"Yucandu" spring break without leaving town . . .

. . . and live to tell about it! Well, I guess we sort of left on Wednesday when we hiked, but it was only an hour and a half so I don't count that -- it didn't involve beaches, cool hotels, mickey mouse or all those normal "vacation" things!

Friday we were desperate for a fun activity that would get us out of the house and please all ages. And it needed to be a grand finale to our spring break. Because, thank you Lord, school starts back on Monday! Woohoo!

So, I have been wanting to try Yucandu. It is the coolest ever art studio located in Old Webster. And we loved it! And we will definitely be returning. Maybe very soon -- we have lots more project ideas!

Here is a look at our day . . .

Jeb chose to paint and decoupage a dinosaur -- he sleeps by his bed now to protect him from bad dreams! I love how much he was concentrating.

He concentrated so much, he didn't notice that he got blue hair! :)
Virginia created a pink decoupage flying horse . . .
And Ford made a mosaic dry erase board. Of course, it was ORANGE and BLUE!
Done painting and on to decoupage . . .
All grouted and ready . . .

And the finished projects . . . "pinky", "dino" and dry erase board!

We then walked to Dr. Jazz Soda Fountain. I highly recommend it to anyone in STL! It is an awesome family spot. With amazing ice cream, milkshakes, floats and beignets!!!

Virginia with her reese's pieces sundae . . .

And Ford polished this Coke float off in just minutes!

Bye Bye Spring Break! See you in 2011!

Chef Jeb

Jeb was tired and grumpy on Thursday afternoon. Of course, he wasn't interested in a nap because Ford and Virginia were home and he was afraid he would miss something exciting! I bribed him just a little -- I told him if he went down for a nap, he could help me make dinner . . . just the two of us. I think he has missed "just the two of us" since Ford and Virginia have been home for 7 school days for spring break!

When he woke up at 3, he immediately started asking if it was time to cook dinner and I kept putting him off. I was hoping he would get busy and forget. Around 5, he came and found me wearing his chef apron from a recent birthday party! And here he is in action . . . bruschetta chicken a la Jeb . . . (thanks to Amy B for this recipe!).

Top the chicken with Trader Joe's bruschetta . . .

Use a spoon (not your fingers!), to spread it . . .

Place sliced provolone on top . . .

And bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through!

Hiking Pickle Springs . . .

Spring Break and three kids at home . . . what to do? We decided to try something new -- a hike! Saturday at Ford's football game, a mom was showing me and Virginia some amazing pictures of she and her boys on a hike around Pickle Creek at Pickle Springs Natural Area. I am in no way a hiker. I'm not sure I've ever actually even been on a hike! But, I thought the kids might enjoy a little time enjoying nature. And it sounded like a good "full day" activity.

I'm so glad we went! We set out around 8:30, grabbed a little breakfast, and drove a little less than an hour and a half to Weingarten, MO. Now let me just tell you, this is the country! Wide open spaces, lots of horses and cows and pickup trucks and tractors. My kids enjoyed the drive, but wondered where in the world I was taking them. When we turned off on Dorlac Road, a gravel road, I think they thought I was officially lost! But about a mile later . . . Pickle Springs Natural Area.

We had no idea what we were doing, but we had a backpack with granola bars, m&m's and water -- surely no hiker could want anything more. Sticks -- oh that was fun! -- selecting the perfect hiking stick is apparently paramount for kids ages 8, 6 and 4.

But here they are . . . perfect sticks are ready to GO!

And off they go . . . Ford was definitely the leader throughout. Often correcting me when I chose the wrong trail! It was a loop trail but it wasn't super easy to follow -- sometimes I wasn't sure which way to go to get around all the rocks and back on the trail. Ford apparently has his father's sense of direction -- I didn't know how to get from my house to Jiffy's until I was old enough to drive a car. And I think I recall a few quizzes on it then! :)
This area is amazingly beautiful -- I should have started hiking years ago!

This spot would have made their daddy very nervous -- we were on top of the world! :)

My sweet girl . . .

And Ford in the "keyhole" . . .

And a little rest . . . almost done with the 2 mile loop and Jeb was running on fumes. Poor guy!

