Haircuts...

We decided to get haircuts for family pictures in Utah. This was McKenzie's first real hair cut besides trims i did at home. She was SO excited! I'm just glad she didn't want it short! This is the pic i took with my phone in the mirror so it sucks pretty bad... oh well...

And then Braxton... I took him somewhere different than usual and I now know that his normal spikey super cute long on top short on the sides cut is NOT A #2 & #4!!! I told her the wrong cut and i seriously was fighting back tears when she took her first swipe of the clippers and a massive chunk of beautiful blond hair hit the ground! Sad mommy moment. he loved his short cut but I had a hard time with my huge mistake especially since family pics were in FIVE STINKING DAYS! GRRRRRRRRRR! Good thing he doesn't need hair to still be really really ridiculously good looking ; ) 

As for me... I have serious trust issues and anxiety when it comes to letting anyone touch my hair so when we got to Logan I got my hair cut & highlighted for the first time in 14 loooooong months (it was BAD PEOPLE!) SOOO good to be the same color blond all over again hahaha. 4 hours of pain and suffering well worth it! (Seriously my head always feels like it's bleeding and on fire by the time I'm done) LOVE the hair... the no makeup? Not so much haha

CaricaWHAT?

We are so excited to have a new, closer, non-ghetto walmart by our house! We went to their grand opening and they had free caricatures! The kids were so excited once they realized what it was. Braxton kept saying "CaricaWHAT?"... After melting for 45 minutes in 104 degrees on black asphalt waiting in line the end result was well worth it!

Braxton The Ballplayer

Chef Mac

Bailey Ballerina

Happy 4th!!!

We had a very low key Independence Day. Relaxed in the A/C and enjoyed doing nothing but hanging out as a family till dusk. Then we headed to our "spot" that we found last year! We can literally see 6+ different fireworks shows from all over the STL area where we sit (in the back of a business complex building)  

Goofballs would NOT cooperate for a cute laying down pic. Me yelling: "SMILE  DANGIT YOU ARE HAVING FUUUUUUN... GRRRRRRRRR!"

Bailey LOVED the light up necklaces

Once the fireworks started Bailey just kept saying "WOWWWWWW" Her favorite seat was on daddies shoulders! 

They actually do like each other most of the time. (ok, most might be a stretch... hahaha)

We sat at the top of a big hill that the kids couldn't resist running down as fast as they could and inevitably wiping out big time about half way and getting scratched up by deadly sharp blades of dry grass... fun right? Bailey took the hill much slower but still came home with some major battle wounds.

AAAAAHHHHHHH (nervous toddler laughter/squealing as she tries not to bite it down the hill!)

Fireworks? What fireworks? We just want to throw our necklaces down the hill and race back up to the top...

MOM LOOK! THE ST. LOUIS ARCH! (He is so talented haha)

SO CUTE! (you can barely see a firework popping in the background - i tried)

After fireworks... time for daddy to pull the kids at warp speed down the steep hill  until they roll off into the field of dagger grass of course! SKETCH, DEFINITELY SKETCH!

I love the WAY excited smiles on Kenz & B and then Bailey's "i'm trying to smile but i am super nervous about whats about to go down" smile

Happy 4th everyone!

Fun With Uncle Matthew!

We were SOOO excited that my mom & dad finally released their death grip (haha) on my youngest brother matt and let him fly to stl by himself to play with us! To say my kids were excited would be a MASSIVE understatement. We haven't ever gotten Matt to ourselves and we were so ready to have 10 days of amazingness with him! We had an absolute blast and we already miss him like crazy! He is SUCH a great uncle (and jungle gym, wrestler, pillow fighter, snuggler, tickle monster, etc.)
Brace yourself people... this post is a long one...

We started the fun at the library watching a MAGIC SHOW! Matt didn't like it very much... boring? Nope he was just ticked that he couldn't figure out the magicians tricks hahaha. Dinner... St Louis BBQ at Bandana's of course...mmmmmmmm! The next day we took the kids to the movies! We saw Madagascar 3 and ate a crap-ton of popcorn!

On the way home Matt said, "Hey that tow truck looked like Mater... WHOAH IT IS MATER!" Seriously INCREDIBLE! A local body shop created a pretty dang exact replica of Tow-Mater from Disney's Cars movie. It was incredible! I'm sure you can imagine Braxton's reaction...  TOTAL FREAK OUT MODE! I was driving though so sadly there is no picture of that... i'm sure you can imagine though!

After 24 hours or so Bailey warmed up to Matt and then they were best buds the rest of the time!

