The Wohlgemuths

So Much to Share!

2010-07-15T08:39:00.009-05:00

We've had a very busy summer! Here are some pictures to enjoy!

Fourth of July!

Meramac Caverns

Springfield

Dance Class & Blackberry and Peach Picking

Disney World 2010

2010-06-13T09:12:00.004-05:00

I wanted to put out just a few of our pics from Disney World. We had a FANTASTIC time! We even came home rested!

Guess Who's Eating for Two, Graduations and the Chinese Culture Festival!

2010-05-21T22:41:00.007-05:00

So it's official and we're ready to tell the world, we'll be expecting a baby Wohlgemuth in December.
In other big news, Isabelle has graduated from preschool and is SO READY to start kindergarten. She is a fantastic kid, we couldn't ask for better, so the new baby will have a wonderful big sister. Isabelle is so thrilled and she's ready for the challenge. As she tells us, and anyone who will listen, "Being a big sister is a big responsibility"!
I also graduated this month with my masters degree in Education Administration. I will be looking for principal jobs next year and I'm ready for the change. JP has just started his MBA program and is currently working hard at the kitchen table on yet another research paper.
Isabelle, Darcy and I visited the Botanical Gardens (one of our favorite places) for the annual Chinese Culture Festival this month. This is one of my favorite events hosted by the gardens. We've made it the last four years.
We're all well and so happy about all our big news and events!

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T19:50:00.005-05:00

A trip down memory lane! Oh how she's grown in these five short years!

Here are some pictures of our gorgeous Easter day!

Garden's Easter Hunt & Mommy/Daughter Date Night

2010-03-30T19:58:00.002-05:00

We've started a new Easter tradition of going to the Missouri Botanical Garden's Easter Egg Hunt. We had a great time and also got to pet some live rabbits!
Tonight's mommy/daughter date was making Easter basket cupcakes. Enjoy the pictures!

Garden's Easter Hunt & Mommy/Daughter Date Night

2010-03-30T19:57:00.000-05:00

Snow Traditions

2010-02-15T17:12:00.003-06:00

We are quickly creating new snow traditions in the Wohlgemuth household! After we play outside in the snow (and Izzy really knows how to play!) we come in for hot chocolate and S'mores. Yum! Today we were off school for President's Day; what a great day for several inches of snow fun!
Earlier today we went to Barnes & Noble for story time. They do a great job of entertaining kiddos. They sang songs, read aloud two stories, sang more songs and then did a craft. Isabelle was really engaged and I was surprised how much she knew about presidents!

Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T08:20:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all! Here is what Isabelle woke up to this morning. Each little heart had a message for her. JP gave Isabelle a charm bracelet for Christmas and for Valentine's Day he added a heart charm. What a guy!

Isabelle's Christmas Program and Party

2009-12-18T11:27:00.006-06:00

I think Isabelle has the most wonderful preschool teachers. They do such amazing things with the kiddos. Here is an example from their winter program, a dramatic telling of "The Mitten" and "If all the snowflakes were chocolate covered cupcakes...". I can't get the videos to post so we'll have to be content with pictures.

I've also included pictures of our Christmas cookie decorating!
Merry Christmas!

Visit to Darcy's house

2009-12-09T21:48:00.001-06:00

Some fun photos from our recent trip to Darcy's house!

Chocolate Tasting, Dinosaurs & the Boat House

2009-11-08T19:24:00.007-06:00

Last night mom & dad threw a chocolate tasting party at Kakao chocolate here in St. Louis. We had wine and appetizers before hand and then the owner of Kakao did a tasting for us, explaining how the chocolates are made, what some of the terms are and a little history. It was delicious. My favorites of the night were the Autumn Bark and the Earl Grey truffles (yes, the tea)!

