The StL Steeles

Christmas tree

2011-12-12T15:38:00.002-06:00

Cuddle buddies

2011-12-12T15:35:00.000-06:00

2011-12-12T15:31:00.000-06:00

Our missional community group is reading this book right now:

The other day, Cora was studying the book, then went and got a piece of paper and a pencil, came back and copied the word "God" from the book onto her paper (3 letters on the right). It was so cute. I've been really surprised by her level of interest and desire to learn since I've started schooling Miriam a little bit.

Magic House Homeschool Day

2011-12-12T15:18:00.001-06:00

We're really enjoying all that St Louis has to offer for homeschool families, including special days at The Magic House!

Walker looks like the grandson of a couple grain farmers!

Lest I forget...

2011-12-12T14:58:00.000-06:00

I took all three kids to the pediatrician for their annual "well-child visits" a week and a half ago. Good times. I have to document the trip for my own sake, if not for anyone else's. As soon as we arrived, two or three of us needed to go potty (of course), so I asked the nurse if we could go back and use the restroom before we sat down in the waiting room. She informed me that they wanted urine specimens from the girls; Walker wasn't old enough for that yet (although he probably would have been the easiest one to get to pee in a cup). We get to the bathroom and Miriam decides to go first because Cora is insisting that she will NOT go potty in the cup. Miriam sits on the toilet for a L-O-N-G time... seemed like at least 5 minutes, and just could not go. Like most public restrooms, this one has a door with the lever-type handle as opposed to a knob and those things are just fascinating for 2-year-olds. Walker is trying to open the door and escape, so I have to put one foot in front of the door and basically do the splits (with my 27-week-pregnant belly to aid in my balancing) so that I can also reach across the bathroom to catch the girls' urine while they're sitting on the toilet. Miriam finally gives up and decides to try again later and Cora has miraculously decided that she's willing to give it a go. She sits up on the toilet and provides me with a generous sample immediately. We wash up and exit the bathroom and of course by this time, there's no need for us to wait in the waiting room because we've killed PLENTY of time in the bathroom. We go over to measure everyone's height and weight which was [relatively speaking] uneventful. Then the nurse asks Miriam to do a basic sight test and she very definitively refuses. We finally give up, go into our exam room, go through all the pediatrician's questions, he takes a look at everybody, we decide which shots they need, etc. Other than the climbing all over everything (floor, table, chairs) and the girls not really being willing to answer the doctor's questions, this part went pretty well. Then, once he went out to let the nurse know who needed which shots, Miriam decided that she was now ready to go potty. We all head back to the bathroom and Mim is successful. In the meantime, Walker completely loses it because he is the only one who has NOT gotten to pee in a cup. Seriously... We go back across the hall to wait for shots and the nasal mist flu vaccine and when the nurse comes in, Cora is beside herself because she's the only one who does NOT get a shot... and you know how it works - at the pediatrician's office, shots mean cool bandaids! I finally sheepishly asked the nurse if we could just have a bandaid for Cora even though she didn't need one and the nurse graciously complied. We get everyone appropriately vaccinated and they get their stickers and bandaids and all and on the way out, the kids go to make a routine stop at the candy bowl (this seems like a necessary evil to me... candy from the doctor...?!?). Anyway, there was no candy that day. That may have been our first visit ever where there was no candy, which I was actually quite pleased by, but again, Cora came unglued. We managed to get out of there, got buckled into the car and came straight home. Thank goodness we had stopped by the store on the way TO the doctor instead of needing to on the way FROM the doctor!
I love that their three birthdays are so close together that we can do all their checkups at once. As challenging as it is to take them all at the same time, I figure we're reducing our germ-exposure, right?!? I'm so thankful to have three healthy, passionate, wonderful children and can't wait to see what #4 is like!

Walker's 2nd Birthday - November 5, 2011

2011-12-12T14:33:00.000-06:00

Another note about cake... Walker's big sisters had decided that his cake should have red frosting and even though we used every drop of red food coloring we had in the house, we still couldn't really get it to be red. The "W2" was their idea, too. :)

Miriam's 5th birthday - October 13, 2011

2011-12-12T14:13:00.000-06:00

(A little note about the cake... after I had added the requested elements to the frosting, Miriam decided that it also needed a flower, so she added that flower herself... in about 15 seconds. Her artistic talent is just amazing to Joel and I - something that both of us lack. The only reason there's a little extra glob on part of the flower is because of an air bubble in the tube of food coloring gel. She's such a great artist - praise the Lord for His gifts!!!)

