Swimming!

We had another 100+ degree day today in northwest Arkansas.  So what did we do to beat the heat and stay cool?  We went swimming!  As I've mentioned before, we are blessed to have several friends with pools and pool access through their neighborhoods, and they are all so kind to have us over.  Today we went to see Sara Kate's favorite non-family baby sitter, Ali.  As usual, Sara Kate had a wonderful time and just swam around like a little fish!

 

The big thing she wanted to do this afternoon was jump off the side to me and swim to the ladder and do it all over again.  She did this alot in Savannah but hasn't wanted to do it since we have been back here.  She holds my fingers and leans/jumps in.  She does good with closing her eyes and I can tell she holds her breath so I got a little more lax about letting her go underwater.  It didn't bother her at all!  She would pop up just a smilin'!

 

 

 

Here's a video that Chris got of her jumping off the side.

I'll end this post by posting another video of Sara Kate swimming.  This is a video Chris put together from several clips taken at our friends, the Brawners, a week and a half ago.

I have mentioned it before, but I'm so proud of our little fish and I'm thrilled at how great she's doing in the water this summer!

Saturday Play Day

Happy Saturday!  It seems like we haven't had a Saturday of nothing-ness in forever but we certainly had one and enjoyed it today!  Nothing was on our agenda and it was glorious.  Laying around in pj's, playing, watching the Olympics and other random stuff on tv, playing, napping, playing...that about sums up our day.  But of course, here's Sara Kate's day in pictures.  Oh, and her black eye is just a shinin' in all these pictures.  Still not a clue what happened.  And it still looks bad.  Lovely.

Daddy stopped by the store last night and picked up a special breakfast treat so Sara Kate had her first encounter with the Almighty POWDERED DONUT!  Of course, she's had donuts before, mostly just glazed donuts, but this was her first time eating these little gems.  And of course, she was a huge fan.  I mean really, what's not to like?! 

 

 

Of course after breakfast she was all jacked up on sugar so she did a little of this...

Some of this....

And alot of playing with about every toy in the box, including the following.

We decided to have a special lunch and ran out to pick up hamburgers.  Yes, our diet today was just lovely, don't ya think?! :-)  Of course, Sara Kate thought Elmo needed a bite and a drink too.  She's 

really getting in to pretend play.

After lunch was a little more play time with her new farm that her Gee bought her when she was visiting.  Sara Kate loves it and thinks all the 'amimals' need to go to the farm, including the Nativity animals, the Noah's Ark animals, and her bath squirt animals.

One quick story about the picture above.  See the towel on the floor beside the farm?  Sara Kate peed on the floor.  Yep.  She saw mommy going potty so she said she needed to go potty.  She took off her diaper, went to her potty, sat down and did nothing (which is totally normal because she will NOT pee pee on the potty at home), got up and threw her tissue away, then went in her room and peed on the floor.  But then she came and got me (I stepped back into the living room for just a second before getting her another diaper) and showed me what she did.  Yeah.  One of these days she will actually decided to pee pee in her potty when she sits on it, but just like everything other milestone (rolling, crawling, walking), it will probably be on her time schedule instead of what I want.  And yes, we moved the farm over as soon as I realized it was beside the pee spot.

Anyway, she stopped long enough for one little 'cheese' before nap time.

Post nap time play included some lovin' on her 'puppy dog,' Cora, puzzles, books, iPad games, and lots of hugs and kisses.

We've had a fun day of nothing-ness!  Hope you all are enjoying this super HOT weekend!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Today is a big day in the Michaels household.  A certain daddy in our household celebrated a birthday today!!  I had to go to work and Chris actually had a busy day working at our churches VBS and watching Sara Kate this afternoon.  Before we went to dinner, Sara Kate practiced her birthday singing skills.  She was being really silly because I had the video out but pretty much she kept singing 'happy birthday happy birthday' over and over again.  I can pick out a 'to you' and a 'daddy' every now and then.  But then she got distracted with the cat, ha!

