Beach Pictures

During our 4th of July celebration in Destin, we had our photos made on the beach.  It was a Christmas present from all the boys to their mother.  It was really nice only Shook was sick and my children are not great at posing for photos.  I felt bad for everyone else and of course in every picture one my children is doing something besides smiling and looking at the camera.  Oh well, better luck next time maybe!  Here are some of my favorites.

Haha...the all the children together photos did not work out so well!

He's A Funny Boy!

Today was Shook's parent teacher conference.  I thought I already knew what they were going to say about him, but, to my surprise, they say he is on target with the rest of the class.  He does very well with his spoon and plate too.

Here is his sheet:

He's walking good and talking good, minus one foot that is really a duck foot and he drags it a little bit.  Both his feet used to be duck feet when he walked but one of them has gotten better.  We've all noticed it and are going to keep an eye on it until his 15-Month Appointment.  They think this is why he was so slow to let go of holding on to stuff while walking.  And, it still trips him a lot of times.  Hopefully it will correct itself and we won't need special shoes or anything.

The thing about Shook is that he knows more than he lets on most days.  For instance, watching Sesame Street with Jules, one of his favorite songs is with Elmo and ducks.  Randomly, he will say duck, completely out of no where, and he will say "qwack".  Then, you say, "Can you say duck?"  And, he will sit and stare at you for hours!  I don't know what it is except that everyone who has spent time with him says he is STUBBORN!  Yes, capitalized STUBBORN.  And, LAZY...He is a boy but I think he is even more lazy than a normal boy. 

He loves to say "Ball" only he says "Baaaaaaaawwwwwlllll"  Super country!  And, he says "Nnnnnnnnooooooooose". 

But, they think he will do great in his new classroom and that he will transition very well.  And, let me say, that is definitely music to my ears.  To go from 100% Stranger Anxiety to I'm okay with going to my new teachers is GREAT!  Drop-off is so much easier now too.  He will just walk in and play, which is what I have been waiting on!!  He still loves his mommy, especially in the mornings and nights but I can deal with that. 

He still hits some but pretty much only when he is wanting attention or jealous.  So, it's good that we are making progress.  And, now, he gently pats my hair instead of pulling it completely out of my head.

He loves to read books and they said he will sit in the floor forever with a book, even if it is upside down.  Or, if they are not reading fast enough for him, he'll try to flip the pages faster. 

Instead of being scared of the stuffed tiger, as you may have read about before, he is now scared of the empty pool propped up on the wall at school.  He is fine to get in it and play in the water but he won't go near it when it is empty.  Apparently, one of his friends was playing with it and it fell on his friends' head and ever since then he acts like it is the scariest thing ever.  Like, trembling scared.  And, if his friends go to play with it, he gets so mad.  I'm saying, it's okay with me because I don't want him to suffocate from an empty pool falling on him either!

They said he loves the tunnel too.  He'll just get in there and sit for a long time and peak out the little windows. 

He is trying to exert himself as the leader of the class so we'll see how that goes for him.  They said if his friends are in his way, he will grab the back of their shirts and sit them down!  I don't know if he just realizes his strength or what.  But, back when he was hitting, they said he would hit his friends and they would all just sit there and never cry and let him do it.  And, trust me, he hits hard!  When they take a toy from him, he always gets it back but not before he screams loud enough so that they know he is mad at them!

I'm going to miss Ms Tanisha and Charday but I think Shook will loves his new huge room.  And, room 105 does tons of art work and they said that is one of Shook's favorite things.  He always wants to do more! 

All in all, he is on his way.  They don't see any problems in our future, fingers crossed!

St. Louis Day 2

On Saturday, we met my brother, sister-in-law and Jay (JJ to Jules)!  We went to the Children's Museum that morning.

They have this hamster wheel that moves balls around this system at the front door.

The next thing you see is this gigantic dinosaur that roars!

We did dinosaur puzzles and played with the animals and fossils.

We watched the penny go down the tunnel.

We built the arch!!