Cardinals game

2011-09-22T17:12:00.001-05:00

A couple weeks ago, we left Walker with some friends and took the girls to a Cardinals game.
Tickets: $0.47
Hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn and ice cream: $30
Memories: priceless!

Ukrainian Red Borscht Soup

2011-09-21T21:16:00.001-05:00

This little guy just finished eating this (minus the sausage (didn't want to include) and cabbage (didn't have on hand)). He couldn't get enough of it! He had three helpings for supper two nights in a row and then finished off the leftovers for lunch the next day. Mommy and Daddy thought it was really delicious too! Thank you to Uncle Micah and Aunt Jamie for sharing their beets. Today we made some yummy chocolate cupcakes with beets in them.

Sharing summer sweets

2011-09-19T10:34:00.000-05:00

Peach picking

2011-09-19T10:27:00.000-05:00

Aunt Ali came to stay with us for a week back in early August and we went peach picking at Eckerts!

Three cute farmgirls

2011-06-27T16:31:00.000-05:00

Taking a little break on the Gator from feeding calves with Aunt Ali on Memorial Day weekend

Backblogged: Cora's 3rd birthday - December 18, 2010

2011-06-15T15:36:00.001-05:00

You may notice a theme.

Yellow miniature roses

[Yellow] Pumpkin soup

Homemade dinner rolls made with lard (one of Cora's favorites)

Yellow cake with yellow frosting and homemade yellow ice cream

The birthday girl in a yellow shirt with a yellow ponytail holder...

...(who does NOT like to be the center of attention)...

...but with a little help from her older (but not bigger) sister, she was able to get the candles blown out.

Hiding behind a pile of yellow presents, which included...

a yellow Funshine Care Bear costume...

yellow tennis shoes (because she still insisted on wearing only her yellow crocs)...

yellow memo pads and colored pencils... among other things.

[I adore this hair, these eyelashes, cheeks and lips.]

...all followed by a nap with Grandma Gwennie. Sounds like a pretty fun third birthday!

And I just had to capture this on video. I think that by "at" Miriam actually meant "for" :)

A first...

2011-06-01T16:44:00.000-05:00

I painted our girls' toenails for the first time today. Cousin Naomi had her toenails painted when we were all together a week ago and Cora has been asking me to paint hers ever since. As you'll see from the picture, there was obviously no pedicure involved... we actually painted their nails at the playground so Walker was adequately entertained. The pretty toenails quickly got scuffed up and the feet got dirty, but that's perfectly okay with this mommy!

And here's this guy just because he's cute.

Who says we have a sinful nature?

2011-05-30T18:06:00.000-05:00

This evening our whole family was just sitting around the living room hanging out. The girls were on the couch reading a book and Walker was next to them playing with a balloon. After a while, Walker made his way to Miriam and leaned in to bite Miriam's leg, but Steph scolded him before he could complete the task. Even though she never got bit, Miriam attempted to retaliate. Here's how that went:

Steph to Miriam: Miriam! Don't bite Walker!
Miriam: I wasn't. I was just closing my mouth and Walker's arm got in the way.

That. Is. Classic.

Weekend at Grandma & Grandpa Steele's

2011-05-25T02:37:00.002-05:00

New kitchen table

2011-05-24T20:59:00.000-05:00

We had a local cabinet maker build us a table and bench recently to match some chairs we already had. Here is the finished product.

Table for five outside, please

2011-05-24T20:53:00.000-05:00

We've been blessed to have had several opportunities to eat outside on our patio this "spring". It's nice because don't have to vacuum under the table after mealtime. And we don't yell at our kids to keep their dirty hands off the furniture as much either. They think we eat outside to enjoy the weather. I think we do it so that our sinful nature isn't AS obvious.

Walker's new fort

2011-05-24T20:44:00.000-05:00

Walker has a new place to get away from the daily abuse the girls impose on him. He thinks it is pretty sweet until he latches the door which only opens from the outside.

