July Highlights

This has been a busy month! StL weather has been remarkable; the first non-miserable summer we have had here. We were able to be outside almost every day and spent a lot of time hanging out with friends.

For Independence Day, we watched fireworks from our house and did some of our own.  This is the first year we didn't make the parade.  They moved everything to Forest Park and all parking was offsite; I didn't think the kids would be able to handle the long walks.  I also didn't think I would be able to handle the long lines waiting for a bus to commute into the park!

As a late Father's Day present, I built a fire pit for Tyler.  Our un-level yard proved to be a nuisance again!  But sitting around the fire eating s'mores with the kids made it worth it. Tyler and the girls also set up the tent and camped out for the night.  Z. and I took the less adventurous road and slept in the comfort of our own beds!

On S's 7th birthday, she wanted to go to a workshop and build a bug house.  She is so easy to please!

The day after her birthday she wanted to wear this dress to church.  Formally her Aunt Holly's dress, circa 1990.  Now we just need to teach her how to clog!

For her birthday party, she wanted to big soccer game in the common area behind our house.  It was so hot that day!  It was also very warm in our house and I attributed it to the 20+ people in it.  However, after everyone went home that night I realized that four of the five vents on our first floor were closed.  (Sorry everybody!)

Instead of little pizzas from Pizza Hut, we do a reading program through Six Flags where the kids earn free tickets.  Just Z, S, and I went and we had a blast.  The wave pool was a favorite, along with the log flume, shazaam, and the Scooby Doo ride.  The lines were so short that we were able to ride all of our favorites at least twice.

My attempt to get a group shot at a park.  This really is the best one I could get!

Hanging out with friends at a going-away party.

S. with her best friend.  Even with mouths full of pizza, they are so cute.

Hanging out with my senior year college roommates.  It was so nice to catch up with them.

I was able to spend some time with my good friends Kristina and Jenny.  Kristina and I sat at a picnic table and talked for six hours.  What did the kids do that whole time?  They found plenty to keep busy!

In the midst of a major toy clean up, S. tried to see how tall she could build a tower without it falling over.

Good news from this month: N doesn't need glasses!  (At least, not yet.)  I was so incredibly glad.   And bad news from this month: S broke her left arm on July 31. Here she is after we received the news from the doctor.  =(

June Highlights

My, how time flies when you have four kids!  I just realized that it has been more than two years since I have blogged  ... and I still blame Facebook for my demise.  However, I am hoping to start back up with a picture-heavy post every month to help us stay better connected with family.  To kick it off, here are highlights from June.

What is the start of summer without some water?  We went to a BBQ/swimming party with friends and Z had a couple of buddies over for a sleepover and slip-and-slide.

We were invited to explore the botanical gardens with friends.  Typically I try to avoid the gardens because of my newly-acquired StL allergies, but this year hasn't been as bad.  This was the first time we have been in their children's garden and it was really cool.  To our local friends, I highly recommend it!

Z and S love being outside, digging up worms, catching creepy crawlies, and playing with toads.  Here is their record-long catch.  Ewwww!  Oh yeah, and the really big news for the month is Z got a haircut!

Actually, there is another major happening from June.  S and P both had to get glasses. S is far-sighted.  P is near-sighted.  Thankfully, neither of them have the same eye condition as Z.  N is scheduled to see the eye doctor next week, so stay tuned for whether or not we are 4-of-4 in this department!  Here the girls are in their new glasses at Grant's Farm.  (After running through sprinklers, I tried to get a good group pic but I couldn't stop N from photo-bombing. She is a nut!)

We took the kids fishing--a first for P and N.  Everyone caught at least one, except for N, and I managed to not touch a worm the whole time.  :)  After P caught her fish, she screamed and almost threw the pole back in the water because, "The fish got slime on me!"  Surprise, surprise, she also did not touch a worm.  She is definitely our daintier one!  (Side story: She cried before we left to go fishing because she wanted to go to the store first and buy some "polka-dotted fishing shoes" to match her dress.)

In non-kid related news, we have been working on getting the house ready to potentially sell.  We met with a Realtor and are finishing up remodeling projects.  When we bought our house as a foreclosure, we said that the first thing to go would be the bright blue countertops.  Well, five years later and we finally got rid of them!  Hard to see in the main pic, but we choose a speckled design of neutral colors.  The old bar was drywalled in, so we have some repair work to do there.

Finally, I spent some devoted time this month updating CarePoint's website.  As all webbies will attest to, there is always more to do.  But this round I condensed their therapist page by putting their bios in pop-ups and integrated their online system.  Now new clients can fill out all their paperwork online and existing clients can schedule appointments. Check out the recent changes!

Back to baby gates!

I can speculate what many of you are thinking ... "Baby #5 must be on the way!" However, death--rather than birth--is bringing us back around to adorning our stairwells with baby gates.

Back in January our 9-year-old dog started getting sick. Really sick. Over the course of only seven hours he vomited almost 20 times and then began squirting blood out the other end of his body. It was not pretty. Honestly, it looked like someone had slaughtered a small animal in the house. The vet couldn't pinpoint what was causing any of it. Congestive heart failure? Liver failure? A tumor in his pancreas? Administering four medicines to him four times a day over the course of a month, I thought I had nursed him back to health. That is, until this past weekend.

More puking. More blood squirting out the other end. And that is where the baby gates are coming back into action--hopefully saving myself from cleaning more unspeakables out of our carpet! I just started mentioning in passing to the kids this afternoon that the dog is sick, be gentle with him, let him lay down, etc. Eventually Z picked up on it and said, "He's probably dying." I was surprised that he didn't sound sad when he said it; it was very factual. Our next steps for him would either be surgery or to put him down. Surgery isn't in the plan. So my hope is that he either gets better or Tyler will be home to take him to his final visit to the vet.

So, here's to Chester! The one and only post I have ever dedicated to our dog!

So it IS possible ...

... to sleep while standing up!