Saturday, December 29, 2007

Sick Family

0 comments
Well, the stomach flu has landed and hovered over our house for a few days. Daphne was sick all day Christmas morning - never even opened a package. Then Mia was sick the night after Christmas. Jac was sick Friday morning and now Jeff is winding down his flu on Saturday night. Yuk - let's just hope Dr Mom doesn't get it too. We are heading to Chicago tomorrow! Can't imagine traveling under those conditions.

Wish us luck!

Mia the Big Girl

1 comments

Unless Mia is super hungry it is hard to keep her in her highchair for more than 5 minutes. Jeff discovered that she will continue to eat if you let her be a big girl and sit at the table. Hmmm. Looks like it is time for the independent woman to join the big folks at the table.

Plasma Car

1 comments

Jac and Mia received a Plasma Car from Aunt Misty and Uncle Doug. It is pretty cool, although I think Jeff and I have had more fun with it so far than the kids. (Don't worry we don't exceed the weight limit.)

Christmas Morning

0 comments



Santa came! He did a really good job at the Carey house too! When Jac came down the stairs with Jeff Christmas morning he was in shock. He literally said nothing for at least 5 minutes. No expression, no smile and he didn't want to get down. He was definitely speechless. It didn't take too much coaxing to get him to start opening presents. He opened all of his presents and only got bogged down when he would get cars. He would want to play with the cars instead of moving on. Mia did well, she got into the swing of things as the morning went along.

GeeGee and Papa joined us for Christmas morning and Aunt Daphne was supposed to be there although she was sick with the stomach flu and we never saw her. Poor thing.

It was a fun Christmas with lots of blessings. Here are some cute pictures from the morning.

Feeding Mia

0 comments

Jac is becoming a big helper. He even has been able to help feed Mia. Here is a picture of Jac sharing his banana.

A Girl and Her Blankie

0 comments


Mia sure is attached to her Blankie. Here is a picture of her carrying it around. And another picture of her signing 'blankie'.

Dr Seuss

0 comments

Last year for Christmas Jac and Mia received Dr Seuss books from their Aunt Misty and Aunt Daphne. They got a lot at Christmas and then would receive 2 books every month for the rest of the year. Jac has become very attached to these books. He likes them for the their content I am sure. But he also likes them because they are all the same size! He will sit and pore over them for 30 minutes at a time. Here is a picture with him carrying around "Green Eggs and Ham".

Christmas Eve

0 comments
We had a lot of fun on Christmas Eve. Jeff, Daphne and I went to the children's service at church and enjoyed despite the fact that we got to stand the entire time with 50 of our closest friends. (We were there 30 minutes early, by the way.) We came home and Jac got to help Papa and Dada light all of the luminaries, he had a lot of fun with that. Our neighborhood is a little over the top, and every year has a fund raiser where you are highly encouraged to buy and light luminaries to line the street. I would say about 95% participate. It is very pretty.

We all helped to set up a few toys for Mia and Jac for Christmas morning. That way when they came down they would have something to play with while we all got situated. It worked out well and we had fun struggling with all of the plastic parts.

Christmas at the Carey's

0 comments





We had Christmas with the Carey's on the Saturday before Christmas. It was a lot of fun with everyone there. This is the second year in a row that we have had everyone in attendance! Jac and Mia both got great presents and ate a lot of good Grandma food. (So did Jeff and Dawn - food and presents!) Here are a few pics from the package opening.

Jeff and I were also able to slip away for church service on Saturday. It is always fun to see the St James crowd, Jeff says it is like going back in time. We saw Mrs. Humphrey, Mrs. Smallwood and Pat and Marina and a few other folks that Jeff knew. I must say that it is nice being back in Missouri just to catch up with the past every once in awhile.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Snow People

0 comments


Look at all of the little snow people!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Snow Day

0 comments
We had our first snow of the season today and Jac got to build his first snowman. He didn't want to come in, although his hands were bright red! I will try and get a picture of the snowman (only 2 feet tall, rather an ET looking thing) tomorrow. We have more snow falling right now, so maybe he can build the snowman's big brother tomorrow.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Bonhomme School Christmas Party