Sisters

2011-04-20T14:18:00.000-05:00

And the favorite color is...

2011-02-08T15:39:00.000-06:00

Back in August (before we were sure the favorite color would really stick), we got Cora a pair of yellow crocs. As is evidenced below, she was elated. The problem then became that the weather got colder and she wouldn't wear anything else on her feet. We fixed that at her birthday... but that wasn't until mid-December.

She insisted on wearing the new crocs to bed that first night, so here she is (probably dreaming of yellow).

An explanation

2011-02-08T15:04:00.000-06:00

You see... the reason I don't get more blogging done is because I am constantly monitoring absolutely every action of each of my three children... as is evidenced by the photo below.

I also want to draw the attention to the fact that there are multiple colors present. This was not a single incident. We all learn slowly; maybe the initial punishment wasn't severe enough. :)

Backblogged: Miriam's 4th birthday

2011-02-03T16:09:00.001-06:00

For those of you still gracious enough to be checking our blog, thank you and I'm sorry. I feel like I'm always apologizing about being behind. But even if no one ever looks at this, I want to have this record of what has been going on in our lives at this stage. Thanks to the encouragement of a sweet friend who is catching up her blog, I am less embarrassed about how far behind I really am here. Anyway... I wanted to document and share a few things about Miriam's 4th birthday back on October 13, 2010.

Miriam picked a treat from our Fairies Cookbook (Thank you Aunt Hannah):

Marshmallow Pops

(I intentionally left out the additional fairy-esque part of the name)

Those of you who know me well know that I have basically NO creative ability or artistic tendencies, so this was a big leap for me. I was really pleased with how they turned out. While I was making them (during naptime, of course!), God gently reminded me of how when I was pregnant with Miriam I didn't feel like I knew how to be a mommy to a girl. For some reason, I'd always pictured myself as a mommy of boys. So, as God always does in his perfect wisdom, he blessed me with two girls before I became a mommy of a boy. And then He showed me that even I - in my uncreativeness and unartisticness - can make Fairy Princess Marshmallow Pops for a 4th birthday party.

Then we used a pie pumpkin from our CSA as a base for four pops holding one candle each.

Isn't she precious!

Boring presents from Mommy and Daddy... clothes and shoes! ;)

The next day, Miriam received a special delivery from Grandma and Grandpa - 4 big pink roses complete with a pink polka dot ribbon!

That weekend, Grandma and Grandpa Steele came for a visit and we had a real birthday cake to celebrate. Those are the birthday girl's four little fingers in the picture - totally by accident!

Sweet pad

2010-11-18T15:45:00.000-06:00

Daddy brought a huge, sturdy cardboard box home from work a couple weeks ago, installed a door and a window and the kids have been having a blast with it. It's big enough that all 5 of us can fit in..... if we're in the mood to cuddle.

Peering out the door

Picture taken through the window from the outside

Miriam swats away an unwanted potential home invader

Daddy's little helper

2010-11-18T15:33:00.000-06:00

Daddy, did you say you needed the 7/16" wrench or the 1/2" wrench? They put these things in here so tight you have to stand on the whole thing to get a single wrench out!

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!

2010-11-05T14:27:00.003-06:00

Disclaimer: Walker does not have a permanent blemish between his eyes. It's just that he consistently takes so many tumbles that you can always count on a bruise/scab/mark of some sort either between his eyes or on his forehead at all times. (And for those of you who notice, yes, I realize that 'always' and 'at all times' in the same sentence is redundant but I'm choosing overemphasis instead of proper gramatics.) ;)

Happy 4th Birthday, Miriam!

2010-10-13T10:19:00.000-05:00

We love you, sweetheart!!!

Update

2010-10-13T10:07:00.000-05:00

Yes, we're still here... a brief update about what's going on with us:

Miriam has an ear infection (after a multi-week cold... who doesn't have a runny nose right now?)
Cora is undergoing a bit of intestinal/digestive 'cleansing' and dealing with some significantly irritating dermatitis/eczema.
Walker survived a terrible fall down our basement stairs (wooden, steep and narrow with a concrete wall on one side and a concrete floor at the bottom) with no injuries other than some big scrapes which are now scabs on his scalp... ONLY by the grace of God (and I mean that in the most literal way possible). Praise God for protecting our precious little guy!

