Morning Entertainment

While one child immediately wants the TV turned on in the morning while she "wakes up", the other child...

entertains herself on the stairs reading book after book to herself. TV hasn't corrupted her completely yet!

Happy 30th Birthday Jeremy!

It's hard to believe my husband is 30 years old today! What's even harder to believe is that I will be following him in just 6 short months! Where does time go??? We are celebrating tonight by going out with the youth group for dinner, putt-putt, and then back to our house for ice-cream cake. Tomorrow night, as his present, I got a babysitter for the evening, and I am taking him to dinner (he hasn't decided where yet), and then to the Muny, an outdoor theater, to see Godspell. When I bought the tickets I was worried about sweating through a hot show, however, the high for tomorrow is 72, so I guess I'll need to bring a sweater instead!!! Originally I wanted to get him tickets to the All-Star game this past Tuesday night, but I had NO idea how expensive they were! Sorry honey! Hope Godspell is just as exciting! Happy birthday Jeremy!
Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Jeremy in 8th grade. Could those glasses get any bigger?

Pretending he is still young, slip-n-sliding with the youth group.

I fell in love with him when he was a mere 19 years old. 11 years, 2 kids, 1 bunny, 1 dog, 8 cars, 4 homes, 3 cities, 14 jobs later (whew!), look at us now!

Two New Favorite Words

This week Ansley has surprised us with two new words. Watch the video to see what they are!

Animal Sounds and Aunt/Uncle Shoutout

Here's Ansley showing off the animal sounds she knows and practicing saying the names of her aunts and uncles.

Row Your Boat

Here's a video of one of Ansley's favorite games to play.

Summer Sickness Stinks!

You can't tell it based on these pictures, but sickness has been taking over the Picker household! Last week on Monday, I had to take Kennedy to the doctor for the bladder infection I mentioned last post. Then, Wednesday, I had to take Ansley to the doctor to find out she had croup. (Of course this would all happen while our wonderful pediatrician is out of town for the week!) We had a leftover steroid from her last bout with croup in March, and the doctor we saw told us to give her that and then call on Friday if we needed another one. Since she wasn't improving, we called on Friday, only to find out the office was closed for the holiday! We talked to someone on the after hours line who told us we would have to take her to an after hours clinic. We held off, and finally on Saturday decided we needed to take her in. She had been having fevers near 104 for four days straight. They gave her another dose of steroids, and she has improved greatly since.

This week, Jeremy is in town, but staying on a campus of a college nearby, while the youth group is participating in a mission week here in St. Louis. My brother and his group from Houston are here helping as well. This afternoon the girls and I were on our way to the church offices to see everyone when Kennedy kept saying how cold she was. It was certainly not cold, but I didn't think much about it. Then at Jeremy's office she kept mentioning she had the "willies", or what most people refer to as goosebumps. She also fell asleep in the car twice today, which rarely happens. So when we got home, I decided to take her temperature, and sure enough, it was 101! So I don't know what's going on with her. Honestly, I'm not feeling great myself either. All I know is I'm ready for everyone to be healthy again!

In much better news, Ansley's sleep situation has greatly improved. We spent all last week trying to let her cry it out/comforting her/etc., and basically once we realized she was sick, doing whatever it took to get her to sleep! She still would cry every time we put her down to bed. I was dreading this week of being home alone and dealing with it. But wouldn't you know, that last night (my first night alone without Jeremy) she laid right down without a fuss and went to sleep? I thought maybe she was just really tired, but then she did the same thing at her nap today, and then again tonight! She started to stand up and acted like she was going to cry tonight, and just praised her for laying down so good and clapped and told her what a good girl she was, and she smiled at me, and laid back down. I haven't heard a peep from her since. That's not to say she won't end up in bed with me at some point tonight. She still has been getting into coughing fits and waking up, and the easiest way for us to both get some rest is to sleep in my bed. Who knows, with Kennedy not feeling well, I may have a crowded bed tonight...maybe it's a good thing Jeremy isn't here!