Play with friends

Yesterday, we headed to the park to play with friends and had a blast! I am so thankful for Emily and our friendship and the friendships our kids have together.

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The house has color

The other day I posted a couple of pictures of the play house. Well, now it has color!! We had fun, maybe a little too much fun, coloring today. Enjoy the pictures.

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Catching up

It's been a long week and I am behind on blogging. All is well and here are a few pictures.

First, we have pictures of Preston in his new place house.  Thank you, Aunt Tracey and Uncle John. 

Here is the house.  Notice the basement is A LOT cleaner.  I have been working for weeks on getting rid of a lot of junk.  

Here is a sweet picture of me and Peyton.  

Finally, a picture of the dessert Steven and I enjoyed on Friday night while on our first date in months.  We had a gift card to Maggiano's and headed out for a quiet evening together.  It was so nice.  Oh yes, the dessert was 'on the house' when the waitor found out we were on a date and had 2 kids at home.  This was very kind of them. 

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Just a few fun photos to share

You know the drill - enjoy the photos!!



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A Wonderful Weekend

This has been a wonderful weekend.  Things kicked off on Thursday night with a date night for Steven and me.  We headed down to the Cardinals game with my dad and brother.  We had a blast and were so excited to watch the Cardinals WIN. 

 Friday was a 'normal' work day for me and Steven had some great time with the kids at home.  Saturday was a super busy but fun day.  In the morning we had some fun time outside playing in the pool.  I really like this sweet picture of Peyton with her suit and hat. 

 Here is a picture of Preston showing off his roar!!!  I love it. 

On Saturday afternoon I headed out to hang out with some dear friends.  Megan, the one in the black and white dress in the back row, is expecting her first baby and us girls gave her a shower.  It was SO good to be all together again as half of us are spread out accross the US.  I am so thankful for this group of girls. 

 After the shower we headed out to the pool with the girls   Preston is SO excited! 

 Again, Preston is so excited to be at the pool. 

 Here is a picture of Peyton and me with my dear friend Christi and her daughter, Ashleigh.  We miss you and hope to visit you in Arizona some time. 

 Today is not only Father's Day but Steven's Birthday.  Random fact about Steven: He was born on Father's Day.  What a wonderful gift he has been to so many.  I am so thankful he is the father of our children.  I am blessed because of him.  We spent the afternoon celebrating with Steven's parents and had a wonderful time.  Here is Papa being silly with the kids. 

 Here is our sweet girl munching on a birthday cupcake. 

 Steven and his dad, Mark. 

 We tried to take a few special father's day pictures....the kids were not excited. 

 We also tried to take a family photo...typical. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. 

Hat for my Head

While Preston and Peyton do not like to wear hats that often, I did get an opportunity to take this photos yesterday.  First, Peyton with her night night cap and posing for the camera. 

Here we have Preston wearing my tech case as a hat...whatever.   

Now, if I could only get them to wear a hat when we go outside to play...we will keep trying.  

7 years

I just realized that we have lived in our house on Dale Avenue for 7 years.  It was this week back in 2005 that we packed up all our stuff from our Condo in Ballwin, MO and moved closer to work (and the city) to Richmond Heights.  While I never imagined us living in this house for this long I am so thankful to call this house my home.   Steven and I have hosted many people in our home via Birthday parties, baptism celebrations, youth events, small groups, one on ones, etc...  We have also done a lot of work in this house.  We have painted almost every room, updated our roof, new windows, new fense, planted flowers, and much more.  Sure, I have had my moments where I wondered why we bought a house and why we 'suffer' through our mortgage payment every month.  I also wish we had more than 1 bathroom and an extra room but at the end of the day this place feels like home and I am thanfkul for a roof over our heads and a place for our kids to play and grow.  I am also super thankful for our excellent school that Preston will attend this fall and for how close we are to so much that is cool in St. Louis.  How many people can say they live less than 5 minutes away from the Art Museum, Zoo, Muny and many other cool parks and attractions in St. Louis.  Goals for the year include painting our front porch, updating our deck and cleaning out our basement to have more play space for the kids.  We will keep you updated. 

Preparations

We are going to be 'busy' in the Dalbey house this summer. Busy preparing Preston for Pre-School.  Things started off well with a visit to his school this morning.  Preston had the chance to play in the gym while I attended a short meeting about how to prepare you child for school.  This meeting was mostly geered toward preparing your child for kindergarden but I like to be on top of things.  To be honest I don't think Preston needs a lot of preparations for Pre-School this fall.  He allready knows his numbers, letters, colors, shapes, and other basic things.  Sure, we can work on some skills and continue working on his writing but overall I think he is doing very well and will flourish in a more creative learning environment.  Oh yes, he will really enjoy the 'seed to table' garden program and other learning adventures offered at his school.  I am so thankful for our school.  Here are a few pictures from our visit this morning.

First, Preston is super excited about the play house outside the schocol. 

 Here is a firehouse and other houses

 Some pictures of their garden :)

 Both Preston and Peyton loved looking at the chickens. Yes, there are chickens at the school. 

 As I was uploading the pictures to this post I was thinking about how much I also have to prepare myself for Preston to begin school this fall.  While he will only be going 3 days a week, it is still a huge event for our family.  I think I will miss that extra time with Preston during the week but excited to see and hear what he will learn. 

Preston is 46 months (Almost 4 years old)

As Preston's fourth Birthday quickly approaches I am in a continued state of awe and joy.  Watching my son grow and flourish is a blessing.  He is a happy, energetic and handsome young man.  Sometimes I dream about what he may be when he grows up or what his life will be like...don't all mom's do this :) My hope and prayer is that he is kind, humble, has a heart to serve and is passionate about making a difference in the world no matter what career he chooses.  I am going to keep enjoying my time with this young man and do my best to love, nurture and support him.  Here are a few pictures from our time together yesterday morning at the zoo.