Peaches

2010-09-09T08:23:00.000-05:00

At the peak of peach season, we had the opportunity to go out to Eckert's Orchard over in Illinois and each of the kids could pick a free bag of peaches (Walker included). It was one of the hottest days of the summer, but we didn't let that stop us.

Our friend Noah didn't waste any time savoring the sweet rewards of his labor

After some lunch, we [thoroughly] enjoyed some ice cream before we got back in the van to head home.

We came home with over 17 pounds of free peaches! Look at that loot!!! And all it cost was a whole LOT of sweat and one incidence of Miriam stripping off her dress and running around throwing a fit in her underwear and shoes in front of a bunch of strangers. A small price to pay... :)

StL summer fun

2010-09-08T09:21:00.000-05:00

Despite the stifling summer heat, we enjoyed spending time with some of our neighbors during a block party recently. The girls had a TON of fun playing in a sprinkler in the middle of the street since the street was closed off for the evening and Walker sat and dripped sweat like it was his job. Doesn't he make sweaty look cute?!?

2010-09-08T09:17:00.002-05:00

2010-09-08T08:59:00.000-05:00

Our third July birthday

2010-09-08T08:14:00.000-05:00

Grandma Gwennie's birthday! (In case you notice that the girls are in their pajamas, I want to provide the disclaimer that it was late at night and not first thing in the morning that they were eating Gooey Butter Cake. :) Although I'm pretty sure it would make a delicious breakfast too!)

Another birthday

2010-09-07T16:20:00.000-05:00

July is a big month for birthdays... Daddy's birthday... then Grandpa Steve's birthday... then Grandma Gwennie's birthday!!! And it just so happened that we got to celebrate with each of those three people this July. (Pictures from Grandma Gwennie's birthday are yet to come.)

Cuddles

2010-09-06T15:33:00.001-05:00

Teeth!

2010-09-03T14:04:00.000-05:00

Walker cut his first two bottom teeth around 8 months.

Random cuteness

2010-09-03T13:57:00.000-05:00

Connect the dots between the second picture and the finger in the bottom of the first picture

Daddy's birthday

2010-09-03T13:54:00.000-05:00

Walker's reaction when he found out he didn't get any cake

Fun in the fountains

2010-09-03T13:28:00.002-05:00

Our mechanic makes house calls

2010-09-03T11:34:00.001-05:00

Walker Allen

2010-09-03T09:04:00.001-05:00

Cora Mae

2010-09-03T09:01:00.000-05:00

Keeping up with big sisters

2010-09-03T08:43:00.000-05:00

Daddy's girls (and little man too)

2010-09-03T08:27:00.000-05:00

Pool action

2010-09-03T08:12:00.002-05:00

I want to remember...

2010-09-02T16:24:00.003-05:00

For quite some time, Miriam has been saying "anything" when she means "nothing."
-Mommy/Daddy: "Miriam, what are you doing? Or what do you have behind your back?" Etc, etc... you can imagine the many scenarios.
-Miriam: "Anything?"
Recently, Miriam is often reminiscing about "When I was a little girl..."

Cora's world revolves around the color yellow. She is passionate about it. It's really pretty neat to see... except when you go to the store and she points out and wants to buy every single thing that is yellow. We will post pictures later to prove the infatuation.
If Cora offers to share something with you and you refuse - even politely - she is completely crushed and tears will well up in her eyes and sometimes she won't talk to you for several minutes.

A favorite

2010-09-02T16:17:00.000-05:00

One of mommy's favorites of the girls together this summer

Different personalities

2010-09-02T16:06:00.001-05:00

When I get the camera out, Miriam feels like she needs to be the center of attention while Cora often runs and hides. You can see glimpses into that personality difference through this series of shots.

Playtime

2010-09-02T15:58:00.001-05:00

Morning glories

2010-09-02T15:55:00.001-05:00

Fourth with friends

2010-09-02T15:49:00.002-05:00

The kids played...

...and then the guys set off these.

Who says you can't have fun in the city?!?

Summer concerts in the park

2010-09-02T15:38:00.001-05:00

2010-08-31T09:57:00.002-05:00

7 wonderful years

2010-08-31T09:55:00.000-05:00

We celebrated our 7th anniversary this summer by going out to dinner and seeing Wicked at The Fox Theater.

