A Day in the Life

Gardenland Express

2012-01-05T15:20:00.009-06:00

It's become a tradition for us to go to the Botanical Gardens and see the Gardenland Express train exhibit on New Years Day. This year was no exception, as we went after church. I enjoyed using my new camera (that I got for Christmas) and the kids enjoyed the trains and the scavenger hunt - looking for different flowers and items among the dislplays. Always enjoyable!

Starting Over.

2011-12-25T20:38:00.004-06:00

Ok, so it's been a year since I've blogged. I'd like to say it's because I didn't have time, but it's probably more like I wasted too much time doing other things. I would like to make this more of a priority, though, for my family out of town to keep up with what we are doing. So here's to starting over with a few pictures from a Very Merry Christmas at the Bauers 2011.

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-26T18:51:00.002-06:00

The last time I can remember getting snow on Christmas Eve was in 2002 - Katherine's first Christmas. Well, we got some this year - about 3 inches. This picture was taking in between snow events. We got another inch over this, so he grass completely covered. The kids enjoyed playing in the snow on Christmas Eve before going to church. We did make it to church, where Katherine sang with the other 1st-6th graders that were there. Beauiful. Christmas Day was spent opening gifts and enjoying time with grandparents - what can be better???

Christopher did not want to smile for the camera - can you tell? What can you do? It's so nice to be able to stay home on Christmas Day! Especially in our new home. :)

We hope everyone had as good a Christmas as we did!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T21:06:00.003-05:00

We had a great Halloween weekend! Starting with a day off school on Friday, the kids went trick-or-treating at dad's office, then our church hosted a Reformation Faire with games and candy for the kids Saturday night (the picture below is Elizabeth helping Christopher fish for candy). Then, Sunday, one of our new neighbors hosted a lunch party and invited us as well a several neighbors and we really enjoyed getting to know a few of our neighbors! John took the kids out tonight for some trick-or-treating to top off the weekend and Elizabeth and Christopher rang the doorbell after being gone only about 15 or 20 min saying "we have enough candy - we're done". Well, probaby true, but not expected - especially from my candy-holic daughter! Everyone's going to bed tired, but happy tonight!

My indian girls and my firefighter!

Long time, no see?

2010-10-26T14:28:00.009-05:00

What have we been up to the last 2 months? Well, we moved, had 3 birthdays, an anniversary, and, oh, did I say we moved? Well, here's some pictures of our activities as well as one of the new house, which, by the way, we LOVE!!!

We moved the last week of September (there are still some boxes around, but we are getting settled) and then dove into the craziness that usually defines our Octobers.

Elizabeth had her birthday party with the girls from the Kindergarten class (and a couple of siblings) at Bounce U and had a GREAT time!!!

She actually shared her party with a girl in her class who's birthday is just a couple of days before hers and is also named Elizabeth!

Then we celebrated with family mine, Johns, and Elizabeth's birthdays!

Fun at the local pumpkin patch...

it was a very bright, sunny day! and trick-or-treating at Grandpa Bauer's retirement home.

Carving pumpkins is HARD work!

the finished products!!

A New Year..

2010-08-28T13:23:00.007-05:00

It's been a great summer!!! Very busy, very fun, very hot - not alot of pictures taken except for our vacation. School has started here (last week) and for the first time, everyone is enrolled! Katherine started 3rd grade, Elizabeth started Kindergarten, and Christopher started 3-year old preschool and everyone LOVED thier first week! Here are some pictures from their first days. Excuse me for them being so out of order.

Christopher on his first day of preschool! He was excited to have his CARS backpack :)

All three on Christopher's first day, Thursday.

This is Elizabeth's Kindergarten class with their teacher, Mrs. Smith.

Christopher getting down to the business of playing!

Christopher took a turn at feeding the class pet... Janie.

Christopher RUNNING to class!

Katherine...ready to start 3rd grade!

My 3rd grader and Kindergartner :)

A proud Elizabeth on her first day of Kindergarten.

Everyone is adjusting to the routine, including me, and looking forward to a GREAT year!!!

Isle of Palms, SC

2010-07-09T20:20:00.006-05:00

We are vacationing in Isle of Palms, SC (just outside Charleston) and LOVING IT!!! Here's some pictures from our tour of Fort Sumter - very interesting history. I can't recount it for you here, you'll just have to trust me. :)

the beautiful downtown Charleston - very interesting that they've kept it so old...no high-rises in this town!!

We are staying on the beach and the kids are having a blast. It's our first "beach" vacation, so I wasn't completely sure how they would do, but they have warmed up to it nicely (although Christopher still does not like to walk in "the white sand" - he likes "the brown sand", though. They could (and have) played for hours and it's been very relaxing.

Missouri Botanical Gardens

2010-03-14T19:00:00.004-05:00

Last weekend we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens on a cloudy, but mild, day and just enjoyed being outside. Not much was blooming, but the kids enjoyed running and feeding the coi fish in the Japanese Garden. We also poked our heads into the Orchid Show and got some great pictures of the beautiful flowers! Julie's mom and dad came with us and we had a great time!

Spring is in the Air

2010-03-06T12:14:00.002-06:00

We went to the park yesterday after school - it was great to get outside and get some fresh air!

Piano Lessons

2010-01-27T11:28:00.004-06:00

Katherine has started taking piano lessons and LOVES it! She willingly practices almost every day and her favorite things is to play duets with John, as each piece that she plays has a duet part to go along with it. FUN!

Gardenland Express

2010-01-18T14:47:00.005-06:00

On New Years Day, we took a trip with Grandma Dana and Grandpa Ken to the Missouri Botanical Gardens to see their Gardenland Express exhibit - a train exhibit that they set up over the Christmas holiday time. This year the theme seemed to be "the garden", in that each train area was set up to look like an area of the Botanical Gardens - the Japanese Garden, etc, so that there were repicas of many of the buildings in the Garden. Christopher was in awe, and the girls enjoyed it, too. We all had a great time.

Christopher especially loved the steam train.

This one I think had Santa on the front car...

Here's classic Katherine - reading the history timeline of the Botanical Gardens...

Thanks for coming with us, Grandma Dana and Grandpa Ken!!!

Springfield, IL

2010-01-18T14:28:00.005-06:00

We had decided, since Katherine has taken an huge interest in history lately, to take a short trip to Springfield, IL over christmas break. So, on Tuesday after Christmas, we drove up to Springfield from St. Louis (about 100 miles) and after checking into our hotel, went to see the Old State House, Abe Lincoln's law office across the street ( I didn't get any pictures of this), and his home several blocks away.

All of those sights were GREAT! It was amazing to feel like I was standing in the same spot that Abraham Lincoln did 150 years ago - before he was president! These sights and the Visitor's Center, near his home, are fabulous and I highly recommend going to see them! After a pretty good night's sleep, we went the next day to drive around the current Illinois State Capitol building and to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, just across from the Old State House. The museum was decked out for Christmas and was beautiful.

There's a great kids play area in the museum with dress-up clothes as well as old toys from the time of Lincoln and a "Lincoln's home" doll house. We spent a LONG time in that area.

We got our picture taken with the Lincoln family. :)

A replica of the log cabin where he was born and grew up in Kentucky (if I remember correctly). We had a fabulous trip and I highly recommend you get there if you live within any reasonable distance to Springfield. We all had a great time!

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-25T13:38:00.003-06:00

Christmas Part 1

2009-12-21T07:57:00.002-06:00

We enjoyed an early Christmas with my (Julie) family - my parents and brother and his family. It was nice family hang out time as well as exchanging some gifts.

My brother, Kevin, and his family. Kim is expecting twins in March,

so next year will be extra fun!

The kids with their cousin, Kaiser.

It was great to see everyone and spend the whole day eating, and giving, and chatting, and eating, and playing... We got a picture of everyone with the time on my mom's camera - I'll add that to the post when my mom e-mails it to me.

LONG overdue!

2009-12-13T20:36:00.003-06:00

I know that I've got ALOT of ground to cover, since it's been so long since I've posted... I'll just start with a Christmas craft that we did this weekend. Since the kids were all sick, we pretty much stayed home and the girls and I did this gingerbread house. I put on the icing and the girls decorated. FUN!

First Day of School

2009-08-27T10:27:00.006-05:00

Well, I have been horrible about getting the blog updated with summer pictures, so I'll just start with the First Day of School pictures and get to the vacation pictures as I can. Here's my 2nd grader and my PreK'er on their first day of school.

