INK! Museum

Sarah and I went on a girls' adventure today to the INK! Museum in Gainesville. It was SO MUCH FUN! Sarah could have played and played for hours...it was a cool, cool place. We will definitely be going back sometime. One thing that was so neat is that kids of all ages can have fun! Tomorrow, we are going to the pool and to bowling (that will be interesting--Sarah has never been bowling, obviously, and I don't think I've been since college). Friday, we are hoping to have a relaxing day at the house, and Saturday, it's off to Atlanta for the Georgia Aquarium with Mimi and PawPaw! We're doing a combo this week of chilling at home and visiting all the places on our "summer to do list" that we have not done yet. Next week will be a fun back-to-school adventure for both Sarah and me, so we may have a brief hiatus from the blogging world--we'll see!

Jeremy doesn't get the spotlight too much on here (sorry, sweetie), so here's his update: the final exam is tomorrow for the class he taught this summer. I can't believe how fast his first "real" job went by! I think he has to have all of his grades and everything in by Monday, so that's when he will officially be done with that class. He is going to be teaching 4 classes this fall: two at Georgia Gwinnett College and two at UGA, so he will be quite busy! So far he is really enjoying teaching, and we are hopeful that something great will fall into place in the next few months for January and beyond.

P.S. We met the new neighbors today. They do have a 2 year old little girl and a 1 year old boy. Yay for new friends! Sarah also loves their dog :-)

Party Like It's 1999!

What a busy weekend! Thursday night, I hosted a fun Southern Living Party and had tons of fun. Friday night, Jeremy and I dropped Sarah off at Nana's house and went downtown to my 10 year high school reunion--what a strange, fun night! It was really weird to see people you haven't seen or talked to in 10 years. I didn't really know what to say to anyone since I pretty much haven't kept up with anyone from high school, and as much as I tried to be outgoing, I was still fairly shy. Thank goodness Jeremy was there with me! It made me feel like I should have done a better job at keeping in touch with people on facebook! Awkwardness and all, it was a fun grown-up evening. Excuse me while I brag, but here is the list of things Jeremy and I won during the raffle drawings:
-4 tickets to the Georgia Aquarium
-Family Four pack bowling special
-4 discount rock-climbing tickets
-1 free personal training session (I think it may be in-home!)
-2 tickets to the High Museum of Art

We really scored big on the prizes! It definitely covered the cost of our evening and more! Saturday morning, I had to be up bright and early (4 am!) to go to my last class ever for LMU! Now that that's over, I now officially have my Ed.S degree in Educational Administration and Supervision. For now, I plan to stick with a traditional teaching job, though ;-) I'm looking forward to relaxing this week and enjoying every minute with Sarah before work starts back next week. Since Sarah will be at school with me, though, hopefully I won't feel as guilty about leaving her everyday. Pray that she doesn't flip out when she sees me at work and realizes that I am there all day but that I can't play with her! Today, we went up to Athens to swim at the Anderson's condo. Sarah, of course, wanted to hang out on the steps and do everything from "going under" (up to her mouth) and "floating" (attempting to lie on her back on the top step) "all by herself." On a side note, today I saw our new neighbors moving in across the street, and I have been spying a little bit. It looks like they have a little girl around Sarah's age and a little boy who is maybe one. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Sarah will have some new playmates her age on our street and that mommy and daddy will have some new neighbor friends, too!

Photo Shoot

My cousin Michael took some pictures last week of our family at The Vines. He is a great photographer, even when the "subject" does not always want to cooperate :-)

Also, I forgot to put this cute story in the previous post: Last night, I was putting Sarah to bed, and as usual, I started helping her say her prayers. Usually she just repeats what I say (if even that). Last night, here's how the conversation went:

Me: Dear God
Sarah: Thank you for daddy.
Me: And...
Sarah: Thank you for Sarah.
Me: Amen
Sarah: Thank you for the presents.

It was really cute, and a bit funny when she thanked God (again) for her birthday presents :-) I guess she's beginning to understand how to pray by herself :-)

Miss Independent

Happy 4th of July!

Watching fireworks with Mimi

Reading stories to her babies

Playing a huge xylophone

Fun on the tire swing

Life with us is a zoo!

Playing another fun instrument

Sarah is definitely Miss Independent this summer. Thanks, Ms. Latee, for the cute "Miss Independent" 4th of July dress--it sure does fit Sarah's personality these days! Everything we do she wants to do "all by myself." :-) We had a fun 4th of July in Greenville with Mimi and Paw Paw. We went to downtown Greenville for the fireworks show, and much to my surprise, Sarah loved them and was not at all afraid! Yay Sarah! We also spent some time in the morning at one of the coolest parks I have ever seen. They had a huge castle maze play structure thing that was so much fun, and they had a separate playground adapted for people with special needs, and it was so cool! My favorite thing was the huge (they actually had 3 different sizes) xylophone with wooden mallets you can use to play them. Wouldn't it be great if our schools could have playgrounds that neat?

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!