Drop and give me twenty

2010-08-31T09:45:00.001-05:00

Discipline starts early around our house.

And a few minutes later...

Blessings

2010-08-31T09:41:00.000-05:00

I realize why we don't have as many pictures of Walker by himself as we have of each of the girls... every time I get the camera out, a crowd assembles and everyone (especially Mim!) wants their picture taken. And unrelated, I love Walker's 'Scooby Doo "Huh?" look' in this picture.

Miriam's store

2010-08-31T09:32:00.002-05:00

We so enjoy Miriam's creativity and imagination. She created her "store" all on her own then asked me to take her picture by it.

2010-08-31T09:09:00.000-05:00

Marcus, Shanna & Harper's visit

2010-07-08T14:50:00.006-05:00

Uncle Marky, Aunt Shanna and Harper visited a few weeks ago, but I think most of the good pictures were taken on their camera. Here are a couple fun videos to share though. We visited the fountains in the Children's Garden of the Missouri Botanical Gardens:

And Uncle Marky had a lot of fun with the girls in the backyard:

Now THAT is a look of pure joy!

Zoo with friends

2010-07-08T14:44:00.002-05:00

A visit to the StL Zoo with some good friends from our community group...

As you can tell, the train ride was the highlight of the day!

More fun on the farm

2010-07-08T14:36:00.000-05:00

Aunt Ali's softball game

2010-07-08T14:27:00.000-05:00

Kittens, calves, killer waterslide

2010-07-08T14:20:00.002-05:00

A visit to Grandma and Grandpa Hess' house at the beginning of June:

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-07-08T13:46:00.000-05:00

Not documented with pictures: nail in Miriam's foot :)

Make Tracks

2010-06-21T13:29:00.006-05:00

A few weeks ago, our whole family ran a 5K in Forest Park to benefit the St. Louis Zoo. Cora thought we might be most competitive like this.

But Mommy and Daddy decided it would probably work best like this.

Daddy ran really fast (and even left Mommy behind at the end of the race, per Mommy's request) and was the first stroller across the finish line... and the only stroller that we saw with more than one child that was actually competing in the "run" part of the race as opposed to the "walk."

Cora did finally get her own chance to run; Miriam opted not to compete this time. Bear with the shakiness at the beginning of the video; it gets better. Cora is STILL talking about running over the "big bump" at the end and how she wants to do it again sometime soon.

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-21T13:26:00.000-05:00

I meant to get this up yesterday, but didn't get it done and would rather do it late than not at all. :)

Miriam's self-portrait

2010-06-13T14:14:00.002-05:00

Complete with a flower!

The many uses of shorts

2010-06-13T14:13:00.002-05:00

This is the work of big sister Cora.

Four generations

2010-06-13T13:59:00.000-05:00

Great Grandpa Charlie

Grandpa Steve

Mommy (behind the camera, taking the picture :) )

Walker

This picture was taken at Cousin Natalie's SLU MBA Graduation Party back in May.

Rub-a-dub-dub, three kids in the tub

2010-06-12T14:21:00.000-05:00

2010-06-12T14:17:00.000-05:00

M.I.T. (Mommy in training)

2010-06-12T14:14:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed a recent visit from Aunt Lindsay. She's going to be a great mommy!

Lovely locks

2010-06-12T14:06:00.000-05:00

Quick fix

2010-06-09T21:59:00.000-05:00

Until I get pictures up here, you can see a few shots of the kids on Uncle Micah, Aunt Jamie, Isaiah, Naomi and Levi's blog: http://micahsteele.blogspot.com/

Solids!

2010-05-12T14:12:00.000-05:00

"I'm SO ready for this."

Wait... you want me to put THAT in my MOUTH?

And of course Mommy had plenty of help!

Head start

2010-05-12T14:00:00.000-05:00

Cora figures that since Walker is a third child, there's a chance he might lag behind developmentally, so she's already starting to work with him on counting to 10.

