Warming up (May 19)

Here's yet another softball picture of Natalie. I can't help it. I am so proud of her. Here she is warming up. This was one of the first games the team played really well together and we could really see some progress. The best part is watching how much fun the kids are having. I'm glad she is enjoying this.

City Hall (May 18)

This is the new City Hall building in downtown Columbia. It turned out beautifully and makes me proud to be a part of this community.

Gateway to the City (May 17)

Here's my work friends Emily and Liz posing in front of the new sculpture in front of the new City Hall. We paused on our way to hear the big announcement that IBM is going to come to Columbia and bring 800 new jobs our way.

Maxcasso (May 16)

Max brought me home another cool abstract piece of artwork today. He does a great job of picking colors and making some pretty cool designs. It might just look like he splatters paint on the paper randomly, but I've seen him work on these types of pictures. He puts a lot of thought into coming up with his design and trying new techniques. Like in this case, he used the brush to splatter the paint and make drips. Now that I look this more closely, I think I have it hanging upside down!

Tub Time (May 15)

Max has told me before that he has outgrown the bubble baths, but on this night, he wanted to jump in with Ella and get some splash time in with his little sister. Had to document this special bubbly occasion!

Batter Up! (May 14)

Natalie is really loving softball this year. Her skills have improved and so has her confidence. One thing that is harder about kid-pitch is that the kids don't want to hit pitches from other kids. They know how to hit well when their coach pitches to them in practice, but the erratic, inconsistent (and sometimes wild) pitches from the kids generally are not very easy to hit. All that being said, at this game, Natalie got a big piece of a kid pitched ball and made it to first!

Fashionistas (May 13)

Yes. My children left the house today looking like this. We try to let them make their own dressing decisions without too much input - the ol' "pick your battle" philosophy. Today was one of those days that I almost said something, but instead, I gritted my teeth and decided to document this forever on film. I can already picture the day 15 years from now when the kids will be looking through old photos and they will yell, "MOM! Why did you let us go out of the house like this?" and my answer will be, "Because I wanted people to make fun of you!"

Nature's Perfect Snack (May 12)

Microwave popcorn has to rank somewhere near the top on the all time coolest inventions. I am a big fan. It's always handy, it's fast and if you get the right variety, it's pretty healthy for you, too. Just wanted to stop and document my love.

Colorful Columbine (May 11)

Growing up in Colorado, one of my favorite flowers was the Colorado state flower the Columbine. When we got married, Marty looked everywhere to find a version that would hold up in Missouri. He finally found one a few years ago and although it is not exactly the same color combination of my old favorite, it means a lot to have some of them gracing us each spring right in our own Missouri front yard.

Hello Petunia (May 10)

Marty is still in full on spring planting mode and he picked up these gorgeous petunias for a planter in the front yard. They are so bright they almost hurt your eyes and they will grow like crazy and take over the planter in a few weeks. So exciting to watch everything green up and take off again each spring. I know I've said this several times already, but after that crazy winter, I am still so happy to see the sun and see things growing again.

Happy Mother's Day (May 9)

My lil blue Nikon CoolPix died a few months ago and I've been limping along with this project, lugging my digital SLR everywhere or relying on my 2.5 megapixel cell phone camera to capture my photos of the day since then. I had been hinting for a quite a while that I wanted another pocket sized camera and I was hoping with Mother's Day approaching that someone would take the bait. Well, it worked! I woke up Sunday morning to the sounds of my kids coming into the room with a big tray full of french toast for a wonderful breakfast in bed. Then they gave me this little number. It is 12 megapixels (my SLR is only 8) and it has a cool touch screen feature. I love it! So many fun features and I plan to try many of them out with this project so watch out!

It's a Chopper, Baby (May 8)

We were heading to Jeff City to go to a birthday bash and on the way down there, we spotted a group of choppers making their way south as well. This one just cracked me up. I think the picture speaks volumes...

FREEZING (May 7)

Our second softball game of the week was SOOOOOO cold. The girls had to wear long sleeved shirts under their uniforms and many of them gave up and put on sweatshirts and jackets over their unis as the game went on. The sun was shining brightly, but the wind was wicked and a storm front moving in caused the temp to drop about 10 degrees in a few hours. We were frozen like little Popsicles by the time the game was done. Max and I cuddled together to try and stay warm but it didn't help much!

New Brew (May 6)

When I was in Kirksville for my work conference last week, I had the great pleasure of trying the Classic American Pilsner, a new beer from a brewery called Ray Hill's BrewHouse. The story I heard was that he was one of the brewmasters from A.B. and when they were bought out, he ventured out on his own. This stuff is great and I was super excited to find it today at my local liquor store. It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking some up. (Bueller? Bueller?)

