Lila is 3!

To My Dearest Lila DeLaney Boyle,
You are 3 years old today. You are the sweetest, funniest, bravest little princess that I've ever met.  

Three years ago, you came into our lives on a cold day after Thanksgiving. I knew you would be independent from that very first day. You were ready to conquer the world even then.

I didn't quite know the extent of your independence yet, but you are good about teaching me every day.  I will realize that it's a blessing that you want to do every little thing for yourself.  Just give me some time.

Sometimes, I think I'll blink my eyes and you'll be in high school and I'll be sad. And then I see this picture and realize my energies are better spent praying that your Dad and I make it through your high school years.

You really are so beautiful. You have me, Dad, and Nate wrapped around your little finger. It's been your plan all along.

You play hard, work harder, scream loud and love big. 

We are so glad that you chose us to be your family. We didn't know what we were missing when you graced us with your presence on November 26, 2010.

 But now we know that we wouldn't be the same without you, my sweet one.  

Happy Happy 3rd Birthday Lila Lou! 

Little Princess

We've been celebrating our little princess this weekend...

More to come! 

Failed Nature Hike

We did not have anything going on this weekend. Sometimes that's a good thing and other times it's not:) Saturday was rainy and windy, and it was dark by like 3:00 PM. No lie. So we hung out around the house, went to Chick-fil-A for lunch, and made a trip to the library. But by 5:00, it seemed like it should have been Sunday already. I texted Scott that I confessed the kids had watched too much TV. It made me feel a little better. 

Come Sunday, I knew it was going to be sunnier and warmer, so I thought we would go to a state park to do a little nature hike. After a little researching and checking the weather, I decided we would go to Route 66 State Park. Sounds interesting, right? 

Well. It took us a while to find where we were going (the directions have you get off and on the interstate to go in the direction of the exit. That's always fun), and we still didn't even really find what we set out to find. And it was SUPER windy. But then I saw this playground and decided we would just stop. Close enough. 

The kids played their hearts out...

 for about 5 minutes...

Then Nate said, "Lila do you feel that?"

Lila didn't feel anything.

But I looked up and thought oh my goodness gracious. I told the kids to run to the car because it was raining. Inside I am praying, "Dear Lord, please do not let us be in a tornado." But I totally felt like that was what was getting ready to happen. "Mom, are we in a tornado?" No! Of course not. Gulp.

So we piled in the car at the same moment the wind picked up to like 100 miles an hour and the sand was pelting against my legs. I told the kids they could eat their lunch while I figured out if we were going to drive or stay put.

And then I just felt like I needed to get out of there. So I buckled Lila up and we were out of there. I knew it was a straight shot to get back on the interstate (thankfully), so we got out there quick. The driving was better than I expected, but the conditions were not good. I slowed way down and we watched the rain go sideways across the road.

I thought to myself, my mom would be so mad if she knew I was driving in this. So I called her. In my most up beat happy voice, I asked her to check the weather to make sure we were not headed into a "situation." For Nate's sake, I was not trying not to use the word tornado. He was already freaking out and Lila was already calling him a Scaredy Cat. Oh my..my children are so different.

She reported that she thought it was north and east of us, so we kept on driving. It lightened up as we got closer to town, but we saw downed trees and power lines on the way home. It was sunny and fine again when we got back to Maplewood, so I stopped into McDonalds for a much needed diet coke.

They had no power. After I got over being irritated, it dawned on me that this might mean that we didn't have power. So I did what any concerned person would do. I drove on to Sonic to get a diet coke.

We got home safely and found we did have power. It had gone off but was back on. Thankfully. There were many sirens going off and the wind had not died down. After checking around the house, Nate found that a huge branch had fallen in our backyard.

I thanked God that we were safe.

The moral of this story..Some days you just need to avoid the nature hike and curl up and watch TV.

Freezer Cooking by Scott

Recently, Scott had a reason to cook several meals for one of his co-workers who was experiencing some tough life events. He did all the shopping, cooking and packaging. I provided him the recipes for some of our freezer meals but other than a few hints here and there, he did all of it himself.

Since then, he has been wanting to do another freezer cooking session for us because it does make you feel kinda accomplished. I gladly welcome the help, but was not getting my hopes up because in order to do freezer cooking in my old kitchen (which is the size of a postage stamp), you pretty much have to be the only one in the house. Which let's face it, doesn't happen very often.

But he was insistent this past weekend. So of course I wasn't going to say no.

After everything was finished and packed away, he told me that he put his initials on the meals he cooked. I laughed. He told me he did it so that when he was working and I pulled out a ready-made meal, that I could not be irritated at him that he wasn't here for dinner.

I think it's very sweet and very hilarious all at the same time.

The Round Up

We had a relaxing weekend and for that I am very thankful. Scott's weekends at home are typically restful for me. Imagine that. Thanks Scott! 