You should see the other guy

2010-05-12T13:56:00.001-05:00

A recent trip to the park to fly a kite took a disastrous turn for the worse. As we were departing the front of our house, Cora - who about 3 minutes prior had discovered that her jacket had pockets, so of course her hands were occupying said pockets - missed an elevation change in the sidewalk. This was the result:

(It looked a lot worse in person; we couldn't get a picture to do it justice.)

Mommy got carried away

2010-05-12T13:47:00.001-05:00

Overcrowding

2010-05-12T13:42:00.000-05:00

Don't tell anyone with the ____ organization! (I don't want people 'googling' a certain four-letter acronym to be visiting our blog!)

2010-05-12T13:34:00.000-05:00

Backyard taxi

2010-05-12T13:33:00.002-05:00

These are a couple neighborhood friends who are also in our babysitting coop.

Three's a crowd

2010-04-28T10:27:00.001-05:00

Daddy was watching the kids while Mommy went for a long run last Saturday. When things got quiet, he went to look for them and this is what he found...

2010-04-28T10:26:00.001-05:00

Cuddling

2010-04-28T10:24:00.001-05:00

The Uhlman Easter celebration at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Hess' house was exhausting!

Peek-A-Boo

2010-04-28T10:22:00.000-05:00

Miriam's first haircut

2010-04-28T10:06:00.002-05:00

This was on March 30th (that's right... she was almost 3 1/2 before we cut her hair) and Mommy's friend Eraka is the one who cut her hair. It's SO much easier to comb through now!

The Daddy Whisperer

2010-04-20T20:32:00.003-05:00

This evening when we were getting the girls ready for bed, I (Joel) laid down in the hallway for a bit to cuddle Cora. Miriam then proceeded to bring out all the blankets and pillows to tuck Cora and me in for the night. After the required 10 minutes for this to all come together, Miriam went to Steph and the conversation went like this:

Miriam: Mommy, I made daddy and Cora asleep.

Mommy: Wow, that's great. What is your secret? (meaning the secret to get Cora to sleep)

Miriam: Well, I gave daddy a pillow.

Mommy: Yes, I know all about the daddy part.

Daddy: loud laughter

Mim's got me figured out.

Performance

2010-04-07T22:06:00.003-05:00

The girls recently set up an auditorium in the play area with a stage (complete with steps!) and chairs for the audience.

Tidbits

2010-04-02T11:49:00.005-06:00

I have a video to put up that I'm having trouble with, so hopefully we can get that posted soon.
Cora has been counting a lot lately and one of her favorite numbers is "eleventeen."
I have some other pictures from the past month but they're predominately either:

a) the girls on the toilet (both at the same time on separate toilets or other funny moments)
b) involve the girls 'playing mommy' by breastfeeding... either a dolly or each other

2010-04-02T11:48:00.000-06:00

Cora: "Okay Miriam, you hold his head right there to make sure I don't miss my target."

Street parking

2010-04-02T11:45:00.000-06:00

We decided to "secure" the parking spot directly in front of our house so no one else can take it.

Handsome

2010-04-02T11:35:00.000-06:00

This is one of our favorite "little man outfits." We think he is such a cutie!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Ali!

2010-03-08T17:23:00.001-06:00

Today is Aunt Ali's 10th Birthday! Thanks so much for coming down to visit us this past weekend and letting us celebrate with you!

And today is Cousin Levi's Adoption Day, too!!! What a great day of celebration for our family!

Walker the talker

2010-02-21T15:52:00.008-06:00

Fun with body piercings

2010-02-21T15:50:00.000-06:00

Let the fun begin

2010-02-16T15:58:00.001-06:00

Oh, the joys of being a younger brother of older sisters... Thank you to Mr. Potato Head for sharing his glasses. I think the girls were trying to create a more distinguished-looking guest for their tea party.

Halftime show

2010-02-10T10:07:00.003-06:00

This was far more entertaining than watching those old guys in The Who. Cora decided she would greatly reduce her risk of injury if she just got - I mean stayed - on all fours.

[If you have any trouble viewing the video, please leave a comment so we know. Thanks!]

Remind you of anyone?

2010-02-10T10:04:00.006-06:00

Mommy was a thumb-sucker.

2010-02-10T10:02:00.000-06:00

I think the ability to fall asleep anytime, anywhere comes from the Hess side.

W

2010-02-10T09:57:00.000-06:00