Everyday Fun!

So here are a few pictures of our summer digs, along with the people who make it all worthwhile! (Except for that cute hubby of mine, who worked late last week and missed the photo-op.) Izzie entertains herself sometimes by shooting nerf balls over the walls of the place (you can see they don't go all the way to the ceiling in some rooms) and has gotten to be a pretty good shot! Erick's lost yet another tooth and it's been quite entertaining listening to him whistle as he talks! He sounds a lot like the gopher on Disney's "Winnie the Pooh", and we never tire of teasing him because he's so excited about it! He's been trying to whistle for months, and might be disappointed when his teeth grow in and his newfound skill becomes more difficult again. He's so cute. :-)

Swimming lessons have been going well, and it's been a great activity to get us out a couple of times each week tot he pool! Erick and Izzie are in different classes, and I do the mom'n me class with Audrey, which has been a lot of fun. She's a real entertainer, and loves the alone time. The pool facilities are beautiful, but apparently we've stumbled upon the beverly hills of the area so I suppose that's to be expected. Many of the kids attend lessons with their nannies instead of their parents, which has been completely new to me.



Erick's pool has been really cold until this past week, but apparently he's still not convinced! He's pulling his "C-O-O-O-O-L-D" face here, but I had been in the same water with Audrey moments before and think he was bluffing. :-) He's taken to making faces in all his pictures lately, so getting a nice, normal smile has become nearly impossible.

Izzie's doing great in her lessons, and I'm so proud of her for overcoming her shyness to the point that it takes only a little encouragement at the start to each lesson to get her to go. It's the first time she's done anything like this on her own, without Erick or anyone, so it's a big step and she's doing great!

Audrey, as usual, is an entertainer and a diva. I'm never sure from week to week if we'll be swimming or not, but when she's in she's all in. She giggles and laughs out loud during lessons and seems to love it all, then the next lesson she clings and won't get into the pool with all the drama of a Mariah Carey.

I really love all the red brick in Saint Louis - it's striking against the lush greenery and so beautiful! These pictures are from around our place - one is a small park where the kids chased bunnies and fireflies, and the other was from a walk down the shopping disctrict nearby. The fountain sits on an extended sidewalk patio in front of a restaurant and I'm hoping we can make it a date night in the outdoor seating one of these evenings. We'll see. The oldest girl in our ward here is 12, and our kids aren't terribly comfortable at someone else's house yet, so babysitting is tricky. Oh well, I'm really beginning to feel as though it's all about times and places in our lives, and have enjoyed this summer with my kids more than I ever expected. They've been great company and we've had a ball!