A day in the life

Civil Disobedience

2011-12-28T11:59:00.005-06:00

Though I honestly hesitate to tell you this, as it demonstrates my poor parenting skills and Sadie's disobedience, in the interest of full disclosure (and because I thought it was kinda funny), I will share it with you anyway...

We were up before 6:00 this morning in order to catch a flight. I had hoped Sadie and I would sleep on the plane, but no dice. So, once in Texas and on the road from the airport to my parents' house (a one-hour drive), this is what was said:

Me: Sadie, you need to try to take a nap now, okay?

Sadie: No.

Me: Sadie... Take a nap. Okay?

Sadie: No!

Me: This whole business of you telling me "no" has got to stop. Understand?

Sadie: No, ma'am.

She also had her Ken and Barbie dolls in the car with her. Petepa, my dad, was teasing and pestering her as he always does. At one point, I guess she got a little fed up and wanted him to stop because she held up the Ken doll and threatened, "I have a Ken and I'm not afraid to use it!"

N'awlins

2011-12-27T19:26:00.013-06:00

Brad and I celebrated our thirteenth wedding anniversary on December 19th! To make up for our shabby tenth anniversary celebration (a hotel stay in Memphis plus a Grizzlies game), we booked an Amtrak train from Memphis to New Orleans and loved the ride!

Here I am wearing, ahem, Sadie's hat that I grabbed on my way out the door. So glad I did! Thank you Gymboree!

A tradition on Amtrak train rides: Playing Bananagrams in the Lounge Car...

We stayed in an awesome, historic hotel - The Whitney Windham on Poydras (near the St. Charles streetcar). It used to be a bank and was built in the 1800s (I might be lying). It was the perfect location for us since the French Quarter was a bit pricier. I have yet to be disappointed with booking hotel rooms on Hotwire. Seems like we always get a really cool hotel! I have a photo from inside our room, but Brad is in his undies, so I will spare you that one.

We had our anniversary meal early, on the Saturday before. We ate at the famous Commander's Palace in the ritzy Garden District. The food was amazingly good and amazingly expensive, but it was truly worth the experience. I even ate turtle (soup)! I don't really recommend it, though...

After classing it up at Commander's Palace, we classed it way down with a stroll down Bourbon Street (because you just have to). We listened to some wonderful jazz music at Fritzel's, a European style club recommended to us by AmyG, and I loved it! I already forgot this band's name, though I swore I wouldn't forget, but the lead singer/trumpeter was awesome. She had the best voice, and dimples, too!

The next morning, we decided to do the touristy thing and head to Cafe du Monde. Along with a million other people. The lines to wait were ridiculous (to sit and to go) so we stood outside the kitchen window for a few minutes and watched them prepare, cut, and throw (NOT "toss") the beignet dough into the massive vats of grease. Once we got our appetite back, we walked to Cafe Beignet and placed our order there instead (they tasted exactly the same, FYI).

We kept up with our tourist theme for the day and boarded the Steamboat Natchez. It really was a lot of fun and we found out that they cancelled the rest of the cruises for the time of our trip, so we kind of lucked out. It was so relaxing. We listened to the jazz band as we ate lunch in the dining room, then sunned out on the deck while we learned about the area.

Of course, we were suckered into buying the souvenir photo they take as you board since we thought it was a good photo and wanted to have it!

Then, of course, someone took a photo of us with our phone while on the cruise and it was just as great, really... Of course this was after we shelled out the big bucks for the souvenir photo...

It was a great two-hour tour that, gratefully, ended well. I couldn't help by notice, though, that the mighty Mississip closely resembled that vat of grease over at Cafe du Monde... (eck!)

When we disembarked, this guy was standing around.

I must say, he was truly talented. By talented, I mean, he stayed in that position for at least 15 minutes without moving a muscle. I barely even saw him blink! He would talk to folks, but he

did it ventriloquist style: without moving his lips. Impressive.

We did a little shopping in the French Quarter, ate a "light" dinner at Camelia's Grill (the French Quarter location and I put light in quotes because, well, if you have eaten there, you know they cook with some major grease!), then headed back over to Bourbon Street to sing some Karaoke at the Cat's Meow nice and early before it got too late and too wild. Brad and I each sang a song then a duet. (Remember, we are self-proclaimed dorks!)

On Monday, we took the Canal Streetcar to the cemeteries and then to City Park. Of course, the NOMA was closed (New Orleans Museum of Art) but the park is just really massive and cool to walk around. We want to return sometime with Sadie so she can experience Storyland. It looked fun.

We, of course, had to take some dorky photos...

Note the lion statue in the bottom right corner because...

I posed with it, of course!

They have some ancient oak trees in the park that are ridiculously enormous. I mean, really.

The sculpture park behind the museum was also pretty cool. (And perhaps Brad and I are the only folks who had the idea to take this kind of photo...). Truly original, I am sure! HA.

Monday the 19th was our actual anniversary, and we randomly picked a restaurant near the end of the St. Charles Streetcar line, on our way to go bowling. It was called Louisiana Pizza Kitchen and Brad said it was the best pizza he had ever eaten (we have recreated it twice since returning home, and though we cannot get it exact, it is still pretty good!). The owner/manager was really cool and talked to us a bit. When he learned it was our anniversary, he gave us a free dessert! Way to do business, my friend.

But, of course, what truly made our night and our anniversary was the fact that Drew Brees (and his entire family) came in to the restaurant and dined mere feet away from us. On his way out, Brad asked if he could get a photo. He also wished us a happy anniversary. He is truly a class act and down-to-Earth kind of guy. I was impressed in the whole minute I spoke to him. HA.

After dinner, we headed to the Rock N Bowl bowling alley that we have heard nothing but awesome things about. We purposely saved it for our last night, we were so excited about it. Of course, we could not find a bus to take us directly there - he said it would be close, but dropped us off several blocks away where we had to walk through "the ghetto" to get there. A little uncomfortable, but we got there, nonetheless.

Only to discover they were closed for private parties.

Of course.

If it weren't for Drew Brees, this would have ruined our night.

But we still got to go inside and take a photo of the stage and dance floor (where live bands usually play and people dance... Wednesday night is swing night!). Oh, we were so disappointed!!!

Cool place. Cool pic.

So we headed back to our hotel on a bus that dropped us off right on the corner.

Any time I talked about riding the streetcar, I had broke out into The Simpsons' musical version of A Streetcar Named Desire, with jazz hands and all, "Streetcar!" So, I had Brad take a photo. Because.I.am.just.that.corny.

Instead of finding something else to do that night, we settled in to our hotel room and watched some awesome episodes of Hoarders and Intervention. It was very relaxing (though a bit disturbing!).

We had half day left to run around town before the train headed for home. Everyone told us we had to eat at Acme Oyster House, so we were able to squeeze in a lunch there on Tuesday before we headed back for the train. I am glad we did because, not only was the food yummy (I had a fried oyster and shrimp po-boy because I was too scared to do oysters on my own without an expert with me) but we also ran into "Mel" (Kristen Schaal) from HBO's Flight of the Conchords! She was very sweet and took a photo with me. I was a bit surprised that her real voice is the same as on the show...

We did a little souvenir shopping (bought a t-shirt for Sadie) then headed back to the hotel to get our bags and hail a cab. I won't get into what happened with the cab ride...

We had a blast and cannot wait until our next "big" anniversary celebration (maybe at 15 years?) when I would love to take the train back then hop on a cruise for a few days and nights! I just have to get Brad on board... Figuratively AND literally. ;)

All Things Christmas

2011-12-27T18:18:00.009-06:00

This holiday season has been busy! Here are some of the highlights:

Sadie and I continued our annual tradition and went to see Ballet Arkansas perform The Nutcracker at the Robinson Center.

We met up with Karalyn, Gus, and Bess. We had great seats, thanks to Groupon (our favorite way to save on fun events like this)! We were in the last row of the orchestra section, which was perfect because the kids could stand and dance by/behind their seats without bothering anyone.

The girls were excited for the show to start!

As always, Ballet Arkansas did an amazing job. Sadie was shocked and thrilled to see Mysti on the stage (She is the daughter of Sadie's ballet instructor.) As I suspected, as soon as it was over, she lamented over her decision not to do ballet this year...

This was our first year to do Breakfast with Santa at the Children's Hospital. Karalyn and her crew go every year, and since we were going to miss our neighborhood's Breakfast with Santa, we decided to join them. Firemen were there cooking and serving the breakfast (pancakes, eggs, sausage. bacon, etc.). It was pretty cool.

Here is a photo of our Santa photo. I couldn't scan it because you need ink in your printer to do that, and, as always, we are out of ink...

The Hospital always has "the real Santa" (as opposed to our clubhouse who had a twenty-something Santa who sipped on a McDonald's soda cup the entire time...).

Sadie had a ball!

She was able to call the North Pole and chat with one of Santa's elves... (I think she was a bit in disbelief):

And write her letter to Santa (click to make it big if you care to read it)...

And mail it to him! (She got everything on her list, plus a surprise item, and when she saw it, she said, "But, I didn't order this!")

She also made quite a few crafts and got two tattoos (arms) and was proud to show it all off.

After breakfast, we headed back to Motley's Tree Farm. This was our second year to go, and we are excited to make this an official tradition.

Does this photo look familiar? Sadie has grown some, though!

We picked out our tree pretty quickly this year. Not too big; not too small; but just right...

Afterwards, Sadie wanted to ride the train again, but didn't have her cousins around to join her, so I had to oblige. It was a bumpy ride, and I felt a bit silly sitting in the cow car!!! But there were other adults who rode other times. I think. Or so I will keep telling myself anyway...

And the pig race made our Christmas tree farm trip complete!

Since we just put in hardwood floors in our living room/dining room area, the live tree went up in the den. A room that is "owned" by Sadie and all her junk. Hooray.

So we put up our artificial one in the living room.

Sadie's school celebrated Christmas with another Mustang Mission (donate toys with the prices on them so less fortunate parents can buy them at huge discounts), Christmas parties, concerts and more.

Here is Sadie's reindeer from art class:

On the last day of school Friday, December 16th, the Kindergarten thru 6th graders performed Christmas songs in Chapel. The day before, the Pre-k classes reenacted the story of Jesus' birth (costumes and all) and I kicked myself for not having my camera. They were precious!!!

Anyway, Sadie's 1st grade class sang Santa had a Christmas Tree (think Old MacDonald had a Farm...)...

And We Wish you a Merry Christmas.

It was very cute, and they all wore the reindeer sweatshirts that they made at school: a footprint for the face, handprints for the antlers, googly eyes, a pom pom nose, a ribbon, and a bell! Too cute.

It has been a great Christmas!

A Picture Says a Thousand Words...

2011-12-10T10:27:00.005-06:00

Sadie had a writing assignment: To write a sentence with the sight word "come" and draw a picture of the sentence.

I do not know whether to be proud or embarrassed, but she added the detail on our shirts so it is clear that we were headed to school (and not to church, which, sadly, also could have applied). Feel free to click on the photo so you can see it more clearly...

Nice. Real nice.

Fright Night

2011-12-04T19:10:00.012-06:00

Sadie took forever this year deciding what she wanted to be for Halloween. I honestly cannot remember all the different possibilities she came up with. I know Belle was in the running for a long time... But, when we saw a long blond wig with a braid in the store, it was decided: Rapunzel. She already had a dress, so that was fine with me!

As we do each year, we went to our church's Trunk or Treat and fall festival the Wednesday night before Halloween. They start with trick or treating out in the parking lot, but instead of going house-to-house, you go trunk-to-trunk. We were a little late, sadly, and got there as many were packing up, but Sadie still got a decent amount of candy. Here she is, the Tangled version of Rapunzel, frying pan and all!

Inside, they had food, games, crafts, and various activities for all the kiddos. It truly is amazing how much work goes into the event! It is so much fun and our church family tends to grow from this event. Visitors who come this night come back to visit on Sunday and decide to stay, which is always the ultimate goal!

I did not realize that cousin Bess had planned on being Rapunzel as well. Luckily, it did not cause a problem... Can you guess whose long blond hair is real and whose is fake??? Ha! I straightened that wig all night long and it made no difference...

Sadie and Avery could not give us a cutesy pose. So, I guess this is considered scary? Note: The wig disappeared, so we decided she became Rapunzel after Flynn (aka Eugene) cut off her hair...

(I really really wanted Sadie, because of her teeth, to be a vampire or, better yet, Mama Odie, the voodoo woman from The Princess and the Frog, but she refused. I can't blame her, but I still I think she would have made the perfect Mama Odie!!!)

I forced the family to carve a pumpkin this year (no one was interested last year... boo hiss). Sadie drew the face, Brad carved, and I cleaned and roasted the seeds (and ate them all on my own). I think the jack-o-lantern's smile was a self-portrait... It seemed to be missing the same number of teeth as Sadie!

We did not bother to go trick or treating on Halloween night since Sadie got candy from the church event and was going to go trick or treating the next night at, ahem, Disney World's Magic Kingdom, so we opted to stay in. I desperately needed to pack for our trip as well, so we decided to leave candy out on the porch for the neighborhood kids to help themselves. We thought this would also save Sadie a few nightmares. In the past, she would help me hand out candy when the doorbell rang, but would become haunted later that night by some of the scary costumes she saw.

