I found my camera

So the kids are asleep and Michael's out. I should be packing something. But I couldn't resist putting these online. The kids and I trekked down to the Botanical Gardens. Boy am I going to miss the cheap things there are to do in St. Louis. Look at the stinkin' tulips! Elliot is sitting here in a piece of art that is only temporarily at the gardens. He loved this thing. It was a big skull that you could climb around inside. We were there for over an hour, walking, playing in the children's garden, watching the brides get their picture taken. It was a perfect day to visit. Spring in St. Louis. Beautiful and cheap - 2 of my favorite ways to find things.

Moving

So we're packing. I'd show you what our house looks like, but I can't find the camera. Elsie is consistently sitting up now and only falls over occasionally. Elliot's favorite new hobby is to watch Michael play Wii. Yes, we have a Wii. Michael's Bible study bought it for him. You should have seen how happy he was. So for Elliot it's like watching interactive cartoons. The people in the Baseball game look like veggie tales to me. Every time Michael hits the ball I hear "That was a good hit!" from Elliot.

Anyway. The kids and I are flying to GA 2 weeks from today to do the great hand over to the grandparents. Then I fly back to help finish packing. We're leaving St. Louis during one of the most beautiful times of the year. I just love the tulips and flowering trees and greenery that's shooting out everywhere.

More later. There's an inspector coming to look at our house this morning. Elsie's rubbing her eyes. Must be first nap time. 7:10am. First nap. She starts early.

Peoria

This is Elsie's first experience with grass. I think she likes it. She eats like a horse here and loves grandma and grandpa. It was 70 degrees here yesterday, so we spent some time outside. Grandpa and Elliot took a stroller ride over to the train tracks where they saw no trains but lots of interesting equipment. Elliot, of course, hears the train whistle a mile before it comes and runs to Grandma. She picks him up and puts him on the counter where he watches the trains.

Anyway. It's a good place to be. We will severely miss grandma and grandpa.

We're moving here!

So, why are we selling our house? I guess I failed to mention that part. So, Michael has accepted a job as the campus minister for RUF (Reformed University Fellowship)in Savannah, GA at the Savannah College of Art and Design. This means many things, which I'm sure you'll hear about soon. The first one is that we must sell our house. We've been working on this for about a month now, and we have some prospects. Michael is currently in Savannah looking for an apartments, having some meetings, taking transfer exams, etc. We are hoping to pull out of St. Louis sometime around May 12th.

So, things are a little busy in St. Louis. We're excited about Savannah, and sad about St. Louis. I'm sure there will be many more posts in the days to come!

To Peoria

Just a note to say we're off to Peoria for a few days before the packing and official leaving of St. Louis begins. Here you see Michael and Elsie enjoying Messy Night. This is a phenomena in University City where kids and their parents come to a certain large room in a school up the street form our house. Available for the kids to play with are mud, crayons, markers, paint, colored water, bubble wrap, play-doh, and all kinds of other messy things. Elliot wanted NOTHING to do with anything messy. He just liked the water. And the play-doh. So here he is, fascinated with the mechanics of the water toys. Have a great week, everyone!

The zoo train

So for months, we stalked the zoo train. We listened for it. We watched it go by. We stopped in the middle of conversations about giraffes and zebras to listen to the whistle. We discussed the train stations and the tracks. Elliot's part of these dialogues had been slowly escalating from listening for the train to watching the train to finally the last time we were at the zoo I heard, "mama, RIDE train?"

"You want to ride it?" I asked. This was a big step from just admiring the train from afar, which seemed to scare Elliot a bit at times. I promised him that if he obeyed on the way home, he could tell papa that next time we went to the zoo, he and papa could actually ride the train.

You think little people sometimes forget things. They do. Vegetables, cleaning up, handwashing. But not trains. As SOON as I mentioned the zoo the other day - "Papa, RIDE TRAIN?" And so they did. And here they are, waiting in line with their tickets, (which Elliot is currently sleeping with as I type this) and riding through the wooded areas of the St. Louis Zoo. The kid was beside himself with joy, and then crushed when he actually had to get off. We wondered, if we let him, how long would he actually stay ON the train?

Close, but not quite

So on the way home last night, we were asking Elliot if he could tell us his name. The conversation went something like this...

Michael: Elliot, can you say your name?
E: Eh Gor
Michael: That's right. Can you say your full name? Elliot Atticus Gordon.
E: Eh Ass Gor

(Wild but muffled laughter from the front seats)

Chris: Can you say it again? Elliot At-ti-cus Gordon
E: Eh Ass Gor!

He was extremely pleased with himself. We were trying to praise him for trying in the midst of not being able to breathe/drive from laughing. When you see him, please ask him his name.

Just because she's so stinkin' cute

Just a publicly spoken thank you to God for the Bug. In the midst of not being able to sell our house and lots of grey, rainy days, Elsie continues to smile at me in the morning and laugh hysterically at her brother, just 2 of the things that I absolutely love about her. We're so thankful for this happy little girl.