Julia + Baby Bump = Adorable

I thought I would share some pictures of a little maternity session I did for my friend Julia. And yes, in case you are wondering it is totally awful to be pregnant with her at the same time. She can certainly rock the baby in the belly thing she's got going on.

They are doing her daughter's room in a little bit of a "vintage" style I would call it, so I attempted to capture these pics in more of a vintage sort of way. Hopefully Ms. Violet can look at these pictures for years to come and see the excitement in her parents eyes as they anxiously awaited her arrival.

Of course we had to end the session with a little bit of Ice Cream. I mean I know it's a little cliche....but every pregnant chick loves her Ice Cream and Julia is no exception!

Peanuts and Cracker Jacks

We went to our first Cardinals game of the season the other night.  We did it up right and let the little guy eat the entire game away.  2 year old + constantly eating = good time for everyone!  When I was growing up and we went to our first game of the season my Mom and Dad would let us get whatever we wanted.  Nachos, Ice Cream, Peanuts...you name it.  From that game on, we were subject to whatever would fit in my Mom's blue jean purse (that's right I said blue jean, thinking back that bag was horrible but so practical and seemingly bottomless with delicious treats).  I guess we were following in the Kuntz family tradition because Nolan definitely ate it all!  Live it up Buddy, next time...blue jean purse for you.

Here are a few pics from the night, and a little fun fact as well.  Uncle Eric and Aunt Kelly not only joined us at the game but they also taught Nolan a valuable life lesson on how to be frugal.  You see Uncle Eric can be, how do I say this, tight with his money?  So the seemingly innocent Mountain Dew bottles in these pictures are not so innocent.  In fact they were not Mountain Dew at all..but Beer of course.  Take that Busch Stadium, not getting Eric's $8.50!  

And just because it's cute, I thought I'd have a certain someone sing you a little ditty. If this doesn't make you want to run out and buy Peanuts and Cracker Jacks I'm not sure what will.

A Superhero Living Amongst Us

Today a short tale to kick off your Monday.  As we sat at dinner last night Nolan was sharing his wealth of knowledge of the world.  At one point he got on this kick about who we all were.  Here's how the observation went:

Nolan (pointing to Chad):  You are Chad and you are Dad.
Me:  That's right buddy, who am I?
Nolan:  You are Darci and you are Momma (yes I'm still Momma as opposed to Mom, I'll be sad when that ends).
Me:  Right again, who are you?
Nolan:  I am Nolan and I am Dash!

For those of you not familiar with the movie "The Incredibles", Dash is the son in the movie.  His Superhero power is, you guessed it, running Super Fast!  Not sure how many of you have seen Nolan run, but he is no Dash.  Gotta love the imagination though!  I think we need to start watching better Superhero movies, I think it would be way cooler to be the Mom of I don't know...Spider-Man?

Adventures in Babysitting

Once a month we exchange babysitting services with some friends of ours.  It's our attempt at keeping each other sane and allowing the other couple to enjoy an evening free of sticky hands, temper tantrums and poopy diapers.  Sounds fabulous right?  Well it is.

Tonight we had Mr. Parker and I decided to document some of the evening because it may be the last time his parents let us watch him.  You see if you look closely at the picture in the top right corner you will notice two things: a large scratch on his nose and a rather green tongue.  I must confess both of these "blemishes" are a result of his evening with us.  One was an attack of a toybox lid and one was from a very tasty piece of chalk!!! Not gonna lie...I don't think either incident phased him, so hopefully his Mom and Dad let him visit again someday soon.  Chalk is non-toxic, right?

I really don't know what to do with myself when a child will actually look at my camera. It truly is an exciting moment for me and Parker never disappoints...he loves the camera! You will note that the scar on his nose is mysteriously missing in these two pictures...gotta love Photoshop!

This is what I got when I asked my child to look at the camera.  Believe it or not he is at least saying "cheeseburger" but his focus was definitely on his bowling not on my camera.

Happy Mother's Day...to me!

Well I promised pictures today, and who would I be if I disappointed my readers (see how I implied people might actually be reading this?).

Mother Nature provided the most spectacular day and this Struckmann Clan took full advantage.  We headed off to the park, sunglasses and baseball bats in tow.  With the exception of a small temper tantrum involving a certain 2.5 year old....it was a perfect day.

