Memorial Weekend

We've had a wonderful weekend, and it included some fun things that we don't do often plus a lazy day or 2.  Saturday we were invited by some of our friends to go hang out at their lake house and spend some time on the water.  Their house is on Table Rock Lake, and spending time in water, whether it be the lake, the ocean, or a pool is one of my favorite things to do!  These friends are so dear to us...they open their home to us every Saturday during football season, we see them at church every week, they invite us over to use their pool in the summer, and we just really love hanging out with them.  We drove up Saturday morning and went out on the water for a few hours, hung out at their house in the afternoon, and enjoyed a WONDERFUL dinner in Eureka Springs that evening.  We considered spending the night in Eureka but decided to come on back home to have a full day Sunday with my parents and Sara Kate.  Speaking of my parents, they jumped at the chance to come babysit Saturday, and we were very appreciative of them coming up! 

 

 

Sunday was a lazy day.  We were bad and skipped church.  Since Chris works at our church we are always there (which is great).  This Sunday was Youth Sunday and he didn't have to be there since the youth were running the show so we took the opportunity to sleep in and just hang out.  Dad and Chris just did some stuff around the house, and Sara Kate, mom, and I went to the mall to do some shopping!  My parents have a class reunion coming up so mom wanted to look for an outfit.  Sara Kate hasn't been shopping since the paci has gone bye-bye, and she hasn't been in her stroller in a while because she wants to walk herself.  I wasn't sure how she would do, but she did pretty good, minus being a wild child while mom was trying on her outfits and a little melt down because she got hungry (and she was sleepy).  She rode the little kiddy carousel thing for the first time (not a real carousel, but those little rides that have like 3 or 4 animals on them and go round and round)...she loved it (and I missed it because I was trying something on!!) and wanted to do it again and again.  She also tried Dippin' Dots for the first time.  She ate some but seemed unsure because it wasn't the ice cream she's used to!  Mom and I ended up sharing most of that. :-)

Chris grilled a DELICIOUS dinner Saturday night.  It's like a deconstructed shrimp boil with potatoes, shrimp, corn, and sausage grilled on skewers and brushed with cajun seasoning mixed with butter.  The recipe can be found here.  Try it, you won't regret it (the corn is to die for!!).  After dinner, we went for a walk around the neighborhood, and we ended up down at our neighborhood park to let Sara Kate play.  Play equipment plus sand equals a good time!

 

Mom and dad left this morning and of course, we had to take some pictures before they headed out.

 

Sara Kate loves her 'Gee!'  She has a new name for my mom but we don't know how to spell it.  It rhymes with key or he or me but starts with a 'g.'  We've always called her 'Gran' but mom said whatever Sara Kate wanted to call her was fine (and of course, the 'gr' sound is hard for kids to learn).  All of a sudden she recently started saying 'Gee' when we would do face time (at least that's what I thought she was saying) but it wasn't until this weekend that she really identified her as that.  Sara Kate would run up to her and say 'my Gee' or 'where's my Gee?'  It's pretty stinkin' cute!  So I guess they're Gee and Poppa, unless Gee morphs into something else as she learns to make new sounds.

After they left, we went to run some errands.  Chris was on a hunt for new shorts and hit the jackpot at TJ Maxx!  Sara Kate was pretty good on that little excursion, except that she broke my sunglasses while daddy was trying on shorts.  It's a good thing we were in a place where you can buy more cheap glasses! :-)  Our afternoon has been a lazy one...laundry, pictures, messing around on the computer, etc.  We still need to make our weekly grocery run but we've had a nice day.  It's a super short week for me as today is a holiday and I'm off on Friday to head to the ATL for a girls weekend!  Wa-hoo!  Dreading the drive but looking forward to hanging with some of my favorite girls!  Hope everyone has had a good weekend and has a good week! 

Reading

I took this precious video of Sara Kate 'reading' tonight.  She LOVES books and 'Green Eggs and Ham' is one of her favorites.  We read it over and over and over again.  She was having me read it to her but then she took it from me and started reading to herself.  In the process of transferring the file from my phone onto the computer and resizing it, somehow it got turned horizontally instead of the vertical way I filmed it.  So bizarre and resizing is such a pain!!  Anybody have a good way to do it?  Anyway, turn your head sideways (or not), but I hope you enjoy listening to that sweet little voice read her favorite book. :-)

Sprinkler Fun!!