So it took about two hours to complete the hike. We stopped and climbed lots of rocks, ventured across logs that were stretched over the creek, stuck heads under small waterfalls, poked sticks at water creatures, skipped rocks, collected rocks, were warned of a baby copperhead snake (that we THANKFULLY did not see!) and generally enjoyed God's wonderful creation! Then, we headed to Midway Bar and Grill to refuel before tackling the drive back to St. Louis. It was an awesome day, and we will definitely be researching more fun hikes that all ages can enjoy!

6 Balogh kids, beautiful sunshine and TONS of fun!

Last week was spring break in Alabama, and my sister in law and three of my awesome nieces came for a visit. They arrived Wednesday while Ford and Virginia were still at school and we chose to surprise them. I can't believe I kept such a huge secret, but I did! We showed up in carpool line to pick the kids up for ice skating and they were SHOCKED to see Aunt May, Ansley, Lil and Martha screaming SURPRISE from the car! I think all of Reed School knows that their cousins came!

We skipped school Thursday and started our spring break a day early. The weather was awesome on Thursday and Friday and we had a blast. The pictures are in reverse order -- sorry -- but you will get the idea! It is hard to remember pictures when watching six kids but we tried. The itinerary was loaded:

Wednesday -- ice skating and dinner at Dewey's Pizza

Thursday -- City Museum, lunch at Qdoba, custard at Ted Drewes, Tilles Park and a waffle dinner

Friday -- picnic and playground in Forest Park, another visit to Ted Drewes!, and a date night for me and Brent!!!

Here are the highlights!

The awesome swing at Forest Park -- every single one of them was on this at one time or another!

The whole gang after our picnic and their bamboo hunt . . .
A little tree climbing for Virginia and Martha . . .
Ted Drewes -- yes, we went twice! Notice Ford holding his upside down!
The City Museum . . .
Thank you, thank you for coming to visit. We needed a couple of days out of the house and we had a blast!!!!! We miss you tons!

Jeb's Monster Bash!

I had big plans for Jeb's 4th birthday. He has always been left out of the party circuit and this year was finally going to be his year! But then I got clocked in the eye and the recovery has been much longer and more difficult than I expected. Maybe it is a good thing when you don't know! But finally, after a one week delay, we hosted Jeb's monster party today! And although I didn't get it quite like I had hoped, the kids had fun and most importantly, Jeb had fun!! I had BIG ideas and many of them just didn't happen. And it is hard to be running the party and taking pictures, so they really aren't the best shots.

The theme was monsters. Jeb made his own invitations using construction paper shapes to create monster faces. When the kids arrived, we read Go Away Big Green Monster and used a puppet to tell the story. Then the kids made their own monster puppets with small green paper bags and shape stickers. Next came the play dough. Play dough monsters were all the rage -- buttons, googly eyes and pipe cleaners made the play dough monsters come to life! And a little monster bowling was fun too! Finally -- Chick Fil A nuggets and cupcakes for dessert. Yummy! So here is the morning in pictures . . .

Jeb's birthday fort was a huge hit -- who knew 9 kids could fit under a card table!!!

Carson loved the monster story and making the play dough monster -- I think he has a thing for eyes!
Present opening with Keegan, Aubrey and Sam.
The group (minus the 3 siblings that attended) -- back row: Aubrey, Carson, Sam and Keegan; front row, Fern, Jeb and Maggie.

Jeb's play dough monster . . .
And, the birthday boy as soon as the front door closed behind the last guest! :)

Happy Birthday Jeb!!!! :)

Over 600 more pieces at our house . . .

So today we celebrated Jeb. All 4 years of him! He was supposed to have a monster party at our house today with all his friends, but we had to reschedule because of my eye. That means we have yet another birthday that we will be celebrating for a week! :) Brent was home from work today to help me out and Jeb loved having the day with both of us and no siblings to get in the way!!

I made a card table fort for Jeb for his birthday. It isn't totally finished and I would do several things differently if I did it again, but he loves it and so do Ford and Virginia so I'm happy about that! I copied the idea from here but got a little lazy when I found out about my eye surgery. So, I left out the windows and instead, we are adding a stick on light to the ceiling of the card table. Jeb loves his fort and I definitely think it was worth the time and effort.

