Hot

The temperature has bumped 100 the past couple of days and like crazy people we went to the Zoo on Friday morning with our friends Jackie & Brady Rush. It was brutal. But we managed to have a great time even if we did break a few rules to stay cool.

Nate, deep in thought on the blue frog outside the Children's zoo...another frog picture to add to the collection.

Nate & Brady weren't brave enough to go down the long slide, so they scooted down on the bumpy slide. And had so much fun, they had to do it again.

Great photo op in the otter statue.

My personality profile states that I have a big need for rules and obeying the rules. Typically I would not have let Nate get in this stream at the zoo, but it was so HOT that I decided to live a little. We got away with it a few times before a nice zoo keeper told us to stay on the path. Uh-oh.

Brady took the ultimate plunge in the waterfall. Nate's too much like me - would rather be hot than drenched.

We are finally to the decorating stage with the basement. I hope to post pictures in a few days. I brought this basket home from World Market and when I went to collect the towels to go in it, this is what happened in my absence. Very cute, but just more work for me to disinfect it for the towels.

And finally, sometimes when you are married to a scientist, you open up your fridge to find kidneys on ice. No big, just a day in the life.

Great Picture

I had to post this picture Nicole took of Nate, Scott, & Patrick at the Fagan's wedding reception...love it!

3.5

My baby officially turned 3.5 yesterday. Not sure why this half birthday had more meaning than all the rest, but I think in my mind I've set this date to stop "helping" Nate so much! Of course I love helping him, but I need to give up more control and let him grow up every now and then. So 3.5 is the cutoff for tons-o-Mom help. We'll see how that goes...I have a feeling I know how its gonna go...:)

To all of you that have listenend to my endless venting about the death of our dryer - thank you...it is finally fixed. Scott brought it back to life. It turned out to be the heating element, which I suggested to Scott on the day it quit (the wisdom came from my mom, I don't pretend to know about dryers, but I know how to locate resources.) We are fully functioning again and Scott is finishing the basement on this Father's Day. The South Dakota Pooleys arrive in 11 days and will be the first guests in our new room!

Nate & I made our first visit to the Webster Groves pool on Friday. I thought these pictures turned out good. It is our 3rd summer there and Nate continues to amaze me with the things he will now do by himself.

Nice weather last night - we sat out on the front porch and relaxed. An impromptu photo shoot ensued, thankfully, or I might not have any pictures from the weekend that don't show the back of Nate's head. He has caught on to this whole take my picture gig.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads today - I know that we have some great ones in our lives. We love you! We are celebrating at our house with grilled pork tenderloin (Jane Ellis's recipe) and cherry pie for dessert! Yum!

Future Musicians...

Georgia Happenings

A birthday party, a wedding reception and quality family time...all things we have done in the past few days. We headed to Georgia on Friday so that we could be there in time for my sweet nephew Noah's 2nd birthday party.

Joe Cool in the back seat...

Dad/Scott/Uncle Scott with the boys - Nate, Gavin, Noah

My newest nephew Gavin, 3 months old and so very sweet.

Amanda and one of her friends made a rockin Mickey Mouse birthday cake for Noah. They are way more talented that yours truly.

The birthday boy in the Moon Bounce!

Our second party of the day was Patrick & Nicole Fagan's wedding reception.

We got to catch up with some of Scott's oldest & dearest friends. Jason Piccolo, Scott, Abbie Moleta.

The kids were great at the reception - I loved watching Nate & Noah play and hanging out with Gavin.

My precious 2 year old nephew, Noah!

Scott had a great time catching up with old friends. Brian Fagan, Scott, Patrick Fagan, Jason Piccolo, Richard Gower.

Nate & Noah - so, so cute!

Mimi with her boys!

Patrick's mom got these great hula hoops for the kids. They were definitely a hit. Paka doing hoop races with the Nate & Noah.

Family picture - getting harder & harder to get everyone to look at the camera!

I saved the best for last! I think this is my favorite picture of the weekend.

Sweetest Boy

Yesterday I picked Nate up from school and when we got in the car, he said, "Mom, I love you because you make me nice dinners and give me a nice place to sleep." I think it is the sweetest thing he has said to date. The fact that he thinks about having a nice place to sleep amazes me...not to mention that he thinks my dinners are nice. You wouldn't know it some nights with all the kicking and screaming just to get a few bites of food in him. But it goes to show that an almost 3.5 year old CAN be very, very sweet during a time when struggles for control are so prominent between parent and child! It is days like yesterday that encourage me to think we will actually make it through the "pre-school" years!

Silly Laundry

It is hard to get a good picture these days - Nate tries to act silly every time I pull the camera out. I snapped a couple this weekend while we were at my parents house on Friday. I had to do some laundry...

You guessed it...my dryer still doesn't work, and neither do my dishwasher or garbage disposal. Yes, my friends, they are (or were) all on the same circuit that blew last week. The electricians will come fix it on Wednesday, which will make about 2 weeks without these appliances. The nice man that came to take a look last week told us that our breaker box has not been sold since 1968. Nice. In all fairness, we knew it needed to be replaced and just never got around to it. Not really a good time until YOU HAVE BEEN WITHOUT YOUR DRYER FOR 2 WEEKS. Sigh. I'm being tested.

At least it was a good excuse for us to go to C-town.

Nate: I'll do crazy for this picture Mom.