Browsing Category

st. louis

Blog, st. louis

Picnic at Forest Park


Two weeks ago we went out to have a picnic in Forest Park in the city so we could enjoy the warm February day. As we were driving home that evening, I told Don “I think that after the kids go to bed, I’ll go through our pictures from today and put them up on my blog. That will probably be the fastest I’ve been able to get a blog post out for a long time.” Well I didn’t get to it that night and then the next morning is when Don woke up with the flu. And it has slowly been making its rounds through our family for the past 2 weeks. In the middle of the night last night, I officially became the last victim of this nasty flu. Moms should not be allowed to get sick.

Getting out of the house as a family of 8 isn’t always easy. Sometimes we can get out of our house without a hitch but most times ends up with a stressed out mom who is telling everybody to hurry, hurry, hurry. Then we get to the gas station down the street where a little 3 year old girl says “mommy, I need to go potty!” Whoops! So we turn around to go home and repeat the process, go pick up a sandwich, and head to the park for a late 1:45 lunch.

We picked a little spot that had hay bales separating us from the water and let the kids run free. Being stuck in our house for the past couple of weeks with sick kids makes me wish for this again. With tomorrow’s highs in the mid 70s, I may try to force myself to get outside with the kids for a bit.

Desmond spilled half full bags of pretzels (and later some chips) on the ground multiple times. And then my children swarmed around like a flock of birds to eat them off of the ground. I was going to make a joke about it building up their immune systems but, you know, we’ve only been sick all of 2017.

And look at that little round head and the smile that makes you melt. This poor girl gave us quite the scare when her temperature soared to 104.7 the other night. With lots of prayers, we made it through the night and her fever went down. She still keeps going back and forth between fever and no fever. We’re just praying that she doesn’t develop pneumonia. Nothing breaks your heart quite like watching your baby suffer.


Sometimes group shots are a win, and sometimes they look like this…

Did I mention that we had the beautiful Art Museum in the background? The kids spent a good amount of time running down Art Hill over and over again. Can I please just have an ounce of their energy?!


I love this picture of Desmond, looking so confident in his stride.


I’m really looking forward to spring this year. First of all, I really hope that spring brings us health. But also, I’m looking forward to all the adventures that we will be able to go on, especially with Don on the day schedule. Thank you all for reading along and thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for us or reached out to us. (And a huge thank you to my dad and Eileen for bringing us a couple of meals this past week!)

Hope you have a great rest of the week!

Blog, Fall, Family, kids, st. louis

Pumpkin Patchin’


Can you believe pumpkin patches are already open? When I saw that we had a 70 degree day on Don’s weekend, I immediately started googling to see when the pumpkin patches opened up and was pleasantly surprised to see that we were good to go!

5 kids standing next to pumpkin display

We were planning on trying a different pumpkin patch this year but we were unsure if it was open to the public during the week. And since I had my 39 week (and final!!) doctor’s appointment that afternoon, we were close to Rombachs and decided to head that way. You can see our pictures from when we visited last year right here. It’s kind of fun to compare the two years of photos!

cute baby next to huge pumpkins

baby boy at pumpkin patch

Last year Desmond was just a little baby so this year was a little extra fun because he was able to get out and explore.

pumpkins in a row and little boy trying to hold a heavy pumpkin

toddler boy picking out a pumpkin


corn stalks as decoration

Getting group shots is always a challenge but always worth the effort..
kids group shot

Just like last year, Liam took some pictures of Don and I. I love seeing these two pictures in a row because the second one kind of shows what’s going on when we stop to take pictures. Always little ones photobombing or running around just out of frame.

married couple kissing at the pumpkin patch


kids running around while husband and wife take picture

Fall outfits are starting to make their appearance and I’m in love! A few people asked me about Evangeline’s socks. I got them a while back from a shop that no longer sells them. I have seen multiple small shops that sell them but I just ordered a couple pairs for baby sister from here. The brown ones were only 76 cents–which is so worth it, even with a little extra wait for shipping.

girl wearing fox socks standing next to little pumpkin
toddler girl posing with pumpkin

two brothers having a race

older boy holding pumpkin

I just found it too perfect that we visited the pumpkin patch at 39 weeks, when baby is about the size of a pumpkin. I couldn’t pass up the photo-op.  

pumpkin pregnancy picture

39 week bumpdate photoshoot
kids looking at wizard of oz display
big family sitting with pumpkins

I was trying to get her to smile but the 3 year old attitude took over. The joke’s on her though because I love this picture!
little girl pouty face

3 kids looking through fence

boy laying down on wheels

cute baby boy sitting on wooden steps

brother and sister looking at animals

dad and boys

I’m pretty sure this was our last big outing until baby girl arrives! My doctor is out of town until my due date next Wednesday and I REALLY want him to be there to deliver the baby. Not to mention all my friends/family who will be out of town this weekend. So I’m kicking back, digging into a 3lb tub of cake (not even kidding, just check out my instagram) and trying to enjoy this final stage of pregnancy. I am so anxious to meet our precious baby but I know I will miss it all as soon as it’s over.

I hope it’s starting to feel a little more like fall for everyone else, too!