Fourth O' July St. Louis Style

This year we got to spend the Fourth with Chris's mom in Webster...one of my favorite things to do in St. Louis. This is the fourth time we've gotten to go, and its one of the things that made me want to move here. Its very small-town, with big flags on porches, kids in wagons, Ted Drewes custard, small carnival, etc.

thanks grammy!

I took Lily to the Botanical gardens to get a good picture in her new dress for Grammy......but I got nothin'. : ) She had a great time playing with Meli, whom we don't get to see much these days. The only drawback to my new job is that Tiffany(Meli's mom) and I lost our Thursdays together....

On a recent Saturday, Lily and I took the Metro (train & bus) to the zoo. She loved riding it, and I loved not fighting for and paying 10 bucks for a parking spot. I discovered that riding that particular train/bus on a Saturday is a golden opportunity for people watching.....can't beat goofy family from Arkansas' first public transportation experience.



The reason for our trip to the zoo that day was to see the new dinosaur exhibit. Here's Lily digging for dino bones.

Don't mess with me, I'm a crabby crab!

In early June, Chris and I got to go to a fancy-schmancy wedding in Baltimore. Lily got to spend the weekend showing her Nana around St. Louis (just ask my mom about Lily's running commentary while they drove around...)





Somebody went to Baltimore, and all I got was this t-shirt.....Lily has quite a collection of crab-themed sleepware (the kid's a crab!). She also has a collection of snow globes, but they've all been broken. The record holder goes to Baltimore Snowglobe '08, in which small, cheap snowglobe was broken in under 8 minutes.

new job!

some very old, but still important news:

I got a great new job back in May, working for an architecture firm. I'm in heaven, working regular hours, having weekends at home, holidays......otherwise known as a normal adult life! Chris and Lily and I ride to work together, and they drop me off at the train, which means no more sitting in traffic and no gas!

Here is where I work: Mackey Mitchell

African Art Festival

Lily and Meli hanging out with some girls from Ghana.....Kitsi and Amanda. The girls told us there know lots of girls named Amanda, apparently it is a very popular name in Ghana. Now I know where all the popular names of the 70s go....Ghana.





Right before this, we had just seen a large man going through the crowds, with a mask on and on stilts. Lily was terrified of him, and this little girl started talking to Lily.






Lily and Meli timidly playing in the fountains, a few minutes later, they were soaked head to toe and having a blast.

















Lily helping a boy make her 'print'. She got to draw on wax paper, then make a block print.

Niki in the Garden

Last Sunday Lily and I went to the Chinese Festival at the Botanical Gardens. They also have a new exhibit, Niki in the Garden. , which provided the most photo moments! She and I had a great time, seeing Chinese acrobats, Kung Fu, and Tai Chi demonstrations.












Lily doing a great impression of the statue behind her.








Hmmm.....first contender for this year's Christmas card? The inside of this sculpture was amazing, with a glass mosaic of the night sky. You could fit 8-10 adults inside.






Proof that this summer is going to be different....she was terrified of this rope bridge last year!

Lily as a fairy, looking for "little treasures" in the backyard.

Earth Day

We headed out to Forest Park for Earth Day,
hoping to eat some yummy food and have some great people watching. The people watching we got, the food, notsomuch.







This was the highlight of our day.....Lily in the center of a drum circle, getting down. At first she was a little shy, but after a few minutes, her inner hippie came through!

bowling

While at the Lake of the Ozarks, Lily had her first bowling experience. The emergency crew was only called once, when she fell on her ball, but they offered twice... : ) She definitely gets her grace from her mom.

mom, is this, um...a 'cation?

view from our room (beautiful if you can ignore the creepy fact that its man made)








inside the cave, you are seeing the worlds largest onyx formation.














that was Lily's question, during our recent visit to Lake of the Ozarks. While our room was fine (great view of the lake), the food options were dismal and there was nothing at all to do. We only went along with Chris so we could spend 2 days at the indoor waterpark at our resort, only to find out that it was closed for the season. Lily and I bummed around the outlet mall, and went to a cave. She LOVED the cave, politely asking the tour guide lots of good questions.

making some art!

last weekend, Lily and I headed over to the art museum, to see the quilt exhibit. We played a great game throughout the galleries, I'd find something small in a painting and she would have to find it. Her absolute favorites were the mummies, and the furniture exhibits. The best part, for me, was when we were in the modern wing, standing in front of 3 LARGE Pollock-style works, and she kept saying she didn't like them, they were scary. It opened up a great conversation about art and how it makes people happy or sad, just like music. : )

visit with Olivia

this last week was awesome, with Chris' sister and her family coming down to visit. The girls had a great time, and Lily learned lots from her cousin!

easter cookies

Helping Mom shuck corn....in her new cupcake apron.









a rare sighting of Lily with her hair fixed.....








a shot of the mayhem at Tiffany's house, the girls making cookies for easter.






the sugar high from eating too many sprinkles kicking in...








throwing flour at Julianna!

bathtub tunes

overhearing lily in the bathtub singing right now:

"Why am i so ever? so ev--------er. I keep you soooooo high. Its so fervish(?) ever. Shaaampoo in her hair. Clooose your eyes, cloooooose your eyes for meeeeee." Wah Wah Wah with my Nemo with my Nemo".

