It finally feels like Fall here in St. Louis and it's a welcomed season in this home. We love the changing of the leaves, the crisp air and the fires we get to light in our chiminea while sipping on some delicious wine!
With Fall also comes some other wonderful things:
snotty noses. More like constant running of the nose. Like a faucet. (okay maybe this isn't so wonderful...)
layers. We LOVE layers in this family. Okay, I love layers! :)
flip flops with sweatshirts. I am not sure why I love this so much, but it makes me happy.
soups and stews. It is the PERFECT weather to start the crock pot back up. We are having stew for dinner tomorrow. YUM!
Halloween. It is, for me, the beginning of the holiday season and I am SOOO excited for that season this year.
I hope everyone has a very happy Halloween and there WILL be a post update sometime next week on that!
Last weekend was such a blur. Scratch that, the last four weekends were such a blur! Lets go back two weekends ago. Saturday we had a few visitors out to the house. My Aunt Jo-Ann (Dad's sister) came in from D.C. for her Aunt's 80th birthday. She was able to meet Samantha for the first time and it was great to catch up with her. She made a valid point in saying that although she had never officially met Sam before that day, she felt like she knew her and what she had been up to because of Facebook. So true. Facebook has been wonderful in keeping in touch with family members who do not live in St. Louis. And shoot, its been wonderful for those family members who do and don't get to see her everyday! :)
So anyway, onto Saturday afternoon. I know I have mentioned it before, but I belong to a forum full of wonderful Mommies in the St. Louis area. We had our Fall Fest and it was fabulous! Thanks to the wonderful Elizabeth, we had lots of room to run around, paint pumpkins, win enter in a chili cookoff, jump on the trampoline, swing on the swing (which we did for quite some time) and eat eat eat!!! I can't remember the total anymore, but here is the bunch (excluding the Dads who took the pictures. At least they are good for somethin'!):
Sunday we headed out to Greg's parents' to help prepare for Carl and Cassie's wedding celebration. We then headed back to my parents' house to have dinner with them and my Grandparents. Always a good time and I love letting my grandparents' soak up time with Samantha. They just adore her and lately, she them! :)
The week started...the week ended...
This past weekend I had a bachelorette party on Saturday. We started at the wineries and had a blast. We rode there in style in a bright yellow school bus. It was rather nostalgic, minus the part that we were headed to the wineries. I guess I did go to Ste. Genevieve one year for school. It was for French class so I guess it still doesn't count. Oh well!
What was supposed to be about 8-10 hours of a party turned into 16. Yes that's right. This Momma partied like she was back in college. I did acquire the nickname from my MIL in college of "Party Girl". I am not quite sure where it came from, but I assume it was from the first Berger Christmas Party that I attended and fell into the Christmas tree. That was after "one glass of Bailey's", right Dad?!
:) Anyhoo, that is for another time, after a few cocktails. So I was without my husband and daughter from 9 am until 2 am the next day. I hate to say it, but GLORIOUS! I think I would miss them more, buuuuuuut I needed that night out!
It was also a really good bonding day for Sam and Greg. She pooped, took off her diaper and spread it all over her bed while "napping". Such a good little girl! :)
Sunday we headed back out to Greg's parents' house to do the same ol' thing! :)
we danced on the way:
We played in the leaves:
We had a grand ol' time!
Now this weekend starts our 3 weekends full of weddings! I am rather excited about the one this weekend as it is SURE to be a good time! Update possibly later...probably in about 3 weeks! ;0)
I am pretty sure I have it. This morning around 1:30, I woke up to MAJOR stomach cramps. I mean so crampy I thought that I had done 1000 situps or something. So crampy that my back ached from neck to rear. So crampy that I had to go sleep on the couch and every once in a while hug my porcelain pillow. I have never had food poisoning before, so I wasn't sure that's what it was, but after reading symptoms and what causes it, I am pretty certain.
Last night I made these sandwiches for the second time this weekend. (So not good for you but SOSOO YUMMY!) We didn't have enough of the newer turkey so I ate some of the older turkey(open about 2 weeks, but it smelled fine and and still had a couple of weeks until expiring). Little did I know it was no longer good. Apparently, Listeria is a bacteria that causes food poisoning. It is also found in some pre packaged meats like lunch meat. Like the lunch meat I had last night. Oy.
I am still feeling a tad bit queasy and the kids and I are taking it rather easy. Here's hoping its done by nap time because I have TONS of cleaning to do!!
This past Tuesday I hosted a playdate with some StLouisMommies and it was a blast! Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!!
Bean and Vaeh playing in the sandbox.
More sandbox fun!
Playing with Finnegan. This was just as much of a playdate for him as it was for the kiddos and mommas!
Hanging out, chatting, playing!!
Please excuse the lack of lawncare. We've been so busy on the weekends that its been rather neglected! But after three hours outside today, its as beautiful as ever! :)
