Maddie learns to SMILE!!!

Maddie has hit her first major milestone (in my opinion).  She started smiling on purpose yesterday.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!!  A great reward to a Mommy from a baby!  She is still pretty stingy with them.....she only gives them freely right after she wakes up from a good sleep.  She has to be well rested to dose them out.....it must be hard work to smile when you are six weeks old!  I'll take them tho....every. single. one of them!

ahhh....I LOVE her!

This is when chubby cheeks and a double chin looks good!

could you eat her up??

Just playing on her mat

happy as a clam

TUMMY TIME.....

IS....

HARD WORK!!!!

The annual Cardinal game

Mike's work gets a suite once a year at the Cards game.  This is the only time we take the kids to the ballpark.  It is very kid friendly, as it is all you can eat, it is air-conditioned (or you can sit outside also), and there are other kids to run around and play with.

However, I do think this might be changing.  Peyton is really getting into watching the Cardinals on TV, so we might be getting close to getting her to sit thru a full game in the cheap seats!

Maddie was there too, sporting her Cardinal red, but we somehow missed a picture of her!

Just a couple pictures

There is not rhyme or reason to this post just a couple pictures from the last week.....

Just a little summer time picnic with some cousins

colin, jack, aaron, peyton, bailey

Maddie does not take great naps in her bed, infact it is a struggle
to get her to take a nap in her bed.  This is reason #1.  When
Daddy is home this is how he prefers her to take her nap.....
on his chest.  Reason #2 is the simple fact that she is use to
taking the majority of her naps in her carseat.  I hope we can get
over the hump, but she just might be a carseat napper.  Oh well,
life goes on.....as long as she sleeps well at night!!!!!

Peyton and Jack start soccer......

Both kids started soccer last week thru the CYC.  Both are playing for St. Peters.  One loved it, one hated it.  One will be going back, one will not. .....

Peyton had a blast and loved every minute of it.  She is playing with mostly classmates from Kindergarten.  She loves the physical part of it and she loves the social part of it.

Jack on the other hand.....
He had a rough practice.  He did great at the beginning doing drills and then when they went to scrimmage it was another story.  He is the youngest one out there.  When I signed him up there was a box for Pre-K and a box for Kindergarten.  So I was under the assumption he would play with preschoolers.  Well, they don't have that many preschoolers so they put them on the Kindergarten teams.  Well, there is a BIG different between Jack and Kindergarten.....it would be like Jack and Peyton playing against each other.....BIG DIFFERENCE.  So he was so little and not as quick or strong.  And the social part of it wasn't there for him either, as all these boys go to Kindergarten together so they are all already buddies, leaving Jack standing on the outside.  SOOOOO.....that being said, we are gonna hold off another year (at least), and let Jack play soccer at Vetta.  Something that is designed for preschoolers and he will be playing with kids his age.  Much more appropriate, I think.

Peyton ready for practice

Telling me "no hands" in soccer

Jack needing a pic by himself since Peyton got one

Just getting started

Coach Brian trying to get all the girls organized

Jack ready for practice
With snack and water bottle in hand...ha!

a good view of how much smaller he is

having fun doing drills

still having fun.....but it was about to turn bad

Sad little brother

Poor Jack......

Today when we dropped Peyton off for school she gave Jack a hug and then we left.  We we got outside of the classroom I saw Jack crying.  I asked him what was wrong and he said, "I miss Peyton."

*tear*

Poor Jack.....

Darth Vader or Darth Maul?????

Darth Vader or Darth Maul?????........no, seriously I don't know.  I know NOTHING about Star Wars, which is pretty difficult when you have a boy.  But, honestly, I don't want to know anything about Star Wars.

Jack has really gotten into Star Wars the last few months.  Mike bought him a Lego Star Wars game for the Wii for his birthday, and he LOVES Star Wars ever since then.  He loves to play that game, he now has the action figures he likes, light sabers, AND a collection of library books.  He cannot get enough!!!

Still, even with that, I have no interest!!!  He keeps asking if I'll play Star Wars on the Wii with him.  I always tell him I don't know how, and he always replies he will teach me.  Still, I have no interest!!!  Poor Jack!  Star Wars is a Daddy job!

Mike found him a Darth Vader or Darth Maul costume, I don't know which, you can decide by the pictures below, as long as you know more than me about Star Wars.  Mike didn't tell him about the costume, he just put it on and tried to scare Jack.  You will see, he hesitated at first, but not too scary for him.  He was just more concerned about Mike not having the right color of light saber.  LOL

We shall see how long thing phase lasts......and if I have to start learning it, or if I can cruise thru the phase being completely ignorant.

The video....

Maddie vs Bath

This girl amazes me in the bath tub.  She poops in the bath more times than any other kid that I know.  The other two would do it occasionally, but Maddie does it all.the.time.

I have to wash that girl quick cause I know it's not gonna be long before I have to drain and sanitize!

This week, so far:
Maddie: 3
Bathtub: 1

Hope this habit gets outgrown quickly!  :)

nice bathtub full of poop, and no baby!

FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

Well, the day came!  Peyton started Kindergarten yesterday.  The night before school started somebody from the school came by and put a "Welcome to St. Peter School" sign in our yard.  Peyton thought that was pretty special!  When Mike and I first saw it we thought it was a political sign to go with all the political calls we are receiving right now, but it wasn't.

