A Runner???

Those of you who know me best are really laughing!  Charla, a runner????  No way!  Well, a few months ago, inspired by my 6 year olds love of running, I decided I was going to give it a shot.  I have always thought it would be cool to run a marathon.  I mean, if Oprah can do it, surely I can!?  So, in late April, I slowly started running.  I'm still slow but I'm making progress.  My neighbor (and former Birmingham resident) Jacquie Lager runs with me to keep me going (it is a lot harder to stop when you are accountable to someone!).  So . . . here are a few pics from my first ever race -- the Clarkson Eyecare Foundation 5K in Forest Park.  We finished the 3.1 miles in 33:54 (sadly, I'm sure I slowed Jacquie down a bit!) -- the hills were tough but at least I made it!!

At mile 2 and we are still smiling!
Crossing the finish line -- Hooray!
My awesome cheering section!!!!!  Brent got all three kids to the race all by himself -- that is impressive!

Family time with the "King of Beer"!

Beer is big in St. Louis . . . you quickly learn that lots of people here are connected to what is commonly referred to as "AB".  It took me a little while to realize that when someone here works for "AB", they mean "Anheuser Busch".  This morning we were trying to decide on a family activity for the day and somehow we ended up on the "AB" tour.  What fun we had seeing the world famous clydesdales, the Budweiser dalmations, the brew house and the bottling facility.  Of course, the hospitality room was fun too!  The first picture is just a cute one of Huck on his way for his summer cut . . . I couldn't leave him out!

Getting started on our journey!
Ford and Virginia checking out the clydesdales.
Aren't they beautiful!!
Group shots of 3 are difficult -- Jeb was excited about the dalmation he could see.
The brewing process -- which according to our tour is what separates "AB" from all the others!
The Brew House
The bottling facility
Ford with the Kasey Kahne exhibit (not exactly Dale, Jr, but how did I end up with a NASCAR fan!!??).
And finishing our dessert after a "southern" lunch of barbeque and fried okra (YUM!) at Dickey's Barbeque!!!  What a day!

Leo the Lion, aka, Ford

Last Friday I escaped the hospital long enough to attend Ford's end of camp program. He attended SummerQuest, a 2 week day camp, and enjoyed sports, games, swimming, science, art and drama. The theme was Jungle Safari and the kids did a play at the end of the two weeks about rich Leo the Lion's (Ford and his friend Will) quest to find happiness since money and power were not making him happy. It was really cute and Ford did great! Here are some pictures:


Not sure where the dancing skills came from!!! :)

Jeb enjoyed the program with me! This week Ford is doing a flag football camp. He is LOVING it!! Maybe one day he will be wearing a REAL Auburn jersey!!!!

Virginia Update:
Virginia is doing much better. She is now eating some and drinking plenty. And her attitude is back in full force -- she must be feeling better!!!! She can resume "normal" activities on July 2nd is very ready to be back in the pool. She will also get to go to the final two weeks of camp at her preschool in July. She returns to the doctor for a check on July 7th but we will not have any real answers on the total success of the surgery until mid-September when she will endure another video nasal scope (go ahead and start praying now for that one -- it was not fun the first time and I can't imagine it will be better when she knows the truth about what is going to happen to her!!!). Thanks for all the gifts, cards, notes, calls and e-mails. She has loved them all!

Home from the hospital -- AT LAST!!!!!

So, we knew Virginia was "strong willed" but I'm not sure we knew the extent of her will! We arrived at Children's Hospital around noon on Wednesday for Virginia's surgery. She was scheduled for a sphincter pharyngolplasty to lengthen her soft palate so that she could start speech therapy to correct her hypernasality. Below is the story, in pictures, of her 2-3 hour surgery that became 4 1/2 hours and her one night hospital stay that became 3 nights!

Arriving at St. Louis Children's with Gibson the dog in hand!

Some pre-op practice with her bubblegum flavored breathing mask that would put her to sleep.

Looking adorable and sweet in her hospital issued pj's!

Hanging out with Mema pre-op. They took her back to surgery after some "loopy" medicine and then the wait . . . and wait . . . and wait. After 1 hour, we received the call that the tonsils were not in the way and the surgery could proceed as planned. At 2 hours, a call that it would be 2 more hours. At 3 hours, the call that they still needed another hour. And finally, at 6:15, the call that she was in recovery.

Our first visit with her in recovery. Gibson had surgery too -- apparently he needed a little work behind his ear!

A visit from Ford on Thursday afternoon was the first smile we saw from her sweet face!

Enjoying some of the art supplies that friends and family sent -- thank you all!

A flower pot painted by Virginia in the CH rooftop garden -- what an amazing spot to visit when you aren't feeling so good!

Friday, Jeb came to visit and we got a few more smiles out of Virginia!

The only food she would agree to even try -- she ate "1" Lamar's Donuthole! This was Saturday morning and mama was REALLY ready to come home!

Snuggling with Gibson (thanks to Bill and Mary!) and her new bear (thanks to Champion Bank!).

Some more artwork with Ford on Saturday morning, which included lots of begging for her to eat or drink!!! (Remember, I told you she was strong willed!).

Finally, at 1pm on Saturday, mama got tough. I told Virginia that if she didn't drink this small cup of apple juice, I would not spend the night at the hospital with her. I gave her 30 minutes to drink up. It took the entire 30 minutes, but she did it! Needless to say, we went running to find our nurse and show her the empty cup!!!!!

Our wonderful nurse removing the IV -- with lots of reminders that if she stopped drinking, we would be back for a new IV!