My prayer mom from school (kinda like a secret pal, but not a secret) gave me this cool Hocus Pocus book as a gift - when you open it, it creaks and a witch cackles, so Brad filled it with candy and put a sign beside it, "Please take one if you dare":

I must say, I was highly impressed with the kids in our neighborhood. Brad and Sadie decided to watch from inside our dark house, and Brad said the kids really did only take one piece of candy at a time.

But then he and Sadie came up with a plan: to scare the older kids...

When the older ones would open the book, Sadie would flick the porch lights on and off and Brad would make the alarm go off on his car (parked in the driveway). Oh my... I do not know which was more hilarious: The kids' reactions or Sadie's! Sadie nearly died laughing every time.

But it took them a while to perfect their craft and one boy, holding a basketball (so I guess he was a plain clothed basketball player... some of these kids don't even seem to try with their costumes anymore) got so scared, he ran off without grabbing any candy! After that happened, the new rule was to do the scary stuff after they got their candy and were about to walk away.

However, poor, compassionate Sadie still brings up "The boy with the basketball who didn't get any candy" and adds, "I just can't stop thinking about him!" I have tried to assure her that, no doubt, he got plenty of candy from other houses, but she is still haunted by that image to this day. Back to the drawing board!

Fairly Well

2011-12-04T18:20:00.009-06:00

Good ole Brad hooked us up again this year by winning a free pack to the State Fair which included 4 adults + 2 children admission tickets plus a parking pass (a $45 value). He is such the provider (though, I guess I should also thank the local radio stations who offer the prizes!).

We took Sadie's friend, Avery, with us one Sunday afternoon back in October. They had a blast!

At first, they would only stick to the truly "kiddie" rides. Neither of them wanted to ride the roller coasters or rides that went higher in the air...

So, here are pictures...

On the carousel:

On the cars (which actually zip around the corners pretty quickly):

On the Dumbo ride, which Sadie declared was "Just like at Disney!" Neh-eh. Please, Sadie... Do NOT compare the Arkansas State Fair to Disney World. Ever.

I always avoid the games at the fair, though Brad always want to play them. Sadie and Avery took their chances and displayed their strength...

And won!

Finally, finally, after much coaxing from Brad and me, they decided to ride the dragon roller coaster. They were a bit hesitant at first (and ended up in the front seat!)...

But loved it! Okay, well, Sadie looks like she loves it; Avery looks a little pensive still... But they asked to ride it again and again, so it was a hit after all!

There was no stopping them after the roller coaster. They even rode the "free fall" ride over and over and over again! (Which definitely made the splurge for the unlimited ride armbands worth it!)

Sadie and Avery also ran in to Sanlee, a buddy from Otter Creek Elementary. All three were in the same pre-K4 class together, and Sadie and Sanlee were in the same Kindergarten class as well. But now they all go to different schools, so it was a nice mini-reunion! They were inseparable until it was time for us to leave.

They rode several more rides and walked through the petting zoo, feeding the zebras and goats, etc... They ate fair food, but nothing too out of the ordinary. I kept saying I would try something crazy (fried oreos, chocolate covered bacon, fried butter, fried soft pretzels, etc...) but just could not go through with it... I am sure my digestive system is still thanking me for backing out!

I am so glad the girls enjoyed themselves. It also made the fair a lot more fun for Brad and for me: to watch Sadie ride with a friend instead of riding by herself or with a stranger. Hopefully, we can make this an annual tradition as well (as long as Brad will keep winning tickets for us, cheapo that I am!)

Draw Me Nearer

2011-12-04T18:14:00.003-06:00

Just thought I would share some more of Sadie's artwork. These were all made during church services in the month of October.

Lalaloopsy:

A message to God:

A message to the world:

PostScript

2011-12-04T18:00:00.003-06:00

When Sadie was writing her letter to Santa yesterday, she had already ended it then remembered something she wanted to ask for. She got upset, but then I told her to simply write "p.s." and whatever else she needed to add (and gave her a quick explanation).

So, but of course, this is how she ended her bedtime prayer last night:

"In Jesus' name, Amen. P.S. Lord, I don't want to have a baby........ It's too painful. Amen."

This would have baffled me except that, a few weeks ago, while she and I were riding in the car on our way home from school, she announced that she was "ready to have a child."

I guess the idea seemed less appealing now and she wanted to be sure God was aware of her latest decision?

Lucky Number Seven

2011-12-03T21:40:00.001-06:00

As you may recall (and if not, read more about it here), Sadie has been dropping teeth right and left and up and down. Well, up...

Well, lucky number seven (7th overall, 5th for a one month period) disappeared just a few days after number six. Here is a photo from October 21st, several days after that stubborn tooth from the bottom finally decided to go.

Thankfully, she did not swallow this one: Mrs. Nelms (her teacher) helped pull it at school, during chapel of all places and times! HA. I am just glad she trusted Mrs. Nelms to pull it since she has yet to trust us.

A "better" shot (at least for the view of the, ahem, five missing teeth!).

Gamma's Birthday!

2011-12-03T21:28:00.004-06:00

We were graced with my parents' presence in early October and were so glad to be able to celebrate my mom's 67th birthday with her! We had a small family gathering at my sister's house.

Here are photos of her blowing out her birthday candles, surrounded by her grandchildren!

Mom, I know we children tease you all the time for, well, all kinds of things, but please know that you are wonderfully and dearly loved! You are not only a great mom, but a dear friend. I enjoy our long phone talks and always appreciate your advice. Thank you for all the coupons and recipes you take the time to cut out and write down for me and send to me in the mail. Do not give up on me! Your cooking wonders and talents will rub off on me...eventually. I hope.

Thanks for being a rock for me all these years!

I love you.

Fore!

2011-12-03T20:37:00.007-06:00

While watching The Masters tournament back in April, Brad became obsessed again with golf (it comes and goes in phases). Thus, our membership to The First Tee was born.

We have always been impressed with their facilities and their mission (to get kids excited about golf while teaching them life lessons along the way) and have always planned to get Sadie started on lessons at some point.

That point came in April.

Don't worry. I am not going to try to catch you up on all her lessons since April.

I will only go back to September.

She has enjoyed the lessons, especially since her church friend, Elise, and old OC school buddy, Jaden (pictured above), take lessons with the same group. Unfortunately, we started off strong but have tapered off a bit and have missed some lessons... I honestly cannot tell you the last Saturday she attended a lesson. I guess it was in September, based on my photos. Though I know our lack of discipline is partially the problem, the other problem is 1) Practices are always on Saturdays and we tend to travel on weekends. 2) They moved the time from 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning to 1:00 in the afternoon. In the Arkansas summer heat. NOT a good idea. Plus, a midday practice means you pretty much HAVE to stay in town... We could sneak away after morning practices and still have a decent Saturday, but a 1:00 practice cuts into your entire day... And the summer temperatures and humidity are basically unbearable by that hour of the day!

Anyway. Sadie seems to enjoy it and that is what matters. Just wanted to share a few photos:

They would take turns hitting a tennis ball with a large plastic club, just to get a feel for and understand the point of the game of golf. Here they are aiming for the hula hooped, flagged "target".

A long shot (notice Jaden, arms raised, Sadie's cheerleader and encourager; my kind of gal!):

A chip shot (though it looks pretty long to me!) with pal Jaden, ever-present by Sadie's side.

Some kids are serious players, taking practice swings and getting mad when they did not hit the ball well (sounds familiar...oh wait, that would be me). I was the one mom who simply whooped and applauded after every child's shot (love me or hate me), regardless of how far or short the ball was hit. One poor kid was openly scolded by his father and "forced" by his dad to hit a bucket of balls on the driving range after the hour-long lesson because he whiffed it once and topped it another time. Though the other, say, eight shots he made were pretty darn awesome (and basically put my kid and the others to shame, though I would never show it)! BTW, did I mention that the kids in this group are ages 5-7? Yet some, like this boy, are in their third year of lessons...

Way to go, Sadie! We are proud of your golfing attempts. Keep up the good work! Maybe one day you can teach your Mommy a thing or two...

1st Achievements

2011-12-03T19:09:00.010-06:00

Sadie is really enjoying 1st grade and her first year at CAC. One of her favorite classes is Art. This is the first year (ever? or at least in a long time, I'm not sure) that CAC has offered Art at the elementary level. Her art teacher, Mrs. Hutchins, is like me - she spends her mornings at the elementary schools and her afternoons at the high school. She is really sweet and has been very welcoming to me as a new teacher (she is a veteran) and Sadie just loves her!

Periodically the art classes' latest works are posted in the halls throughout the school. Every once in a while I think to take a photo of the ones I can tell are Sadie's (or ones she tells me are hers). Eventually, we will get a portfolio with all her work in it, but here are a few projects from the first nine weeks (August and September; remember, I am playing catch up, so scroll down to other posts from today if you have been checking for updates on here):

Harold and the Purple Crayon:

Maybe it is because I am her mom, but I think Sadie's rendition of Harold is dead on... Check out a photo of him on Google images and compare. Just search "Harold and the purple crayon" and click Images. (Then tell me I am right!) She misspelled "purple" but that can slide... Ha!

Here is her artwork after reading the book, Crazy Hair. Their assignment was to draw themselves with, what else? Crazy hair...

Lastly: Clifford, the big red dog. I think this was just before the Elementary Book Fair. "He" even came to visit during Chapel a few mornings to help advertise for the sale. This is Sadie's watercolor rendition. Again, spot on, in my humble and unbiased opinion anyway...

She said Mrs. Hutchins would show them how to draw Harold and Clifford by drawing them step-by-step on the board. I think Sadie did a great job following along!

Another thing I love about this school (other than the fact that they attend Chapel every morning) is the fact that the students take leadership roles in Chapel each morning. Classes, by grade, rotate throughout the year, taking turns each week leading the prayer and songs and reading Scripture (boys) and leading the Pledge and a patriotic song (girls).

Back in September, it was the first grade's turn. Sadie and her girlfriends, Laura and Ashley (the twins) and Allison were picked to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and The Star Spangled Banner.

Here they are, sitting in the front row, ready to lead (scroll down for video of their "performance")!

After the pledge and song, but before Chapel announcements, the principal, Mrs. Cruce, always make a point to talk to each person who helped lead Chapel. I love how she looks each of them in the eye, shakes their hand, calls them by name, and is specific about what she is praising them for. "Thank you so much for leading the pledge today. You spoke up loudly and stood at attention, etc..." It really makes the kids feel good and proud of their accomplishment. Well done, Mrs. Cruce!

Then Mrs. Cruce asks if it is anyone's birthday that day. It just happened to be Sadie's teacher's on the day Sadie led. Mrs. Nelms had to stand up front while we all sang to her (and the 6th graders did a slow motion version of The Wave in honor of her "old age"... When it is a kid's birthday, they do The Wave at normal speed in their pews). We love Mrs. Nelms and all she does with her first graders!

After announcements, the boys who led the prayer and songs usually lead a closing song for everyone to sing as they exit the auditorium and head back to their classrooms. The students sing it, literally, until they enter their classrooms upstairs (and it is usually "Cast Your Burdens" on the days I am there and it sticks in my head all day long which is a good thing and a bad thing...).

But this time, they led "Our God is an Awesome God" and had all the leaders of the day, boys and girls, lead it from the stage. I took a picture then, of course, realized I should also get a video. So the video below is mid song, but you can still see them do the hand motions/sign language for the song.

Sadie just informed me that her class will be leading in Chapel again next week! She helps on Thursday with the Pledge and Patriotic Song (it is a different one every day, kinda on a rotating basis as well, and I have learned a new one: There are Many Flags. Do you know it? I had never heard it before.). I am grateful that Mrs. Nelms schedules Sadie to do it on the days I am there at her school, not while I am scheduled to be at the other elementary school. She is so considerate.

I am excited about the life lessons (practical and spiritual) that Sadie is learning this year at CAC. Her confidence is soaring (though, I do not believe it has ever been lacking...) and she really seems to have adjusted well after being so sad to leave her last school. Go CAC!

Here is the video of the girls leading the Pledge and song. You just need to watch the first 15 seconds or so. I had no idea my voice was so stinking loud. I should have simply mouthed the song... I was holding my phone by my chest to kind of "hide" it and so it really picked up my voice! I apologize in advance, should you care to listen to more than you need to...

Here are the last few seconds of the song, Our God is an Awesome God. So cute!

A Diamond in the Rough. The Rock-Hard Rough.

2011-12-03T16:40:00.006-06:00

Also in August, we decided to continue our tour of Arkansas' State Parks. I have always wanted to go the the Crater of Diamonds where you can dig for diamonds and keep any you find, but I have never wanted to go in the heat of the summer. Yet, that is what we did. On August 27th, 2011, we headed out to search for buried treasure.

This trip was very spur of the moment and not well thought out. 1) We thought the park was a lot closer to us than it actually was... We thought it was maybe an hour away, but, it was much further than that. 2) They have a water park there. How nice it would have been if I had realized that in advance and packed our swimsuits, since we were dripping with sweat when we were done!

