Park Fun and moving...

We have had quite the week around here. We have moved all of our junk...I mean belongings...to the new apartment and somewhat unloaded the boxes there. It is nice to have this week to go ahead and get some things unpacked at the new place so we can hopefully get settled in pretty quickly. It also makes for a pretty tiring week. We spent the first 3 days of the week loading up vehicles at night and taking them the next day, unloading, and puting away at the new place, then heading back home eating dinner then reloading the cars. Whew. Yeah, it was tiring. So we decided to take a day off to rest up. So, last night we didn't do any loading, therefore didn't have to unload today. It was a much needed break. And tonight, we loaded up the rest of our things that will not go on the truck and they will get unloaded tomorrow afternoon before we go and get our truck. Michael needed the time off from packing and moving since he has a test in Greek tomorrow and I needed the break since I think I have strained or pulled a muscle in my calf. I think I overdid it with going up and down the stairs carrying boxes and all.

On to our day off. We had playgroup today at a park in Clayton, not far from our current house. It is one of 105 parks that are here in the city. Yep, 105 parks. Crazy right? We have loved having such fun places to go to. This park had a great playground with a treehouse thing and a water play area too. SK had so much fun with her friends and I had fun with their mommy :) We are gearing up for a big day Sat. with the moving of furniture, but are feeling pretty good about what we have accomplished so far.

If you happen to think of us tomorrow (or if you are reading this on Friday) please pray for us. Pray for Michael to have clarity of thought while he takes his exam and to recall all of what he has llearned in class well. Pray for our strength. I am tired and my body is achy. We are so excited to get moved though. We are so thankful that the Lord has paved the way for us to be able to move on campus. It has been so awesome to look back at how the Lord orchestrated this whole thing. Like, us only signing a 6 month lease where we currently were. We were originally willing to sign a 2 year lease with our current tenants, but since they didn't quite understand how we were going to be able to afford rent and definitely didn't get the "we are trusting the Lord to provide..", so they wanted to only have us sign a 6 month lease. God is so good to take care of us and it is so neat to get to look back and see how His hand was working before we even knew we might be moving. I am off to get ready for bed (yep, it's early but I have a 5 am alarm.) Here are a few pictures I took from our time at the park: Night Y'all!

Tired...

Moving stinks. This is our 3rd move in the last year. You would think I would be a pro at it now. It is a lot of work though. A lot. You never realize how much stuff you have until you have to drag all of it to your car/truck and lug it to a new place and then unload it. I can tell you one positive of moving every six months: You keep cleaning out junk. We keep a running bag of give away stuff, which helps a lot. So we took one load of stuff today to the new apt. and unloaded it. We have been able to borrow the SUV from the family I nanny for and have it loaded up for tomorrows trip. All of this moving is in the midst of Michael's greek, which he has a test on Friday (yes, the day before we move...) and I am at work every day too (meaning 5 a.m. alarm...) I am not stressed. I am not stressed. I am not stressed.
There. Better.

I am going to miss this place we are living now. There are so many cool things about living in the city. We are walking distance to so many things like a grocery store, places to eat, a pizza place, parks, ect. We really have enjoyed being able to walk over to the park or down to another park that has a cute little candy shop beside it. The neighborhood is awesome too. It has been a fun little area to live. But,
*It doesn't have AC
*It requires driving both cars to campus 5 days a week.

When we move, I can literally walk faster to work than drive. Michael can walk to class. I can go over to our place during the day easily. For instance, I can go over if I forget to put laundry in the dryer or get dinner out of the freezer. Poor Michael gets a text at least once every morning from me asking him to bring something over that I forgot, or get meat out of the freezer or do some laundry. I am looking foward to being on campus for so many reasons. I am just ready to be done with the moving part.

My List...

So I am coming up with a list of must-do's while we are in Alabama. We have found that there are certain things we can't really find here that we really miss. So here is my list: (which I am sure will grow longer as we get closer to our trip)

1. Bar-b-que. We must have bbq. We haven't had it since moving. Specifically we want some Charley's. Good ole Charley's. We attempted last night to make the potatoes like Michael used to always get there, with bbq chicken and all the fixin's. Not quite as good, but it was pretty good. We need to just bring back a bottle of their sauce. Do they sell their sauce?? I need some of that.

2. Joel's. We have yet to find any kind of meat and 3 place. The closest we came to it was Cracker Barrel a couple weeks ago. I love home cooking foods. I cook it some, but it is nice to find a good place that serves it too. I remember as a kid always going on Sunday's to Joel's. I love that place, or another one that I really liked was Cafe on Main. I will take either. Just some good fried chicken, mac-n-cheese, and green beans. I already know what I plan to order. Sad, I know.

