My Sweet Ford

Tonight was open house at Ford's school.  We got a babysitter for Virginia and Jeb so that Brent and I could enjoy being at Ford's school with no distraction.  It was fun to let him take us on a tour.  Our favorite part was getting to read the collection of poetry Ford published.  They have been working on a poetry unit since before Christmas.  They actually wrote several poems and the teacher copied them into a book and let the kids illustrate each poem.  Amazing, beautiful little hardback books.  Ford was so proud!  Brent and I are even more proud of the poems he wrote -- especially the one titled "Virginia":

I take my first

step off the bus.

I see my sister running up to me.

I hug her.

She takes me in

and I say

I love you!

How sweet is my boy!!!???  The one titled "Jeb" is sweet also but in a different way:

Jeb is my brother.

My brother is nice.

He loves to play.

Stop! Jeb!

"I play?"

Yes

you

may

Go Jeb! Yay

Jeb you won!

I think there may be a writer living in my house!!!  But I know there is an awfully sweet big brother here!

Foxy's Red Hots . . . the place to be!

So, a couple of weeks ago, I was doing my usual afternoon check of the old checking account.  I noticed a very unusual charge -- Foxy's Red Hots.  I immediately knew that this was not a place that I had ventured with kids in tow so I shot Brent a quick e-mail asking what he and our check card were doing at a place called Foxy's Red Hots.  He promptly replied back copying a friend at work saying, "See, I told you she would ask."  And that was it -- no explanation, no nothing.  After some internet research and attempts by said friend to blackmail Brent while referencing racy photos, I concluded that Foxys Red Hots was in fact a Chicago style hot dog joint right here in St. Louis!  Those of you who know me well know my affection for hot dogs -- it is an obsession when I'm pregnant but only an affection in normal times!  So today, Brent decided to take me, Virginia and Jeb to see what Foxy's was all about . . . I'm not sure it replaces my beloved Gus' Hot Dogs in Birmingham (what I would give for a slaw dog!) but it is a very close race!!!

Notice the relish -- is anything naturally THAT green????
The kids liked the spinning stools a the bar the best!
AAAAAHHHHHH, worth the wait!!  And such a flattering photo! :)
So come visit us, and you too can go to Foxy's! 

Mega Magical Memories . . .

My mom was in town last week and the kids were out of school on Monday.  Being the smart chicks we are, we thought the Magic House sounded like a great idea for the day.  For those of you not from St. Louis, the Magic House is an incredible children's museum that just opened an expansion that doubled its size.  Not a great place for me to take all three kids by myself but perfect with my mom to help -- or so I thought!  We arrived at 9:30 just in time for the museum to open.  Great start.  But then something crazy happened -- at about 10 am the majority of elementary and preschool age kids in St. Louis, all decided to join us at the Magic House.  It was PACKED!  With that said, we still had a pretty nice time checking out the new section so here are a few pics . . . unfortunately, Mema was behind the camera so you can't even tell she was with us! 

Jeb trying his hand at being presidential . . . (the phone actually has the voices of several different presidents on it)

The next US Supreme Court Justice . . . maybe??
Or maybe he would make a better President?
Virginia and Ford climbing Jack's beanstalk!  Jeb climbed too but unfortunately, he went down and they went up (see why it takes two mom's to go to the Magic House!?).

Are you ready for some football????

Ford is playing NFL Flag Football this winter.  Yes, football, in the winter, in St. Louis -- BRRRR!  This past Saturday was an exception -- it was almost toasty!  So happy to see upper 50's, I took Ford to football and got to take a few pictures.  You would never know that the previous week they had played in about 6 inches of leftover snow!!!  

Henry, Luke and Ford -- so cute with their mouth guards!

Game face is on . . . 
He loves football and it is definitely his favorite sport at the moment!

Underwear is cool!

Jeb is really enjoying being potty trained!  He has a thing for his big boy underwear.  In his little mind, they are a total substitute for pants.  As you will see below, no pants are necessary when you have on big boy underwear!  Not to mention, every time he potties in the toilet (he's been doing this since Thanksgiving remember), he looks up, smiles and says "I went tee tee mommy . . . just like my daddy!!"  So darn cute!

A little Leapster time in his undies!

Snow boots and race car undies . . . what more could a boy want!! :)
He will kill me for these photos one day!