Nauvoo

Sorry that it has taken so long to post again. I can't get my pictures to upload and that, obviously, is the basis of this blog. These are pictures from a trip to Nauvoo, IL the first weekend in August that I've finally been able to upload.

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We were supposed to go to Utah this summer for a family vacation/reunion of sorts. My parents have a cabin in the mountains above Cedar City they built in 1969 or so. Now they are getting ready to build a new and improved cabin in the same area. So far it's a driveway. We were going out to see my parents, possibly my brother's family, and the new cabin. But the way dates worked out, we were going to miss my brother's family, and there is not yet a new cabin to see. Add to that the gazillion hours in the car to get there, the fact that our car is a lemon, the cost of gasoline, the cost of missing a week of work... we ended up going to St. Louis and Nauvoo instead.

Our kids were reconciled to this idea because on the other two occasions that we've visited Nauvoo (or Nannoo, as Boy christened it on this trip because it's hilarious to them) it's been off season. Either September or April. And off season, the pioneer dress-up area is closed. Knowing that she would be able to dress-up like a pioneer in Nauvoo about made Princess Sparkley's summer.

Here are the pics:

Princess Sparkley and Boy in front of the Nauvoo Temple

Princess Sparkley finally got to dress up in the pioneer girl clothes


Princess Sparkley, new pioneer outfit


I think it would break her heart to know she'd probably wear
that one dress for months if she was a real pioneer girl


Have you lost count of the costume changes yet?While Princess Sparkley is dressing up, Boy and Daddy are playing pioneer games.Cute Boy spinning a top.



Princess Sparkley and Boy riding "sheep"



Princess Sparkley and Boy in front of Schofield's Bakery in Nauvoo.
We've done this picture every year, I need to track down the other versions to post.



We had a bet on the drive from St. Louis to Nauvoo that whoever fell asleep had to kiss an ox. Only the girls fell asleep. We refused, but Daddy kissed one on the head.


Pretending to drive a covered wagon.

Sorry, still now new posts

I have so many things to post. A months worth of pictures including a family trip to Nauvoo, Princess Sparkley's 5th birthday, school starting, preschool starting, etc. But I can't get the pictures to upload. It pretends it's going to do it, but it just times out or give me an error message. I'll keep trying.

Princess Sparkley's Birthday- St. Louis style

4 years, 11 months, 3 weeks and 1 day old

We were in St. Louis the weekend before Princess Sparkley's birthday, so we had a Princess cake that Grandma bought and celebrated her birthday with some family.

Quick Trip to Chicago

I got to go to Chicago for the first time the weekend of August 5th. We left the kids with their grandparents in St. Louis and B and I hurried up to Chicago Saturday and Sunday. B had an audition with Jeopardy! It went well. He's on their possible contestant list for the next 18-24 months. He auditioned for Jeopardy! when we lived in California and made it to their contestant list but they never called... so we'll see.

Cinderella mopping the floor

Princess Sparkley always wants to clean our floors. She mumbles to herself about how mean we are while she does it, and yesterday she sang the "sing sweet nightingale " song from Cinderella to get completely into character.

Back inside the Magic House

Inside there was a make believe town. There was a grocery store, fishing pond, tree house, Victorian House, construction site, grocery store, cafe, library, bank, ice cream cart and news studio. There was a mailbox and each place had it's only little mailbox and you could deliver mail. It was pretty neat.

Boy as the ice cream man.

All the cousins on the news.

Outside the Magic House

This is the "beach." It's a huge sand area with lots of sand toys, a huge sand castle, a "lifeguard", a sea shell dig, and a boardwalk. Pretty fun for kids who live in middle America and don't have a beach to go to.

There was this sort of ring around the rosie statue of kids outside. The cousins were all so excited because one of the statues was wearing a CTR ring. It must have been built by someone who is LDS or something.

Magic House Slide

So we enter a room with a slide at the museum. All we can see is the entrance, and a sign that says it isn't recommended for adults, or children under three. It wasn't until the kids went down and we started walking down to meet them that we realized it was a three story, spiral slide. These pictures are taken from the middle floor where there's a window and I could see them all go past. They look a little scared, but they all did it 3 or 4 times.

The Magic House: Air Power

Boy loved this exhibit. Can you tell by his face?

The Magic House

The Magic House is St. Louis's Children's Museum. After the wedding all the husband's went back to work. B's sister and her two kids stuck around. I stuck around with our two kids. And B's brother took four kids home, but left the two middle kids who were the same ages as the cousins left at Grandma's so everyone could play. So Grandma took us all to The Magic House. It was very crowded, but the kids had a ton of fun and there was so much to do.

Boy working a crane.

Boy and cousin R getting filled up with gas by cousin S.

Uncle's Wedding

We were in St. Louis last weekend for B's little brother's wedding. Here are just a few shots I was able to get at the reception.

There are three girl cousins on my husband's side. One from each family (excluding the newlyweds). Here they are together in their matching dresses under an arch in St. Louis, but not the St. Louis Arch.

Close-up on those cute faces.

Boy. There are seven boy cousins. I didn't get a picture of all of them. But they all had matching ties except the newest baby who is only a few weeks old.

Close-up of another cute face.

Boy and Baseball

Boy is obsessed with baseball and playing catch as of late. Here are some shots of him playing catch. And then just some fun pictures I snapped.