0 comments
We attended the Bonhomme Nursery School Christmas Party today. There was singing and cookies and then we all played for a bit.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Growing Boy

0 comments

This is a shot of Jac this morning after he ate lunch at 10am. He had been snacking since he woke up. I fixed him eggs and toast for breakfast, then he continued to snack some more. Finally at 10am when Mia was napping I told him he had to eat lunch. He said "o-kay", drawing out the "kay" in a grudging way sounding older than he is. Then he proceeded to eat a full lunch when Mia woke up. We snacked in the afternoon had dinner and then he continued to eat right up until he went to bed at 8pm. Surely this is a growth spurt!

Mia's New Skills

0 comments


Mia has added some new skills to her repertoire. She can now throw things in the trash can! And it is a great added benefit to the household. We seem to produce a lot of trash and when I give it to her and say "Mia, please throw this in the trash" she toddles off and behold she does it! Very useful.

She has also added the words "cracker" and "banana" to her vocabulary. She signs "bunny" and "baaas" like a sheep! I think she will be running soon as she has figured out how to bend her left knee and move pretty quick, although the right one remains straight. She looks like a peg legged pirate. Maybe by Christmas we will have a runner.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Cooking Breakfast

1 comments


Jac likes to sit on the counter while I get breakfast ready, Mia was angry that she wasn't included.

Hide and Seek

0 comments


Mia and Jac were playing a little hide and seek behind Daddy's clothes yesterday morning. In the first picture you can just see a little leg under the clothes. And then Daddy came in and ruined the fun!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Oh what a night

0 comments
Quite the interesting night last night. Mia and Jac both went to bed with slight fevers. Neither one of them had any other symptoms. Mia woke up at 1am, so I gave her another dose of Tylenol and put her in bed with us. She sort of tossed and turned for 30 min and then Jac woke up. Jac needed in the big bed also and of course me being the softy thinking he was sick ended up letting him. Another 30 mins later the two of them are laughing and giggling, so much for feeling sick. So they both were put to bed, protesting.
We all woke up as usual, except Jeff now is in bed with a stomach thing! Good thing I went to bed at 9pm last night. It may be a long day.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Prayer List

1 comments
If you have an extra two minutes today, if you could say a small prayer for the people in my life who have a need. I would greatly appreciate it. Just ask for blessings and safe keepings for these individuals. Some of them are traveling, some of them are grieving and some of them are just clumsy and have recently fell down=) and some just need a little extra love in their lives.
David Grandel
Sharon Grandel
Misty Grandel
Doug Grandel
Daphne Grandel
Heather Locke
Jim Carey
Mary Jane Carey
Zachary Gottschalk
Magen Gottschalk
Christi Wooley
Joseph Murphey
Kara Long
Amanda Surrec

Monday, December 3, 2007

Gee Gee's Birthday

1 comments

Yesterday we celebrated my mother's birthday (Gee Gee) at Zio's. Happy Birthday Mom!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Milestones

3 comments
We hit a big milestone last night. Jac happened to be in the middle of a diaper change and needed to potty. He said 'pee! pee!' and I asked him if he wanted to pee on the pot. He did! Standing up and everything. He had a pretty good aim for his first time. Of course potty training is probably months and months away, but still this was a great accomplishment. He was ready and willing and had no problem doing it.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Mia 15 Month

1 comments

Mia is 15 months old, can you believe it? She had her 15 month shots and checkup yesterday and she is dong VERY well! She is 32 3/4 inches long (97%) and 26lbs 3.5oz (90%) and her head is 48cm (95%) around. Her fine and gross motor are better than most 15 mos olds (which is different than when she was smaller - I think her prematureness hurt her for awhile).


Her language and personal skills are very good, she continues to add words and signs. She can now say 'up', 'sit down' and 'meow'. She understand a ton of what we tell her, sometimes she ignores us, but you know she understands! She is starting to want to read books, loves music, is completely feeding herself and is all around a very loving and sweet baby girl!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Sheer Fun

0 comments


The joy of a sheer curtain. Good for the soul, bad for the hair.

