St. Louis Trip

At the end of March we went to St. Louis with my parents to visit my brother. 

We went to my parents Thursday night and then left for St. Louis first thing Friday morning.

Anna playing Hide-and-Seek

We arrived by lunch and meet my brother at Pappy's BBQ-

probably THE BEST BBQ I've EVER had - AMAZING!

Notice the pink smoke lines, oh this makes me want to get in the car and 

drive down there for some right now!

Missouri Botanical Garden

Alice and Anna both really enjoyed swimming at the hotel. This was Anna's first time swimming. 

Alice was willing to put her head back onto my shoulder, allowing the back of her head to get wet

St. Louis Zoo

Amazing view of the hippos!

Thank you Uncle Matt for having us come visit and taking us to the zoo!

Lemars. Monkeys are one of Alice's favorite animals right now.

Anna enjoyed riding in the stroller most of the time. 

We concluded our zoo visit with the penguins. Time to get some lunch!

The girls played at the park while the guys waited in line and got us lunch. 

For supper Saturday night we had Dewey's Pizza. Another AMAZING food experience! 

(If you haven't realized, eating delicious food is a big part of our vacations.)

We got to watch them make the pizza, a great way to pass the time with the girls while we waited. 

Wild Mushroom Pizza with olive oil / garlic 'sauce', 4 kinds of mushrooms, roasted red peppers, 

and cappers, and cheese - Delicious! We'll be trying this at home!

We took a hike at one of my brother's favorite parks. 

Beautiful views! Who'd know that we were in St. Louis?

On Sunday we went to church with my brother and then headed back to Davenport, 

had supper with my parents and then finished our trip home. 

March '11

Alice has taken an interest in folding laundry now. (Previously she just helped identify who each item belonged to.) She started with washcloths and can now also do hand towels, her and Anna's pants and helps match some of the socks. I think her favorite part of laundry day is playing in her 'boat' a.k.a. the laundry basket.  

One day she set up her chairs like this in her room. I called it a bus and for the next handful of days, we had to set up her 'bus' everyday. Now her bus chairs are permanently (for now) set up in her room.

Our precious little Anna!

Anna is a sweet little girl, most of the time. She is quite patient with her overly loving sister who likes to give her big hugs and tons of kisses.

Alice is quite thoughtful in making sure Anna has toys and books to play with. Sometimes she is overly helpful and tries to do what we refer to as 'mommy's jobs' such as feeding her cheerios or washing her face, but from what I hear I tried to be a little mommy to my brother too.

Anna pushing herself up. She can scoot back and turn herself around quite efficiently.

Anna learned to bend her knees at the beginning of spring break. She has yet to make much forward movement.

Spring Break Fun!

We had AMAZINGLY beautiful weather for Spring break. I only tutored one day and we spent a lot of time playing outside, taking walks, playing at the park, etc. It was a nice change of pace and makes me excited for summer!!!

My mom came up for a visit Monday afternoon thru Tuesday. We enjoyed the beautiful weather by playing at the park and a picnic lunch.

Whee!

This was Anna's first time playing at the park.

She wasn't quite sure what to think of swinging this time, but when we went to the park at the end of the week she had a blast!

Alice enjoyed getting her bicycle (w/out pedals) and tricycle out this week. She can now reach the pedals on the tricycle so she's been learning to pedal and steer. She got the bicycle from my brother for her birthday in October so she hasn't had a lot of opportunity to ride that until this week either. She goes from one to the other.

Anna posing in Alice's dolly stroller.

When I went inside to grab my camera, Alice had to get her 'Hello' (one of our old cell phones that she uses as a toy phone) to take pictures too. We don't take very many pictures with our phone, but somehow she knew that cell phones can take pictures too. Her's Alice taking Anna's picture.

This reminds me, Alice has yet to realize that her cell phone doesn't actually make phone calls. Lately when I say we should call someone, she gets her phone and wants me to put my phone away b/c she wants to make the phone call with her phone. It's hard to get her to make pretend calls with her phone but talk to family/friends on our phone when we want her too.


We took both girls for our first family bike ride. Alice was very excited to ride in the bike carrier behind daddy and enjoyed it! Anna didn't show much expression, just rode along contently. I look forward to many more bike rides this spring / summer/ fall!

Feb '11

Alice reading a book to dolly. 

My attempt at a Valentine's Day photo shoot. I was going to take pictures for all our immediate family but failed to realize that Alice couldn't hold papers straight and Anna would (of course) reach for the papers in attempt to crumple or eat them. I started with 'I Love You Daddy' and this is by far the best we got. Needless to say, I decided I should store that idea for a few years down the road.

Alice loves taking pictures with our camera. She doesn't aim, she just snaps away. I think she likes that she makes the flash go off. I try my best to pose in front of her pictures but they usually end up something like this.

Daddy taking Anna for a ride :)

We went to my parents the middle of the month b/c my brother and aunt and cousins from Kansas City were going to be in town.

Alice and Anna reading books after waking up at Grandma & Grandpa Teeselink's house.

Anna and Great-Grandma Granger.

Anna with Great Aunt Carol and Great Aunt Cathy

Our last snowfall for the year . . . gorgeous!

Alice and her cousins (pretend) reading. Timothy, Arie, and Lydia each have a chair and book, of course. Alice make-believe plays with her cousins many times everyday.

January '12

We went to the Caucus as a family. All of Black Hawk county is held in one location, this time at the UNI dome. We heard Michelle Bachmann and Newt Gingrich speak.

Alice (and dolly) got to say 'hi' to Newt and Callista. This is her first time meeting someone famous.

We got our first sizable snow the middle of January. The following Monday was Martin Luther King Day, so Jameson had off work. Jameson, Alice, and I built her first snowman together that morning. 

We then had fun throwing snowballs at the tree. Alice got right up next to the tree so she could hit it too.

Later that week, we had a big snowstorm. My mom had came up for my birthday Thursday night and we got a big SNOW DAY Friday! Alice was eager to get out and play.

Grandma had just gone out to shovel a little but soon found herself making a snow angel for Alice!

Alice swinging in her snow gear!

The cold has not seemed to bother Alice at all. She loves getting her snow gear on and going outside. Several mornings she tried getting her boots on to go outside before we'd even eaten breakfast! She learned that Anna could not. 

Alice eating pudding she helped make. She loves making jello and pudding.

Anna loves feeding herself puffs.

The girls playing together in Alice's fort. Alice LOVES having Anna play along with her. She is always getting Anna toys and asking her to sit here, lay there, etc.

Alice helping me make Chex Mix.

 Anna is 6 months!!!

 Alice and I made a snow turtle.

Alice loves sorting by object and by color.

 Practicing walking through the snow.

 Throwing snowballs at the driveway and each other... one of Alice's favorite activities.