Overextended

It's official - I have way tooo much on my plate right now.

So much so that this is all I'm going to post except to announce that my sister Stephanie helped us pick a name for the girl kitty...we're calling her Roxie.

We've adopted 2 new babies!!!

I came home yesterday from work to be greeted by 2 new babies!! For those of you who are cringing right now - know that I really was ready for them. So soft and furry, already litter trained, and rapidly adjusting to their new home.


I have a whole history of lovely pets and many of them we have lost over the last 5 years. Our remaining animal (prior to the new arrivals) was Sammy, Wayne's long time cat. But she is aging on us and has a lump in her belly that could prove to be her demise. We don't know what it is (we can't afford the thousands of dollars to find out) but know that at 13 years old she may not be around much longer. I cannot bear the idea of an empty home (animal-wise).

So the arrival of our new babies. They are brother and sister (gray is a girl, orange is a boy). This kids have named the orange one Milo. I need your help here though...I cannot for the life of me come up with a name for the gray one. She has orange paws and a gray body, an adorable face and bright eyes. She quite timid and counts on her brother for her adventure. Any suggestions? I can use all the help I can get...let me know your thoughts and ideas!

My vehicles...

I think I have to start this post with a fact: I'm fairly certain that I must be putting out an electrical current that destroys vehicles. That's the only thing that I can come up with to explain the following:

I owned my first vehicle, purchased by my own money, in the summer prior to my 17th birthday. Within the few years of owning it, I found out that it's previous owner had carried a slaughtered goat from Columbia, MO to Chicago in the back of it. Yielding a horrible smell that never left the vehicle. I was also struck on 3 different sides of the car by another car (never my fault) in the less than 3 years I owned it. It was an awful Plymouth Horizon hatchback.

In college, I was working full time and managed to swing the payments on a fancy, green Mitsubishi Eclipse. My college boyfriend managed to wreck that vehicle for me.

After the Eclipse, I purchased another sporty gold Mazda MX6. I loved that car to pieces until an 18 wheeler peeled it like a banana (with Wayne and I in it) in Seattle. No joke on this accident - we were literally sitting in the right turn lane at a light and an 18 wheeler turned right around us (sort of).

Ohhhhh, I loved loved loved my next car. A beautiful, fast, wonderful Audi A6. The nicest vehicle I will probably ever own. I delighted in that vehicle until I had to down-size (for the best of reasons) into a Saturn LS 4-door. Now nothing bad happened to this vehicle except for the internal debate I had over giving it up. I traded it in for a career that I truly love and 2 beautiful children, but at the time, it seemed like giving away a part of me.

On to the Saturn, the absolutely worst vehicle I have ever driven. Now Wayne drove it for some time without a lick of trouble (hence the theory that it's me that causes the problem). But once I started to drive it, the darn thing broke constantly! I mean ALL THE TIME. It was never the same problem - always something different. It was towed because of breaking down on more than one occasion. We were paying a tiny car payment on it, but it was costing us a fortune to drive it, so we bit the bullet and bought a car with a higher payment but less troubles.

I love my Nissan Murano. I have lusted after this vehicle since we traded the Audi away years ago. I have now owned it since just March of this year (bought it used). It just rolled over 30,000 miles. I have already had a fender bender in it (just a minor one), and then here's the story I'm working up to...

I was hosting a jewelry party on Wednesday for my lovely friend Dede. It was going to be a small group party, but I needed to pick up a few things to serve for the party. Some appetizers and wine. Around 6 pm Tuesday night the kids and I ran over to Dierbergs to put up some groceries. We come back out with the food and sure enough - my car won't start. So here I am in the parking lot with my hood up and not a SOUL asks me if I need any help. I'm trying to flag folks down to get someone to help me with no success. I finally con the cart girl to send someone out from the grocery store to try to give me a jump. It doesn't work! Then I realize that I have no cell phone with me (I left it at home like a genius). So the kids and I hoof it back to our house with refrigerated groceries in our arms. It's not a bad walk but not as much fun when it's near bedtime and hauling food. Grace worked to make the best of it - picking flowers all along the way home until she couldn't hold anymore.

The end result - my vehicle with only 30,000 miles on it had the fuel pump fail. It's so rare in this car that they had to order a part at the dealership from out of town for it! I'm telling you...cars and I don't mix...if you're smart - you'll never let me drive your vehicle. Thank God that I purchased the extended warranty on the vehicle - it may be our saving grace.

Another Busy Weekend

Sooo, where do I begin?

Friday night we went to a bible study with some friends and the kids played like maniacs until they fell asleep on the way home (I almost did as well). We also had at home "Champ," a six month old puppy who we dog-sat over the weekend. What a sweet, sweet pup. He's a Shepard mix (something we've had bad experience with in the past), but well trained and fun, the kids really had fun with him this weekend.

