photo 31

This afternoon was glorious. As I was driving to pick up the kids, sunroof open, the U2 song "Beautiful Day" came on. Beautiful day indeed.

This tree is located outside my scrap room window.

photo 30

After battling insomnia for the past few years, I try not to drink coffee after two or three in the afternoon. I do make exceptions...like when waking from a carb-induced-comatose-nap at 6pm and coming face-to-face with a very messy house. I must say, my obsessive compulsive self is very satisfied with the sparkly fridge and oh-so organized pantry.

photo 29

Mark and I drove through the country looking for land this afternoon. Mark has an old friend that owns a cattle farm in Bethpage. We happened to pass by his house and this adorable Moo Cow begged to be photographed. I was happy to oblige.

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photo 28

Someone had their first bath tonight.

Winston spent the week with his mom, brother and two sisters. (The breeder we bought him from boarded him for us because he hasn't had all of his shots yet).

He didn't seem to mind the bath at all.

He is currently snuggled in the bed with us. I think he missed us.

photo 27

Here is our parting shot of the Arch as we headed out of St. Louis. It looked mystical disapparing into the fog.

photo 26

Chloe and Cammie climbing through one of the wire tubes at the City Museum. The outside are is called "MonstroCity". The "playground" is made entirely of recycled objects...including a small engine airplane, fire engine, cables, and hammered tin fashioned into slides. The tube the girls are climbing through in this pic is more than 5 stories off of the ground.
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This is seriously the coolest place we have ever taken the kids. A visit to MonstroCity is worth the drive to St. Louis.
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Thankfully the weather decided to play nice for us while we were outside. There were sunny skies and the temp was in the mid 60's. Twenty minutes after we went inside to explore, it dropped 15 degrees and began to pour down rain.

photo 25

Notice the absence of Sophie and Mark.

Sophie is missing because she was back at the hotel suffering through a stomach virus.

Mark is missing because he is the one taking the photo. I was in the bed with Sophie.

photo 24

We watched this Orangutan for over 10 minutes. He was hilarious! He would cover himself with the bucket and be still for a second, then a finger would wiggle out, then he would pop the bucket off, swing around the enclosure on a rope and start the whole process over.

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photo 23

I took this as we were turning onto the street where our hotel was located.

photo 22

Today we celebrated Easter with my family at my cousins farm. My sister helped hide the eggs. She wanted to know why there were no pictures of her on my photo blog (never mind the fact that only 2 of my 5 children have been featured here). So, here she is...my absolutely adorable little sister, MacKenna.

Love you Kenna, you're the bestest.

photo 21

This afternoon (after getting my piggies done...a pedicure for those who don't know that that is what I call "getting my piggies done" and another visit to Coldwater Creek), the girls' an I went to our neighbor-friend's house and colored Easter eggs. Yay Easter eggs.

photo 20

Here is my photo for yesterday...(I must be geting a handle on this OCD thing because in the past, not posting on the correct day would have me shutting the whole blog down).

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday because (1) I was too busy shopping at Coldwater Creek, and (2) afterwards I went on a date with my fantabulous little husband. Have I mentioned that I have the best husband in the world?

photo 19

Winston's favorite place to nap is in the corner of the kitchen. He's grown so much in the past week. Still in love...

photo 18

What happens when the chief laundress for a family of 7 decides on Wednesday that laundry is caught up enough that she shouldn't have to do any until the following Monday?

She finds out that she is very wrong.

Then she spends a good portion of two days tackling Mt. Washmore.

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(The clothes on top of the folding table are clean, all the rest is what we managed to amass in four days...lovely).

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Here they are, all sorted and waiting on their turn in the washer...except for that one big bag in the foreground, he is waiting to be delivered to the dry cleaner. (I heart my dry cleaner).

photo 17

Cammie and I went to check out the new World Market that opened up this weekend.

Danger-Danger.

I have been looking for the *perfect* red coffee mugs. They have all been too small, the handles to thin, not the right shade of red, etc...until today. Love these...all 6 of them.

From Left to Right... 6 perfect red coffee mugs, adorable sugar and cream bowls, monkey chew toy for Winston, doggie shampoo and doggie biscuits, individual packets of Jelly Belly jelly beans for the girls school hunts, 2 canisters of the very best hot teas (Be Well), and 2 cute mugs to drink said tea.

Missing from the picture is Cammie's adorable Zebra purse with matching stuffed zebra inside... couldn't find it before taking the pic.

photo 16

Forrest left for Washington DC Wednesday morning with his SEARCH class. He got back in around 5:30 Sunday morning. He dropped his things at the door, showed us his souvenirs (DC hat that makes him look like a thug, the claw and a laser pointer), and stumbled up to bed...where he stayed until we got in from church at 2:45. He ate a sandwich and went back to bed until time for evening service. Oh to be a teenager again...

photo 15

This picture makes me EXTREMELY happy. It signifies the end of Girl Scout Cookie season! We threw a party for our troop at My Gym to celebrate all of their hard work (and the end of all things cookie related...until next December).

photo 14

Mac and Chloe sporting their snaggle-tooth smiles.

photo 13

Okay, I know that (1) I have posted more pics of Cammie than any of the other kids and I know that (2) this photo is "technically" wrong on so many levels of "good" photography. I also know that this picture CRACKS me up!

photo 12

Is there anything sweeter than receiving hand picked flowers from your baby? My kitchen window is lined with these little blossoms. After picking them and showing them to me, she gets one of the little cups from the bathroom, fills it up with water, puts the flowers in and places the cup on the kitchen counter. So sweet.

photo 11

Every time Cammie gets a banana out of the pantry, she removes the sticker from the banana and attaches it to the banana holder. When she runs out of room, I take all of the stickers off and throw them away. When she notices, she always says "Hey....who took the nana stickers"? She starts all over with the next bunch of nannas.

photo 10

Another snow day shot. Miss. Cammie enjoying her first taste of snow.

Photo 9

Today was our 7th wedding anniversary. Our gift to each other is our new puppy (I promise to reveal all the puppy details tomorrow). We celebrated with dinner at Fleming's and dessert from the Cheesecake Factory. Nothing says "I love you" like ginormous Australian Lobster tails and Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake...

Photo 8

Mark slipped while throwing a snow ball. Once he went down, the girls went in for the kill.


(This was Cammie's first time to play in the snow).

Due to card reader malfunction...

photo 8 will not be posted tonight. I'll pick up a new reader tomorrow after church and post photo 8 (which I did take today) and photo 9 then.

photo 7

Amish Bread...mmm mmm...tasty.

Thanks Renee!

photo 6

Completely random...umm...I didn't take a photo during the day...the lighting in my house isn't conducive to crisp photos...yada,yada,yada. But hey, it's a photo for the day, right?

photo 5

Sing it with me...

"Here comes Peter Cottontail...hoppin' down the bunny trail...hippity-hop, hippity-hop...Easter's on it's way".

photo 4

This absolutely adorable little bundle of fur is one of the puppies that we are considering adopting.

photo 3

I love to see sunshine streaming in through the window. I find it uplifiting and inspiring. (Maybe I'll be inspired to dust the dining room table...probably not).

photo 2

Sundays wreak havoc on the house. Usually, we are dashing out to church, in for a few things, back out to church and in again to fall into bed. This means, that we don't pick up after ourselves, and so, on Mondays, I have lovely messes like this one to deal with. (It also means that I will most likely post Sundays photo on Monday, lol).

photo 1

Day Lily peek-a-boo...a sure sign that Spring is indeed just around the corner. I cannot wait for warmth, sunshine and flowers.