Mariel really enjoys singing her own made up songs.  Since the musical, her melodies have changed a bit but her creativity in lyrics remains quite remarkable.  It is hard for us to walk a fine line between nonchalant recognition ("That's a nice song, hon."), paying what is considered too much attention (which results in a teenager like storm of totally unwarranted rage, such as "FINE. I am NOT going to sing for you anymore if you keep talking!"), and laughing hysterically.  Walking home from the 4th of July parade, her song lasted about 15 minutes.  Some snippets:

I love God
God loves me
He loves me when I am good
and when I make bad choices
He loves Noella
Even though she bites...

...I try
to be kind
and to share
and not
to eat hot dogs with ketchup
in my bed
that would be
a bad choice
and would maaaake
a biiiiiiig
meeeessssss!
_ _ _ _
Today marks 6 days without hives, 9 days without visiting a doctor. 
This afternoon, Noella was pretty grumpy and I carried her around in her Snugli.  She started to fall asleep so I put the carrier in the front position instead of the backpack.  We went downstairs for dinner.  Patrick and I asked her if she wanted to eat and she shook her head no.  I walked over to her seat, and she shook her head again.  She coughed and made a funny noise, and I said "I don't think I want to give her any dinner if she does not feel well."  Patrick says "She's fine!  She was coughing like that all morning."  Noella immediately vomits all over herself, me, and the floor.  She did not eat any dinner.

More adventures with Lexi:

We went to the zoo with friends (and a great new hairstyle):

(Noella and Freddie holding hands only lasted a moment, but it was cute!)

We had to make it to Ted Drewe's, the classic St. Louis frozen custard place, for Noella and Lexi's first taste of perfection:

Visiting Ted Drewe's for the first time is sort of like being in a foreign country.  There is usually a mass of people (late at night, this often spills out into the middle of the street, and people walk across lanes of traffic with abandon), which mills about with no apparent order in front of a dozen windows.  There is clear order once you know the rules- you pick your window, place your order (all of the custard is vanilla, the options are what you get mixed in), and step to the side.  When its ready you are called by order.  Then you can either rejoin the mob and mingle, or do what most people do and sit in or on your car to enjoy your custard.  There are no tables or benches, so it usually looks like a strange tailgate party.  Noella was NOT happy when she had to let go of her bowl.

And this morning, we went to the Webster Groves 4th of July parade:

... and said goodbye to Lexi.  Thanks for visiting!

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.