Another Zoo Trip

2009-08-02T13:56:00.005-05:00

Another trip to the zoo - this time as a family (with daddy). I think the pictures pretty much speak for themelves - it was a much warmer day this time. We saw the stingray exhibit - it was really neat! We were able to bend down and touch them, although, you can see from one of the pictures, that the kids wanted nothing to do with them. They were very soft and smooth. Again, the carousel, a favorite with our family - joyous faces at the end of a long morning and a warm day! And you've got to love the penguins - the exhibit is icy cold, literally, and felt great to us! They are so funny to watch waddle around and dive in the water.

Grant's Farm

2009-08-02T13:46:00.004-05:00

Not many animals were out in the Deer Park when we went to Grants Farm in June. I only got a few pictures of animals, but lots of fun pictures of my kids! We love the tram.. and Katherine enjoys feeding the goats (the other 2 are pretty skittish of them - to their credit, the goats can be pretty agressive - especially first thing in the morning, which is when we almost always go).

Christopher with is friend, Jacen.

While there weren't many animals in the Deer Park, the Clydesdales were out in full force in the horse area and got really close - we were able to pet them through the fence - and we actually saw on horse being brought back to the stables in their fancy truck. Fun!

Zoo

2009-08-02T13:35:00.004-05:00

Another fun outing! We went to the zoo one cool morning in June with our friends (Jacen and his mom).

Katherine with the rhino.

The elephants were all out (unlike alot of the animals), so I got lots of pictures of them!

Christopher loved the fish...

Katherine loved these stalagmites.

Faust Park

2009-08-02T13:29:00.004-05:00

My kids LOVE the carousel at Faust Park. We went one day and had a great time. No pictures of Christopher on the carousal, but know that he WAS there. They have a great playground, too.

Magic House

2009-08-02T13:21:00.004-05:00

The Magic House is one of our favorite places to go on a hot summer day. We went early in the summer and the kids each have their favorite areas to go to - so many that we usually can't see everything that we want to in one visit! Here are some pictures from our day.

Botanical Gardens and Pizza

2009-08-02T13:13:00.004-05:00

On Katherine's birthday (May 23) we spent the day at the Missouri Botanical Gardens and had a great time! Pictures follow... For dinner, we went to America's Incredible Pizza Company! The food was not too exciting, but the games were fun! Funny how there are no pictures of the birthday girl playing games! Sorry.

Closing Chapel

2009-05-23T22:07:00.004-05:00

Covenant Christian School has a closing chapel on the last day of school - above is Katherine getting ready for it and below is her with a couple of her friends from her class, Lindsay and Macy. During the chapel, the kids mostly sang songs and recited scripture as well as the older kids doing some dramatization and playing their recorders (they start that in 3rd grade). It was great to see the entire school together singing about God's love. The chapel was a bit long - Christopher entertained himself with a bible - in this picture he's saying "read book". School is out for the summer!!!

Birthday Fun - Part 2

2009-05-23T22:01:00.003-05:00

Katherine had her "kid" party last weekend with all her girl friends from school and church (and her sister). They went to Painted Zebra, which is a place where they can paint their own pottery. FUN! The girls had a blast - and my house didn't get messy!! No, really, it was a great activity and everyone got something to keep!

Field Day

2009-05-23T21:40:00.006-05:00

Field Day at Katherine's school was last May 16th - what a FUN day! John took the day off work (as did many other dad's - I was impressed) to help with games and the kids had a GREAT time. Elizabeth is not quite old enough to participate - they have to be Pre-K and older, so next year.

Here is Katherine getting ready for "Field Hockey" - played with pool noodles and a giant beach ball!

Here's Katherine playing "volleyball" with a big sheet (held around the edge by each team) and a beach ball that they were trying to get over the net.

Here's Katherine with her team - they all had their bare feet in a baby pool filled with water and marbles and they had to pick up the marbles with their toes and put them in a tub - the team that did it faster (there was another team doing the same thing at the same time) won.

Katherine's team is getting ready for "the amazing race" - kind of an obstacle course, but they had to do everything as a team - it was great to watch the teamwork, especially between the older and younger kids.

This was a game where the team had to move together (they are standing on and holding above their heads a ring of rubber/plastic). It looked kind of like the "wheels" of a bulldozer, if you can picture that. TEAMWORK!!

The famous and really fun scooter race - Katherine is holding a cup of water that they fill at one end of the parking lot, then pull the scooter along and dump the cup in a bin at the other end - the team that gets more water in their bucket at the end of the time "wins".

Getting ready for the tug-of-war at the end of the morning.

Here's the red team picture (above) and the all school/team picture (below).

There were other games that I didn't get a picture of, too. A really fun day was had by all - kuddos to all who put it together! I was really impressed by the focus (whether it was deliberate or not) on games that required a team effort and was also impressed by the kids that really seemed to work together especially helping the younger kids and not being so competitive. There was definitely NOT an emphasis put on winning, but working together as a team and having fun.

Birthday Fun - Part 1

2009-05-23T21:32:00.004-05:00

We have SO many family birthdays in May. On Mother's Day weekend, my (Julie's) brother and sister-in-law and nephew, Kaiser, came into town and we celebrated with them and our parents Kaiser's birthday (May 3) and my dad's birthday (May 7) and Mother's Day. They also brought a gift for Katherine (Twister Hopscotch, seen in the pictures), since they wouldn't be here for the "other" party celebrating Katherine's (May 23) and Grandpa Bauer's (May 20) birthdays the following weekend. Here are a few shots of the cousins.

Softball - part 2

2009-05-23T21:25:00.005-05:00

Katherine has started playing softball this spring. Here's several shots from (I think) her second or third game in May. She's got some good form and enjoys playing. She doesn't like to practice, though, so has already told me that she doesn't want to play next year. Oh, well. I won't totally give up on her yet. Elizabeth said that she wanted to go talk to Katherine during the game - it was cute.

CCS Art Fest

2009-04-17T22:35:00.004-05:00

Last night was the First Annual Art Fest at the girls' school. We went and saw all of their artwork displayed wonderfully! For Katherine, these were projects that she's been working on throughout the school year in her weekly art class. For Elizabeth, this was just one of the many projects that she had worked on in her class. In addition to the artwork, there were kids who were playing piano and other instruments and singing and reciting poetry, etc in a recital format. It was a tremendous success and the girls enjoyed showing off what they had been doing at school.

Here's Katherine with her "stained glass - type" picture of an olive branch

(the one in the middle above her head).

Here's Katherine with her mosaic. (You can blow up the pictures a bit if you

double-click on them)

Here's Katherine's picture - she was supposed to draw her interpretation of a musical piece (Bolero????)

Elizabeth's class made fish and the displayed them like they were swimming in the ocean - her's is the yellow one with blue dots above her head. Katherine's class made pumpkins and displayed them like a pumpkin patch. The main point of this exercise was that they were not given green or orange paint - they had to mix primary colors to get their orange and green. Her's is just to her right (left of her in the picture).

Happy Easter!

2009-04-17T22:28:00.004-05:00

After a busy Easter morning at church (will we ever NOT have a busy Easter morning at church?), we headed to my (Julie's) parents along with John's dad for some fun family time. We had a great meal, some fun egg hunting, and played their Wii (a first for the Bauers, and quite fun, I might add!). Here are a few pictures (didn't get any of the Wii)...

Easter Egg Decorating

2009-04-17T22:20:00.004-05:00

John and I attended the girls' school auction in February and "won" an Easter Eggstravaganza with Elizabeth's teacher! This involved the two of them plus 2 of Elizabeth's friends gathering at Mrs. Byars house to color easter eggs. They had a BLAST! I just realized that I should have gotten a picture of them with Mrs. Byars. Oh, well. Here are a few pictures from the event.

What a spread!

Elizabeth was supposed to be frosting the cupcakes, not eating the frosting! If you know Elizabeth, that's just so her!

Katherine is GENTLY putting the sprinkles on her cupcake... again, so her.

The girls each got to bring home baskets with some of their eggs as well as some goodies. Thanks so much, Mrs. Byars! You are the best!

Softball

2009-04-17T22:16:00.003-05:00

Katherine decided that she wanted to play softball this spring. Since I was (notice the past tense) a softball player in my youth, I had a hard time saying "no". Here's a few shots of her at ther practice last week. I think she's really enjoying it. It adds a bit of hecticness (is that a word?) to our schedule, but it's worth it for her to be able to try this. She's on a team of first and second grade girls and they have their first game next week. It should be interesting... and fun!

Spring has finally sprung

2009-04-17T22:10:00.003-05:00

We've finally been able to spend some more time outside, lately. Here are just some pictures of Christopher and Elizabeth that I took one day when Katherine was at school - sorry, Katherine! I just don't seem to get as many pictures of her lately - I'm sure that will change this summer.

