for the kids to see the replicas of the dinosaurs they have learned so much about watching Dinosaur Train on PBS Kids. Everytime Piper would see a new one, her and Kaya would roar the appropriate roar. The plants and flowers were absolutely beautiful and there was a lot to learn! Inside the exhibit the children got to dig for dinosaur bones, read dinosaur books and pretend to play at the 'dino cafe'. We saw a T-Rex, Pterodactyls, and even "Micro" Raptors! It was a great experience for the kids and also to take advantage of the wonderful weather at the Garden.

We walked around afterward and fed the koi fish at the large pond near the Japanese garden, the kids thought that was so cool! Click here to see all the pictures from the day.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

We spent a very low key Cinco de Mayo at my parents' house again and decided to wear all our festive shirts and dresses. The girls have to know something about their Mexican heritage, don't they? (Cause no one will know by looking at them...) We spent the majority of the afternoon outside playing and then came in for some chile relleños, rice/beans, guacamole and chips and a little Coronita to go with it. ¡Muy delicioso! Piper in her embroidered dress.

Memere & Uncle Mark's Visit!

After one delay already and a spring snowstorm in UT, my Memere (grandma) and Uncle Mark made it to Missouri! I'm so glad that she finally got to meet both Piper and Kellen. Two more great-grandchildren! We didn't do anything too crazy, just one visit to the Botanical Garden to see the Dino exhibit and then plenty of time at my parents' house to play and visit. Memere got to see the kids run and play and just get to know their little personalities! It was so great to see her because we don't get to CA too often. (Although, we are trying to plan a visit in October for my sister's 30th!) Uncle Mark and Pepere got to take in a game at Busch and we surprisingly had great weather! :-) I'm just so grateful for them making the haul out here to spend some time with us. It is hard when we live so far apart to make sure the kids get to know all their family and we are definitely going to try to get to CA this year! Wish us luck...
Thanks for coming and experiencing our chaos Memere! See you soon :-)

p.s. I'll add more pics off Aunt Stephy's camera later.