My little da Vinci

Well, it was bound to happen. After a fun visit to the Imagination Station Science Museum, I attempted to lay Sadie and Will down for their naps. Sadie went right down. Not a problem. Will, who is more likely to fight off an afternoon snooze, played in his room. Time passes and Will is -still- awake. So, I go into his room to gently remind him that he should be asleep and I find this:



Yes, Will decided his room needed a little orange to brighten things up a bit. All William had to say was, "Paper?" Note to self: Have a pad of paper on Will's table just in case he manages to find another crayon during nap time and gets creative! So, experienced Moms out there, any tips for removing orange crayon off the wall? :)

Pretty Panther's fan
(Thanks for the sweet Panther's onsie Cousin Leslie and Anson! )


Long Lady


Have a great weekend!

Special visitor

Yesterday afternoon Rob and I had the wonderful opportunity to visit with his friend, Kelly Mulholland. Kelly and his wife, Kate, are student ministers with Campus Crusade for Christ. They are about to embark on an amazing journey to Ireland where God will use them to spread the gospel and strengthen believers. It was such a pleasure visiting with Kelly and we look forward to hearing about their Irish adventures. Kelly and Kate you have our prayers and, Lord willing, we'll see you in Ireland someday! :)



The rest of the weekend was pretty low key. I reported on Saturday and had my first live shot in quite some time. Crazy. It's kind of like riding a bike, but I still felt wobbly! We are looking forward to a somewhat busy week followed by a long holiday weekend. No big plans, just hoping to tackle some home improvement type projects.

I'll close by adding a couple shots of our little peeps. I am secretly (not anymore) using this blog as a pseudo-baby book. I hope to eventually use the pics and information on our blog to fill in their baby books if not print out the actual posts. So, if sometimes you find yourself thinking, "Love Jamie, love the kiddos but why would she think I want to see a picture of that or hear about that!?!" Just remember the baby book! :) With that said...

Here's Sadie during her first attempt at mastering the Sippy Cup :)





Can we say obsessed? Will playing air-banjo with a frying pan before church:



I hope everyone is doing well. Thank you for your kind e-mails, especially from those I haven't heard from in a while. Hopefully blogger world will help keep us in touch. :)

Have a great week!

Love,
Jamie

Brother sister bonding

Yesterday, I caught a shot of something that would make any mom smile. I sat Sadie on the chair in her room to take some pictures of my growing baby girl. She is, of course, baby number two so I 'm consciously trying to take just as many pics of Sadie as I did of her big brother- we'll see how that goes! :) Well, Will wanted to hold Sadie, so I put him up there and asked him to "read" the book to his baby sister. It was so sweet as he pointed out the objects and told her what they were. I just wanted to savor that moment. Love it!



Now that's what I call devouring a book!



Strike a pose, Sadie!

A Year in Pictures, Part II

Thanks to the computer genius of my hubby- here's a fun slide show which highlights William's second year. William, thank you for filling our lives with your passion, creativity, and energy each day! It is such a joy to watch you grow! (Here's A Year in Pictures, Part I, if you've never seen it before.)




Scootin' Sadie

Not to be overshadowed by her big bro, Sadie is officially scootin'! She gets up on all fours, dives/pulls herself forward and then repeats. Well, at least how it typically goes- let's just say when she wants to get from point A to point B she does. Oh mercy, another fast one! Lord help me! :)



One more quick pic and then I'm done!:) Here's Sadie and Will in the tub together. (It's their second official bath at the same time)


Sadie: Bathtime is awesome!
Will: People, I've had a thousand of these. What's the big deal?

Good night y'all! Have a great week!

Chocolate cure

Yesterday we said goodbye to my Mom and thus ended two weeks of enjoying out of town family guests. It always takes some getting used to after being spoiled with the help and adult conversation all day! To help ease some of the post-visit-blues I made this....














Yep, a Chocolate Espresso Cake. Need I say more? Believe me, I'm no Betty Crocker and rarely bake desserts but it's amazing how chocolate or just baking in general can lift the spirits! :) So, I have quite a sugar high as I write this but it's so worth it and I'm nursing so I can get away with splurging like this, right!?!? (That's what I keep on telling myself anyway! :)

The Big "2" Birthday Bash

I can't believe my little man is two-years-old! William celebrated his second birthday Thursday in true baseball style. His birthday party was a 'grand slam' and here's the reason why- Will had both of his grandma's there to celebrate with him along with two of his little friends and their families.

MiMi (my mom) traveled in from St. Louis and Gramma Sue (Rob's mom) came all the way from Boca. Is he a blessed little guy or what? As you can imagine, when you get a momma and two grandmas together there was a lot of food: popcorn, peanuts, crackerjacks, brats, mini pigs in blanket for the kiddos, plenty of fresh fruit and veggies. Needless to say, nobody when home hungry! :) We had storytime before dinner and after dinner we played a game of "Hot Baseball" (think hot potato) where we sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" over and over. Will really seemed to enjoy that one! There were baseball cupcakes and ice cream sundaes for dessert. To close the night, Will receieved some wonderful gifts. His new, handcrafted banjo from Daddy was probably the biggest hit. He walks around the house playing that thing like he's one of those guys in a Mexican restaurant- sometimes I think I should leave him a tip it's so funny!

Truly, William would not have had such a fun birthday party without the help of MiMi and Gramma Sue! Thanks for making our little guy's big day so special. We love you very much. :)

Before Will's birthday, we enjoyed a visit from Grandpa Bob for Sadie's baptism. The ceremony was lovely, even with little Will's enthusiatic and somewhat loud "Amens" and "Yeahs"! Sadie, we claim God's promises for you and pray that you will come to faith at a very young age! AMEN. Sadie wore a beautiful gown that is a family heirloom. Gramma Sue hand-stitched her name along side the names of her cousins on the French side of the family. Just beautiful!

We are still enjoying a visit from my mom, who is helping with the little ones as I type! She is my 'decorating partner in crime' so we hope to get some work done in the master bedroom this visit. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post of that soon- meantime here are some shots from the Birthday and Baptism!

Oh- one more thing, Sadie girl is a little under the weather right now. She had 4 shots yesterday and doesn't seem to be handling them so well. Fever, vomitting- not good. Please say a little prayer for her.

Thanks guys! Hope everyone is doing well!

Talk to you soon-
Jamie

Waking up to happy birthday signs (a Praechter family tradition!)


Eating breakfast with his new ABC placemat from Gramma Sue and Grandpa Bob


William in his baseball gear rockin' out on his new piano from MiMi and PaPa (Actually, it was hard for all of us to keep our hands off of it!)


Sadie and Mom in our Cardinal gear for the party!


Sadie baby ready for big brother's party! (The bow was a last minute homemade addition to girlify her sports gear! I just can't help myself!:)

Some of the party decor






Playing "Hot Baseball"


A little cleaner than the first birthday


Opening his new banjo (or bee-no as Will would call it!)


Serenading little sis


Sadie's Baptism


Grandpa Bob and Gramma Sue with Sadie