Hodgepodge

I haven't brought my camera many places lately because I know that if I take pictures, then I will need to update the blog, and I have been so busy lately I didn't know when I would find the time. When I did get the camera out, I realized there were some pictures from a month ago that I hadn't downloaded yet. So, here is a hodgepodge of pictures from the past month. Some of the pictures are compliments of my friend Kathleen who brings her camera out more often than I.

At the end of June, my buddy Connie came in town and we got to meet her adorable daughter, Alexa. Jack enjoyed playing with the toys at Alexa's grandparents' house.
She is such a good baby. I don't think she fussed the entire time we were visiting.

A few weeks ago we met my friend Kathleen at the Science Center. She was there with her daughter, Lily, and her friend and friend's daughter. The kids really liked the Discovery Room. Here Jack and Lily played with the dollhouse.

Jack did not want to leave the train table where he and Sophia were playing.

Jack also held this giant cockroach! Yuck!!!

I recently had some car trouble. We were on our way to the Botanical Gardens one morning and my car wouldn't start. Jim came home from work and jumped my car. He then followed me to get a new battery and my car died a few blocks from home. It wouldn't start again. We decided to have it towed to get a new battery and Jim rode in the tow truck. For the next few days Jack frequently asked, "Daddy in the tow truck?" He still asks occasionally, but he knows it didn't happen today, so he asks, "Daddy ride in the tow truck last night?" For some reason it seems that events that occurred in the past occurred "last night." Too funny.

A few people mentioned that once my car was going it should not have run out of battery and that maybe I needed a new alternator. Jim was anxious to tackle this project. So, with help from his friend Vinnie, he was able to replace the alternator in my car one evening! I am quite impressed!

Last weekend (not this past weekend, but the one before), my college roommate Amy came in town with her family. They came over for dinner Saturday night and Jack and her boys, Abe and Bo, had fun with a borrowed water table. It was fairly cool outside, but that didn't stop the boys from getting wet!

After getting wet, Bo took off his wet clothes and played in a diaper before putting dry clothes on. It made me cold just looking at him.

He was having fun, though.

This past Friday I met up with some of my high school friends and their children at the wading pool at Tower Grove Park. The kids had a blast! Here is a group shot of the kids.

Today Jack woke up crying at 6:30. He usually doesn't wake up until 7:30 or 8:00. He laid in bed with me for a while, but never went back to sleep. I was pretty tired and knew it was going to be a long day, especially if he didn't get a nap. When Nancy called to see if Jack and I wanted to join them at the Magic House (or "Magic's House" as Jack refers to it), I said no at first because I was too tired. Upon further consideration we decided to go. I was hoping I could wear Jack out and then he and I could nap this afternoon. So, here Jack is doing construction work at the Magic House.Nancy and Margo drove a loader.

I thought Jack would love to sit in this loader, but he just wanted to get out. He was nice enough to sit for a picture, though.

Here Jack is trying to talk into the microphone at the podium of one exhibit. He and Margo ran around the stage and auditorium for quite a while. They were loving it, and I was hoping he was getting tired.

I decided to take a long way home and hope Jack would fall asleep in the car. When we got close to home and he was still awake, I took a different route to give us more time in the car. Sure enough, after about 25 minutes in the car he was out like a light. He transferred to his toddler bed just fine. I was able to take a nap, too!