Chris decided he wanted to go to dinner at Kobe so his parents met us there.  Just a warning, the lighting in there is all weird and all the pictures I took were pretty crappy.  I'm tired and don't want to  attempt to edit them and fix them.  So excuse the bad images!!  :-)

We took Sara Kate to a hibachi grill place (Shogun) one other time (for Mothers Day), and she didn't like the fire part.  Tonight was no different.  She watched briefly but ended up curled in my lap and hugging my neck as tight as she could.

But as soon as the show was over, she went right back to her chair and ate her noodles.  You can really see it in this picture...check out her right eye!  Yep, she's got a shiner and we have NO IDEA when or how she got it!  It just showed up last night.  I wasn't home and Chris texted me a picture asking if I knew how she got it.  We can't figure it out.  But it looks pretty bad.

After dinner, we surprised Chris with a little treat.  Thinking back to last year, the poor guy had to install a microwave on his birthday and I dropped the ball and didn't even get him a cake!  Mega wife fail!!  I wasn't going to make that same mistake again, that's for sure!  If you know anything about NWA, you know Rick's Bakery is THE best bakery here and it's where all our cakes come from!  Tonight was no exception!

 Chris, his dear mother who endured something like 36 hours of labor to get him here, and Sara Kate, who of course has eyes only for the cake, ha!!

 He doesn't look very excited, probably because I kept making him pose with his little cake!

Of course, a certain 2 year old in our family was in heaven....she kept saying 'Cucake!  Cucake!'  (She calls everything cupcakes.)

We made a stop by Bed Bath and Beyond so Chris could pick up a few things for his new birthday present, which was a Keurig machine!!  Doesn't he look SO much happier here?!  Like a kid in a candy store!  We went out yesterday and I bought it so he could enjoy it today on his birthday.

Chris, Sara Kate and I love you so much and are so blessed to have you in our lives!!  We hope you have had a wonderful birthday and we look forward to celebrating many many many more!  We love you!!

This Week

Post vacation, I had planned to get back to a normal blogging schedule, which I usually TRY to do a 2-3 times a week, but this week it just was not happening!  Ya'll, Sara Kate's sleep schedule is ALL messed up!!  Her bed time has gotten backed up so late (like 10:00!!) and she's not sleeping well at night.  Two nights this week she woke up screaming bloody murder during the night.  After she screamed for an hour on Tuesday night Chris finally went into her room and she didn't want him, she wanted me, but he calmed her down.  But as soon as he came back to bed she started screaming again.  So he ended up sleeping on her floor.  What a guy!  Wednesday she was wired so we wore her down really good by taking her swimming, but Thursday night she woke up at 1 am again screaming.  It went on for an hour, but we just let her cry it out.  I'm not sure if her routine is still messed up from vacation (although she did just fine the week we got back) or if she's having nightmares or if she has a tooth bothering her.  Also, she's back into the routine of needing to be rocked.  'Mommy rock!' is what I hear every night when it's bed time.  And even nap time.  Mommy's tired and needs to go to bed too, especially when it's 10:00!!  Hopefully this week will go better.

As for what we were up to this week...

Monday my mom went home after being here all last week to help out with Sara Kate while Chris was in Conway.  We are so glad she was here and are always sad to see her go.  Sara Kate LOVED spending the week with 'Gee.'

 

Tuesday was another sad day of goodbyes.  Sara Kate's very best friend from school, Grayson, is moving away.  Her daddy works in athletics and was working at the U of A but got hired at Ole Miss (UGHHHHH!!!!!).  Those poor kiddo's will not be forced to hear the dreadful 'Hotty Toddy' instead of the glorious 'Wooo Pig Sooie.'  Ha!!  But Sara Kate will definitely miss her 'Gayson.'  After all, they've been best friends since they were little bitty in the baby class together.  I'm still amazed at how their bond formed at such a young age.  We went to a little ice cream social going away party for them Tuesday.  Not only is her BFF moving away, her other BFF and 'boyfriend' Remy is moving to a school in Rogers because his mama got a new job there.  Poor Sara Kate is not going to know what to do without her 2 besties when she starts back full time next month!