He's such a boy.

We got some new lanscaping brickwork put in and I wanted to get a picture of the kids - they enjoy walking along it, but this time they were just sitting.

Another lost tooth (or two).

2009-04-17T22:06:00.002-05:00

Between March and April, Katherine lost 3 teeth! A previous post document the first of these. She lost the second on March 29 (see picture below) and then lost the third on April 10 (biting into a strawberry!). She's got quite a "holey" grin right now!

Swimming Lessons

2009-04-17T21:52:00.005-05:00

We've got all three kids enrolled in swimming lessons this spring - at the same time. We all go and each child has his/her lesson at different parts of the pool. John goes with Christopher and I try to watch all three of them at the same time. It's hard, I tell you, but better than spending the entire day in swimming lessons - we get it all done in 45 min on Saturday mornings. Katherine has become a fish and loves the water, but still needs a bit of work on her actuall swimming skills. Elizabeth has not really enjoyed the swimming lessons. She's fine in the water, but several of the girls in her class are kind of wild and there is lots of splashing and she doesn't like getting water in her face. So, she enjoys the little games that they play, but when it comes down to "swimming", she doesn't always enjoy herself (as you'll see in at least one of the pictures). Christopher has no fear in the water (which increases my fear!). All three will enjoy the pool this summer, but it will be near impossible for me to take all of them by myself. So, we'll just have to wait for Daddy to come home to to. Anyway, on with the pictures.

Elizabeth is not so fond of the kickboard - she's gotten better at it recently, though.

She has fun sitting on the steps, though.

Love and Lost

2009-03-04T13:35:00.004-06:00

The girls got cute outfits for Valentine's Day, so I wanted to share pictures. We all went out for a family dinner on Valentine's Day - John and I got our "date" a couple of weeks later (Feb 28) at the Covenant Christian School auction. A fun time.

Then, just yesterday in the car on the way to school, Katherine lost a tooth! It's her third tooth, but the first two were almost a year ago, so it feels almost like the first one! She was giddy with excitement and this morning was anxious to see what the tooth-fairy brought - 3 quarters. Is she cheap? Katherine doesn't know any better. What's the going rate these days, anyway? I don't know. She was excited to put that in her bank and got some fun things at school yesterday, too. She's growing up!

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-14T09:07:00.003-06:00

My husband and kids returned from errands last night with these - LOVELY! They will beautify the table for the next week or so. I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day and can spend it with someone you love!

Has Spring Sprung???

2009-02-14T08:59:00.004-06:00

We had several days of spring-like weather last week (50s andf 60s) and took advantage of it and got outside. Katherine was at school, so there's no pictures of Katherine, but Christopher and Elizabeth enjoyed it, as you can see. Christopher, I'm convinced, would be happy to spend every waking hour outside if he could. I'm ready for spring. It's been a cold winter, and unfortunately it's back to 3os and low 40s this week.

Christopher's Birthday

2009-02-04T14:17:00.003-06:00

Christopher's birthday was last Friday and we had some friends and family over on Saturday for a little party - a tractor party. Here's the cake that I made, with the help of a great tractor cake pan!Christopher had fun opening his presents...and Elizabeth was just DYING to help him - she tried very hard to be patient, but eventually just HAD to help.

Going along with the theme of the party, Christopher got several tractors, big and small, and was thrilled with them, as you can see.

He enjoyed listening to us sing him "Happy Birthday"...

and even clapped for us when we were done singing! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Christopher - we can't believe that you are 2! OH, and by the way, he went to the doctor on Monday and is 32 lbs, 6 oz (90%tile) and 37-3/4 inches (99+%tile). He's very healthy, and for that we are thankful!

Growing up...

2009-01-27T16:06:00.003-06:00

As Christopher nears his 2nd birthday this week, I found a couple of pictures that were just too cute for words. I can't believe he'll be 2. He's growing up into such a sweet little boy (most of the time!).

Winter

2009-01-27T15:52:00.005-06:00

As winter goes, this one has been cold, but NOT snowy. Today we got I think our second somewhat significant snowfall. This is how our day started - it was a "snow" day here in St. Louis, with most, if I dare not say all, of the schools being close because of our few inches of snow and sleet. It was predicted to be a bit more, but it kind of fizzled out, at least here on the northern side of town. Nonetheless, we got to stay home today, and John stayed home from work to partake of the fun there at home. The girls longingly looked out at the snow waiting for it to warm up a little bit. After rest time, we headed out and the kids had a great time in the very powdery snow. Not good snow for snowballs or snowmen, but they did throw it around a little bit and helped John shovel, too!

It was a fun, relaxing day to sleep in (the kids slept till 8:15!) and just hang out with no agenda and noplace to be. That doesn't happen very often!

Chrismas Day 2008

2008-12-26T15:21:00.006-06:00

We had a nice Christmas this year. It was quiet, with John's dad coming over and staying most of the day with us. As you can see, the kids had a fun time. The girls gifts consisted of American Girls accessories, fairies, doll house accessories, books, activity books, games, scarves and hats, etc. and Christopher got mostly cars and trucks - what more could a boy want, right? My boy is in love with all things wheel related. We concluded the day with a trip to Tilles Park to see the light display that they have there. It was great! There was no line and the lights were beautiful!

Those are little fairy figures that the girls are holding...

A puppy set for the dollhouse....

The girls had a fun time with this magnetic mosaic set

Again, what more can a boy want than trucks?? Christopher had the best time running his car up and down

Grandpa Bauer's leg!!

John's mom was missed - I made her famous mashed potatoes for lunch and they turned out pretty good! I hope that it was a way to have her with us, even in her absence.

We hope you and yours had a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Duds

2008-12-26T15:13:00.003-06:00

Here's pictures of the kids in their Christmas Eve outfits. John got some good ones of the girls, but I couldn't get Christopher to stand still - imagine that. They all looked so cute in their outfits and they even smiled for me! On Christmas Eve morning, we went to a local hardware store to see a train display that they have - AWESOME!! We stood and watched it for at least a half hour - all of the little houses and scenes and at least 4 or 5 little trains going through the display. Very fun. Then, in the evening, we went to church, came home, set out food for Santa and the reindeer, and went to bed. The kids all went to sleep pretty quickly, which is not a given, and got a good night's sleep.

Christmas at the Emerys

2008-12-22T15:41:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Christmas with Julie's family the weekend before Christmas and here are a few of the favorite pictures from the day.

Grandma Dana and Grandpa Ken's Christmas Tree

All of us together - we don't get a picture of that very often! Grandma Dana, Grandpa Ken, John and Julie and kids, and Uncle Kevin (Julie's brother), Aunt Kim, and Cousin Kaiser.

Good pictures of the girls in front of the Christmas Tree - Christopher would have nothing to do with standing still for a picture (a general theme this year!).

Toothbrushes in the stockings for all the grandkids (always fun)!

Grandpa Ken sent the kids on a scavenger hunt around the house for some little items - they had a blast reading the clues and figuring out where to go for the next one!

The boy cousins (Christopher and Kaiser) playing with Christopher's new car garage/ramp toy. Aunt Kim and Cousin Kaiser

Grandma Dana

Grandma Dana and Grandpa Ken enjoying being surrounded by their family - albiet a bit frenzied with all the kids!

Kaiser was playing the game of hide and seek - pop up and say "boo" with Christopher - it was the funniest thing. He's bend down behind the couch and then pop up and say "boo" and then they'd both laugh and laugh and then Christopher would push Kaiser's head down and he'd do it all over again!

Elizabeth and her princess Jasmine!

They boys playing with cars.

Elizabeth with her Fancy Nancy felt play mat.

Kaiser and Christopher climbing up the stairs from the basement. We had a wonderful time and a great visit with family!

Nativity

2008-12-18T13:04:00.005-06:00

I just had to share this picture - Elizabeth created this nativity from her Veggie Tales nativity set and her dollhouse. So cute!!

Snow (Ice) Day Activities

2008-12-15T14:12:00.005-06:00

It doesn't look like much, but it was enough to close schools all over the area today, so we let the kids sleep in a bit and have just stayed in - it's ranged from 10 to the current 17 degrees outside with wind, so we are busy inside today. Below are pictures of some of our activities - yes, we've stayed in our PJs all day (the kids have, anyway).

Coloring and reading this morning (and baking some pumpkin cranberry bread -didn't get much help, though) and watching Charlotte's Web this afternoon. It's actually just nice to be able to stay home with noplace to be or no reason to be out running errands or anything. Hope you are having a good day, too!