Spreading Joy

0 comments


This year I decided to try out a little game in our neighborhood. I have had a neighborhood in the past do it at Halloween time. Basically, it is a chain reaction through the neighborhood. You give an anonymous treat and a sign to a neighbor. They are supposed to hang up the sign on their door and then give two of their neighbors treats and signs. Lots of fun to watch as doors in the neighborhood start to have signs on them that say "JOY".

So the kids and I picked up some cookies at the grocery store. I was going to make them, but considering this is anonymous and the people that I had picked had kids. I figured I better have sealed packages for safety concerns. The pictures are of the kids helping me print out my instruction sheet and the JOY sign. They are always a lot of help.

As I was doing this, I turned around to find Jeff getting ready to bite into one of the cookies we had bought! I admit it, I screamed. I was a bit miffed. I was ready to put the treat on the neighbors doorstep and Scrooge had eaten the cookies! Bah-humbug!

It actually turned out okay, the cookies were yucky. So I went back to the store today and picked out a different treat. We went for a walk before lunch and delivered the treat. Now all we have to do is wait, the hardest part.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

M-I-Z

2 comments
I didn't grow up a Mizzou fan but I married into it. The Carey house was very tense last night as we watched Mizzou play #2 ranked Kansas. (That sounds like either a punchline to a joke or a "when pigs fly statement"). Can you believe Missouri #4 beat Kansas #2 and is now ranked #1 in the nation!?

So next Saturday we will be glued to the Big 12 Championship game and waiting on pins and needles to see if Mizzou can pull it off. We have faith in Chase!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Thanksgiving

1 comments
Thanksgiving fun was had by all. We had a great Thanksgiving and ate A LOT! Wednesday morning we headed to St James for our first Thanksgiving meal. We ate with the whole Carey clan at Teresa's house. It was great, we also celebrated Mary Jane's upcoming 60th birthday. It was fun to have cupcakes on Turkey Day. The weather turned cold and it finally feels like the Holidays in Missouri. On Thursday morning we headed to Gee Gee and Papa's house for our second Thanksgiving meal!

Friday we headed back to St. Louis and we are now trying to come out of our turkey stupor. Christmas is around the corner and Jac is very excited about the Christmas tree. The current debate is a real or fake tree. We have always done real, but of course now that we are older and wiser we are starting to realize a lot less energy would be spent if we broke down and bought the fake tree.

Friday, November 16, 2007

American Indian

0 comments


Jac asked all week to go to school. This is a new phenomenon, normally he says 'I no go to school'. This picture is of him with is school bag (Aunt Daphne decorated for me), jumping up and down because it was finally Thursday morning. He was very excited, even getting out of the car in the carpool line without complaint. And now I know why he was so excited - he got to make American Indian 'hats' (as he calls it).

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Pretty Girl

1 comments
Even waking up very sick this morning, she still looks pretty! Amazing. She didn't sleep from 1am to 3:30am (so neither did I), but she woke up at 8am looking like a princess. Hopefully, tonight will be better.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Everyone's Sick

0 comments
Well, Jeff and Jac are sick with a hacking cough and fever. Not so fun. Mia seems okay right now but definitely cranky and didn't sleep well last night. I left the two coughers in the bed together and went to the guest bed. Yuk.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Big and Strong, Like Daddy

1 comments


Jac asked me today if he was big and strong like Daddy. I told him he had to take his naps and eat a lot to be big and strong like Daddy. Here is a picture of him taking my advice this evening with a post dinner snack of grapes.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Home from Austin

1 comments



That actually sounds kind of odd - Home From Austin. We are back in St Louis and very happy to be back because it was a beautiful fall day when we landed. The trees are in full swing and it was 65 degrees. Very nice.




Jeff and I had a great time in Austin. We were so excited to go that neither one of us could sleep the night before. It felt like Christmas was the next day and we were 10 years old. It was fantastic to be able to see all of our friends. We really were quite touched that so many people made time for us and often not once - but clearing two or even three days for us! Wow, we really have a lot of our heart in Texas.


