First Day of School

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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!!!