So far behind

2008-12-12T11:41:00.008-06:00

In mid-November, our Pediatric Dentist's office had a special night at the Magic House in Kirkwood for all of their patients, so we took the kids (who wouldn't go to the Magic House if it was free??!) and they had a blast. Here's just a few pictures from the evening.

The girls "tickling the ivories"

Christopher had a ball with anything that had a wheel or a ball. FUN!!

I was served pizza in the pretend pizza parlor - YUM!!

Before school let out for Thanksgiving, the school had a special chapel during which the kindergarten and first graders put on a play. Last year, Katherine was a pilgrim - this year, as a first grader, she got to be an indian (she's the one in the kahki jumper with the headpiece and and drum). She did great and the kids had a fun time. that same day, the "big kids" - those who eat lunch at school - had a feast and I helped with Katherine's class. Below is a picture of their table and her in her indian outfit - complete with CCS uniform!

Elizabeth also made a costume at school for Thanksgiving - her's the two girls together with their oufits. :)Katherine was very proud of the gingerbread house that she made with Dad at a Dierbergs class. She'll be using it to do a demonstration to her school class - showing them the steps needed to make it - as part of a class project. I don't have any pictures of the event, but on Thanksgiving Day, we celebrated with John's family. Then, on Saturday, we got together with my family and I did get a few pictures....

Katherine doing some puzzles

My mom and Elizabeth - great picture, gals!

The girls have been having fun getting ready for Christmas this year - here's just a few pictures...

Jack-o-lanterns

2008-11-09T15:53:00.004-06:00

Prior to going to the farm, we did carve pumpkins - Katherine wanted triangles and a smile with teeth, while Elizabeth wanted everything round.

A Different Kind of Halloween

2008-11-09T15:29:00.003-06:00

Instead of doing the typical Halloween activities this year, we took a trip up to John's family farm to watch the corn being harvested. The girls had a blast and it was Christopher's first trip up there to see the big machines - he love them, too.

Watching the grain cart dump corn into the semi truck - Katherine then rode with them to take it to the bins in town.

Getting ready to ride in the combine

Elizabeth went with Grandpa to get some corn from the stalks

so she could take it to school for show and tell.

Here she is returning with it! Katherine and Daddy on the combine Christopher was enamoured with the big trucks all around him!

Pumpkinland!

2008-10-26T21:07:00.004-05:00

Theis Farm is very close to our house and we went there this afternoon to play at Pumpkinland and get some pumpkins to carve. Pumpkinland is an play area built with hay bales and the kids had a blast, as you can see. Me and Christopher on the slide FUN!

Katherine and Elizabeth on the slide Elizabeth with our pumpkins...

Elizabeth on the slide - they all could have gone over and over and over again!

Climbing on the hay bales with daddy

Sorry for the blurry picture - he's in constant motion!

Elizabeth in the pirate ship with her pirate hat

Everyone had a fabulous time. It was very windy and pretty chilly by the time we left, but we came home, had homemade turkey soup, watched a movie, and everyone went to sleep very quickly tonight! A fun fall day. As I write, the temperature is down to 45 degrees and it's supposed to be close to freezing tonight. Fall is definitely here!

A beautiful Day

2008-10-26T20:40:00.003-05:00

This morning after church (actually, I guess it was after lunch), we went outside since it was such a beautiful day and got some pictures of the kids. These are just a few of the really great ones that we got. Christopher will not stand still for more than a second, so the prospect of getting one of the three of them together is pretty much nill - hence, I don't even try. Anyway, enjoy the pictures - Katherine is 6, Elizabeth is 4, and Christopher will be 21 months this week.

Bauer Birthdays....

2008-10-16T20:32:00.004-05:00

We spent time at my (Julie's) parent's house on Sunday afternoon before our birthdays to celebrate with my family. Even though we were celebrating all of our birthdays, I only got pictures of the kids - imagine that!

Katherine helping Elizabeth open a card

I think this was one of Elizabeth's favorite gifts - a Sleeping Beauty.

We were ALL together - my parents, my brother and his family, and John's dad (that doesn't happen very often, unfortunately).

Christopher having fun playing with the road mat and cars

Katherine and Kaiser (my nephew) playing blocks

On her birthday, Elizabeth had a fun day at school. Here is Elizabeth sporting her Dora saves the Snow Princes tiara, her Sleeping Beauty magic wand, and her Cinderella princess costume - fun combination!! and the next pictures shows her birthday crown that she got at school!

Then, last Saturday we had Elizabeth's "kid" birthday party - DORA! She's really into princesses, but wanted a Dora party - go figure.

Chalk drawing is a big hit in our house right now - the weather was great, albeit warm, so we had some fun outdoors with the Wichts and the Englishes. Thanks, guys, for making it a fun birthday for Elizabeth!

So, we survived the birthday week for another year. It tends to be all about Elizabeth and not so much about John and I, but that's ok. We are celebrating our anniversary today, so that's our time, I guess. We now have an official 4 year old in the house and she's growing up before our eyes.

Where Have the Years Gone?

2008-10-09T11:26:00.003-05:00

It's hard to believe that 4 years ago today, Julie and I were the parents of the two little girls shown above. So much has happened, and we have been blessed in so many ways since that day. Now, besides the two girls who have already grown so much, and learned so many things, we have a little boy who is growing up just as quickly. There is no better way to spend a birthday than to look back, be thankful for the blessings that the Lord has given us, and to look forward with anticipation and excitement for the blessings He still has for us in the future.

A Beautiful Fall Day

2008-10-04T20:38:00.005-05:00

We had a beautiful fall day today - finished off by the First Annual Covenant Christian School Fall Picnic. FUN!!! We had a chili cook-off (it was slightly warm for chili, but the chili was great!), s'mores, a hayride (which Christopher LOVED), playing on the playground, and decorating pumpkins. Here's a picture of the pumpkins that the kids decorated. Christopher wasn't interested, so I just drew a face so as not to waste the decorating ingredients on one who didn't care. The girls had a great time, though, adding their personal touches. It was a great time to enjoy being outside and seeing friends. This week is the fun birthday week in our house (Julie's, John's and Elizabeth's), so there will be more pictures toward the end of the week. Stay tuned!

from the lunch table..

2008-09-09T06:43:00.002-05:00

Elizabeth and I were sharing a small snack bag of some type of sour gummy candy today at lunch and I was looking at the ingredients to see if I could figure out what gives them the sour flavor. Every ingredient was some kind of sugar (shocker!) and I said "pretty much just all sugar" and Elizabeth said "I love sugar". :) Made us laugh. A girl after my own heart.

Sweet Family

2008-09-07T07:25:00.002-05:00

We had family portraits done last month for our church directory and this is the result - pretty good for 5 people! I love my sweet family!

19 Months

2008-09-02T10:37:00.002-05:00

How can it be that my baby is 19 months old??? Not only is he 19 months old, but he's a BIG 19 months old. Christopher, at his check-up a couple of weeks ago, weighed 31 lbs and measured 35-1/2 inches tall. That's as big as my girls were when they turned 2! He's very tall and very heavy and seems in many ways much older than he is. He's growing up before my eyes. His favorite things to do right now are throw a ball (actually throw anything, but we are trying to limit it to balls), play with cars and trains and "play" with the girls' toys - much to their dismay. He's definitely a boy - and a joy to have in the house!

Sisters

2008-08-27T23:17:00.003-05:00

As a parent, there are some days that you wonder whether your children understand the blessings of siblings. We so often see them taking things, pulling on each other and various other actions that makes a parent wonder if they will ever realize the joy they could find in being friends and loving one another.

Then, on some days, the Lord provides a glimpse into the love that they really do share. We were blessed to see that tonite in a small way.

You see, today was the first day that Elizabeth was home ALL day without Katherine. On several occaisions, Julie said it was obvious that she missed her sister. After supper tonite, things around the house got suddenly quiet, and we wondered where the girls were. We found them, together, enjoying the company and friendship they have on the couch reading.

We are truly blessed to have two little girls (and a wonderful boy) who are learning to love each other and love the Lord.

First Day of School

2008-08-26T13:23:00.003-05:00

Katherine and Elizabeth started school today - Katherine as a first-grader and Elizabeth as a preschooler - they call the 3-year old preschool "Little Pelicans", as the school mascot is the pelican (long story on that one). Anyway, here's some pictures from the drop off. Katherine had her picture taken and then wanted to go to the playground with the rest of the kids (so grown up). We then took Elizabeth down to her classroom and got a couple more pictures and then walked by Katherine's class and got one of her at her desk. FUN!!!