Clematis (May 5)

Marty started a clematis vine a few years ago on the front of the house. It always does very well, growing almost as tall as the garage each year. He prunes it all the way back to the ground each fall and it comes back every spring - a cycle we look forward to year after year. This year, the blooms have become HUGE! Usually they are maybe 4-5 inches in diameter, but this year, they are as big as dinner plates. We can't figure out why the blooms have gotten so large, but they are beautiful.

Maxasaurus Rex (May 4)

We found these great felt hats at Michael's the other day. Natalie and I went in to get something (I don't even remember what it was) and as usual in a craft store, we found ourselves distracted by all the fun stuff. I don't even remember if we ended up getting what we were after, I just know we came home with three of these cool hats to play with. Max got the dinosaur, Ella got a pig and Natalie got a Roman soldier's helmet. For a whopping $6 we had a great afternoon of dress-up fun and some great memories to go with it.

Natalie Pitches (May 3)

We did not know that we were going to be playing kid pitch softball this year so needless to say, we hadn't practiced pitching. At all. But, like most challenges Natalie faces, she just jumped right in with both feet and picked it up pretty quickly. Coach worked with her a few times at practice and she got to pitch an inning at her first softball game of the season. The first year of kid pitch is pretty rough, the coaches step in after the 4th "ball" is thrown, but Natalie was pretty pumped that she threw three strikes while she was at the mound. Go Natalie!

Nature Art (May 2)

We usually make a trip down to Peace Park for the Earth Day celebration each year. Not because we are into hugging trees per se, but there are a lot of fun activities that are free for the kiddos and it is a great excuse to get out and get some fresh air. There is always a craft station where the kids get to make something using natural materials. This year's project was a tee-pee out of sticks. Ella has never really wanted to do the craft until this year. She really had fun choosing from all the materials available and placing them in just the right place on her project. I'm so glad that she's beginning to enjoy all the things that the big kids like to do.

Wohlgemuth Welcome (May 1)

Just wanted to capture a little shot of the front door. Trying to snag shots of things that help make the house a home. Marty gave this to me after we bought this house. We knew we were going to be here for a while, so it means a lot to put our name on the house. We'll have been here for 9 years in September. Time is flying by...

Welcome Home (April 30)

I was only gone for a couple of days for my conference, but I sure missed my family. Ella welcomed me home with a little help from Elmo. This was taken with my phone camera, so the quality is not that great, but it sure is cute.

CCEM Rocks (April 29)

Most of the photos taken on this evening of our conference are probably not for public consumption, so I will just highlight this one. This was taken in the women's restroom stall at the DuKum Inn in Kirksville, MO. There was an actual chalkboard in the stall and all of us gals in our CCEM group had to jot something down. I focused in on the most appropriate message, which is also the truth - CCEM does rock. Even in Kirksville.

The Break (April 28)

We played some pool tonight at the Days Inn in Kirksville, MO. Setting up for the first game, I wanted a picture to capture all our fun. I got it! None of us can play that well, but we don't care. We sit around and drink beer and let our proverbial hair down and just have a good time. We share some sort of crazy gene - us chamber folk. We've got to stick together so we can survive.

Happy Clouds (April 27)

The sun came out today and with it, some happy clouds. I love the big, white, fluffy ones. Makes me smile.

Piles of Crap

The clutter zone. Everyone's got one (or sometimes more than one). A place in your house where you put stuff that you don't really know what to do with or don't have time to deal with or you don't want anymore. Unfortunately, this place in my house has been the dining room table for quite some time. We have this great furniture that we stupidly bought as soon as we knew we were moving into a house with a formal dining room. We had a 6-month-old infant at the time. Since then, 9 years later, I think we've actually eaten in the room maybe 2 or 3 times. Before we had finished the basement, we took the leaf out of the table and moved it against the windows to make space for more of a play area for the kids and a make-shift desk for us. When the basement was done, we moved all the toys down there and I reclaimed the dining area. It stayed neat and tidy for a few months - even though we weren't using it for meals. Then I started to put a few things in there - with all intentions of putting them away or dealing with them later. Now look at it. Piles and piles of crap. It's not all my crap either. There are tools, toys, a computer printer, a curtain rod and many more various and sundry items on this table. I took this picture tonight as I was tidying the rest of the house for the cleaning crew that's coming tomorrow. Isn't that ironic? They can vacuum the floor in there at least. Time to have a garage sale or I'm going to end up on one of those shows on TLC!!

Home Made (April 25)

I love, love, love the crafty things the kiddos bring home from school. This is a flower that Max made for me awhile back. I have it on my desk at home and every time I look at it I smile. Mostly because Max really was excited to give it to me. He doesn't care about the crafty stuff as much as us girls, so when he takes the time to make something and has fun with it, I am so glad. It makes it even more special.