Barney Birthday Bash!

Cake and ice cream is tasty!


Playing in the castle


Caleb getting kissed by our neighbors' pig


Spencer driving the car


Exploring the new parachute


Natalie listening to Elmo tell a story


Sarah's boyfriend Jake from Five Star making a cool hat

We had a ton of fun at Sarah's Barney Birthday Bash. I was originally hoping the kids would have fun playing outside, but it was soooooo hot.....so mostly we hung out inside (plenty of kids wanted to go outside but we kept trying to coax them back in because we, the adults, did not want to go out there!). Sarah enjoyed having all of her friends over for the afternoon, although she was probably confused with everyone there at once. Aunt Rebecca/Becca/Becky (Rebecca, what DO you want Sarah to call you?) made the cutest Barney cake ever, and it was so tasty as well! I only got a few pics on my camera, so hopefully some friends or relatives will share theirs with me (hint hint).

Sarah has really taken off with her singing lately. She can sing the ABC song, Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and a few little songs from some cartoons (or "cartons," as she calls them). I got the sweetest video of her singing Jesus Loves Me with Jeremy :-)

Yesterday, after I picked a cranky Sarah up from the day care room at my new gym (the first step among MANY in getting fit again), she felt warm to me and when we got home she had a fever. Then she was SO lazy all day and just wanted me to hold her while she rested. Then she was up just about the whole night tossing and turning. This morning, we decided to brave gymnastics anyway (the fever was gone), but she wasn't too enthusiastic once we got there. We tried going out to lunch with my mom but that, too, failed. Finally she took a good nap and we all thought, she will be so much happier when she wakes up. Nope, not this time. She woke up and the crying and whining began again. I decided to take her to the doctor, but they found nothing. Finally, tonight, I actually started listening to her and processing what she was saying. She has been saying "hurt your tongue," and wouldn't you know it she does in fact have a canker sore on the tip of her tongue? OUCH! Hopefully lots of Baby Orajel will help it feel better and it will go away fast. I hate those sores myself and I can't imagine being 2 and having to deal with it. She's also getting 2 new teeth which is probably not helping the whole thing...

On a different note, we have only 1 more day of swimming lessons--wish Sarah luck! With each new lesson she catches on more and more that I am going to eventually make her jump in, go under, etc. so her anxiety level increases each day I think :-(

Sarah is Two!

walking on the trail all by herself

Tallulah Falls State Park

Riding the carousel with Mimi and Paw Paw. She would NOT sit on a horse by herself, but she rode on the bench three times!

The duck ride (she sat there for a few minutes but then cried and had to get off before the ride started)

Pigeon Forge trolly ride, one of the highlights of Sarah's week

Fun at the pool

Eating ice cream with Mimi

Reading stories with Paw Paw

Jammin' at the family reunion

Building a block tower with daddy

WoW. Sarah turned two years old on Saturday, and I can't believe my baby is two! Here's a list of fun things Sarah is doing these days:
1) Running, running, running (Her new Sunday School teacher told us the other day, "I think she's going to be a trip.").
2) Forward rolling all the time, with a little jumping in between.
3) Talking about EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME ("favorite" phrases now are..."Oh my gosh," "What," and "Noooooo,") and understanding most things we say.
4) Trying to be quite independent.
5) Paci is gone! She understands it's for the "little babies."
6) Napping in her big girl bed and getting ready to transition to the big girl bed at night time.
7) Going to gymnastics and swimming lessons.
8) Always ready to give hugs and kisses to mommy and daddy.
9) Easy to excite, even about the simplest things--it's so cute!
10) In love with trains, trollies, and mountains (thanks to our recent trip to Pigeon Forge).
11) Learning Bible verses and how to pray (She can say "trust the Lord with all your heart." Too bad that's JULY's verse and she has no clue how to say June's- I got a little mixed up).
12) Repeating everything (last night Nana and Papa were over for dinner. Papa was joking around and said something about someone named "fat boy," and the next thing we heard was Sarah saying "who's fat boy?"----a gentle reminder that we need to watch what we say around her!).
13)Taking good care of her favorite stuffed animals (bear, beaver, and doggie) and baby dolls. She loves putting them night night in her new big girl bed-- enjoy the video of her smothering the baby doll.
14) Putting on purses, bags, belts, jewelry, etc., loading up her bear in his stroller, and going "shopping".

As I am watching Sarah play and grow this summer, I'm constantly thinking about how blessed we are to have such a delightful girl with SUCH a personality. She definitely shows us how to have fun! Also, realizing that she's already two reminds me that I need to savor every little moment because they are going by way too fast!