Oh well. We had fun anyway. For a little while.

The ground was so hard... I realized then that what I had always pictured in my mind was what you see in the movies when folks are panning for gold (serenity of a babbling brook and muddy water flowing out of your pan)... This was nothing at all like that, except that you use screens to filter out the dirt...

Duly noted.

Sadie was all about it, at first. She really jumped in there and worked hard!

Still happy... (And Brad got into it more than I did. I was shocked by that, myself!)

But not too long after this photo (just minutes later, I do believe), Sadie gave up; headed for the cooler; got herself a drink; parked herself on said cooler; and declared, "This is the worst day ever!" (mimicking Rapunzel who said just the opposite in the movie Tangled). Then went on to say, "I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I'm hot. Let's just go buy one [a diamond]!" Ha!

So, take heed: It really is a fun experience... Just go in cooler weather, preferably immediately after a good rain. Bring your own tools, gloves, buckets, coolers, refreshments, etc... Some folks even had shade tents, which would have been nice. Real nice... i.e. Do your homework in advance! Do not go on the spur of the moment!!!

Brad did find a sliver of something which looked promising. He had it examined by their experts. The woman poked and prodded and even took it back to look at it through a microscope. (Brad thinks they build up the excitement for you by acting like it might be something just to enrich your experience).

But, alas, it was just a piece of glass. So we kept our day jobs.

Bummer.

Catching Up is Hard to Do...

2011-12-03T15:10:00.011-06:00

"Way, way back, many centuries ago..."

Okay, so maybe not that long ago, but way back in August, we went on our summer vacation to Destin, FL.

(Why am I posting about this now, in December, you ask? Because we make books of our blogs, and I want this year's book to be complete! I realized I can't post our End of the Year Christmas Newsletter without first posting about our summer, etc... So I am playing catch up! Stay tuned for a ton more posts!)

Okay, back to our summer vacation.

This year, we joined forces with my sister, Karalyn, and her family, and rented a 3BR, 3BA condo through vrbo and got an amazing deal! (Though she may think otherwise since she and Kevin ended up with the smaller of the two master bedrooms...).

We were so excited to arrive, we all headed straight for the sand!

(Karalyn, Gus, Bess, and Sadie)

Then got settled in to our condo at Majestic Sun:

We had an amazing view. We had a corner unit on the 3rd floor (I think), and only had a 2-lane street to cross before our feet touched sand.

What we didn't realize, however, was that, though the oil was all cleaned up from last year's spill, kelp and seaweed took over this year...

I am not going to lie: it was pretty nasty. Not to mention slimy to walk through and to swim in (and to pick out of your swimsuit and hair), but we made the best of it. You should have seen Kevin's beard with all the green stuck in it! I know we took a photo... Or I thought we did...

Sadie and I tried to recreate one of our favorite photos from our Destin trip in 2008:

(2008)

2011

Both of us have grown a ton of hair over the past three years!

Cousins Sadie and Bess really enjoyed each other's company. Gus, Bess, and Sadie shared a bedroom in the condo which had bunk beds, a TV, their own bathroom, and a game station. They were living it up!

On the beach, Bess was happy to let Sadie bury her in the sand, but Sadie did not return the favor...

Then it was Brad's turn! (And this is the only photo he will let me post of him in his bathing suit, since he is fully covered...).

We took the obligatory beach family photos, but ended up not bothering with coordinating outfits... But that is okay since it was hard to get Sadie to make a "normal" face anyway!

I liked this one the best, so act surprised if it ends up in your Christmas card... We have yet to decide which photo from the year will get that honor!

Sadie made sure to leave her mark!

I think she enjoys the beach as much as I do...

One of our favorite outings was a dolphin cruise that all seven of us went on together. Sadie loved being on the boat, with the wind blowing her hair!

(I think she's saying, "I could get used to this...")

Gratefully, our excursion was not in vain! We were able to see several dolphins, though I had a lot of trouble capturing them on camera... This is my best shot. You may just have to squint a little bit...

Brad took a cool photo of us on the cruise with his iPhone's special effects:

My absolute favorite part of our trip was the one day we joined Karalyn and her crew at Henderson Beach State Park. They went there more than once, and, oh how I wish we had gone there every day! But I kept thinking, "Why give up the convenience of walking across the street to our FREE beach, and choose to drive and pay to go to one instead?" Answer: For the complete peace and quiet of a state park with no high rises in view, no boom boxes, no standard umbrellas and beach chairs, and, best of all, no kelp and seaweed.

I plopped myself down in the shallow part of the water, with it up to my waist, sitting down, and never wanted to leave. I would grab the sand and find sea shells as the water rushed by, and once even grabbed a shell that grabbed me back! It scared the life out of me, but I caught on to it again, and it was a hermit crab! I covered it with my hand and made Gus actually pick it up. He was so excited! Kevin also found a ton of sand dollars (and it was so crazy to see them alive - with the little hairs all around the edges actually moving). SO very cool. Of course, we killed them, I guess, so we could keep them as souvenirs!

I decided that next year, we can pay less for accommodations and just get a hotel there close to Henderson State Park. It was worth every little penny we had to pay to enter the park to use that beach instead of the touristy areas!

Brad got an awesome shot of Sadie and me as we were collecting shells (again with special effects on his iPhone):

Notice how there are no other people, umbrellas, buildings, etc, in sight? And this was midday! Plus, the water at that beach was so much clearer... Note: No seaweed!

I know I have a ton more photos from the Henderson State Park (or I thought I did, anyway) but I cannot find them anywhere... That's what I get for waiting, oh, three + months to sort through them and post them. Oh well.

We had an awesome time and are ready for summer to come so we can do it again!!! I always said I wanted a place where Sadie can say "We always went there on family vacations..." I think Destin (and perhaps Henderson State Park) may be it!

The Toothless Evolution

2011-10-20T19:14:00.004-05:00

Sadie has been dubbed our "toothless wonder." If you have not seen her lately or a recent photo, let me explain via photo timeline.

Here she is on September 10th, all teeth in place. (Go Hogs!):

She lost a tooth (her 3rd ever) on September 14th. Though this photo was not taken immediately after, it clearly shows the missing tooth and how it changed her smile. The loss of this tooth was a bit traumatic because it was barely loose, but got caught on the collar of her nightgown when Brad was pulling it off over her head to get her dressed in the morning for school...

All was calm and fine in her world until October rolled around. Here she is on October 6th, the day she lost her 4th tooth, which just happened to be right beside the one she lost the month before. She was proud of and excited about her expanding gap...

Just six days later, on October 12th, she lost tooth number five. Yep, right beside missing teeth 3 and 4... (She swallowed this one, and the tooth fairy has yet to visit because she, Mom and Dad keeps forgetting to write a note to the tooth fairy - a requirement when a tooth cannot be exchanged for money, in our tooth fairy's rule book, anyway).

Then, just two days later, on the 14th of October, I received this photo from my sis who was watching Sadie all day while Brad and I had to work:

Yep. She lost tooth number 6. And she swallowed it as well. (And has yet to get "paid" for this one either...).

What is CRAZY: She has had a tooth on the bottom that has been very loose since mid September that has yet to fall out! So all four teeth that are missing from the top fell out before the one that was already very loose on the bottom!

I was terrified that this meant her gums were decaying or something was terribly wrong... I mean, she lost 4 teeth in one month; three in one week! But, aside from the first one she lost up top (by accident), her new teeth have broken through the gums and are slowly making their appearance! (The extremely loose one on the bottom, which she refuses to let us pull and I predict she will swallow, already has her new tooth coming in - and is a good 1/4 of its way up!) So I guess all of this is normal.

You should hear her talk and, better yet, watch her try to eat!

We Beseech Thee, Hear Us

2011-09-27T17:42:00.005-05:00

We saw a car accident on the way home just now. It looked pretty serious - police cars and a fire truck. There was no ambulance yet, so the officers were tending to someone on the ground. I told Sadie we needed to say a quick prayer, so we did.

When we finished, Sadie said, "Mommy, I have a question and when I am done, I want you to say 'That's a good question' because it is a good question, okay?"

Okay, Sadie...

"So, what if someone else is praying at the same time you are? I mean, are there two Jesuses that can listen to both prayers or is there just one and he can only listen to one at a time?"

Mustang Sadie

2011-09-25T20:17:00.008-05:00

Since school started, oh, over a month ago, I figured I needed to get my "first day of school" blog posted!!!

Sadie started first grade at her new school on August 12th. She and I had a rude awakening that morning since we were so used to walking to school (which took all of five minutes). She even headed for the front door several times the first full week of school and I had to remind her that we were going out through the garage to get in the car and drive to school.

The first day of school was a Friday so it was also a Spirit Day and they did not have to be in uniform.

Sadie enjoyed posing.

Which I think made her get more excited about it. (She's "raising the roof"!)

Here she is headed to the school's door with her new Mustang purple lunch bag (it lasted about a week) and a ponytail (which lasted about thirty minutes).

We were too late to get a photo with her teacher (we were not tardy but got there too close to start time to get that photo). Mrs. Nelms is wonderful and has been teaching first grade there for over twenty years. I have heard only wonderful things about her from parents (and from my junior high students who were in her class).

I was scheduled to be at her campus that morning for my elementary school rotation so I was able to experience her very first Chapel with her. They start every day with Chapel and it has been such a blessing! Sadie is learning so many devo songs and hymns as well as all of our patriotic songs since they close each Chapel service with The Pledge and a patriotic song.

(See the very tall boy with wavy hair in her row? That is Seth.

We have heard all about him and then some from Miss Sadie...)

Sadie seems to have adapted very well to her new surroundings and already adores her teacher. Hooray!

***

The school's first Mustang Mission (service project) was to collect new and gently used shoes. Through the Ozark Water Project and a guy dubbed "the shoe man," these shoes will be sold to raise money in order to build a well and bring clean water to Haiti (and Africa and some other countries, but I think our mission was earmarked for Haiti).

We cleaned out our closets and came up with 23 pairs. My sister, Karalyn, donated 9 pairs. But MeMe and Pappy (Brad's parents) surprised us by asking their church, Broadway Street church of Christ in Marked Tree, AR, to donate shoes. When we went to visit over Labor Day Weekend, they announced at church Sunday night that they had shoes to give Sadie and she turned to me and said, "They are so kind!" We were shocked to see a pile of boxes by the door ready for us to take home! We barely fit them all in our car since we had Tex riding with us. Luckily, we did not have to use our roof rack, as I could only imagine us driving down the highway spewing shoes all over the place...

Overall, the church donated 112 pairs of shoes!!!!

Sadie was in awe and a bit excited about it.

At the end of the two weeks, the school was just shy of their goal of 3000 pairs of shoes (an average of 10 pairs per student). They collected about 2700, though, which was enough to build one new well that will have a plaque with the school's name on it.

Thank you, again, to Broadway Street church of Christ and to Karalyn for helping show Sadie the true meaning of compassion through your generosity!

We look forward to more Mustang Missions as they have several throughout the year. I will keep you posted, and may be calling on you for help!

Texas or Bust

2011-09-17T07:55:00.013-05:00

My mom and dad were in town at the end of July and Sadie and I rode with them on their way back to Texas. The road trip (9+ hours) went surprisingly well, but probably because Dad sat in the back and entertained Sadie the entire way. I was reminded, yet again, how I wish Sadie had a sibling! But Dad was a pretty good temporary substitution...

As you may know, this has been one of the hottest and driest summers on record for Texas. Sadie was quick to let us know about the heat...

But it didn't stop her from riding Petepa's tractor! Dad let her steer, and later even drive it all by herself! He had to weigh down the seat with barbell weights so that the tractor would recognize there was someone sitting on it in order to go.

Mom and Dad's neighbors own some horses and let Sadie come help during feeding time one morning. I didn't know if Sadie would even want to get out of bed, but she was ready and didn't even want to change out of her pajamas (though she didn't have time to since she had kinda overslept).

Oh how she loved "feeding" the horses (she put the bucket down and pushed it under the wire). Homer was especially sweet to let her pat him while he was eating.

I think Sadie and Homer are kindred spirits since he posed and goofed off for the camera!

The same neighbors also have a pool in their back yard (an oasis, if you ask me). So, even though Sadie and I went swimming most mornings with Mom and her friend at the neighborhood pool, Sadie went with Petepa to swim in Ray's pool two times, too. It was the perfect lazy summer vacation and being in the pool was about the only way to manage being outside in the heat.

We drove to nearby Kingsland, TX, to eat dinner at The Junction House Restaurant, which is housed inside the Victorian Home used in the movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Sadie had no idea of the significance of the place (thank goodness) but followed my direction when I asked her to pose outside, acting scared.

Then, when she wanted to pose all pretty, she didn't know Petepa was behind her... (You can click on the photos to view a larger version.)

The restaurant is pretty cool and the food is delicious. I had some kind of yummy salad with a huge piece of pecan crusted cheese on it (my memory is failing me terribly, but then again, this was nearly 2 months ago...).

They have memorabilia from the movie in the bar upstairs. A replica of Leatherface greets you right at the top of the stairs. We made sure Sadie never went near...

