A Wicked Time!

In early July, I had the opportunity to go see my all time favorite Broadway musical - Wicked! Jackie, Maddie, Kristin and I met up with other friends, Wendy and Laura for dinner at Triumph, near the Fox Theatre. Kristin and I toasted the night with a GREEN Midori Sour!
While Jackie and Maddie enjoyed a simple dinner!
After dinner we walked over to the theater for the show! Here are Jackie and Maddie outside!
Mother and daughter posed outside before the show!
I actually FOLLOWED the rules and didn't take a picture of the show, but it was AMAZING! Elphaba was perfect and Glenda was hysterical! I can't wait until the show comes back again!

The Girls (and their kids!) at Grant's Farm!

Over the summer my friends Theresa and Morgan - two great gals that I worked with last year - met at Grant's Farm to hang out with our kids.

Reagyn and Carter call Theresa "mom"...
While Morgan is mom to Oliver...
As soon as we got there, the kids wanted to ride the carousel. Jack was SO excited that he got to ride on the dragon!
Nick picked the...bunny???
And Luke happily got on the horse!
After the carousel, we headed over to the feed the goats! Jack was the only one who ventured into the pin!
While the other 3 who were old enough to feed the goats and not attempt to actually drink the milk from the bottle happily fed them from OUTSIDE of the pin!
I guess the kids got hungry after seeing all the goats get fed, so we made a stop at the sno-cones. It worked out great though, b/c we had the kids bring their snacks to the animal show! They sit quietly and since we aren't walking all over the place, we keep the mess to a minimum!
After the show and sno cones were finished...it was souvenir picture time!
Right behind the Grant's Farm sign are the boys' favorite animals...the camels! Nothing like getting up close and personal to these big, spitting animals! UGH!
We then left the farm and walked over to the Clydesdale stables! That is when the craziness started...the kids kept ASKING me to take their pics!!! Here are two of my favorites!

Thankfully we headed out of the farm before the crowds got there. It was such a great morning spent with great friends! Can't wait to do it again...NEXT SUMMER!

Cardinals and the Khoury League!

Thanks to my pic find on my small camera, I also found some end of June pics from when it was the boys' Khoury League night at Busch Stadium. On our way to the start of the "parade" around the field, we stopped quick for this pic with IL's own Red Schendienst (spelling?).
Basically, tons of t-ball/baseball/softball teams get the chance to walk around the field before the start of the game. We waited and waited and FINALLY saw our little men in purple!
Here is Jack - notice the FULL uniform? Totally his idea!
Here is Nick - he was much more his laid back self in his shorts and flip flops!

Once they were back from their "stroll" they enjoyed some cotton candy!
And of course, a hot dog or two!
Maddie was able to come for the game too! Thanks to her, I was actually able to watch the game and keep score - one of my fave things to do! :)
Mom and her three boys! Thanks to Dan for snapping this pic!
Little man was getting a bit tired, so we headed out before the end of the game...here is our sleepy little Buka - giving Dad a hug!
After hugging Daddy, Buka made sure he gave a goodbye hug to Ms. Kristin!
For anyone who has been to our house, you have seen the picture of Dan and the boys looking out to the new Yankee Stadium when we were there last summer...here is my attempt at recreating that pic!
And maybe the most fun of the night was had on the escalators leaving the stadium! We were essentially the only ones on there, so the boys moved up and down them pretty freely! They LOVED it!
Once we got out of the stadium, fireworks went off - yep, one of the Cards managed a home run! At least we were in the area and could see and hear the firework celebration!

Firework Fun!

Okay, so I received a FABULOUS new camera from my lovely husband for my birthday, however, it was recommended to me to keep my "small" camera as well. Unfortunately, I forgot to upload all my pics from my "small" camera until today - thank goodness for lazy Sundays! ANYHOW, I totally forgot to add these pics of our July 3rd fun at Nana and Papa's house!

We headed over on Saturday afternoon for a little swimming - okay, water hopscotch - but it looks like Henry, Jack, Luke and Nick are having still having fun! :) Uncle Steve too as he is snapping the kids' picture!
No 4th of July celebration would be complete without a little game of...BOCCE ball! Dan, Papa, and the boys certainly enjoyed the game!
No gathering at Nana and Papa's house would be complete without food. I made sure to contribute some "festive" desserts...

Dan, Luke and Jack sure enjoyed it all...AND ice cream sundaes too!!
In addition to some yummy desserts, we also contributed some 4th of July fireworks! And here are the two guys in charge of setting them all off...
...Nana, Papa and Nick don't look worried though!
The fireworks WERE actually better than expected! And, the boys each had the opportunity to hold some sparklers! It is too funny that when I was young, I LOVED to play with sparklers, but now as a mother, I wouldn't even let the boys walk around with them. Check out these pics...I don't think the boys minded!
Maybe next year, Henry will get a chance to play! :) For now though, he looks pretty content just chilling with his mommy - Aunt Jackie!
Hope you all had a great 4th of July...you know almost 3 months ago!!!

Catching Some Candy!

Who doesn't love a parade??? I mean, where else can you sit happily for about an hour with none of your kids yelling, screaming, or arguing with each other? Needless to say, I LOVE them! On a warm night in July, we headed to a neighboring town for its annual Fireman's Parade and Picnic. We typically always venture out for this particular parade as my dad ends up walking in it for his work. This year was no different! Dan, myself and the boys all found our spots by Aunt Jackie, Uncle Steve, Henry and of course Nana - wheelchair and all, as she was still non weight bearing from her Slip in Slide ankle break! Joining us this year though was Uncle Bryan and Alyssa as well as my brother's best friend - Brandon all up from Memphis as Bryan and Brandon were in a golf tourney with my dad that weekend! (Brandon, Uncle Bryan, Alyssa and Nana!)
Here is our crew! We found a cute little spot in front of this colorful house! Check out how happy and calm everyone looks and we were WAITING! Never are my boys so patient as they are before a parade! :)
The calmness died down as the parade began! Here are the four kids scurrying around for their candy! (N0tice Aunt Jackie standing guard - she was definitely working the kid control!)
And here is what his five grandkids were all waiting for - PAPA JACK and CANDY!!! Papa certainly filled all their bags!
The parade is over and they are adorned with beads and bags full of candy! What an awesome night with family! The kids' smiles are definitely contagious in this pic!

An Old Fashioned Fourth

...of JULY that is!!! I've finally made it to what I consider the middle of summer - and it is only September! :)

Anyhow, we did have a great 4th of July! Our friends, Larry and Theresa and their children Reagyn and Carter (yep, after the presidents!) came over to enjoy our town's Old Fashioned 4th of July picnic! We started off by playing a little Wii - Just Dance and Rockband - and then headed up to the park for dinner, music and of course, fireworks!

Here is Luke enjoying his bunless hotdog!
And Jack is dipping into some of his fave - BBQ chips!
And the highlight of the night - SNO-Cones! Nick was too busy eating his cool treat to even stop and smile at the camera!
Once the kids' belly's were full, we headed to the rides! Here Reagyn and Luke enjoy the swings!
Jack, Reagyn and Nick LOVED the slide!
Once we were done with the rides we sat and enjoyed the live music and then the fireworks! I didn't take any pics of that as I honestly didn't even think about it - surprising, I know!