First day of school

Off to school, for both my kiddos! I am so proud! (Although I just realized that we'll be away from Sorrento for a whole year next year, while Allen is in Preschool 2 and Emilyn goes on to sixth grade! Ah, well, we'll worry about that later!)

Let's start off with fifth grade... Emilyn's the queen of the bus stop now, and we have so many more subjects this year! They must have realinged the bus routes.

And check out this space-age new bus they've got!

No pictures from Allen's first day at school... I left the card in the laptop and thus had no memory in the camera. Sigh. But, it was a lot like Friday, so that should cover it.

What was exciting, though, is that Daddy and I rushed right home, cleaned up Allen's room, took down his crib and put up his stunning... new... Big... Boy's... Bed!

That was a nice suprise to come home to! He's still talking about how cool it is. I think bedtime will be a smooth operation around here for a while. AND, he stays in bed, even though he can get in and out! What a good boy!

Feel free to take a walk down memory lane with the first day of second grade, the first day of third grade, the first day of fourth grade and the first day of Allen's Kids' Morning Out class!

Last hurrah at IPC

It's Sunday, and Mommy worked the day shift. So, when I got home at 5:30, it was clear that a trip to the Incredible Pizza Co. was in order, to celebrate the last night of summer.

Allen just wanted to celebrate this giant orange gun!

He and Daddy took a crack at those marauding dinos... Daddy made his way on to the high scorer page!

Emilyn scored big tickets on the bass fishing wheel and the SpongeBob wheel. They walked away with some cool prizes, and we had a lot of fun.

It was a great summer! From AshFest to Hershey to MOSAICS camp to strings... Want to relive the fun? Click here for June posts and here for July.

Meeting Mrs. Ketteman

Emilyn also had Meet the Teacher Day, aka "Popsicle Day," today... We met Mrs. Ketteman. It turns out, she shares Daddy's passion for history, so they'll get along just fine!

She has a very old desk in her room from an old schoolhouse... It's a place of honor for the kids during independent reading time, and Daddy, of course, was impressed.

Mrs. Ketteman lets her kids pick where they want to sit... for the first few days. She says she'll move anybody who starts trouble. Emilyn is sitting next to her friend Caroline.

It's amazing to stroll through Sorrento and see all the little kids... knowing that yours is one of the biggest on the block!

Mrs. K seems like a no-nonsense teacher, and I just bet that Ketteman's Kids are uber-prepared for middle school when the time rolls around!

Allen's preschool open house

Just got back from seeing Allen's new classroom for the first time... He gets started on Monday morning. It was nice to see Miss Kim and meet Miss Marlene... and check out the sensory table:

"My favorite part was the bean table," Allen says.

Some people just never get tired of filling and spilling the beans (August 2002):


For more shots from Allen's classroom, including his swell cubby, click here.

Miss Veile gets hitched

Before fourth grade ended, Miss Veile invited all the kids in her class to attend her wedding. Saturday was the big day!

The event was at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in St. Louis. Beautiful church, beautiful Mass. The pastor was a friend of the groom's, and he made his homily fun. "My favorite part was the homily," Emilyn says. "It was beautiful."

In the receiving line, there was time to snap a picture!

The bride's new name is Mrs. Book. How's that for a teacher name?

Because the wedding was in the city, and so close to the time I had to go to work, Emilyn got to come with me to the paper and stay for the whole shift. We ate a lot of bad food out of vending machines... She played a lot of video games... Helped me choose a Billy Mays story for the website... and helped me check the lottery numbers for the paper. "I love your work," she said. "It's so peaceful." I guess it is, compared to spending the evening with your baby brother!

The best table at Emperor's Palace!

We did it! We finally scored the elevated table at Emperor's Palace! With the stairs! And the excellent view of the koi pond! We tower above the other, inferior diners! Muuwhahaaha!

A rainy tasting day at the farm

After we dropped Grandma off at the airport, we dodged the raindrops and headed to Thies Farm again, for their annual sample day. Because of the rain, they had everyone jammed into a tent in the field. It was snug, but OK, and all the food was yummy. Emilyn's favorites: Zucchini bread and zucchini cake. Allen especially loved the cantaloupe. Both kiddos spent some time in the crafts tent.



We brought home a lot of yummy goodness, including corn, tomatoes, cantaloupe, peaches and okra, which Daddy whipped up into a fried delight. Mmmm! Happy summer, everyone!

Heart ultrasound at St. John's

Well, it was no doubt disturbing last year when Dr. Garriga told us she detected a heart murmur in Emilyn. Nothing to worry about, she said at the time. But this year, she heard it again, and she scheduled us for a heart ultrasound at the kids' cardiac unit at St. John's Mercy Medical Center.