Yes, Jules and Cheyenne got matching quick-dry outfits for their trip to Six Flags in different colors from Honey.  Very cute!

We got in the wind tunnel!  I think it gets up to like 80 mph!

We sent Daddy some kisses while we were gone too!

Looks like he and Shook were having a pretty good time back at the hacienda.

Doesn't he look so grown up!  I'm amazed at how cute he is!  You should see him standing up walking and drinking a juice box.  I mean, its like he is Jules' age!

So, back to St. Louis, after naptime and some grub, we headed to Six Flags.  We shut 'em down that night!  We had too much fun.

She is ready to go!

We rode some rides....We took her on the Log Fume and she loved it.  Then, we did the scrambler and she was saying "That was fun.  I not scared!"  So, we said, "You wanna do it again?"  And, she said "NO!" Haha.

Played in the water.  No telling what else was going on in that water!!

Saw some shows.

And, we got Shook some presents!

We had a blast!  We had to head home the next morning.  It was a long drive but we made it.  We were some tired chicks!

St. Louis Day 1

Last week and weekend Jules & I went to St. Louis with my mom and niece, Cheyenne.  On the weekend, we met up with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew, Jay.  Jules and Cheyenne had a great time on the ride up (she had spent the week at my mom's house).  They colored and stickered and all kinds of stuff.  I was really impressed with Jules because she would color a picture and then hand it to me and tell me what it was without me even asking.  Of course, all her paintings and drawings are very abstract!  I like that she is at least thinking things through.  I  know they said they were working on that at school so its good that she is learning something - all that money is paying off!  It was really nice being with my mom for an extended period of time.  I miss her so much.  Jules is always talking about her "Honey Bunny" too!

Friday we went to Grants Farm and to the Arch that night.

We fed the goats (mom, Honey and Cheyenne anyway):

I think they were just waking up so the ones that were awake were pretty wild.

Clean-up!  But, not before she tried to take a drink of it!

I remember doing this when my nephew was about 4 or 5.  He loved it!  I have a picture of him with a bottle and goats all around him and he is just smiling.  Jules, not so much!  And, to be honest, I'm okay with it because mom doesn't like it too much either!  Goats are SMELLY!

I like petting the ponies and feeding the camels a lot better.  Jules, as you may know, loves camels, especially riding on them but when it comes to feeding, she would rather mom do it!

We watched the bird show.  It's not the most thrilling but we got to sit and eat our snow cones at least.  And, they have some beautiful birds to look at.

The bald eagle.  These can't fly anymore because of an accident they had.

Here we are watching Bud the Elephant do his thing.  The girls were pretty tired by this time.

Until we got sprayed!  We were on the front row so we got a little wet with Bud's boogers!!

The girls rode the carousel too.

And, last, but not least, we saw the beautiful horses.

After that, we were all ready for a nap.

Here we are using the great potty!  We did it all weekend!

That night was The Arch.  Much different than I remember it though everyone except me and my mother say it has been the same for about 30 or more years.  Cheers to a good memory!

Jules loved it.  I was suprised that she did so well riding up and down in the car and being around all the people.  I, honestly, was not so fond of it after all these years! For days she has been saying "let's go find the orng".  I thought she was saying oranges forever but finally figured out that it is arches.  I'm a genious.  I kept thinking, we didn't even see any oranges the whole time...  This was like the only way we could keep them quiet while we were driving in traffic --- "Look for the Arch.  Do you guys see it?"

Here we are waiting, waiting, waiting.

She was going crazy to talk on the phone.  She told them all about the Muppets!  It was serious business.

UP, Up, UP we go...

She sat on the edge seat and had to figure out if she liked it or not.

I'm pretty sure we decided to count the "floors" here.

Our view of the Cardinals game and time for mom to go back down!

Look at these stuffed animals they have in The Arch Museum!  Who knew?

It was time for bed then.  I think we were out on the town at 10 and after and in St. Louis, that is not too good for 4 girls!  Oh yeah, we had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Warehouse that night.  Delicious!