As always, we had to drive around and look at the deer who roam freely among the houses of Horseshoe Bay. Every time we do this, I think (and Sadie must, too) "Here we go again." But then we are always amazed when we see them! Families of deer just camp out in the yard and stare at you as you drive by (or stop completely in our case) just like they are the owners of the house sitting out on the front porch. Too funny.

I took the next picture of Sadie waiting for Foxy to come eat. Mom and Dad have two foxes now who routinely show up in their back yard each evening to be fed. They give them dog food and any scraps from dinner, etc. Kinda crazy! Sadie was very patient.

I am sure we did more on the trip, but I am using my iPhone photos as my guide since I cannot remember, and the only one I have left is from a Thai restaurant in Marble Falls. We had gone to eat there on Sunday afternoon after hearing Dad preach at church that morning. Sadie was finally willing to try sushi (a california roll). She has really expanded her eating horizons as of late, and I am so proud of her!

It fell apart, but she loved it and gave it the thumbs up, so now she wants to be "an Amy" and join my gals and me for our monthly sushi nights! I sent them the photo and they dubbed her "AmyS." She was so proud and excited!!!!

It is always so relaxing when we visit Mom and Dad in Texas. We did not want our summer vacation there to end! Thanks, Gamma and Petepa for the fun visit! We will see you again soon.

So Random

2011-09-17T07:26:00.005-05:00

I am still playing summer catch up which is so sad since we are now a full month into the school year. Ugh.

Here are some random summer photos of Sadie (who else?).

So, remember how I mentioned Sadie was upset that I did not sign her up for the Musical Theater Dance class at the UALR camp? I am signing her up for a new (new to us) theater camp next summer which is described as "intensive" because, well, I think she is ready.

For example, one day she tripped and acted like she was dead. And did not break character for so long that I had to take a photo.

And, if I can find some kind of fashion camp, I think Sadie could teach them a thing or two... Here are a few photos of her own sense of style, since she loves to dress herself. Notice all the many, many patterns mixed together which do no match yet somehow "work." And look at those poses!

One summer day, I babysat Gus and Bess and we went all went to PetSmart after lunch just as something to do. They had cats up for adoption and each of them picked their favorite cat then spent time petting and talking to it through the metal bars (they won't allow you to hold the cats unless you are seriously considering adopting).

After we left, my animal lover could not stop talking about "her" cat. I cannot remember his name now, but she just had to go back and visit him. So she and I went back just one day later, and many of the cats they picked were gone! Sadie was distraught, but I explained how we needed to be happy they were gone because that meant they went to a loving family (and not ours...).

My explanation helped for a second but then, of course, she felt she needed to spend time with every remaining cat since they had not been chosen to go to a loving home.

I love my kid. Such a kind heart!!!!

Fundraiser

2011-09-10T08:31:00.001-05:00

Sadie is selling magazines for a school fundraiser. If you are one to order magazines, please consider buying from her since her school gets 40% profit! Her code (you have to enter it at checkout so she gets credit) is WIL4. I think it is called her QSP ID.

Thanks!

Click here to shop!

Cheer Camp

2011-09-08T20:12:00.004-05:00

Now for Summer Camp #2, the week of Sadie's birthday (July 13th).

When searching for another summer camp for Sadie, I looked to Pulaski Academy, where she attended last year. The only camp I could find that would fit my work schedule was... Dance and Cheer Camp.

Those who know me well know how difficult a choice this was for me. And to top it off, she ended up not even needing to go to this camp because, by then, I had accepted my new job and was off work the month of July... Ugh.

Anyway, she enjoyed it and that is what matters.

They gave us a performance at the end of the week.

Here they are, ready to cheer...

But it was all about getting a trophy in the end!

Although, Sadie really and truly thought she was getting the huge, 3 tiered, red trophy on the table. I kept telling her I did not think that was for her. Sure enough, her group got the small blue trophy. She pouted about it at first and for a while until Gamma, MeMe and I all gushed about how pretty, sparkly, and blue her trophy was.

This cheered her up a little and she chimed in: "Plus, it matches Gamma's pajama pants!"

Which made us laugh because my mom, of course, was not wearing pajama pants, but cool summer pants...

(I think it's hilarious that you can see Sadie's finger pointing at the pants in the corner.)

Still laughing about it... Though we finally had to tell Sadie it was rude to keep repeating once she knew Gamma's pants were not pajamas...

Back to normal and finally proud of her trophy, though small and blue...

And ready to share it with cousin Bess! (At least for a few moments.)

Enjoy the videos! They are short and sweet.

A Dance:

A cheer:

Summer Long

2011-09-01T18:53:00.006-05:00

Okay, I am way behind... Slowly, but surely, I will catch you up on all that we did this summer.

Let's start with summer camps in, oh, June...

As mentioned in a previous post, we signed up Sadie for summer performing arts camp at UALR again. She loved it yet again, though I made a crucial error by signing her up for Voice instead of Muscial Theater Dance. Big mistake. Huge! And if I had only read my blog post from last year, I would have chosen differently. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Sadie had four classes each day of one week in this order: Photography, Voice, Discovery Band, and Sculpture. On parents' day, we could come to the first two classes or the last two, and since she spoke not a word about Voice (yet again) I went to the latter two. (Her photos from Photography were quite interesting. What you could actually make out, that is....).

Discovery Band was her favorite this year because, again, I failed as a parent and forgot the Theater class.

Each student practiced on every instrument. All instruments, except the drums, were color coded. So, instead of hearing "noise" when the band director asked them to play, you at least heard chords that, um, meshed instead of...conflicted. He would yell, "Everyone start on green!" They would play a few notes then "Switch to red. RED." etc.... And it went surprisingly well - it sounded a bit like music! I hope to have a video at the end of this post.

Sadie tried guitar...

And wanted to do drums (but never got the chance since there was always a line. So, of course, I just had her pose).

But she was ALL about the keyboard!

They have a keyboarding class that I think she will be eligible for next summer. If her infatuation continues, I will sign her up for that one.

Then came Sculpture.

She worked hard on her last sculpture of the week.

I have already proven myself to be a bad parent, so I will go ahead and admit it:

I wasn't overly impressed.

Yeah, I said it. But she (and the teacher) will defend it all day long since, after all, it was an abstract...

Note to self: Sign up for Keyboarding and Theater next year. SKIP Voice AND Sculpture...

I'll leave you with a video of "The Band." It's over a minute long. You really only need to listen to, say, 10 seconds. Well, one key change. I was kind and picked the one where the teacher, not the students, played the drums. This was perhaps the last, ahem, "song" for the day (and it was, like, number 7 or 8) so he had lost the attention span of many students, but, you'll get the gist.

Enjoy!

Flower Power

2011-07-16T16:48:00.007-05:00

Yesterday was Sadie's 6th birthday party. It took a while for her to settle on a "theme" but she chose "flowers" and I truly enjoyed planning it for her! We had it at home (first time since her 2nd birthday party) and it was a small affair, but all went well. I am proud of my few Martha moments (Stewart), if I do say so myself...

Here she is beckoning you to come in through the front door, covered with floral decals. She would greet guests by saying, "Welcome to my flower party!"

The flower pin wheel Gamma bought at Target helped make our house, and the party, easy to find:

Here is the party room! I quickly learned that you can go overboard with such a simple theme, so I had to refrain from buying anything and everything floral every time I was out shopping... Thank you, Stacey, for the idea to hang the streamers this way (your birthday blog for Suzannah). I had initially planned simply to line the walls... This was so much better and Sadie loved it!

We had flower crafts for the girls. They each decorated their own flower pot (floral letter stickers to spell their name and flower "gems") then made tissue flowers to fill their pots. I think the moms and grandmas got into the tissue flower making a bit more than the kiddos, as is evident by this photo... But the girls had fun, too!

Each girl got a flower headband to wear (or a Statue of Liberty crown or, as Sadie called them, "baby bonnets"). They were supposed to wear them all during the craft-making, which did not happen, but they were kind enough to humor me and put them on so I could take a photo of them with their completed pots! Each pot was also filled with a pink shovel, daisy and sunflower seeds, a flower pen, and flower pencils! (And their tissue bouquet, of course).

After pizza (because you know I did not cook a lunch...), it was time for cake! (Photo taken before the party started):

I got the cutest idea off the internet. I wanted each cupcake to look like a flower, but in the end, I had to choose something a little less complicated (and thus, less stressful)... I am very pleased with how it turned out!

Singing to the birthday girl! (Where to place the candles on the "cake" was about the only stress factor of the day).

Making her wish!

When it was time to open her presents, Sadie was in fine form. I tried to capture it for you... You can tell the other girls were in awe of her antics...

She got some wonderful gifts, but was most excited about the cold hard cash. Here she is saying "Cha-chang, cha-chang" from that song Price Tag (just tune to Radio Disney for 15 minutes. I promise you will hear it). I told her she needed to listen to that song a little more closely since it clearly states, "It's not about the money, money..."

I think fun was had by all! Here is a final photo of the birthday girl (again, in fine form) and all her birthday guests!

Happy 6th birthday, yet again, Miss Sadie Jane!

A Birthday Girl Tribute

2011-07-13T09:48:00.007-05:00

Six years ago today, at 2:16 in the afternoon, God blessed us with our one and only child, Little Miss Sadie Jane.

Our lives were forever changed!

We have been fortunate enough to watch Sadie grow...

and grow...

and grow (including her hair)!

We are so proud of our SIX YEAR OLD

(even though it makes us feel old)!

Sadie, you are truly one of a kind. It is hard to remember what our lives were like before you were born. It feels like it all began when you entered our world.

Mommy and Daddy love you so much and cannot wait to watch you grow even more in the upcoming years!

xoxo

Horsing Around...

2011-07-12T20:57:00.008-05:00

We continued our tradition of visiting the State Parks of Arkansas on Saturday, though we only did a day trip this time: to DeGray Lake Resort. We never knew such an oasis of sorts was less than an hour away from our house!

Our main goal was to accomplish one thing: horseback riding. When we told Sadie, she asked, "Are the horses going to be hooked up to poles?" as her only experience has been with pony rides at petting zoos and circuses... Brad had never ridden before, but did not seem to be too worried. I rode when I was younger but have been pretty terrified of trying again ever since, as horses are such tall and powerful creatures!!! But alas, Brad was determined to help me get over my fear.

Here's Sadie getting buckled up for the ride:

Sadie wanted to act like she was scared! (I am not sure if I was acting or not...):

Brad and Sadie made nice with the tallest and largest horse, Bud.:

Sadie loved him and wanted to take him home!

Whew! Thankfully, we were assigned to ride Joe. He was not as intimidating in size or stature. And he looked older. And wiser. And slower. And calmer. Hooray!

Brad got to ride Fourkay. Or 4K. No clue how they spelled it. I love how this photo turned out. Doesn't he look like a true cowboy?

Our horses were at the back of the guided tour. The trails were nicely shaded but a bit narrow. Sadie and I had to watch our feet all the time, so as not to get them crushed by trees as we passed by. The one time we did not pay attention, we got a little crushed, but were fine overall.

The tour lasted just under an hour, with several stops for horses to pee and poop which Sadie thought was hilarious and disgusting and had to announce it loudly whenever it happened. Our horse seemed to be like our dog, Tex - drop it, then step your hind foot in it! Yuck.

We loved it (all of us) and all want to ride again!!!

Sadie was sad to say goodbye to Joe and Four-K...

We were ready for lunch after our tour and ate at the restaurant in the lodge. It had a great view of the lake! It inspired Sadie to choose a bench near our table and do a little meditating...

After lunch, we headed for a short walk on one of the trails. We had changed out of our boots into flip flops, so we did not go far. But it was so peaceful, it was hard for me to turn around. Brad, however, was quite ready when he swore he saw a rat. I said it was a squirrel. He dared me to go find out, so I did.

I was right. (Sadie was grateful).

After our "hike", we sat on the rock wall and admired the lake. We decided not to swim in the lake (boo!), but next time we will bring our suits and look into renting a canoe or kayaks, perhaps. We hated to cut it short, but, without the respite of the cool water, we easily called it a day.

I think Sadie was ready to head home anyway...

Don't Forget...

2011-07-11T12:38:00.006-05:00

Some people tie a ribbon around their finger to remind themselves of something. That never worked for me because then all I would get out of it is that I was supposed to remember...something. I personally prefer the Reminders function on my Yahoo calendar that emails reminders to me (with all pertinent information attached).

Sadie's 6th birthday is Wednesday (which I could never forget) and I suppose she wanted to be sure that Brad and I would remember because she left us a few reminders in our bedroom last night.

(I waited until this morning to take the video so I could clean up a little...):

I think we get it, Sadie. Thank you!

The Last Supper

2011-07-10T15:24:00.003-05:00

While eating dinner at a restaurant last night, Sadie grabbed a package of crackers and exclaimed, "Let's be baptized!" I reminded her that getting baptized is what happens in the water. Communion is what she was thinking of, after someone is baptized. She set up the crackers and told us each to sip from our own straws for the drinking part, and I asked her to explain to us what it all meant.

