Chrisy is a mama and Shawn is a daddy

Well Sophie and Ella have arrived. They made their long awaited first appearance August 26th. Ella was born at 5:10pm and Sophie was born at 5:11pm. They are doing pretty good, especially since they were born at 34 weeks. They didn't even have to be on oxygen. Chrisy is doing well, just hurting from the c-section. Ella and Sophie are completely adorable and so cute and tiny. And as Alaina accurately put it, Chrisy is a mama and Shawn is a daddy.

Fun times!

Last weekend there was a Family Fair, a fundraiser for the Family Crisis Center. Me, Lanie, Dad, and Mamacita went to check it out and there was a bouncy house and an inflatable slide. Alaina had never been in a bouncy house, and she loved it. She also loved the slide. It was tricky to get up to the top of the slide so her good ole mama had to get up there with her. It turned out to be really fun!

I'm ready for my close-up

Alaina got a new swim suit from her Grandma Lilly and she was very excited to wear it. So she tried it out in her little pool. She loves it and was striking poses all afternoon!

Tractor show

We all know how much dad loves tractors. Well, there was a tractor show last weekend in Pinckneyville and we got to go. It was a fun time, seeing all of the tractors, there were so many! Alaina loved the trams, which were tractors pulling trailers that had old bus seats on them. But the highlight of the day was when Alaina got to see and ride on "Little Toot". He is not called Little Toot anymore, but it is a tiny train that we all got to ride on. Alaina also got her first wonderful taste of funnel cake! It was fun. And now Alaina likes tractors too!

Happy Anniversary

On August 6, Allen and I celebrated our 10th anniversary (from a distance). He did send me these beautiful flowers and balloons, and chocolates. I love you Allen, hurry home.

Wiggles!

Alaina loves The Wiggles, those 4 guys from Australia who wear colored shirts. She has seen them live in concert once, and we got to go again when they came to the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis. We had great seats and we had a really great time. Alaina sang and danced and screamed. We love the Wiggles!

It's a Babies Shower!

We had Chrisy's babies shower a couple of weeks ago, we had a great turn out and she got a ton of loot! Meg came down and helped to host it. It was really a lot of fun, we had a couple of games and of course cake! According to Alaina, it was "the best baby shower ever!"

Finally!

I forgot to post this earlier, but for about 3 weeks now Alaina has been potty trained! Wahoo, finally! We had 2 nightmarish days but she finally got it and has been doing absolutely perfect. She loves band-aids and so they were her reward. On this particular day, I think it was her first full day in underwear, she obviousley had a very successful day!

Happy Birthday Chrisy and Laura

Luckily Chrisy was not in the hospital for our big 3-0, so she got to come over for cake and confetti. Meg treated us all to crowns and things that popped confetti out of them! It was a fun birthday and I am thankful that Chrisy and I got to spend this one together and that Meg was here too. love ya girls!

City Museum

The City Museum is in St. Louis in an old warehouse and is made completely out of old items from the city of St. Louis. For example, as you walk up the stairs you notice the banister is actually a piece of rail road track! The museum is full of tunnels and slides. It was soo much fun climbing and sliding all day. There was even a ferris wheel on the roof. Meg didn't do too much climbing (none actually!), Alaina did some climbing, and so did Mollie and Tim. Emma was fearless and climbed everywhere she possibly could! Mom and dad, on the other hand, spent the day enjoying the architectural aspects of the beautiful old building. It was a really fun museum and I would highly recommend going!

It's a zoo out there!

We also got to go to the zoo while Meg, Tim, Mollie and Emma were here. It was really fun. The highlight of the trip for me was getting to touch the sting rays! It was really cool. It rained a little, but it wasn't hot, which was great. It was a fun day just walking around looking at the animals and having the girls imitate the animals!

Miners! Miners!

A couple of weeks ago, Meg, Tim, Mollie and Emma got to come home to good ole Southern Illinois for a summer vacation! The first night they were here we went to a Miners game. Alaina had been talking for days about Mollie and Emma getting to meet the mascots. And Mollie and Emma seemed very anxious to teach Alaina how to chant Miners! Miners! So the three of them walked around chanting that all night! It was really fun night and Mollie and Emma did indeed get to meet all of the mascots! Mollie and Emma also made it onto the jumbo screen several times dancing!