Auburn Football Camp -- War Eagle!

Our first sleep away camp experience for Ford can officially be checked off the "to do" list! When we found out a few months ago that Auburn hosts a 3 day, 2 night football camp on campus, Ford immediately decided he MUST go. I was a bit concerned because he would not no anyone, anyone at all. But he was ok with that . . . it was Auburn, his beloved Tigers and he had to go. So for his one camp of the summer, he enjoyed a little time on the Plains!

No trip to Auburn would be complete without a little "Momma's Love", so we started with lunch before registration! He looks sad in the picture but it was just my bad timing -- he was smiling a second before I snapped! He actually walked right up to a boy in Momma Goldberg's and asked if he was going to camp. The boy was and they introduced themselves . . . turns out Noah didn't know anyone either and guess what?!

They decided to be roommates! Here they are all settled in their dorm room!

This picture was taken as I was pulling away . . . Ford's room was 4th floor far right of this picture. :(

A picture of Ford's picture with Coach Chizik and the National Championship trophy! So cool!!

When I picked up Ford on Wednesday, I surprised him by bringing Lil! He ran right past me when he saw her and gave her a giant hug. I don't think I got mine until we got to Athens around 5pm that night!!! Ford was STARVING when we picked him up so we headed straight to Cheeburger, Cheeburger for burgers, onion rings and milkshakes!!

And then we needed a little Toomer's Lemonade to wash it all down . . .

And finally, a quick look at the poisoned trees at Toomer's Corner before hopping back in the car to drop Lil in Birmingham and head North to Athens for a quick overnight before returning to St. Louis.

Root, root, root for the Cardinals!

On Memorial Day, we were invited to enjoy a Cardinals game with friends . . . in a box. There is just no better way to see a game! Free food, great seats, a private potty and great friends made for a wonderful day!

We arrived early (no surprise there!) and Ford and Brent tried to get a ball during batting practice.

Luke, Ben and Ford . . .
Our fabulous view!

Citygarden ROCKS!

Oh Citygarden, why did it take us so long to meet??!! This summer, the kids are only doing one camp each. It just so happens, Jeb and Virginia both chose swim camp and it is this week. Ford chose football camp at Auburn and it is next week. That leaves us a WHOLE lot of summer to hang out. We love our pool, Shaw Park, and we spend long afternoons hanging there with our friends. But I felt like the kids needed a little something else. So . . . we decided that we would create a list of places/things we wanted to see/do in and around St. Louis and choose one for each week of the summer! Many of the things on our list are free (other than the crazy high gas to get there!). Our first stop on this summer journey, Citygarden. We have been wanting to go since it opened and just now made it downtown. We will definitely be back! An amazing park with art, beautiful flowers and water features -- and the kids can play and climb on most everything!!

Let me preface these pictures by saying that the high last Friday was 61 degrees. It was a bit chilly for water but they LOVED it!

Citygarden, we will be back soon! The kids already asked to return it to our "must do" list!

School's Out for Summer . . . woohoo!

We made it through another school year! I can't believe that next year, all three kiddos will be hopping on the same bus and heading to the same school. Yikes! I think I will actually be quite sad to see my baby go . . . in the fall, Ford will be in 4th grade, Virginia will be in 2nd grade and Jeb will start kindergarten! Where has the time gone??!!

Bus stop on the last day of school . . . we were missing two kids. The kindergarten kids wore white, 1st grade wore green, 2nd grade wore blue, 3rd grade wore red (which was so hard for my Auburn boy! Thank goodness for a red Cardinals t-shirt from the Easter bunny!!), 4th grade wore orange and I'm not sure about 5th grade since Patrick wasn't at the bus stop! The kids were having a end of school picnic to celebrate the end of school.

Ford and Virginia were a little sad to say goodbye to 1st and 3rd grade thanks to some super amazing teachers -- Mrs. Donnelly and Miss Finan!!!
Virginia with Robin, Allie and Emma -- snow cones at the picnic!
And it is an end of preschool for the Baloghs. After 4 years at Salem, there are no more little Baloghs to hop out in the carpool line. :( I have loved this precious place and all the amazing teachers that have loved Virginia and Jeb. It was such a warm, nurturing, sweet place and I knew when I dropped them that they were having a fun day. We will definitely miss this place . . . thanks to Mrs. Deiffenbach and Mrs. Steinhoff for a great last year of preschool!

So busy and so behind!

We have been so busy! And I am so behind! So, I'm going to throw together a camera phone post on what has been keeping us on the move . . .

Virginia has been hip hopping! The recital is June 11th. She loves the teacher, Reggie, and all her friends in the class. I love watching!