Here is Sadie's explanation:

(holding a saltine cracker) Jesus said, 'This is my body. Eat it to remember me.' (holding her milk cup with a straw) Pretend this is grape juice. Jesus said, 'This is the blood that will run down my face when I die. Drink it to remember me.'

A bit graphic, but, we got the gist.

* * *

The other morning, Sadie hit her elbow on the bed post while she was getting dressed. She started crying and I asked her if she hit her funny bone. She looked at me and stated matter-of-factly, "This isn't my silly arm."

Swim, Swam, Swum

2011-06-26T18:47:00.003-05:00

Cannonball!!!

Sadie just finished two weeks of swimming lessons at our neighborhood pool. She could already "swim" (head down, arms to the side, kick) so they worked on breathing techniques and freestyle.

Here is a video of her freestyle from her last lesson:

Her last lesson was on Friday. The day before, we had gone swimming with friends and Sadie and her buddy, Elise, decided to jump off the high dive each for the first time! Sadie did it twice (I was in the water by the nearest wall and she would swim to me). On Friday, before her lesson, she showed Brad how she could do it since he was not with us on Thursday. She did it without me in the water (I did not a swimsuit on)! Then she had to show off for her swim instructor, Stephanie, after her lesson.

She is fearless!

Teacher Appreciation

2011-06-26T18:42:00.003-05:00

We shared the news with Sadie at dinner the other night that she would be going to a different school in the fall. We thought she would be really upset, but the announcement and reaction was a bit anticlimactic (a good thing in this case) as she simply said, "Okay" and went about her business.

(For those who do not know, I have accepted a teaching position at Central Arkansas Christian. I will teach middle school Spanish, grades 5-8, starting this fall! Sadie will attend there.)

Although, this week, she has acted like she already does not remember what her kindergarten teacher looked like... Not sure what that is all about. But, in honor of her love for Mrs. Broyles, I thought I would post photos of her end-of-the-year gift to her: an album filled with photos I had taken throughout the year with a personal note from Sadie (I wanted to keep it because it was so cute. Especially the way she made the "v" on love look like a heart!!!).

Hopefully she will feel the same about her teacher next year! We have enjoyed our two years at Otter Creek Elementary and will miss the short walk to school! Thank you for your, ahem, patience, with my child.

Signs, Signs

2011-06-26T16:00:00.005-05:00

Sadie was writing and drawing in church today, and this was one of the things she made during the sermon:

It is hilarious (albeit rather embarrassing) to leave it at that, but for Sadie's sake (and for preacher Leon's sake) I shall explain:

I really had to use the bathroom, and since Sadie and I were alone in our pew, I told her in advance that I was going to get up to use the bathroom and asked her to sit still and be good and I would be right back. When I didn't leave right away, she asked when I was going to go. I said, "When the sermon is over."

I guess she was concerned for my bladder (or perhaps she just wanted to get rid of me) because that is when she decided to make the sign...

Tuesdays (and Wednesdays) with Sadie

2011-06-22T09:38:00.006-05:00

Thanks to the advice of friends, Sadie is taking a crash course in learning how to ride her bike without pedals. She was refusing to try without the training wheels, so I was told also to remove the pedals and lower the seat so the can "ride" it, using only her feet to learn balance.

Yesterday was our first attempt and was more successful than I anticipated. I made a big deal by celebrating every time she would lift her feet long enough to actually go anywhere...

After two two trips down our driveway and around the cul de sac, Sadie declared, "My bottom is crankin'! ... That means it hurts."

Thus ended our riding lesson for the day.

***

Sadie is going to college again this week just like last summer (UALR's Community School of the Arts Summer Camp). We were having a rough morning getting ready today and were kind of, ahem, short with each other a bit.

Anyway, amidst the chaos, here is a conversation we had...

Sadie: Why don't I get to eat lunch at college?
Me: Because your camp is only a half day. You finish at lunch time and come home for lunch.
Sadie: I wish I could eat lunch there.
Me: Well, when you are really old enough to go to college, you will live there. You'll share a room with another girl and get to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner there.
Sadie: Really?
Me: Yep.
Sadie: But, I don't want to live there. I always want to live with you and Daddy.
Me: Trust me, when you are eighteen, you will be excited about living somewhere else.
Sadie: No I won't. I love Daddy. And I love you. (pause pause pause) Even when you're stinky.

Farewell Kindergarten, Hello Summer!

2011-06-21T13:52:00.010-05:00

Well, another school year has come to an end, though it seemed to take forever. We had to make up some snow days, so Sadie's last day of school was June 9th!

Here are some highlights from the spring of her kindergarten year:

The class went on their second field trip (their first trip was to the pumpkin patch). This time, they walked to the new public library branch which is just outside our neighborhood's gates. It doesn't sound like much, but they were excited!

They took a quick tour of the library and learned all about fiction and non-fiction books and where to find them. Then Miss Amanda read a few books to them and told a few stories to them. They were mesmerized. She did a great job.

Here is her class posing outside!

After the library, they walked back toward the school, but stopped at the park for a picnic and some play time. I think they had fun...

Sadie had a music program/diploma ceremony in late May. We did not know they were going to give out their "diplomas" - I think if they had advertised that, more students and parents would have attended the evening performance. The flyer they sent out just made it sound "optional." Needless to say, it was a bit anticlimactic... Only eleven of her twenty classmates were present.

Sadie was eager to show us her Eric Carle poster board on display. (Her one and only "at home" school project this year... I love how she curly q'ed her first name in the bottom left corner! She is such a girly girl...).

She will miss Mrs. Broyles!!!

With Jude and Khali, her "best friend in the whole wide universe" (on that day, anyway).

Avery and Sadie, looking at another camera...

Sadie and ...Kiara, per her diploma. I had not met her before that night. She was not in Sadie's class, but she was another best buddy that evening...

The kindergarten music program was too cute! They sang five or six songs, complete with music. Some of these photos are from the morning performance and some are from the evening performance (to explain Sadie's shirt change from navy blue to green).

I planned to post two videos here. One was my favorite song of the program, but I keep getting an error. Perhaps I'll get it to post another time. Check back soon!

Finally, there was an Awards Ceremony to mark the end of the school year. Sadie received a "year round" Citizenship Award.

Sadie and her principal, Mrs. Hall.

Sadie, I am so proud of you finishing your kindergarten year with flying colors! It always amazes me to see how much you have grown... We love you!!!!

On the Go!

2011-05-31T15:45:00.005-05:00

We will always remember Saturday, May 21, 2011, and not because the world did NOT come to an end, as some wackos predicted, but because it was the day of our annual Dino Dash Race and Otter Creek Dance Recital!

First up: The race.

This year was our fourth Dino Dash. Proceeds benefit the Museum of Discovery in Downtown Little Rock. You can check out photos and stories from our past Dino Dash Races here: 2008 / 2009 / 2010.

This year, my Dad ran the Dino Dash 5K with me. I did not train at all, yet again (I am horrible about that) and seriously doubted I would run the entire way, but Dad is such the motivator and such an inspiration! We finished, without walking, in 32 minutes and Dad placed 2nd in his age group! I wanna be just like him when I grow up.

Here we are, approaching the Finish Line. Brad is always good about getting photos of us!

The AFTER photo, because we have yet to learn our lesson and take a photo BEFORE (plus everyone else arrived after we started the race).

After our 5K, it was Sadie's turn to run her fourth 1K race. She and Brad were ready to go!

My sister and all her clan were also participating in the 1K race for the first time. I think they plan to make it an annual event for them, too! Here they are PRIOR to the race (because that is just how considerate I am)...

Sadie and her cousin, Bess, were excited to run and looked too cute in their t-shirts!

Here is a photo of Bess in action! I almost missed her!

Brad and Sadie, about to finish:

My 1K runners! (MeMe, Brad's mom did the 1K, too! This was her first, and we are so proud of her! Perhaps she will make it an annual event, too???)

***

After a little R & R, I had to get Sadie ready for her 3rd Dance Recital (click the year to see photos from prior recitals: 2009 / 2010). I think I did a little better this year with her makeup, but I kept thinking I was in a Toddlers and Tiaras episode... She just looked way too grown up for my taste, but the stage makeup is a must if you want to be able to see her on the stage!

The recital this year was Alice in Wonderland. Sadie played a rose.

Here is a photo from her dress rehearsal, sans makeup. See the difference?

After the show, Sadie was showered with flowers. We are so proud of her hard work!

Meme and Pappy (Brad's parents) with our little ballerina:

Sadie with her jazz teacher, Miss Candace:

And, finally, Sadie with "Alice" (Mysti Kirkpatrick) and her ballet teacher, Miss Lisa.

Even if she decides she really does not want to do ballet again, it has been a fun and exciting three years of recitals! I can see her improvement as the years go by, and am so very proud of her! (I think I might have said that already...)

Smart Mouth

2011-05-30T10:17:00.003-05:00

Preface: Sadie has been regressing to her infancy, I'm afraid: She puts anything and everything in her mouth.

***

Last night, I was lying in the bed with Sadie in hopes she would fall asleep soon. I could tell she was sucking on something...

Me: Sadie, take your fingers out of your mouth, please.
Sadie: It's not my fingers. It's my hair.
Me: Well then, take your hair out of your mouth, please.
Sadie: (sighing) Okay.
Me: You should have nothing in your mouth. Nothing except your tongue and teeth.
Sadie: (pausing slightly) But what about my gums?

Here She Goes Again...

2011-05-20T19:43:00.003-05:00

This morning, Sadie informed me that she does not like her bathroom (which we recently remodeled). I admit there is nothing in there to indicate it is a child's bathroom, so I can understand what she means. We have owl decals that were supposed to go on the walls once it was completed, but they have yet to appear. So, after she said she wanted it to look different, this was our conversation:

Me: Well, Sadie, remember that this is also our guest bathroom. That is why it looks like it does.

Sadie: But they can use the bathroom downstairs!

Me: But the one downstairs doesn't have a shower or a tub! Where would they take a shower or a bath?

Sadie: (without missing a beat) In the dishwasher.

* * *

In the car tonight on our way home from her forever long dress rehearsal for her ballet recital tomorrow, Sadie declared that she no longer likes ballet.

Me: Why don't you like ballet anymore?

Sadie: Because you have to work hard!

Me: Well, of course! You have to work hard at anything you want to do well.

Sadie: (again, without hesitation) Sleeping! I don't have to work hard at sleeping... And loving! I don't have to work hard at loving someone.

Let the Children Pray

2011-05-05T21:31:00.003-05:00

Tonight, before saying her prayers, I reminded Sadie of a few things to pray for, including the families whose homes were ruined due to the recent flooding and tornadoes.

Oh, how I wish I recorded this (and I vow to record some in the future!), but here was part of her prayer (as verbatim as possible):

...And, Lord, please be with the families who lost their cars and their houses because of the tornadoes. And please stop the tornadoes from coming again, Lord. Although, you make the tornadoes. You are the Lord. I am not the Lord. It's your decision. It's not my decision. It's your decision...

Then, inspired from the Easter story, I guess:

Thank you for dying on the cross so our souls could go to Heaven or something like that. I mean you died, but then you didn't. Whatever. You know what I mean. Whatever happened. Thank you...

A Howling Good Time

2011-04-22T15:55:00.019-05:00

Last week, we decided to take a delayed mini-spring break vacation, which is so unlike us, since we were not able to do anything together as a family during Sadie's Spring Break. We chose The Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX, an indoor/outdoor park resort, as our destination, based on friends' recommendations.

We surprised Sadie with a Poingo reading system for the trip. It was only a five hour road trip, though, which was chump change in comparison to our Disney World trip last summer...

We had reserved a Kid Cabin room - one where they have a separate area for Sadie. We knew it would have bunk beds and a TV, but it also had an additional day bed (so could sleep 3), a desk, and a Playstation (or its equivalent). She LOVED it and slept in all three beds. She started on the top bunk, but then Brad and I woke to every noise she made on the first night, afraid she would fall, so we ended that. She "hung out" in the top bunk when we were in our room but slept in one of the bottom beds... Here's a really bad picture of her reading on the floor in her "cabin."

We checked in on Sunday, around 2:30 pm, immediately changed into our suits, and headed to the water park. To our surprise, the outdoor park was open - on weekends only, this early in the season, so we were able to enjoy the outdoor portion for an hour or so on Sunday. It was cooler outside than in, so we actually preferred the inside park! They keep it a balmy but comfortable 80-something degrees. They had so much to do: a wave pool; basketball hoops in the pool; a lily pad obstacle course to walk over (Sadie never fully completed it without falling off and crying. I made it across once, but nearly did the splits. Brad hopped across like a frog, after falling a few times trying to do it upright.); water slides (with or without rafts); etc... They also had a huge bucket that would dump water every five minutes or so. Brad captured it dumping on Sadie and me (front and center):

That is the only photo we got that involved water since we were too scared of damaging or losing our iPhones. Our favorite was the water slide that we all could ride together on one raft. It took your photo and everything. We rode it, oh, ten times or so in all, even though it required climbing 103 steps each time (yes, I counted). We timed our trip well - there were no crowds at all. We could ride a ride, climb the stairs, and be first or second in line to ride again. Nice.