Today we had the most beautiful weather! It was 80' outside in November! JP was off getting one more round of golf in before the weather turns and Isabelle, Darcy, Sheila and I took advantage of the gorgeous weather. First we went to the Boathouse and took a paddle boat on the water. Sheila and I got quite a workout! Then we had lunch outside on the patio. We headed to the Science center after and went to the Dinosaur Unearthed exhibit. It was really fun! Isabelle was very impressed! Then we went to the Omnimax in the Science Center and saw Wild Ocean. It was incredible! Good times today, good times.

Happy Halloween!!

2009-10-31T22:31:00.002-05:00

Today was a beautiful fall day. Perfect for raking leaves and then jumping in the leaves! Here are some pictures of our Halloween fun (notice the cute pumpkin pizza JP made)! Isabelle chose to appear as Snow White this evening and had a great time trick-or-treating on her own. At each house she would tell us that she was going to do "this one by myself".

Pumpkin Decorating and Fall Fun

2009-10-25T09:33:00.005-05:00

We've had a lot of fun family time in the last several weeks. We stuffed a scarecrow, played in the Apple Fun Corral at our local Eckert's Family Farm, and picked the pumpkins that Isabelle grew in her own garden! Then we used Mr. Potato Head pumpkin kits to decorate the pumpkins. I have to say that I LOVE the kits, they're so much easier (and less messy) than carving the traditional way.

Isabelle's First Field Trip

2009-09-20T18:26:00.003-05:00

Isabelle took her first field trip on Friday. Her preschool class went to Eckert's Orchard to learn about and pick apples. I went along as a chaperone. It was intresting being on the other side of a field trip for once.

Sheila's Release Par-tay!

2009-09-13T00:56:00.003-05:00

My little sister Darcy has been best friends with Sheila Shahpari since they were in 7th grade. Tonight was her first CD release party. Absolutely fabulous! Here are some pictures. Check her out at sheilashahpari.com.

Fruits of our labor

2009-09-13T00:51:00.003-05:00

Isabelle planted pumpkin seeds and they have produced several pumpkins! The moles/rabbits/what-evers have eaten three of them but two have survived and are growing!

Mary Poppins!

2009-08-24T22:01:00.003-05:00

We took Isabelle to her first live theater production last night. We saw Mary Poppins. It was amazing! The dancing was great and watching Isabelle was even better! She kept saying, in her Minnie Mouse voice, "How'd she DO that?!?"
Enjoy the pictures!

First Day of School!

2009-08-19T16:07:00.005-05:00

Isabelle started preschool today! She did so well and had nothing but good things to say when I picked her up (I took the day off work). Here are some pictures of her first day.

After we dropped her off this morning JP and I went for coffee and felt quite adult!

Disney World

2009-08-04T19:07:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pictures of our trip to Disney World!

July 4th in Topeka

2009-07-07T21:18:00.003-05:00

We had a wonderful visit to Topeka for a fabulous fourth. Here are some pictures from the Collin's Park Parade and a party at JP's parent's house.

Summer Fun

2009-06-11T22:44:00.004-05:00

School let out a week ago and JP took time off for some family fun. We went to the zoo, spent time in Springfield with Darcy and Mike, enjoyed music in the gardens with Erica and Mark and checked off a ton of things on the on-going to-do list.
Summer School begins Monday and I'm kicking it off with a meeting tomorrow.

Here are some pictures of our summer fun!

Dancing with Papa

2009-06-02T22:47:00.003-05:00

I think the video speaks for itself.

School's End of Year Celebration

2009-05-24T17:27:00.002-05:00

At the end of each school year our school sponsors a big celebration. This year they went all out and we had our celebration at the Cardinal's Game. This was definitely the best one yet!
Here are some pictures of our celebration.

Greek Fest

2009-05-23T15:26:00.003-05:00

This weekend we attended Greek Fest at a Greek Orthodox Church near our house. They have games and bouncy houses for the kids, live music and dancing and of course, delicious food.
Isabelle and I joined the dancing for one song. Erica has video on her new phone; I'll try to get her to upload it here. In the meantime here are some still shots of our dancing and Isabelle watching the dancers while eating her "Greek Hot Dog".