Please note some things about the two pictures above.

a.  Yes that is Nolan and he is looking and smiling at the camera...and yes I am in the picture with him.  Happy Mother's Day to me...best present ever!

b.  Nolan forgot for a minute that it was Mother's Day and not Father's Day and decided to snuggle his Dad.  I'll let it slide, but you better bet I'll be remembering this come June and I expect equal consideration.

My Little Prince

In honor of Mother's Day I thought I would share a short story about my little prince from today.  Tomorrow I will share pictures, today just words.

The hubby was leaving this afternoon to go out of town for the week (I know, I feel sorry for me too).  Anyway, Chad put Nolan down for his nap and I ran to Target for a much needed stock up.  Happy Mother's Day to me right, what is better than a SOLO trip to Target?  Not much in my mind!  Doesn't take much to excite me these days.

So when I got back from Target Chad left for the airport, and about 2 hours later I went in to wake Nolan up (yes he is a prince for many reasons, one is definitely his fine sleeping habits).  I walked in and whispered "time to get up buddy"...and his response with a big smile on his face was "Momma, I'm going to take care of you."  Apparently as Chad put him down for his nap he told Nolan he was going out of town and that he needed to take care of his Mommy.  Well Nolan most certainly did not forget!  And if you were wondering, Yes...there were a few tears shed over that little moment.

On a side note, Chad's first flight got delayed and then the second plane he was on was broken.  Soooo, double Happy Mother's Day to me....Chad is back home and NOT leaving for the week!!  WOOHOO!

Zoo Adventures

At some point I swear we were having nice weather, almost like it was Spring or something!  Luckily we were able to take advantage of one of those beautiful days and spent some time at the Zoo.  I will say the Zoo on this particular day left a little to be desired...there were no sea lions, only 1 elephant in sight, the bears were all asleep, most of the apes/gorillas/monkeys were in hiding BUT you can't hold this crew down! We spent some time at the children's zoo, walked approximately 200 miles and even enjoyed some sweet treats!  Oh Zoo, how I love thee.

Julia's Having a Baby!

That's right, Julia is diving into the pool of motherhood in just 2 short months! She has been listening to some of us talk about the trials and tribulations of "dealing" with children for over 2 years now...and she's still doing it!  Crazy I know!!

With baby...comes a shower.  This particular shower was nothing short of fabulous.  A little background, Julia has had a small obsession with candy throughout this pregnancy.  So a shower centered around candy was a guaranteed hit with this mom-to-be (as well as the other patrons of the shower!).

Some party pics from the big event...

And finally, drum roll please. A belly shot of this little mom-to-be. I feel like I need to put a disclaimer on this photo, like they do on most diet ads. Something like "results not typical", no pregnant woman should look this cute it's just really not fair.

Happy Shower Julia...can't wait to meet Ms. Violet!!!!

Eggs, and Baskets, and Bunnies...Oh My!

Year after year I have to defend the fact that Easter is my favorite holiday.  It is a concept that not many people understand.  As a child I vividly remember hunting Easter eggs well into the summer months.  My mom would pretend to be the Easter Bunny for me over and over again, the eggs didn't have the delicious candy in them like the ones the Easter Bunny brings...but the thrill of the hunt was all I needed!

This year was no different, Easter is STILL my favorite holiday.  And I'm not gonna lie I have a little boy in my house that I think feels the same way!  Cute does not even begin to describe him on Easter this year.  He was loving the hunting, the family, the candy...all of it!  WOOOHOOO for Easter, too bad it only comes but once a year.  Maybe Santa should consider hiding some eggs...just a suggestion.

It all starts out with a little egg decorating fun....

Then you throw in some egg hunting....

Add some quality time with the family....

And Wa-Lah..the perfect holiday.

Oh and one more picture just for fun, because I think he looks like a pirate (this is what I get these days when I ask him to say cheese, not complaining it's better than sticking his hand up and telling me no like he used to).

Ahoy Matey...Happy Easter!

Play-Doh? I Think So!

Cold weather days can get rather boring around the Struckmann house.  So sometimes we are stretching for things to do to entertain the prince of the house.  On this fine morning he settled in with his Play-Doh, too excited to even get out of his PJs.

I do believe he has become a master with the cookie cutters...this particular menu consisted of space shuttles...many many many space shuttles.