We went to Pigeon Forge, TN last week for Jeremy's family reunion. Jeremy followed us up there and stayed one day,but then he had to get back home to teach. Sarah and I stayed three more days after he left, and we had so much fun watching the mountains, riding the trolly, swimming, visiting with Mimi, Paw Paw, Joseph,and Alecia, and going to Dollywood. We had several really late nights for Sarah where we were eating dinner around 8 PM and not going to sleep until almost 11. She surprised me, though, and her behavior throughout the trip was SUPER. We dilly-dallied on the way home because we didn't want our vacation to end. I think we stopped 6 times, and the typically 4 hour trip took 7 hours! We stopped for ice cream and visited a local park in Cherokee, we stopped at a couple of McDonald's, and we stopped at Tallulah Falls State Park. All in all, it was a fabulous trip, but we were glad to be back home to our normal crazy routine.

Sarah's birthday was on Saturday, but unfortunately, I had to go to class at LMU that day. Luckily, we did get out early and I was home by mid-afternoon. We took Sarah out to Stevie B's pizza, and she had so much fun eating spaghetti and actually playing real games with tokens. She won some prizes (a candy bracelet which was way messier than I imagined, a bouncy ball, a Dora tattoo, etc.) and loved all of the action (I just love the pizza!). She also had fun exploring some gifts (especially the blocks). On Sunday, my parents came over and we had a little Father's Day BBQ dinner. Papa brought over the big girl (toddler) bed and a schoolhouse tent that we set up in the playroom. Jeremy says next time we bring something into this house that large, something equally large must go :-) He does have a point...

Enjoy all of the pictures and videos. I can't resist these days!

Trail Mix

Today we went to Trail Mix at Tribble Mill Park. They had a bunch of family activities, and we all had a nice time. We went on a hayride, met some greyhounds, visited the petting zoo, (almost) rode a pony, had a picnic, tried to swim in a giant swimming pool full of bubbles, and of course, played on the playground. Sarah was too nervous on the hayride to sit on the bench by herself, even if it was right next to me. She loved the greyhounds, but during the visit I heard her refer to them as dog, horse, and cow, so she might have been a bit confused by their size and their spots :-) We stood in line for 10 minutes waiting for the pony rides, and she was so excited and could barely stand to wait her turn. However, when her turn arrived, she decided that she did not in fact want to sit on the horse (I knew all along she wouldn't do it, but we tried anyway). She would rather watch them go "round and round." Even though she didn't want to sit on one, she cried when we left them. She also wanted us to drop her over the fence into the cage with the animals at the petting zoo- ha! At the arts and crafts station, she got a cute butterfly painted on her face and actually sat very still while they painted. However, she pitched a huge fit after throwing her bubble wand in the pool twice (and the little girl working at the bubble station kept taking the wand and putting it away, which made Sarah furious) and being told that the bubbles were "all done," so her butterfly ended up with a tear streak down the middle :-( All in all, it was a typical adventure, and I wish they had all those free activities at the park more often!

Sweet, Sweet Summer (and Sarah, too!)

Like mother, like daughter--Sarah's "bad hair day"

Maybe I drank too much milkshake...

Strawberry milkshake---yummy!

Fun at the new park...

More fun at the park...

Even more fun at the park...

Little Miss Hollywood

Giving Mimi a hug

Getting a kiss from Paw Paw

I'm so cute these days!

Sarah and I have had so much fun mommy and me time this week and last week. I get bored staying around the house for too long, so we've taken many outings: the park, McDonald's, shopping at many stores, the pool, Nana's and Aunt Mary's, picking strawberries, gymnastics, etc. We have been busy, busy, busy having loads of fun! Sarah is talking non-stop, and she is a HOOT! She's really starting to get into pretend play, and she loves to put powder on her babies, take her bear shopping, put her little people in their minivan and drive them around, and eat food from her pretend kitchen. I managed to get several videos of Sarah in her various acts of cuteness this week. By far the funniest to tape was the one of her dancing to a slow song. When the song first came on she started doing a fast "twist" dance, probably because she watched me (little did I know how much attention she was paying to me) twist to the real "Twist" earlier today. You could see the wheels turning in her head when she realized that this song was slow and the fast twist didn't fit, so she just slowed it down a bit, and it was SO FUNNY! You will have to watch from the back because she wouldn't turn around for the camera--enjoy!