Saturday we went to Quincy for my nephew & niece's birthday party!!! I took a bazillion pics so that will have to be a blog post for another day! It was a blast though! SO grateful matt got to come!

Monday we got brave and Matt & I took the kids to City Museum.  http://www.citymuseum.org/site/ 

This place is just CRAZY. Pics and detailed descriptions don't do it justice but i will try. 

This is the Rooftop! Home to a ferris wheel a HUGE slide, a full-size school bus suspended over the edge, a pond and fountains, and of course a giant 20 ft tall praying mantis (ya... random is the middle name of this place)

Another view of the rooftop

This is a real plane attached 4 stories or so up and you can climb  up to it, over it and through it with all of these crazy tunnels and ladders and slides. NUTS!

Mac loved the bus. It kind of freaked me out though being suspended over the city. It still smelled like sweaty kids... definitely a real school bus haha

The kids were a little nervous about the giant slide but they finally both made it to the top and then I couldn't keep them off it. 

B's first slide... do i see a hint of fear face?

Next... FERRIS WHEEL!!!

I told you ... RANDOM! Below the ferris wheel there is a mama and baby whale breaching out of the roof!

DANG he is CUTE! He was pretty nervous (not the adventurous type) but i bribed him (as usual) and he loved it! At the end (after complaining that we couldn't stay on longer) he said "Mom I am SO glad I was SO brave because that was AMAAAAZING!"

i suck at self portraits... this was the best of half a dozen... ya i suck

McKenzie was FREAKING OUT SHE WAS SO EXCITED! Matt was not quite as psyched haha

Coming down from the top. My stomach turned when she looked over the edge and the whole car tipped forward. EEEK!

Next we hit the ball pits... not just any mcdonalds playplace ball pit mind you but GIANT pits with GIANT balls!
I just cant get enough of these colorful and stinking cute pics!!!

There are tunnels and tubes and slides EVERYWHERE in this place. Standing in a hall trying to decide where to ogo next and i look and B is gone... "BRAXTON!" "UP HERE MOM!" Up in the belly of a whale thingy above my head of course... more randomness

We ate lunch at a crazy little restaurant. The kids loved that they had kid-sized tables and benches and a shelf full of VERY old comic books and magazines.

Of all the things there were to do in this museum of magic and wonderment Bailey kept going back to the dumb doctor's office toy... sheesh.

The kids loved riding the train that went around one of the floors and into a scary tunnel etc.

I got an absolute kick out of the "train conductor". He just pushed a button and laid down in the train car. so he didnt get clothes lined by the tunnel HAHA

Bug on the toddler version of the giant roof slide. The center of it is clear plexi glass and it totally freaked her out that she could see the ground (2 feet down haha) and she would get to the edge and yell "MAAAAM" really loud for me to help her across. Silly girl.

Matt in a hamster wheel of course! And the randomness continues...

Antique bumper car. Bailey flipped her LID if anyone else tried to take the wheel. She is apparently NOT a  back seat driver.

One of Kenzie's favorite floors was the no skating skate park. Looked like a giant skate park with ramps and verts and drops but you just run up and down them or swing across on the rope. Mac was like a little monkey... braxton was like a slug HAAAAHAHA

We wore them OUT! She fell asleep literally as we walked out the front door on our way to the car. Stinker.

And B was out cold before we hit the freeway.

The kids were so covered in dirt and grime and public space nastiness that i threw em in the backyard with the pool and sprinklers, fully clothed, to hose off. Bailey was pretty happy about that : )

It was a wonderful (and EXHAUSTING) day! Such a mind-bottling place! Thanks Matt for tackling it with me!

Of course we had to take Matt to Aquaport, the water park right by our house!  We literally played in the lazy river with all 3 kids for TWO HOURS and then road all the slides etc. SO fun! This is the only pic i got because we were having too much wet fun for pictures.

Well our time with Matt flew by way too fast! On top of all the fun things you already know about we ate a ton, watched all 7 Harry Potter movies, played name that band for HOURS (he played with rich because i SUCK at that game), he played guitar while i wailed to carrie underwood songs he learned for me (that kid is DANG GOOD!), had numerous wrestling matches with the kids, tried out frozen custard joints (3 times haha), and ate at Jilly's Cupcakery (Cupcake Wars winner here in st. louis!). So I will leave you with a picture of the utter decadence (and guilt haha) that was my Jilly's Turtle Cheescake Cupcake!

I dont know how to spell the sound homer simpson makes when he is drooling over donuts, but if i did, that is what i would type right now in all caps with 55 exclamation points... get my drift?