St. Louis Madness!

Jenna's millionth plane ride!

Jenna and I got to spend two whole weeks in St. Louis last month! While we did miss Paul, it was so nice to relax and spend time with my crazy family!
We got to do so much:

the Zoo

I love me some penguins! I'd stay all day if it wasn't so cold!!!

Shhh! Don't wake the gorillas!

The kids spent about 80% of the time looking at the map!

seriously...

*I asked Marshall his name, because he usually says "Marshall Blue"

*I called Jenna a "crazy little nut" because I was trying to get her to call me one. It's really cute when she says it!

Magic House

Okay, this place is awesome! Especially for a 3 year old. They can run around and touch anything, and it was so much fun!

Ryan may have had more fun than the kids...    :)

City Museum

 This place was pretty awesome, too! But it's geared more toward older kids. It's basically a giant maze of a building with slides and small places to crawl through! So much fun.

The train was a big hit!

Football games

We got to go to 2 of my youngest brother's high school football games. He has so much fun knocking people down! I'm glad I finally got to see him in action!

I'm totally bummed that it came out so fuzzy, but at least you can see Daniel take someone out! He's the blurry spot in the middle of the screen.

Jenna especially liked watching the cheerleaders, and tried to join in:

So cute!

a trip to Texas (more on that later...)

and

meeting my new nephew Oliver!

(I can't believe I didn't get a picture of him!)

It was the perfect amount of time to visit! Jenna had a blast with her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and the puppy!

Superman

Last month we drove down to  South Carolina to visit Jenna's Pop Pop in the hospital. When they moved him out of ICU, his nurses were so amazed at how well he was doing that they had to come visit and see for themselves! They said he was Superman!

It was a good trip, but we spent most of the time in the car or the hospital. And we had four little kids to keep entertained:

Don't worry, we unplugged that phone!

Jenna loved playing games with her uncles!

She made them play for hours!

I don't even remember what they are beggin me for here. I'm sure I gave it to them, though!

Oh, to be young and so easily entertained by an IV rack!

 

But, ultimately, I'm glad we all got to hang out with Will. He just couldn't resist playing with his "pretty girl", and she loved every second of it!  :)

I'm sad this is the only picture I got...

We sure love you, Will, and hope you're still doing well!

3 1/2

Our little girl is growing up way too fast! And there is no slowing her down, no matter how much I beg!  ;)

Jenna's favorite things: coloring, drawing, reading, attacking Paul, and dancing! She loves to have people watch her dance, and afterwards she'll take a bow, saying "thank you! thank you!".
But her absolute favorite thing, and what makes her giggle uncontrollably, is when Paul and I pretend to fight over her each night before bedtime. It's hilarious!

Speaking of bedtime, she has recently tried every method possible to distract us and postpone it. When we walk into the bedroom, she announces "It's a mess in here! Let's clean up!". While we're getting PJ's on, she'll point out random things, like "look at my toes!" or squish Paul's face. And while we are reading scriptures and praying, she is constantly saying "Gimme a kiss!" and climbing on Paul's shoulders...Oh, what fun!

She is very creative. She can entertain herself for hours with whatever she finds around her.
She loves to draw whatever pops into her little head, and I'm usually amazed at how good it is!
She turns anything and everything into little people, including crayons and pencils. I won't tell you what grade I was in, but my friend and I played "pencil people" in class all the time - the apple doesn't fall far, eh?
She doesn't have any imaginary friends that I know of, but she'll often have an imaginary group of children who she needs to teach and take care of. Haha, she's always talking about "the kids".

She's great at playing by herself, but gets so excited to play with other kids. She is not at all shy around them and can make a friend in seconds (I'm so jealous)! She is a good sharer, but if another kid takes something from her, she's done!

The other day in the car, she cried out "Fe Fi Fo Fum, I'm grumpy, I can't find my puppy!". Silly girl...

Jenna is insanely smart and funny, a little bit bossy, so adorable, and an absolute joy to have in our family!