After opening presents, Brent started tallying the number of "pieces" for all the items Jeb received. So far we are > 600 and the party isn't even until next Tuesday!!! But he loves all the gifts and we have played every game -- sandwich stacking, honey bee tree, alphabet soup, super why, train puzzle and legos.
And now for the grand finale. The birthday cake. I will never again be in charge of birthday cakes at my house. Who knew that Brent is an amazing cake picker outer! He came home from Maggie Moo's with this AMAZING ice cream pizza! The kids LOVED it (and Brent and I liked it just a little bit too!). There is some seriously amazingly good stuff on this pizza. So . . . from now on, dad handles birthday cakes -- he is a PRO!
Happy Birthday Jeb!!! Check in next week for pictures from our Monster Party!

Happy 4th Birthday Jeb!

You have come a long way baby!!! From lots of tubes, machines and scary days in the NICU . . .

to a romping, running, ice skating, sledding, laughing, and SWEET 4 year old!
Thank you for being such a precious, funny little boy. Every day you make me laugh with your silly comments and your sweet smile. I love your snuggles and I love how excited you are when your daddy gets home from work. I love to see you love on Ford and Virginia -- and to see how much you miss them when they are at school all day. I love to watch you play with Barney and how much you love to walk him and try and take care of him. I LOVE TO HEAR YOUR LAUGH! And watching you learn is so much fun -- you are blessed to have a big brother and big sister who love to teach you. I love you Jeb and can't wait to see what this year is like for you! Happy 4th Birthday to my baby!!!!

This week really did not go according to plan.

I'm always posting pictures on this blog that I'm sure one day my children will hate me for posting. Today, I am posting one of myself that I can't believe I am posting. I actually wasn't very happy with my cute husband for taking the picture. But it really captures my week -- it sort of sucked.

On Sunday morning I woke up with limited vision in my left eye. I immediately told Brent that I thought I might have a detached retina (I'm at high risk from previous eye surgeries so I knew the signs) and we proceeded to call my regular eye doctor. Gotta love the eye doctor that meets you at his office at 10am on Sunday instead of sending you to the ER for a ridiculous co-pay and doctors that probably aren't too familiar with eyes! Pretty quickly my self diagnosis was confirmed and he started calling retinal specialists to try and get me in first thing Monday morning. It just happened that the first specialist he called was in his office (at another hospital across town!) and would wait on me if I would come straight over. So, that is what I did. (Note -- All this time, Brent is managing all three kids while trying to get to a football game for Ford that he is supposed to coach AND deal with the stress of a wife who now has a confirmed detached retina and is quickly losing vision in one eye!!!). Retinal specialist confirms the diagnosis and informs me that I will be having surgery the next morning at 9:30. WOW! This was really not the week I had planned. This week was supposed to be filled with preparations for Jeb's 4th birthday party that was going to be at my house on Tuesday. Not gonna happen -- adjusted that.

Did I mention that the doctor told me I would not be able to drive for 1-2 weeks? Yes. WOW! So, while leaving the hospital, I called my mom. I've always known my mom was amazing, but this time she really showed her stuff. I called at 12:30pm on Sunday. She had 3 doctors appointments scheduled for this week, including a knee procedure that is the final hope for avoiding knee replacement surgery. I told her not to come, but we would keep her posted. At 2:30, I get a call from my mom. She is on her way to St. Louis and will arrive around 9pm. I love my momma. Seriously. She was a total lifesaver. My kids have been loved. My house has been cleaned. My laundry is totally caught up (even the ironing!). And our tummies are totally full. She totally dropped everything for us and we are so thankful. Thanks to her, my kids did not miss a beat this weekend -- and Brent had a clean, ironed shirt each day! :)

So, I slept a lot on Monday afternoon. And I slept a great deal on Tuesday and Wednesday too. Today is actually my first nap free day and I think I'll be in bed by 8pm! But my vision is improving each day. The swelling is decreasing. The headaches are subsiding. And I am so thankful. For an amazing mom (and an amazing dad and sister who let her come to my aid!) and to my amazing nurse husband who is an expert at administering eye drops. To my kids for being so sweet and cute -- always ready with a snuggle and encouraging me that it is ok that I no longer have eyelashes on one eye!! And, as always, thankful for my vision so I can see all the amazing things God has blessed us with.

So, for the picture . . . this is me the day after the surgery when they removed the bandages and patch. It still looks about the same only a bit less swollen and a tad more open. Progress. Slow and steady progress. And hopefully, my eyelashes will return one day, but in the mean time, I don't have to worry with mascara! :)