3.Publix. I just need to go say hello and that I really miss it. SO maybe I am kidding, maybe not. For those of you who knew how much I loved that store and the couponing that once took place for me there, know I am probably not. There is nothing like that here. I have just about given up on getting into the couponing here. Publix spoiled me.

4. Sweet Tea. So this isn't a place, but it is carried at any place we will probably go. That is not the case here in ST. Louis. We have even gotten funny looks for asking for sweet tea and responses like, "You can add a sugar packet in our unsweet..." Um, no. And there is a handful of places that carry it here, but it doesn't seem to be as sweet and good as in the south. We do make it at our house, but not often enough.

Ok. So that will get us started right. And it goes without saying all of the given things like our parent's houses we can't wait to hang out in, the church, our church family, ect. ect.

Can you tell I am excited about our trip back to Bama? I am. I am worried that it will be harder to leave this time around than it was in January. Pray for us for that please. We know that the Lord brought us here and we are right where we are called to be, but that doesn't mean we won't miss what we had been so blessed with back in Alabama.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

We are so truly blessed to have Michael as ours. He is truly the best daddy and husband. The way in which he loves Sarah Kate melts my heart. I love to just sit back sometimes and just watch him interact with her. The way that he looks at her just screams incredible love. He is a pretty awesome husband too. He is so supportive and loving to me. I could go on, but I won't. I am thankful for you Michael Davis and love you to the moon and back :)


We got to celebrate father's day Alabama style today! No, we didn't make a quick trip to Alabama, but we did do some things that remind us of Alabama. After church we decided to drive to Cracker Barrel (these aren't close to us here, so we haven't been to one since moving...) for lunch. We have yet to find a restaurant here that serves good home cookin' kind of food. You know, like a meat and 3 place. I am thinking of Joel's in Trussville. Man, I miss that place and it is definitely on my list of places we must go while in B'ham in August. After stuffing our faces for lunch, there just so happened to be a krispy kreme donuts just at the same exit. This is yet another place that we have not been to since moving due to none being anywhere close to where we live. I love Krispy Kreme. I mean really, REALLY love it. It reminds me of being pregnant with SK, since it was one of my major cravings while pregnant with her. Anyways. We went through the drive through and brought a dozen home.And yes, I was so excited, I got the camera out and took a picture. Michael might have made fun of me just a little. We haven't got into them yet, since we were so stuffed for lunch, but I am thinking I have enough room now to get one in :)

We are planning a lazy afternoon/evening for the rest of our day around here. I hope everyone else had a great Father's Day. We wish we could be able to hug Pop up today too. We love you Pop and hope you have had a great day. We are so blessed with such a great Dad and Pop for Sk. Thank you for loving us so much and being such a Godly man. We love you and can't wait to see you again in August. Tell Pearl to give you a kiss for us :)
I am off to be lazy and eat donuts. Peace out, y'all

Zoo Night

We found out there is concerts at the zoo on Friday nights (not sure if it is every week, but it was going on tonight). We ate dinner (quite early--4:30!) and headed out to the zoo. It ended up pretty crowded at the concert area, so we decided to just check out the animals. We took a break with our fun dips! It is fun to take a break from all the chaos of our days from greek and packing and working to have some fun family time.
I love that there are so many free fun things to do in this city. It has been so nice for us to be able to find these moments to take a break from everything and just go find a fun activity and hang out as a family.

Sk's Birthday Party!

We have had a great weekend so far. Friday night was date night (you've already heard about it I know...) and yesterday we got to have a little party for SK with her friends. We are so thankful that SK has made some good friends here. She was so excited to get to have them all over to her house to play and decorate cupcakes. I decided to make the cupcakes using this recipe. If I haven't said it already, I love Pioneer Woman. The cupcakes were so yummy, esp. the icing. The kids got to play outside some and SK got to open her presents that her sweet friends brought for her. We had originally planned to have the party at the park, but not knowing whether it would be raining or not, we changed location to our house. And yes, we are moving in 2 weeks. It was a good excuse to clean up some, because yes, I need an excuse these days or it doesn't get done. Such is the life of a busy family these days. I think the party turned out so much fun for SK. We had so much fun that I forgot to even get the icecream out of the freezer. I don't think it was missed though. The cupcakes were enough sugar for the little ones, plus the juice. Anyways, on to the pictures! Sarah Kate with her buddy Lillian
Sidwalk Chalk with Caroline...

