A Good Investment

I took the kids to McDonald's the other day and was surprised to see that Beanie Babies were the Happy Meal Toy. Are Beanie Babies making a comeback? Why was I not notified?

Circa 1997, I was obsessed with getting the entire collection of McDonald's Beanie Babies (10 at the time). I accomplished this lofty goal and turned a little profit. I would like to remind Colleen about our one hour drive to sell said McDonald's Beanie Babies collection. Shameful, but true, a woman paid me $375.00 in cash for this collection.

I also acquired several others including Tabasco the Bull, which at the time was going for a pretty penny. I was careful not to damage the tags and I kept them all in excellent condition. My reasoning for jumping on this bandwagon???? My words were, "It was a good investment." Ironic, considering Daryl works as a financial advisor now.

Fastforward to my trip to McDonald's with the kids this week... when I opened the plastic package to give Reese and Aidan their Beanie Babies, Reese immediately want to rip that little heart tag right off. My first instinct? NO, NOT THE TAG! Then I realized that these little bean creatures are worthless. Go ahead Reese, pull that tag right off, and she did.

If Aidan got married today...

This would be his cake.

My apologies to the future Mrs. Aidan Gourley.

Country Mouse Meets City Mouse

It is always a treat when my sister-in-law Natalie comes to visit with her family. We love spending time with them, and we really love giving them a taste of our city life. It amazes Natalie how much downtown has to offer and how much it continues to change each time she visits. She even got a little choked up this visit thinking about how much she loves St. Louis and how it is homebase for their family. This visit she brought Tim's sister and her husband, who also live in Tennessee. Tim took them to visit the Arch for the day. Daryl and Guy packed their sketch books and pencils and rode bikes to the art museum. I was excited to take everyone else to the City Garden.

The kids had a great time playing in the water features and jumping on this piece of art that makes music when you jump on the pallets.

Natalie and Reese on a rock in one of the fountains. Mimi and Pappy are keeping an eye on Aidan and Levi who are swimming in the same fountain.

A photo op of the kids at Kiener Plaza.

Aidan and Levi at the fountain in Kiener Plaza.

The boys at Ted Drewes.
Enjoying some sweet family time at Ted Drewes.

Reese hearts Ted Drewes. We could not get this cup away from her.

It was so great to visit with Natalie & company. They will be coming back in a few weeks and we can't wait to see them again! We love you!

Happy Birthday Reese!

Reese turned two years old last weekend and we had a summer themed birthday party. The party included pool time (although it was the one summer weekend in St. Louis that was lower than 90 degrees), hamburger shaped sweets made out of frosting, fresh fruit, hot dogs, and of course cake! Reese loved her cake and thought everything, including the candle was edible. I think she would have eaten the whole candle if I didn't stop her.


Snap shots of the decor. Clockwise - close up of the delicious cake, fruit slices favor for the guests, the birthday girl, the invitation, hamburgers (frosting and nilla wafers), the cake.

So many of Reese's friends and family came to her party. We had so much fun playing with our friends. These are our downtown friends Matt, Evie and Noah Stark. We got to watch Noah attempt to walk. This kid will be walking any day now and he is not even one year old yet.





Reese got so many nice gifts! The present opening session was almost brought to a complete halt when the first present opened was a Cinderella book. It was almost impossible to get Reese's attention after this very special present.

Reese shared her new toys with her cousin, Jameson.

Levi, Aidan and Max played in the sandbox.


Lisa and Finnigan. A rare moment that Finni has a flower in her hair. She only lets me do her hair and Lisa wishes I would come over every morning and put matching bows or flowers in her hair. What can I say, I have the magic touch. I could be Finni's personal stylist.

Reese and Oliver shared their first kiss. We thought it would be cute if they kissed but then they didn't want to stop. So cute.

All Stars

Last week, downtown St. Louis was buzzing with all the activities surrounding the MLB All Star Game.  Tons of tourists and lots to do.  The Playboy Party was at the club across the street from our loft on Monday night and the music was so loud we could hear every word of the songs.  We didn't exactly enjoy this party.  The entire Gourley family was awaken by the "thump, thump" of the music at some point during the night and some of us never really got to sleep (this included the dogs).  Thanks, Heff.

We had so much fun at the Sheryl Crow concert (see The First Rule of Fight Club post). 

