Yay for Summer!

Summer has arrived complete with the ever changing, dramatic weather in Saint Louis. A week of near 100 degrees followed by a week of barely 80 degrees! Either way, we are making the best of it. Sage and Kai are loving our summer adventures...

to the gardens


Sage LOVES to pretend! Here he is making us lunch. Yum!


to the pools






to the parks


to the fountains



and to the zoo

Here's Kai brushing a goat - Kai LOVES animals!


Something more fun than the train? Nah, but a close second...

The Lip

Although Kai still has a couple months before he is actually two, he is fully committed to acting like a two-year old. He has perfected the fake cry and the pouty face. His pouty face includes sticking his bottom lip out as far as he can - further than one would think possible. Then, he makes sure you're looking.

Julie (his babysitter) said the other day she was ignoring Kai's pouty face, so he touched his finger to his bottom lip as if he was checking to make sure it was really all the way out there. Ha!

Another time, Kai was throwing a fake tantrum at the playground, so Julie moved away from him. Kai promptly quit "crying," picked himself up off the ground, moved in front of Julie, and then...he laid on the ground and started "crying" again! Hilarious! Julie said she couldn't help but laugh.

Tough Boy

Sage fell and scraped his knee. I asked him if he needed a band-aid and he said, "No, I a tough boy." I agreed and left his boo-boo to heal. Every time someone asked him what happened to his knee, he said, "I a tough boy." So, today, I noticed a new scrape on his other knee and I asked him what happened. He said, "I have TWO tough boys." Ha!

Sage is not only a tough boy, he also has a pretty good throwing arm. On Wednesday, I came home from a long day of work and class ready to relax and catch up on some tv only to find out it was broke. Apparently, Sage threw a little, plastic ball at the tv and cracked the LCD! Oops!

May Days

We have been so busy that the month of May flew by so fast! I'm just now realizing that it's June (my favorite month) and it's already the third day! What happened to May?

We watched Noah's opening day t/ball game.
I finished the first half of my Educational Specialist degree and started the second half the following week.
Jared graduated with his Masters!
We went to Kirksville to watch Ella Bella dance.
We celebrated the impending arrival of Baby Girl Kelly.
Summer arrived with fun on Memorial Day!

Everyday Matters

Family dance parties...the best way for the Kellys to start the day. Now that Jared and I are on the same schedule as far as when we get up and out of the house in the mornings, we've started waking the boys up with music. My preference is "Lovely Day" radio on Pandora. The boys wake up happy. Then, at some point, we all end up dancing together in the kitchen before we go about our days. Love it!!!

Side note: both boys are very musical and can follow rhythms easily. Sage can recognize songs in different contexts. For example, this morning, he recognized a song on the radio as the same one from the "penguins" movie (Happy Feet) he watched the night before.

Sleeping Beauties

And the Search Goes On...

Jared and I are in the process of looking for a new childcare situation for the boys. Their current care provider is having another baby next month and only wants to work part-time in the fall. So, Jared and I have been talking with and visiting potential care providers this week. It's such a struggle! We are so spoiled by our current situation with Julie - not only is she wonderful with the boys and affordable, but she also lives only a block away!

Last week, we visited an in-home provider, and it was bad from the beginning. As we were driving up to the house, Jared said, "is it the house with the creepy looking guy on the porch?" Sure enough, it was. After being kind and talking with the people, we got back in the car and immediately agreed to cross the place off the list. Jared said, "the house was dingy, the toys were dingy, and she was dingy." Then, Jared told me the husband's nickname is "Scary Gary" (he does production of haunted houses). Scary Gary is the creepy guy that was on the porch. So, needless to say that is out.

On the other hand, we visted a pretty good one later in the week. It's an actual center with various classrooms and many kids. One of the things we liked best was the diversity of the kids that were there. Until then, we didn't realize that we were looking for diversity when choosing a place. But, now, it's high on our list.

This week, we met Latoya who provides care out of her home. Great place, clean, structured, no tv time, affordable, etc. But, the lady was kind of odd - she didn't speak except to answer our questions - which she answered with one or two words or an "Mhmmm." Thinking she was just nervous, I kept trying to break the ice with funny ancedotes about the boys. But, to no avail. So, that one's out too.

I'm wondering why we're having such a hard time this time. I think it's because we are spoiled by our current care provider. She's wonderful, affordable, and so close to our house. Our expectations are very high!

If you're reading this and know someone who's looking for a job in August, let us know!!!

My First 5K!

On Saturday morning, I ran my first official 5K race. I started training months ago with the Couch to 5K app on my phone. Back then, I could barely run two minutes at a time. But, Saturday, I ran the full 35 minutes and 34 seconds it took me to finish. Not only that, but it was raining the whole time!

I am very proud of myself for setting this goal and working so hard to achieve it. In the process, I've lost over 20 pounds - woo hoo! Thank you to my friends for inspiring me and supporting me in reaching my goal.

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a lovely Mother's Day weekend. Saturday was spent with the Cline side of the family at Noah's first t-ball game followed by lunch/play time at Jon and Sarah's. Noah's game was quite entertaining to say the least! It was a beautiful day outside, so we spent the afternoon playing at Jon and Sarah's house.

Here are the boys driving Noah's car.

Feeding the fish in the pond


Sage making mudpies. This was a huge hit!


Sunday, we had breakfast with Jared's Mom along with Justin and mommy-to-be, Cora. We also spent time at the park.
Here's Sage with some flowers he picked for Momma.

Welcome to the club

Another one of my dearest and long time friends had a baby - a few hours ago actually. Jen had been in labor for many hours - since sometime Thursday and it's now Saturday. Yesterday, I told her that I remember labor being a lot like an endurance challenge on the television show "Survivor." Only the prize she was waiting for is a lot better than a million dollars! So, congratulations to Jen and Andy and baby boy Evan! There were many people praying for you and who are now so thrilled that Evan is finally here (8 days after his due date).

Motherhood is life's sweetest gift and I feel overjoyed when one of my friends tells me she is pregnant or has a new baby. It reminds me all over again of my experiences with Sage and Kai and makes me cherish them even more. I cherish their sweet little faces, their infectious little laughs, and even their attempts to be mad and throw tantrums. I cherish the moments when they are wild and crazy and also when they fall asleep in my arms. I cherish the moment each of them were born and every moment since (except the moments I have to spend away from them). I simply love being their mom!

Motherhood is life's sweetest gift and I welcome you to the club, Jen. May today be the first of a lifetime of cherishable moments. And, to all of you in the motherhood club - Happy Mother's Day!