Remy, Sara Kate, and Grayson

 

Look at all these kids!  It was a neighborhood get together (and we appreciate the invite since we aren't neighborhood friends).  It was amazing they got all the kids sitting for a picture.  One dad said he counted something like 33!

 I love this picture of Sara Kate eating her ice cream!

 

As I already mentioned, Wednesday we took Sara Kate swimming.  Chris put together this cute little video of a couple clips he took.  So cute!!  I'm a little short on time at the moment so I'll try and share it later this week.

Thursday we went and had dinner at Chris' parents and he did a little photography practice.  He does alot of outdoor, family, kid (obviously) pictures but doesn't do any 'studio' pictures.  He's getting ready to do some photos for a church fundraiser so he's been practicing 'studio' if anyone wants pictures like that.  Here's a silly picture of the 3 of us that his dad snapped.  It's such a random picture and it just cracks me up!!  Sara Kate's look is ridiculous!!!  HA!!

Friday night our church held a wine party at the home of our friends, the Morton's.  We're raising money to build a sand dam and well for a village in Africa.  There was music (thanks to Chris and his buddy Jeremiah), auction items, wine, friends, and fellowship.  We had a wonderful time and managed to raise $2400 in one night!!  Yay!!

These are my sweet friends Joanna, (me), Brandy, Lauren, and Leah.  And does anyone see Richy, 'the photobomber?!'  HA!!

Saturday morning I was an idiot and went to the park for a run and to let Sara Kate play since she was so good on her 'ride.'  It was 10:30 when we got there and it was blazing!  There were a few people on the trails but there was no one on the playground.  Needless to say, our play time didn't last too long and we stopped at Sonic on the way home for slushies!  We also went swimming Saturday afternoon/evening, which was glorious since it was such a hot day.

 

This is such a sweet picture...I call it 'Elmo Love!'

 

Today has consisted of the usual, church, grocery shopping, and laundry.  I have a girls night planned for this evening with my bible study girls to bid farewell to a friend who is taking the bar exam and then moving to eastern Arkansas.  Should be a good time! 

After I got Sara Kate dressed this morning for church she said 'no piture mommy.'  I said, 'no picture?'  She said, 'yep.'  I said 'what about an outside picture?'  She said, 'YEAH!'  Silly girl.

 

So that's what we've been up to this week!  Next week will bring a birthday for a certain daddy that lives in our house, more heat and no rain (UGH!!), probably more swimming, and hopefully better sleeping!  See ya'll! 

Vacation Part 5 - Nashville

We were sad to leave our friends in Savannah, especially Sara Kate's new friend Liam.  We had a wonderful visit, and we're already looking forward to our next trip.

Since we drove through Alabama on the way to Savannah, we thought we'd mix things up and drive back home through Nashville and stop to visit my brother and sister-in-law.  Like I mentioned, Phillip came down to visit us when we were in Alabama but Holly had to work and couldn't take off.  I think we arrived around 3:00 and they thought it would be fun to take Sara Kate to The Rainforest Cafe.  

Holly asked that we be seated by a fish tank, which she loved.  

 

She loved walking around and seeing all the animals, that is until the tiger roared when she was right infront of it.  But she had a great time.  

 

We attempted to walk around the mall but since it was Sunday all the stores closed early.  It was still good to give us a chance to stretch our legs and to let Sara Kate walk around a good bit.  On the way out, we drove by the Grand Ole Opry (which they recently got to go to).

 

We were going to stop for some ice cream but then Phillip had the GLORIOUS idea to stop by The Cheesecake Factory and get cheesecake!  YES PLEASE!!!!  Oh, how divine...

Yep, she got her hand into it before daddy could give her a bite!

We spent the rest of the night hanging out at their apartment, and unfortunately we had to get up early and leave Monday morning.  Chris had to be in Conway by 2:00 for a camp we were dropping him off at and Phillip and Holly both had to work.  It was a short visit, but we are so happy they let us come by.  Hopefully we can visit there for a longer period of time soon.