Stingray Cove

2009-05-09T08:41:00.002-05:00

The St. Louis Zoo added a stingray petting area. Last night was Zoo Friends night and we went to pet the stingrays, do arts and crafts, and run around like sea turtles taking their eggs to the beach.

Great Weekend!

2009-04-26T22:05:00.002-05:00

It doesn't get any better than this! Saturday at the Chinese Culture Festival at the MO Botanical Gardens, Sunday at Grants Farm. Isabelle helped Papa work on his path in the afternoon. We're exhausted now.

Poor Sick Baby and Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-04T21:43:00.005-05:00

Isabelle started Wednesday with a fever and it didn't break until Friday night. She woke up happy as a lark on Satruday which was wonderful. We had a gorgeous day for an Easter Egg hunt today (Saturday). Mom and I took Isabelle to the Missouri Botanical Gardens for an Easter Egg Extravaganza! JP, Dad, Uncle Mark and Stan are on a golf/baseball trip this weekend in Memphis so it was a girls day at the gardens.
After finding/choosing her 10 eggs Isabelle opened one to find a ticket for a special prize (fancy binoculars from the MBG). We had juice and cookies at a reception for the egg hunters and got to pet several types of live bunnies. The very large, very adorable, very long-eared rabbit in the pictures is an angora rabbit. It was HUGE! We then played in the Children's Garden, had a special ladies lunch and then headed home for a three hour nap! Well, at least Isabelle slept. She was so adorable when she woke up all tousle-haired and snuggly. We had a fun evening together and Izzy gave a little dance show.
Sadly, Izzy's temperature spiked this evening at 102.4. Tylenol and sleep are working their magic. I just took her temp (thank you incredible temple thermometer that allows you to take the temp of a sleeping child!!!) and it was 99.7. I want my poor baby to feel better soon.

2009-03-20T21:52:00.001-05:00

Spring Break

2009-03-20T21:39:00.003-05:00

Hello Family!
We've had such a wonderful Spring break. The weather has cooperated beautifully and we've been able to go everywhere that we've wanted to. On Monday we went to the zoo with Grandma. On Tuesday we spent the morning at the playground, the afternoon sleeping!! then time at Monkey Joe's (a bounce house bonanza), the evening in a picnic with daddy and more playing at another playground. Wednesday we stayed home and did crafts and played around the house. We baked our first apple pie and took it with us to dinner at Aunt Kitty and Uncle Mark's house. Thursday we went to school so I could do some work and then had a play date with our friends Erin and Yuri at Monkey Joe's. Friday we took the kittens to the vet and then spent the afternoon at the Botanical Gardens. We literally walked the entire Gardens. Luckily I took the stroller so Isabelle lasted the whole time. Then we had a dinner date with Daddy and took a carriage ride by the river. Then it was home and we baked our first cherry pie.
Tomorrow we plan to stay home and do NOTHING! We're going to play at home and rest as much as possible so we can start our normal routine on Monday. Then its only a few short months until summer vacation. Of course that means that we'll have summer school...hopefully it's worth it for our trip to Germany next summer!
I have three more classes and my internship left before I graduate with my masters in Ed Admin. I could really use all prayers possible to help us get through grad school and everything else!

Update

2009-03-18T15:04:00.002-05:00

Today Isabelle asked me to teach her how to make an apple pie. We had a blast and it looks great. We're going to have dinner with Erica and Mark tonight and we'll take the pie with us. Mmmmmmm....can't wait!

Isabelle's 4th Birthday

2009-03-01T20:30:00.003-06:00

We celebrated Isabelle's 4th birthday this weekend...all weekend! There is so much to share but for now we'll have to make do with these pics. :)

Winter Fun

2009-02-09T22:03:00.006-06:00

We've had lots of fun over the last few weeks. Check out these pictures of good times in the snow and a play date with Isabelle's prince, Chase.

I mean, really!

