Busy Weekend!

It was a busy weekend here.  But not the kind of busy where you feel anxious over everything to be accomplished and hurried from one activity to the next.  It was the kind of busy where every day had an activity and it was fun.

Friday was my first parent-teacher conference at Cedric’s new school and it went well.  Gone are the days when he uses his fingers for guns to shoot peers.  Thank Goodness!  His teacher had lots of encouraging things to say about him, including that she thinks he is gifted in math.  Apparently on day 1 he took this and that and combined them together to make a complex tower of his own accord.  Wow. 

Eli had a play date with Baby Miles (who he shares a birthday with).

That night we had deep dish pizza and wings from Pi and watched the Cardinal’s win the World Series! Go Cards!

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to cheer on Zach and his sister who ran in a 5k. (FYI Zach is holding my coffee – his post run drink was water.)

This was another really fun race experience.  They offer a stroller run/walk and a kids run/walk, which I am tempted to participate in next year.

Way to go guys! We are proud of you!

Sunday we took Cedric, Eli and Cousin Eden to Ghouls in the Garden.  It was a fun, non-scary event where Cedric and Eden had a good time running around in their costumes collecting candy.

This is the face Cedric makes when he is scared (according to him).

I call this one, Dinosaur-Mid Flight.

Here is Super Bunny taking a quick rest on a sheep.

It rained on us a little but Eden enjoyed catching raindrops like snowflakes.

Eli enjoyed watching everything from the stroller.

But wait! That’s not all!  Zach went downtown Sunday afternoon to watch the Cardinal’s World Series victory parade.  Here are some of my favorite pictures he took.

Mark McGuire and sons.  I love that he is taking pictures of us who are taking pictures of him.

Albert and family.

Looking down Market St towards the Arch and a sea of red in support of the Cardinals.  It was a great weekend to live in St Louis.

A New Bike

We are really blessed to live near family. Understatement of the year. Cedric's Uncle Brad and Aunt Sylvia got him a bike, complete with a helmet for his birthday. Cedric has been asking for a "big bike" with a "helmet hat" for a while. So last week at our earliest convenience, we crashed Aunt Stephanie's birthday to go to a park and try out the big boy bike. He did great! Even rode at least 0.5 miles before I called it quits - it was time for lunch and he was really hot.

He started out going slow and cautiously staying with Aunt Steph and Eden.

But before long his confidence was up and he was zooming away.

Eden: "Say-gook! Come back!" And then "Momma, push faster!"

What a hot tired boy but he was so proud to ridden so far all by himself. I can't believe it. Not bad for a newly turned 3 year old. I still have plans to try and convert the bike into a balance bike like this one but for now even riding with training wheels is pretty fun.

The Big 3

Mr Cedric is turning 3 on Friday. When I look back over the last 3 years or even just the last year, I am amazed at how much he has grown. Things things he can do that he couldn't do before; this year he learned to jump, skip, run with speed and agility, use utensils (including a butter knife!), pour liquids unassisted, use the potty, and the list goes on and on. (There is a growth and development post in the near future.)

Saturday, August 14 we celebrated his birthday (early) with his cousin Eden who turned 2 on August 1. My sister-in-law and I thought we would save money and time by combining the parties. We were either laboring under delusions or our love of themed parties with lots of food crowded our our love of frugality.

Except I don't have a love of frugality. Hmm, maybe that was part of the problem....

Anywho, we threw a really fun party for our kids. The grownups stayed up late decorating with Super Grover, Curious George, Elmo, and balloons. Zach and Uncle Peter set up Cedric's big present from us, a train table and wooden train set. It was all ready to go when he woke up and came downstairs. He loved it! You wouldn't know it from the expression on his face but he played with it for 3 hours straight.

Thanks to all our friends and family who came and celebrated with us!

A Birthday Shout Out

I want to send a shout out to my niece Eden who turns 2 years old today! Happy birthday sweet girl! We are looking forward to celebrating with you at your shared birthday party with Cedric in a few days.

Today is also special because Husband is celebrating his 400th month. It sounds like quite the milestone...to be alive for 400 months. He was more impressed that he even realized it. He is celebrating by taking a Sunday afternoon nap and watching an old Godzilla movie on Netflix.

Me? Well I've got some planting to do and I picked up a large bunch of basil at the farmer's market which means I'll be making pesto today. Recipe to come...

An Afternoon with Eden

This beautiful child is my niece. A big perk in traveling to California and suffering with their ridiculously good weather, is getting to spend some quality time with her. But after yesterday, her parents may think long and hard before letting their daughter be alone with me.

You see it started innocently enough. We were hanging out at Paseo, enjoying the seasonably awesome weather when Eden leans over and picks something up. I know this because I'm watching her closely through my new camera lens.

She carries what I assume is a stick or flower or leaf or some other harmless thing towards me. I watch her transfer said object from one hand to another (again through the camera).


She approaches a boy and kindly offers the object to him. With the innocent trust of a child he reaches out his hand to take it.


At this point the boy's father jumps up, yells "No, no!" and swats the object to the ground. Eden is shocked and I am shocked and (finally) pull the camera away from my face. That is when I realize that Eden had picked up a bee (a BEE!) and had carried it, switched hands holding it, and then given it to another child.

I couldn't believe it! I was relieved that there was an adult around to intervene in the situation. Until I remembered, that I am an adult and at the time was The Adult in charge of Eden. Oy!


But we went on to enjoy a lovely day. Complete with bubbles. The End.

P.S. Please think twice before leaving your child in my care.
P.P.S. I'm usually a very responsible grown-up and parent and aunt.
P.P.P.S. Baby Sister, if you're reading this, why don't you call me anymore? Wait, I mean please don't worry about leaving your sweet newborn baby girl, Miss Riley June in my care.