our 4th of july in st. louis...7.4 ( a LOT of pictures!)

we started off our day with brunch with hannah, my friend from working at methodist germantown. hannah is from st. louis originally, and moved back there a few years ago. we ate at the cheesecake factory...yummy! hannah was such a great "aunt" and sat between the kids and even took sarah to the bathroom! we had a great time catching up!!! immediately after leaving brunch with hannah, we headed to lunch with the yosts. i know, 2 meals back to back...crazy. we met at st. louis bread company--i could eat there 8 times a day and not get tired of it! its my favorite restaurant of ALL TIME!!! and dumb ole memphis doesn't have one! the daddies and kids went out to the fountain to run off some energy while the mommies had a few extra minutes to chat.
our kids modelling their patriotic best...both just up from naps=no smiles.
brian and rachel warned us in advance that going downtown for fireworks was NOT a good idea. with all the flooding in st. louis, the arch grounds were underwater and the fireworks had been moved further into downtown. they estimated it would take at least 2 hours to get out of traffic once the fireworks were over. so, we opted to go to a great church celebration. it was very much like something our church, gbc, would do. there were bounce houses, a big playground, and free burgers, brats, hotdogs, soft drinks, popcorn, and snocones. everyone was happy. there was also a lot of space for the kiddos to run around freely. the best part was that the city park just over the tree line shoots off their own fireworks show. it reminded me of going to the city of germantown's 4th of july celebration. we had a great time...and we were out of the church parking lot in less than 5 minutes when the evening was over. it was a very busy, but very fun day!!!

the beginning of our st. louis visit...7.3

on july 3rd, we spent the morning with uncle andy, poppy, and mimi, ate lunch together, and then my little family headed to st. louis and my parents and andy headed to louisiana! whew! makes me tired again just thinking about all that travelling :)

for the past 2 years, my family has gotten together during the summer with the yost family. rachel and i were roommates our freshman year at slu and we have had fun letting our kids get to know each other as well. we got to st. louis in time to visit for a few hours before getting settled in at our hotel. we had dinner together and let the kids play/run wild for a while. their youngest, norah is a new addition since our last summer visit! and she is too cute for words! it was a fantastic trip! i will post pictures of our day-to-day events over the next couple of days. we had lots of great photo ops!!!

a sneak peek of our st. louis vacation...7.3 thru 7.6

i don't have time to make a whole post right now, but i wanted to get at least ONE new pic up on the blog before i started getting "encouragement" from my family again. we are leaving AGAIN in the morning for louisiana, but i will catch up on all of our travels and summer adventures when we get back!

p.s. i just realized i wrote this after midnight...so when i said we were leaving tomorrow, i meant monday, after i go to sleep for a while!!!

uncle andy is here...7.2

uncle andy came into town! the kids were so excited to see him! as were tim and i! we had dinner at mimi and poppy's house the first night he was here...lots of time for pictures!


this last picture is from earlier in the day when mimi thought it was a GOOD idea to give the kids 4th of july cupcakes with red, white, and blue icing! drew's face was stained the rest of the day!

mops park playdate...7.2

on wednesday morning, our mops group met at cameron brown park in germantown for a ride, walk, and stroll playdate. we all brought our bikes, scooters, strollers, etc to ride around the big lake. the kids had so much fun that morning! well, except for the first 10 minutes when both sarah and drew had bad falls off of their bikes with bleeding :( most of our time was spent chasing ducks...poor ducks! our morning ended with one of drew's classmates from last year randomly showing up with a momma duck and 2 ducklings to release into the pond. all 12 of our little ones really thought it was cool to watch the ducks fly out of the box and make themselves at home in the lake...our little science lesson for the day!!! an overall fun morning!!!

a dinner date with poppy...7.1

on a tuesday night that daddy had to work late and mimi had bunko, a very sleepy poppy met us at newk's for a dinner date. poppy had been travelling back and forth to puerto rico for work that week and should have been sleeping. but, the kids were BEGGING for poppy, and poppy caved :) so, he sat between the 2 kids and helped them eat their soup and the kids were in heaven! poppy brought sarah a pretty dress from puerto rico, and brought drew a matching t-shirt. as soon as i get a pic of the kids in them, i'll post that too! just a nice night out with a doting grandfather!!!

watching movies with the yorks...6.27

while the adults were trying to enjoy their dinner together...at one table...at one time...with no kids...and complete sentences...and finished conversations...one friday night, the kids were all sitting on the couch watching a movie together. they were being so sweet that i had to grab the camera. and of course that ensured that no one continued to watch the movie quietly, but began hamming it up for the camera instead. oh, well...i got some cute pics out of it :) and they did eventually return to peaceful movie viewing while the adults did get to visit for a while...

my TWO little princesses...6.23

i figured that no one but me was REALLY interested in looking at my minivan pics, so i decided to go ahead and post these hilarious pics! i vividly remember dressing andy up in my ballet and tap costumes with millions of mardi gras beads all the time as a child. my childhood friend danielle and i would use our little brothers as our dolls. and as far as i can remember, andy and justin had just as much fun as we did :) so, i feel like its just drew's plight in life with a big sister, just as it was his namesake's! drew will KILL me when he is older for documenting this...but, if uncle andy lived through it and grew up to be a fighter pilot, i guess there's hope for drew too!!! i mean, he is wielding a golf club after all :)

goodbye old friend...6.20

sarah's FIRST ride in the minivan...home from the hospital...october 1, 2004 drew's FIRST ride in the minivan...home from the hospital...february 28, 2006

sarah and drew's LAST ride in the minivan...june 20, 2008



on friday, june 20th, we said goodbye to our first minivan. strangely (or not so strangely since i am pregnant and hormonal), it was a very sentimental event for me. i got our minivan the month that sarah was born. poor long legged tim was just too big to ride in a jetta with a carseat in the back. so, we got the van. and then sarah was born. and then we brought her home from the hospital in that van. then drew was born and we brought him home from the hospital in that van. so, i felt like 2 extremely significant life events took place in our first minivan as well as a myriad of other important and not so important events. now we have minivan #2, just in time to bring baby #3 home from the hospital...
p.s. i know this was a way sappy post...but, i really did want to document our goodbye :)

happy independence day!!!

july 4th 2005


july 4th 2006

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p.s. of course i'm not up to date enough with my blogging to actually post pictures from 2008 today, so i thought i would do a mini-blast from the past post!!!

sarah's super playdate...6.20

most of these pictures are self explanatory...sarah and her friend anna had a playdate on the afternoon of sarah's last day of gymnastics camp. they had so much fun and played SO WELL together! it was hilarious to watch them and listen to them (fyi...little brother slept the entire 3.5 hours anna was here)...i must have heard them say, "you are my bestest friend" a million times! and they changed princess dresses like every 5 minutes the whole time! they just moved around the downstairs from one spot to another pretending. i really enjoyed observing their little minds at work. and i didn't mind having sarah entertained so i could get some housework done either :) the last pic is of anna pouting because it was time to go home. both girls were only consoled by the promise of another get together. most afternoons sarah asks if i can call "my best friend deana" so she can talk to anna. hilarious...especially since sarah has decided to pick my bff!!! i think this was one of the first times that sarah has had a friend come over just to see her. usually, MY friends come over with THEIR kids and we all hang out. i think sarah and anna enjoyed only having one mommy looking over their shoulders!!!