The End of Summer

2008-08-24T20:13:00.007-05:00

Well, school starts on Tuesday, so we decided to get a few last things in this weekend with the kids (i.e., cram some things into the last few free days that we have). On Wednesday, the kids and I (Julie) went to the Science Center. I forgot to take the camera, so I don't have pictures, but they all enjoyed the Discovery Room and then I realized that Katherine is really growing up. In the past, the Discovery Room has been enough to see there, but his time she wanted to see the exhibits. The was really fascinated, and Elizabeth was a bit, too. So we looked through a couple of the exhibits and decided that next time we need to go earlier so that we have time for some of that before lunch and nap time hit.

On Friday night, we all went to the Magic House and had ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. YUM!

Elizabeth enjoyed dressing up and having a tea party. And, below, fishing.

Isn't Chrisotpher cute in that little hat and driving the big construction truck??

And Katherine's continued fascination with water....

Saturday morning we went to Grants Farm (and ran into our friends, the VanEssendelfts in the parking lot!) for a short time before we got our haircuts.

After we got our haircuts, we went swimming. These pictures aren't from yesterday, but are from throughout the summer. I just thought this a good post to put them up, since I hadn't yet.

I know this is crazy, but tomorrow we will go to the zoo for a couple of hours and go to meet Elizabeth's teacher. Then, school starts on Tuesday for both Elizabeth and Katherine. More pictures of that to follow later this week.

VBS

2008-08-13T13:42:00.007-05:00

VBS (Power Lab) this year was a wonderful experience for everyone in the family! John took the week off work and was Katherine's group leader and it was Elizabeth's first time enjoying it. I helped with registration the first day and in the craft room 2 additional days and Christopher had fun playing in the nursery (which they had for young children of workers - YEAH!). We all had a great week and, while I was worried about how Christopher would do in the nursery for 2-1/2 hours, he did great! What a blessing the week was to everyone. Here are the girls "modeling" some of their crafts. A "scratch art" test tube necklace A Power Lab sticker scene (a laboratory) A shrinky-dink key chain (remember those??? - they still exist!) A cute headband (Elizabeth made one, too, but I didn't get a picture) a Peter person A basket of loaves and fishes "Finding Jesus in God's House" bible

Where to Start?

2008-08-13T13:16:00.006-05:00

I'm so far behind, that I don't even know where to start! We've been spending most of our summer days just playing at home (before Katherine is in school all day) and going swimming after suppers, but we have done a few exciting things in between all that.

Katherine took swimming lessons and thoroughly enjoyed it. She now jumps on her own into the pool and puts her head under water - major steps for her!

We went up to "the farm" - John's family farm in Northern IL at the beginning of August. The girls (and Christopher to some extent) enjoyed exploring the corn (probably close to 7 ft tall) and watching the plane spraying the crops (to noisy for the kids - they stayed inside and watched through the window). It was a fun trip to just get away for a bit and relax. Both Katherine and Elizabeth said that their favorite part of the trip was swimming in the hotel swimming pool (while Christopher was having some quiet time). I guess the swimming this summer has been a big hit!

Bad Blogger

2008-07-30T14:24:00.001-05:00

I've been a very bad blogger. My goal is to post some pictures tonight. We haven't been up to much, but I should be able to some up with something.

4th of July

2008-07-08T14:21:00.017-05:00

I didn't know John had already posted about our festivities, so here's my version!!!! Everyone loves a parade, right? We decided kind of at the last minute to take in the local St. Charles 4th of July parade in the morning. The kids had never seen a parade in person, so we trecked "downtown" - we actually chose one of the residential streets - and parked ourselves. It was quite enjoyable! The weather was BEAUTIFUL - low 70s and, more importantly, low humidity - and everyone had a great time watching the people walk by and especially the candy. We went home with a load of candy and Elizabeth asks for a piece daily. Here's our view down the street - the parade had a real small-town feel with lots of local businesse participating.

Only in St. Charles, MO do you get a replica of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the 4th of July parade. There were actually 2 boats, but my picture of the second one came out better. Very neat.

Grandparents came over for a BBQ later in the day and brought bubbles - the girls had a great time playing with the bubbles - Christopher wasn't interested for was napping or something - I can't remember.

(Not a) Hot Time in the City

2008-07-06T20:22:00.008-05:00

It was a most spectacular 4th of July here in St. Charles. The weather was amazing!! Most of the weekend it was in the 80's, with nice relaxing cool evenings. We had quite a traditional 4th this year - with almost all the trimnings. Because of the great weather, we made a last minute decision to take in the St. Charles 4th of July parade. It had quite a small town feel to the it, right down to EVEYRONE throwing out candy. The kids all had a great time. After a rest in the afternoon, Grandpa Bauer, Grandma Dana and Grandpa Ken came for a picnic supper (on the deck of course!).

In the evening, after everyone else went to bed, Katherine and John stole out for a real treat - an evening at the St. Charles Riverfest! Katherine had seen the carnival rides set up a few days earlier when they came past John's office, and had been talking about riding them. So, we went down to ride a few rides (Katherine's favorite was the 'Dizzy Dragon'), and then we took in a fantastic riverfront fireworks show. The nite before the 4th, Katherine came outside to watch her first neighboorhoos fireworks, and got to do her first sparklers. In response to the love of pyrotechnics that was devloping, John stopped by one of the billion fireworks stands in St. Charles County and bought a few fireworks and a bunch of sparklers.

On the 5th, after dark, Grandpa Bauer came over and helped Katherine with more sparklers, and after some apprehension, even Elizabeth decided she wanted to be part of the fun. The girls are already talking about fireworks and sparklers next year - much to Julie's apprehension and John's excitement!!!

With You Wherever You Go - Butterflies and Bible Stories

2008-06-22T20:06:00.004-05:00

We were riding home from church in the car tonight when we heard something profound from the back seat. VBS starts in 3 weeks and today we got our free CD of the VBS music. So, home from church this morning, back to evening church, and then home again, we listened to the music. During a song called "With You Wherever You Go", based on Joshua 1:9 - "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." the lyrics say "God will be with you wherever you go". Katherine apparently remembered our trip to the Butterfly House on Saturday and the fact that when we went into the butterfly house (a large dome with tropical plants and butterflies flying EVERYWHERE) Elizabeth FREAKED OUT hysterically screaming - John couldn't get her out of the place fast enough. Anyway, from the back seat tonight we heard Katherine say "Elizabeth, God will be with you wherever you go - even at the Butterfly House. So you don't need to be afraid of the butterflies, because He is with you." Even us grownups need to remember that sometimes, don't we. Thanks for the reminder, Katherine.

Summer Laziness

2008-06-19T13:14:00.004-05:00

I feel like we've been so lazy during summer vacation so far. Katherine's been out of school for 4 weeks now and we've been doing alot of staying home, which seems to be fine with her. We've done some things that I've talked about in previous posts, but for the most part, we've stayed home, watched some movies, and just hung out. I must admit it's nice to not be on a strict schedule of carpool and doing so much driving (especially with the price of gas!!). Here's a sampling of some of our "hang out" activities...

Katherine and Elizabeth doing a sticker book together

Elizabeth giving her American Girl doll "Kit" a cracker

Katherine making a store for me to buy things from A close up of her sign..

Having a picnic on the deck

A friendly cardinal came to visit one evening - I guess he was enjoying what John cooked on the grill that night.

And playing peek-a-boo with Christopher. He was in the girls room and I was in his room and he peeked around the corner. When I said "peek-a-boo", he got this big grin on his face and laughed and then disappeared again, only to peek around the corner again! We played this game probably 8 or 10 times and he got such a kick out of it! When I started taking pictures of him, that made it even more fun for him :)

We are enjoying summer so far and the seasonably "cool" weather - 80s. Katherine goes to a day camp next week, so it will be a bit more hectic, we've started swimming lessons, and VBS is in 3 weeks, so the next month will be busier.

Father's Day Weekend

2008-06-19T12:53:00.006-05:00

We decided to do most of our celebrating on Saturday, since church activities fill up most of our Sunday - and it's pretty hard to do 'breakfast in bed' when you leave for church at 8:00 am!. We started the weekend with "making" and eating Breakfast in Bed with Daddy. You can see John's breakfast on the side table next to him (the girls helped me make him a smootie and cereal with strawberries and coffee) and the kids breakfast on the tray (cereal bars!) :). John's usually the first one up, so we had to tell him to go back to bed after we got up so that we could give him his breakfast in bed. FUN. Later on Saturday, we took John's Dad out to supper. We went to a Chinese buffet, and if you know my kids, they are pretty picky eaters, but we were able to find fresh fruit and ice cream - a special treat for a special day.