The ultrasound tech was not alarmed by anything that she saw, and it was a really neat chance to see Emilyn's heart beating and all the structures within, even the vessels leading to and from the heart. Later that afternoon, her doctor called and said that turbulence in the pulmonary artery was causing the murmur, and it was not likely to ever give her problems. Whew!

Strings Camp concert

Five days! Four beautiful songs! It's amazing all that they learned in such a short time! She says she had a lot of fun. All that, and a cool T-shirt too!

For the rest of the concert, click here.

At NorthPointe pool with Grandma

My favorite way to spend a Thursday evening... at the pool until closing time! Ahhhh. Working nights for life, I really miss this time of day.

It was a little chilly, and a little cloudy, but A-OK with me. I file this post under "Uniquely St. Louis," but Grandma tells us that the pool in Phoenix is virtually identical to this one! Must be a cookie-cutter municipal water park model!

For more pictures, click here.

MOSAICS arts camp

Emilyn had a really excellent opportunity this summer to be in the first MOSAICS summer arts enrichment camp. For two weeks, incoming fifth graders in Parkway (split into visual arts and performing arts groups) met with their teachers and visiting professionals to do some really intense art!

Emilyn was in the performing arts group with her music teacher, Miss Beim. The day was split into three classes: Drama and Movement, Rhythm and Improvisation, and Instrumental Music. Emilyn had this to say about her experience:

Reasons I loved MOSAICS:
1. Everyone was as smart as me.
2. I got to be so creative.
3. The instruments were awesome.
4. Everyone was nice.

Events like this are the reason I bought the fancy video camera... The video might not be great, but the sound is fabulous. Enjoy these videos, and click here for more.

Mommy makes it happen

I was doodling for Allen on the MagnaDoodle, and I drew him a train... being driven by a shark. Now, the MagnaDoodle has many artistic limitations. So, I promised him a trip to Hobby Lobby and a fun night of projects... Thus armed with the proper tools, I made this truly excellent "shark driving a sparkly purple party train." Shark removable, of course!

As the outfit turns...

LEFT: Allen, April 2007
RIGHT: Tyler, July 2009

FanFest and Citygarden

Subtitled... A bunch of Crabbes see as much of downtown as possible, with All-Star buzz all around!

I got tickets to the All-Star FanFest, which is baseball's traveling exhibit that goes with the All-Star Game.

It was neat, but the lines were long... and many things were not free. The great photo opportunities I was looking forward to 1. had long lines and 2. were run by the league and, therefore, you have to go to the website to buy the photos. Sheesh. But there is a good one of Emilyn in the All-Star "clubhouse"... click here, then scroll down to IMG 3991 and IMG 3992.

There were some good photos to be had for free, though...

She looks like she's at a cocktail party in all of these...

Allen was disappointed, mostly because I had promised him he could throw and bat and catch (all over-organized booths with VERY long lines), so we made a pretty-quick exit and headed over to the new Citygarden.

Here's a rare picture of me... enjoying the waterfall and stepping stones at Citygarden. All the sculpture and fountains are meant for climbing in and on.

I think the kiddos had fun in the fountains, and I hope to go back with them again someday... Better pottying and changing facilities would be nice!

For all the pictures from our downtown adventure, click here.

Home Run Derby side note: If you watched it, you heard Boomer and Joe Morgan say lots of wonderful things about St. Louis, Cardinal fans, Busch Stadium... You heard Albert Pujols say all kinds of nice things about Stan "the Man" Musial. You saw the outfield grass rolled into a picture of the Arch and Old Courthouse. And you saw Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers hit a lot of balls very far! Hope you tune in tonight for the All-Star Game! Go NL!

A modest proposal... from Ghana

Well, they say the wife is always the last to know...

Steve got a lovely letter yesterday, air mail, from Ghana. Yes, Ghana, West Africa. The envelope has 8 stamps (totaling 17,000 Ghanian cents) and Steve's name and address carefully hand-lettered in blue ink.

Now, I thought it was decals. Steve orders airplane decals from all over the world. Imagine my surprise...

Miss Agi Mensah, P.O. Box 8, Gomoa Fetteh, Ghana

Hello new friend.
I am with much interest to write you this letter. How are you? I am fine, hope that you are Also doing fine. I really kwon that you will surprise about where I got your Address was inside a Magazine.
I will introduce my self to you. My name AGI and I life in Ghana.
I am a good girl with match treat sense of humor.
I am broadminded and like all daily aspect. I like swimming, cooking, music, movives and reading.
Dear I am looking for a man to be my fiance. I was seriously looking find and Accept a man in my Life. That man will be deem man.
Please I will stop now and got to send you this letter. Take care and write back soon.
Take care and write soon. Love and kiss. Yours new friend AGI.