2009-01-27T08:33:00.003-06:00

My mom gave Isabelle this sleep mask one day while she was packing a suitcase. About two weeks ago I went to check on Isabelle before heading to be myself and saw that her light was on. When I opened the door, this is what I saw. She is hilarious!

Isabelle Firsts

2009-01-27T08:20:00.004-06:00

Thanks to Grandma Tina, Isabelle experienced another first over the Christmas break! The Mowrer girls all got manicures together. Such fun! Isabelle was adorable, holding out her hands and chatting up the manicurist. When we walked in she picked out a nail polish color immediately...it was called Princess, of course!

Another first was when we took Isabelle for her first game of bowling. She loved it! JP and I also bowled our best games ever! She kept telling JP, "Daddy, we make a good team." The bumper guards only came up during her turn so those of you discounting our tremendous scores can just rethink that! Isabelle bowled a strike too, with out the bumper guards!

Christmas Fun

2008-12-26T00:35:00.002-06:00

Who doesn't love a good dance number?

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T00:13:00.006-06:00

Merry Christmas to all! Here are a few pictures from our fun-filled day. They're not in order, I still haven't figured out how to arrange them and give them captions!

Isabelle Can Spell Her Name!

2008-11-07T20:30:00.004-06:00

It's true! Isabelle can spell her name. I am so proud of her. I've included a video, in it she forgets the letter "b" but she spelled it correctly, without prompting, about fifty times today so we'll have to give her this one. We went to dinner tonight with Mom, Dad, and Aunt Kitty (Erica) so she had a great audience. That's who you hear cheering in the background. This is such a fun age to watch. She's been writing her name for about a week and a half but she'd ask "What comes next, Mommy?" I asked her today if she could spell her name out loud and she did it! I can't wait for her to be able to read books. I'm such a bookworm myself that I am excited for her to discover that joy that comes from a good book!

Halloween Fun!

2008-11-01T12:26:00.006-05:00

This year we decided to throw a small party for Isabelle's friends as well as ours. Several people canceled at the last minute so it really was a small party but the ones that made it made it great! Our friends Lynn and Glenn and their son Gus had two events to attend so they stopped by for a couple of hours right after work. Then later the Carpenter/Romeri families came with Isabelle's special friends Sophie, Ben, and Clara. We had dinner (mummy dogs for the kids) and the went trick-or-treating. They were so cute and so excited! Afterward we came back and decorated cookies and made masks while the grown-ups ate pie and talked. Then we destroyed a pumpkin pinata. Lots of laughter accompanied the blows and shouts of "Watch out!" as well! It was hard to get a clear picture with the kiddos being so excited but here is a sampling of our fun evening.

By the way, the adorable princess wrap was made by Isabelle's great-grandmother, Betty Mowrer. Talk about the perfect accessory!

A Great Weekend with the Topeka Grandparents!

2008-10-20T08:47:00.005-05:00

We had a wonderful weekend in Kansas with our Topeka relatives! Our first stop was Friday at the Kansas City Zoo. Isabelle particularly loved visiting the chimpanzees in Africa. We got to see them being fed (and boy do they love that!) and Isabelle and an infant chimp got quite cozy...through the glass.

On Saturday we joined a group from Penny and Thad's mission church, Vida. We headed to Wakarusa, Kansas for a Bean Feed! The ham and beans are cooked over an open fire in a huge pot. Combine that with cornbread, sides and home-made pie and you have an incredible meal.

Then we headed to a visit with Great-Grandma Ruthie where we had a balloon fight (started by Ruthie herself) and a lovely chat. After a quick nap (for Isabelle and Mommy) we headed to Gary's Berries, again with the friendly folks at Vida, to pick pumpkins, find our way through a corn maze, a relaxing hayride and lots of trips down a giant slide. There was also fun to be had in the corn pit and hay stacks. A funnel cake and kellte corn rounded off the evening and then it was back to the house for dinner and sleep.

We were going a hundred miles an hour the whole weekend but we had a great time.