On Sunday, we went to church, then Katherine and John went to John's dad's place for a special Father's Day barbeque that they were having while the younger kids napped. Then John took Katherine swimming at the pool and we went to evening church. A very enjoyable weekend, weather and all!

The Lord has blessed me with a man that not only is a wonderful husband, but is a wonderful father to our kids. What more can I ask for in a man, that he love the Lord, love me, and love our kids? He loves to come home for lunch (and fortunately has a job that he can do that most days) and enjoys nothing more than spending time with us - whether it's watching a movie, swimming at the pool, running in the sprinkler, taking a nap, going to the zoo, or reading at bedtime (his personal favorite, I think). I love you, John, and the kids love you, too! Hope you had a Happy Father's Day!

Swiimming!

2008-06-13T20:50:00.002-05:00

We got a swimming pool pass for the summer and went 3 nights this week - if only for an hour at a time. It's nice to be able to go after supper and spend a little bit of time in the pool. Katherine can touch the bottom for the first time this year and is ecstatic and loves swimming with her pool "noodle". Elizabeth is a little afraid, but is adjusting slowly, and Christopher seems to LOVE it! I think we'll have many fun evenings at the pool this summer - I'm not sure I'll ever try to take all three of them myself - it's a two person job! blowing bubbles..

Grant's Farm

2008-06-13T15:13:00.004-05:00

Grant's Farm is a favorite place of ours. We don't live particularly close to it, but we do try to get there at least a few times each summer. For those who don't know, it's owned by Anheuser Busch and is kind of like a combination between a game park and a zoo. You board a tram and ride though a large area where animals roam freely. It just depends on the day whether you see many animals out or not, but this particular day we saw quite a few. Here we are on the tram (Christopher and I were taking the picture) getting ready to go! I didn't post all of the pictures of the animals, but here's just one... Then you exit the tram in an area that's kind of like a zoo. The first stop is feeding the goats, then on to the other animals. These turtles are HUGE! We had a great morning. The girls love the tram so much that they aren't too interested in the animals so much as getting a snack at the Tiergarten and then boarding the tram back to the parking lot. Lots of fun and lots of walking, though.

Memorial Day and Birthdays

2008-06-13T15:03:00.002-05:00

In our family, there are 5 birthdays in the months of May and June. If you add Mother's Day and Father's Day to that (and you can also add 2 anniversaries), that's a lot of parties! So, we decided to get everyone together on Memorial Day for a joint birthday party. Pictured are Katherine, my Dad, John's Dad, and my Mom - all who had birthdays in May and June. My nephew, Kaiser, also has a birthday in May, but my brother and his family couldn't make it to the celebration. My brother and sister-in-law's anniversary and my mom and dad's anniversary are also in June - PHEW!!

Catching up

2008-06-13T15:01:00.002-05:00

I've gotten WAY behind on the blogging - my apologies. We've been doing alot of just hanging out since school got out, but what happens is that I don't get much done during the day and have to do my chores in the evening - leaving no time for blogging. I have been taking pictures, though, so stay tuned for some blog posts that will try to get you caught up with what we've been doing the past few weeks.

Last Day of School and Birthday Party

2008-05-23T20:59:00.005-05:00

Today was a big day. Katherine went to school for her last day of Kindergarten this morning. We went to the closing chapel and enjoyed seeing her class up front with their part in the chapel. Each was to say what they want to be when they grow up, how they will serve the Lord, then recite their favorite bible verse and say why it's their favorite. Katherine's bit went like this - "I want to be an interior designer because I like designing and seeing people happy" and her favorte verse is John 3:16. After she recited it, she said she likes it because it makes her happy and reminds her of her Grandma. Sweet.

After chapel, there was a picnic. It was fun to see her hang out with some of her friends. She's really blossomed this year, especially socially, and it's really great to see.

After the picnic, we held her birthday party - a princess party. We took 5 of her friends from school to our house for the party. I think they all had a good time. They decorated flower pots and planted flowers, got candy from a pinata, opened presents, and ate cupcakes and ice cream. FUN!!

Happy Birthday Katherine!!!

2008-05-23T09:01:00.003-05:00

Today, Katherine is 6 years old - how is this possible? She's looking forward to a party with her friends after school today (it's also the last day of school!) It's a busy day for us all, so I'll post pictures later, but just wanted to celebrate with her :).

1 week old...

6 years old...

where did the time go!

A Different Mother's Day

2008-05-10T21:38:00.003-05:00

It's a different kind of Mother's Day this year - one that has followed quickly on the heels of Mom's death. It is weird to think about how tomorrow will go - without her with us. I always tried to make Mother's Day somewhat special for Mom, with varying degrees of success. I know that she always gave so much for me, and I am thankful for all of her love and giving throughout the years. With that being said, and with the memories of Mom's death relatively fresh in our hearts and minds, I am thankful that I have someone else to celebrate with on Mother's Day - my wife. This year, Katherine and Elizabeth both have a real sense of Mother's Day approaching and are excited to share their gifts with her. We are all thankful for the Mom that we have in our house - a Mom who loves her kids, and who loves the Lord. Sure, there are times that she gets frustrated and probably isn't the Mom she wishes she could always be, but she is a great Mom just the same. As we see our kids grow, I am thankful for the time that she spends with them, and for the ways, unbeknownst to even her, she instills a love for God in their hearts. So, Happy Mother's Day Mom - we miss you and wish you were here. We pray that you are celebrating like never before, and thank you for the ways you loved your job as a Mom while you were with us. And, Happy Mother's Day Julie - we love you for the Mom you are to all of us every day! We hope that you know we love you, and hope that we can convey that every day - not just on Mother's Day!

Zoo Gallery

2008-04-25T06:53:00.005-05:00

Elinor (Ellie) the ???? Can you guess?

Last week the focus in school has been animals. Along with the trip to the zoo (see previous post) they studied animals in the classroom. One of the projects in the class was to pick an animal, collect boxes and tubes (toilet paper, paper towel, etc) and make a replica of that animal. This is "Elinor" (or Ellie for sort) the...can you guess what it is??? It's a cheetah! Katherine really enjoyed making this and learning about cheetahs. She also had to write a fact sheet with a few facts about cheetahs. All of the kids in the class made animals (some others were a bee, flamingo, elephant, butterfly) and the other kids in the school came to visit their "zoo gallery". It was really neat. They also have in their classroom eggs (hatching into chicks), caterpillers (which have made cocoons and are turning into butterflies every day), ants, and ladybugs. Katherine is REALLY enjoying this unit on animals and learning about all of God's creation!

Springtime and the Zoo!

2008-04-18T13:09:00.003-05:00

I think spring has FINALLY sprung for good now - can I do my clothes switch? It seems everytime I think about it when we have a 70+ degree day, the next day is in the 40s, but I think that might finally be past us. John planted some flowers in boxes for our new deck (I'll try to get some pictures posted) and they look beautiful!!! Katherine's school class took a field trip to the zoo on Wed this week and we decided to tag along. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we got there right when the zoo opened, so things were quiet (although that also meant that some of the animals weren't out yet, either) and we enjoyed the morning. Here's her class at their meeting place... And here's daddy and the younger kids sitting on some kind of insect outside the insectarium - the same thing that the kids are sitting on in the above picture. Christopher on daddy's shoulders (he much prefered this to the stroller)

Various other zoo pictures... Elizabeth's favorite was the giraffe, so I'm glad we got to see them. Katherine wanted to see the cheetahs, but they were still sleeping when we saw them. We did see them in the distance across a field and that seemed to be enough. Thanks goodness.

Earthquake!!!

2008-04-18T09:31:00.003-05:00

I was awakened this morning about 4:35 to my bed and the house shaking!!! At first, for a second, I thought it was wind, as it's been very windy here the last few days, but once I got my wits about me, I realized very quickly that it was an earthquake. The next think I heard after waking John up was "I'm shaking" from the girls' room. It had woken them up and Katherine was a little scared. They got out of bed and joined me in a group hug in their doorway. After the shaking stopped, they promptly went back to bed. After watching some news, I tried, but dont think I slept much more. Definitely a rude awakening and lots of trying to explain to Katherine this morning what an earthquake was. I'm afraid that I didn't do a good job, but told her to ask her teacher - that's what they are for, right???

