Southern Living

The south is home to a crazy culinary event that centers around creepy, crawly crustaceans. It's called a crawfish boil, and people flock from miles around to peel and eat (and suck the heads) of these things. Saturday was our first mudbug boil as Mississippians, and it was Leila's first time seeing a crawfish. Here she is checking out the bucket of live crawfish being "purged" in salt water. Nasty! Liliana missed the critters, but had a special outing with Grammy and Grandfather. Since it included playgrounds, animals, ice cream and a Happy Meal, we're pretty sure she liked the arrangement!

I'm not a fan of seafood. I've tried every squirmy sea critter that's been put in front of me, and I haven't enjoyed a single bite. It's too bad, because we now have access to fresh seafood all of the time. So, that's my husband's department. Since I wasn't going to eat any crawfish, I decided I had to hold one. This bad boy was still alive!


After the outdoor festivities, we took it inside for a little Rock Band action. I'm a mama, so I've never gotten into any video games...but I could definitely get into this. I LOVE to sing, and I'm always too nervous to sing in front of an audience. But I did it anyway...and it was so much fun! Here are some of my fellow rockers and friends!

Memorable Moments

This is my favorite video clip of all time. It features my girls in one of their many hilarious interactions. I guarantee you will smile, and it's highly likely you'll laugh out loud.

Speaking of laughter, here are Liliana's latest and greatest comments...

"Mommy, I wish it was Christmas, so I could have a jackhammer. I'd use it to break up the ground and dig for worms and rocks and toys."

(When helping Leila to stand) "Just believe, Leila. Just believe. God the Father almighty will protect you!"

"Mama, keep an eye on me, because I'm doing something bad."

Hope your day is filled with memorable moments!

Blessings, Ramona

Neighborhood Night Out

Wade and I had an opportunity to go out with neighbors on Friday night--just the big kids. It was only our 2nd evening apart from the girls in over three months...and it was wonderful to be reminded of how much fun we have together! After hanging out with our friends at O'Charley's for a couple hours, we ventured out to Brunswick for some side-splitting bowling antics.

Left: here we are in classic bowling attire.

Below is a pic of the whole gang. The lighting wasn't fantastic, but I think each person is recognizable (with a magnifying glass). Thanks for a super send-off! We are going to miss our neighborhood family like it's nobody's business!

Tribute to Liliana

This is Liliana's birthday week (we celebrate for a full week in our family). Last night, we went to Dave and Buster's to kick off the celebration. Here's Liliana with the prize pony she chose at the end of game time. Big surprise--it's pink--perfect for her new bedroom in Mississippi.

As soon as we got home, she jumped on Bubble Gum (it's new name) as started riding around. All of the sudden, she jumped off, grabbed her yellow hard hat from the toy basket and put it on her head. She climbed back on the pony and started swinging the hat around, yelling, "Yeeeee-haw! Yeeee-haw!"



























Not only does Liliana have serious equestrian skills, but she has also become quite the little artist. Above is a drawing of "Miss Shelly," our Parents As Teachers specialist, who came to visit earlier that morning. Notice the curly hair and earrings. Miss Shelly will be so proud! Even at almost four years old, Liliana is still ambidextrous. She writes and plays equally well with both hands. It's actually very cool to see. I hope she will continue down this road. The opponents won't know what hit 'em when she bats or dribbles with her south paw! And, she so active that she's bound to break a hand at some point!



Speaking of which, watch our little monkey in action on the elliptical machine. She uses it for exercise, climbing and gymnastics!

Who Needs A Pool?

Liliana is hilarious. Every day, she has us laughing out loud at her silly antics. A couple days ago, I was on the sofa feeding Leila, while listening to Liliana play on the deck. When it got quiet, I quickly got up to check on her. This is what I found: princess Liliana seated on a plastic throne in the middle of her sandbox, which was filled with rainwater and toys.

She looked so pleased with her perch as she poured water all over her legs and arms (dispite Mommy's one request that she NOT get her dress wet). So much for that! You'll see her tough, independent side in the video that follows. I love parenthood!

Labor Day Weekend in St. Louis

My mom, brother & nephews joined us in the STL for Labor Day weekend. Although it was a whirlwind, we had a terrific time together. We spent an afternoon at the City Museum on Saturday, along with half of metro St. Louis. If you've never been there, GO! What an amazing & total indescribable place. Here we are at the entrance, ready to tackle every square foot of the attraction. (L to R: Leila, Mona, Luke, Russell, Liliana, Wade, Clayton. Mom was behind the camera.)

The kids enjoyed climbing all of the crazy structures, creating masterpieces, watching the sealife and sliding down the 10-story slide (no, that's not a typo). Here they are in the craft section, showing off their painting skills. The City Museum was so exhausting that everyone went to bed early--including yours truly. I broke my adult record and zonked out at 7:45pm.

