Magic House

 We took our kids to the Magic House here in St. Louis.  COOLEST. PLACE. EVER.  Wow, if I had gone to this as a kid, I'm sure my parents would have had to wrestle me to the ground to leave this place.  I felt like a kid all over again.  I was not quite as excited as Anna, but almost. This place had all different types of exhibits that are made for kids.  The best part was the little world they made for kids.  It had everything.  There was a grocery store, house, kitchen, living room, mechanic shop, fishing, mailbox, ice-cream truck, restaurant, library, post office, hospital, electric company, EVERYTHING!  Seriously people, this was impressive.  Check out the pics and then go buy your tickets.  It's awesome. 

 This is the bubble room.  Andrew is obsessed with bubbles so it was a hit. 

 This little machine would make a giant bubble around you as you pull the string.  Um, that's just cool.

 Did anyone have one of these things when they were little, (on a much smaller scale)?  We spent a long time here. 

 You might have to click on these pictures to really see Andrew's face, but I don't think I've ever seen him so happy.  Seriously.

 Now, this is where it gets really cool.  Check out this grocery store.  Anna got to do it all.  She even was the clerk and rang everything up.  It beeped and printed a receipt.  Cool!

 This is the little pizza restaurant.  How cute is this.  You could make it in their little kitchen, ring it up, serve it, eat it.  Whatever you wanted.  Darling!

 This was SO cute too.  It was a little baby hospital.  There were scrubs to dress up in along with stethoscopes.  Anna fed, rocked, weighed and washed the baby dolls.  They had the little suction cups you get when you have a baby and diapers to change.  Honestly, this would have been my dream come true as a kid.

 Here Anna is at the library.  I could not get her to smile at even one picture because she was so into what she was doing.  How can you blame her?

 This was at the electric company.  This one wasn't as cool but still.

 I loved this little mailbox.  You could put mail in and then open up the bottom to get it out.  I'm sure all of you know how obsessed kids can be with mailboxes.  As we drive around town, Anna spots them like you wouldn't believe.  I now know where all blue mailboxes are thanks to her. 

 One more trip to the grocery store before we leave.

 And... this was Andrew the whole time.  Running away from us. He'd leave and never look back. 

Today

I really want to keep track of all the cute, funny, and disgusting things my kids do so that one day when they ask what they did that was cute, I can tell them.  SO, today was two marks in the disgusting category.  I found Andrew eating last night's dinner from our TRASH CAN!!  It was all mushed in there and gross.  We even have a lid on our trash can people!  He just held that lid up with one hand while I found him putting gobs of GROSS food in his mouth with the other.  He did it while I was blow drying my hair so I have no idea how long he was in there.  Ugh!  Talk about gross. 

I think it's super cute how Andrew loves to answer "nnnooo" to any question you ask him.  Check out the video below to see what I mean.  

Something that I think is funny is that Anna thinks that anyone who has red hair is Ariel.  She got a sticker book for her birthday from one of her friends, and she was playing with it all morning.  She was on the ballerina page and saw a dancer with red hair.  She started squealing with excitment and demanded that I come look right away.  She told me, "Mom, Mom, look it's ARIEL!!"  She clapped her hands furiously.  I just didn't have the heart to tell her that this ballerina has no fins, no bathing suit, was not a princess, and was definitely NOT Ariel.  So, instead I told her that was the coolest thing ever and we both clapped and screamed with delight.  Ahh. 

Gross mark number two, I found Andrew eating out of the trash again.  So, here's a pointer for all of you future Lee kid babysitters, don't take your eye off Andrew for one second!  You think I would have learned that by now.

More to come later....

Four Years!!

 Josh and I celebrated our four year wedding anniversary over the break.  It was a wonderful day.  We both agree that our date out that night was our favorite thing we did together over the break.  It wasn't really anything extravagant or over the top, but it was special to us.  We went out to Carrabbas for dinner.  It's kind of a tradition of ours.  We ate there the night before we got married and have had every anniversary dinner there since then.  Then we went to a movie together.  We both felt like it was a "grown-up date".  We have not ever gone out to dinner and a movie together.  Ever!  Isn't that crazy?  It's usually one or the other, (but not usually a movie because they're expensive).  We felt like we got a glimpse of what it will be like when we actually have a job and can afford to go on dates like this.  I'll tell you though, the best part was getting to spend that special day with the love of my life and knowing that we get to be together for eternity.  There is no greater blessing in the world than being married to your best friend.  I love you Josh!  Here's to an eternity with you!

Happy Birthday Anna

This beautiful princess turned 3 on Friday!  Wow, she seems so big and still so small at the same time.  Friday was a perfect day.  We all got to spend some wonderful family time together with Anna.  She was SO excited that it was her birthday.  She has been talking about her birthday for months.  Honestly!  Every time we go to the grocery store, she makes me go to the cake aisle so she can point out the PINK birthday cake box.  She fervently exclaims, "I'm going to have a PINK BIRTHDAY CAKE MOM!"  Then jumps up and down and claps.  Well, her lofty dreams finally came true.  She even got to decorate it herself.  

 Granny sent this beautiful Sunday dress in the mail for her birthday.  She would NOT take it off to save her life.  It came with a matching dress for her doll.  She sat her doll right next to her at dinner so they could eat together and match.  There is just something about matching that gets Anna so excited.  It's the best thing in the world when something matches.

 She had a "3" birthday pancake for breakfast.  She thought it was pretty cool.  Today when she got a regular round pancake, she cried because it wasn't a 3-shaped one.   What was I thinking?!

 We were going to have her wait for her little party to open her presents.  Yea, we didn't make it past 7:15 AM before every one of them was torn open!

 We had a little party for her that night which she LOVED!  I think she likes being the center of attention, even though it makes her very shy.

 I told her to hold this up for me and this is what I got....no face for the picture at all.

Happy Birthday to the sweetest princess in the world!

And that's a wrap folks!

 We are finally finished with posting Christmas pictures.  Here are some pics of Christmas day with the Stewart family.  I cannot even tell you how much fun we had and how blessed we feel to have this wonderful family to call ours.  We love them all.  It was a great season, a great time to spend together, and great memories were made. 

 Granddaddy got a big family picture for Christmas.  In his words, "there's nothing better in the world". 

 How adorable is this, really?!

 Granny and Grandpa surprised the kids with plasma cars.  These things are SO cool.  Anna and David loved them, along with all of other adults.  They can ride someone up to 250 pounds.  We had races around the kitchen.  SO FUN!

 Here is our new favorite dog lover.  He would just squeal whenever Ethel was around.  So cute!

 My Granddaddy gives each grandchild a rocking chair, so Andrew and Jacob got theirs this year!  When he was a young father, he couldn't afford to give his kids a rocking chair.  So, he saved up his money and every week he would bring $1 to the store to put down towards a rocking chair.  He did this for 8 weeks until the rocking chair was paid for.  He couldn't wait to give it to his kids.  That rocking chair still sits in his house and I played with it all growing up.  Now my kids will play with it and have one of their own to remember their Granddaddy by.  Thank you Granddaddy!

 Anna and David got two wheeled bikes too!!  They would ride around the loop in the house for HOURS!  It was so fun to watch.  I didn't think that Anna could do it at first because she is so used to riding her tricycle but it didn't take long before she was whipping around on that thing.