family portraits

picture day!  since the whole family was in town, nana arranged for a friend to come and take some family portraits. it was a hot, like sweating at 9am, kind of day so we tried to be quick.  quite by accident all of the locations had us looking directly into the rising sun.  but everything worked out and we ended up with some great group shots.  (all of the pictures were taken in their neighborhood - isn't it pretty?)

but our day wasn't done and it is uncle derek's birthday too!  love.

papa and maddux getting some work done before leaving for pictures.

happy birthday, uncle derek

we went out to a steak dinner to celebrate uncle derek's birthday. madelyn was excited to go to dinner and even more excited when i pointed out that her sunglasses were the same pink as her dress.  her poses just crack me up!

 maddux took a little nap on the way to the restaurant and his little face was too sweet not to take a picture.

 we had to wait a little bit when we got there so that they could set up a table for our large group.  i, of course, thought that we needed some more pictures...

uncle derek, madelyn, nana

papa, mason, maddux (who wasn't ready to say, "cheese"), daddy

after a yummy dinner we went back to papa and nana's for presents and cake.  the kids had made uncle derek pictures before we left home and madelyn has been itching to give them to him ever since we had gotten there.  i should have taken a picture of what she wrote because she got lost in the repeating "e"s in his name and wrote "happy birthday uncle dek".  when i pointed out her error she said, "it's okay. i will just tell him that i forgot a few letters."  and she did.  i think he liked it anyway.  mason and maddux had made him drawings too.

i think madelyn and mason were more excited about uncle derek's birthday than uncle derek!  (or maybe it was just the ice cream cake...)

hopefully uncle derek enjoyed his day because we enjoy uncle derek!  love.

visiting my work 'family'

michelle gave me my first start in the workforce almost 11 years and we have been together ever since.  having the same name, we are known as "m.b." and "m.g.".  it was so great to see her and it timed out that our visit was the same time as a luncheon for the company's founder who was celebrating his 90th birthday.  it was nice to thank him for the company and how good they have been to me and our family.  love.

breakfast of champions

it was going to be another hot one, so the guys got an early tee time (because nothing should keep you from golfing, right?).  mason was the only kid who tagged along because he is the one least likely to complain about being hot or being hungry or wanting to leave.  plus, he gets really, really excited about golf (just like daddy).

maddux was upset that he wasn't in the first shot and insisted on his own picture.

madelyn was pretty upset when they were leaving and she found out that she didn't get to go too.  i told her that we were going to go somewhere special and that we would go somewhere fun for lunch.  a few minutes, some questions about where we were going to go instead and a reluctant "ok" later she put away her crying.

i realized that i didn't know where matt had put the keys to the van (and fearing the worst - his pocket) i gave matt a call.  and, yes, the keys were in his pocket.  not a total loss, nana could drive her car to pick the keys up and while we would get a later start than planned, we could still head out.  nope.  the van was parked behind her car.  we were stuck.

nana came up with some "special" things madelyn could do while we were at their house.  they strung some beads, colored and made a birthday cake for uncle derek (madelyn, of course, took care of the eggs).

and then we went downstairs to watch a little t.v.  nana took a nap and i was holding a sleeping manning.  when the second show ended i wondered if we could hear the timer on the oven.  about that same time nana woke up and remembered the cake.  yep.  it was a bit over cooked - not a total loss, but probably not that great.  oh well.

nana and i were joking that they did it on purpose so that we couldn't spend any money.  we still managed to have a nice day but were starting to get a little cabin fever after two days inside.

mason did pretty great with golfing in the heat but did get kind of hungry since they went about three hours past his lunch time and that isn't considering the hour time change.  he did have snacks but not enough to make up for the super late lunch.  matt still said that he was a great sport about it and mason said that he had a fun day - once he woke up from passing out in the car.

matt and i went out with manning for a 'date night'.  we were most interested in getting some oklahoma joe's barbecue!  we did stop at kohl's for some black shorts for matt to wear in the family pictures tomorrow and got an ice cream cake for derek (nana had said that it was her original plan before she and madelyn even started the other cake).  it was nice to be able to hold matt's hand myself and spend a little time together.  thanks to papa, nana and uncle derek for watching the other three - they missed out on a super dinner!  love.

papa and nana's

we bee-lined it for bed last night, so nana was sleeping on the couch next to our room when we woke up because she couldn't wait to visit with the kids! the plan for the day was just to hang out and visit - and we did.  the kids were so happy to be there and check out everything papa and nana had gotten for them to play with during our visit.

papa and nana picked up canned 'meat' that really contained stuffed animals.  the kids didn't get the humor of canned "black bear meat" or "husky meat" but they did like that there was a toy inside.