She woke up, got dressed in her uniform (which she is extremely excited about right now, we will see how long that excitement lasts), brushed her teeth, ate breakfast, went out side to snap some pictures, and off we went!  We took some more pictures when we got to school and then we headed up to her class.  Peyton was NOT nervous at all, nor was she said to see Mommy leave.  She did give Jack a hug and told him she would miss him. :(

We got her all situated and then Jack, Maddie, and I left.  I did completely fine, got a little teary eyed once but was able to pull it together.  I would say there were way more Moms crying than children.....ha!  I even caught one Dad crying, which almost sent me over the edge.  So I loaded up Jack and Maddie and we headed to Kaldi's to meet some other Kindergarten moms for coffee.

When I went to pick Peyton up, she said she had a great day, she looked very happy!  She did say, "it was a long day."  I said, "yeah, it is a pretty long day, but you will get use to it."  Her response, "um, I think I will cancel lunch one day this week."  HAHAHAHA!!!  Some kids do half day Kindergarten, so she saw some of them leave at lunch time and not return, and I guess she thought she would try that out some time too, since the day was a little long.  HA!!

She was excited to go back today, so I'd say the first day was a success!!!!

posing by her sign

All ready

giving the jumper a twirl

She's pretty excited because it twirls good :)

Not nervous at all on the way too school, just zoned in to the TV

Her BFF, Maggie that is in her class too!

Jack had to get in on the action too

Headed in the front door

getting her things situated

found her seat and she is ready

already getting busy!

I promise I did not prompt or cue this.....she picked up her brother,
gave him a hug and told him she would miss him...sweet and
sad at the same time!

signing in at the attendance book

Mrs. Skaggs, her teacher
We didn't get a picture with the aid, but I'm sure we will at some point

Sorry for the overload of pictures....but this is kind of a big deal, ya know??  

Here is a video of her predicting her first day of kindergarten.  Sorry for the DRAMA......O.M.G., could this girl be any more DRAMATIC!?!?!??!?  

I have two BIG girls!!

Well my first BIG girl went to Kindergarten today (post to come).....holy moly!!!

My second BIG girl went to the doctor today for her 1 month check up.  I knew she was a big girl....but she is tipping the scales in the 97 percentile.  The doctor walked in and said, "well Maddie sure is thriving!"  LOL  Well, yes she is!  She looked great and was a healthy, big girl!!!  Good job Maddie.  She weighed in at 11.3.  So she has gained OVER 3 pounds in her 1 month of life!

I knew she was a big one when my friend, Liz, came over yesterday with baby Shelby.  Shelby is 2 months older than Maddie, and Maddie I think has her beat in size!

Nothing wrong with a curvy girl, with a little meat on her bones :)

 

The last days of summer

Well our summer has come to an end.  Peyton starts school on Monday.  Well, actually the school starts Monday but she just goes for an hour.  They ease the Kindergartners into it....having them only come for an hour the first day, then Tuesday it is the real deal.....ALL DAY.  School has begun for Peyton for the next (hopefully), at least 17 years!!!!

She is very excited and ready to go.  She will not be a crier or nervous...she will be shoving me out the door.  Which is a good thing, a little less traumatic on mom that way.  When I think about Peyton going to Kindergarten, I'm not really sad about her growing up and going to school (especially since she is excited and ready).  I think I'm mostly sad about not being able to do what we want, when we want.  We are a family on the move, and now we will miss her when we are having fun at our "outings."  BUT I have to remember, she will be having fun at school.  We went to school last night to pick up her uniforms, meet the teacher, pick up our 100 forms to fill out and sign.  Sooooooo......I think we are all ready.

This week we tried to fit all our last minute things in.  We hit up the park with the Alexander's (pictures are below), Purina Farms with Leigh-Anne and Andrew, and joined in with the rest of St. Louis and went to the Zoo with Christina and the boys.  I would have liked to fit Six Flags in one more time, but they are already closed for the season and only open on the weekends.  So hopefully we can do that on a weekend that Mike has off.  Stay tuned for the "First Day of School" photos next week!!!  Until then here are the pics I have.

Everyone making a "wish" the the pennies
Aunt Chris supplied

Checking out the awesome, new Sea Lion exhibit 

They were swimming above our heads int he tunnel 

Checking out the hippos

I think Peyton had the best view

The baby elephant was so cute!

It's just not a zoo trip without a train ride!

Maddie didn't even know she was on the train

Actually, Maddie never really new she was at the zoo

This was toooooo funny.  Jack had HAD IT by the time we were leaving.
SO, Peyton offered to give him a ride and he took her up on it.
We got plenty of laughs as we were leaving.

She had to change positions, he was getting a little to heavy.  By the end of it, I caved
in and put him on my back and Peyton pushed Maddie.  

Driving tractors at Purina Farms

A favorite, the rope swings!

Soft bunny

Waiting for the dog show to start

Cool Tricks

The kids loved this

Jack LOVED this dog!

Delicately petting her tail, similar to the way he plays with Maddies toes :) 

Andrew and Jack checking out the poodle and boxer

Wagon ride.  By photographer, Peyton!