I Scream. You Scream.

Who can say no to free ice cream?  Not me.  Not even with my list of goals written on here for all to see.

So the other day we went to the zoo with my friend Nancy & little Ruby.  It was fun hanging out but I have to say I the KC zoo is one of my least favorites.  I've been to quite a few zoos so I'd say I'm an ok judge of zoo character.  There is just so much walking with little animal reward.

Louis was not into the petting zoo although Ruby ran right in!

Ruby fell asleep at the end of our time at the zoo but as we were leaving I saw the sea lion show was starting so Louis and I stayed to watch.  It was the best part for Louis.  He loved watching the show and was able to get pretty close to the sea lion & seals.

So we left the zoo and there it was.  FREE ICE CREAM.  DQ Dilly Bars.  I helped myself to one and asked for Louis to have his own.  That is against my rules but the little fat girl in my head didn't want to share.

Not only was this a mistake for my "diet" but also for Louis' shirt.  Not sure what I was thinking but Louis' neck and shirt were covered in chocolate and ice cream.  He kept telling me he was "messy".  Man, giving him ice cream while he was reclined in 95 degree heat was not the smartest thing I've ever done.

I did wash the shirt.  It's got a nice dull tint to it now.  He'll look like one of those dirty kids when he wears it.  One of those kids that really grossed me out before I was a mom and I swore I'd never let my kids look like in public.  Funny how your view changes on certain things after you have a crazy little boy running around getting dirty.  And even funnier that this time he got really dirty because of something I handed him.  That is my little secret though so don't tell...

Who You Callin' Pregnant?

We had a great weekend celebrating Father's Day and our 7 year anniversary!

Friday Louis had a day with Joe's parents so I was able to meet a friend at the mall and run some errands.  Saturday we were productive and then Louis stayed over at my mom's so we could have a date night!  I forgot to get a pic of us before so I only have this one.  We were a few drinks in...

I've mentioned before that I'm terrible at gifts so I picked up a home depot gift card for Joe.  At the last minute I thought of making a coupon book for him.  Here is a sneak at it.  Don't laugh at my artwork.  Like I said, it was a last minute thrown together gift and I'm bad at art.  Louis helped on one coupon.  Hopefully you can tell which one.

We ate a delicious meal at Pot Pie, had some drinks alone and then met some friends for cocktails at Manifesto which is a speak-easy under the Rieger Hotel.  It was super fun although I was still recovering two days later.  I'm just getting too old to stay up late & party!

Moscow Mule at McCoys.  I really wanted a cute pic of me with this drink but the red light made me look about 48 years old.  For real.

Sunday we went to my mom's loft in the River Market to get Louis and hung out in the area all day. I scored an awesome deal on old mason jars with lids.  Only $2.50 a piece!  I was super pumped as I've been checking prices on these for a while.

The garden outside the loft.  This was my mom's idea as she misses her yard now that she is so hip in the River Market.

Farmer's Market.  It was HOT.

My mom treated us to an awesome breakfast.  I'd recommend this place but I can't find the name.  It replaced the brewery down there.

Playtime with my mom's cats.  Louis is getting pretty good at saying, "Oliver".

As we were heading back into the loft we ran into a woman (Jessie) my mom knows who was excited to meet Louis.  Well, then Jessie looked at my stomach and exclaimed, "Oh!  And you're expecting another!  You are so blessed!".  My mom corrected her because I am NOT pregnant & then Jessie just looked at my stomach again and gave me a weird look.  It actually was pretty funny but of course I just keep thinking about it.  Seriously!!

I guess I shouldn't wear this dress anymore...

So I suppose an update to my 10 lb weight loss plan is in order since I was accused of being pregers when I'm not.  Truth: I've worked out twice (should be up to 5 times) and also had wine twice on my non-cheat nights.  I think I also ate a cake pop when I made some for an order.  I probably have other cheats I've blocked out of my memory.  But the good news is I've lost 2 lbs.  That is why I LOVE clean-eating.

Moral of the blog is DO NOT assume people are pregnant.  And if you do, DON'T say anything unless you are sure.  Duh.

Roughin' It

We took a five day Kirchner family camping trip to Table Rock Lake.

The picture below is of a squirrel who stole a bag of Twizzlers from our neighbor.  He opened the bag and ran off with the candy.  These crazy squirrels were on our tents in the mornings too.

