:)

A new smile...


It came out a little earlier than expected. It was yanked it out with a blanket that Marisa was pulling out of Elena's mouth. She didn't cry too much and said she did it on purpose because she wanted to lose a tooth. She has lost another one since.

Labor day

Elena didn't have school for labor day but Marisa did. While Marisa was at MDO, we decided to join Omar on the driving range. He and Elena are quite a pair. She insisted on wearing a visor like him. They have an amazing relationship and he is definitely her favorite. I'm okay with that. I think it's so sweet. While they played, Karina and I sat on the sidelines and snacked. It was a nice day but very breezy and we were trying to stay under the porch.

Date night

Over the summer our church offered a "Ten Great Dates" session and book study. We dropped off the kids at the church nursery, watched a short video and then were free to go on our date for a few hours. We looked forward to this every Sunday evening especially because we didn't have to worry about childcare or planning for a babysitter since it was provided by the church. We can't wait to sign up for it next summer. We captured only one photo but made great memories and learned a lot.

Summer's end

We ended the summer with swim lessons. I was so amazed at the quick progress both girls made that we signed them up for weekly lessons this fall. They are still making nice progress and they really look forward to swim day. These are videos of day 3 of the 2 week summer camp. They did not swim previously and neither of the girls would put their face in the water. The last one is of a trial water babies class I took with Karina.

Elena swims

Marisa swims
Karina swims

Family vacation

I am finally getting around to posting our photos from our vacation in St. Louis. My computer basically went kaput and I was VERY slowly but thankfully able to retrieve my files and transfered all my pictures to my now new computer.

The Poultry Science Association holds a yearly conference every summer. In previous summers, I've joined Omar in Edmonton, Niagara, and Colorado. This July, the conference was held in St. Louis and after hearing what a great family friendly city it was we took the opportunity to make it our summer family vacation. My MIL even came along to help out and join in the sightseeing while Omar had his conference meetings during the day. She graciously offered to watch the girls during the nights so that I could join Omar for dinner. Aside from a visit to the doctor for poor Karina who was sick with an ear infection while we were there, we really enjoyed our time there and even had fairly easy plane rides to and from St. Louis. Of course this is in comparision to the last plane ride we made together as a family which made us vow never to do it again. Ha! what a difference 3 years makes.






The City Museum--this was the BEST museum EVER. It made me want to be a kid again!







The Children's Museum, a.k.a. The Magic House













The Gateway Arch



Getting ready to ride the elevator

We watched the sun set from the top. Somehow seeing the sun set from this perspective made the sun appear to be setting on fast forward. I guess I can't describe it any other way.
Sqooshed in the elevator on the way back down and below two tired little girls ready to be home