These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago, I just haven’t had a chance to post about them. The city built a new area downtown called The City Garden. It is a really cool area with sculptures and many water play spots. We had a blast and ended up running into my brother and his children unexpectedly which made it even more fun. My sister was also in town with her daughter.

St. Louis was host to the all-star game this year and they have all these little mini arches set up, so we couldn’t help but to take KJ’s photo with one of them.

Can’t get enough of this smile.

We had a great time, I had no idea what to expect when my mom had told me about, but it was so much fun. The best part is that it is free, we will definitely be taking another trip downtown to enjoy it.

Seven years ago today, I married the love of my life, Kyle.  I can still recall our wedding day as if it happened yesterday. I have grown to love my husband more and more each day in the last seven years. In honor of our 7th anniversary I’d like to list seven things I love about him:

1. He loves the Lord.

2. He loves me .

3. He rocks at his job as a youth pastor.

4. He is a great comforter to me.

5. He is an awesome father and spends quality time with our daughter.

6. He gets along great with my family.

7. My heart sometimes still flutters when I  see him.

I love you Kyle and thank you for being such a wonderful husband to me the last seven years, looking forward to growing old together.

You never know what words may follow after that statement from my child’s mouth. Well, tonight it was something  I can’t believe she actually asked. She was in the bathtub and I had stepped out for a second. I came back in and she uttered the words, “Mommy, is it okay if you go potty in the bathtub?” I couldn’t believe what she had said. I said, “Why, did you?” Her response was, “No, but is it okay if you do?” I said, “Kenedee, you’re not in trouble if you did, but did you accidentally?” Her response: “Yes Mommy, but it was an accident.” I told her even though it was an accident that it was still yucky and that’s why she should try and go potty before taking a bath. I suppose it was better it was “titi” ( as we call it) rather than the other.

Kenedee has been away from us since Sunday on a camping trip with my parents. Kyle and I definitely took advantage of that and have been able to just hang out and do whatever we’ve wanted the past few days which has been great. We’ve spent time outdoors, gone out to eat, slept in…

Our first “outing” was on Sunday evening. We cleaned our bikes off, went to Creve Couer Park and went on a 4 mile bike road. I was pretty proud of myself, I didn’t have to stop and have Kyle drive and pick me up because I couldn’t go on. (which has happened before, not too long after we got married)

On Monday night, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed to Forest Park. We had a picnic dinner and just sat around and talked.

This was by where we had our picnic. I think that might be the art museum in the background.

While I definitely enjoyed all my alone time with my hubby and it was a nice reminder of what life was like before KJ, I’m still so thankful we have her in our life. I can’t imagine life without her.  I miss her so much and can’t wait to squeeze her and kiss her when she arrives home today.

We  just completed KJ’s fourth swim lesson yesterday and she is doing wonderful. I wasn’t so sure how well it was going to go since the first week she broke down in tears. But she loves her teacher Miss Jamie and she even went under the water a little bit last night all on her own. We’re so proud of her.

The session mostly consists of going back and forth across the pool with the instructor while kicking either on her back or stomach. She enjoys it, I just hope her love for the water carries on through the years.

It has been blazing hot here this week. The kind of heat that you have to almost catch your breath the minute you step outside. We’ve tried to keep cool going to the pool. Kenedee has even caught on. In fact, I have to agree with her statement she made yesterday while driving in the car. “Mommy it’s hot, I don’t like it when it’s hot. I want to go back to California where it’s cold (meaning not as hot as it is here).” Amen to that!

When our nephew was over the other day we all went bowling. He had never been in his 11 years of life, we were very excited to be able to go with him for the first time, plus we had passes to bowl 4 free games so all we had to pay for was our shoe rental.

He did pretty well for it being his first time.

She was so focused on making sure the ramp was straight in line, and of course what girl can bowl without a pink ball?

Yes, you’re seeing this right. The 1st “K” with a score of 103 is KJ’s score and notice my score of 84. Although, not to make excuses, but she did have the advantage of the ramp and bumpers. I’m okay with that though, it was still fun.

 

Kyle and I had the opportunity to watch some of our friend’s children the other night. We also had my nephew over to spend the night. So, we were able to experience what it was like having four children. (ages 18mon, 3 1/2, 4 1/2, and 11)

We even had the our friend’s minivan that we used, which really added to the experience. I had to run into Walgreens to grab something so we decided to take all the children with us to see what it was like.

Thankfully we had our eleven year old nephew with us, he was a huge help. I suppose that is what larger families do, they lean on the older ones to help out with things. It really wasn’t that bad having four kids around, of course it was only for about an hour, I suppose it would be much different if that was life everyday.

 

Saw this the other day, made me laugh.

I have a new found love, for a particular peanut butter that is. I heard my friends talk about this a few months ago and would eye it every time I went to the store. I wouldn’t buy it though because I couldn’t justify spending $5 on a jar of peanut butter, even if it was White Chocolate Wonderful. Well, I finally gave in last week and it’s worth every penny I must say. It’s so good on bananas, graham crackers, or just a spoonful by itself. If you can find it, I urge  you to try it. If they don’t carry it in you local store, you can go here and order it. It’s so yummy!