It continues on, but i'm realizing my writing doesn't give the awesome melody justice. : )

about the husband.....

I posted earlier about Lily's 'husband'. According to her teacher, all the kids in her class are big into role playing right now, and most of them just pretend they're mommies or daddies, but Lily took it a step further. She claims that one of the boys, Ryan, is her husband, and has constructed an elaborate story of their life together. : )

She uses it as an excuse for me not to tell her what to do, saying " I am a mommy and I have a husband, so I don't have to listen". Tonight after dinner she wanted me to come sit with her, so we could talk about our husbands. He sounds like a winner:

Lily: "My husband, he watches tv. He gets mad at me, and he snores. He likes kitty cats, wait, no, he doesn't like kitty cats, they bite him".

She says this with her legs crossed, shoulders pulled back, chin in the air. : )

new uses for swimming pool in basement.....

Once the snow started this morning, we headed out to the library to get some books (Lily wanted to read about pirates, and go on a treasure hunt). Then we headed across the street to play with zane and eli, since we were all snowed in. I think this is officially the most snow i've seen in my life, however i'm too tired of zipping lily up in her snowsuit to go outside for, um, 3 minutes.

Sooo, we brought the snow in! She and I had a great time building snowcastles in the living room, with absolutely no mess whatsoever!

art

ooh ooh! We officially have a drawing of Something Other Than Squiggles! Go Lily!

warmth!! sunshine!!!

I've really understood this year what it means to live in the midwest....we have had so much snow that I barely even notice anymore. When Lily and I went to TN a few weeks ago, it was 45 degrees, feeling like summer. When we first got out of the car, Lily looks around, and with the biggest smile says, "Its NOT COLD". : ) I hear ya sista....

This saturday mother nature played tricks on us, giving us 70 degree weather before ushering in a major snowstorm today. We joined lots of other parents at the park, wading through the mud (from melting snow) to pretend it wasn't February:




*even though I tried to convince Lily she is too big for the baby swings, she refused and spent most of her time swinging next to a 1 year old..... : )







*rare chance to take a picture without employing 'how to take pictures of a moving subject' knowledge






*making some art for her *husband* Some kids have an imaginary friend, mine has an imaginary husband....








*here Lily shows off her mastery of the Fake Smile To Make Parent Stop Taking Pictures. : )

storytime

Lily just 'read' me and Chris a story she wrote. It went like this:

"Once upon a time, there was a girl named Lily Sophia Boyce. This girl, Sophia Boyce wanted to go to the zoo, but she cadn't go by hersself. So she went to the zoo all by hersself. This is the end".

The story was 'written' on paper folded up in an envelope, which she calls her 'mail'. : )

pictures

The picture doesn't do the goat justice.....it was the creepiestly cute creature i've ever seen. Its face was pure zen...then it had these perfect little horns.





some silliness...








you wouldn't know it by looking, but i was kicking butt in Rock Band. It was my rare chance to pretend i'm as musically talented as they are! In the background you can see my band-director/ flutist sister rockin the drums. : )










Here's Lily and her awesome fairy costume.....it plays 'you are my sunshine' over and over and over and over and.....










Practicing her princess wave on the train at the zoo

cuteness

This is awesome....

In the car, on the way to school this morning:
Lily: Daddy, am I your favorite?
Chris: Absolutely, I would go to the moon for you.
Lily: Huh? Why? The moon is up really high. We need an airplane or a ladder. TWO ladder!
Chris: You're right - it's really high and far away.
Lily: We can go there together. I help you build the ladders, OK?

some catch ups

sorry i haven't posted lately.......as everyone knows my new job pretty much consumes my life these days : (

here's some highlights:

*Lily's christmas was great...santa brought her her own camera, lots of great puzzles (this is her addiction these days), lots of baby dolls (including one that looks eerily like her), and a train set.

*she is just starting to get into the princess thing..recently she and I had a 'princess night' while Chris was out of town. We went out for fancy pizza, fancier ice cream, then watched cinderella for the first time. She loved it!! My favorite part was her cuddled up excitedly on the couch, saying "we're girls, mom, right? This is a girls night, no boys allowed, right?" : )

*for christmas I got her a great kids book called 'this is New York', which we are reading to get ready for our summer vacation. Thanks to a friends wedding nearby, we, um, I, are finally getting to go! She and I have already booked a sidewalk cafe table, coffee, bagel and a fresh NY Times..... : ) My dream morning....

*The girl loves (and is good at) singing. Everything gets turned into a song, and she's got some very, um, groovy dance moves. My favorite lately is 'silent night' sung to the tune of 'BINGO'......you should have heard the "mother and child" part....

snowy saturday

while i was working away at the mall......Lily and Chris got to enjoy the 8 inches of snow on the ground! no ice! power stayed on! yeah!