Hey Mom, Look What I Can Do!

Sara learned to crawl yesterday. Hooray! She is now making her way, slowly, all around the house. She'll be a terror soon. She is loving the freedom and I am loving her not being in my arms quite so much. Check out her first real success!

Sara Silliness

Little Miss Sara has a very big personality. I have caught some of my favorite things on camera. The funniest is her scrunchy nose face she makes. It is always accompanied by sniffy sounds. She does it when she is playing or when she needs her nose blown. Apparently this trait was inherited from me.

Sara loves, more than anything, to play with Laura. She performs for and interacts with Laura more than anyone else. This is how I found them just the other day.

Sara is also incredibly affectionate. She dishes out the kisses and hugs like crazy and we all love it. Even her baby seems to enjoy the messy Sara kisses.

Crawling seems to be the biggest frustration right now. Sara's working and working to get it down, and moves around a little bit. She's got the crawling to sitting move down pat, but true mobility is elusive. So, most of the time her efforts end like this.

Birthday Festivities

I had a most wonderful birthday this year. Thanks to everyone for the phone calls, cards and love I got shown on my birthday!

The celebrating began on Monday when Jason and I got a REAL DATE. Thank you so much to my parents for watching the girls for us! We went out to our favorite restaurant for dinner (Caffe Molise, of course) where we ate amazing food. Then it was off to the Jazz vs. Houston game where we cheered our guts out. But my favorite part of the evening was just walking around the city holding my hubby's hand without having to worry about anything! For some reason I didn't take any pictures of the evening, but here is a picture of Laura impersonating Kyle Korver.
Then on my actual birthday, Jason stayed home all day - a major gift and one of my favorites. It began at the doctor's office where Sara was diagnosed with dual ear infections. Bummer, but at least there was a quick end in sight with the beauty of antibiotics. We did have some fun that day, however. We went out to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (the girls eat amazingly well there) with my folks and I got to open presents from them and Jason and Laura.

I got totally spoiled this year! My folks gave me the best surprise this year in a new set of red dishes for my kitchen. I have a real weakness for dishes. Are they not so fabulous?!
Jason got me all dolled up in a new pair of jeans, red Vans and beautiful diamond earrings. Here we are showing off some of the goods. Yes, he spoiled me rotten! Thanks, baby!


Laura had a grand time helping me open every gift, doing heavy hang over, and giving me her "very own present from me and Sara." She gave me a little band for my thumb. But my best gift from Laura was all the singing. It began first thing in the morning and went until she went to bed. I loved seeing her and getting little primary birthday songs at each turn. Man, everything is better with kids!
Today the girls and I went to lunch with all the girls in the family who were in town to celebrate mine and my sister Tana's birthdays. This is one of my favorite traditions of all time. I love being able to be with just the women in my family and chat, laugh and eat. Aren't they all just so beautiful?!

Happy Birthday!!!

29 years ago tomorrow, the love of my life was brought into this world and my life wouldn't be the same without her. Isn't she cute?! I am so blessed to be married to my best friend, the most amazing mommy ever, and the most beautiful girl in the world all wrapped into one. Happy Birthday, my Love!

The top 10 reasons I love you today are:

1. Because you make me a better person
2. Because you are the most amazing mommy to our girls!!!
3. Because you are the best teammate EVER!
4. Because you love and care for everyone around you and will do anything you can to help
5. Because there is nothing better than spending time together as a family and we all love the same things (Disney, Jazz, etc.)
6. Because you are my best friend
7. Because you are so supportive of me in everything I do
8. Because I can come to you with any problem or decision and we can always figure out an amazing solution together
9. Because you are the sexiest, most gorgeous, and beautiful girl in the world
10. Because of our triangle

Happy Birthday again, my love. I love you more than anything!!!

Problem With Authority

If Sara acts this way now, how is she going to behave when she's a teenager?

Thank heavens both she and her sister are so cute! Here are some pics I took of them right after their baths on Saturday.

Fun Extras

Quite a few fun things have happened lately that I have not posted about.