I think the dog was sort of a test to see whether or not we are dog ready. This was an exceptional pup, but my vote would be that I am not ready for a dog. The rest of the family would do fine but I just don't want an animal which we have to find a way to cart to family homes over the holidays or find a place to stay. I'm not ready for getting up early or staying up late to take care of them. I'm not ready to not attend something or to leave somewhere early because we have a dog that needs to go outside to go to the bathroom. I know that the kids would love it (they loved him this weekend) and Wayne would love it (he enjoyed the pup as well), but I'm just not looking for more responsibility right now. I think time will help me come around, but I'm hoping to talk Wayne into a couple of low maintenance kittens for awhile. I'd post a pup picture but we only took one and it's too dark to post.

Also, this weekend, my sister and brother-in-law came up to visit James for his birthday. We had lots of time to spend together and really enjoyed their company. They gave James a soccer ball for his birthday and he hasn't parted with it since he got it (he wanted to take it to bed with him tonight).

We watched a disappointing loss for Mizzou together last night and just hung out (what a nice break for me).

Then today we skipped out on church (something we don't do alot) and headed out to the Botanical Garden with the kids and my sis/BIL. Another beautiful day outside, we played in the fountains, walked through the Climatron, played in the kids area and rode on the tram (there's so much of the Garden that I need to see one day without the children in tow - the tram showed us parts that I've never even come close to). Below are a few shots from there, they have some amazing statues on display right now. If you're in St Louis - try to get there before the end of the month. I really could elaborate a lot more but quite frankly - I'm exhausted and I want to go to bed early.

Thies Farm - Pumpkinland

I love the fall. I really, really love the fall. The weather starts cooling and I want to hunker into the house with PJs and apple cider. Since having children - the visit to the pumpkin patch has really become something that I look forward to every year.

Today we went out to Thies Farm's Pumpkinland. They had an enormous play area made of straw with lots of activities for the kiddos to do. We started out with a straw maze including slides and a flag pole to slide down. It was very creative and fun for the kids to walk through.

Then we went to various places to swing including a sliding swing that Grace went on several times. (Grandmas - I have video of this that I could try to email to you).

Then we piled all the MomnMe moms, dads and kids into the tractor pull all through the farm. You can see our wild crew here.

The weather was again stunning and we had a great time. I am so blessed to have found this group, I really enjoy everyone and feel like I have made friends that I will hold for a lifetime. I also have to say just how lucky I am to get to spend this much time with my babies. It won't be long before they don't want me around and their busy with sports or homework or anything but me. What a blessing to have days like these!

James is 3 today!!

3 years ago today my little boy was born! I'm excited and sad to see him grow. We had a little birthday with grandparents only today and it was a lovely time. I'm not going to elaborate much but here's some video and pictures of the day.

He's an amazing kid with a huge stubborn streak (I wonder where he gets that). He's gorgeous (I know I'm biased) and sweet.

Happy Birthday James!!





















Here's the video of him blowing out candles on his cake:

City Museum

So I have a rare Saturday off (I switched with someone just to have some time with the family), and we decided to venture into downtown St Louis to check out the City Museum. I've been told many times about what a cool place it is and was excited to go.

Part of me says it's sad that I've never been here, but I think I would not have appreciated it as much without the kids and especially if they had been smaller. I think they were at the perfect age to check out this place for the first time.

James is just beginning to be a good climber and as you'll see from the pictures, that's pretty important here.



Below is Grace and I climbing way up in the sky. This was one of the most difficult things I have done is some time. Way up in the air, tiny spaces (thank God that I've lost some weight or I wouldn't have fit in lots of these spaces). In the picture to the left below I had to balance on pipes angled like a rooftop and shove Grace into a tiny opening. When we made it this far she said "I can't make it through the hole....let's go back down" but there was no way out but up. I must mention that I'm a little afraid of heights...making it that much more exciting. My heart was racing when we finished this.


























Above and below are the kiddos climbing a tangled mass of branches. James was far up and I'm so proud that he's trying things like this!



This is truly an amazing place, the City Museum, the whole building is made of recycled things. If you are someone from out of town reading this, you must check out their website for a full perspective on how amazing the building is.



Check out their site at http://www.citymuseum.org/phototour.html



We'll definitely be back - it will only get more fun and the kids get bigger. The only down side is that I can already tell that I'm going to be sore. My arms/calves/knees are a bit worse for the wear!

My first bloggy award!

I received my first bloggy award from my sweet friend Elizabeth. The only downside to this award is that I'm supposed to pass it on to 5 others!

I received the award almost 2 weeks ago but didn't know who to pass it on to! Unfortunately, I am so new to this that I don't know 5 other blogsites to reward it to, so I'll introduce you to the few that I do:

My first one HAS to go back to Elizabeth, because she inspired me to do this to begin with. She's a fantastic writer and I love to read her stuff, you'll love her even if you don't know her. Check out her blog, Six Golden Coins.

My next goes to Danielle, she has a light, uplifting blog about her family and child-raising. She gave me the best suggestions ever about helping James with his eczema. Make sure you see Extraordinary Mommy.

I'd have to list, Sarah, a new friend and a calm presence that I always enjoy having around. Check out her blog, Life in the Burbs.

Unfortunately, that's it for me! I have a few single friends with MySpace pages, but they're too crazy to list!!