I totally didn't get (or remember to...)a group shot, but here is some of our friends outside after some had already left...

Decorating cupcakes!

"Happy Birthday!" singing

Yummy cupcakes!

Present time!

Thank you so much Caroline, KB, Lillian, Moriah, and Molly (and your brothers and sisters...) for coming and making my baby feel so special for her birthday. It does my heart so much good to see how well she is loved by our new friends here.

The Zoo and the bugs...

I have 2 thoughts to share, while I have a chance :) SK had a fun day on Thursday with some friends at the zoo. We made quite a morning of it checking out all the different animals at the zoo.

Here's the group shot! On the same day, SK had a realization that bugs live outside. Yep. It has been quite interesting. We walk at least 3 days a week on a path (wooded) from the house I nanny at to the seminary playground. Surprisingly, we come across bugs on this path. Yep. SK doesn't like this new realization. She is actually pretty funny about it. Today I had to take pictures, because that is what a good momma should do, right? That is, after talking to her about it several times. Oh my. She is so funny. She loves to go to the zoo and see the animals from a distance, but put them too close to comfort and we have a problem. She really has a problem with cecadas (which were everywhere!! but are slowly dying off). I told Michael we are going to have to take her camping or something to break her of this craziness.

It's a blury picture, but can you see the look of concern on her face? And her little hand stayed on her chest like that on the whole walk...

Goofy kid!

Date Night :)

So it's official. We have decided to let SK start dating. Yep. She went out tonight with this really cute guy. She got all dolled up in her finest gown and sparkley shoes. She picked the place to go (the ole spaghetti factory--downtown) and he agreed. Now Mommy will sit on the couch and wait to make sure she gets home by her curfew. By the way, I think this guy is a keeper for at least 20 more years :)

My Little Monkey

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I can't believe my baby turns 3 tomorrow. Wow. Tonight she told me that "I am not a baby anymore but I will always be your little monkey!" Man I love that little girl. I don't think they come any cuter. Really. Sorry to break it to all you other mommies out there, but I got the cutest one. I am loving the age that she is at right now. She says the funiest things everyday. Michael and I just look at each other and bust of laughing. She is growing up so much and it is so awesome to see the little girl she is becoming.
I am so proud of how well she did with our transition to St. Louis and the transition to having to share mommy everyday as I care for Molly (the little one I nanny). She is so sweet with Molly and it does my heart good to see her love Molly so much. The other night we were puting her to bed and she said "I am sad.." to which I asked her why and she said, "I want Molly here all the time!" She really does love Molly. I do hope and pray that one day we will be able to give her a baby sister or brother that can stay all the time.

Anyways. Not going to that subject tonight. So for my own sake really, I want to write down the things she is up to these days and what she is liking:

*She has really, really gotten into the whole princess thing lately. We play dress up a lot around here. Well, both princess and ballerina. The important thing is that the dress, whether it be a princess or ballerina, has to twirl well. We love us a good twirly dress.

*She has also fallen in love with Dora the Explorer. We never really watched it prior to our move to St. Louis, but for some reason she has really gotten into it here. The one thing I do like about the show is how it is really teaching her some spanish. I think that is kindof cool. The other day, so used the spanish word for open (abra or something like that...) instead of speaking english to me. Funny kid.

*She is still an early bird most mornings. I miss weekday mornings with her, but on the weekends, she wakes up normally by 6:30/7 and calls out from her room, "Momma! The sun is up!" and then comes into our room and stands by our bed and announces yet again "The sun is up, we can get up now!"

*She takes an afternoon nap still most days. She occasionally (Probably twice a week or so) will just have rest time and not go to sleep.

*She is fully potty trained. Woohoo. She trained in Jan. right after moving. We are still working on the making it through the night, but other than that she is doing great with all of that!


*She loves going to the library for storytime and getting new books to check out. Other places she is loving to go to include the science center, the zoo, and the Magic House. She really loves spending time on the playground at the seminary, which we get to do pretty often since the house I nanny at is walking distance to it.


*Her new favorite movie is Tangled. She loves it. I could quote the movie and so could Michael I am sure.

I am pretty brain dead at this time of night, but I just wanted to wish my baby a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Mommy and Daddy love you to the moon and back!



SK thought it was cold out on Sat. when we were running some errands and insisted on wearing her gloves. She was quite the hit in the grocery store prancing around in her bright pink gloves :)

Diving in to summer...