The pictures didn't display in the order they happened. You'll all have to use your detective skills to figure out what's happening in each!

Pumpkin Pickin'

2008-10-13T21:26:00.003-05:00

Another gorgeous-weather weekend meant spending time at Eckert's. We picked pumpkins and took a fun wagon ride. We also walked to the Swansea Kingdom playground and played our hearts out before walking the mile and a half back to the house.

The Best of Missouri at the Botanical Gardens

2008-10-09T14:46:00.006-05:00

We had such a great time together at the Botanical Gardens. We climbed all over statues, decorated a pumpkin, built a bird house, made a silly crown, decorated a doughnut, played with dancing water, had Isabelle's face painted and so much more!

Eckert's Fun

2008-09-21T19:30:00.004-05:00

We had a great time this weekend spending some family time outside in the gorgeous weather! We built a scarecrow, picked apples and played on a tractor! We can't wait for pumpkin pickin' time!

Lake Ike

2008-09-14T10:12:00.002-05:00

Thanks to the little rain shower we had this morning our backyard is now a lake. We are flooded from the fence to the top of the retaining wall. Erica called this morning with news that her basement is flooding! Our street is strewn with leaves and branches and our once pile of fire wood is now driftwood.
Bummer.

30th Birthday and I may Never sleep again

2008-09-09T21:26:00.002-05:00

No, these two are not related. I celebrated my 30th birthday on Friday at Absolutely Goosed with some friends and then again on Sunday at Eleven Eleven with more friends. Next weekend we're celebrating with family. It's pretty much a birthday double-weekend extravaganza! Hurray!
I joined face book today. I got home from work and after putting Isabelle to bed I got on and spent almost an hour and a half on there messing around. It is so addicting! Just like blogging! I need to sleep but I keep clicking on profiles and reading about old friends. I really must finish this and go to bed!

Disney!!

2008-08-09T16:54:00.003-05:00

We took a trip to Disney World a week ago and had an amazing time! JP, Isabelle, Grandma Tina, Papa Rick and I stayed in Port Orleans, French Quarter on the Disney property. We went to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and back to the Magic Kingdom. Not in one day of course! We had breakfast with the princesses on our last morning. I will never forget Isabelle's face that morning. She dressed like Cinderella (thanks Aunt Kitty!) and looked adorable. She made a wish on a wishing star. The picture above shows how seriously she took her wish.
When we went to Hollywood Studios we were named Disney's Family of the Hour and had one wish granted. We chose to see the Playhouse Disney show. Isabelle got to meet June, Rocket and Leo from Little Einsteins! We were taken in and got front row seats and were given lots of goodies. Isabelle had a blast! There are a few extra pictures at the bottom of the page.
Our trip was definitely a success!

Thanks Kasey!

2008-07-25T08:16:00.003-05:00

Thanks to my friend Kasey I now know how to put pictures and videos in right with my postings which will make a lot more sense! I'll try it here. I wanted to include this clip of Isabelle grooving in her car seat on the day we went to the zoo. The song is from Imagination Movers, a child's group, and she belly laughs every time we play it!

Flood '08

2008-07-24T16:47:00.004-05:00

For those of you that work at Charter, no I'm not talking about the school's flood. We got home last night from visiting Darcy and her husband in Springfield, MO to find our family room carpet pooling water. It seems our air-conditioner had a leak and since our utility room is on the other side of the family room wall the water all leaked into the carpet. It has been leaking for a long time but its in a corner on the other side of the couch and we don't step over there often. I was moving the video-rocker last night and stepped in a puddle. Thank goodness I found it! So I spent today with people from an HVAC and water damage/restoration company. We really need to reassess our insurance deductible. Thank heavens for savings and summer school!
I've included a few pictures. The restoration company says they don't think there is any mold. Let's pray there is not.

Isabelle on Marriage

2008-07-18T07:46:00.002-05:00

In the car yesterday Isabelle told me, "When I grow up I'm going to marry daddy. That's a great idea Mommy?" I said, "But daddy is my husband, who will I be married to?" She said, "You'll have to find another husband. I'm marrying daddy."