We're having some summer like weather up here in NWA so the other night I thought playing in the sprinkler was a fun way to spend our evening!  Chris had to perform at the Fayetteville High School graduation so it was just Sara Kate and I.  I went outside to check the status of our sprinkler and of course it was broken, so I decided to run down to my in-laws and borrow theirs.  Sara Kate gets SO excited about going to Meme and Poppa's and as soon as we got there she did NOT want to leave.  We didn't intend on crashing their evening but they didn't mind, thankfully.  So I left her there and ran back home to get my camera, Sara Kate's swim suit, an extra diaper and a change of clothes.  I couldn't wait to see if she liked it this year because last year she was very unsure about it...then again our sprinkler was broken and we had to rig it up with a screw so it didn't work right.  But anyway, I was just sure she would love it this year.  And I was right!!  She LOVED it and had SO much fun!  It was so precious to hear her little laugh as she ran back and forth through the water.  She played for a good 30 minutes, until the sun was setting and she was shaking because she was cold.  But she would have stayed out there all night.  The only way we got her in was to bribe her with a popsicle!  I borrowed that sprinkler head so we could have one at our house until we can remember to buy another one.  I'm sure we'll lots more fun sprinkler nights soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mid Week Fun

We had a wonderful evening playing outside with Sara Kate tonight!  Chris has been really busy lately with end of year school stuff so it was fun to have us all at home to play.  Sara Kate loves outside and as soon as you mention going outside she starts getting so excited.  And then if you don't go out there right that minute she starts to fuss because she can't wait.  Usually we walk around (or try to keep her from running in the street) or play in the back on the swing set,  Tonight we played ball and chalk...we started with ball, then went to chalk, then went back to ball, then ended with chalk.  I, on the other hand, sat off to the side and observed and attempted to snap some cute pics with the new camera.  She was really into chalk tonight, and she was doing this funny thing where she was drawing lines all around her, like you would draw lines around the sun if you were drawing it.  They've been studying the color yellow this week at school and doing some sun art so maybe that's why she was doing it.  But she did it all the way down the driveway.  It was funny how methodical she was about it.

 

This is a shot Chris took so I can't take credit for it!

The new camera has some cool filters you can add into it.  I love the Instagram app on iPhone and use it all the time so adding the filters is like a big version of Instagram, yay!

 

 

  And here's the finished product (the whole driveway isn't pictured).  We have a beautifully decorated driveway now!

 

 As for the 'ball fun,' Sara Kate is really into kicking it right now (which her soccer playing uncle should LOVE this!), and she was having so much fun giving the ball to Chris and having him throw it up as high as she could.  I should have videoed the kicking because she's pretty good at it!

 

And I'll end with a cool filtered black and white shot.  So neat!

Happy mid week!!

Happy Mothers Day!

Update...we were able to get a couple mommy/Sara Kate pics this evening so I thought I'd go ahead and share! 

 

Happy Mothers Day!  To my mom, my mother in law, my 'sisters,' and my friends, I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed day.  To my mom, I wouldn't be the person I am without you and for that I am forever grateful.  Thank you for being the kind of mom that I want to look up to and be like.  If I can be half the mom to Sara Kate that you've been to me, I will consider myself lucky.  We wish you were here with us to hang out but we look forward to seeing you soon.   

Me and my mommy, circa 1981

Me, my mommy, and my baby, circa 2012

 To my sweet Sara Kate, I wouldn't be a mommy without you!  I love you with all of my heart!! (She has been in a weird mood today and hasn't wanted her picture taken, even though she looks so precious in her animal seersucker dress!!)

Who can find a virtuous woman? She is far more precious than jewels...
Strength and honor are her clothing, and she can laugh at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and loving instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the activities of her household and is never idle.
Her sons rise up and call her blessed.
Her husband also praises her:
Many women are capable, but you surpass them all!
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.
~Proverbs 31:10, 25-30

Relaxing Saturday

We have had a nice relaxing day of doing nothing around here!  That's not entirely true... 
Our morning started too early for a Saturday!  The one thing I'm not liking about Sara Kate not having her paci is once she's awake, she's ready to get up!  The dog started pacing around 6:30 and him pacing on the hardwood floor woke her up.  Chris got her up about 6:45 and let me lay in bed.  I dozed a little but not much and was pretty much awake by 7:30.  We lazed around the house all morning and it was great!  We cooked a breakfast of biscuits and eggs, played barrel of monkeys, read books, played blocks, played tickle monster, played chase the kid around the house until she squeals with delight, and basically, we played make a huge mess!!!  