We have had a whirlwind of a week around here. Michael started greek on Monday and I have been getting geared up to start the packing process. So needless to say, it's going to be a crazy summer. Michael has class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and studies and works on Tues. and Thurs. I think he is enjoying it so far. It is intense studying and all, but he isn't overwhelmed so far, which is good. I am not overwhelmed either with the packing, which is also good! I am just happy this move will be only 6 miles down the road and not 4 states away. We are going to be able to start moving smaller things like boxes and odd and ends the Monday before our big moved day on Sat., July 2nd.
Not stressing. Really.
It is a lot if we look at the whole picture, but we are just taking it a day at a time, trying to do a little here and there.

Anyways. We did have some fun this week in the midst of all of that other stuff. We met some friends at the Magic House today (kinda like the Mcwane Center in Bham, but much bigger and cooler!). They have a summer sand castle thing outside where SK and her friend Chloe played in the sand till their little hearts were content. It would have been a good idea to bring a change of clothes, but I will remember that for next time. We were too busy having fun that I didn't even get the camera out. The girls mostly enjoyed filling up their buckets with water then pouring it all out only to go get more water. We were covered with sand by the time we were ready to leave. It was worth it for the amount of fun had!

We did happen to be there when a photographer for the St. Louis Dispatch was there, and he snapped this picture of SK. The article is here, he happend to think she was related to the friend we were with, so he thought her last name was the same as hers...cute pic right :)

Not much else to talk about I guess. I just thought I would do a little blog since I haven't done much this week. Hopefully I will do more blogging this weekend, we shall see.

Michael is walking over to the store. Wanna know what was on the grocery list for the evening...
1. Milk
2. Chocolate Icecream
3. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
4. Vanilla Icecream
5. Coke

I think we need to cut back sugar. You think? That or just keep it in our house more readily accessible when we need it. Wow. That list does look pretty bad. Maybe I should have had him get some apples too, just to balance it out a bit...

O well. In our defense, it is hot in our place. These window units just don't really cool off the place that well and icecream is more of a means to cool us off. There I feel better about the list...
Now I just need a good excuse for the cookies...

Now the pictures...

So I can finally upload pictures to the blog, so without further ado...here is a sampling of our fun with Nana and Papa!

Getting ready to head out to the Cardinal's baseball game!

All of us at the game--We had great seats on the third base side and had a fun view of the arch as our backdrop!

Each Morning, SK made sure that Nana properly brushed her teeth before we could leave out for our adventures!

Grant's Farm!

Riding the train around the farm getting to see all kinds of cool animals!

SK got a special treat of getting to go shopping for her birthday present. She is currently obsessed with Tangled, so we had to find a Tangled dress! She was so excited! (And, her Aunt Lala and Uncle Jeremiah sent her the Tangled movie, so we got to watch it about 6 times over the course of the weekend!)

Saturday at Botanical Gardens!

Cooling off in the water play area at Botanical Gardens!

So there are plenty more fun pictures, but I will keep it from getting too long. We had so much fun Nana and Papa! Love y'all!

nana and Papa Visit!

We had an incredible weekend with Nana and Papa this last weekend. They drove up on Thursday and were here till this morning. The weekend was filled with all kinds of fun activities. We hit the ground running and crashed every night! It was so much fun to have such good family time through the month of May with both grandparents. Makes me hope for August to get here quickly when we can get to Alabama to see them again and get to see everyone else that we haven't seen in so so long! So here we go with the pictures to tell all about our weekend. If I had more time, this would be better broken up into multiple posts, but for the lack of time, we shall get a huge blog instead with a peak into our fun-filled weekend! Life is about to get crazy busy around here I am sure. Michael started summer greek today and his new internship started last week and we move in 3 weeks! Whew. All of this along with me working full-time and all. On with the pictures, shall we!

Well--My blogger is not letting me upload pictures for some reason... Guess the pictures will come tomorrow :( I added plenty on facebook, but I will try again tomorrow to see if I can get them on here...so hold tight till tomorrow, since I know yall are on pins and needles waiting to see all our pictures :)

We had a fun night tonight too. We headed to Chick-fil-A for princess night with our friends the Ely's. Caroline (their daughter) and Sk got to get all decked out in Princess attire, get a free kid's meal, got their hair done, and crowns made, and even played too in the play area. We had so much fun and Sk looked so adorable with her hair all done up and earings on. Once again, no pictures here...but they will come soon....I hope.