And a little frog catching . . . this one was much, much larger than the tree frogs at Uncle Bryan and Aunt May's lake house!
A little cake pop eating . . .
A lot of batting cages, baseball practices and games!
Some end of the year Reed Rockin' . . . Ford is on the left in navy! He loved the music which included a little Beatles and other oldies. He was amazed when Brent and I knew the songs . . . I love it when we surprise him!
A little park swingin' . . . and Jeb learned to ride a bike with no training wheels! Maybe a video will follow if I can get it to upload!
A little Cardinals baseball too . . . sitting on the VERY top row with lots of our friends from school.
Did I mention it was FREEZING AND WINDY on May 2nd!
Jeb had an adorable Mother's Day program and Mema happened to be in town to join us!
We have also been playing tennis, Jeb has been swimming (videos of that possible too!), and school has been ending. Plus a road trip and the start of a new summer ritual! Stay tuned . . .

And then spring break came to an abrupt END.

We spent the last couple of days of Spring Break with my family in Athens . . .

Virginia was very excited to have her favorite PF Chang's lettuce wraps! (Please note, we were dining outside!)

And a little frozen yogurt always makes us happy!
Bridge Street with Mema . . .
And then we headed back to the Lou. We needed to be home to celebrate a wedding of a sweet, young couple at our church. When we left Athens on Friday, friends in STL were posting Facebook statuses about snow. I knew they must be joking. When we arrived back in town, there was no snow. However, the next day, well, that was a whole different story.

Hello Saturday, March 26, 2011. Springtime in St. Louis . . .
Between 5 and 6 inches fell throughout the day . . . this is the view of Forest Park from the wedding reception on the top floor of the Chase Park Plaza Hotel . . . beautiful, but not what the bride and groom were expecting!

A few days in Birmingham . . .

After the lake, we enjoyed a couple of days in Birmingham. Being at Mimsie's house in Mt. Laurel is like a vacation destination!

Bobby and Jeb on the golf cart . . .

Cutest little guys ever!
Emily, Allison and Virginia strike a pose . . .
Dessert with a view . . . Ford, Emily, Allison, Virginia, Bobby and Jeb . . .
Brent and Brook with their kiddos . . .

Lake Life . . .

We headed South for Spring Break last week . . . 1st stop, Lake Martin! It was so fun to spend a day at the lake with cousins. And Bryan and Mary Laslie are pretty amazing hosts!

Ford and Lil . . . so happy together!

Virginia giving the kayak a "whirl", literally! It is really hard to make a kayak go straight! :)
Jeb got the best end of this deal . . . Ansley kayaked him all around and he just laid back to enjoy the ride.
Martha and Virginia . . .
Enjoy a little "sand bar" fun! Let me remind you, one week to the day from these beautiful photos, we were back in St. Louis and had 5 inches of snow. Seriously insane!

Art Exhibit, Saks Fifth Avenue style . . .

Without looking past the first photo, can you identify the painting that belongs to Ford? Apparently everyone from his school that came into the children's department at Saks Fifth Avenue could! The 3rd graders painted bear paintings. Then, the art teacher worked with Saks to have the kids art displayed on a rotating basis in their Plaza Frontenac store. Very exciting stuff for 3rd graders! And for their parents!! :)

If you didn't guess, Ford's is the painting on the far left . . . what gave it away? Maybe because it was the ONLY Auburn bear out of 80 paintings! So, War Eagle St. Louis!
And the proud artist was a little embarrassed to pose among a variety of girls pink tutus!

All We Do Is Win . . .

So this was the year! According to Brent, he is "living the dream". As long as I've known him, he has made it clear that if Auburn was EVER to play for a national championship, that he would BE THERE -- no matter the cost. He used to talk about how tickets would be over $1000 and he would be happy to pay that. It would make me cringe -- I, personally, could buy lots of clothes with $1000! :) Well, the year finally arrived. And I've never been as happy to fork over money for a football game. My boys were giddy! And, thankfully, we didn't have to pay $1000 per ticket! There will be more pictures soon but for now . . . here are my boys outside the stadium. The best part is my precious 9 year olds excitement but it is followed close by my precious husband's excitement!! And by the way . . . the Auburn Tigers defeated the Oregon Ducks 22-19. War Cam Eagle!!! . . . so fun for my boys to do a little duck hunting in Glendale, AZ. Everyone knows tigers eat ducks!!!

My only concern -- we may never top this experience for Ford. He had an amazing time! Especially eating at In and Out Burger at 2am in the morning St. Louis time!