Josie's Birthday, Part 2 (Our family)

We came home (exhausted) from Josie's girly party, picked up the boys from summer school, and had party #2 with them. They didn't mind eating the extra cupcakes from her previous party, thankfully. They had made her precious cards and were very sweet to her, making her feel special. Then we hit the pool & had movie night...a long, fun day.

Loving her balloons

Reading his card to her..."I love you as a sister and a friend"...etc.

I just liked how she had her arm around Gabe in this one:)

Dogs for her dollhouse:)

The boys were seriously SO excited for her...probably because she was always borrowing their scooters:)

The Scooter Gang

Notice in the last four pictures that her hair is now up...it was horribly hot & humid, but she of course wanted to try out her new scooter...they lasted about 3 or 4 minutes, and came in all sweaty!

After blowing out the candles the first time, she said, "Mom, I didn't even

make my wish". So, we did it again & I could read her lips as she made
her wish..."I wish I could get a real dog again". Heartbreaking.

Laughing at her brothers

Josie's Birthday Party, Part 1 (Garden Party)

Josie wanted to have a party with all her little friends, so we used the Log Cabin on campus so that we could fit everyone. They were all so very precious! We played pin-the-dot on the ladybug, elefun (the game where you use butterfly nets to catch the butterflies blown out of the elephant's trunk), we decorated flower pots w/ stickers, and ate some cake & cupcakes. It was really helpful to have the extra space, but I ran poor Nile ragged by forgetting things at home:( I thought I was so prepared, but when you have the party somewhere else, the things you normally have on hand are not necessarily on hand! He was a big help, for sure. Josie was so sweet saying her Bible verse she had memorized for her friends...it's so hard, when you are planning these specials times that are kind of all about the child, to make sure not to lose your focus on the Lord and loving others well. I tried to connect her verse to the theme of her party so that she would be excited to memorize it (flowers, growing things, etc.) and she was. So, before opening presents, I talked very briefly about it and Josie shared her verse. We told her friends how blessed we felt to share life with them, and how thankful Nile & I were that God has given Josie such precious friends. The little girls wanted to say the verse, too (how sweet is that?!), so we did it together. Love them all! Her verse was 1 Peter 5:24-25...The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. I'll post the family pics soon...the boys were SO excited to give Josie her scooter! I told them it could be their present to her and they could hardly wait.

Sorry about the high chairs in the background(the Log Cabin is our childcare building that provides Moms Morning Out every week, and other stuff, as well.

The flower cake that Josie has been telling everyone about...

Pushing each other on the porch swing

Almost starting her hair on fire!

A little Duck Duck Goose (impovised when my camera batteries died & Nile had to run home:)

Getting ready to Pin-the-Dot-on-the-Ladybug

Nile even helped:)

Decorating their flower pots, which then became their party favor-
so easy to stick a bag of goodies in there and send them home.

Elefun!

Joe & Sarah's Visit to STL!

We were so excited to have Joe & Sarah stay with us for a few days! The kids LOVED having them around! These are totally in the wrong order...but this is a great one to start with:) Aren't they adorable?!! This is at Fitz's Soda Fountain, where we went for bottomless mugs of rootbeer. Thanks for visiting us, Joe & Sarah. We love you!

Gabe was too cool to be in the goofy picture:)

It was a typical hot & humid day in STL, so the fountains were perfect!
Sarah has some better pics that I need to figure out how to steal & put on our blog. I mean steal in the nicest way:)

St. Louis Union Station

Seth's K Graduation & the Boys' End of Year Carnival

The boys' carnival was amazing, at least to this small-town girl! We never had anything quite like this when I was in school! Just a little background info...the average salary (according to the principal who gave Nile a tour of the school before we moved here)of parents at their school is $200,000 to $500,000-they truly go all out for this thing, and have the money to do it, so we get to reap the benefits of that:) Seth had a little program and again sang every song & did all the actions. I am trying to upload a video of him and one of Gabe reciting his Mother's Day poem...we'll see if it works this time.


Seth's Kindergarten class of 12 students...9 boys & 3 girls!

Inside the inflatables-the boys came out drenched in sweat, as usual.

All 3 kids are on, but you can only see the boys

Bad day to not have a ponytail!

Seth zooming by...Gabe was feeling sick after the Tilt-A-Whirl, so did not ride this one:)

Just one side of carnival games, there were loads more

Josie and her pony ride