Who Knew

2008-07-17T12:57:00.003-05:00

Today I learned something about myself. I'm nearly 30 years old so anytime one can learn something new about oneself I suppose it's cause for celebration, or mention at least. Today I had more testing done to try and figure out what is wrong with me (keep the comments to yourself on that statement!). I had an EEG and an MRI. Turns out I'm terribly claustrophobic! The EEG is fine, once you get past the fact that they've stuck 25 electrodes to your head, face and neck with some sort of horrible goo (that is water soluble, but don't make plans for directly after this procedure, I walked out looking like a member of the Adam's Family). Then I headed down for blood work and finally an MRI, of my brain...inside that very small tunnel...with something clasped around your head and pressing into your ears...and no the blindfold doesn't help, and no listening to music (just one more thing holding your head down) doesn't help either. But yes, the mirror and panic button did help. Oh, and thanks for the incredibly small, comment-worthy by nurses, veins that mean having to be stuck three separate times for the contrast (whatever that is). Oh, your scared of needles you say. Bummer of a day for you! All in all I'm only slightly traumatized and definitely glad it's all over. Now for the waiting period to find out results. The doctors only in come in two or three times a week to read results. Must be nice to be a doctor!

Blogging Fun--Random Thoughts

2008-07-15T21:06:00.003-05:00

I went to work today to wrap up the summer school program and ended up talking about blogs and posting and then looking at other blogs for awhile. After work I took Isabelle to the Zoo. We had such a great time! We took her swimsuit and a towel with us and Isabelle played in the shooting fountains in the children's garden. She had the biggest smile the whole time.
When we got home JP had a dozen pink roses waiting. Today is our 8th anniversary and we plan to celebrate on Friday. JP was talking about a babysitter for Friday, explaining proudly that he not only made reservations for dinner but also arrange for the babysitter. He must have said the word several times when all of a sudden Isabelle says, "Who sits on babies?" in such an indignant tone that we had to laugh. After our mirth subsided we explained what a babysitter was, and that they don't actually sit on babies. She is such a joy!

I Could Be in Trouble Here

2008-07-14T08:30:00.000-05:00

I realize it is still July 14h and this is the second posting but this is easy and now I'm hooked. Especially with the "Add a Photo" option! I'm going to add several photos so Great-Grandma Mowrer in Tennessee and Grandma Penny and Papa Thad in Topeka can see what's been going on.

The pictures are from the following:
JP and I recently took a mini-vacation to wine country. There were Buffalo, Llamas and deer roaming the property and the wine was fantastic!
JP, Isabelle and I visited the St. Louis Zoo to see the dinosaurs. That's right, the dinosaurs! The zoo has a really neat exhibit with robotic dinosaurs.
We have been busy this summer! We took a trip to Topeka to visit Grandma and Papa and while we were there we went to see Thomas the Train.
Last Sunday we went to Yuri Malone's 1st birthday party. After doing the Hula we came home and had a water fight in the yard!

My First Try

2008-07-14T08:06:00.000-05:00

I've finally jumped on the Blog Bandwagon. After viewing the Malone's blog and seeing what an amazing tool this could be to keep family updated and in touch I decided to create an account. I have never been technologically proficient so we'll see if I can make this work (and keep it updated!).
So for our first update I guess I'll start with the fact that I just finished summer school and Isabelle and I are thrilled to be able to "play together" as she says. JP, Isabelle, and Papa and Mama Mowrer and I are going to Disney World at the end of the month! Isabelle can't wait to meet the princesses and Mickey Mouse.
My sister Darcy her friend Sheila, JP, Isabelle and I painted my classroom on Sunday. It definitely needed an update. We chose a color called Surfer, its a beautiful ocean blue, calming and energizing at the same time.
I'm going to post this to see how it looks and play with the other features on the site. More to come soon!