Charlie's Baptism (January)

It has been a long, long time but I want to get back to posting memories here. First, however, I must make a few posts about the most important highlights since I last posted.

In January Charlie turned 8! He had made the decision to be baptized so on January 20th he was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

It was a dark, snowy and bitterly cold evening. Really terrible weather. The font water was not only really cold but really shallow as well (something had gone wrong with the drain). Charlie ended up having to go under twice but he did it. He was baptized and confirmed by Keith.

Granny B, Grandpa Joe and Keith's brothers and their families were there making it extra special for Charlie. Tragically the picture of the entire group was lost. (Mental note: always make sure an important picture is taken on two devices.)

Despite what the previous pictures look like, Jane was pretty excited for her brother.

We are proud of you Charlie and the great choices you are making. Sure love you my Charlie Boy!

Back to School

This is our first year with both kids in school! Jane has started preschool and Charlie is in second grade.

His mouth has been keeping the tooth fairy busy and I love his smile. He is liking his teacher so far.

Some old and new faces at the bus stop. Charlie and his friend Roman are in the same class this year again and they both are super happy about that. 

 Jane goes to pre-school for three hours in the afternoon Monday-Thursday. She also loves her teacher.

 After meet-the-teacher night, Jane came home and drew hearts all over both sides of this piece of paper. On the first day of school she took it with her to give to her teacher.

As for me, I'm planning on spending more quality time with Marvin (my cello) now that I have time to myself. :)

Sarah Saves the Day

When we heard the exciting news that Shawn and Sandra were going to be married in the Mexico City LDS temple we were thrilled. Of course both Keith and I wanted to be there to support them and to visit Mexico. It quickly became clear though that unless someone was found who could take on Charlie's school schedule and PKU diet, I wouldn't be able to go. I racked my mind for the longest time. All of my friends here had kids of their own that needed to get to school as well, none of which went to Charlie's school. Further more I couldn't see asking any of them to take on Charlie's diet. My parents are in Ghana, Liz just had a baby, and Sarah had two small kids of her own. However, she seemed like the best option and I knew I could trust her completely to take on it all especially Charlie's diet.

So I called her fully expecting her to turn me down. Much to my surprise she said a very enthusiastic yes! We planned for some "fun" days before we left for Mexico and had a great time introducing them to some of the main attractions of St. Louis. Those days were also used to prepare her for the task ahead. We meal planned (including Charlie's meals and lunches), went over school schedules and bedtime routines. I explained to Charlie and Jane multiple times that Aunt Sarah would do some things differently while we were gone and prayed that it would all go well. Or at least that Sarah wouldn't have her bags packed and ready to catch the first flight home once we returned. 

The doctor kit is always a hit with these two. They got along splendidly.

The butterfly house!

The Blue Morpho butterfly is Jane's favorite. Usually they are difficult to take a picture of because as soon as they land they close their wings exposing the underside which is mostly brown. This one is the first I have seen that kept it's wings open. They only live for a few weeks so there is a good chance that it was just old and tired.

Across the hall from the large glass butterfly room is a small room where there are various activities for kids to do. They change frequently so we popped in to see what was there. One of the activities was pretending to be an entomologist and sort "chrysalises" by shape.

Night time stories with Aunt Sarah were big hits. For several days after Sarah left, every time I read to Jane she would stop me and ask me to do a certain character's voice "the way Aunt Sarah does."

No visit to St. Louis would be complete without a trip to the zoo...

(Braids courtesy of Aunt Sarah.)

...and the science center! This was the activity Charlie requested we save to do on Saturday when he could come. So even though he evaded the camera, he was there. :)

Sarah the engineer designing a nuclear power plant.

The Discovery room is great. Among other things, it is completely contained. That means that for the hour we are in there I can relax a bit and turn off my high alert mommy mode that is constantly on in crowded places. The kids like it because there is a limit to the number of people in there each hour so they get to play with more things. It is also focused more on little kids so it is Jane's favorite part of the science center.


Grant and Jane quickly went over to the space center. Jane picked up the play astronaut helmet and plopped it on Grant's head.

Jane is very particular about her outfits these days. She wore her butterfly shirt to the butterfly house, her "zebra" shirt to the zoo, so she wanted to wear a "sciencey" shirt to the science center. Her shape shirt fit the bill. Her desire to coordinate clothes with activities rubbed off on Grant so he wore his dinosaur shirt.

Last, but not least, Sarah brought the ties that my mom had picked out in Ghana and shipped to Sarah to distribute to the male members of the family. Keith, Charlie and Grant all wore them for the first time to church on Sunday. Charlie thought it was pretty neat to have a real tie that ties like daddy's, as opposed to a clip on tie. They were a big hit!

And the next day (and all too soon) Keith and I were off to Mexico!

Chef Charlie

Last month the St. Louis metabolic clinic put together a PKU cooking class. Keith and I had been to a couple in previous years but this was the first time for Charlie. He was super excited. 