Babies
We had a chance to meet the last two baby boys recently. (We had already met Ephraim) We really enjoyed getting to meet both Garrett and James. Sara looked huge next to them and we enjoyed snuggling tiny ones again.

We also got to see Aysha. She seems to be a bit more on par with Sara's growth. Aren't they so cute and funny?!

Landscaping
Jason and I are so burned out on home improvements that we opted to pay a little more and have our yard put in for us. Consequently, it's really coming along. And, it brings fun things like a cool tractor for Laura, Lily and Micah to watch!
Sprinklers are in; grading is done; trees are in - which I love; and we get seed on Tuesday. Woo hoo! Not too much longer living in mud! Now, if only we could have some more warm weather...can you believe that it SNOWED today?!

Preschool
Yes, despite my lack of posting about it, I am still doing preschool for the girls. We a working our way through the lessons in this book. And it is making a huge difference on Laura's reading skills. She is really doing great on that front. We also do some fun crafts. Here is Laura painting at preschool.

Mischief
Sara loves being able to scoot around on all the tile. She really loves being able to get into cupboards. Look at what she found today!

Love Party

Laura came into my room on Tuesday right after I finished reading my book for book group that night (yes, I'm still a procrastinator) and Sara was taking her morning nap. She asked me, "Mommy, can we have a Love Party." I thought, why not, so we did.

We made cupcakes together and Laura decorated them all with sprinkles. We decorated the table with flowers Laura punched out and name tags she labeled. Laura decided the house needed to be clean for the party and picked up all her toys. She then invited over Grandma and Grandpa for the Love Party.
We all had a fun time and it was great to be able to do a little project like this with my darling girl! I mean, what a tender heart to want to have a Love Party!

Sara at 10 Months

Oh goodness, where did the time go?! My darling Sara is 10 months old. Here are her comparison pictures.
Currently her favorite things are to work on crawling and spend time in her walker. I'm hoping she gets this crawling thing in the next few weeks. For now she is just making minor movements forward and spending lots of time on her hands and knees rocking back and forth. Now if only she could coordinate those hands and legs.
I think the speed she has in the walker may be a deterrent from the slow mode of transport that is crawling. Look at her go!
Her favorite food is mashed potatoes and gravy. Sara's favorite toy is either her play keys which she shakes maniacally or her binky strap which she whips around. She still loves to jump in her saucer or jump while playing horsey. Her favorite maneuver is putting her hands up in the air and saying "puh puh" to get up up from any place where she is bored - she seems to get bored of eating very quickly. She is really a lot of fun right now and I love the little personality she's developing.

CUTE

I love seeing what good friends my girls are becoming! They love to play together, laugh together and just be near each other. Seeing them together makes me smile in a way that nothing else can. Check out these pics of them.

I found the girls this way after I ran to get the camera to take a pic of Sara running to Laura

I came in first thing in the morning to find them snuggling and laughing like this

I found Laura washing off Sara's little face after Sara had puked...now that's some true love shown by my easily gagging Laura

Bits of Happiness

I have had many causes to grin lately! One of the biggest was that I got a "Just Because" package from Steph! It was a big box filled with fun pens. She and I have been giving each other goofy pens for so long that I shouldn't admit it here. Laura and I loved going through all of them together and smiling with each new discovery. I think this one was my favorite! Thank you, Steph! Each time I grab one to jot something down, it makes me happy all over again.

Another thing that makes me smile is looking at my freshly pedicured toes. I was finally able to take my sister Tana out for some long overdue pampering. We had worked so much together on my house that a little luxury was in order. I loved being able to chat and catch up with her.

And, of course, my family makes me smile every day. One of my favorite games to play is: "Who has been by the buffet?" I don't know if Jason and Laura know what kind of entertainment they are providing me, but each time I walk by the buffet in the entryway, I look to see who has been by most recently. They are so cute and funny. The battle of the handles is on at our house!

The final thing that makes me grin uncontrollably is Sara's Pavlovian response to the question, "How big is Sara?" I just can't help but ask that question regularly in order to get this response. Sara could not be cuter.

Laura used to do the "so big" maneuver as a tiny person as well. Wasn't she just adorable, too? I think the memory of her might be a part of why I love this silly game so much.