We tent camped since we aren't sure about taking the RV this far.  The second night we had to buy a new air mattress that would hold air.  Louis had a little bed next to ours but each night he'd pop up and crawl onto our bed.  I really don't mind tent camping but I've got my eye out for a vintage trailer to fix up. 

We rented a boat one of the days. 

Louis swam in the lake with daddy.  He was a little nervous and didn't like the cold water at first.  Once he got used to it he had fun. 

The swim wiped him out so he rested with Nana.

Hanging out with Papa on the boat.

Enjoying time with his cousins!

Uncle Todd & Louis' cousins taught him how to fish. 

 Louis enjoyed the trolley ride in Branson.

We got him a cowboy hat at the dime store and he rode the horse.  If the picture isn't enough, here is a video of the ride.

Louis got another head injury camping.  He fell off the picnic table onto his head.  I saw the whole thing and freaked out with my gasping.  I'm sure that just makes Louis cry harder.  I try not to do it but it just comes out of my mouth!

Joe and I drove down to Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  I've always wanted to go.  The town was cute & we had a nice lunch and walked around to the shops.  Louis wasn't so sure about this ledge!

Thank goodness for fountains!

Later we took in a nice view of the lake and watched Joe skip rocks.

I think my best was 2 skips.  Joe got up to 18.  I hate it when he is better than me at stuff but I can't stop laughing when he makes fun of me.  Here is a video but I couldn't get his really good ones recorded.

We ended the trip with a stop at Lambert's.  Louis loved watching them throw rolls and loved eating them even more!  It turned out to be a pretty healthy stop as I shared grilled chicken and veggies with him.  Definitely the first healthy meal I've ordered there and I had enough left over for a complete dinner meal that night.

Happy boy!  He really loves camping so we are working on more trips for the summer.  I'm happy we can pass this Kirchner tradition down to Louis.

Summer Fun

I've been having some technical difficulties so this is a long post.  I've typed up a couple other blogs so I'll post one a day!  Check back or sign up for e-mail updates if you want to see them.

We had an afternoon lunch date a few weeks ago with Kim & Molly.  I was worried about Louis because he didn't get a great nap but he did fine.  I did let him crawl around on the dirty floor for a while but no one was really there to witness it.  I would have been appalled by that before I actually had a kid!

Nana met us one afternoon for a picnic and visit to Kaufman Gardens.  Days like this I really appreciate living near such great areas of the city!

We met the cat, Crazy, at Kaufman Gardens.  He was really sweet when we got there but on our way out we witnessed him killing a baby bunny.  Poor bunny and poor Louis!!

Hydrangeas.  My favorite!

Louis also had a nasty scrape from a fall.  Luckily, I had the first aid kit in the truck.  He did a great job putting some pressure on his cuts while my mom & I got out some band aids.  He was pretty upset about this fall but very interested in the blood.

Loving the fountains at the garden, of course!

Hayley & I had a pretty decent garage sale at my house.  We made some money & the neighborhood set up a charity pick-up after the sale.  I LOVE getting rid of stuff but I always have remorse after.  And I am always shocked about how much stuff we accumulate.  I'm seriously thinking about trying to only buy essentials for a whole year.  I'm curious to see if we could do it.

Aiden and Louis had fun playing during the sale.  Aiden found a new shirt during the sale!

One great thing about our neighborhood is that they do a lot of parties.  There are some private parks within the houses and after the sale they had a blue grass band.  Louis loved dancing to the music!

He also liked the jump house and we met the twins down the street that are the same age.  I'm hoping to set a play date with them soon.

We had another Loose Park play date.  This time it was with my friend Amy and her little guy, Leo.

We tried the spray park which Leo loved but Louis wasn't so sure.

We introduced Louis to Foo's our favorite custard place in Brookside.  This was before my diet crack-down post.

It was a hit and he tried to go back for seconds.

Since Louis was so good about going on the potty in Germany, my mom bought him some big boy undies.  We tried them out the other day.  I explained the whole deal and thought he was getting it because he does use the potty at least twice everyday and usually doesn't need prompting.

Well, the first pair lasted about 10 minutes.  So we tried the second pair.  Nope, same deal.  After about 10 or 20 minutes I had to clean up a puddle.  I guess I'll keep trying but I really have no idea what the next step is here.

He is so adorable and funny when he wears these!  He gets really excited and checks himself out in the mirror.  In fact, both puddles I cleaned up were next to the mirror.  If you have any tips on potty training, send them my way.  I know he is young so I'm not worried but since he is showing interest I want to keep up the enouragement.

Happy Summer!