The Barnyard Olympics!

This was our attempt at having a little country fun while living in St. Louis....It wasn't quite what we were expecting. The best part about it was the laughs we got just talking about, "What are we doing here?" It was SO hot and humid, and there was just about nothing going on. Great idea Katie!! All I have to say for myself is that it was false advertisement! Oh well. What would life be if we didn't take chances!?



Josh got in the spirit and posed with the girls for this shot.
I was forced to put on the pig nose for this one after the big pig race.

















Here is the "big pig race".
















Making the most of what was available. :) Do you see Taylor riding on the back?

Our Duck Experiment

Back when I introduced you to Stanley, our cat, I said that we were about to get 10 ducks. Well, since then we have gotten them and gotten rid of them. They were fun and cute for a little while, and the girls had fun running around and catching them as they played in our back yard. But then they got too big, too fast and too stinky to be any fun.
So we set them free at this park right by our house. At first they would not go into the water unless we herded them in. Maybe they were afraid of the BIG water. But whatever the case, we weren't sure how they would do "on their own"so we brought them food and checked on them every day for a while. It was fun to see other families get to enjoy the ducks too. (Every time we heard a family talking about the ducks Taylor would go and inform them that those were our ducks. She wanted to make sure everyone knew.)
These last pictures are from our last time there which was two days ago, and they seem to have adjusted quite nicely to their new home. Aubrey and Taylor still want to catch the ducks and hold them, but I did not think it was possible at this point. But Aubrey managed to capture one as he was climbing up the ramp out of the water. I was impressed!

Few Words

I don't have much time right now, but I have to share this little story before it is gone from my memory forever- which could very well happen tomorrow.

Aubrey and Josh were home alone and Josh was in the kitchen. Aubrey walks over to him, leads him (by grabbing his leg and walking with it) to his chair in the living room and says, "sit." So he sits. Then she climbs up into his lap, snuggles up to him and then she puts his hands around her waist. Now she is very happy and content. She wants nothing else. This is what it's all about!
The End.

P.S. I think Josh got a little taste of what God feels when all we want is Him.

Boy Oh Boy!

We're having a boy!

Aubrey's Quotable

If you can imagine Aubrey squatting in front of Stanley, bending way over so she can get low enough to get almost nose to nose with him, this is what you would hear her soft, high voice saying.
"Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi...."
She is infatuated. :)

Belles of the Ball

Cinderella's ball that is! A friend of mine (Georgia's mom) invited Taylor and me to go see the Cinderella play with her and Georgia last weekend. This was Taylor's first play and we really had a great time. It was put on by a Christian group at a college here in St. Louis, and it was very well done. Taylor has still never seen the movie so the fact that they strayed a bit from the "original" was not a problem for her. However, being the four-year-old little girl that she is, Taylor was full of questions and fascination. She said her favorite part was, "when Cinderella was in her blue and white dress, and then when she was in her white dress (wedding dress)."
I love how she is just so 120% feminine one day, and then two days later we are at a playground and she is sprawled out on the ground, rubbing her tummy in the dirt just to see how dirty she can get!...and she did an impressive job! Good thing she was in her overalls! All in all, she is a joy and we have had some good times together. Thanks, Jesse, for another first.

Taylor's Quotable

Just to give you an idea of how much Taylor likes our new kitten i have to post this quote.
When we were putting the girls to bed Taylor asked me, "Mommy, right away in the morning can I wake up and right away go and get you and you get up right away and we go see the kitten right away?"

Meet Stanley!!

Well, how do I explain this one. Josh and I and the girls went to a feed store to get some duck feed- yes duck feed- for the ducklings we hope to be getting in the next day or so. I know we don't live on a ranch anymore, but who says you can't have ducks in the city! And we have the perfect pond near us to send them to when they grow up (since 10 was the least amount we could order!). Anyway, we were walking into this feed store- I think the only one within a half hour from our house- and I noticed a sign that said "free kittens and cats". So we decided then and there that it was about time for us to have a pet again. We gave them our name and number, told them we wanted a kitten, and less than a week later we got Stanley, our new 12-week-old barn/garage cat. Before we got him Taylor said she wanted a girl cat so we could name her *Elizabeth*. But now, as you can see, the girls are quite pleased with little Stanley. He seems very laid back and sweet, and he seems to like his new home pretty well.

2007 Reunion (Scroll down for Beginning)

Aubrey was so funny with this sprinkler ring. She spent most of her time drinking from it instead of playing in it. But she was having fun and that is the point!

We had a big bumper pool tournament, which helped keep the guys busy for a while. I was the only girl and I lost in the first round- barely, oh well. Greg knew I was taking this picture so he "posed" for me, but totally messed up his shot! Oops! Another funny thing that I didn't notice until these pictures were together is that Greg and Josh's shirts are exactly the same! I guess that is what happens when you have wives who have very similar tastes.

