Sad Times

2008-04-09T08:01:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I've blogged. It's been crazy here. Many of you know that John's mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer right after Thanksgiving 2006 - 16 months ago. She beat the odds that they gave her, but she finally lost her battle with the dreaded disease and died last week. The last week has been a whirlwind of emotions and stress, but we've made it to the other side and are now trying to resume "normal" activities following the funeral on Monday, April 7. We know that "normal" will be different now with her gone, but are doing our best to adjust and explain it to the kids. While we knew it was coming, the end was VERY FAST, which blindsided us a bit, but really was an answer to prayer. She went from her "normal self", albeit on pain medication and growing weaker every day, to gone in 9 days. A blessing for all those involved that she didn't suffer and and we and John's dad did not grow as weary being the caregivers. The hospice workers that we had for the last 5 days were fabulous and she died at home. She was 82 and lived a full life. We'll miss you, Hazel Mae, Grandma Bauer, and Mom.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-24T10:04:00.005-05:00

I hope everyone had a joyous Easter! Yes, that is snow in the picture. We had snow flurries on and off all day! We got a dusting in the morning as we were going to church, but it quicky melted and then 3 or 4 more times during the day we looked outside to see it snowing again! I'm all for having Easter in April!

A lovely lady at church brought the girls a lamb cake to frost and decorate, so we did that on Saturday and the girls really had fun with it. Thanks, Mrs. Ricks! Here's the finished product.

My pretty girls in their Easter dresses with their Webkinz stuffed animals that showed up in their Easter baskets!

Hunting for eggs (inside, since it was snowing and 33 degrees!)....

Christopher was napping durning the egg hunting, but we finally got him up for dinner with my (Julie's) parents and pictures - I had to get some pictures with all my kids, so here is the best I could do. Christopher wouldn't smile for anything! Oh, well!

Come on, Katherine, smile - it's Easter! Anyway, hope everyone had a great Easter!

Should We Build an Ark?

2008-03-19T13:17:00.002-05:00

There's just something not right about going to sleep listening to rain and waking up to rain, knowing that it's been raining all night - two nights in a row! Yes, we've had over 36 hours of near constant rain. It started raining on Monday evening and didn't stop until this morning. We were driving home from school yesterday with all 3 kids in the car and I asked Katherine - "should we build an ark with all this rain"? She answered "The car can be our ark! You are Noah and we are the animals!". That's kind of what it has felt like! We are glad for the rain that will help the grass and trees and flowers to grow, but enough already!!

"Baby"proofing

2008-03-19T09:12:00.002-05:00

All my kids have been late crawlers - Elizabeth was the earliest at 10 months. Due to his size (he wears 24month/2T clothes at 13 months) and lack of desire (he hated being on his tummy until he was about 9 months old), Christopher started crawling this month - army crawling. Until this morning, he's pretty much stay within a 2 room area. Well, this morning while I was taking a quick shower he crawled across the entire house - from our tv/family room through the breakfast room and kitchen , office and into our living room. The fact that this entire area has wood floor made it pretty easy form him to move himself along, but this is the first time he's made it that far! So, the gate went up on the stairs immediately (I'm not sure he could pull himself up on the stairs, but I'm not going to wait to find out!) and I'll be spending the day looking for things he could get into and cleaning them up or removing them. He's much more curious than I remember my girls being and likes to take things out of my kitchn cabinets instead of just opening and closing them and also likes to pull things off of shelves and the coffee table. My "baby" is not a baby anymore.

Snow Day

2008-03-05T08:22:00.002-06:00

Well, just as they predicted. Although we had our doubts. School was cancelled and at 8:00 it still wasn't snowing at our house. It finally started around 10:30 (although it started much earlier in other areas of St. Louis) and we ended up with about 6 inches here at home. Other areas got as much as 12 inches. It fell hard and fast and I shoveled the driveway 3 times before John got home at 1:30, then he shoveled again after the snow stopped. A fun afternoon for the girls. They went on a "snow walk" with dad twice and just enjoyed getting outside and playing in it. Here are some pics, as promised. Has the past month been crazy, or what???

If You Don't Like the Weather....

2008-03-03T08:13:00.003-06:00

They always say in St. Louis, if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes. Well, that describes what's going on right now. Yesterday it was 78 degrees and we got out and enjoyed the taste of spring. Well, last night it rained, a cold front came through, and right now (8:30 am) it's 36 degrees and raining. It's supposed to change over to rain/sleet/snow this afternoon, then tomorrow we are supposed to get heavy snow. Not just snow, but HEAVY snow. The are forcasting 6+ inches. We'll see what unfolds. I enjoy the snow, but am really looking forward to spring and putting away the heavy coats, hats, and mittens. So, expect some snow pictures by weeks end!

Fifty-Nifty United States

2008-02-26T07:01:00.003-06:00

Katherine has always loved puzzles and especially loves her United States puzzle. She has learned so many of the states by sight and now something new. I found a website with games involving the United States and she's in love. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm There are games involving identifying the states themselves - "Find Missouri" and then clicks on Missouri - and also capitals. This is what she's become so fascinated by and really good at! She says "I don't know very many", but I tell her she knows so many more than I did when I was 5 years old! She probably consistently knows at least 30! This has just come from playing the game a few times each day for maybe 3 or 4 days - I'm telling you, she's a sponge!!! Anyway, had to brag on my girl just a bit - you mom's will understand and forgive me.

Cuddle time

2008-02-21T20:42:00.003-06:00

Both the girls (especially Katherine) love cuddling on the couch and John loves cuddle time with the girls, too. Here's a couple of pictures from the last month of each of them with Daddy.

My Big Boy

2008-02-21T20:33:00.002-06:00

For some reason over the past week or so I've really felt like Christopher is turning into a little boy. He's finally starting to really move (not fast yet, but I'm sure that won't be long) and just looks so much older than he really is, I think. Anyway, I've taken some pictures of him over the last few days that I wanted to share.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!

2008-02-05T20:46:00.000-06:00

We got our second big snowfall of the year last Friday, giving Katherine a snow day home from school and John a late start at work! We got 8 inches, which is pretty big for St. Louis, and the girls had a great time getting out in it a bit. It was actually a bit deep for Elizabeth, but she warmed up to it and got right out there with Katherine after a little bit. Christopher was napping, and wouldn't have cared much for it, anyway. If you can believe it, it was all totally melted by Monday when it topped 70 degrees!!! Like they say in St. Louis, if you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes and it will change! So, it was snowing and windy on Thursday night, Monday was 75 degrees, thurderstorms today, a little bit of snow over the next few days, and then I think it's supposed to be back in the 20s on Sunday. No wonder everyone I know (including me!) has a cold!!!! Anyway, enjoy the pictures of our little taste of winter!

Snowball fight!!!

Another - is it possible?

2008-02-04T16:40:00.000-06:00

My firstborn has lost a tooth - she is SO excited!!!

Is it possible?

2008-02-04T16:16:00.000-06:00

Is it possible that Christopher is 1? I certainly can't believe it. He went to the doctor on Friday and he is 28 lbs and 33 inches - this is as big as the girls were at 18 months, so he's definitely a big boy. Healthy, though, and that's what's important. He's going to be tall, like his dad, and probably pass up his sisters in height at an early age. His birthday was last Wednesday and his party was Saturday - FUN. I made an attempt at making his cake myself this year - it was kind of fun, but not sure if I'll do it again. Everyone seemed to like it, though. Here's the birthday boy.

the January lull...

2008-01-28T12:35:00.000-06:00

Isn't it always the case that January is just a bit dull after the excitement of all the holidays? Well, with being sick this year over the holidays, we've just been trying to get well and get the house back in order since then. Plus, it's been so cold for a chunk of the month that we just didn't do much that we didn't have to. I guess we did have a few "exciting" things happen, though.

Christohper did get his first haircut the first week of January - just a trim around his ears and in the back.

Before.....

During....

After....

The kids playing on the floor in the kitchen (I think I was fixing supper)....

Katherine hanging out with dad Sunday afternoon.....

We are looking forward to Christopher's birthday this week - I can't believe he's actually going to be 1-year old) and his doctor's appt on Friday. He's BIG and I'll be really interested to see how heavy and tall. More to report next week!

On the Mend

2008-01-18T09:05:00.000-06:00

Well, John did get the stomach bug, but we are all on the mend. We are back to our "schedule" after the holidays and will FINALLY get our Christmas tree taken down tomorrow - when it's 15 degrees outside, there's not much else to do. So then Christmas will officially be over. I'll post more pictures soon. I can't believe I'm starting to think about Christopher's birthday, but we have to - 2 more weeks! He's grown so much, but it's still hard to believe it's been a year since he was born. Anyway, more time to post later. Gotta go!