They had plenty of other stuff to do inside the lodge resort. At 8:00 each night, the lodge comes to life with a show and storytime. These characters sing some catchy, annoying, educational, redundant songs, which became an inside joke with us that still remains: If you get caught singing it, you get punched in the arm ("Don't be afraid in the forest! There's nothing to be scared of here..."). Sadie loved it, of course.

Personally, I thought some of the characters were a bit creepy:

After the show, someone comes out and reads a bedtime story (come in your pajamas!), then a Wolf Lodge character does a Meet and Greet where you can get your photo taken. The first night, it was Violet! Sadie was so excited, so we lined up with the other parents and took photos.

The second night, it was Violet again. And the third night, it was... Violet! We took photos again on night number two, but then decided not to bother on night number three. But then Sadie was first in line, and I had Brad run up to take a photo since we did not want her to be the only kid in line whose parents did not take a photo (what horrible parents)! So we have lots of photos with Sadie and Violet.

We bought Sadie a "Paw Pass" which allowed her to enjoy several activities/amenities at a discounted price ($60 with the Pass, $98 without):

MagiQuest: She was able to participate in a game called MagiQuest. She picked out a wand and a game user name ("Princess Wizard") and headed off on her quests (twenty-five in all). I did not think it would interest her much (or me, for that matter) but she (and I) really got into it. It is basically designed to give you exercise as you search for items throughout the 8 floor lodge, but it was a ton of fun.

You check in with the wizard at the tree who gives you instructions at the beginning and end of each quest. I told Sadie we were supposed to bow to him after we accepted each quest, and she kept it up, all 25 times!!!

Here she is on our first night, searching for and activating the various crystals. (Wave your wand at things and they light up, like Magic! So cool.) You can see her Paw Pass around her neck.

Build-a-Bear type animal and one outfit: With the Paw Pass, you get to stuff and dress one animal, like Build-a-Bear. Sadie immediately chose the obnoxiously pink poodle, of course, and named her Beauty. I told her that made her "The Beast."

Small glitter tattoo: Sadie was anxious to get hers every time we passed the tattoo stand, but we convinced her that waiting until our last night would be best, after we had done all the water park activities we were going to do. She sat patiently as the tattoo artist did his work.

Here is the finished product! (A fairy with wings and a diamond). Sadie chose the color scheme.

Showing it off while posing for a photo!

Ice Cream from the Bear Paw sweets shop: With the Paw Pass, she was supposed to get one scoop in a cup, but the girl who served us was generous and served it to her on a cone. The scoop was huge and she covered it with sprinkles!

Sadie also got to choose a t-shirt or a pillow case to color at the Cub Club. She chose a t-shirt. When we saw how elaborate the picture was, we offered to assist her (so we wouldn't be there for hours). She appreciated our help!

So much so, she just went ahead and let us finish it up...

Here is the final product!

We also got a 4x6 souvenir photo. We could choose one from the water slide (but it always got the back of Sadie's head and the back of my head) or one from inside the resort. We chose the latter, but I didn't scan it to show here. Sorry.

Right down the street was the Grapevine Mills Mall (yay!) so we made a few trips to it in the afternoons/evenings. When we first pulled up, Sadie thought we were at Disney World because the directional signs look very similar. We were sorry to disappoint!

We ate dinner one night at The Rainforest Cafe. Sadie hated it. She was scared, no, terrified, the entire time. We tried and tried to get a photo of her near the animals, but she wouldn't, so this is my "souvenir" photo from the restaurant, sans Sadie:

We also ended up eating one night at the restaurant in the Lodge. We had not planned to, but there was a hail storm and tornado sirens, so we decided not to risk driving anywhere. Fifty dollars later, we left with full stomachs and empty pockets... But Sadie got wolf ears with her $8.00 kid's meal (which did not include a drink) and she loved them, so we decided it was worth it. Plus, she just had to howl when she put them on...

What a fun mini-vacation! We loved it and needed the departure from reality. We had an awesome time, and departing was such sweet sorrow.

True Colors

2011-04-02T15:59:00.004-05:00

Today while Brad was washing the car (after Sadie quit "helping"), Sadie entertained me with songs she would write on the spot. It was only after her sixth song, aptly titled "Green," that it occurred to me to record her.

I am sorry you missed out on "Green" but the videos below of "Red" and "Blue" will give you a good idea of what you missed. The final line to "Green" was "Turquoise is kinda like green, but not at all." I personally think she has a future as a songwriter for Flight of the Conchords...

Please, enjoy her songs below (each is about a minute long, and worth every second of your time, in my opinion. You can thank me later.). If you look closely, her new signature dance move is in "Red." She also went all American Idol-like on "Blue," using the steps as props.

Red:

Blue:

You're welcome.

Give Me the Heart of a Servant

2011-03-08T20:11:00.003-06:00

Tonight, Sadie and I were reading her bedtime Bible story and devotional from her Sweet Dreams Princess book (thank you, Heather). The lesson was about Rebekah and how she shared, fetched, and served water to God's servant and his camels. I was reading (and paraphrasing a little since it talked about little brothers and sisters) and Sadie was commenting. This is what was said:

Me: (reading) You can be helpful like Rebekah, too. It might be hard to find a camel that needs water, but perhaps your dog or cat or hamster might like some...

Sadie: (pointing to Tex, our dog) Like Tex! I give food to Tex and feed him!!!

Me: Right! (reading) You could help your mom with the dishes...

Sadie: I put my dishes in the sink!

Me: ...or you can let your friend have a turn first at a favorite game...

Sadie: I can do that!

Me: (reading) You can share your candy with your friends.

Sadie: Um, no.

Granted, she later explained that the reason you cannot share candy with your friends is because you are not allowed to bring candy to school.

Portrait of a Dance

2011-02-23T20:08:00.004-06:00

Sadie drew a picture of the Daddy Daughter Dance in school today (the dance was Friday the 18th). I was so impressed, I had to share it with you!!!

Of course, I am the mom, but, seriously, just look at all the details: the "Daddy Daughter Dance" banner hanging at the top with the daddy and daughter holding hands; the DJ with his headphones; Sadie's red polka dot dress; the cake with the trophy on top and the red and yellow runner; the red carpet; the Wall of Fame stars; the spotlights...

I guess it was memorable after all. Warm fuzzies.

All in a Day's (Home)Work

2011-02-23T11:34:00.004-06:00

Part of Sadie's homework yesterday was to "brainstorm and illustrate four words that begin with ch." She immediately drew a church. Next, she drew a person with big teeth to illustrate chew. Then she got stumped.

I tried to help with more nouns:

Me: Can you think of any animals that begin with ch-? How about a chick or a chicken?
Sadie: I can't draw a chicken.
Me: What about a chimpanzee?
Sadie: How would you draw that?
Me: Like a monkey.
Sadie: I don't think I can do that. (thinking hard and long) I got it! "Choose!"
Me: But how would you draw that?
Sadie: Watch and learn, Mommy.

She proceeded to draw a picture of herself, added a book in her hand, then added a bookcase with several books on its shelves.

Sadie: See? Like when you go to the library and you choose which book you want to read!
Me: Awesome job! You need one more..

After some discards ("Cha-cha," "chain"...) She came up with checkers and drew a large square then nine squares inside (3x3) then colored them in a pattern. Underneath, she wrote Ored. I asked what that was: "A red checker!" So the 'O' was not the letter 'O' but a checker and she was labeling it "red". She drew another checker and labeled it "black".

I am sure there were four simpler words to illustrate, but leave it to my kid to be unique and a bit complicated! [One time the assignment was the letter "L" and she chose load as one of her words. She drew a computer with a cord going to it "to show it is loading!"]

Dancing with the Stars

2011-02-19T11:24:00.005-06:00

Last night was the Daddy Daughter Dance at Sadie's school. She was so excited!!!! She went last year while in Pre-K, and I signed up as PTA Chair of the dance this year so I could go and see her excitement first-hand (since mommies are not allowed!).

Overall, it was a success!!! It was HOT (so hot and humid for a February day and we could not turn on the A/C at the school, so just imagine...).

The theme this year was "Dancing with the Stars." Our PTA rocks. They told me, "Tell us your dream vision and we will try to make it happen!!!" Everyone pitched in and added ideas and made it a wonderful success. And, yes, I made spreadsheets...

The entrance looked like this:

Daddies and daughters got to walk the red carpet. This was a hit!!!

I made them walk it twice, to be sure I got a decent photo...

The cake was delicious!!! Each girl gets one of those star trophies (with a label on it with dance info) to keep at home. Though we underestimated how many would buy tickets at the door, so we have to order more and deliver them later.

You can see part of the "Wall of Fame" behind it. Each girl who bought an advanced ticket got their name written in a star (one of my crew member's brilliant ideas!)

The place was PACKED. And HOT. I think I mentioned that already... The DJ was awesome and got the crowd going with "The Cupid Shuffle" and some other line dances. He played all the right music. I somehow missed the screams when he announced he was about to play Justin Bieber... But Sadie told me all about it!!!!

She loved dancing with her daddy.

At first.

Then she ditched him to dance with her girlfriends!

She and her pal, Avery, were thick as thieves. (She informed me that, at one point, they locked themselves in a bathroom stall "just to talk." I cannot even begin to imagine when she gets to go to a dance where boys will be present!!!). Ugh.

So the daddies were left to fend for themselves... (Brad with Jared, Avery's dad).

What a fun night!

Snowflakes Keep Falling on my Head

2011-01-10T13:29:00.004-06:00

Hooray! Our first snowfall of the winter season has arrived! It started falling yesterday afternoon and did not stop until late last night. I think we got about five inches. We were excited to have a "snow day" today! All of us got to stay home and play in the snow!

Except Tex. But we left the front door open for him so he could watch!

Brad and Sadie tried a little sledding on a nearly non-existent slope, using a boogie board.

It worked. Kind of.

Sadie and I had a snowball fight. She is so dramatic!

But we preferred to eat the snow.

Then she got Brad to get her some icicles down and she ate them like popsicles and used them to "put on lipstick" so I called them, "Lipcicles." She chose to do this instead of snowball fight with the neighborhood kids. It was kids against grown ups (um, just Brad and me). I am not sure who won.

All of this lasted, oh, about an hour and a half, when were ready to go back inside and hunker down in the warmth. How boring are we??? (But in our defense, the snow was a little too powdery to make a snowman this time around).

It's Christmas All Over Again

2011-01-07T12:12:00.013-06:00

In case you would like a recap of our Christmas activities...

Have you heard of the movie, Four Christmases? Well, we celebrated three Christmases, and I knew this could become an extremely lengthy post so I decided to capture it with photos instead and kind of narrate as I go along...

Sadie wrote her letter to Santa and was able to give it to him in person. She only asked for three things: a Barbie, a camera, and a pogo stick. Remember this letter, as it will come up again later...

Part of our pre-Christmas, holiday preparations included our first ever gingerbread house! I wanted to make this an annual tradition, but after this first one, well, I am not sure we will do it again... We made them at my sister's house - a house for Sadie and a house for Gus and Bess (though Gus wisely bowed out midway through).

But he showed up again for the photos of the final products!

They opened up an outdoor skating rink in downtown Little Rock at the River Market Pavilion. We took Sadie ice skating for her first time! This was only Brad's second time, so they both hugged the wall for a bit...

Until I agreed to help Sadie skate... We got pretty good at it, skating together, until she wanted to "skate fancy" and would lift a leg and flail and what not... My arms were sore for 2 days!

Our first Christmas was celebrated in Marked Tree with Brad's side of the family just before Christmas. Tex even had his own Christmas portrait made!

And Sadie loved loved loved her new laptop computer (VTech toy) from MeMe and Pappy. I think she felt it made her so "grown up." She would strap on that messenger bag with the computer in it for anything and everything - even if she was just going down the hall...

We came home on Christmas Eve to get ready for Santa and Christmas number two. Sadie and I made my friend's shortbread cookies (with scratch ingredients, mind you... I had to cut the recipe in "just less than half" because I did not want to get out in the Christmas Eve driving mess, so I was really nervous they would not come out!)

But they did! And they were delicious. (You just have to pretend the hot pink is actually red...)

Christmas morning was exciting! Brad is always the first to wake up and I have to hold him down in the bed to keep him from going to wake up Sadie. HA. She finally woke up around 8:00 and was anxious to see if Santa brought her what she wanted!

He did. And then some. Here she is will all her loot after opening her presents.

Santa's presents (wedding Barbie doll set, pogo stick, and digital camera) were unwrapped, and as soon as she saw the pogo stick, she asked, "What's that???" Hmm. We think she did not know what she was asking for when she wrote that... We were so glad Santa ran around ragged to find one for her!!! She has yet to get on it and give it a try...

But, after all her gifts were open, we asked her what was her favorite?

The answer:

GUM! From her stocking. Oy vay.

Brad's mom and dad, grandmother, and aunt Shirley came to our house for Christmas dinner (The traditional standby: burgers on the grill, baked sweet potato fries, and bean soup.)

