Thanksgiving 2015 Part 3

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we took the kids to the Magic House (the Children's Museum in St. Louis).  Sadie had a total blast exploring all the different things there.

Note: there are no photos of Lev at the Magic House even though he was there.  This is because he spent the entire time taking a nap in the carrier worn by Mom.

There was a "Very Hungry Caterpiller" exhibit and an alphabet to explore.

And a giant climbing structures and some pneumatic tubes with soft balls to push through

There was also a delightful magnet exhibit.

Also, there was a section of the museum that had a replica of the oval office as well as supreme court and the house of representative floor.  Sadie enjoyed her seat of power and playing with something she surely had no idea was a phone (those are tiny rectangles, right?)

Then on Thanksgiving Day, Sadie enjoyed playing with her cousins, and playing in general.  She wasn't too big on the food itself, sadly.  Though everyone else enjoyed the food.

 Lev spent much of the evening being grumpy, though Mom did manage to snag some photos with him and Aunt Renee looking content.

Thanksgiving 2015 Part 2

While in St. Louis, we had professional pictures taken, like we've been doing for the past couple of years.  We haven't gotten the photos back, but here's one Grandma Lora took of the kids while they were posing for the photographer.

And here's one of Sadie having a snack while Lev was getting some personal shots done in the background

On another day, Grandma took Mom and Aunt Renee out for a pedicure while the gentlemen and children enjoyed football at home (in actual fact, the children were napping).

Lev is also big enough now that he can go in our carrier front facing.  Mom and Dad finally took the time to figure out how to do that before Mom took Lev for a walk.

At other times, Sadie enjoyed lots of time with puzzles and also an old time-y cash register that was still around from when Dad and Aunt Renee were kids.

Sadie had some very willing subjects who let her play with their hair very very patiently.

We also had some friends visit!

Esther came and for some reason Lev found her very funny (though that is not obvious from this picture).

And Cheri came and got to play with Sadie and her puzzles.

Stay tuned, for more St. Louis fun, coming up!

Thanksgiving 2015 Part 1

Hi everyone, sorry for the silence but we've been busy traveling and having lots of fun with our family in St. Louis.

We headed out to the airport a week ago.  Sadie made herself comfortable while we checked bags.  The kids were well behaved if very AWAKE the entire flight down.  (Sadie of course fell asleep in the car on the way home from the airport... oh well).

 

In St. Louis we had a week full of family fun activities.  Here are just some of the photos.

There were lots of people to hold the kids, and read to them, and make funny faces at them to make them smile.

Lev even got his first trip to the mall, while Sadie got to play in the kids area there.

We also went to the Magic House (the children's museum in St. Louis) and had lots of friends come over, but that, is for another day.

Amazon Prime's newest customer

Sadie has recently noticed that a lot of packages arrive at our building and that sometimes we take them and sometimes we leave them.  So we've been learning about "neighbors," but also that sometimes fun things come in the packages.

Today, Sadie's new winter hat arrived and she insisted on carrying it up the stairs herself (even though she had no idea what was in the box).  She very carefully picked it up to the next step, one at a time, walked up the step, and repeated this for the entire staircase.  She was very proud of herself!

And here we are, modeling the hat, on our way to school this morning.

(Note to concerned grandparents:  No she was not just wearing her summer party dress in 30 degree weather.  She had her truck shirt underneath, obviously)

Playground with friends

Today we set out to go to the rose garden playground and meet up with Matti and Mark and Alice, Max and Elliot. Since this playground is pretty far from our house and not particularly close to transit, we reattached the hitchiker to the stroller

 

Everyone then had lots of fun socializing on the playground.

Dr. Sadie returns again

Yesterday we took Sadie in for a physical to confirm that she is healthy enough to have tubes put in her ears.  This has been a long time brewing and it's pretty much a relief to have a decision made.  The actual surgery will take place the week after Thanksgiving.

In preparation for yesterday's visit we've been reading her "Corduroy goes to the doctor" and telling her what's going to happen.  She enjoyed the lovely fish tank in the pediatrics waiting room.

She then was a total champ during the exam and really interested in what the doctor was doing.  When we got home she wanted to play with the doctor toys we got last Halloween. She ran around with the stethoscope and even listened to dad's tummy.

And now here are some bonus photos of Dad and Lev (who also accompanied us to the doctor and courteously slept through the whole visit).