The Magic House and the China Exhibit...

...My family always loves to go to the Magic House. There's so many activities for the littlest of littles to the biggest of bigs. Our group consisted of kids ages 3-15 and none of them wanted to leave! One of our all time favorite exhibits is the Bubble Room but this time, we spent most of our time in the China exhibit. The older kids enjoyed the crafts and the toddler loved taking care of the pandas! Can't wait until we go back again!

As you can see, all ages having fun in the giant sandbox!

A little Picasa!

Paper flower in the China exhibit

Wowser-that's a big hockey puck!

The giant bubble!!!

Helping her panda down the slide!

Slide the City!!!

Don't you love the old days of summer? A simple slip-n-slide in the backyard to cool off. What if you could do a slip-n-slide that's the size of three football fields and enjoy a block party!!! Well then check out Slide the City! #Slidethecity

On Saturday, July 11th - Market Street will be transformed as participants ride inflatables down this giant slide spanning three city blocks. With music, local vendors, and giveaways, this family friendly event promises to be a highlight of the summer. My readers SAVE with promo code USFAMstl -- Get your tickets here! https://secure.slidethecity.com/affiliate/usfamilyguide/st-louis

A portion of the event proceeds will be donated to Saint Louis Area FoodBanks. The St. Louis Area FoodBank feeds the hungry by distributing food through a network of more than 500 partner agencies and engages the community in the fight against hunger. Participants can purchase a one, three or unlimited slide pass. Tickets are now available, starting at $13.


Is there an age or height limit?
All who are over 46 inches tall and over 5 years old are invited to slide, but remember if you're under 18 you'll need to get a sign off from your legal guardians.


Are there group rates available?
If you have a group with 20 or more participants send us an email.

What do you do to address water conservation?
Water conservation is also a priority at our events. We strive to have zero environmental impact on the community. The Slide was designed to have zero water loss, and it treats and recycles the water safely and efficiently throughout the day. When permitted, we donate the water back to the community. Methods of disposal include local reclamation centers, parks, golf courses and other places dependent upon local regulations.

Don't forget, my readers will SAVE with promo code USFAMstl

Birthday Celebrations at the Farm!!!

...AR and her grandpa (Matt's dad) have birthdays only three days apart. We decided to spend the weekend out at the farm and celebrate both their birthdays together. First, we had to drive there. Check it out, she even was using the gear shifter!

Her and grandpa picked strawberries and had them as dessert for lunch.

Matt and I went on a four-wheeler driver.

AR ready to go fishing. She didn't catch anything but Matt found a snake that bit him!

The furbabies went too. Emma, she's getting older, but I insist that she's going to live forever.

And Shadow, such a handsome boy!

Her baby wanted a ride on the four-wheeler too.

And she read to her baby, too.

My child is a fan of celery... glad one of us is!

Her Aunt EB got her her very own birthday cake!

Of course, what's a weekend at the farm without s'mores!

She climbed trees and deer stands all weekend cause she's a monkey.

On Sunday, our favorite veteran and Matt's bestie, Dusty came to the farm with his dog and we had a good time hanging out with him. I found a tick on AR's back but luckily, Dusty came to the rescue to take it off.

One thing about camping is that by the end of the weekend, we all have some crazy hair... especially this little girl!

So happy birthday AR and Grandpa!!!

My Sweet Girl Turns Three!!!

...As I type this post, three years ago today, we still didn't know for another couple hours if we were having a boy or a girl. Today, I can't imagine life without my daughter! After her birthday party on Saturday, the festivities didn't stop there. We went to dinner that night with Aunt Jo. AR got a free dessert and here she's showing off her duck lips... thanks H.

We were both exhausted after a long day but never too tired for silly faces!

Sunday we woke up bright and early to take Nanny to the airport. Then she did an end-of-year-program at her preschool church. THEN we went to Sophie's birthday party for more fun!

After the birthday party in Chesterfield, we drove out to Moscow Mills for Matt's cousin's graduation party then back home for the night. This child was still going strong and Momma was WORE out!

Lovin' with our Shadow before she went to bed as two-year-old one more time!

Today was her official birthday! I woke the birthday girl up bright and early. She had a yucky nose and felt warm, not to mention super clingy so I was a little worried. I left work to take her to final Time for Twos class at the library but when I got there, she was not sickly at all!

