Science Night

Science Night at Hannah's school.  They had free pizza, lots of animals and hands-on science.  Hannah and Olive really loved the planetarium.  We thought they would never come out.  

Hannah was really into dissecting owl pellets...until she turned green and thought she was going to throw up!  She took a break in the bathroom and she was back ready to explore.

Wonderscope Field Trip

One of the best things about being a stay-at-home mom is being able to do field trips with Hannah.  There is no way I could take off work and be this involved in her class if I had my own class.  Her third field trip this year was to Wonderscope.  Olive tagged along and she blended right in with my group of six kindergarten girls.

Science City with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa stayed with us for a weekend to babysit while we went to Steve's work party.  We took them to Science City, a planetarium show on Black Holes, and walked to Crown Center for dinner at Fritz's.

three Olives would scare me, too

digging dinosaur bones

our favorite sand table

giant Hannah finger

inside Union Station

The teenage stare is starting younger and younger...

Friday Family Fun Night

This is how we roll on Friday night.  Free gym time and swim time at Sylvester Powell.  These girls CAN NOT WAIT until summer to do more swimming.

Elsa and Anna

I present Princess Anna and Queen Elsa of Arendelle:

Superstar Sisters

The girls call themselves "Superstar Sisters" so I got them some matching star sweatshirts for Christmas.  They made sure to match their pants and socks, too.

Extreme Bugs

Extreme Bug exhibit at Union Station.  We got a discount because of our membership, but I still didn't think it was worth the money.  The information as for older kids so we breezed through it very fast.  It wasn't as interactive as I thought it would be.  

This is her mean face because she is a spider.

First Movie

The girls went to their very first movie in a theater and it was....Frozen.  I saw it advertised as a special event at Union Station's Extreme Screen.  It is KC's biggest screen AND it was only $2 a person AND it was the sing along edition so they didn't have to be quiet.  It was the perfect first movie.  Olive got a little antsy and switched back and forth between sitting on me and her own seat, but she did great.  An hour and a half is a long time for an active three-year-old to stay in one place!

Nelson-Atkins

A cold day is a good day for some art museum fun.  We did the museum's scavenger hunt.  Their favorite thing was the miniature exhibit on loan from the Toy & Miniature Museum.

New Year's Eve in St. Louis

We were in St. Louis Monday-Friday the week of New Year's.  Steve had to work in St. Louis and we tagged along.  Monday night we stayed in a hotel (which I realize the girls haven't done since Olive was a baby!) and went swimming in their pool.  Very exciting for the girls.  Tuesday while Steve was at work, we checked out the World Bird Sanctuary and Lone Elk Park that were close to our hotel.  And we found a cake!

The condor was huge!

 The world bird sanctuary had two indoor exhibits with all kinds of animals, but most of the birds were on a walking trail.  We only saw a few because it was freezing!  Luckily we could stay in the car in Lone Elk Park.  The drive was really cool and it would be amazing in the fall.

The elk walked right in front of our car!  I think I was the only one excited by this.

Tuesday-Friday we stayed at Casa McGuire.  The McGuires have been hunting for cakes all year long to celebrate St. Louis' 250th birthday.  December 31 was the last day to see cakes, so we made the most of it.  There were lots in one spot...

And we also drove around to get a few more.  FBC: The church traces its roots back to the first protestant church for African-Americans in St. Louis, organized in 1817.

Scott Joplin House:  Joplin's former residence and only museum in the world dedicated to him.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: founded in 1878 by Joseph Pulitzer

This is what we looked like driving around...

After all that cake-hunting we ate at Crown Candy Kitchen- the oldest soda fountain in St. Louis.  I appreciated the history...and the milkshake.

Walter came to St. Louis!  He thought he had only been to their house once and it was before Gwyn was born.  Here he is on their finished tree house.

For New Year's Eve, the McGuires invited some friends over for a fun night of tacos and games.  Here is Taco getting his taco. :)

We divided up into teams for Game Olympics.  One game involved trying to pick up a cereal box without using your hands.  It started as a full box and part of it was cut away each round.  It ended up being the size of a stamp.  Some people (not I) were still able to pick it up.  Most surprising fact of the night: Walter was one of them!

I believe my team finished in 2nd place and Steve's team (including Jane and Walter) took first, but I really can't remember.  Hmmmmm.....maybe I should write these blog posts closer to the event.  That probably should have been my New Year's resolution.