Overall, we had a wonderful vacation, however, it was exhausting!  I would say that it was very hard taking a 2 year old on a trip like that, especially when she doesn't sleep well away from her bed.  It made it very hard on me because she only wanted to sleep on me, and that means I don't sleep.  My stress level was through the roof, as I was wanting her to be her normal, sweet, funny self, but she was off her game all week, I'm guessing because she was just over tired.  I'm so glad we were able to visit my grandmother, brother, and of course my very best friend, and I would do it all over again just to experience those moments and to gain those memories.  I haven't sworn off vacations with our toddler, as I'm already thinking about that beach vacation!  :-)  So I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse into our travels, and hopefully I can return to normal blogging.  I have lots to say about what all Sara Kate is up to right now!  Until next time, peace out!

Vacation Part 4 - Savannah

Laura and Leslie actually live in a little town right outside the city of Savannah.  On Saturday we decided to head into the city and try and walk around the parks, eat some good seafood one more time, go to Tybe Island to see the lighthouse, and go to to a Fort!!  It was BLAZING hot (of course)!  We tried to get out  relatively early before it got too hot (impossible) to try and get some pictures of the kids before either got too cranky.  Unfortunately, Sara Kate doesn't sleep well away from home so she was kind of a cranky mess all week since her sleep schedule was messed up.  So we did the best we could with the pictures!  And man oh man, humidity sure does a number on my hair, ha!!

Of course Liam was being a ham and Sara Kate was too busy looking at her surroundings instead of the camera...go figure.  Still a cute picture though with their matching blue.

 

 

Our attempt at a family picture.  I think this was the only one we got the whole trip (minus the 4th of July shot at the pool which was from my cell phone) and of course, Sara Kate was in a non-smiley mood!  Ugh!! :-)

Even though she's not looking at the camera in this one, I still love this one.

Liam has this neat car they use alot instead of the stroller to push him around in.  It came handy this day, with one kid in the stroller and one kid in the blue car.  He's so stinkin' cute!

And you can't go to Savannah without taking a picture of the famous Forsyth Park Fountain!

We ate some yummy lunch at this place called The Distillery, which was actually a cool brewery (I ate the best fish tacos I think I've ever had!), and we headed to Tybe.  It worked out good because it's a 30 minute drive, which gave the kids a chance to fall asleep.  We drove to the lighthouse and pretty much did a drive by for a picture.  Remember my blazing hot comment?  Plus sleeping children.  Plus, who wants to take an almost 1 year old and a 2 year old into a light house?  Not I!

Next we went to Fort Pulaski, which I think Chris would probably say was his favorite part of the trip.  It's a real fort from the Civil War days, and a landmark battle took place there between the Confederate and Union forces.  It was pretty cool.  Chris got alot of really neat photo's but only a few are edited right now. 

I pulled this picture off the internet to show the whole thing.  Fort Pulaski National Monument.

Back to Chris' pictures...

Inside...

Liam was in a great mood...

But as you can tell from this picture, Sara Kate was not so much in good mood!  30 minutes was not nearly a long enough nap on this day!  But we made the best of it.

 Hopefully this isn't a look into the future, HAHA!!!

A worker demonstrated a musket firing and they actually did a firing.

One of the last things we saw there was a canon firing.  Yes, a real canon firing!  They demonstrated the whole thing, the loading, the firing, using all the correct commands (minus telling us it was time to plug our ears)...it was really cool.  And loud!

We ended our day in Savannah by eating at the restaurant of Paula Deen's sons, called Uncle Bubba's Oyster House.  Laura and Leslie said their restaurant is so much better than Paula's restaurant, and it's much more reasonably priced and not as busy since it's off the beaten path.  Unfortunately, we went on a bad day because it wasn't that great.  Boo!!  We had a great day in Savannah, despite the heat and our over tired child being a pain in the rear!  

Next up, time to say goodbye to Savannah and hello to Nashville!