The day of the All Star Game Aidan went to daycare in his NY Yankees gear and Reese dressed in her St. Louis Cardinals dress.  They were so cute!  

Later that day, Evie and I decided to take Aidan, Reese and her son, Noah to the Stadium to try to at least see the first pitch from the gates.  We joined the crowd and tried to get a good spot to be able to watch on the tv screens that are in the stadium.  I took turns holding up Aidan and then Reese so that they could see what was going on.  

A Cardinals fan gave Noah and Aidan one of those foam fingers.  The Cardinals fan thought Aidan was the coolest until he saw his Yankees T-shirt and hat.  Sorry buddy, my little man was born in New York.  He likes the Cardinals, but his heart belongs to the Yankees.

Happy 35th Birthday Daryl

Doesn't this look like Aidan?

Daryl at around 10 years old. Nice velour sweater and fake Rolex watch.

Daryl and his Camaro. He used to pick up the ladies in this hot rod. You can almost hear REO Speedwagon playing in the background, can't you?

Daryl and the kids now.

Today is Daryl's 35th birthday. In honor of that, here are 35 things that I love about him.

1. He is just so handsome.
2. He loves and respects his parents.
3. He gave me two of the most amazing children ever!
4. He loves city living.
5. He claims to hate soda, but will steal a sip or 10 from me anytime.
6. When he packs his suitcase, he rolls his clothes.
7. It takes him 45 minutes to get ready, but according to him, he will be ready in 5 minutes.
8. He still holds the door open for me
9. He is an amazing artist – he paints, sculpts and draws
10. He brought me to New York
11. He will tell me if something looks bad on me
12. He is 4 years older than I am
13. He no longer gets upset when I fall asleep during movies.
14. I love his signature. It took him years to perfect it.
15. He still has a t-shirt from Germantown High School. He wears it sometimes even though it is falling apart.
16. He knows dates and places of all the wars and other random history facts
17. He reads my People and Us Weekly magazines and has beat me many, many times in Pop Culture Quizzes.
18. He changes "code brown" diapers.
19. He taught Aidan to say "drop a duce!"
20. He makes up his own lyrics to songs. Aidan is following in his footsteps.
21. He eats all the cookie dough pieces out of the ice cream and then leaves the rest for me. (This one should probably be on a different list)
22. His shoes are always shined and his belt always matches his shoes – thank you Grandpa Roam and the Marines Corp.
23. He smacks my bottom whenever he gets a chance, which is usually at a totally inappropriate time.
24. He paints and draws with Aidan & Reese.
25. He teaches Aidan how to wrestle, even though Aidan will play soccer and baseball.
26. He stirs his coffee with a butter knife, not a spoon.
27. He loves to ride motorcycles and does not pressure me to ride with him because he knows that will never happen.
28. For the sake of our marriage, he is slowly trying to get sushi back into his diet after an unfortunate incident at I HEART MR. SUSHI.
29. He calls or sends me a text just to tell me how much he loves me at random times.
30. He loves to dance at weddings
31. He can do the "worm." He almost broke his nose at Adam & Jen Berton's wedding, but did not retire "the worm."
32. He introduced me to two of my very good friends, Melissa and Evie
33. He loves his nephews and my nephews and makes it a point to spend time with them when we can
34. He holds my hand
35. He loves me for who I am

Happy Birthday, Baby. I love you!

Oops, I did it again...

Reese peed on the potty on Sunday, TWICE! She looked a me in disbelief the first time it happened, then looked in the potty, and then said "Mama, I did it!"

My baby will be two years old this Sunday and she wants to use the potty already. I don't know if I'm ready for this!

She's so tiny, I have two fears -

1. she will fall in all public toliets because although "baby got back" - in proportion, she is still tiny.

2. they do not make underware, big girl pants, panties (whatever you want to call them) in a small enough size - see #1.

I'm not ready for the Potty Party Boot Camp just yet, but let's see what happens. Princess Reese always does things her own way so anything can happen. Stay tuned.

The First Rule of Fight Club...

Saturday night was family night for the Gourleys. We decided to check out the downtown activities lined up to celebrate the All Star Game. We headed to the arch with our stroller, some snacks, and water to catch the Sheryl Crow/Elvis Costello concert.

