FIrst Soccer Game

Kind of.... Walt told us about 2 weeks ago that he was not going to play in the soccer games.  He LOVES practice, but for whatever reason does not like the games.  So today at his first game he sat on the bench, cried, and then I bribed him and he went in and cried for maybe 2 minutes.  Considering we have 2 games next weekend, we are hoping for better. 

Welcome September!

We welcomed in September with a bunch of out of town guests.  My parents, jess, troy, and Rachel (Jess and Troy's college friend) all gathered at our house for the long weekend.  Jessica and Troy were in town to hopefully finalize some things for their wedding.  They booked the Old Cathedral for the ceremony and are between 2 places for the reception.  The kid loved having the extra vistors, they received a lot of attention.  Francine amazed them with how well she is walking around, and doing a lot of talking.  She has now added "ball" to her list of words that we can understand.  We took walt to the Big Muddy Blues Fest downtown StL yesterday.  He loved it and the weather was devine.  Our visitors all left by 8am, so we went to the park and Bob took both kids on the bike trailer for the first time!  I think that Francine loved it. 

Blues City Deli Streetfest

We have missed the deli's streetfest the past 2 years becuase we have been out of town with weddings.  We were excited that we had no plans this year.  We invited our great friends Amanda and Chris in town with their kids to help us celebrate.  We also had some other friends stop by, moyichs, wades, and carls.  It was great music and fun to have our "space" in the street!  (they play the music on a stage about 5 houses down)  We had a great weekend. 

Zoo again????

That is right folks we went to the zoo again! It was last Monday the day before school started.  Bob took the day off of work to hang out with us.  We got up early so we could go to the stingrays again.  Today walt and bob got to touch LOTS of stingrays, walt LOVED it.

We did the carosel, the insectarium, and then went to the Children's zoo.  The kids love the little animal show.  Walt was laughing the whole time.  And Francine just loves to see animals. 

Francine's new thing is calling everyone who cares for her- MaMa!  Bob says all the time "I am DaDa!"

New Stroller

Last summer we survived without a dbl stroller because Francine went in the bjorn so much.  This summer I finally decided that I needed some "help" Francine is getting pretty heavy in the backpack.  So I found this stroller on craigslist.  It had been used by a grandma whose kids live in Kentucky so it was in great shape.   The kids love sitting next to each other.  It is pretty cute. 

PARK DAY!

IT was so nice this morning.  Bob and I both thought that it felt a little like CA.  So really nice.....  We went to the park.  Ran into good friends Chris and 2 year old Maggie!  It was so fun.  Francine put on a little show for the camera!

A rock star???

Both kids really like music.  Just about any music (even the super lame) will make Francine drop whatever she is doing and bop to the beat.  Walt loves listening to music.  He got this SUPER cool and not annoying at all "guitar" at a garage sale and loves to rock out on it. 

The zoo with Ge-Ma.

My mom came into town from Tuesday- Friday last week to help with the kids.  I had meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.  We start back at school on the 16th.  It may seem really early to some, but let me tell you I love being out in May!  It is still the same about of weeks off just not as traditional. 
Walt is going to be in the Green room again at school.  We vistied his classroom on Thursday, he seemed happy to be back. 
Francine will still be at Peggy's house for one more year.  She and her friend Cambell (who turned 1 in July as well) will be the "Old" kids at Peggys. 
On Friday I didn't have to go into school, so before my mom left for Des Moines, we spent about 2 hours at the zoo.  It was great.  I feel so lucky that she has been able to spend so much time with us this summer!

Post-bath hair

Franny-Pants rocking the Mike Keenan hair....

Francine my bean

Walt is pretty big into rhyming, so Francine my bean is one of his nicknames for her.  He has also been referring to her as Franny a lot lately which sounds so cute coming from his mouth.  Francine, has a couple words, Hi!, mama, dad, and ball.  She uses sign language to say more, please (well she did it 2 times or the first time today) and all done.  She has been getting into my jewelry in the morning while I get ready, and the other day she found some pearls.  She kept them on for hours.  Then today she wore a pink dress that was mine when I was a little girl.  I thought my mom would especially like this picture because she is chewing on the bird magnets that my mom gave the kids.