We were kind of bummed that our regular teacher, Ms. Julie wasn't there, but they played the Color Game and AR was happy. They even made adorable flower wreaths!

She got a graduation certificate!

And Ms. Julie left her a birthday present. This is seriously one of the coolest books. If you haven't checked it out, you have to go get it!

I had a big night planned for us to celebrate as a family tonight but the birthday girl changed her mind and well, it's her birthday so she called the shots. We went to dinner at Chick-Fil-A because she wanted to play in the play area. Then we got snocones, came home, opened gifts (I got her a dollhouse but it wasn't put together so it was kind of a fail-boo!), and she wanted to play outside.

I'm sure we'll be indulging in lots of snocones this summer!

Papa, TT, and the boys sent her three pink flowers. I think she liked them, check out that smile!

Every year I try to buy her a piece of jewelry to go with her party theme. It's just something fun to start her jewelry collection. She LOVED the Care Bear necklace I got her!

Sunday night I snuck into her room and hung up steamers from her fan and a Happy Birthday sign on the wall. She thought it was all pretty cool.... especially when the fan is on!

She still gets to celebrate at the sitter's tomorrow, preschool on Wednesday, with Matt's family this weekend, and my dad's family in two weekends. So technically the birthday celebration isn't over yet but isn't that the best kind?

My baby girl gets sweeter every day and I love being her mother. There's nothing better in the world than to hear my daughter tell me, "I love you, Mama!" I only hope that she knows how much I love her and that she'll always love her Mommy the way she does now. She has changed my life in so many ways and I love her more than she will ever know. My sweet AR, I hope your birthday was fantastic and that Mommy made it extra special for you. May all your birthday wishes come true, may you learn lots, grow stronger, and continue to be the kind, compassionate person you are. I love you!!!

AR's Third Birthday Party!!!

...My sweet baby turns three on Monday and I just want to cry at how quickly time is going by but we'll save that post for her actual birthday. Today was her big birthday party! I totally went low key this year. The last two years, I went all out, being Ms. Pinterest hostess with the moistest, and then this year, I'm like, she doesn't care about banners and cutest food. The girl just wants to be with her friends and eat cake so that's exactly what we did!

I was off work on Friday so Nanny, AR, and I got things ready for the big party. First we grabbed some lunch at R.T. Weiler's and AR got to eat her lunch out of a dog bowl!

We booked a church that has an indoor playground, brought in a cake, punch, and some other snacks and let the fun begin. The theme was Care Bears so her cake had a rainbow on it and then I printed off some Care Bear toppers to go with the theme. Here's AR adding them to her cake.

Let's talk about the cake for a moment. Costco cake, mmm love it! Super cheap, super delicious... I ordered the cake to be picked up at 10:30AM on Saturday. We had to be at her party place at 11:10AM. I get to Costco at 10:15AM, search the cakes, no AR's. Long story short, they couldn't find it!!! Luckily, they were able to whip one up real quick and even gave me a few bucks off. Even after sitting out for an hour, it was a little frozen in the middle but no one complained. Although they forgot, it was handled really well and I left happy, a few minutes behind schedule, but happy.

She was so pumped to have all her friends play with her! Of course, getting them all to look at the camera at the same time=IMPOSSIBLE!

My sis and H came and dropped off AR's big present at our house. I can't wait for her to open it on Monday!!!

I tried to get a pic of AR with each of the her friends. This is a little boy from her class who wasn't too thrilled about having his picture taken unlike my little hambone!

These are all the kids from the sitter's including the newest addition who will start in July! Beau wasn't too happy to leave though... most of the kids weren't. It was an awesome place!

All the kiddos that came to celebrate AR turning three!

OMW-she LOVED everyone singing to her, just look at that face!!!

Making a wish!

This thing was super tall and AR was all over it. She could have stayed there and played all day!!!

"Hi, Mommy!"

G-Fam Pic

Mommy and AR... I love this girl more and more every day. She is the sweetest and nothing beats when she leans over at dinner and says, "Mommy, I love you!" I hope those things never change.

AR is blessed to have such special people in her life. We loved being able to celebrate with all her friends and the family celebrations are still to happen. A big thanks to everyone who came, AR had a blast, and of course, we had to start playing with gifts the second we got home!

Side note: I only let AR have water or milk. We had punch at her party and I let her have some. You would've thought I gave her a million dollars!!! It was such a special treat for her and she kept telling me how yummy it was. It's the little things...