Happy times! Finally, loading the wagon and heading home!!!!! Brent asked the doctors when they were wheeling Virginia off to surgery if the surgery could include an attitude adjustment. They said they would be rich if they could figure that out! Little did they know, how much they were going to wish they could have changed hers a little!!!!! Please pray she continues to sip her apple juice and that she will be tempted by some food or liquids. We definitely do not want to go back . . . but we appreciate all the great people at CH!

Grant's Farm

Today Mema joined us for one more girl's day before Virginia's surgery tomorrow. At Virginia's request, we visited Grant's Farm. We started with a tram ride where we saw bison, cows, elk, swans, and goldfish.


First stop after getting off the tram was to buy a bottle of milk and feed the pesky goats. They are quite aggressive and love to nibble your clothes, but we finally located a couple of calmer ones that were fun to be around!

We then found the tortoises and Virginia quickly and quietly leaned over the fence and pet the big guy! Personally, I prefer to keep my hands outside the fence where they belong!!!

All in all, it was a great day! Virginia's surgery is tomorrow around 1:30 so please keep her in your prayers! We hope the tonsils will not be an issue so we can move directly to the surgery that is scheduled. I'll post an update as soon as I am able to do so.

An Exciting Visitor and the Joy of a Box . . .

Well, I have to admit, I am not a fan of rodents. How is it then, that our visitor for the week is a black and white guinea pig named Ryan!? Yes, it is true, Ford's kindergarten class pet is visiting at our house this week. A few of the parents in the class were crazy enough to agree to "pet sit" Ryan for the summer. Who knew that guinea pigs were fans of spinach, bell peppers and carrots -- and they love their timothy hay! But most importantly, they are MESSY! With that said, the kids are really enjoying having Ryan so here are a few pictures . . .

Ryan is a bit fat and lazy and is not a huge fan of this ball -- you put him in and he is supposed to run around but we have yet to encourage him to move at all. He much prefers being hand fed his spinach!

Jeb LOVES having Ryan and Ford LOVES showing everyone how to take care of him.

Our other great fun for the day was discovering this wardrobe box from our move. The kids have spent hours today playing in this box . . . puppet shows, hiding games and simply watching tv. Who knew a box could be so very entertaining? I'm really wondering why I spend money on toys!! So here are a few pictures in the box!

All smiles!!!

Silly faces!!

Our other awesome accomplishment today is that Virginia finally decided to swim on her own! She has been taking lessons for the past 2 weeks and today was the big day. She finally allowed Mr. Jim to let go of her as she went to the wall (for about 2 seconds!). Then, after lessons, she got braver and braver showing one of her preschool friends how she could swim "all by herself without a noodle"! By the time we left the pool, she was swimming a few feet at a time, head in, legs kicking, and arms moving! HOORAY! I will try to remember my camera the next time we are at the pool so everyone can see her big accomplishment. If you ask, she is happy to tell you that she is a "rockin' good swimmer"! :)

Another day for the girls!

OK, we seriously do not usually get so much girl time at our house! Ford is at camp and Jeb is in school on Tues/Thurs in June and July. Virginia and I were able to enjoy another great day together! We started our morning at City Coffeehouse and Creperie with a delicious crepe filled with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and bananas. Virginia ate all the whipped cream immediately! :)


Doesn't that look incredible!!! We then headed to Time for Dinner to cook and freeze some dinner options for the next few weeks. It should come in handy if Virginia isn't feeling great after her surgery on Wednesday. She was a great helper and had a really fun time -- her favorite part was licking the spoon after whipping up a strawberry pie! We then headed to Moe's for lunch with Brent. Virginia loves any chance to spend time with daddy so that was probably the best part of her day! We then headed to Plaza Frontenac for a few minutes before ending our girl time at 2pm when we had to pick Jeb up from school. Tonight will be about Ford since he has a baseball game at 5pm -- Saturday is his last game (I'm not sad to see the season end!).

A Girl's Day!

Well, Virginia and I got rid of the boys today and had some fun "girl time"! Ford was at camp and Jeb was at school so by 9:15 Virginia and I were getting our nails done. I only cringed slightly when my 4 year old showed me the "sparkly" bright yellow polish she LOVED. Thankfully, she quickly spotted a lovely purple for her toes and a luscious pink for her fingers (there was no chance she was going to do all 20 nails the same color!). The women at the salon loved having a little girl who was so thrilled with all the attention! She even got butterfly and heart jewels on her thumbs and big toes. What more could a girl ask for!!!??? She definitely thought my red toe polish was amazingly boring given all the wonderful colors to choose from (including blue, green, yellow, orange, etc...). We then had a lunch date at St. Louis Bread Company (Panera to those of you in Alabama!) and headed to the pool for some fun in the sun. All in all, a fun day for the Balogh girls!! Here are some pictures -- sorry for the terrible quality. I forget my camera so these are from my cell phone! :)

Look at these amazing toes!!!

My John Deere baby!

So, I finally gave in . . . Jeb LOVES his John Deere shirt that Aunt Genny sent him! Too bad his head is so big that he is going to need a bigger size soon. Thankfully, Mema is going to hand deliver a larger shirt next week!!!!

Ford is proud of Jeb's shirt . . . maybe he needs one too! :)

Cool or Crazy?

Well, I'm not sure if we are cool or just crazy, but we decided to go to the first ever concert held at Busch Stadium. The Black Crowes and Dave Matthews Band were in St. Louis Saturday night and Brent and I were so excited to attend . . . hard to believe that we used to watch Dave Matthews play in bars when we were in college!! He has definitely stepped up -- this time he played for 35,000 fans!! The fun group of guys in front of us came equipped with glow sticks, beach balls and balloons. So here are some photos from our big night.