Fun with Lexi!

Patrick's cousin is visiting us from Denver this week.  We may send her home totally exhausted, but we have been having lots of fun.

Monday we sent Noella to school so that we could have a big girl adventure- we rented a paddle boat on the lake in Forest Park.

(sorry we are so squinty- it was really sunny!)

It took a little bit more work than I had anticipated, but we had a very fun time.  It was a little hot in sun, and we were all ready for our picnic lunch after boating.  Mariel kept telling us how much work it was and how hungry she was; Lexi and I were not sure how much energy she used up sitting and watching us paddle, but apparently it was quite a bit!  We also had some lunch companions, as several birds and ducks seemed to think we wanted to share.  We did not, so they were fairly disappointed.

Later Monday night it was time for a major event: Mariel's first musical.  I got Mariel, Lexi and I tickets to the Muny (a historic open air theater in St Louis) and the production of Beauty and the Beast.  Mariel was SOOOO excited that it even seemed worth an 8:15 showtime.  Plus (I'll be honest) I was really looking forward to it myself.

We all had a wonderful time, and she made it all of the way to the 11:00 curtain call.  She sat on my lap for much of the show so that she could see the stage, and her little heart was just pounding with excitement for almost the entire time.  I think she liked it!

Today was a little bit more low key- we played on the back porch in the morning (after Mariel and Lexi sleeping in a bit).  Noella has been enjoying wearing pony tails lately, so I tried to capture the cuteness/ ridiculousness of her new hairstyle!

The girls ended up naked, as often happens when we mix sand and water.

They decided the (closed) potty was a great resting place for a snack.

We went to the pool for the afternoon... lots more fun in the sun!  It has been lovely weather in St Louis, which is a nice change.  We may take Lexi to the zoo on Thursday- so there will be more pictures soon!

A little bit of everything...

Mariel's last day with her best friend in St Louis.  We had a good play date at the zoo, on a day when it was 100+ degrees.  Moving to Pennsylvania does not sound so bad...

Also at the zoo- our first trip to the Discovery Room.  It was fantastic- full of great play stations and a reasonable amount of small children (you have to get tickets and each group gets 45 minutes).  I did not see Mariel for 40 of the 45 minutes.  Noella ranged from the sand table to the chalk board to the ball/ stick blocks.

She loved them so much that she started to get a little bit territorial.  No worries- no other babies were harmed.

In less happy news, we have a new adventure with Noella's skin.  Hives.  I can't even handle writing more about it. 

Noella's 18 month checkup:
33 1/4 inches (still about 90th percentile)
24 lbs (somewhere between 20 and 50th percentile)
So basketball may remain in her future, although sumo wrestling may be out. 
She still has a nice pudgy belly, and has started to enjoy lifting up her shirt or dress while out in public to show off her "BEHL!" (this is generally said with an emphatic nod of the head) as much as possible.

I don't usually blog from work. Something about time managment, training on ethical use of state property (yes, I do still work for the state of Illinois), or similar.
However.... I am actually laughing out loud reading over my class content evaluations for the summer semester.  I often have classes do this to comment specifically on topics, assignments, etc along with the more generic ones that they do through the university.  I read all of them and usually find some positive, some critical, and generally a few helpful comments.  This particlar evaluation strays a bit outside of the standard comments that I tend to get, obviously intended to amuse both the writer and reader, and deserves to be shared.  See below:

Introduction to coursse: YAY! The first day of school!

Chapter 1 and Chapter 2: Ya! Its time for school today!

Chapter 3 and primary documents (App 1-5)/ Collective Action Homework: Awesome! Homework!

Chapter 4/ Civil Rights Homework: Wow! This class is still interesting.

Chapter 5/ Paper Preparation/ Civil Liberties exercise:  Oh my God, I can’t stop taking notes.

Chapter 6/ Congress Homework:  Jesus, why do I care so much?

Chapter 7 and Chapter 8:  I'm still interested!

Chapter 9/ Judicial Decisions Homework:  The level of awesomeness of this class has reached critical levels.

Midterm/ Jeff Smith documentary: I want to be in Congress.

Chapter 11/ Research Paper/ Cong office visit:  Killed that paper.

Chapter 10/ Public Opinion Homework: What? I don’t want it to be over.

Chapter 12 and Chapter 13/ Interest Group Homework:  Dumb summer session. Why’d you have to be over?

Chapter 14 and Chapter 15: Yay, school’s almost over!


One more class, and then I get to be out for almost two months.  I have plenty of work to do, but am looking forward to a break from the day to day legwork of teaching.  So I second the last comment: Yay, school is almost over!

Happy Fathers' Day, Patrick... and thanks for the new floor!

Only the trim left to go and some details around the stairs... the couch (and the TV!) can go back.

We are all pretty tired at our house!