A Very Troha Birthday at Creve Coeur Lake

In July we helped our friends the Trohas celebrate Cooper's and Louis's birthdays at a party at Creve Coeur Lake. Lately Claire has been demanding to carry her very own present bag to every party, so we must supply her with a gift bag and paper to carry with her.

Claire and Reagan looking very cute sitting side by side!

Logan and Louis playing in the sand.

Lighten up, Louis! It's your party!!

That's better!

Louie, Cooper and Valerie working on getting those presents opened!

It was super hot that day! I wish they let you swim in the lake, but Creve Coeur is too cheap to hire life guards.

Too bad we don't have a little sailboat!

Love,

Mama

Meeting Anna Lily

July 14th was a very exciting day this year. Our good friend Maya got a baby sister that day! Maya's mommy, our awesome pal Lisa, called us very early in the morning to say little Anna Lily was on her way, and we got to keep Maya for a whole day and night! The next day I took the girls to the hospital to meet Maya's brand new sister.

On the way up, the girls stopped for some impromptu posing on the stairs. Claire, I admire your turnout here but your toes need to be pointed and for the love, would you stand up straight!

Much better!

An exciting moment! Lisa looks great! And check out that beautiful new baby!

*love*

On the way back to the car, Maya wanted to hold hands. It was so cute, I had to make a quick grab for my camera!

Oh those girls! I hope you stay friends forever!

Love,

Mama

The July Garden

Well! It has been a tough year for gardening!! I was late (very late!) on all my spring planting because we had a very wet/cool spring this year. Then in July we had a horrible heat wave which really took a toll. Not to mention that the babies I babysat last year turned into little monster toddlers this year, and there went my reliable nap time that I used to get out and do chores in the garden! So I'm afraid my flowers have been very unspectacular this year. Believe me, no one is more disappointed than me!

But, here are some pictures of the garden in its peak, just so I can say I had a little bit of success.

That big fluffy green plant? Is actually a weed. I started off the year thinking it was a perennial of some sort. As soon as I realized it was actually a weed, it had buds on it. So I kept it around to see if it ended up being anything "pretty." The flowers are actually tiny and white. But since it's about the healthiest thing in my garden, I let it live.

Thank goodness for good old reliable day lilies!

Things will be better next year for sure!! For one thing, I've got a new job now. Instead of babysitting 50 hours a week, I got a job working 3 evenings a week at a hospital down the road. I hope it makes things a little easier here at home. We will see!

Love,

Mama

The Zoo in July

The day after we got home from Chicago, I took a vacation day from babysitting and we headed out to the zoo with our good friends, the Trohas.

River's Edge is such a great feature of the park. It's really shady, the exhibits are au naturel, and the one-way traffic combine to make it a great place to hang out. Here's our rhino - it's pretty rare that you ever see much of him besides his backside.

Of course the hippo exhibit is my personal favorite. It's so fun to see such huge animals THIS CLOSE to you.

Logan, Cooper and Reagan hanging out on the cobra. I have soooo many pictures of this cobra with kids climbing all over it!

Now Claire wants a piece of the action.

One of the little elephants was out that day with mama. We actually had a brand new baby elephant born this year. They announced the name the day we were there: Kenzi.

We always finish up our time in River's Edge with a stop in the "cave." From behind you could almost believe that Reagan and Logan were teenagers. *sniff* They are getting so big!!

It was a little warm that day, so we took a break to cool off at the misting station!

Little Louis got a push-up to help cool off!

Of course we have to finish our time at the zoo with a train ride! What a crew this is, eh?

I love to see my kiddos sitting side by side so nicely!

Always a fun time at the zoo!

Love you so much guys!

Mama