stingrays

More time with Grandma and Grandpa.

This time at the Zoo.

We were lucky this time to be there during the stingray feeding.

{Helping the boys get the food just right}

{Getting more instruction from the stingray experts}

{Ready to feed them}

{By the look on Ethan's face, I believe he was

successful.  The stingrays suck the food up from between

the kids' fingers, so it apparently feels really weird

when the rays eat.  I say apparently, cause I'm 

always chicken to do it myself.  More of

a spectator}

mini golf and baseball

My parents were here for a few days last week to watch the boys play baseball.

It was in the upper 90s everyday, but we managed to get some

fun activities in.

One of those was mini golf.

|{We tried to win the free game at the end}

{No luck either time}

At least the baseball games were in the evenings, and it cooled off

quite a bit so that we could enjoy those without sweating to death.

father's day 2012

We had a great Father's Day!  My parents and sisters and their families were here for the weekend, so we were able to celebrate with many special dads.

An evening swim

My dad and sisters

Cousins.

Believe me there were tons more takes, but I love these the best.

This is probably the one that most people would choose.

But I personally like these next two.

Notice what is happening with baby Gideon...

The pacifier went flying, and I love that the camera caught it

in mid-air as well as the look on Elliott's face as he realized what

was happening.

Now all the boys are intrigued.

Elliott is still not sure what to do with the fussy baby.

And Gideon has had enough of the photo shoot!

My sweet sisters

Gideon

Loving time with my newest nephew, Gideon.

Sad that I didn't get a better, closer picture of him.

He is a cutie and a trooper for coming all the way out here

and putting up with all these boys.

Welcome to the world, baby Gideon!

the invasion begins

Every year we have this issue with the Japanese beetles.

They always choose at least one plant to make a meal of.

Apparently they thought it would be my basil this year.

ARGHH!!

Hopefully I've rescued it and prevented any further nibbling

by moving it inside, because I was really enjoying the

fresh basil.

missing this today

I was watching an episode of House Hunters at lunch today, and there was a house featured that reminded me of our house in Georgia.  It made me start to think about how much I liked that house and the things I miss the most about it.

1.  I think it has character and curb appeal. 

The neighborhood we lived in was filled with custom built homes. 

 I've tried to make our current house have curb appeal and character, but I keep comparing it to this one and never seem to be able to do it justice.

2.  The trees.

The blooming crepe myrtle.

The oak trees near the side porch that grew so quickly and gave such great shade.

The October Glory Maples that lined the sidewalks all throughout the neighborhood.

They would turn a brilliant crimson red in the fall, and it was so pretty to drive down the street.  

3.  The side porch.

You could only access it through these cool french doors in the living room (which was really a play room for us).

It was so shady because of the oak trees.

I wish now that we had put a wicker chair or a rocking chair out there to enjoy while we were there.

I don't feel like we enjoyed it as much as we could have.

4.  The boys' nursery.

Brian and I painted the trees and vines on the walls before Elliott was born.

My friend, Lynda, her mom, and I made the curtains and all the bedding.

I loved this room.

I spent a LOT of time in here.

Rocking.

Feeding. 

Reading. 

Changing diapers.

Playing Little People.

Such great memories.

Probably still my most favorite memories happened here in this room.

5.  Elliott's big boy room

We moved Elliott into the room across the hall before Ethan was born.

I think we did a pretty good job of putting things together and making it look nice.

It's so much more difficult to do that now that the boys have an opinion about their rooms and what they want in there.

I liked this room because it was a good size with a good sized closet.

All of the rooms were that way.

Now we have to cram dressers into closets so that we have space to move around in their rooms.

Right beside that dresser was a door that led right into the bathroom, too.

Loved that!

6.  Bright rooms.

This house had tons of windows.

So many that it got really warm in the summer with the sun shining in.

But I LOVED the sunshine coming in.

I didn't realize how bright it was in there until we moved.

It was great for taking pictures, cause there was always natural light coming in.

It's dark here in the MO house.

7. Staircase.

My favorite time of year with this staircase was Christmas.

Green garland, glowing lights and glimmery bows draped the staircase and it really looked so pretty.

(I have a picture somewhere, but it must have been pre-digital cause I can't find it)

Fortunately we have a small banister and a balcony here, so I still get to enjoy that.

What I really liked about this staircase was that it was a T, meaning you could go up from the front door (pictured) or you could go up the back way from the kitchen.

It was just a fun thing.

8.  The backyard.

Look, there are trees in the backyard that we didn't have to buy, as the boys would say.

You could definitely see your neighbors' houses, but there was also a lot of privacy with the trees.

I know that the boys would love this backyard now.

They were too young to really enjoy it at the time.

They would be climbing trees, making forts, having Nerf gun wars out there, and finding all kinds of creatures that I don't want to see if we were still there.

I also liked it because the deck only had a few stairs to get to the yard, but it also had a walkout basement.  The walkout was just to the side instead of the back like it is here.  So I felt like the yard was  more of a part of the house than it is here.

I miss the southeast.  

Missouri has grown on me and feels like home now, but it took about 5 years for that to happen.  

But given the chance, I believe I would still move back south.  

I feel that anytime of year, 

but I've noticed that there are 2 times in particular during the year that I really really miss Georgia.  

Without a doubt, one of them is Fall.  

The excitement of Georgia Football.  

Spending Saturdays in Athens. 

The sound of the marching band. 

Great weather.  

Beautiful trees.  

Trips to the mountains.

The second one is Summer.

I've tried to figure out why I miss it so much during the summer.

It was really really hot and humid.

There was a lot of smog during the summer.

I don't know.

Maybe because we saw friends on the weekends, 4th of July.