After church on Sunday, the kiddos had plenty of playtime at our house. Liliana, Luke and Clayton blew bubbles, drove motorized vehicles and played on the playground while Leila slept. When Leila was awake, the boys were enamored with their baby cousin. They studied her every move and tried to be near her as much as possible. In fact, I frequently had to remind them to give her room to breathe!

Liliana and Leila are the only girls on my side of the family, and there's only one other on Wade's side...so we're happy to have added a girly girl to the family.


Below: four little cousins hang out in one chair. Luke and Liliana wore matching jammies. Darling!

Wade the Olympian

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My Aunt Jules sent this to me, and I HAD to share it with you. This is funny for so many reasons. First and foremost, I've had an extensive (and intense) relationship with diving, including a connection with Olympic diving. Second, Wade's powerhouse dives include the cannonball, watermelon and belly-flop. Third, this has got to be the most unflattering image of my husband. Enjoy!

Our Little Hot Rod

From a very early age, we knew Liliana would be a daredevil. It started with climbing tall structures and jumping on beds and then quickly progressed to making obstacle courses and riding her bike (or a neighbor's scooter or skateboard) at mind-boggling speeds. Now, much to my chagrin, a friend gave us two motorized vehicles...and Daddy was only too happy to accept.

Here's Liliana on her hot rod (which she named "Orange"). Don't you just love the girly-girl on a tough lookin' roadster? Oh, the irony. Next she's going to be jumping out of airplanes. Please pray for us!

Have a looksie at Liliana's 2nd ride on her Hawg...

Sand and Surf

Here are a couple video clips from our recent adventures. Above, Liliana surfs (with a little help from Daddy). Below, the boys try to master the skim board. With many not-so-hot attempts under his belt, Wade finally enjoys a sweet success!

Dauphin Island Vacation

We just returned from a dreamy vacation on Dauphin Island, where we stayed with Wade's family in a lovely beach house. All 14 of us made wonderful memories together as we lounged in the cottage, played on the beach, frolicked in the water, sailed and fished the ocean, dined on the daily catch and relaxed with loved ones. This was Leila's grand introduction to our family and her first vacation (in only her second week of life).

Here's Liliana in her new flip flops and wrap-around sunglasses... ready for the beach. She poses on the large deck that stretches behind the house and overlooks the bay and a small pond that draws pelicans and other water birds. Plenty of seashells and hermit crabs lined the beachfront and provided entertainment for the cousins.

On the gulf side of our house was a gorgeous beach with fine white sand and very few tourists. We spent many days hanging out in the sand, collecting shells and watching dolphins (stingrays and a jellyfish, too) while the children played. Here's Liliana, who enjoyed a brief moment buried in the sand (thanks to Daddy). She couldn't get enough of the beach!

Below, the cousins (minus sleeping Leila Madeline) pose during a breathtaking sunset. The final photo shows the entire family together on our last day of the vacation.

Liliana's Athletic Prowess

Yesterday was a big day in the athletic arena. Not only did Liliana begin riding a "big girl" bike with training wheels, but she also made huge strides at the pool. Oh yeah, my baby girl jumped off the diving board and swam to the ladder seven times in a row--without a flotation device or assistance from Mommy or Daddy! You may have heard my cheering from across town.

Speaking of swimming, here's a video of contagious laughter and serious fun at the hotel swimming pool...

Fighting Fires and Carseats

After a brutal brawl with a viral infection, Liliana is officially on the mend. Here she is at Valley Park Fire District open house, where she fought "fires," drove the giant fire engine and posed for photo ops with mommy.

Our main mission was to have the infant car seats installed by a professional (thanks, Kyle), and we serendipitously discovered a world of fun with our local firefighters.

After witnessing two strong and thoroughly trained professionals (80, yes 80 hours of practice) push and pull for 30 minutes to properly install car seat bases in our vehicles, I have just question: Why should we be surprised that 85% of car seats are incorrectly installed by parents?

At least I can check one more thing off of my To Do list!

Camels, Goats, Clydesdales..Oh My!

It was a beautiful morning at Grant's Farm, with many unexpected thrills (courtesy of the unpredictable animals).

Left: Liliana poses with a clydesdale at the stable. Below: A camel swings its head around and tries to get fresh with Liliana. Although she loved the gesture, she certainly didn't appreciate his breath!

Play the video below to get a taste of the goat pen, where Liliana fed the goats with bottles and brushed their nappy fur. I've heard goats will eat anything, and this video is proof. So funny.

Hope you enjoy...we did!

Animal Paradise Adventure

I have to rewind to our most recent road trip and share this footage of our adventures at Animal Paradise near Springfield, Missouri.

The first video is sweet, while the second is a little crazy. Enjoy!