 

 

Sara Kate went down for a nap and took a good one, and then we went and met Chris' family for an early Mothers Day dinner.  We went to Shogun, which we haven't been to in a LONG time and we certainly haven't been there with Sara Kate.  Dinner involved Chris and I, Jenny and Jason, Bob and Sharon, and Hannah, Hayden, and Sara Kate.  Sara Kate and Hannah were in the center of the table between me and Chris, and Sara Kate got so scared as soon as the chef lit the fire on the grill and the big fire ball shot into the air.  She didn't cry but she wanted to snuggle into me in my lap immediately, and she didn't get back in her seat until he was gone!  Dinner was wonderful, thanks again to Bob and Sharon for the wonderful treat.  After dinner, Chris had to go play a gig at a graduation party and we went to have some play time at Meme and Poppa's!!  I'll go ahead and say that I got an early Mothers Day present today from my sweet husband and daughter, and I had a wonderful time playing with it tonight.  I got a new camera!  It wasn't something I asked for, but I am ALWAYS taking pictures and am always trying to get Chris to 'get this shot' or 'edit that shot' (I actually need to share some stuff he's taken lately!).  He must have been getting tired of that, HA!!  I'M KIDDING!! :-)  Anyways, I tried my hand at it tonight and attempted to get some decent shots, and I gotta say, I'm pretty proud of some of the shots I got! 

 

 

 

 

 

 Hope everyone had a wonderful Saturday and hope all you mama's have a wonderful Mothers Day tomorrow!

Operation Goodbye Paci

The day after Sara Kate was born she was introduced to the paci.  I was not on board with it at that time since I was only nursing her.  I didn't want her to be confused but all she wanted to do was suck constantly and that was an extremely painful thing!!!  So I caved and let the nurse give her the paci (my original plan was to wait 2 weeks to introduce it).  Thankfully she never had any confusion with nursing and she took the paci and continued to breastfeed with no problem.  

Looking back, this is the first picture I could find with it in her mouth and she was 1 day shy of 1 month old here.

 

She became dependent on it and it was her comfort, which I was totally fine with.  

September 2010

 

 April 8, 2011, Sara Kate's 1st birthday

October 2011

 

April 26, 2012, the day before Operation Goodbye Paci began.  This is the last picture I have of her with it.

At first I thought 18 months was a good time to take it away but she was working on so many teeth at that time I thought we better wait.  I decided 2 was the magic age.  At 2 years old, the paci would be no more!!  The closer she got to 2, I thought yep, we can do this!  She got to where she wasn't using it at all during the day at school (not even nap time) but she had to have it in the car, at bedtime, and during her fussy tired times at night.  Then it got a name (umpa) and I felt she started to backslide.  She needed it more often and was even desperate for it at times, and I was at a loss of exactly what to do.  But exactly 2 weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet and just do it.  I figured a Friday night was definitely better than a week night for sure!  My mom said her friend's daughter poked a hole in it so it deflated and that worked perfectly for her child.  I tried that and that stupid thing didn't budge from it's original shape.  So I went to the next best thing I'd heard about from several friends, cutting off the tip.  After bath time I just took it from her, went in the kitchen, grabbed the scissors, and clipped the tip.

I gave it to her and she tried sucking and then that turned into the saddest night of my life thus far.  She cried and cried and said 'mommy, what happened?  Help me.'  Over again and over again while she tried to suck it she cried, 'Mommy, what happened?  Help me.'  It literally broke my heart.  I had done something that she didn't understand and that killed me.  Chris was out working so I was home alone...probably not the smartest move on my part...but she cried and I cried.  It was heart wrenching.  It even brings tears to my eyes 2 weeks later thinking of her little crying voice asking me what happened and to help her.  I contemplated caving, thinking it would be easier when she was a little older because she would understand.  But I knew it would be just as hard so we had to do it.  I finally got her to sleep and I was surprised when she slept through the night.  Nap time and bed time the following several days were awful.  She would WAIL for her umpa and of course, for me.  There were a couple nights where she woke up during the night crying uncontrollably wanting her umpa.  The first Monday after school when we got in the car she started asking for it.  She cried so hard when I said we didn't have it...that was a long ride home!  Ever since then, I've had her snack in the car for a distraction.  But she would never ask for it during the day (minus that first Monday after school) so I felt that was progress.  Almost a week in, my mother in law gave me the idea to tell Sara Kate something about being a big girl like her cousin Hannah.  So I gave that a try at bedtime (but not mentioning Hannah), telling her she was going to be a big girl and go to bed like a big girl all by her self like a big girl.  I REALLY stressed being a big girl.  And it worked!!  She went to sleep perfectly!  And that's what we do every night now, give lots of hugs and kisses, say night night, and say it's time to go to bed like a big girl.  That excites her and she will say 'big gul' over and over again.  So I am writing this exactly 2 weeks after I decided to start 'Operation Goodbye Paci' because we did it.  We are done, over the hump, and she's perfectly content without it.  I think part of me was holding on because that was the last BABY thing we still had left.  But she's not our baby anymore, she's our big girl.