Memorial Weekend

I haven't blogged much lately but life has been busy.  The school year is winding down, the weather is heating up, and Sara Kate is as busy as ever!  We had an uneventful Memorial Weekend with beautiful weather and lots of family time.  I ended up with an extra day off on Friday because Sara Kate's school was closed and she had an eye appointment that morning.  There's lots to say about it but I'll write more about that later.

After we left the eye doctor we went to Chris' school and had lunch with him.  Of course the best picture I had, Sara Kate had her eyes closed!  :-)  But she loved visiting daddy and he took her around the office and showed her off.

The highlight of her day was coming up next...I took her to Berryville to visit her cousins!!  The whole way there she kept saying, "I want to see Hannah."  I kept telling her we were on our way there!  And of course she wouldn't nap because she was too excited.  Jenny had to work but Jason was home with the kids.  Hannah was equally excited to see Sara Kate...I just love those girls together.

Hayden tries so hard to keep up with the girls, even running around the yard in princess high heels, haha!

Hannah said she wanted to go to the river, which is something Jason takes them to do on Fridays.  They go fishing and have fun playing in the water and sand.  Sara Kate had an idea she was 'going swimming' with Hannah, as she found the packed bag that morning before we left home.  And she was beside herself with excitement at the thought!!  They live close to the Kings River so we piled in Jason's truck and headed down there.

Sara Kate went fishing for the first time, thanks to her Uncle Jason, and she loved it.

She kept saying she wanted to catch a fish and she did.  And she was so excited!  And she even touched it and held it, which shocked me!! 

We had a great time in Berryville and we appreciate Jason giving us time to spend with Hannah and Hayden!!  Chris and I had a dinner to go to that night (thanks to Meme for keeping Sara Kate!) and my parents got into town really late.  We went to bed before they got here and I had a dream they didn't get here until morning because dad decided to race a car on the interstate and their car started smoking.  Haha!!

Saturday was a lazy day.  Sara Kate had a fun time playing with Ghee and Poppa.

Once she went down for a nap, mom and I ran a couple of errands, including picking up Sara Kate a new swim suit, and Chris started cooking some yummy ribs for dinner.  After naptime, and as promised, we went and played in the water.  Check out that sassy pose in her new swim suit!

My mom bought this little bug thing that gets attached to the sprinkler and water flies out in all directions.  She was so excited and loved it...

Until water sprayed her in the eye and she was done!  Haha!  And then she wanted in the pool.  So we filled up the pool and she had a blast.  We had a wonderfully delicious dinner with Chris' parents here as well.  Love having our families both together.

Sunday was another lazy day.  To be honest, Sara Kate's nap time being when it is and the fact that she HAS to have a nap or else she's a gigantic pill, kind of put a hamper on us trying to do anything.  But that's the way it is right now so we'll deal with it.  We did get out that afternoon/evening for dinner and some play time.

We made a stop by Cabelas after dinner and Sara Kate loved seeing the fish and all the animals.  And I had fun being a goofball!  I was being a goof and the guy in the fancy gun room was like 'come check this $15,000 gun out.'  Say WHAT?!   He said it could kill an elephant and even had gold and silver on it.  Fancy!  So what did I do?  I continued to be a goofball!!  HA!!  And Sara Kate thought it was so funny.  She kept laughing so hard and saying "Mommy is silly, mommy is silly!"  So I'll pinch my pennies to start saving for my safari, HAHA!!!

 Dad and Chris went to Best Buy after dinner and mom and I took Sara Kate to the play ground.  She even made a little friend there!  We stayed until dark and came home to bath and bedtime. 

Today started out with a bang!  Dad and I went to the Fayetteville trails for a run.  Now I'm used to 3 miles about 3 times a week.  He pushed me and we went for 4.75 miles.  It was my longest distance and longest duration.  Felt good!

Mom and dad left around noon and we're always sad to see them go.  After they left Sara Kate walked from room to room saying, "Where's my Ghee and Poppa?  They not at my house?  Where's my Ghee and Poppa?"  So pitiful.

The rest of our day has included laundry, family time, and a project for Chris, fixing some door knobs in our house that broke...that turned into changing all the doorknobs in our house!  Fun!  And after a long day, a certain 3 year old thought we should fill the pool at 7:30!  So we did.  And she played some more.

Thanks to all the military men and women that serve our country so that we may have the freedoms that we have!  Happy Memorial Day!

Mommy & Sara Kate Day

Chris had to work most of today so Sara Kate and I have had a day of togetherness.  I had to run some errands this morning so we got ready and headed out around 10:30.

She cracked me up with her accessorizing.  She pulled out all the purple necklaces and bracelets that matched her outfit (which she called 'the colors') and insisted on wearing them.  It was cute, plus I was impressed with her matching, so I didn't argue. :-)

The main thing I had to do was run to Sam's to pick up flowers for church tomorrow.  Sam's is a mad house on Saturday so it took a while but Sara Kate was content sitting in the cart and 'eating snacks' (the samples on Saturday's are awesome!).  Then we took them to the church and got them all ready for Mothers Day.  She cracks me up sometimes...she can be such a little ham!