Pals you can call =+2330541752407

Now, I know Steve is a "deem man" -- but he's already my deem man! I can only trust that Agi will do the noble thing and back the hell off! Seriously, I think this is very funny, but Steve is unnerved and wonders how the hell this person got our address. If she shows up with a visa and a GPS, then I'll start worrying, too. ;)

Fun with donuts and turtles

We went to Krispy Kreme this morning to get Emilyn's free donuts for A's on her report card... There, I captured this image of pure chocolate bliss:

Then, we went to QuikTrip to get some Cheerios and headed to Lone Elk Park, where the Crabbe children like to feed the turtles and ride hanging out of the sunroof. Signs there explicitly ask you not to feed the geese and ducks.


Is it our fault that those pesky ducks and geese get in our way when we're trying to feed the turtles?!?


For more pictures from today, click here.

All-Star spotlight

Our town is on the All-Star stage this weekend. Welcome, world!

Our photographers put together a beautiful multimedia presentation as part of our coverage of the big game... So here's a little somethin' about what life is like here in Cardinal Nation.

If you ever want to know what baseball means to me, this is it.

The Great Walgreens Walking Tour

I've got Allen in the spirit of our daily walks... Or maybe he just loves Walgreens. Or, "Walguns," as he calls it! He really loves to look at toy guns, and Walgreens has a whole aisle full. (I told him he can have one when he's completely out of diapers.)

Anyway, yesterday I told him we were going to walk to the post office. "I want to walk to Walgreens," he said. OK.... So, we drove halfway, parked the car, walked to the post office, returned by way of that neighborhood's Walgreens... Total distance, 3 miles.

Today, he asked me: "Are we going to walk in the stroller? I want to walk to Walguns." Hmmmmm. OK. So, I knew I had to go to Whole Foods, so we went there, parked, walked to (a different) Walgreens, walked back and shopped for lunch. Total distance, 3 miles again. (Clayton Road is really bad for walking. Horrible curbs and sidewalk!)

Luckily, we have many, many Walgreens to choose from. Now I have to draw 1.5 mile radius circles around each of them and figure out where to park next!

The next step in potty success!

My boy is halfway through his major award of 10 Hershey's Kisses because he... pooped... in... the... potty!!! Hooray! I'm so proud of my boy. "It makes me feel good!" he said. And he's clapping his hands.

A box of smiles from Aunt Arleen

My Aunt Arleen Sanborn is a true peach. She just, out of the blue, sent me a framed photo of Mom and Dad from her son T.C.'s wedding in 2003, along with some printouts of other photos of them. What a gift! This framed one is going right on my desk at work.


As Aunt Arleen said in her note, it is hard to believe that six years have gone by since these were taken. Thanks so much for the gift. I'll treasure them always!

Happy Independence Day!

It's the second Fourth of July in a row where a sweatshirt is not out of the question! Very, very strange.

We're having a cookout-themed fest here at work... I've always liked my grilled chicken, and recently I've been making zucchini and squash on the grill. I wanted to bring that stuff to work, so I got the idea of a coarse chop of everything, mixed with fresh corn and tomatoes. It came out great. I'm calling it summer in a bowl.

Can't wait to try what everyone else is bringing... Feeling so sorry for those of you who aren't working but whose plans were scrubbed by rain! (*wink*) Maybe next year!

Allen and Mommy at the lake

More beautiful weather today to wake up to... In fact, Daddy has been turning off the A/C when he goes to work at night.

So, Allen and I headed to Creve Coeur Lake to walk and, ostensibly, scooter. Of course, when we got there, Allen rode his scooter from the parking lot to the trail and then decided he didn't want to scooter after all. Sheesh! So, back to the car to ditch the scooter and grab the stroller.

You may remember last year when Emilyn and I (and Allen in the stroller) conquered the entire 3.7 mile trail around the lake. Hoo-ah! Not this time. I pushed Allen about a quarter of the way around, then back. So, maybe a little less than 2 miles? I hope it was a good enough workout.

Then, we took time to appreciate the scenery and take some pictures. And Allen, for his part, appreciated the big darn rock pile by the lakeshore... Rocks like these are serious business, by golly.



For more pictures of our morning at the lake, click here.

Beautiful evening at the pool

We're enjoying another July respite from the nasty heat... It's been in the 80s and gorgeous for a few days now. I figured out that NorthPointe pool would be open until 7:30, and figured there couldn't be a nicer evening to go and enjoy.

Plus, we needed a break... Allen spent much of the morning sick and whining... He threw up once, then wouldn't leave the bathroom... I had to fold laundry in the hallway because he didn't want me out of his sight... Gradually, he felt better, and then suddenly he wanted to eat everything in sight. I swear, that kid is a medical miracle. Look how well he had rebounded by 5:30!



Anyway, it was a great time, and I'm so glad we went. I'm looking at a stretch of working seven days in row coming up soon, so leisure will be hard to come by. Got to take advantage when I can!