Mini American Idol

So lately Sarah LOVES to perform via singing and dancing with her microphone. She sings for us, strangers, and her stuffed animals. We got a cute video of her the other day singing "Oh Christmas Tree."

Today we had a surprise visit from Santa at our annual Christmas Eve lunch with the Grant family. Sarah sat in his lap, but she, along with the other kids, was not too sure about him :-) This evening, we went to my parents' church and Sarah got to attend the Christmas Eve service with us--no nursery tonight. She was super excited to go to "big church" and she was soooo good. She even went down front (with Mimi) for the children's story time. More Christmas pics and videos to follow soon, I'm sure!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

We went to see Santa again this week, and to my surprise, Sarah did a MUCH better job.

Week 2



Week 1


Sarah also had her gymnastics "show" this week. It was the final class of the semester so they were all supposed to show off their skills and then they had a little medal ceremony ;-)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We are all so excited that the Christmas season is upon us. Sarah is totally obsessed with Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bells, and "ho ho." I think she refers to Santa as "ho ho." For example, she saw a present today and when asked who the present was for, she said, "it's a present for ho ho." Silly Sarah :-) We're going to see Santa tomorrow at The Avenue, so stay tuned for some hopefully cute pictures. I wonder if she'll sit in his lap this year--I'm sort of doubting it. Then we're headed to a Stone Mountain Christmas on Friday evening, which is always lots and lots of cold and fun. We met Michael at Stone Mountain last weekend to take some pictures. All Sarah was concerned about was riding the train (which we were not doing that day) and looking for the train, so it was a bit difficult/impossible to get her into the picture-taking spirit. However, Michael still managed to do a great job and get some decent family photos. Maybe next time Sarah darling will forget about the train and flash her pearly whites for the camera :-)

Tonight, I decided that I probably should ask Sarah what she wants for Christmas instead of just deciding for her. Here's how the conversation went:
Mommy: So, what do you want for Christmas? What do you want Santa Claus to bring you?
Sarah: Ummm....black?
Mommy: Black what?
Sarah: Black....toys!
Mommy: (laughing) You want black toys?
Sarah: Ummmm...or pink?
Mommy: Pink what?
Sarah: Pink toys.
Mommy: You want pink toys? Do you want a train too?
Sarah: Uh huh! I want a pink drum too.
Mommy: You want a pink drum?
Sarah: And pink sticks!

Fall School Pictures

Happy Halloween!

Whew! This week has been a whirlwind! Halloween is so much fun with kids. At work, all of the teachers had to dress up as dalmatians. Our boss was Cruella DeVille and her assistants were the dog catchers, so it was a cute theme. Since I had to be a dalmatian on Friday, Sarah dressed up as one, too, and I have to admit, it was pretty cute. Sarah LOVED her dalmatian costume, especially the ears, which she called "tails." Yes, she was a little confused :-) We all had a blast at work on Friday trick or treating to the other classrooms and having parties in our own classrooms. Sarah is now a trick or treating pro. She even knows how to say "trick or treat" and "thank you" at each door. Last night, I decided to let Sarah wear a different costume, a fairy princess one that someone gave me a few years ago. She liked this one equally as much as the dalmation and ran around with her wand calling "bibbity bobbity Doo!" The rain held off just long enough for us to make it most of the way around the neighborhood with our friends, finding lots of candy (and a couple of really scary houses which Sarah loved!). She even helped herself to a lollipop on the way back to our house :-) We hope everyone else had a fun Halloween, too!

Furman Homecoming and Disney on Ice

Last weekend we headed up to Greenville for Furman's annual Homecoming weekend. Jeremy and I are proud to say we've been to every single Homecoming weekend since we graduated (er, I guess since we started) college. Although we do seem to spend less and less time there each year as we know fewer people :-( Despite the drizzly, cold weather we got some great pictures Saturday hanging around the Bell Tower. When we got home on Sunday, Sarah and I turned around and left for Disney on Ice with our friends Leslie and Melanie. It was so much fun! Sarah enjoyed every minute of it even down to the trolley (MARTA) ride. We'll, she didn't so much love the MARTA ride back when we had to stand up on the train because it was so crowded...but she loved everything else :-)

Enjoy the pics! Also, I've noticed that I only have one blog "follower" and it makes me a little depressed :-/ If you are a reader (often, seldom, or anywhere in between), I would love for you to join as a follower :-)

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I have been following this blog for a little while now, and the Not Me! Monday! posts are really funny, so I decided to start posting some of my own:-)

This week...(and there's no way all of these happened in one day)
1) I did not walk out of the Carter's store with a new load of clothes Sarah does not need, and I most certainly did not leave the entire stroller inside the store, only realizing it was missing when I got to the car and opened the trunk to put it back inside. (By the way, in case you're wondering, I did have Sarah with me).
2) I would never let Sarah paint while wearing a brand new Halloween dress without a paint shirt, and never, ever, would I let her get green paint on the white part of the dress! (it came out Aunt Mary!!!)
3) I did not let Sarah mess up the packaging in several brand new pairs of shoes at DSW and I did not let her take the "sticks" out of the shoes and wander around the store banging them like drumsticks on all of the mirrors.
4) Speaking of shoes, and this is the worst thing I would never, ever do: I would NEVER let Sarah wander around an antique store without holding my hand, and I would never let her out of my sight long enough to then later see her holding a package of silicon beads from inside a shoe IN HER MOUTH. You know, the beads that say DO NOT EAT all over the package, as if anyone is dumb enough to put them in their mouth or let someone small put them in their mouth. Just so you know, I guess you can actually lick the beads without any major medical disasters, as long as you don't eat the whole package...but I wouldn't try it if I were you. Finally, when I noticed what Sarah was not doing with the package of beads, I certainly did not go over and rip the beads from her hand and proceed to spank her on the hand in the middle of the store, as if it was her fault that I was not paying close enough attention to her in the store!

Fall Fun

Fall is here! It's pumpkin patch time! I decided to buy a Stone Mountain annual membership, so Sarah, my mom, and I took our first trip out there on Friday to visit the Pumpkin Festival. We had fun but it sure was HOT for October! Sarah painted a little mini pumpkin, decorated a princess crown, and put up with me in the pumpkin patch while I tried to take pictures. Then we went to ride the SkyRide. Sarah totally loves anything mountain, train, or trolley related (thanks to our summer trip to Pigeon Forge), so I told her we were going to ride the trolley that goes up in the sky to the top of the mountain, and she was fascinated. Overall, the pumpkin festival was nice, but the Christmas festival is much nicer! We can't wait!

Today, we all headed out to Watkinsville to Washington Farms to have more pumpkin patch fun. Here, Sarah totally impressed me by riding the cow train in her very own seat all by herself!!!! Jeremy and I just knew she was going to back out kicking and screaming when we tried to make her sit by herself, but she surprised us and loved the whole thing! Good girl Sarah! She also loved the slide, hayride, duck races, mini gourds, and petting zoo. You can tell that Jeremy liked taking Sarah on a wild go-cart ride :-)

I also recorded Sarah's conversation with herself when she woke up yesterday morning, just for kicks:
Sarah: Gonna be strong at Nana's house. Watch Bambi at Nana's house! Gonna be bigger! Gonna be strong! Gonna be strong! (sigh) I'm tired. Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go. Hi ho! Tweet tweet. MY birdie. Tap the mat (tapping the mattress). I'm ready to go now at Nana's house!

There's another new post below this one...too many pictures for one post!