Halloween

Once again, Carolyn went above and beyond to make Halloween awesome: she rocked the Trunk or Treat events at her work and at Avery's school (our van was the BEST); she nearly single-handedly hosted Avery's class party by providing snacks, crafts, and a witch's cauldron full of goodies, and, when Caleb told us that he wanted to dress up as a "transformer who really transforms," she whipped up an amazing costume out of cardboard boxes, red and blue tape, and some Velcro. He had several costumes this year! But since Avery went yet again with his iPhone t-shirt, the boys balanced each other out.

Avery's school party included a performance (!) in which Avery played the role of "Mr. Miller," married to "Mrs. Miller" (played by his teacher -- awkward!)

Happy 5th Birthday to Caleb!

Happy 5th Birthday to Caleb! Caleb makes us laugh everyday.  He is hilarious, SO SMART, curious and athletic (he does crazy flips and cartwheels! We've got to get him enrolled in gymnastics!).  And he's a talker -- when we drive him to preschool in the mornings, he chats nonstop about anything and everything.  We definitely wanted to make his 5th birthday special.   So we had a family party at home on his actual birthday(at which Avery was the host with the most, setting out drinks in coolers, helping me set out gifts and decorate the cake) and then a party with cousins and friends at Ohlendorf park; we rented the pavilion and brought food, crafts (make-your-own robots out of pretzel sticks, fruit loops and marshmallows) and costumes (superhero and princess costumes Carolyn and some of her staff members made).  The kids played on the playground, played some games (races and "Red Light, Green Light"), ate lunch (Carolyn put out platters of sandwiches shaped like the number 5) and had awesome cake (Transformer cupcakes).  The weather was beautiful, and it was a great day.

  

 

PLAYGROUND PARTY!

Labor Day weekend in Michigan -- road trip with Caleb!

Caleb and I took a road trip over Labor Day weekend to head up to Michigan to visit Opa and Sarah.  We ended up making the most of the weekend and also saw my uncle Paul and cousin Katya, friends Mark and Christy and Matt and Chuck, and of course Sarah's family, Chica, Ethan and the dogs and cats.  Caleb thinks that Ethan is the coolest big boy ever -- and he's not wrong!

Summer 2015 comes to an end: City Garden and First Day of School

We are still exploring St. Louis.  City Garden is an interactive park downtown that has statues and, best of all, fountains and pools to play in. On a hot day, the boys stripped off their shirts to enjoy the cool water.  We then walked over to the St. Louis arch, several blocks away and watched the riverboats.  We'll have to take a boat ride one of these days.

First day of school! Yet again, school starts early in Missouri! Caleb started his second year of preschool at Affton Early Childhood Center, and Avery is in 3rd grade at Bayless.

Indian Hills Swim Club

Of course this is our favorite place in St. Louis during the hot summer months.  We joined last year, after our move, and they generously let us join at a discounted rate since it was the end of the season. This year, we didn't hesitate when it came time to join.  It's a great pool complex, not fancy, but clean, comfortable, and safe.

It was a great place to spend the 4th of July:

Weekend in New York

Carolyn and I spent a long weekend in New York.  It was great.  We went to Genevieve's wedding in Brooklyn and then spent a couple of days up in Westchester to visit our old Sarah Lawrence friends and colleagues.  The kids stayed behind but had a fun weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas with Melanie and Gogo (and Ralphie the dog, of course).  Carolyn flew up from Florida, where she'd been working.  I flew in a day early to visit Kim and Jess in Queens:

 Gussied up for Genevieve's wedding:

 Natalie and Curtis:

Josh and Jason (who are living in our old apartment!) and Valerie:

 The Slonim gang! Alex, Pat, Denise and me:

And Miss Belen! We love her so much:

Avery is 8

How is it possible?! Carolyn asked him how he could be 8 and he said "I think it was all the stretching, exercise and peanut butter."

3 years ago, Carolyn asked him the same thing about turning 5 and he said: "You really loved me and I growed. Like a plant."

Happy Birthday to our Amazing Avery!

We celebrated with cousins and best friend Nick at the Indian Hills Swim Club (our favorite summertime spot!.  We also had a birthday dinner at Avery's favorite restaurant (Steak n' Shake) and I took cupcakes to his summer school class (it was also the last day of school!) and read "Good Night St. Louis" to his classmates, who enjoyed finding the red cardinal on each page.

Avery helped decorate Angry Birds cupcakes for his school party:

A Visit from Mark, Christy and Holly

 My college buddies came to St. Louis for the weekend! We had so much fun! We enjoyed swimming at Indian Hills Swim Club, taking the kids to Grant's Farm, eating BBQ at Salt & Smoke, and boozing it up at Urban Chestnut, Fuzzy's Tacos ("the drinking joint with a taco problem") and Affton Cafe.