The class was partially sponsored by BioMarin, a pharmaceutical company specializing in "orphan" drugs for rare disorders. They make the drug Kuvan which is written on all of the aprons. While we ate we listened to a presentation by an adult with PKU. It was a treat to listen to a successful adult with PKU. Her story and the stories of other PKU adults leading "normal" lives while taking complete responsibility of their diet, inspires me to help Charlie become like that. So when he leaned over to me near the end of her presentation and whispered that he wants to be like her when he grows up, it made my heart smile.

 Chef Kevin taught the class. Not only is he a professional chef, but he is also the father of a son with PKU so he totally understands the lifestyle. Keith and I have gone to ones in the past with chefs that don't have a personal connection to PKU. They were still good, but it really is great when the chef has first hand knowledge of cooking for the restricted diet, having to modify plans on the fly depending on what else has been eaten that day, how to add flavor without adding more phe, etc.

 There were several different recipes to make so we split into groups with each group working on one recipe. Later we would eat and get the printed recipes for all of them. Charlie and I were in the team that made Cilantro Lime Riced Cauliflower.

 Keith was in the Bananas Foster group.

 Keith was pretty excited about that.

It was served over low-phe coconut ice cream. Mmmmm. You are all invited for dessert anytime. Keith would love an excuse to make fire.

On the way home Charlie was going through his goodie bag and reading everything in there that had words. (He will read almost anything these days.) He fell asleep while reading the fine print on the Kuvan information. :)

Take Me Out to The Ballgame

Last month Charlie's school had a "Crossroads Day at the Cardinals" event. Tickets were available through the school at a good discount. Charlie desperately wanted to go. He says that Cardinals are his favorite base ball team, even if it is just because we live in Cardinals country.

The seats were up in the nose bleeds but they were actually pretty good seats.

We won but i'm pretty sure the main reason I had a good time was due to the company. It was fun to have a date with my guys. I'm a lucky lady.

Winter in St. Louis

We have been keeping busy this winter. Here is a photo dump of some of what we have been up to...

Paul and Jenae and family spent a day with us shortly after Christmas on their way to Arizona. It was super cold so we took them to the science center. One of the places in the science center the kids tend to always go is the Mars Rover room. Specifically the place where you get to build your own.

Then you give it a test drive.

 Keith made one for Jane with a bit of her help.

One of the things Charlie has wanted to do for the longest time has been to ride to the top of the Arch. Keith had time off after Christmas so we decided to go.

Waiting for the little door to open so we can enter our tram "pod" that will take us to the top.

Only 5 little seats per pod. It was like being inside a large egg with a glass door so you can see out into the inside of the arch. The engineering behind the whole process is fascinating to me. The actual engineers in the family would think it is pretty cool.

Little windows at the top!

One of the things that was a big seller for Keith in our house was the basement that is almost completely unfinished. He worked in construction and this was a blank canvas that made him giddy. The part of the basement that is finished is fairly small and we really wanted to open it up more to give the kids and their friends a bigger place to play and go crazy without driving me crazy. So we are finishing a section of the basement and will knock out the wall in between it and the original finished section. Keith has enjoyed having a project, especially during the winter.

Molly likes to follow me down and sniff around the construction area while I am there. Whenever we send her out she is right there on the other side of the door waiting for us. The framed in box looking thing in the corner goes aroung the sump pump. However, the sump pump pipes aren't that tall so Keith framed in a raised floor for a reading nook that will have little steps going up to it. It has been fun to brainstorm various ideas of how to make the space fun for the kids.

The kids get so excited when Keith has a job that they can help with!

The flu season has been bad across the country this year and we didn't escape it. It hit some of us twice! It melts my heart to see how kind Charlie and Jane are when a family member is sick. They run to get their favorite stuffed animal or doll and give it to the sick person to help them feel better. Not long ago Keith and I were both sick at the same time. Ugh. Jane took her two most loved dolls and gave one to each of us so we could sleep with them instead of her. They draw pictures, cover the person with their own blankets and tell them over and over how very sorry they are that you are sick. Charlie likes to help Jane feel better by reading her books when she is sick. 

 Charlie had a birthday!!! 7 years!!! Can you believe it? He is such a kind-hearted, inquisitive, energetic kid. We love him to pieces.

 Speaking of which, he read in a book one day about a neat way to see the patterns that salt makes as it melts through ice, so naturally we had to do it. You sprinkle salt on ice then add food coloring which lets you see the veins of water left behind by the salt crystals as the melt deeper and deeper into the ice. It looks more impressive in real life and with clear ice, which we didn't have.

 We also made slime for the first time. It was more fun making it than playing with it! Or at least I think so.

 We added glow in the dark paint to ours as well. :)

 We don't have many days where we are going out in public so Jane has been choosing her own clothes with little say, if any, from me. This particular day made me laugh. She was wandering around obviously frustrated about something when she found her cat ears. She got a huge smile on her face, put them on her head, and proclaimed: "Perfect! Now I'm a princess!!!" I'm not sure what cat ears have to do with being a princess, but then again I am not a 4-year old.

And last but not least Charlie is doing great in school. They recently celebrated the 100th day of school and he got these glasses. I don't know how well he could see in them but he managed to complete his spelling words while wearing them!

Let the good times continue! (And I will try not to get too far behind...)