We were glad to have them with us! Here is a photo of Sadie with Brad's mom (MeMe, in red) and his aunt Shirley:

Christmas #3 was in Texas and was extra special because my sister, Lisa, and my brother-in-law, Bret, came in from Germany! It was the first Christmas ever, I think, that ALL of us, spouses and all, were together. (Correct me if I'm wrong). We were worried they wouldn't make it here because of all the storms - in Germany and in New York, but they managed to make it fine! They flew out of New York on Wed, the 29th, the first day flights were departing again. Whew!

We got there before my other sister and her family, so Sadie got to have Lisa and Bret to herself for a while. She made the most of it:

Once everyone got there, the fun was on! We spent some time on Mom and Dad's back porch, singing the traditional ode to Packsaddle Mountain which always brings a few laughs.

The kids loved seeing Lisa! They bombarded her every chance they got!

We opened presents together (we older kids draw names and buy for each other, then we got a gift for my parents and gifts for the kids).

Sadie got a creepy opossum stuffed animal from Gamma. Seriously. What marketing group decided that a stuffed opossum was a good idea? Gamma admitted "It was on clearance." I wonder why??? But Sadie loved it.

Bret loved the personalized bat we got him - a genuine Louisville Slugger with his signature engraved on it! He is a baseball star, if you recall... But we did not think it through about how he would get it back to Germany with him...

Here are the little kids opening their stockings:

And here are the big kids opening theirs! (We all took note that Lisa's was a bit larger in comparison to mine and Karalyn's...)

We scheduled family portraits to be made, which required a lot of planning and coordinating (on my part, anyway, which just proved my OCD and made me a "mark" for a few hours). We had Mom take our photo while we waited for our turn...

Mom's Christmas dinner was amazing, as always! Even if it did come from the freezer...

We big kids rang in the new year with a dinner night out at Rosie's (Willie Nelson's favorite restaurant) then playing yet another round of games (Beyond Balderdash, Bananagrams, Pictionary, and Farkle all made appearances throughout the visit). It was a pretty tame night, actually...

We also had an early birthday celebration for Gus. Sadie and Bess helped make the cupcakes and iced their own personal ones. I am glad that I got this snapshot, as Sadie was a little more interested in eating the icing than using it on the cupcake!

We gave Gus an AC/DC paper jam guitar. I think he liked it. What do you think?

Overall, all three of our Christmases were a resounding success! We enjoyed the quality time with our families and are looking forward to our new year ahead!

Just Humor Amy...

2011-01-07T12:07:00.006-06:00

I will post some Christmas stuff here soon, but I wanted to tell you about my new blog:

I have a new blog which will contain non-family related stuff. Just some thoughts "Off the Top of My Head" and what not. Feel free to follow it at http://justhumoramy.blogspot.com.

Amy

And They Never Had a Fight!

2010-12-19T13:19:00.003-06:00

Okay, so that is not quite true, but I remember when Z100 would announce anniversaries on the radio, they would always say, "[#] years together, and they never had a fight!" So, today, they would announce: Brad and Amy: 12 years together, and they never had a fight!

Don't we look young??? Oh my. We look so young. And Brad had so much hair on his head! And I had so much hair on my... eyebrows! Ah, memories...

Brad and I joke that we cannot remember our marriage before Sadie (and she seems to believe that she was with us all along, from the very beginning)... And, oftentimes, it feels that way, but we have been blessed with twelve, yes, twelve, blissful years together. And we pray that we will have many, many more to come!

Thank you, Lord, for giving me a loving husband and a best friend all rolled into one!

Happy Anniversary, Brad! I love you!

The Year in Review (Our 2010 Newsletter)

2010-12-13T07:00:00.013-06:00

We hope our First Annual Williams Family Online Newsletter finds everyone in good health and in good spirits! (Click on italicized, color-coded links throughout this newsletter to read in more detail about the keywords.)

2010 was "The Year of Sadie" for us (Isn't every year, though??? Since 2005, at least...). She turned five in July (but thinks she is fifteen) and celebrated her birthday at River City Gymnastics again. She has been very active this year with her ballet/dance lessons, gymnastics, theater classes (in college!), and her new favorite: karate. She packs a punch and is quite the little karate starlet! She graduated from preschool in the spring and started kindergarten in the fall. She simply adores her teacher, Mrs. Broyles, and loves learning to read! We have been so proud of her and have enjoyed watching her grow up!

We had some new additions to our family this year (but also some losses). Sadie got a new pet. Well, five new pets (fish), but only one remains (losses one through four): Samuel. And, just like poor Tex (our loyal, beloved dog), Samuel probably feels a bit neglected. We have considered getting Samuel a new mate, but we are not sure Sadie will be able to handle more fish deaths!!! In November, we said "goodbye" to our 2003 Saturn Vue (a bittersweet loss number five) and "hello" to a new 2010 Toyota Venza! It was an unexpected, yet welcome, addition. We also added a new roof (thanks to hail damage) and a new guest bathroom (thanks to the 80s).

Our travels this year were limited but memorable (after all, it is quality, not quantity that counts, right?). Defying all logic, we made a second summer trip to Disney World. (There are too many posts on this... But they start here. Just check August and September posts if you want to see photos or read more.) Sadie is already asking when we will go again, and the only clear answer we have at this point: "Not during the summer!" On the way back, we stopped in Georgia to visit Amy's childhood best friends, Cathy and Jenny, and had a wonderful relaxing visit with them after the Disney madness. We visited Brad's family in Marked Tree on several occasions. Sadie and Amy made a few trips to Texas to visit Amy's parents (and Sadie attempted fishing for the first time with dramatically dreadful results, "catching zero"). Amy drove to Louisville in the spring for a girls' trip with her dear friend, Amy. And last month, we continued our quest to conquer Arkansas' State Parks on a weekend trip to Petit Jean. We did not make it to Germany to visit Amy's sister and brother-in-law, Lisa and Bret, but, hopefully, you will read about that trip on here next year?! (Wink, wink; Hint, hint, Brad...)

Brad has been unusually busy with his music this year. The Salty Dogs (the country band where he writes all the lyrics and music) released their third album, Brand New Reason, and celebrated with a CD Release Party in January. You can download the album (or the one prior called "Autoharpoon") off iTunes or send us a check and we will send you a CD. He has played several shows with them, including a huge Razorback Pep Rally at the RiverMarket Amphitheater downtown. His other band, Big Silver, has demonstrated an afterlife with some recent shows in Little Rock, Hot Springs, and Springfield, Missouri. Brad was personally requested to perform at the Governor's Mansion (requested by Oxford American Magazine, not by the governor) in a tribute to legendary Arkansan musicians. He sang for Morgan Freeman (yes, THAT Morgan Freeman) at the Oxford American Awards Gala. While there, he also rubbed elbows with Mary Steenburgen and Joey Lauren Adams, and hung out with American Idol, Kris Allen. Despite all this resounding success, he has not quit his day job.

Amy spent 2010 searching for a new hobby to enjoy. (And yes, in true "newsletter fashion", she will continue to refer to herself in the third person). She tried sewing (Project One / Project Last), bass playing (she even bought an electric bass for her birthday!), book writing, running (again), and boot camp exercise (again)... But, in typical "Amy fashion," stuck with none of them. *Sigh.* Perhaps she should focus on mastering cooking and cleaning instead! But she has kept busy with her part-time work, her monthly sushi dinners with The Amys (and has added a second monthly sushi group which includes sis, Karalyn!!!), volunteer work, and with Sadie, of course. Against her better judgment, she also signed on as PTA secretary and has a busy calendar because of it, but is excited to take an active role at Sadie's school!

We look forward to celebrating the holidays with Brad's family and, for the first time in many, many years, with Amy's entire immediate family! The theme for our attire for the obligatory professional family portrait is still being debated (feel free to weigh in)...

That sums up our year! Check back periodically for more photos and updates. We hope 2010 has been filled with blessings for you and your family. We pray God will bless you even more in the upcoming year!

O Tannenbaum

2010-12-08T11:35:00.005-06:00

(Blog post title is the German version, in honor of Bret and Lisa!)

I hate to admit that it has taken me a while to get into the Holiday Spirit. But, the weather has finally turned winter-cold and I no longer cringe at Christmas music on the radio, so count me in!

To celebrate said spirit, we took our first trip to Motley's Tree Farm here in Little Rock. My sister and her family have made it a tradition for the past several years, and we decided to join them this year.

Sadie was in awe of all the Christmas trees!

Now, I was hesitant to actually BUY a Christmas tree, though. The whole idea of actually cutting it down... I am the one who buys live trees AFTER they have been cut "so they didn't die in vain." (And last year was our first in many many years to buy a live tree).

I explained my dilemma to my sister who frankly stated, and I paraphrase, "That's like saying you have a problem with eating corn. These trees are planted and grown to be Christmas Trees." She made a good argument, though corn does not directly affect the air I breathe, but it was the farm's sign that finally convinced me it would be okay to cut one down:

And, so, the search began!!! Gamma was even here to share in the experience and grant us her expertise.

Sadie was not impressed with my first suggestion:

We picked three that we really liked then headed back to the "main house" area to wait for Brad (who was going to come as soon as he got off work). They had a petting zoo and Sadie immediately gravitated to the animals. And guess what she officially wants for Christmas???

Sorry, Sadie. I have the feeling Santa will not be able to deliver on this Christmas wish...

Daddy arrived and we let him look around, then showed him our "Top Three." It was a quick decision after that! (Good ole Brad - an excellent decision maker! What would I do without him? I just don't know. I mean, really. I don't.).

We have a winner!

Brad cut it down...

And carried it off.

(We later learned that they will drive you, hay ride style, to your tree to transport it, and you, back to the loading area. Oops! Oh well. Brad needed the exercise anyway...).

Then they shook it, netted it, and strapped it to the car! Now that is service!

Afterward, we relaxed with a free cup of hot chocolate and Sadie and her cousins headed out on a speedy Cow Train Ride, engineered by Mr. Motley himself.

What fun! I guess we now have a new Christmas Tree tradition!!! After all, I would much rather support our local tree farm than the chain grocery store (or a chain discount store) where we got our tree last year!

There She Was Just-a Walkin' Down the Street...

2010-12-07T20:00:00.003-06:00

Sadie was in the Little Rock Downtown Christmas Parade!!! Her ATA Karate group had a "float" and the kids walked behind it. She had so much fun waving to everyone and was excited to see us, Gus and Bess, and Kay-Kay and Kevin on the sidelines! We thought she was having a ball, but then, when we met up with her at the end, one instructor told us she just kept asking when it would be over. HA!!!!

Au Naturel

2010-12-02T19:00:00.001-06:00

No, I am not trying to be dirty with the title. If you look up the phrase online, one definition is "to be in a natural state." So, I was trying to be witty...

Last November, we made our first overnight trip to one of Arkansas' many beautiful state parks, Mt. Magazine. We continued the tradition this November by visiting Petit Jean. We made it just in time to catch the fall foliage and to experience Mather Lodge and its restaurant before it closed for renovations (December 1st - May 2012!).

We got there early on Saturday, too early to check in, so we headed straight for one of the trails: The Bear Cave Trail. They had a guided tour with a park interpreter, which we make a point to do so we can know what we are actually seeing.

It was a short and easy hike (1/4 mile, I believe) and very beautiful. You can tell this photo is at the beginning since Sadie's smile is so big...

On this trail, you get to walk into "The Eye of the Needle." Okay, so maybe the guided tours are overrated since I cannot remember anything about it except its name... Either that or I am just not a good retainer of facts! (I think it is the latter since this trip was a few weekends ago, after all.)

But here is Brad inside the "eye." What a neat natural rock formation! It was pretty cool... We'll call this my "artsy-fartsy" shot of the day:

Someone else on the tour was kind enough to take a photo of us!

We got to explore the caves. Sadie was excited, once she learned there would be no bears around. Our guide lent her his flashlight so she could get a good look inside. Brad calls this the "Scooby Doo" shot of the day. I was thinking more along the lines of Nancy Drew...

After all the cave exploring, Sadie and I needed a little rest! (Sadie chose our pose).

I DO remember that these caves/rock formation is called "Skull Rock." When our guide told us that, Sadie immediately said, "Like on Peter Pan!" It took a while to convince her to climb up and let us get her photo...

After our hike, we headed over to the lodge to eat lunch and to go on yet another hike (it was still too early to check in to our cabin). The lodge overlooks the bluffs and just has a gorgeous view!!! Here are Brad and Sadie at the entrance:

Sadie wanted to go swimming, but those dreams were shot down...

Cedar Falls Trail: It was marked "moderate to strenuous" and my sister warned me that they had to bribe Bess with Smarties on the way back up, but we were determined to give it a go since we could not see the famous Cedar Falls waterfall from the lookout earlier. (It is one of the highest continuously flowing water falls in the state at 95-feet). So we could not skip this trail. Even though it was 2 miles round trip. And we had a five year old with us. And the trail to the falls is all downhill (which means, of course, the way back is all uphill!!!).

Here are Brad and Sadie on the bridge. It crosses Cedar Creek. It was just so gorgeous. We broke into song on our way back - Brad and I singing harmonies to "How Great Thou Art," and Sadie, well, Sadie was beat-boxing in the background...

Sadie showed how strong she was by holding up a rock "like Samson." After the photo, she swore she moved it a little bit...

