Summer Nights

It is hot and humid here in Northwest Arkansas so I decided it was a good night to get out Sara Kate's little crab pool she got for her birthday from her great aunt, uncle, and cousins in Texas. Thanks again, Mase family! Let me start by saying that I blew this whole thing up by myself with my own hot air. Whew!! :-)

She walked over to it (yes, she walked!! She actually walked alot tonight!!) and checked things out.
She was a little unsure at first so I had to put her in and make her sit down.
Chris turned on the little sprinkler in it and she liked that for a while!
She splashed with her daddy...
Layed down and kicked her feet...
And drank some water (she loves to do this in the tub, too...with this same cup...lovely).
But her favorite thing to do was to throw her toys out, climb out of the pool, grab her toys and throw them into the pool, and climb back into the pool. Over and over and over and over again.
We finished our evening with a popsicle on the patio. It was a good night, and I can see us spending lots more summer nights this same way!

Taking Things Slow

No real progress has been made on the walking front since Sunday.
Sara Kate is very particular about things, and she wants to walk on HER terms not when Chris, or Meme, or I want her to. She still knows she can crawl (or crab-walk) much faster so that's how she prefers to get around most of the time. She is also VERY into walking while holding onto someone's finger.
Here's the original footage of her walking that I took on Sunday...it's actually 3 video clips merged into 1 video. Did ya'll like the 'movie' video that Chris made?? Haha!! I asked him to flip this video because for some reason I recorded it vertically and it imported horizontally, and he ended up making that. But we have laughed and laughed over it. And it was a hit on Facebook! Chris thinks he should record all of Sara Kate's milestones that way. Ha!

Sara Kate's New Adventure

6 Years

6 years ago, on June 25, 2005, Chris and I said those sacred vows to each other in front of our friends and family to love, honor, and cherish each other until death do us part.

Though times are much busier today and it seems that life moves at a much faster pace, I couldn't imagine going through the good times, the not so good times, and the crazy times with anyone else.
Chris, I love you more than ever and I love the life that we have built together.
The last 6 years have been amazing, and I look forward to many many many more years of love and happiness together. I love you!

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
-1 Corinthians 13:13

Big Announcement

A certain blonde blue eyed little girl has something important to say:

I took my first steps today!!!!!!!!!

That's right, she took her first steps! It happened at Chris' grandfather's house and I'm so happy I was able to see it. Chris and Sara Kate went to visit grandpa and I met them at his house for lunch. She did it a couple times there, in the dining area and in grandpa's office, and then she did it again at the house this evening before I got home. She's taking 3 or 4 steps then she'll sit down, but I am considering those her first steps. We have no video evidence yet, seeing as every time we get a camera ready she will sit down. We'll try again tomorrow when she's well rested. :-) Yay, Sara Kate!!

Happy Belated Father's Day!

To finish out our weekend, we had a wonderful (but busy...of course!) Sunday. Sara Kate was sleeping so hard I actually had to wake her up to get ready for church.

We had a great church service and came home and took a few pictures of Sara Kate and her wonderful daddy. Love these 2 so much!
Sara Kate gave Chris his gift, which included a new and improved one of these! See last year's Father's Day post HERE regarding the debacle of the 2 month old and the hand printed coffee mug! :-) She also gave him some cologne and a picture of her from school. We played for a bit, then Chris and Sara Kate ran a couple errands in the afternoon and let me get something done for a friend. But before they left, she was being a silly girl!! They came home, Sara Kate took a pretty good nap, and we headed to Meme's house for dinner. Sara Kate got to spend some time with her great grandfather, and we enjoyed a lovely dinner of grilled chicken (grilled by Sharon!), corn on the cob, and fruit salad. Overall, we had a great day. Chris, I hope you had a good 2nd Father's Day. I love you so much and Sara Kate and I are so lucky to have you. She adores you, and I love to see you 2 interacting. Thanks for being the best dad to her and the best husband for me.

Bob, and my dad, we missed you guys on Sunday but look forward to seeing you both very soon. We hope you each had a great father's day. You are both wonderful dads and great role models for us, and we are blessed to have you both in our lives. And Sara Kate is lucky to have such a loving Poppa and Pop. We love you both very much! I've tried quickly to find a picture of Chris and Bob but have been unsuccessful. So instead, here's one of my favorite pictures of Bob and his favorite blonde granddaughter. :-) And a shout out to Jason, our brother-in-law, who is a wonderful husband to Jenny and an absolutely great dad to Hannah and Hayden!

Saturday

We finally had a weekend with nothing planned but somehow I ended up with tons of stuff to do and not much down time. Guess that's the way life goes, especially with a 1 year old! Saturday I woke up early (arghh!) and since I was up, I figured we should visit the Farmer's Market. Fayetteville has a great Farmer's Market and it's always a huge community event on Saturday's. The good stuff is starting to get there, too! Yum! Sara Kate played for a bit...

She had breakfast...
(yes, she was holding the spoon in her mouth...and she thought it was hilarious...and she was a sticky yogurt-y mess because she wanted to do it herself!)
We called Chris' mom and off we went!
I found some wonderful goodies, including green beans, blueberries, and cucumbers. Sharon got some fresh cilantro, zucchini, and scallions.
We went in this cute little boutique shop on the square where Sara Kate proceeded to have a melt down in the middle of the store, all because I wouldn't let her crawl across the floor. That combined with the fact that it was nap time made for an unhappy little girl! But we decided we couldn't leave down town without a visit to the cupcake shop!
The 3 of us shared a strawberry cupcake with strawberry cream cheese frosting and Sharon and I shared a peanut butter cupcake ball (she hasn't had anything peanut/peanut butter yet). Oh my goodness, pure deliciousness!!!! She LOVED it, but of course, what's not to like?! :-)
As soon as we were back in the car, Sara Kate fell asleep! She had a busy morning! We made a run to Target before heading back home for the rest of the day. We played for a little bit...
Before taking a pretty good afternoon nap, which allowed me to get some cleaning done and Chris ran to the grocery store. We had a lovely dinner of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese (so grown up, don't ya think?!). After Sara Kate LOVED the macaroni and cheese last week, she wanted nothing to do with it Saturday night. She did however LOVE the hot dog and ate an entire one by herself. Nice. After dinner we played outside for a while, and I of course had my camera handy.
Love this picture!!
After a little more play time it was bath and bed time. We had a busy but fun Saturday!!