A day at the Garden

I was off work last Wednesday before Marissa's first day of school. I wanted to do something fun with her so I decided to take her to the Missouri Botanical Garden. One of my friends works there so we can get in for free and I also get some adult company while Marissa is playing in the kids area. I love to go to the Garden but I don't get to see alot of it because I end up hanging out in the kids area most of the time. Right now they have sculptures by an artist named Niki De Saint Phalle. I really like her artwork and it will only be there till October so I am trying to see it while it is in St. Louis. My friend that works at the Garden told me that Niki made a lot of the pieces to be used with water but no one had ever hooked it up with water until it came to the Garden.

Here is one of the sculptures with the water feature:

This picture was actually taken at a different trip over the summer.

Marissa and I in front of another sculpture.

Marissa in the Climatron. Marissa is wearing her swimsuit because there is a play area with water in the children's park and when she finished playing she still wanted to wear her swimsuit.

Marissa and mommy.

Lilly Garden

Kempf Family soccer player

Marissa has decided to start playing soccer for her school. Although this is my absolute least favorite sport I am trying to act excited for her. Well not really. I've decided to let Tim deal with this. I figure Tim will enjoy this anyway because him and his sister both played soccer. I'll probably just show for a few games. I must admit she does look cute in her soccer gear. Check it out:

Not only do I have to digest being the mother of a Kindergartner but now I am the mother of a Kindergartner that plays soccer (no, that does not make me a soccer mom). I swear, I will not be caught driving a mini van now. No offense to anyone who drives a mini van but that would be way too much for me: a mini van driving mom of a school age child that plays soccer. How could I possibly hold onto to the little bit of youth that I have left?

Marissa's first day

Last Thursday was Marissa's first day of Kindergarten. Yes, I had to say goodbye to my only baby. The first 3 years of Marissa's life I only worked at night or on the weekends when daddy or Aunt Michelle or any of her Grandparents watched her. When she entered preschool I worked while she was at preschool and also in the evening when my parents watched her. Her 2nd year of preschool I signed her up for extra classes and activities so that I could work about 30 hours a week. My point is, I have been with her alot over the past 5 years. For 3 years I took her to my Grandma's house every Friday for lunch. Last Friday was one of the 1st Fridays I was unable to do this because of school. In the last 5 years we have had trips to Loralie's house, the mall, the bridal shop, gymboree, Starbucks with Grandma, and anything else we could come up with to get out of the house and have a little fun. My mom has watched her every Monday for the last 5 years except for a year when she had to work on Mondays. Today is my mom's first Monday without her. Although she will get some time to herself she is still sad over not having her "fun day" with Marissa.
Well Marissa was not as sad as the rest of us. She could not wait to go to school. Aside from having to wear a uniform she was excited about everything else. We got her to bed early the night before (after a few tears over trying on the uniform:). Thursday she got dressed and was ready to go. She was so excited she even commented that the uniform wasn't so bad! My husband and I both went to drop her off. Here are 2 pics of her outside the back of the school:

She always has to pose and make faces.

Once we got into the classroom and she saw that everyone else really did have to wear the same type uniform she was even more excited (she thought we had made it up to torture her). We put her school supplies in her cubby and found her desk. I made the process take as long as possible. A few other moms had tears in their eyes but I was trying to keep composed. Finally the teacher assistant called the children over to listen to a story and we knew it was time to go. I said goodbye and my husband and I hurried to the car so I could shed my tears in privacy.

Ok, I know I'm being dramatic. But that's ok. It's a moms given right.

When I went to pick Marissa up she was just as excited as when I dropped her off. She loves school! (so far). She said she couldn't wait to go back the next day. While I wanted her to somewhat miss me I am quite relieved to know she is happy while I am at work. I made it through the 1st 2 days and now I just have to adjust to being the mother of a wonderful Kindergartner.

Here is a pic of Marissa washing her hands at the sink before we left. As you can see she is extremely happy to be there:

I'm famous

My friend Gregg has a blog that he keeps up with regularly. He is a very funny guy which you can tell from reading his blog. He has a lot of blog traffic and I recently joked with him that I would like to appear on his blog so that I could be famous. Amazingly enough, someone actually listened to me! I made it to his blog. Truly, I feel privileged. There is a link to his blog on my page. Check it out.
or click on the link below:http://www.onedadslife.typepad.com/

family day before school starts

Tim and I took off work Friday to spend time with Marissa before she started school. We wanted to go to Pickle Creek but because we only had a few hours so we went to Forest Park, The History Museum and then Wilmore Park.

Marissa at the Waterfall at Forest Park

Tim and Marissa at the Waterfall

The Waterfall at Forest Park

Tim and Marissa at Wilmore

Beaches I have been to in the past 3 years

Siesta Key, FL

July 2008

Hollywood, FL

July 2006

Ponte Verda Beach, FL

June 2007

Daytona Beach, Florida
July 2008

Cancun, Mexico

January 2008

I would have to say my favorite beach is Siesta Key, then Hollywood. My favorite water is Cancun. The only reason Cancun is not my favorite beach is because there was no sand to lay on. Only about a 6 foot stretch of sand. This pic shows how close the water was too our resort wall:

But the ocean water was warm and crystal clear.

I love these pics because the beach is my favorite place to go no matter what beach I go to. I hope to be able to go to the beach every year.

Goose Creek Saturday August 2nd

Saturday we went to Goose Creek with our friends Tom and Christine and their family and other friends. Marissa loves to swim in the lake all day. She swam from about 1:00pm till about 9:00pm. Here is a picture of Marissa in the lake.

After swimming everyone decided to sing Karaoke. The kids loved singing Hannah Montana.