Anyone who knows Sara Kate knows that she is extremely strong willed.  She wants to do things her way and in her own time.  I love her so much but she stresses me out (which makes me feel bad!!)!!  So taking her to run around town, especially by myself, takes alot of will power of my own.  Before we left home this morning, we talked about being a big girl and a good girl and listening to mommy (listening is not always her strong suit).  I told her if she she was good and was a good listener we would do something really special.  That got her.  She was pretty good while we were out so after her nap I followed through, and we did something really special.  We did something we've never done before.  I took her to get her nails painted!!  I get pedicure's in the summer and it was time to start!  I started painting Sara Kate's toenails last summer (she talked about 'pink toes' all the time) so taking her with me to get my toenails done was a big girl thing!  She was so excited.  

She said she wanted purple, I think because she had on purple today.  I thought for sure she would pick pink when we got there but she was set on purple.  And she did so good.  She sat in my lap, soaked her feet with me, waited patiently while the guy did my toes, and sat pretty still while he painted her nails.  I was just going to have him paint her toes but she started talking about her fingernails so he did both.  She was so proud!!

 After getting nails done, I went through Sonic and got her a lemonade...

Then we went and did her favorite thing...we went to the playground!  Another example of her being a ham! :-)

She played for a while before we had to come home to fix dinner.  Chris is home now and they are cuddled on the couch watching 'Tangled' and she looks pretty tired.  We had a busy day!  I said she stresses me out but I do love her to pieces and I love our time together, especially experiencing new things and seeing excitement in her eyes!

Oh and here's her funny quote of the day, said with quite alot of animation: 

"I'm a BIG BIG BIG BIG Super Girl!"

Hope everyone had a good Saturday!

Minnie Mouse Birthday Party

It's been a month now but I'm finally getting around to writing about Sara Kate's 3rd birthday party!!  In the months before her party, I threw around a couple of different ideas about what I wanted to do, but in the end I ended going back to a party at the park.  Fayetteville has awesome parks and you can reserve pavilions at different places online.  We had her 2nd birthday at Gulley Park and it was perfect for kids her age.  This year was no different.  She loves being outside, she loves the playground, so this was beyond perfect for her.  She got big into watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at the beginning of the year so I decided to her party in a Minnie Mouse theme, with lots of pink, of course!  I ordered her invitations from this Etsy site, and she was so fast and easy to work with.  She emailed me the file and I printed them at home.  They turned out perfect!

One of my college sorority sisters has a Facebook business called Sew What's Going On (check her out!!), and I had Jennifer make Sara Kate's outfit.  We never got a full picture of her in it but it was exactly what I asked for and I loved the way it turned out!

Thanks to Pinterest, I ended up with some DIY projects (that I hope to do a separate post on).  My mom, brother, sister in law, and I made centerpieces (I saw a picture of something similar to this and ran with it)...

And a friend of my mom's helped out but cutting Minnie ears out of fondant and we put them on the cupcakes (I also saw a picture of something similar to this).

The only other decorations I had were pink plastic table cloths, and I used pink napkins and black and white polka dot plates that I got at Hobby Lobby.

Instead of having her party in the morning (which is what I originally wanted), we ended up having it in the evening (5:30 pm) because I waited a week too long to reserve the pavilion.  Oops.  But having an evening party ended up great!!  I had all day to get ready, we fed the kids dinner, they got to play until dark, and basically then it was bedtime and they were worn out!  So I would definitely recommend an evening party!  We served pizza, made fruit skewers, had bags of Goldfish crackers and Veggie Straws, juice boxes for the kids, cokes or water for parents, and cupcakes.

The kids had a blast playing...

 

And then we brought them all over to eat.

 

 Sara Kate could hardly wait to dive into her presents so she opened those next.

Then it was time for cupcakes!!  I'll show another picture of the cupcakes because I was so pleased at the way they turned out! :-)

Sara Kate got the most embarrassed look on her face when everyone was singing to her and I wasn't sure if she was going to be able to blow out her candle.  She blows up instead of out, but we had been practicing blowing out and she got it!

 

 

The kids played some more before it was time to say goodbye.  We gave big hugs and thanked everyone so much for coming.  I love these little images Chris captured of Sara Kate hugging some of her friends.  I just love seeing little friendships.

 

We sent our guests home with little favors bags with a Minnie Mouse cookie, made by our favorite Rick's Bakery.

Overall I think Sara Kate had a great party.  We are so thankful all our family was there and so many of her little friends came out to celebrate with us.  I was so happy with the way everything turned out, plus we had a gorgeous day weather wise.  And a month later, Sara Kate is still talking about her party at the park with her friends and she got presents and she ate pink cupcakes.  I think it was a hit! :-)