Two Days in Branson

Who knew Branson could be so much fun?

Lovin' the Great Outdoors

We're so thankful for spring weather in St. Louis! Our family is all about the outdoors, so the warm weekend was such a welcomed treat. Liliana relishes the opportunity to "help" in the yard--digging, planting flowers and watering plants. We wear matching gardening gloves, and she feels so grown up when we ask her to complete tasks. Here's Liliana in the tree in our front yard, just after we watered the garden.

Another favorite activity is bike-riding. Her little legs pedal so fast that the bike can't keep up! Lately she's been doing tricks, like riding with no hands, putting her feet on the handlebars, kicking her legs straight out, and standing up on the seat...all while the bike is in motion. What a daredevil!

On another note, Liliana has been blowing our minds with her incredible vocabulary. And she remembers almost everything she hears. Yesterday I asked her (for the 2nd time) if she washed her hands after playing outside. With a kind, but firm tone, she replied: "Mommy, I already told you that I washed them. Please don't ask me again. My yes is yes, and my no is no." Talk about hearing your own words come out of someone else's mouth! I heart motherhood!

Chicago Weekend

We celebrated Mothers' Day weekend in Chicago. Wade had a conference for work, so we made it into a long family weekend. Liliana and I checked out Bloomingdale and the Indian Lakes Resort during Wade's sessions, and we spent time together in the evening.

The remainder of our mini-vacation was spent in downtown Chicago, where we hoofed it around town.

We took a trolley to Navy Pier, but didn't hail a cab the entire weekend.

Left: Wade and Liliana in front of the giant ampitheater.

Liliana especially loved the area surrounding the Art Institute. With its gardens, fountains, statues and millions of pebbles--she was in heaven. She especially enjoyed pretending the pebbles were birdseed.

Although the weather was on the chilly side, the sun made an appearance from time to time...and we soaked it up!

Believe it or not, this traveling puppet show was one of Wade's favorite attractions. Of course, Liliana got a kick out of it...but Wade talked about it for hours.

The highlight of my trip was a crazy good restaurant (and my new favorite) called The Grand Lux Cafe. The food and atmosphere were so incredible that we went back for Mother's Day breakfast. If you go to Chicago, you owe it to yourself to dine at the Grand Lux on Michigan Avenue!


Liliana loved Navy Pier. With so much to see and do, we spent half a day there. Our hotel was right in the heart of the Magnificent Mile, so we were close to all of the action.

Left: Liliana playing near the dancing fountains at Navy Pier.

No trip is complete without a visit to Rainforest Cafe! We were all enamored with the tropical ambience, and Liliana was thrilled to be surrounded by her favorite animals.

Minus the challenging 3-year-old behaviors, our Chicago adventure was delightful! The only thing that could have made our trip more spectacular would have been spending time with our Chicago-dwelling pals (who were all unavailable). We missed you guys!

Here's to Chicago & a memorable Mother's Day!

Four, Four, Four

A friend sent me a fun little "get to know ya" thing. I'm game. Although you're technically supposed to email the answers, I'm going to take it to blog-world. After all, each of my friends stop by from time to time. Here goes...

A) Four places that I go over and over:
Church & Edwards House
St. Louis Public Library
Trader Joe's
Sam's/Walmart
(In summer, the pool tops the list)

B) Four people who email me regularly:
Kate
Stacy
Dad W
Heather

C) Four of my favorite places to eat:
Houlihans (#1 in St. Louis)
Crescent City (#1-in Mississippi)
First Watch
Chevy's Fresh Mex

D) Four places I would rather be right now:
on a warm, sunny beach in Kauai
traveling the world
in southern IN with family
in southern MS with family

E) Four people I think will respond:
Mostly applicable for email

F) Four TV shows I watch all the time:
The Office
House
American Idol
Fox News (any and all)

If you're willing to share, I'd love to know your answers (to one or all). Feel free to post away in the comment section!

Thoughts of a Three-Year-Old

Here are quotes from Liliana during the past week...

Aye aye, Mama!

The bathroom is full of chemicals and viruses.

Do you enjoy conversation?

I'm exercising to keep my body strong and healthy.

Mama, can we please talk about this later?

Let's keep first things first.

State your problem, Daddy.

I'm going to hatch a plan.

I live in a foxhole, Mama.

What's your heart's desire?

S-T-O-P spells popcorn shrimp.

I'm gonna rock this town!

Good Times

Those who know us are acutely aware of the fact that Wade and I are c-razy (as in zany, not loony--although some might disagree). And Liliana is not far behind. We all love to act silly and enjoy life. When I was younger, I naively believed that "the kid in me" would completely vanish by the time I hit 30. So much for that!

Here's a photo from our recent neighborhood parents' night out. I highly recommend regular partay nights--just the adults. Let the good times roll!