Umbrellas at Granny's

This was another one of those times when you wonder what in the world possesses your children to do the things they do? What went on inside their precious heads to make them think to do this? Yes, I know, it is funny! Jeremy and I left Finn, Seven, and Piper at Granny's house for the weekend while we took the youth group to Winterfest. Granny sent us an email with this picture attached. The subject of the email was "????????????" She said she left the room and when she came back, that is what she saw. I asked her what movie they were watching. She said it was a Strawberry Shortcake movie. I asked because I wondered if it was a movie with rain or umbrellas...no, it was not. They just decided for some reason (who knows), to use their umbrellas while watching the movie. Let me reassure you, it is not because Granny has holes in her ceiling and her roof leaks. That is not the case. Granny's roof is just fine. My precious children are just silly!

Tooth Fairy Pays a Visit

One day, Piper informed me that one of her teeth hurt. I took a look at the tooth that she claimed had been hurting her and do you know what I discovered? My baby girl had her first loose tooth! AND the adult tooth was already coming in behind it! Piper kept wiggling it and every day or so I would check to see how loose it was. I told her that she couldn't lose it while Mommy and Daddy were in St. Louis. I am thankful she and her tooth listened.

A couple of weeks ago, Jeremy wiggled her tooth and decided that it was time for the tooth to come out. So, he got some dental floss and tied it around her loose tooth. Piper was very nervous and did not want Jeremy to pull her tooth out. She was afraid it would hurt. With one quick tug, the tooth came out. The expression on Piper's face was priceless as she realized the tooth was out. It went from a scared and nervous look to an extremely surprised look. We recorded it with our video recorder, but unfortunately my computer does not have the correct connection for me to be able to pull it off the video recorder.

I do have a picture of my beautiful girl's new smile, though. You can see the new tooth already growing in!Piper was very excited that the Tooth Fairy was going to come that night and put something under her pillow. She did not know what the Tooth Fairy was going to leave her, but she was still excited about putting her tooth under her pillow. The tooth fairy left Piper two gold dollars under her pillow. Piper was so proud of those two gold dollars. She thought they were quarters at first. When it was time to go to school, I asked Piper if she wanted her coins in her piggy bank. She said she wanted them in her jewelry box and put under her pillow. She didn't want Finn or Seven to get them.

Piper is already working on a second loose tooth. It should be coming out pretty soon. She is excited to lose another tooth!

St. Louis

This year, NCYM (National Conference for Youth Ministers) was in St. Louis, Missouri. We had most of the day Monday open before the conference started that evening, so we decided to go see the famous Arch.

It was VERY cold that day. The temperatures were in the 30's. If you have never been to the Arch before, there is a very long walk from the parking lot to the Arch. It might not have actually been that long, but with the temperature being as cold as it was and an arctic breeze blowing, it sure seemed like a looooonnnng walk. We walked as fast as our legs would carry us! And for those of you wondering, no, I was not wearing by beloved flip flops. I was wearing shoes and socks, like I had been wearing for the past two weeks, due to the cold temperatures that Texas was having. If you think I am making up how cold it was, look at the Mississippi River. It runs beside the Arch and had pieces of ice floating down it and along the edges!

This is the best picture I could get of the outside of the Arch. It is 630 feet tall. Because of the trees and landscape around it, I couldn't get the top and bottom of the Arch in the picture. I might have had a little more patience if it weren't so dang cold!

There were a couple of these signs inside the Arch at the top.

My handsome husband, me, and my adorable baby boy inside the top of the Arch.

Here are some views out some of the windows from the top of the Arch. Pretty cool!

I think this is the Budweiser Stadium. I should've written it down, because I don't remember exactly. I remember it being labeled as some beer stadium.I also don't remember the name of this Cathedral, but I do remember that it is a really old Cathedral.
Jeremy and Rilian inside the arch of the Arch. You can see the other tourists looking out the windows. Yes...we were tourists.

This is the narrow stairwell we walked up, when our little space-age looking elevator car stopped. We didn't have to walk very far up the steps, but the steps do go all the way down to the bottom. The lady standing there rode up with us. She works there and said she will spend that day at the top of the Arch. I am not sure what she is doing, possibly working a crossword puzzle. Just kidding. However, she let us know when the next elevator ride down would be. I think they were spaced about every 15 minutes or so. The windows in the Arch were small and rectangular. But you could see plenty, looking out.

Rilian loved looking out the windows! He just layed there and watched the world go by.

We decided we had seen enough of the world from the top of the Arch.This is what the space-age looking elevators looked like. They were kind of like a pod. There were 5 or 6 seats in each. It was very small inside. If you have a problem with claustrophobia, I would not recommend getting in one. The ride up and down took about 10 minutes. And you constantly heard creeking and popping noises, with an occasional boom sound, as you rode to the top or bottom of the Arch. It also rocked back and forth. Sounds fun, huh? It made me think of a roller coaster.

When you first walk into the Arch, there is a museum and a couple of souvenier stores. When we came back down from the top of the Arch, we walked through the museum. It was pretty neat. It contained alot of history. This was a boat in the museum. I thought it was really cool, so I took a picture of it. It is made out of buffalo or bison fur/skin. I thought it was interesting how they kept the tail on it. The tail just kind of hung over into the inside of the boat. I am not sure why they did this, or what their reasoning was. However, since I have a baby, I wondered if it was there for something for the baby to play with.

Rilian is 11 Months!

Rilian turned 11 months old on January 2, 2010. My baby boy is growing up so fast! Here he is on his dragon blanket holding one of his favorite toys that he got for Christmas. His feet now hang off the blanket.
I had to put two pictures of Rilian on this post with him on his dragon blanket because he looks different in each picture. He has a big smile on his face in this picture.

A close up of his baby blues! Look how big his teeth are! He has 1 more tooth that has emerged and 1 more that is about to push through the gums any day now. Once the tooth pushes its way through, that will bring his total teeth count to 8. Four on the top and four on the bottom. Piper and Finn were going to lay beside Rilian so they could have their picture taken with him. Well, they kind of crowded him out. I like the expressions on their faces. I am not sure if Finn is smiling or up to something...My sweet boy!

When I had taken these pictures, Rilian had only gotten as far as pulling up to his knees. Now, he can pull up and stand on his feet, while holding on to something.

He found one of Piper's headbands on the floor and was playing with it. This age is great, because anything can be a toy. You can see his crooked smile, with a drop of drool hanging onto his chin. Most of the time when he smiles, he cocks his jaw to the side and makes a crooked smile. Cute!

Rilian is a drool machine right now, with his teeth coming in. Look at it just pour out of his mouth!

Our Snowman

The snow that fell on Christmas Eve decided to stay for Christmas day. It even snowed more! There was more than enough snow on the ground to make a nice sized snowman. The kids wanted to take their unbrellas outside to shade them from the sun. This was Piper's bright idea. I think it was just an excuse to be able to use their new umbrellas.

Here is Seven with his green frog umbrella and wearing his frog rainboots.
Piper posing with her ladybug umbrella and wearing her Hello Kitty rainboots.
Jeremy got the bottom part of the snowman started and Finn wanted to help. I guess when trying to kick the snowball didn't work to move it.... He decided to push it instead.Bottom part of the snowman is in position, right in front of our neighbor's shabby fence that they don't want to replace.
What a beautiful snowman, or should I say snowwoman! Unfortunately, we had to put a different head on it. This beautiful face would have gotten too cold if we left it outside for very long.The completed project. Carrot nose, leaf eyes, and leaf eyebrows.