We got there at around 6:30, but the show wouldn't start until after 8pm. We should have picked up food or packed food for our dinner, but as previously mentioned, we had SOME snacks with us, I stress the word SOME. We found a good spot on the grass and I sent Daryl to get food from the vendors. He purchased a chicken gyro sandwich, but I'm not sure exactly what we were eating. Reese and Aidan weren't buying it and we were left with only the snacks in the stroller. We went through the goldfish, and then the Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, and finally the Cars the Movie Crackers. Now what? Having spent our life savings on the chicken gyro, we were just going to wing it. Also among the things that we did not think to pack - a blanket.

I did have a few toys in my bag of tricks and somehow that helped us pass the time. Evie, Matt and Noah Stark were going to meet us there - and bring a blanket. During the two hours that we waited, I tried to save our unmarked area of grass so that our friends would be able to join us. I was successful until a very "lovely" group of ladies from Pennsylvania showed up with their lawn chairs and sat right in front of us. I told them that our friends were sitting there and they pretended to ignore me.

Me: Ahem! HELLO, I just said that my friends are sitting here.

Ugly Lady from PA: Well they are not here right now.

Me: They are coming.

Ugly Lady from PA: I drove 15 hours from Pennsylvania to get here and I'm not going to miss this.

Me: Why don't you get a head start on your trip home.

Ugly Lady from PA and her uglier friends set up their lawn chairs anyway. It's a little hard to get into a good fight with your kids right there. I can't really use the good words and what was I going to do, reenact a scene from Mortal Kombat? Not likely. Aidan would have put me in the corner and told me "Mama, we do not say bad words and we do not fight. I am very upset with you."

Once Matt & Evie got there, I was sure to point out to Ugly Lady from PA, "See, these are my friends. They are here now!"

Evie and I had a good laugh when I told her the story. The concert was awesome and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. We were sure that they would fall asleep, but no such luck. Aidan did fall on the ground once and we thought that was it for him, but he got a second wind and a case of the giggles on the way home. Matt, Evie and Noah came up to our loft for some pizza and the boys (Daryl and Matt, not Aidan and Noah) had a few beers. Good times, good friends.

This Little Piggy...

I lost my filter while I was pregnant with Aidan and I apparently never got it back.  

My dearest friend, Audrey Hepburn (name has been changed to protect her reputation) called me today to tell me that she has the swine flu.  I laughed.  I laughed at my ill friend.  Shame on me.

Audrey Hepburn laughed with me.  We are sick people.

Audrey is expected to make a speedy recovery, but please do not watch Breakfast At Tiffanys until the incubation period is over.  We should all be safe by next week.

Get well, Audrey.

For the last time, mom, I hate to swim!

Last Friday, before the pretzel injury (see post below), we went to the Webster Groves Pool for Toddler Time.  This place is awesome and I highly recommend it to all my St. Louis Mom-Friends.  I will caution you that they only accept cash, so do not be stupid like me and pour out all of the change in your wallet while your anxious children look on hoping to be allowed into the pool.  Thankfully, I had just enough money!

The place was so much fun but too much going on and too much for a mom with two toddlers. I spent most of the time chasing after Aidan who is a fish.  Daryl recently taught him about blowing bubbles in the water and he was practicing.  His skills aren't up to par yet and he ended up falling face first into the water several times.  Trying not to panic, I stayed close enough to him to be able to pull him out if needed. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...

Reese on the other hand, did not want to swim and proceeded to remind me that apparently she had not clearly stated her opinion on swimming the last 5 times we've been swimming this year.  She was content to play with the water toys in the most shallow part (approximately 1 inch deep). 

No those are not tears of joy.

Pretzels - the newest danger for kids

We've all been bombarded by the emails warning us about everything from giving kids hand sanitizer (who knew one kid would get drunk from it) to the Mister Clean Magic Eraser (hell0, if it magically cleans dirt off your wall, maybe it's not a good idea to clean your kid's face with it).  I find all of these urban myths to be hysterical, and now, I have my own to share.  Beware parents, beware the dangers of Synder Pretzel Twist.  Who knew something so dangerous was in my bag of snacks?!?

I gave Aidan a pack of the pretzels and continued to enjoy my lunch at McAllisters Deli.  He was rubbing his face with the pretzels - I don't know why.  Who knows why kids do the things that 

they do?  I look over and his face is bleeding.  Seriously? Leave it to my kid to slice his face open with a pretzel.

Watch out! This could happen to you too! Sense the sarcasm, I'm laying it on pretty thick!