At home in MO

While we were visiting Missouri, we tried to do an outing most mornings and then come home for the babies' naps and some chill hang-out time for everyone else. We let the kids play Minecraft, interspersed with wild weapons and scootering outside. Em and I really enjoy watching shows together, and this time we decided to watch good ole White Collar again. I love that show. Amber and AJ had some interesting sporadic sleep non-routines while we were all together, so many afternoons and evenings, either Em or me or both of us sat on the couch holding a whimpering one year old while we watched an episode or three. And Em the treatmaster made us the most amazing mint brownies I've ever had, which we had after dinner every night. MMM, I wish I wasn't so dessert-bakingly-challenged, or I'd make some right now.

Photos from around the house:

Little tired-eyed Amber felt quite threatened by her cousin, and spent lots of time climbing onto my lap to escape AJ's binky-stealing and poking.

Movie night! 

 Cousin sleepover! Queen Rose got the big bed all to herself because Steve and Dan both wanted to sleep next to Jay. The rest of the time Rose was so tired she slept in the room with me and Amber because the boys kept her awake too long.

 Miniature tramp with the minis.

Two words: PIZZA NIGHT! We made pizza one night and ordered it another night. Pizza is always a good idea when there are seven kids in the house.

Amber was feeling left out with the bikes and scooters, so we got out an old baby walker. She glide-ran all over the street in that thing with a big grin on her face. It kept her from tripping and falling, although she looked giant in it! I had to chase after her to keep her from tipping over in the gutters.

 We coerced AJ into giving Amber a ride on the back of her bike one evening. She actually scooted Amber all around the street slowly.

Yogurt for the babies.  

 Every now and then Jay did a few worksheets. His school gave him a REAM of worksheets to do during his two week absence. Seriously, it was too much. I took some out--worksheets are like the biggest killjoys in the education system. Let's bring back chalk and slates, Laura Ingalls and Anne Shirley style! 

This is their street--that hill provided endless adrenaline rushes for boys on scooters.

 Can you even stand this little guy? Mr. Chase-face is all personality and determination.

 We looked out the window and saw this tough gang hanging around the cul-de-sac, swords in their shirts and all. 

 Rose maintained her dainty femininity amidst the rough and tumble tangle of boys...and she also got in there and played with those boys too. With breaks for ice packs on various bruises and scrapes she acquired along the way.

 It was so fun to try holding two little girls at once--gave me a taste of the challenges my friends with twins face. Every time I held both little girls, I just squeezed their little soft selves. They're only six weeks apart--almost twins!

 I haven't snuggled this much with Amber since she was a tiny baby!

 Rose was the only girl out of diapers and she was exactly in the middle of a whole pack 'o boys. Sometimes she needed to drag a chair into the laundry room to decompress and watch her very own movie.

Skype calls with Jeff! 

Amber said "Dada, Dada, Dada" over and over and over again whenever she got to see Jeff on Skype. She loved it.

Those little crossed ankles! I think Amber wants her own laptop already. She hardly let this toy out of her sight the whole time we were there. I actually tried hiding it a few times because it was noisy.

And the grand finale photo: Those cheeks, that button nose, those long lashes fringing around those shiny blue eyes! And of course there's the giant Wub dangling out of her mouth. I love it all.

MO outings

When we were in Missouri, it was quite the production getting all seven kids and two moms loaded into one Honda Odyssey minivan. We crammed 'em in like cute little sardines and they only squabbled every now and then back there. The St. Louis area has so many fun, FREE, kid-friendly places to visit. We barely scratched the surface! 

 Bahaha, can you see Em's crazy photo-bomb in the background?

THE ST. LOUIS SCIENCE CENTER:

 Creating a roller coaster

 Amber wanted to be a dinosaur.

 Rose and Amber loved the "coal-powered" light: Put the rubber coal hunks into the shoot fast enough to power the light. If you did it really fast, the timer told how many seconds of light you were making. Also, I thought the Science Center's trash cans gave a rather blunt environmentalist message.

 The Amber-bamber-saurus in a dino footprint!

We happened to visit the Science Center on Pi Day, and there was an entire room devoted to the celebration of all things circular, with everything from workshops to pizza shaped toys to coloring pages. There was something for everyone, even the one year olds. They even had a station where you could find how far into the digits of Pi your own birth date could be found.

 Building Mars rovers with Zoobs in the space section.

I'm not quite sure what the point of this giant rotating Pac-Man type circle was, but the kids were mesmerized by it for nearly ten minutes straight.

FOOD:

One day we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. As usual, it was a madhouse, but that chicken sandwich and waffle fries with lemonade? Mmmm, worth it. Since I despise all bubbly beverages, my one "vice-drink" is lemonade. I adore lemonade. Chick-Fil-A has such good lemonade! Mmmm, I could use a tall glass to get me through the rest of this post. 

Most days we did the PBJ assembly line for lunch. The rate of consumption reached nearly an entire loaf of bread per meal! 

PARK:

 Another park--it was too cold to stay long at this one. Amber's hands were purple!

TARGET:

 We braved Target with the crew one afternoon. Em got a few bags of popcorn and the kids sprawled everywhere enjoying the snack.

GRAMA GREAT:

We visited my sweet Grama Brown one day--she has lived in Washington, MO for my entire life. She's moving to Utah to be closer to family in a few weeks! Big change. It'll be weird going to Washington, MO without her there. 

PURINA FARMS:

Another outing: Purina Farms! We met up with an old high school friend who lives in the area and checked out the farm. The last time I went to Purina Farms, Rose was 2 months old and Jay was almost 2 years old. They do this spring festival type thing and we went on opening day this year. We saw a Frisbee dog show, petted animals, and played in a barn full of tunnels, corn boxes, hay, and rope swings.

 What is it about kids and jumping off of things? It's awesome.

 Petting baby animals--the kind old ladies in charge of the animal petting wore these funny floral pinafores and giant fabric bunny ears. Those baby ducklings were so soft!

 This rope was attached to a scale, and it showed the animal equivalent in pulling power. All together, these four kids could pull as much as a sled dog.

 Amber would not enter the deep dark tunnels in the barn. Thankfully--they were not made for six foot tall mothers to retrieve children!

 We stayed by the corn boxes for a long long time. Sensory exploration galore!

 Amber was confused--why didn't this corn taste very good?

 There was even an Easter bunny. Slightly scary...

 ...or utterly terrifying if your name is Amber.

Our crew with the expansion addition of Jessie and her two kids. I love a nice big group of kids! Mayhem! Energy! Jumping! Wandering! It's amazing we managed to collect everyone at the end of each outing.