End of Summer Field Trip

Still playing catch up on what we have done in the last month. The Friday before school started, my friend Hannah and I braved the August heat to take our kids (and a couple others) to Grant's Farm in St. Louis. Between the two of us, we had 10 kids ages 8 and under. Grant's farm is owned and run by Anheiser-Busch and once was home to Ulysses S. Grant. You can read all about it online, but essentially the Anheiser and Busch families were really into exotic animals in addition to their fettish with Clydesdales. So along with seeing the Clydesdales, you get to take a ride through their grounds and see a whole bunch of other animals, then you can stop and feed goats, go on a carosel ride, see an elephant show and an exotic bird show, and feed donkeys and camels. It's as good as going to the zoo, without so much walking (which is especially good when the heat index is over 100). We all enjoyed ourselves, but by about 1:30 we had to leave because it was just too stinkin' hot and humid.

Hannah and baby Claire.

Amberly, Lauren, Reili and Tabitha pose near the Clydesdales. For some reason they were penned up near the stable and not running in the fields so we did't get to see the babies very well.

Reili, Tabitha, Abby, and Lauren (the older girls) on the tram ride to see the animals.

Buffalo...see!

My kids...refusing to look at me.

The cute (and very hot) little babies...Claire and Elizabeth!

Hooray for a carousel ride!

Reili's bunny rabbit.

Wesley tries to feed the goats (they were pretty pushy goats).

Goats attack.....AHHHHH!

I just love this picture of Amberly, but I can't figure out how to get it turned the right direction (anyone know?).

Elizabeth's latest skills

Elizabeth is constantly working on keeping up with her brother and sisters. She is not quite 8 months old and has been able to get pretty much any where she wants for the last month and a half by scooting/army crawling. This picture of her sitting up on her own was on her 7 month birthday.

Since she is a fourth child, she has learned to adapt to whatever situation she finds herself in. If I forget that it is her naptime or I am busy with the other kids, I frequently find her asleep on the floor. For some reason she likes to pull material or blankets to her face as she sleeps. Here she fell asleep with a pair of Tom's (thankfully clean) socks. On our trip to Utah, she fell asleep at Rebekah's twice with a pair of underwear that had been left on the floor (yuck). I just think it is so precious.

More recently she has been pulling herself to her knees. She can't quite get to her feet stably yet, but has 2 times in the last couple days. She is definitely working on it. On Friday she realized she could open the Reili and Amberly's dresser drawers. She was in heaven pulling out all the clothes. Looks like I am in for a messier house again! We wouldn't trade her for the world though. We love our little Ellie!

What our kids do for fun

When our kids apparently have nothing better to do...this is what they do for fun (when we aren't around):

It starts out with a few nice, innocent pictures of each other. Sweet Ellie!

Amberly...isn't she just so cute!

And the situation soon deteriorates:

A little bit of a fixation with their behinds (this was one of quite a few back side photos).

Hmmmm....

And it just goes downhill from there:

All it takes is an available camera sitting around to have a little fun. I'm really glad they are so easily entertained.

First Tooth....Lost

A few days after our arrival home from our trip, Amberly lost her first tooth. We were all quite surprised, including Amberly, as we had not even known it was loose until she bit into a cob of corn. We weren't expecting it because Reili was a bit older when she started losing teeth. The most amazing thing was the tooth fairy actually remembered to come that night. She must be more on top of things now or something.

Trip to Utah - Part II

Somehow I missed taking still photos of all of the middle of our trip to Utah. So I am just going to skip to the end and post about the middle some time later. We had a fun trip to Seven Peaks with my friend Elaine and her family and stayed with them one night. Then we stayed with my Parents at their Condo for a few days and went to the VanLeeuwen 24th of July camping trip (hopefully I'll post about that later). At the end of our trip we stayed with my brother Al and his family. I am always worried my kids are going to be bored because many of their cousins are so much older than them now. Not the case. I think the girls had just as much fun at Uncle Al's playing with Aubrey and McCall as they did playing with their younger cousins. It was possibly the most relaxing part of our trip because of their help entertaining and watching the kids. We also had a lot of fun visiting Lenore for the day and letting the girls swim in their pool together. Thanks everyone for such a fun trip to Utah!

Amberly, Reili, Aby, and Wes hang out on the couch watching a movie.

Elizabeth Lenore and her namesake...Aunt Lenore.


McCall, Reili, Amberly and Aubrey on the trampoline at Al's.

Ellie and Cousin McCall.

Water Fight!!!

An evening in the backyard roasting marshmellows and eating s'mores.

Look at my marshmellow Uncle Al!