As soon as Jeff and I landed we began our Mexican food binge. It started with Freebirds burritos for lunch. Then we headed to Magen and Mark's house, where they hosted us. They cleared their calendars and even got the Grandparents to babysit so that we received their undivided attention. (I still feel very honored by that.) We drove around Thursday checking out our home that we built in Lake Forest, all of the new expressways and some of the new shopping (The Domain is spectacular). Then we drove downtown to dinner at Iron Cactus on 6th and a Mexican Martini. Yummy.



The next day we did more site seeing and ate lunch at Rudy's - there is just sometimes when only gas station barbeque will hit the spot. Then we headed to Christi and Greg's house. Christi and Greg hosted us for the next two nights in their newly completed home. They had tripled the size of their little 1930s bungalo and gutted the entire house. This was just completed in August and looks amazing. Friday night we headed to Hula Hut for happy hour and some more Mexican food! We were able to meet Amy, Ina, Nick and Amanda as well as Magen and Mark and Christi.



Saturday we got up early to be at the tailgate by 9:30. The tailgate (Christi, Greg, Curly haired Craig, Mark and Karen, and the boys) has been somewhat elevated in the past two years. I mean, plasma TVs, RVs, satellite and generators. And we thought we were so sophisticated with our Longhorn tent! It was great and we were able to see even more friends at the tailgate. Catricia and her sister, Cami and Niall, Tim and Charlie, Kent and Dawn, Kerrie and Brien all made it to the tailgate. It was a great football weekend with Texas and Missouri winning and Ohio State and A&M losing! Doesn't get much better.



We headed to The Draughthouse Pub after the game and met more friends. Most of the tailgaters made it and we were joined by Ina and Michelle, Tim and Lori and Kara and Jim. The funniest point in the entire weekend was after almost everyone had left and Jeff and I were talking with Kara and Jim at The Draughthouse when Kerrie called from Christi's house (also staying with Christi and Greg). Jeff answered my phone and Kerrie started asking him strange questions. Are you guys coming home soon? When you come home, could you open our bedroom door? ....... Come to find out that Kerrie was trapped in the bedroom (faulty doorknob not faulty Kerrie) and couldn't get out. Brien was asleep and she needed to use the restroom. She hadn't called Christi because she didn't want to wake them. The story ends well though, Christi actually heard Kerri rattling the door and came downstairs to check it out. Kerri was able to 'whisper' for help and Christi opened the door.



We wrapped up the festivities with a breakfast at Austin Java where we had Greg, Christi, Cami and her daughter Emily, Kara, Jim and their daughter Avery and Chris and Diane meet us. It was a great send off.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Haircut Day

1 comments



Jac needed a haircut (desperately), three weeks ago when we went to get one they were closed! Our schedule was pretty packed and it has been either go get groceries and feed the family or wait to get Jac's hair cut. So we waited and waited. Finally we had another chance today to get to "Snipits" and success - he now looks like an upstanding citizen. Here is a before and after shot.


Mia said 'spoon' for the first time today and 'wawa' for the first time yesterday. She is learning a word every day or so - it is really a fun age. She has about 10 words and 10 signs. She has really picked up on the sign language and it helps her communicate and not get frustrated. She is a walking expert and really can get around quite well. She gets pretty mad if SOMEONE pushes her down. (We will keep that SOMEONE unnamed for now.)


Tomorrow we are off to Austin for the weekend. Grandma and Papa are watching the kids for the weekend. Everyone is well and no teeth coming in, so hopefully they will sleep for them. We get back on Sunday, keep UT in your thoughts this weekend as it will probably be a tough game vs Tech.

Halloween Outfits

1 comments

Here are the kids in their costumes - a dragon, not to be confused with a dinosaur and a bumblebee. Jac picked out his costume, although he really wanted to be a pumpkin. In fact, he often insisted that he was going to be a pumpkin for Halloween. Too bad we couldn't find one that fit him - he would have made a cute pumpkin. Mia is wearing Jac's bumblebee costume from his very first Halloween. (Funny how it fit both him and Mia - about a 7 month difference in age.)


Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Hello from the Carey's

0 comments
Hello from the Carey's. We are going to start a family blog that will keep you updated on the daily life of the Carey family. Hope you enjoy!