a playdate at the park...

before we left for the park, I caught piper reading some books in her room...

yesterday we played at the park with some friends...it was a beautiful day and the kids had so much fun!

piper thought she would check out the sprinkler since the boys were enjoying it so much...
and she HATED it!
she also doesn't like laying in the grass...the sunshine must have been hurting her eyes.

more picutes

Fun picutes of our sweet...and very funny Piper! it is really fun to have a little girl in the house!

At Joe's softball game...Toby's new favorite place to go!

Forth of July...Piper and Sugar!

we spent the morning with Becky and the girls...the big kids had cupcakes for dessert, so we gave some to Piper...as you can see she LOVED it!

Joe's sisters family came in for a visit...here was a quick cousin photo shoot for Baci!

recommitting to the blog!

I pledge my recommittment to our family blog. I am sorry to have left you in the dark while my kids grow and change! I promise to be better about updates. but for now I'll just share as many pictures as I can...

Piper just woke up...I'll add more pic later. These are actually a couple months old.

stay tuned...

Spring break...

We headed to Florida for our first annual family Spring Break! What a week it was!

We had so much fun with the Thompson family and had a glimpse into what our life will be like in 10 year...raising teens! I'm not in any hurry!

the weather was not great to say it nicely...although this looks like a beautiful day, there were 40 mile an hour winds and it was in the low 70's...COLD. Toby and Joe are huddling together for warmth!

our bathing beauties!

The rest of the week was cloudy and raining. we drove home in severe weather...flash floods, tornado warnings, and when we got home it SNOWED! Crazy week for weather. this is just a glimpse of what we saw...

Let's GO Blues!

After 12+ years in STL Joe finally has a St. Louis sports team he will root for! This is HUGE! For some reason this season he likes the Blues and a friend from church gave us two tickets to todays game, so Joe and Toby had a father/son date and they had the time of their lives! They bought souvenirs, it was free food night and they saw the mascot! Toby was BEAMING when they got home.
(thanks again Nancy for memories that will last a lifetime!)

updates and pictures!

TOBY...
This winter Toby has done some REALLY fun things! When it snowed he shoveled the sidewalk and driveway with Joe...it was really fun at age 2, we'll see how fun it is at 12!

Joe's parents sent Toby a Thomas tent! this is worth HOURS of fun! And oh, the personality! He wears a bike helmet and calls it his football helmet...he tries to put it on himself but doesn't quite have it...as you can see.

He thought it would be funny to put on Piper's hat and play his guitar. I'm not sure he knows he is a BOY! He is surrounded by girls...where are all the 2 year old boys? We need a play date where ever you are...

We introduced him to Monkey Joe's! it is a great place to get rid of some energy!

and we went bowling with our church. our neighbors came with us...
Kim, our neighbor and friend, with Piper!

Toby and Piper in the tub...I can't believe how different they look...

PIPER...

we started Piper on FOOD! and she has loved it. this was day 1 of cereal.

She is sitting up so well and loves it, but she hates to be on her belly, I'm not sure she will ever learn to crawl.

My beautiful baby girl is all smiles!

and she has fully out grown the size 3 diapers...this happens at least 2x a day! incase you don't know what you are looking at...its poop!

She has even been talking. watch and listen. the other day she was talking on the changing table and she says, "da, da, da..." to which Toby proudly told her, "Daddy is at work, piper. Today is a work day." I love being a mom, and I have two amazing kids!

Why I Run...

This winter and Spring I have decided to train for the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon and am doing my training through Team in Training to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Meet Josie!

JOSIE is my Honored Teammate!
Diagnosis: Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia
Diagnosed: April 3, 2004
Status: In Remission
Josie is such an inspiration to us all. From the beginning, she has dealt with everything so well. She loves to dance and sing, and she is always making up new songs about herself and her disease. She loves to play with her Barbies or play dress up, and her favorite person to play with is her sister, Gabrielle. Josie is such a vibrant little girl. Throughout everything she is going through, she hasn't lost that. Her smile lights up the room. When we do have more difficult days, she does pretty well; she tries to understand. But what she understands most, is when this is done, she will be better.

But here is the real reason I am running...
Last week Toby has had pneumonia and Piper has had RSV! I spent the week tending to temperamental kids, dishing out lots of medicine and praying that they would be well soon. Before I left for my training run on Saturday Toby was up for the 7th night in a row with a fever above 101. I knew that the doctor was going to want a chest x-ray later that morning. So I left to go run totally preoccupied with the health of my baby boy! Running was really not important to me at that moment. Before we left for our run, a Team in Training staff member encouraged us, as we passed Children's Hospital, to think of the families that are there right now with their kids. Then she said the words that cut me like a knife...she said, "That's where we lost our daughter."
I know Toby is sick, but I also know that he will be back to himself in a week or so. There are moms sitting in a hospital comforting their babies and may not know if they will see another Christmas. I was reminded is a sobering way...that's why I am run!

Although I am the one running, we can all help! Every donation makes a difference! Please consider donating today! Donations can be made online from my personal Team in Training Web page.

our updates...

January

Toby had a private and very special birthday party with his aunt Becky, and cousins Phoebe and Karlee. He was the first to choose a party favor and he went for the green stick on earrings and the football whistle. Despite lots of practice, he still can't get that whistle to blow!

We went to watch Jordan Thompson play basketball. Mya is a great pre-babysitter and Piper loves her!
While Mya kept Piper occupied, Robert played with Toby. Apparently Robert is much more fun than a girls varsity bball game. And funnier too!
At church Toby has been playing with his new friend, Jude. This Sunday they where learning how to work the flag pole...next week we could find someones undies soaring high above.

Our sweet Piper girl! She is rolling over and really wants to sit up on her own. She is still the happiest baby around and has a beautiful bright smile for anyone who will give her the time of day. She is a total joy to all of us...especially her big brother. there are many times I will catch him talking to her or kissing her on the head, or saying, "O, Pipes, you are a pretty girl." I hope to never forget those moments!

he was teaching her how to roll over.Like father, like son! Daddy has a Max and Toby has a Max! The other morning I went to get Toby out of bed and Max walked out of our room and down the hall. Toby said, "Oh, there goes Daddy's Max."
Earlier this month my grandmother turned 85! I took the kids by to see them and wish her a happy birthday. Toby loves going there because she always has a jar of gumdrops stocked for the great grand kids. If I don't watch him he'd eat the entire jar while I visited.

We had a great surprise one day...the gas company came with a big digger to dig up our neighbors yard to make repairs (not so good for the neighbors, but Toby LOVED it.) He saw the men were wearing hard hats, and asked me to get his Thomas helmet so he could be just like the working men. it was hours of entertainment free of charge!

Happy January to all...may the rest of the winter go FAST!