Whatever the reason, I miss it.

a peek inside the journal

An entry out of Ethan's school journal:

Just in case beginning first grade writing is new to you, it says 

"I'm happy.  It's my mom's last treatment.  I'm happy"

This was from October - my last big chemo treatment.

I didn't realize he thought so much about it.

I asked him about the picture.

He said it was him jumping up and down cause he's so

happy that it is my last treatment.

Then he looked at me with puppy dog eyes and 

snuggled up to me with a hug.

Love that kid!

clearing things out

I've been sorting and organizing and getting ready for a possible garage sale in the next few weeks.

I came across this quote in a magazine.

Very timely for us.

wrapping up the school year

They've been out for a few weeks now.

The last few days and weeks were fun, but I'm so

glad we're on summer flex time now!

Elliott and some of his friends at the Zoo during their field trip.

Meet Aluminum Guy

One last project for the year.

He had to use at least 8 (I think) different shapes

to construct a creature.

I thought he was pretty cool!

The supplies began returning home.

I always put what we need in the homework cabinet,

and then the rest get put away for next year.

My absolute favorite part of the end of the year!

JOURNALS.

Each year I have been given this gift of a 

window into what is important to them in the form

of a written journal from September until May.

I LOVE what I find in there.

FIELD DAY

It was wacky olympics themed.

This was my station.

Japan's Chopstick Chicken Relay Race.

The kids had to pick up this rubber chicken

with chopsticks only.

Run with it to the frying pan.

Drop it in.

And the next person would go and get it.

Fun times, I tell you!

Autograph Party

Our PTO hosts an autograph party every year where the kids can get together with

other classes in their grade level and sign yearbooks or autograph papers.

I remember doing this in middle and high school, but not elementary school.

Good thing since I was always frantic about saying just the right thing in each person's book.

Didn't want to say the same thing as everyone else, wanted it to be fun or nice, and didn't want to say the same thing in each book.  

Whew!  Lots of pressure.

I will say that I have some very long paragraphs in my yearbooks, and I bet my classmates do too :)

The boys......pretty much just sign their name and they are done.  Hmmmm.

zoo faves

First trip of the season.

First week out of school.

We think this is the baby hippo that was born last summer.

The hippos are my favorite exhibit.

I just think it's cool to watch them.

This is the baby elephant that was born last summer.

Kenzie.

How adorable is she?

I was so excited that we caught both babies on the same day!

And the sting rays are open!

the great american pastime

Baseball is still in full swing here at the Weiler house.  We've become familiar with several different batting cages and impromptu practice fields.

Elliott's team is the Redbirds.

He is learning a lot, and was very proud of himself for hitting in the 55 mph cage the other day.  

He usually plays the outfield, but prefers 2nd or 3rd base.

There is too much down time in the outfield when you're playing kid pitch.

And it's pretty difficult to hit the ball when you're playing kid pitch,

but he does a really good job watching and not swinging unless it really

looks like a strike.

We've had lots of walks and we're good with that!

His coach gave him the game ball at the last game.

So proud!!

Ethan's team is the O'Fallon Tigers.

His coach is a huge Mizzou fan.

This is his first, and probably only, year of machine pitch.

He wants to stay with his team,

and they are moving up to kid pitch next year.

It's kind of difficult to get used to the machine, too.

Hence, the batting cage visits.

Seems like almost half of his games have

been rained out, so it looks like we may

be playing baseball into August :)

And this is what we do at our brother's games.

Katy Trail

On a whim, Ethan and I headed to Defiance to pick up the Katy Trail there today.  

Elliott is at my parents' for the week, so I thought it would be a good time to try it with just one kid.  

We had so much fun.  

Ethan was all about it to begin with, and then once we got to Klondike Park (about 1/2 way to our destination of Augusta) he decided we should turn back cause he was "starving".  But he kept going another 3-4 miles to Augusta and was glad he did.  He is pretty proud of the 13 miles he trekked, and I will definitely do this again.

I'm thinking maybe it's time I get my own bike, though.  I've been keeping the Katy Trail Bike Rentals in business this spring :)

Lunch at the Augusta Brewing Co.

Shared a turkey bacon wrap.

Picked the tomatoes out.

Ethan was thrilled to hear "yes" when he asked 

if he could have Mountain Dew.

I figured he needed the boost anyway.

Love these bright chairs at the Brewing Co. 

They just look relaxing.

If only there was an ocean in front of them.

We made it!!

I don't know what these are.

They always intrigue me.

Cool place to rest.

There is this huge limestone mass or something (not sure what to call it)

along the trail at Klondike. 

It's really neat.

We stopped there twice.

Another family was nice enough to take our picture there.

Although they obviously did not feel comfortable enough 

to tell me I was posed so awkwardly.

We felt kind of bad for them.

They started out not too long after us and this was their entourage: 

-one teen boy on a bike. 

-dad pulling a daughter maybe 6 or 7 on

some kind of contraption that attaches to the bike and 

it's like half of a bike itself, 

so she was pedaling and had handlebars but 

he was actually pulling all the weight and steering.

-and mom pulling one of those tot tent things with a toddler inside.

When we saw them at lunch they all seemed pretty put out with dad - seems it was his idea to ride today and they were all exhausted.  But they were troopers.  Even after we heard a crash behind us and turned around to see that the girl had fallen off the contraption, I really never heard them complain.  And at the last mile, they all breezed past us - guess they were ready to be done.  Apparently the bike with the contraption got a flat tire half way through, and they still all managed to ride back relatively happily :)  Totally impressed with them!

These bridges were one of his favorite parts

(second only to lunch, I believe).

A glimpse of the Missouri River.

The scene from the back porch of the bike rental place.

Did I mention it sells ice cream, too?

Perfect end to the day.