Like father, like daughter (Brad on the Bear Cave Trail earlier):

So what we learned, the hard way, was: you need to have a whole lot of rainfall for this waterfall to be as breathtaking as it is advertised and photographed to be... Because, when we finally got there, this is what we saw:

You may need to click on the photo the see the trickle of water... Here is a closeup:

(Now go search Google Images for Cedar Falls Waterfall, Arkansas, and see what it is supposed to look like. Go ahead. I'll wait for ya). Now you may understand why Sadie was so disappointed:

But it was so peaceful down there in the canyon and still quite beautiful. We took a few photos. Sadie took the one of the two of us. The waterfall, I promise, is in the background of each photo...:

The trip back up was the "strenuous" part... But we did it! And Sadie made it without complaining (too much)! Note that her sweatshirt is off. We noticed that those who were headed down were bundled up and those who were headed back were stripping off their layers...

We ate dinner "in town" (Morrilton) and had been looking forward to relaxing in our cabin and rewarding our hard work with the Arkansas-Mississippi State game but the cabin TVs did not carry ESPN so we watched in the lodge lobby (Sadie quietly and happily watched a movie on her Mix Max after we colored together for a while). If you recall, that game went into double overtime... We did not last that long in the lobby. We headed back to our cabin during halftime and Brad uploaded updated scores on his iPhone. Sorry, Brad!

Finally, we relaxed. All cabins have fireplaces, and a toasty fire was the perfect way to end the evening.

Sadie was tuckered out.

In the morning, we ate an amazing breakfast at the Lodge Restaurant and hope that won't change with the renovations... We think they are going to make the lodge and restaurant more grand, like the one at Mt. Magazine, but we thought the food at Mt. Magazine paled in comparison to the food at Petit Jean. So, please don't change your restaurant food, Mather Lodge!!!

We reluctantly said goodbye to our cabin and headed home...

On our way out, we stopped by another overlook, my sister's recommendation: The Gravesite Overlook. It was absolutely breathtaking... But you can't tell from this photo. We call this Sadie's "cheerleader senior class photo" (though, Lord, I pray that she will not want to be a cheerleader! No offense to your cheerleaders out there, but I was cheer coach for one year at a high school - not by choice - and, well, I just do not want it for Sadie!!!).

Okay, here you go. You can see more in these photos. This was mid-morning before the fog fully cleared out, so I can only imagine how much more gorgeous the view would be once it was clear!

We look forward to future explorations of our Natural State's State Parks!!! Stay tuned...

Greetings from Petit Jean!

the po-po

2010-11-22T20:56:00.006-06:00

This note is long overdue... Luckily, we wrote it down...

A few weeks ago, we were on the highway. I was driving, Brad was in the passenger seat, and Sadie was in the back seat (of course). There was an incessant rattle in the back of the Saturn that was driving me crazy, so Brad decided to check to see if he could figure out what it was. He unbuckled his seat belt and, immediately:

Sadie: (nearly hysterical) Daddy!!! What are you doing? You are unbuckled! That is unsafe! The police officer will get you. Daddy!!! What are you doing???!!!

Brad: Sadie, it's okay. I just have to check something.

Sadie: (picking up her princess play phone and dialing) Police officer? Um, hi. My daddy's unbuckled while my mommy is driving. (pause, as if listening to the person on the other end) Okay. Over and out.

By the time she had finished her call, Brad was back in his seat, fully buckled, so Sadie picked up the phone again and:

Sadie: (talking into the phone) Police Officer? (pause) Never mind.

Orange you glad?

2010-11-17T16:00:00.018-06:00

Look at the photo below and tell me what you see:

I am interested in your answers. My answer: Five hundred and fifty (plus) dollars.

For those who do not know, Sadie is enrolled in Taekwondo classes through ATA Karate. She started in mid-August because I saw a sign: 3 classes for $20, plus free uniform. It sounded too good to be true.

It was.

Well, not really. I mean, it was true: There were no hidden costs and no strings attached. You just had to sit through a meeting during the third class while they pitched to you a "karate package." Brad and I discussed it at length prior: Treat it like those Time Share pitches: Be strong! Don't falter! Just say 'no'!

Hundreds of dollars later, here we are, exactly three months in on a six-month course.

All that aside, Sadie loves it. And is darn good at it. Her introductory classes (3 for $20) were in the Tiny Tigers program for kids ages 3-6. When we officially signed up (aka "paid a load of cash") they said she needed to be in the next group - ages 7 and up. But she had JUST turned five! "Trust me, she is ready." And she was.

The photo I asked you about is a rack with all the belts you can earn. You start at a white belt (very bottom) and work your way up. I believe they said Sadie will earn three belts during this six month period, but I don't really remember. Anyway, you pay $50 for each belt graduation ($60 if you pay on the day of graduation), so, that explains my answer above for you...

Her first or second introductory class with the Tiny Tigers.

Pre-white belt (you earn it at the end of your second class).

Learning how to use her Jhang Bang.

Sadie's first belt graduation (to orange) was on Thursday, November 11th. I missed it because I already had tickets to see Wicked for the same night and neither event could be moved. So, Brad got to witness her first belt graduation alone.

Testing for her orange belt.

Look at that face!

She passed!

We are so very proud of Sadie! Honestly, it was hard for me to know if she was truly learning the moves or solely copying the instructor, but when we went to Texas, I had her demonstrate a routine for Petepa and she perfromed with flying colors solely on my calling out the move (High block! Low block! Knife hand strike! Front kick! round kick! Jump kick! Punch! Cross!, etc...).

What I love most about the program - yes, it teaches karate moves and is good exercise, but it also teaches and encourages core values: discipline, honor, respect, responsibility, loyalty... Students also can earn stars to be placed on their uniforms if they display these values at home. Sadie has already earned a blue star for her discipline in class (awarded by her instructors) and a silver star for the special Kids with Character Award she received at school in October (for responsibility and dependability). You can see the stars on her patch. You would have thought she won the lottery...

They must call their instructors "Sir" and she is slowly allowing this to become habit at home: "Sadie, wake up. It's time to get up and get dressed." "Yes, Ma'am!" (Music to your ears instead of the usual whining and griping and moaning. Again, this is not habit yet, but to hear it at all, without prodding, is marvelous!).

So, yes, I experienced major "buyer's remorse" when we paid in full for the six month course (because you save money that way, of course!). I immediately thought, "What have I done??? She is five years old! She will not want to stick with this for six months!!!" However, if you ask her which she likes more: karate or ballet, she says, without hesitation, "karate."

Sadie, orange belt, with her instructors:

Master Smith (left) and Master Bastedo (right)

Miss Sadie Jane, I am so very proud of you and your karate accomplishments. Your hard work is paying off! Keep up the good work! (For a few more months, anyway...).

Out with the old...

2010-11-04T08:10:00.012-05:00

We finally fully remodeled Sadie's bathroom/our guest bathroom! I wish I could find the photos from when we first moved in... It had navy blue wallpaper with brightly colored flowers (yellow and pink?) in, what appeared to be, 3-D (they popped out at you! I guess that could be "in" now with as many 3-D movies that are coming out... But I digress). We instantly removed the wallpaper, painted the walls, and changed out the mirror and vanity lighting, but knew we would eventually want and need to do a complete makeover.

Well, that time finally came! We hired the same guys who did our den/hallway (results posted here) and our master bathroom, Precision Builders of Arkansas, and, once again, we were extremely pleased with the result.

Here are some before photos:

(Note the separating wall.)

Such a lovely vanity. Why would we ever want to see it go??? I wish I zoomed in on the lovely shell shaped basin...

Goodbye vinyl flooring with the navy flower motif that matched the wallpaper!

Gold-plated shower doors with flower and stripe decals. Lovely.

Popcorn/cottage cheese ceilings and an extremely dated light cover!

Aha! You can see the shell basin here...

Hello new bathroom!!!! We love it! It is exactly what we wanted. We chose "Aqua Ice" for the walls... These pics are still pretty "stripped" - no floor mats; no wall hangings, etc... But I had to go ahead and share the photos now!

We had the wall removed. Though I understand how it is nice to have the toilet and shower separated from the sink, this bathroom was just too tiny to pull that off! You would bang your elbows on the wall while sitting on the toilet! Not too comfy when you are trying to read...

We added 12" ceramic tile flooring, an exhaust fan (Yay! The hall smoke detector won't go off anymore after a hot shower!), scraped the cottage cheese off the ceiling and had it painted the same as the walls. Goodbye shower doors, hello curved shower rod. (Once you have been in a shower with one, you will feel claustrophobic in one with a straight rod and will never turn back). I love how the shower curtain pulls in the brown from the vanity and the modern feel - found it on major sale (of course) at Gordman's!

Hello new vanity (from Lowe's)! It looks like a piece of furniture, which I love, and is a dark espresso brown.

Here, you can get a sense of the wall color. It is NOT the same as what we painted in the den, though it looks similar here... It's more sea-glassy.

A good view of the new toilet (Water efficient with an elongated bowl! Our other one had a tiny round bowl and was ANCIENT, i.e. a water guzzler), the vanity, and the tiles.

Okay, so, now we need some guests to come stay the night so they can enjoy the new bathroom! It seems too nice just for Sadie! Come on over (with some major notice, of course)....

Trunk or Treat

2010-11-03T12:25:00.007-05:00

For Halloween this year, Sadie chose to be Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz! Correction, for Trunk or Treat this year, Sadie was Dorothy...

She decided not to dress up at all on Halloween night. She preferred to hand out candy at the house instead! It was pretty hilarious: She stood by the front door, stared out the side window, and reported everything: "There's nobody there! Where are all the customers? Nope. No one. Someone's coming! Someone's coming!" (And sometimes she cried wolf, just to get me out of my chair and to laugh, "Just joking!". I ended that very quickly).

She loved, loved, loved handing out candy, though, at times, it tended to drop on the floor instead of in treat bags... She was excited to see some of her classmates on the doorstep. I was concerned she would get scared by some of the costumes, but, when a scary one did come by, she would report to me, "I wasn't scared at all, Mommy!" At one point, I could tell she really needed to go to the bathroom (I'll refrain from stating just exactly how I knew) but when I asked her if she needed to go, she barked, "Not now! Not during Trick or Treat!" as if she would miss out on something if she left her post.

And, although we had, oh, five pumpkins this year (we bought two then ended up picking three during pumpkin patch trips), we carved not one pumpkin. I was extremely disappointed, but seemed to be the only one who cared... Oh well.

So, here are photos from Trunk or Treat at our church (Central Church of Christ) on Wednesday night, not Halloween night. Gamma (my mom) was in town and got to see all the grandchildren in person in their costumes! I think that was a first for her...

Gus as Jango Fett from Star Wars, Sadie as Dorothy, and Bess as Ladybug Girl

We had a full parking lot this year (people stand at their trunks with candy to give out and you go from trunk-to-trunk instead of from door-to-door. Some trunks were amazingly decorated!).

Sadie and friends as

Dorothy, Mulan, and Rapunzel

After "Trunk-or-treating," everyone headed inside for food and games. The entire event was open to the public, not just to church members, and we had an impressive turn out! We hope those who visited will also choose to visit with us during our church services!

Ring Toss game in one of our church classrooms

Here we go a-pumpkin picking...

2010-10-28T15:32:00.008-05:00

Last Friday (the 22nd), Sadie and her classmates went on their first Field Trip! They went to Schaefer's Pumpkin Patch in Mayflower. And, although Sadie had just gone there the Sunday before with our church group, she had a grand ole time!

She was so excited to ride the school bus. Since we walk to school, she has never been on a school bus, so it was a really big deal to her!

At the pumpkin patch, they ate lunch, played on the playground, and rode on a hayride.

There was some "scary" stuff hanging on the fence and in the trees during the hay ride... The kids were anxious in anticipation...

And, boy, did they get scared!!!!

I took a video of them screaming (every two seconds) but the screams are so shrill, I do not want to bust anyone's computer speakers, so I will spare you the video...

Each student got to pick out a pumpkin from the patch!

I am glad I was able to go with her on her first field trip! (Her preschool trips were both cancelled due to bad weather). It was so much fun and I am so glad Sadie loves her kindergarten class, teacher, and friends. She is growing up WAY too quickly!

Sadie Williams, Author

2010-10-20T14:10:00.005-05:00

Sadie is loving kindergarten and always wants to "play school" at home (you would think she would want a break!).

She was busy working away in the den the other night, and when she was finished, she brought me this:

She had made and written a book! She glued the pages together and everything! I was so impressed and proud... I had to share it with you:

Cover Page: Our family: "Mommy, Daddy, Sadie, Tex." I love how she drew Brad's hair and goatee! So accurate for all of us, actually (in my humble opinion) - my eyes somehow even look Asian!

Page 1: "I like the mon." [moon]

Page 2: "I love Daddy and Mommy." (And she explained to me that the blue circle is our fish bowl. She said she did not draw Samuel, her fish, because she did not know how to draw a fish...).

Page 3: "I love Meme, Pappy, Mamay." [Mamaw]

Page 4: "I love Tex."

Page 5: "I love home."

Anyone know a good book agent?