and manning gave a few more 'gas smiles' getting warmed up for the real thing.  i have been trying to figure out if he has a dimple or not.  the smiles are getting bigger but still no real sighting of a strong dimple...

maddux was pretty focused on his coloring.  i am glad that he is starting to reach the coloring phase.  quiet and sitting is not something he spends a lot of time doing.

and for some reason he really wanted to wear madelyn's flip-flops and have me take his picture.

we used my ipad to keep them busy in the house too - much to their delight.  they don't really get to use it at home and i had downloaded a few more apps that they hadn't tried yet.  (it also came in very handy when i realized that i didn't pack their night-time music - itunes is a lifesaver!)

 manning enjoyed some snugly nap time with papa downstairs.

and the late night bed times for the past two days started to catch up with maddux.  daddy took the pictures, not mommy.

we also spent our first day in the house because the temperature was going to be 106 or so - way to hot to have the kids outside.  love.

st. louis zoo

and on the road again!  next stop - the st. louis zoo.  (well, after a few bathroom, nursing and lunch breaks.) i had to take a picture of the kids piled in the van with all our gear (we also have a bag that attaches to the roof).  we were glad to see that our family of six fit.  thankfully, mason started being able to buckle himself in about a week or so after manning was born (he could already unbuckle) because it would have been very difficult for matt or i to help him.

the kids weren't as impressed by the arch as i was (i have seen it before and still think that it is neat).  i was taking pictures while we drove by and when the car next to us finally got out of the shot, you can't tell that it is an arch!  the sky was a pretty blue though.

we drove around the park 'complex' were the zoo was for a while.  first, it was a saturday.  second, it was a pretty day.  third, the zoo is free to the public.  fourth, parking was very limited!  they had one smallish lot and it was closed as 'full' even though there were plenty of spots open.  after that there is only street parking so we had to walk a decent amount before actually getting to the zoo (read: we were sweating like crazy and the kids were complaining before we even got there). 

i believe the structure at the top of the hill/stairs is the 1904 (?) world's fair pavilion (there were signs while we were driving around looking for parking and i think that is is).  either way it was lovely and i asked matt to pose with the kids - only mason would join him.

once we got to the zoo we got in line for the new sea lion exhibit.  yes, we had to wait in line to see them.  there is a new 'tunnel' through their tank and they must try to keep too many people from crowding in at once.  plus, it was much cooler in there than in the line!

madelyn and mason checking out a sea lion scull and hide while we waited in line.

inside the tunnel

how do you like madelyn's pose?

it was going to be around 91 according to weather.com and it felt very hot.  at least there was a pretty strong breeze that kept it from being miserable.  for this trip we were really worried about how we were going to keep manning from overheating.  and then it came to me.  frozen water bottles!  we wrapped them in burp cloths to keep the extreme cold of the ice off of his delicate skin and then tucked them on either side of him.  they worked awesome!  his skin felt cool like he had been in air conditioning when i picked him up to nurse and he seemed comfortable throughout the afternoon.  i have joked that this is my 'million-dollar-idea' because i haven't seen anything else like it.  maybe i should really look into it...  it was another reason that the hotel room with a kitchen was great - we could refreeze the water bottles overnight.

the kids checking out a pretty neat ant-eater.

i think the hippos were some of our favorites.  i have never seen hippos so active! the kept swimming/walking back and forth in their pond and turning over and around.

madelyn wanted her picture taken with the baby elephant.  i don't think you can see it very well in the picture.

matt had the unfortunate task of carrying maddux and mason off and on.  he said that maddux is worse because he just sits there like dead weight and matt has to do all of the work. it just makes me hot to think about it.

madelyn and the zebras  (or something that we saw too that kind of looked like the zebras)

maddux watching the giraffes.  i think he enjoyed the large animals the most because we don't have them in our zoo.

we passed this on a round-about while looking for parking and i had to get a picture.  matt had to keep it moving so i was just trying to get something that wasn't blurry.  it was a very neat sculpture.

we were there around 4 hours before piling our sweaty selves back into the van to find some dinner.  we stopped just west of st. louis at a chick-fil-a.  the lady in the booth next to us (with her daughter and husband) asked if i needed any help because she thought i was there by myself and manning was screaming.  i politely declined and explained that my husband was in line getting the food.  she then proceeded to talk to me through our entire meal.  she was very nice, but i felt disgusting after the zoo and just wanted to nurse manning, eat my dinner and get back on the road (and towards a shower).  she over shared about her pregnancy, etc with her now 5-year-old and asked about the name of madelyn's school even after i had already told her that we weren't from there and were just passing through.  she even offered to hold manning for me while i ate.  still, very nice, but a little odd.  matt marvels at how i attract 'talkers'.

we were all happy to reach kansas (i think it was around 10pm) and get cleaned up and into bed.  we were also happy to see papa, nana and uncle derek!  love.