Friday night, Nate & I went out to dinner and to a movie. I love doing this with him and it set a good tone for our weekend. He does love the undivided attention. 

 We saw Free Birds. It was cute and put us in a Thanksgiving mood.

On Saturday, the kids and Scott went over to Jason & Amy's to watch the Mizzou game while I ran some errands. I was trying to get a picture where both of them were looking at me and without the Sonic straw in someone's mouth.

It didn't work out so well.

I think they were both shouting Go Tigers! here so I have to approve it.

I tackled the Christmas card photo shoot this weekend too. Thankfully I had better luck with those pictures.

Even though I had to apologize afterwards for turning into the Poltergeist.

Happy Monday!

TBT

Throwback Thursday! 

November 2008

Nate has always loved peanut butter playdoh! 

Rest Time

Last week was a doozy. It felt like 3 weeks packed into one. And then we had Halloween on Thursday night. So by the time Friday rolled around, I was exhausted. And I was hoping the kids were too since Scott was working. 

After picking up Nate from school on Friday and a stop at the playground. I told the kids we were going to take baths early, make our own pizza, and get on the couch and watch a movie. They were game. 

On Saturday morning, I decided to take the kids to the Painted Zebra to paint Christmas ornaments. I know, I know, it's early. But after seeing them last year when we took Nate & Megan for his birthday, I knew I wanted to do it this year. And let's face it, if we don't get it done early, it won't get done in our birthday-holiday season. The kids loved it. And I will love having something to put on our tree to remember this year.

After painting, the kids talked me into going to McDonald's for lunch instead of Chik-fil-A. Against my better judgement. But the one we were going to pass has a huge play place and since it was a little chilly outside, I figured it couldn't hurt to run out some energy.

There were tables inside the play place, so we sat down to eat before playing. I saw a sign (actually 3 signs) that said the kids needed to be wearing socks to play. Lila had on her fuzzy boots, and I didn't think she had socks on. So I asked her. No socks Mom. Then Nate asks why I asked her that. So I told him it was a rule. Which opened up a 15 minute discussion about getting kicked out, Nate sitting out and letting Lila play with his socks on and going to jail for not having socks on at the play place. Oh my worrying child. Wonder where he gets that?

After I convinced them that it would be OK to play without socks, they were off. And even though it was the most disgusting place I think I've ever eaten in, they had a wonderful time. After a bit, I hear "Hey Mom!!!" It's Lila, she's on the 3rd floor of the play area. "THEY DIDN'T KICK US OUT!!!!!!!"

Oh my sweet child. No, they didn't.

Saturday afternoon after rest time, I made peanut butter playdoh for the kids.

They were entertained for quite some time. Score.

And since Saturday night was the time change, I kept them up a little later. It NEVER works for me. Like NEVER. But lo and behold, for the first time EVER since I've had kids, they both slept the whole extra hour. Small miracles, people, small miracles.

Halloween 2013

I confess. I don't really like Halloween. But as I've mentioned before, Nate LOVES Halloween. Like so much that he about had a nervous breakdown when he heard rain was forecasted for Thursday night. I do love seeing all his excitement and everything that I do for Halloween, I totally do for him. He's worth it. 

The Skeleton Court Jester, without the mask. 

This is what I got when I requested a picture with both of them. Turns out peacocks aren't very cooperative. Who knew?

Before trick or treating. I may have told them they couldn't get out the door before taking a picture. Maybe.

My little Halloween lovers! This was Lila's first year to trick or treat. And she was a pro! Scott said she was a little apprehensive at first but then when she realized there was candy involved, she went tearing from house to house. Who could resist a cute little peacock?!?

Catching Up

I admit, the whole Cardinals in the World Series gig took over my blog the last few weeks. But since we all know how that turned out, I thought I would get back to regular scheduled programming. 

Last weekend, Mimi & Paka came up for a visit. We were all so glad to see them! On Friday morning, we went to the Magic House but I didn't take my camera. We had a great time - the kids both found something that interested them and it wasn't too crowded, even though they were having a Halloween event. On Friday night, we celebrated Scott & Mary's birthdays with dinner and "Better than Everything" cake. It's the only cake Scott eats, so I make it once a year. There's enough sugar in it to last you a full year. 

On Saturday afternoon, we carved our Halloween pumpkins. Or I should say Kevin & Scott carved them. I didn't take a picture of the final, but we had an owl, a skeleton, and a Bird on the Bat. It didn't bring us any luck. Yes, I'm still a little bitter:) 

I didn't realize my camera was on the b/w setting, but I like the way this picture turned out!

Sweet Nate, who will almost always indulge me for a picture. His sister on the other hand....

Scott & Kevin worked very hard. You couldn't pay me to touch all that nasty stuff.

On Sunday afternoon, we went up to Forest Park to walk around. It was a beautiful day.

So much sunshine!

Oh Lila. Once again, I said, "Give me your best smile!"

Uh-huh. We will look back on this 2-3 year old time with fondness. Right?