Family Visit to KC

I decided last month that we needed to take a family road trip somewhere to regroup and just have some fun! So, I called up my friends Liz and Sarah in Kansas City and asked if we could come stay and visit. We actually went a couple weeks ago, but we've been sick, so not much is getting done around this house! It was a perfect visit and such an easy trip for us. The girls finally got to use the double DVD player for the car and boy, those things rock! We heard laughing all the way there :-)We stayed at our friends, Paul & Sarah's place on the KS side. They have a 14 month old girl, Mimi, who I was so glad that my girls met. They all had a ball together, from playing on Mimi's swing set to splashing around in the sprinkler. On Saturday, we hooked up with our friends, Liz, Jimmy and their son, Garrett to venture to the Deanna Rose Farmstead in Overland Park, KS. It was so fun to see this depiction of a turn-of-the-century farm and schoolhouse. There was baby goat feeding, mining for gold, fishing, pony rides...you name it! I think Mimi and Piper just enjoyed watching the chickens! It was very interesting and we couldn't have asked for better weather. After spending all morning running and playing, we walked to a nearby park pavilion with a playground and had lunch, thanks to Jimmy & Liz for stuffing our faces! Since the girls needed some nap time, we headed back to Sarah & Paul's for some R&R, which included the girls all putting on their pseudo-swim attire to brave the cold water from the hose. They played in Mimi's cute little splash mat and ran around like little chickens without heads!
After getting cleaned up, Liz, Jimmy & Garrett joined us again (bringing the Wii-fun!) for some BBQ pork steaks and beers. It was so laid back and wonderful to visit with my good friends. The kids played, ran around the yard and we even got some dance time with Garrett on the Wii! Also, as an added bonus, other friends from college just happened to be in the area and came to join us for a drink and some Wii time! It was so much fun and I'm so glad they got to meet Miss Emaline (Piper was already down for the count at that point!). Then to bed and up early the next morning to make the drive back to STL so Josh could be at work at 3pm. It was a fantastic weekend and I wish we could've stayed a little longer. Can't wait to visit again! Thanks to Paul & Sarah for hosting and to Liz &Jimmy for driving out to meet us! Wish you guys lived next door....

You can see all our pictures of that weekend, plus more of May here.

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.

Happy Easter 2010!

We had some low-key happenings here at the Little household for Easter weekend and I couldn't have wanted it any other way. We started out dying eggs at Nana & Pepere's house on Friday afternoon and used a very crazy spinning decorator that Nana purchased. Basically got dye everywhere! Not so sure where those pictures are...I think we got a little crazy with the colors!

Saturday, Stephani and I decided to take the girls to the Annual Ballwin Easter Egg hunt at Vlasis Park. It was a little chillier than expected, but we prevailed with 4-5 eggs each for the little ones. They were filled with candy that Piper couldn't eat anyways, so Em and Kaya each got a few extras. It happened VERY quickly and was over in a matter of minutes. It was a great experience for the girls and I'm glad they were on their best behavior and didn't mow anyone over for cheap plastic eggs. :-) We then headed back to the car and went to see How to Train Your Dragon at the movies. Wow, that was a fun experience as well and quite honestly, I thought we would have had to leave the theater sooner, but the girls were entertained for almost all of it. It was very cute and can't wait to see the ending... Then the girls and I headed home for a nap and then decided to keep the girl fest going and ordered pizzas at Aunt Stephy's house and a movie. Thanks for a fun day Aunt Steph and Kaya!Sunday, after opening up Easter baskets at home, we headed to my Mom & Dad's in the early afternoon for an egg hunt on their front lawn and ham/turkey for lunch. It was beautiful out and couldn't have asked for a better day! In the late afternoon we headed to Josh's parents for dinner and the girls spent some fun time in the backyard with their cousin, Uncles and Aunts. Josh got to also join us for a little bit before he had to head to work. It was really an awesome weather and we look forward to the warmer weather and summertime right around the corner!
See all the pictures from the weekend here.

Birthday Weekend!

This past weekend was quite a busy one! We had two birthdays and an anniversary packed into it. First, we celebrated Kaya's second birthday on Friday at Chuck E. Cheese and it was great to see the kids let loose and run wild! Kaya actually got a little stuck, either that or she didn't want to come down, in the crawly tubes above us. I had to bribe Emaline with tokens to climb up there and bring her down :-) We chowed down on pizza and super cupcakes that Nana made and danced with a big mouse. The perfect start to any weekend, right?

Piper enjoying some time on the horse game!

Me and Em having a showdown on the air hockey table!

Emaline and Kaya taking a ride on the "virtual" coaster.

Enjoying Nana's super chocolate cupcakes!

Then on Saturday, we all wished my Mom a Happy Birthday at Kaya's birthday party! We had a great time at the dinosaur themed bash that Stephani did a great job putting together. All the dino decorations and favors were awesome and the kids really enjoyed it. There was a bouncy house outside (thanks to Christine for always rotating with us!) that Em went nuts in and good Italian fare inside. Stephani made an awesome #2 dino cake and sweet dinosaur cupcakes, so impressed! The kids roared their little hearts out every time someone pretended to be a dinosaur. It was fun to see Kaya get so excited about her special day and open some really great presents! Best of all was a giant sized electronic dinosaur that Steph and Adham found for a steal on the internet! Then Nana & Pepere got her a brand new kitchen to cook us all food in ;-)

Super sweet dino cupcakes!

Kaya embracing her many dinosaur toys...

All the kids helping to uncover the new kitchen!

Emaline and Karly taking turns on the new Dino Ride!

Me and our friend, Charlotte, pretending to be dinosaurs.

On Sunday night we finally celebrated Nana's birthday with her on a little family outing to Red Robin for some tasty burgers and shakes. I think we all enjoyed being with her and thankfully, Josh got to spend all weekend with us cause he just happened to be off! I love those weekends. Did I mention that Nana & Pepere's 33rd Anniversary was also on Friday?? What a way to enjoy it, running around with screaming kids! No...they enjoyed every minute of it. Mom & Dad, you really are exceptional parents and grandparents. None of our wonderful family would be here if it weren't for you. We love you!

St. Patrick's Day 2010

Me and the girls decided to take a day off and enjoy the fun of the Dogtown St. Patrick's Day Parade. My friend Maggie happens to live in Dogtown and invited us down to watch the parade with her and her family and I'm so glad we did! The weather was unbelievably perfect for the event and I think the girls enjoyed it immensely! We saw plenty of Irish dancing, bagpipers and leprechauns! Hopefully we can make this something we do annually because I know they really enjoy catching all the beads and candy :-)

Thanks again to the Mackies for hosting and welcoming us to their home with corned beef & cabbage and all the fixings (plus green cupcakes for Joey's birthday!).

Free digital greeting card created with Smilebox

Piper's One Year Photo Shoot

We finally had some pictures of Piper taken of just herself last week in honor of her birthday and I think she did a great job. I also think that John, our photographer did a great job showcasing her warm smile and sparkle in her eyes. She is quite honestly one of the happiest kids I know. I love her big toothy grin and that little dimple on her right side that comes out when she truly smiles. I am never disappointed with John's work and am glad that I am friends with him and his wonderful wife. I knew I went to work at Pottery Barn for a reason! :-) (I appreciate going through his wonderful thing we call motherhood with you Sara!) Well enough talk...I'll just showcase some of the pics. Enjoy!

Photos by John Fedele.