Silly Sara

One of Miss Sara's favorite books is Silly Sally. But, I tend to read the book "Silly Sara." She hates that. She hates ANY nickname for anyone. Do not call her "pumpkin" "goofy" or even "love" or "beautiful." She will immediately respond that "I'm Sara, not nickname" Oh, and you can't call Eliza by a nickname either...she will get quite indignant that Eliza is only named 'Liza.

Another great thing about Sara is the way she says goodbye to someone leaving our house. "Bye Bye. Drive safely. Don't get any bloods."

Did you know that Jesus has a "super magic cape?" According to Sara he does. I tried to explain that what he has on in every painting is a "robe", but Sara insists that it is a "super magic cape." I can't wait until this one comes out in Sunbeams!

Sara is also very good about taking care of Eliza. Normally she is incredibly gentle and affectionate. However, sometimes Sara will get overly enthusiastic and will hug for a long time and cover Eliza's entire face. Eliza will then protest. When I ask Sara to give Eliza some space she tends to respond "Liza crying. I hugging her." Yep, Sara can always make it all better.

One of our favorite games with Sara is the faces game. She will look at me with this expression and ask "Do you like dis face?" We naturally respond "No"

Then she will change her expression to this one and ask "Do you like dis face." To which we respond "Yes" Then we repeat and repeat and repeat.

Oh, and have I mentioned that Sara hates to have her face washed? Absolutely hates it. But, if she gets even the slightest mess on her hands she says "I need a napkin" and will promptly clean her hands.

Sara had Jason and I rolling when on the way home from voting the other day, she confiscated my keys. I was then instructed to "Say please when you want them" Yep, manners are a big deal at our house.

One of Sara's favorite places lately has been the master bathroom. I often find her arranging things in my bathtub or even more often, she is hanging out in the shower. Oh, how we love our Silly Sara and how much she makes us laugh!

Laura Starts First Grade

What?! I thought that Laura just started Kindergarten. Yep, we are still adjusting too. Last Friday I came home to a message from Laura's school principal saying that he would like to "discuss a matter concerning your daughter, Laura." I started freaking out thinking that I have dressed her terribly wrong in her uniforms or something similar. When I called him back he said that they wanted her to skip grades and for us to meet to discuss it.

We met on Tuesday and decided that because of her intellectual skills (reading, math, writing and reasoning) being so high (apparently she is very bored in class) and her social skills being very good (as said by her teacher, not me) and her being old for her grade, that the best thing would be for her to skip into First Grade. So, we've packed her a lunch and won't be picking her up from school until 2:30 pm. It will be a big change for all of us, but I know that Laura will love finally learning things in school.

Eliza at 6 Weeks

Eliza is big enough that I now end the weekly posts and go to monthly ones for her. Wow, that went fast! Perhaps it went so quickly because she continues to be such a joy. She is almost always happy and loves to be chatted with, kissed and just be around people. Oh, and she still sleeps great...only up once a night to eat during a 9 hour stretch. Thank you, Babywise!

Eliza has grown marvelous cheeks and is getting a lot longer. She is also super strong and really starting to hold up her head, turn around, and move her arms and legs.

My only miserable experience with her so far was getting her professional 6 week pictures taken yesterday. She wouldn't wake up and was just miserable...she does not like car rides. I think I will have to try pictures on my own (on a dark background, so you can see her blessing dress) and miss the car ride. I hope I can get better results that way. Wouldn't you agree, that she is not looking her best in these pictures?!

**(Added on 9/16/09) I bought some black fabric at Walmart yesterday and when she was awake and happy today, I tried a few pics on my own. Even with only 10 minutes of effort, I like them much better and I think with some help from my Mom, I'll get some that are wall worthy.

Treasure Hunt 2009

We got to the cabin to celebrate the annual grandchildren's treasure hunt early this year. It was a great time hanging with Steve's family and Laura discovering the zipline. Jason was great at catching the little girls and suffered some bruising from the repeated impacts.

Though Sara really wanted to ride the zipline, when she got to the top with "nuncle Steve" she said that it was "too scary." So, she watched from Joey's shoulders instead.

The treasure hunt had a cowboy theme this year. The kids were all part of a posse to round up treasure buried by robbers. The kids all wore sheriff badges and bandanas. There was a steer head above the door and we ate western food. My parents are awesome!
Sara really got into finding candy, enjoying her prizes, and digging for the treasure this year. The clues were a bit beyond her, but she cruised along after the big kids as quickly as her little legs would take her. I'm pretty sure that even though she is only 3 months past 2 years old, she thinks she is 5 years old in instances like this.

Laura is the perfect age for the treasure hunt. She read clues, found candy and ran as she figured out where to go. Her sensitivity and kindness to her cousins also made me super proud of her.

Eliza slept alot and spent the majority of her time in others arms. Look at my beautiful sister holding her.

Jason and I enjoyed watching the girls and catching up with the family. Thanks for the great party, Mom and Dad!

Eliza at 5 Weeks

Eliza continues to be a wonderful baby. She seems to have really grown this past week. She is finally out of newborn-sized clothing and into 0-3 month items. Now I can dress her even more cute...hooray!

Eliza is much more alert and is turning towards voices. She loves to sit in arms or the Boppy and watch her sisters. Particularly because the are always running up to kiss her. Eliza has just fit seamlessly into our family and has brought all of us a lot of joy and sense of completeness. We have had a great long weekend enjoying our family and snuggling like crazy!

Her cheeks are growing nice and fat and little rolls are coming to her legs. I love fat babies! Look at how much stronger and bigger she has gotten.

Cabin: Repairs, Fun and Snuggles

After the flood, tiling the bathroom floor of the cabin moved to the top of the to-do list. When Jason had a slow day on Tuesday, we took off right after Kindergarten and went up to the cabin to help Mom and Dad with the repairs. Jason got so much done that day that I was truly amazed. He finished tearing up the old floor, got everything moved out of the bathroom, and completely installed and taped the backerboard for the new tile floor. It was good to be able to give my folks a jump start on their big week of tiling work they had ahead of them. It was a beautiful day at the cabin and the girls thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine. They spent almost the whole day playing in the water. It is so wonderful to imagine at the cabin as a kid. And it is also nice that almost nothing is a "no" up there.
The buckets were a big hit. I kept singing to the baby in my arms, "There are two girls in/with the buckets, dear 'Liza, dear 'Liza". Laura thought I was hilarious. But, I thought she and Sara were the true entertainment! Look at these fun and funny girls!
We weren't able to get up to the cabin and help again until Saturday. Mom and Dad had done tons by then - and killed themselves in the process. We just helped to put the bathroom back together. Jason is so fast at installing toilets and is strong. It went back together quickly, except for the shower of water from the broken pipe at the sink. Well, the new drain works, and it cleaned up quickly. Oh, and the new floor is so nice and clean and solid. It feels and looks great!
Saturday was a much cooler day at the cabin, so the activities did not include water. The girls even had to don their Baby Legs to keep them toasty. They loved breaking out their leg warmers again and each had to wear them to bed that night too.
The girls spent their time coloring, swinging, and best of all, they spent a lot of time dishing out the snuggles. It was a great day to be at the cabin. Sara keeps wanting to go back. Fortunately, we will be. My parents really put the push on finishing the bathroom because we'll be doing the Grandchildren's treasure hunt this Saturday. Oh, how sad we'll be when cabin season ends here soon, so we plan on thoroughly enjoying it while the weather lasts.