Jana was one of my closest cousins when I was growing up and everyone said Taylor must have somehow known that, because she immediately befriended her and almost literally did not leave her side until we left the reunion! The sad thing was that Jana and her husband did not get to come until the day before we left! Hopefully, this time we won't wait so long to see each other again.
My mom eating up every moment with her family, and enjoying the amazingly pleasant Texas summer evening! (Her mom is on the left and Aunt Linda one of her sisters is on the right.)

Beautiful baby Ashlyn, currently the youngest in the Leininger side. But not for long! Kristin is due in August with grandbaby number 10, and I am due the day after Christmas!!

What a group of girls!
Family photo opp.! My oldest brother Jeff, his wife Diane and their firstborn Harrison.

16th Annual Family Reunion

Every year since we moved to Texas my parents have hosted a family reunion at their house for my Mom's side of the family, who are spread all over the southern half of the U.S. Growing up, this was always one of the highlights of the year. But it has become more difficult to put together as we cousins have begun to grow up and get jobs, school responsibilities, families of our own etc. And hosting has gotten harder as the number of people in the family continues to increase! Last year my parents decided we were probably done with reunions because it was just too complicated with this many people. Well everyone was so sad that my parents, being the host and hostess of the year, decided to accommodate everyone and invite the family to the lake house for a week! (origially 41 people total!) As reality set in, Mom started getting alittle nervous thinking about were everyone was going to sleep and how to organize all the meals and stuff, so I helped her out when I was there in June. I hope she was able to look forward to it more after that. So thanks to them and to the Lord for making it possible, we had another great reunion with our family. Everyone really stepped up and helped out selflessly and we all just had a great time together! The reunion just happened to fall right after that area of Texas was completely flooded with rain, so the lake was not considered "safe" for swimming etc. But our wonderful neighbors blessed us beyond words by letting us use their pool (and offering everything from volleyball equipment to snacks to tours of their beautiful house!) Given the circumstances, this could have been a rough week. But because God chose to bless us in numerous ways, our family truly had a great time.


Here is Taylor in the neighbors' pool with my cousin Scott and her cousin Caitlyn.












This is Micah, Caitlyn's brother. I wish I remembered what he was laughing at!
















Josh and Aubrey enjoy a quiet moment together on the beach.
















Carrying around really big stuffed animals is one of Aubrey's favorite activities!

Taylor Loves Her Babies

Those of you who know Taylor know that at this point in her life, babies are her world. Everywhere she goes she hopes there is a baby (real or pretend) and if there is one she will spend every moment she can holding it. She is amazingly nurturing and gentle with them, and so fun to watch as this little mother comes out of her when she is holding them and she is just so tender and careful. She gets upset with Aubrey when she is not "treating" or "holding her baby right," and she really doesn't like it when she puts her baby down for a nap, and Aubrey comes up and (thinking the baby is available) "wakes her up!" We are working on helping Taylor understand that Aubrey doesn't understand her pretend play, and that the pretend baby is not as important as her real sister.
During this trip to Texas we got to meet two new babies and Taylor just could not get enough! The Mommies were very gracious and let Taylor hold them a lot. I am grateful that she is so gentle and good with them, because I really didn't feel nervous at all about it! She had it under control! ;) She is going to make a wonderful Mommy some day.
This is Taylor with my friend Jody and her baby Cailey (I hope I spelled that right!) at less than a week old!





















And here she is with my cousin's baby Elizabeth. (Taylor's favorite name in the whole world!)

Happy Belated Independance Day!

This is obviously overdue, but I got some fun pictures of our little July 4th celebration that I wanted to share. This was the girls' first time with fire works or anything and they were pretty funny about it. They both were very interested until they started getting loud, then they both just wanted to be held . Taylor wanted to hold every roman candle we did, but she was so very cautious around everything. (She would not get within ten feet of anyone holding a sparkler!) This kind of caution must be a Day thing, because every amount of caution I have is because I know I have to be that way- not because I want to be that way. ;) Some of you know what I mean. Of course, it could just be a firstborn thing. Whatever the case, everyone had a good time celebrating our country's birthday...except for Dad's little- shall we say- run in with Jake the dog, who was quite nervous and up tight around all the fire and noise. Sorry, Dad, hope everything has healed up by now!
Taylor showing little sister how to safely opperate a roman candle.















Aubrey learning the joys of playing with fire- I mean sparklers. Check out the intensity on her little face!

Virtual Tour of the Day Home

Okay, Aunt Linda, you asked for it (as have a few others). So here it is- as close as I could get to giving you a personal tour of our St. Louis home.... I figured we'd start on the outside.

Welcome in! Here is our entry.
going into the Living Room from the entry
The Living Room















going into the Dining Room from the Living Room

The dining room... For some reason the pictures kept coming out dark in here, but at least you can see what it looks like.
















Facing the kitchen (and the half bath) from the dining room

the kitchen
This is for Aunt Linda. I thought you might recognize what is now our pantry. :)