Sick additions

2008-01-03T11:29:00.001-06:00

You can add me and Katherine to the list of sickos in the house. It appears that everyone is on the mend, though. Slowly but surely. Please pray that John does not get it, as he is the only one who has managed to dodge the bullet thusfar. Also pray for healing as it's hard to care for one sick child, let alone two or three at the same time -especially when I am sick as well. Prayers for quick healing would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T20:49:00.000-06:00

Well, not the greatest New Year's Eve ever. I was reminded today of last New Year's Eve when we, at 12:15 went to turn off our gas fireplace and go to bed and the knob broke, leaving us with a fire going and no way to turn it off - it took us about an hour to figure out how to turn off the gas to the fireplace without turning it off to the entire house and we had to get it fixed to the tune of a few hundred dollars. Anyway, this year was not alot better. I got Christopher up from his nap around 3:30 and he proceeded to throw up on me, followed by 3 more times over the next 2 hours. After getting him to bed around 6:00, the rest of the evening was fun and he slept great. However, at 10:00, Elizabeth threw up in her bed. She proceeded with 4 more times over the next 3 hours until finally at 2:00 I went to sleep in the couch with her on the floor beside me and the washer going with the 3rd or 4th load of laundry (sheets, clothes, towels, etc.). Fun, huh??? The are both feeling better today, but not 100%. We all slept until 8:00 this morning and then hung out and watched the Rose Parade. Elizabeth and Christopher took LONG naps this afternoon, so hopefully a good night sleep tonight will do everyone good and we will be back to normal tomorrow - am I too hopeful? School starts back on Thursday, so we will soon be back into the normal routine and figuring out if the closure of Highway 40 will affect my drive taking Katherine to school (for those who aren't in St. Louis, a 5 mile stretch of a main interstate in town is closing for a year and Katherine's school is very near it). Here's to 2008 and hoping for a great year!

Christmas Fun Part II

2007-12-27T14:48:00.000-06:00

Christmas morning was chilly, but green - no snow. It's ok. It makes traveling easier for everyone. After Christmas Eve church, we came home, set out treats for Santa and his reindeer (peppermint bark and milk for Santa and goldfish and apple juice for the reindeer) and the kiddos went to bed. We awoke to this beautiful tree and lots of presents (there were no presents under the tree until Christmas morning). We made sausage bread for breakfast (see picture below) and for the first time I had help!

After we ate breakfast and got dressed, we set out to see what Santa left us... a Covenant Christian School shirt and dress up clothes - among other things.

Grandma and Grandpa Bauer and Grandma Dana and Grandpa Ken came over soon after and we had an enjoyable day with lots of fun, food, and family.

Katherine learned how to play "grown-up" dominos - and she even won a couple of games! She had fun playing with the grandparents while Elizabeth and Christopher were taking naps. We hope that everyone had a joyous Christmas - on to 2008!!!

Christmas Fun Part 1

2007-12-26T15:09:00.000-06:00

The Saturday before Christmas, we went to my brother's house with my parents for the Emery Christmas festivities. For those who don't know, Kevin (my brother), John, and I went to the University of Illinois and my mom and dad went to USC. It just so happens that Illinois and USC are in the Rose Bowl this year, so Kevin got, for John and my Dad, Rose Bowl t-shirts (see below the 3 of them modeling them a bit) and also appropriate attire for watching the Rose Bowl next week. Thanks, Kevin - FUN!

We had a fun day of family time - it's always fun to get the kids together..

We got a pretty good picture of the grandkids with my parents - Kaiser, my nephew, wanted no part of it.

Here's the boy cousins - I think their first picture together!

Kim and Kaiser

Oh, yeah, and there were presents, too!

Daddy-Daughter Time

2007-12-26T15:00:00.000-06:00

We had a full weekend of Christmas activities, and they started last Friday nite with some "Daddy Daughter Time" for Katherine & I. We went to a Dierberg's Cooking School Gingerbread House Class. Julie had done the honors of preparing the house pieces ahead of time, and Katherine and I had the fun of decorating the class. Katherine was very creative, working in the mediums of M&M's, jellybeans and wheat chex - just to name a few. It was a fun experience to create something special together and we had fun showing it off to everyone over the holidays!!

Thanks Katherine for a great Daddy-Daughter Date!

Santa Hats and First Snow

2007-12-15T14:47:00.001-06:00

It's kind of become a tradition to take pictures of the kids in Santa hats every year - it's fun to see the progression from year to year as they grow up. Here's this year's group of festive Santas!

We woke this morning to our first now of the year - about 2-3 inches. The girls were anxious to get out and play - Katherine especially wanted to have a snowball fight. So, while Christopher was napping (he's not to into the snow this year), the girls and John went out and played and shoveled the driveway. FUN!!

O Christmas Tree

2007-11-30T21:56:00.000-06:00

We visited my parent's house last weekend when my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came down for a visit (no picture of the kids together - UGH) and my mom gave the girls a "foamie" gingerbread house to put together. While they required quite a bit of help, they had a great time and it turned out really cute! We finally (after talking about it the past 2 or 3 Christmases, probably) broke down and purchase an artificial tree. It was a major decision, both because of the expense and because both John and I grew up basically with real Christmas trees. It just got too difficult with 3 young kids to get out to the lot to get the tree (weather factors into that quite often), trying to keep it alive (we like to put our tree up early and it always seems to dry out so quickly), cleaning up the mess of dropped needles almost daily let along the mess when it's brought into and out of the house, and the cost - we paid $80 for our tree last year that barely lasted 3 weeks (there's another story behind our tree last year - basically the straw that broke the camel's back - ask us sometime. Anyway, we love the tree and it will pay for itself very quickly. We got it up in one night and decorated in another night instead of the week long affair with a real tree (John is VERY particular about or tree, so it would take one day to get it and get it into the house and usually a separate night to put on the 1000 lights, then another to put on the ornaments). At least we've gotten rid of one Christmas season stress in our lives. The girls were really into decorating this year and kept asking me over and over again all day when we were going to put the ornaments on the tree - we had to wait until Daddy got home - it was a LONG afternoon!!

The tree is up and pretty much decorated - now we have to find the time to decorate the rest of the house - maybe this weekend?? We are looking forward to a fun Christmas season.

Thanksgiving rest....

2007-11-24T16:11:00.000-06:00

It's been a good few days to be home and have some "down time". Our celebration began with Katherine's school play. It was fun for us all to be there and see her shine on stage. She enjoyed saying her line as a pilgrim and did a wonderful job reciting Psalm 100 by memory with her class. What a joy to see her learning so much!

Our celebration continued on Thursday, spending the morning at the annual Covenant church service, and then coming home for a relaxing day with grandpas and grandmas. Katherine specifically enjoyed watching "Mary Poppins" for the first time and trying pumpkin pie!

The rest of the week has been busy, yet restful. John got a good start on our shopping (he was in line at Kohl's at 3:30 a.m.!!) He made the round to a few other places as well, and was home at 9:30 a.m., and exhausted from standing in line at Kohl's, Target, Wal-mart and Toys R Us - quite a haul was accomplished!!!

Saturday, Mom and kids spent some time raking leaves as John made the first (of what may end up being a couple) of attempts at the outdoor lights. The first round didn't go well, so we'll see where things go in the next week or so. In the mean time, leaves were raked, and piles were quickly destroyed as the kids found the joy of jumping and flopping in the leaves. Although Christopher didn't jump or flop, he certianly seemed to enjoy his time in the leaves as well.

Goings on

2007-11-14T12:52:00.000-06:00

Just some things we've been doing-

Last Saturday we went to the Faust Park Carousel for a birthday party. The kids got to ride the carousel as many times as they wanted to for 2 hours - FUN! I thought it was going to be Katherine that wanted to go over and over and over again, but to our surprise, it was Elizabeth who wanted to go over and over and over again! Considering the fact that the last time we were there on Katherine's birthay, Elizabeth screamed from the waiting area the entire time that Katherine rode, it was great that Elizabeth even got on the carousel. She loved it so much that she kept wanted to ride, so she and John rode for at least a half hour straight! Katherine rode for some of that time, but I think she got a little tired of going around in circles. They both enjoyed riding the horses that they named Indian and Pilgrim (Katherine's been learing alot about those in school lately). We even got Christopher on for one ride. FUN!

Katherine finished her soccer season last weekend, also, and got a trophy and a small soccer ball. We've been playing almost daily outside, kicking the soccer ball around. She really had a great time.

The newest thing everyone has been enjoying is playing in the kitchen with utensils while mom fixes whatever meal is appropriate at the time (lunch or dinner). Here is Elizabeth playing her violin and trumpet, respectively. Thanks to Baby Einstien "Meet the Orchestra", the girls love to pretend and know all about LOTS of different instruments - in church a couple of weeks ago, Elizabeth said "Mommy, look at the harp!" and they enjoyed listening to a young girl play.