A few thoughts

Ryan and the kids are gone taking Kirsten to the airport. It has been fun having her here, but I know she's ready to get back to her life in Oregon and I'm ready for the kids to sleep in separate rooms again. William has been sleeping on the crib mattress on the floor of his room while Claire slept in his bed. She was a little too big for the little mattress. So William kept rolling off of the mattress and one night, I found him whimpering from under his train table. He woke up underneath it and didn't know where he was. So he ended up spending most of last night in our bed, which means that Ryan slept on his side of the bed, William slept on my side, and I was smashed in the middle, trying to figure out which pillow to put my head on. Needless to say, I was up early and out of that bed this morning.

I have not been true to my writing the past few days because of having company over. We went to the Missouri Botanical Garden yesterday, after going to see the Cahokia Mounds (ancient mounds built by indigenous people of the Mississippi plains) yesterday. It was so hot outside, that we didn't stay at the mounds for long. The gardens were beautiful and very inspiring. We spent most of the time in the Children's Garden at the water-play area. After getting very wet, we saw a few more things and then came home. The gardens are our family's favorite place to go. Today, I mowed the lawn and did laundry while Kirsten packed, Ryan worked and the kids watched way too many cartoons. I haven't uploaded any of the most recent pictures, so I'll include a few of everyday life from last week. I just looked at the temperature outside and it's 103 degrees, and then tack on the NASTY humidity. No wonder I about passed out trying to mow the lawn this morning!!

William taking a morning bath

All clean and ready for some clothes

Taking a nap in Mom's arms after a long day of playing hard

Dancing to the SpongeBob Squarepants song, they have a silly dance they do