Feast of St. Dominic

In honor of Dominic's patron Saint we had some pancake crosses for breakfast today. Today also happens to be my dad's birthday...happy birthday dad. The kids actually spent the 8th with my parents but we couldn't go a year without celebrating St. Dominic so we had a make up feast day with our family today. 8.13.09

Adventures in Babysitting

The girl that babysits for us, Kelsie, brought shirts and fabric paints so the kids could make their own creations. They had a great time and now they have some original designed shirts. Now anytime we do painting at the house the kids wear their "painting" shirts. We like to think of Kelsie as our little Mary Poppins because she always has fun things for the kids to do. 8.11.09

One Goofy Girl

Isabella turned her blue scarf into a blue wig. She seemed to think she looked good with blue hair. 8.11.09

Family get together for my Dad's birthday

We all met at Watkin's Mill State Park for a picnic, birthday party, and bike ride. The kids had a wonderful time riding bikes on the bike path. It was a fun day and the kids were so worn out after wards they fell asleep on the way home. 8.9.09

Summer Time Splash

This is the first year we have had a membership to a pool. Before when the kids were little we just went to the wading pool near our house. It was great for little kids because it was only 2 feet deep. But this year we wanted to give the kids more opportunity to learn to swim so we got a membership. It is amazing how fast they learn! They both had swimming lessons at the beginning of the summer. Isabella was swimming in the deeper water by July. Dominic still needs a swim-floaty but he swims great with it on. He jumps in by himself and goes under the water too. Isabella was confident in her swimming abilities and she went of the diving board all by herself in the deep end. She got so brave that she tried the tunnel slide and the high dive. My little girl going off the high dive at age 6!! They are growing up so fast. 8.09

Starting First Grade

About half way through the summer Isabella started asking me when we would start doing school again. She was so excited to be starting the first grade and doing more subjects. August just couldn't come soon enough for her. We always start the first week in August so that we can be done with school by the first week in May. Here are some pictures from the first week of school. Luckily in homeschool we don't require shoes on the first day of classes (since she forgot to wear them for the picture) You can compare them to last year's pictures here. 8.3.09

Our little photographers

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The kids decided they wanted to take their own pictures so we let them use the digital camera here are a few pictures from their photo shoot. (the pictures of them taking the pictures of course were taken by us) Most of the pictures they took were of toys and a lot of the floor. If you are interested there are about 80 more I can show you. 7.30.09

Beginning Ballet 2009

Since Isabella started kindergarten she was allowed to start a new activity and she chose ballet. We found an awesome home school class in Lee's Summit. The teacher is amazing and the program is perfect for us. It meets once a week during the day. Right now Isabella is in beginning ballet 1 so she is just getting familiar with the concepts and steps. Here are some pictures from their last week of class this summer the assistant to the class is going to college in the fall and won't be returning so the girls all took a picture with her on the last day. Isabella will start ballet 2 in September and be in her first show next summer. 7.30.09

The Cheshire Lodge

We stayed in a hotel that was close to the zoo so that the Michael and the kids could go to the zoo and I could take the car to my doctor appt. This hotel had a lot of character and charm. The kids thought it was awesome and oh so fun to explore. Here are some pictures from their explorations. 7.27.09

Fun at the St. Louis Zoo

While I was at my doctor's appointment in St. Louis Michael and the kids went to the zoo to enjoy the sunshine and all the fun animals. They had a great time. Maybe sometime I will get to see the zoo as well? 7.27.09

Taming the snake

Dominic has a way with reptiles here he is taming a cobra. You can try to if you go to the St. Louis Zoo. 7.27.09

St. Louis Arch

What trip to St. Louis would be complete without a trip to the arch? We weren't able to go up to the top but we got a chance to see the museum and the grounds. It was a perfect day with nice blue skies--made for some pretty pictures. 7.26.09

Dinner with the Kopp's

While we were in St. Louis we got to see our friends Ryan & Dessa and we got to find out that they were 7 months pregnant with their first child! Very exciting. We all went out to eat at Fritz's. The kids were thrilled to get to eat their food out of car boxes. Getting to have root beer was also a huge treat for them. (Since I am posting this in the spring I can go ahead and say that Ryan & Dessa had a baby boy named David on Halloween, he is adorable.) 7.26.09

Bingo

The church I grew up in has a festival every year and we try to take the kids up to participate in the fun. Here are some pictures of us playing bingo. We didn't win but we sure did try a lot. 7.25.09

End of Vacation photo 2009

Here we are at our silliest. You can check out the end of vacation silly photo from last year by clicking here.