Princess Sparkley's School Supplies

Our K12 Virtual School Curriculum arrived in July. Our UPS man brought us four boxes full of books, workbooks, manipulatives, etc. for Princess Sparkley's kindergarten.

We had to go out and buy a little bookshelf to house it all. I'll have to take a picture of her desk and book shelf to post.

Wading Pool

This is another Friday Field Trip. There's a park downtown where you can reserve their wading pool for an hour for parties, etc. And then in the afternoon it opens to the public. Our group went on July 28th and the kids had lots of fun. I'd love to have a wading pool like this in my backyard.

Boy is standing on a hole that shoots water.

He steps away and gets squirted.

Lots of fun.

Close up.

Things our children say when they are supposed to be asleep

These are conversations between the kids and their Daddy.

[two nights ago]

Son: I want Mommy.

Me: Mommy’s taking a little rest because she’s tired.

Daughter: Why is she tired?

Me: Because she’s pregnant.

Son: Except, except, except the baby in her tummy’s not real.

Me: Yes it is.

Son: [sing-songy] No, it isn’t!

Me: The baby in Mommy’s tummy is real.

Son: What does it say on that sign? [a sign hanging from their bedroom door]

Me: It says, “Leave me alone; I’m sleeping.”

Son: What does the other side say?

Me: It says, “Come clean up my room.”

Daughter: Let’s pretend this is a hotel, and tomorrow we can turn the sign over and the maid can come clean our room, and the maid can be mother.

Me: Mommy’s not your maid, and it’s rude to pretend that other people are your maids.

Daughter: Why?

Me: Because being a maid isn’t a fun job.

Daughter: But why do people do it?

Me: Because they have to work, right?

Daughter: What hotel is that sign from?

Me: A hotel called Virgin River Casino.

Daughter: Did you stay there while I was alive?

Me: Yeah, I’ve stayed there before we were married, and once when we were married and you weren’t born yet, and once when you were a baby.

Daughter: Why did you only get one sign?

Me: Because I didn’t know if I was going to have kids or how many I’d have.

Daughter: You didn’t know if your body couldn’t have kids?

Me: Yeah. I hadn’t tried yet.

Daughter: A daddy can’t have kids on his own!

Son: And a mommy can’t have kids on her own, too!

Daughter: Can a cow and a horse get married and have a baby?

Me: No.

Daughter: Can a person from one country and a person from a different country get married and have a baby?

Me: Yes.

Daughter: Why?

Me: Because people from different countries are both still people, right?

Daughter: Then why can’t a cow and a horse get married and have a baby?

Me: Because they’re different animals. A horse and a donkey can have a baby, and a cow and a bison can have a baby.

Daughter: Why?

Me: Because Heavenly Father made them that way.

Son: Can an alligator and a crocodile?

Me: I don’t know.

Son: Can two birds?

Me: Yes, if they’re the same type of bird.

Daughter: What about a balded eagle and a blue jay?

Me: No.

Daughter: Why?

Me: Because Heavenly Father made them that way.

Son: Can a house and another house?

Me: Yes, a house and another house can get married and have a baby.

Son: Houses don’t have legs!

Daughter: Can two crabs?

Me: If they’re the same type of crab.

Daughter: What about a crab and a sea crab?

Me: I think all crabs are sea crabs.

Daughter: What do crabs do?

Me: They go “pinch, pinch,” and “eat, eat,” and “poop, poop.”

Daughter: Why do crabs pinch?

Me: Because Heavenly Father made them that way.

Son: Can two cars?

Me: Yes, two cars can get married and have a baby.

Son: Can a car and a race car?

Me: Yes.

Son: Cars don’t have legs!

[last night]

Son: Let’s go Royals! Let’s go Royals!

Daughter: You’re supposed to clap in between like this. [clap, clap, clap-clap-clap]

Son: Let’s go Royals! [spit, spit, spit-spit-spit] Let’s go Royals! [spit, spit, spit-spit-spit]

Bed Time

I wish my kids really fell asleep this quickly. Here they are just pretending.

Music Class Field Trip: fire station

We did this field trip last year and it was a huge hit with Boy. This year, they pulled out a fire truck and let the kids squirt the hose. We all got a little wet. I didn't think my kids would actually hold the hose, but they agreed that they'd do it together. It was a ton of fun. The firemen are always so nice and give such good tours. I learned a lot.

4th of July

We had good intentions of seeing a great firework show on the 4th of July at the Kansas City Royals baseball game. It's the whole reason we were there. But a "severe thunderstorm warning" and brief heavy rains earlier in the afternoon got the firework firing equipment too wet and after a few attempts to start the show, it was canceled. We got rain check tickets though and are going back for a Friday night later this month for their Friday night fireworks. Hopefully it'll be as good.

Boy Learns to Swim

This is the best I could do of pictures of Boy in swim lessons since I was in the water with him. Princess Sparkley offered to take pictures for us, but I just imagined my camera or her or both of them falling into the pool. So we have the immediately after swim lessons pictures. Which he still didn't want me to take. He loved swim lessons. Kicked and paddled and splashed and blew bubbles and even let me dunk him under a few times. And next year he'll be old enough to do swim lessons on his own. Woo hoo!