Saturday, June 23, 2012

VBS Week

We have just wrapped up VBS at the Kirk this week.  This was SK's first year to be old enough to attend and she was so excited!   Other than the first day, she wore her "cool" new VBS shirt everyday, which momma didn't mind since it made for less laundry to tend to in getting ready to go out of town tomorrow.  Last night they had a wrap up picnic outside then we got to see all of the songs and such that they had been learning all week. 
I can't believe my baby is old enough to go to this...she is getting so big!  And, to watch her on the stage last night sing their main song that they learned was pretty fun too.  It is fun to watch each time she gets up to sing for something like Christmas or Easter or VBS and each time she gets it a little more.  She does more and more of the motions each time and knows the words better and better.  She was great this time singing right along and doing all of the motions.  I think she is cute :)  I am allowed to think that right??!!?!
(can you see her? I was a bad momma and didn't bring my camera last night when they sang....Thanks Coralie for letting me snag yours!)


It was a busy fun filled week for sure.  Michael finished up his summer class yesterday as well!  Can I get a "WOOHOO!!"  He is officially off from school from now until the end of August.  But don't let that fool ya, we are still gonna be busy.  Between work and travels, I am sure the time with fly by.  But we are going to enjoy having Daddy around some more. 
Since the week has been so busy, we are down to the wire now on packing for our trip.  We leave tomorrow and there is lots to do today.  Pack....clean...ect. ect.  And, Michael is gone already this morning helping someone from our church move for what I hear is going to be till later this afternoon.  I am refusing to stress though.  We will get it all done.  And we are leaving for vacation for 2 weeks tomorrow!!  How can I be stresed :) 
We are heading to the lake in IL this week then it's down to Alabama time! 
Not sure if there will be any time for computer stuff (like blogging or internet stuff)...we shall see.  I am looking forward to relaxing and hanging out as a family this week.  I have my knitting and smocking projects all ready and waiting for me. 
I am off to start the first load of laundry for the day.  Then it is time to conquer the packing! 

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Birthday Date with Daddy!

SK and her daddy have a tradition of going on a date each year on or close to her birthday.  This year was a special date since it happened to coincide with a Daddy/Daughter date night at CFA (SK's favorite place to eat!)  SK got all cute in a skirt and was so excited about taking Daddy to CFA.  They did it up at CFA with table cloths, fake candles and pretty flowers at the tables.  They even had toppings for the kiddos icecream, like m&m's!  After eating dinner, SK and Michael got to head outside and take a carriage ride with a horsey and Cinderella carriage!  She was so excited and the pictures turned out pretty cute too :)  (I told Daddy he must take a picture for me to see their fun night!)

I love seeing Sk and her daddy have fun together and how she loves him so much :)  Makes my heart melt! 

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Recap of our weekend with Nana and Papa

So after Friday's big birthday celebration we had more fun with Nana and Papa.  After the birthday party, SK requested dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory downtown, so that is exactly where we headed.  There was even a guy walking around making balloon animals/things for kiddos, so SK got to request a purple flower and she was so excited!  After eating up her "scetti" she got sung to by the whole restaurant and then devoured her vanilla icecream :)



Sat. morning we relaxed and took it easy after such a busy day before.  Then Sk decided she wanted to take Nana and Papa to see the Magic House then get some yogurt down in Kirkwood. 

Sat. night meant date night for Mommy and Daddy (which means date night for Sk with her Nana and Papa at Chick-fil-A!). 
The rest of the weekend we just enjoyed hanging out and being together.  SK took every chance she could to introduce Nana to everyone by saying, "This is my friend, Nana!"  It was pretty stinkin cute :)
Tickle games, movies, and cuddles were enjoyed too!  We were sad to see them leave Monday morning, but know that it's only a couple weeks till we get to Alabama and get to see everyone down there that we miss so much!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Sarah Kate's Princess Party

Lots of blogging to catch up on!  We have had a fun filled weekend for sure.  Sarah Kate's birthday was on Friday and it was a packed in fun day!  Nana and Papa got in town on Thursday night and helped get everything ready for the big girl's big day.  When SK got up Friday morning she followed some signs and balloons to the living room to find all of us waiting for her.  Nana and Papa had her present sitting on top of the table.  Of course, my girl is not necessarily a morning person so it took her a little bit to even realize she had walked past all of the balloons and see the new bike sitting on top of the table :)

We had a fun morning making cupcakes and decorating while Daddy was in class then had some lunch and got all dressed up for the princess party with her friends.



SK wanted a painting princess party and I found lots of fun ideas on pinterest to copy!  I found a fun blog that used a princess castle for decorating on the table and it just so happened that SK got the same castle from Mimi for her birthday!  It was a fun party to plan for sure.  We took the girls outside to paint the background of their canvasses then left them to dry in the sun while we had cupcakes.  Each girl had a fun milk glass (aka Starbucks frapaccino bottles!) with their names written on them with chalkboard contact paper. 



We finished up our canvasses with some princess crowns and Bible verses mod podged on them and danced and played with balloons for a bit too!  SK had a blast at her party and I loved how it turned out. 

One of the funniest things was when the princesses all sat at the table and picked out their cupcakes.  They each got a cupcake, then I asked if anyone wanted some of the veggies and dip I had too, not really thinking they would want those after already being offered the chocolate cupcake....low and behold they all wanted veggies :)  Then they all say quietly eating their veggies!  SK even asked for the top to be cut off of her cupcake since she didn't want the icing, just the cake part.  I was amazed :)

Speaking of the icing...I was excited to come up with a way to make pink icing without using food coloring.  I have really tried lately to be more aware of what we are eating and what ingredients are in our food.  So I really was hoping to be able to stick to that and not use food coloring, but still be able to give SK her pink cupcakes she requested.  So what did I use???  Beet juice.  Yep.  Don't get scared...it didn't taste funky at all.  In fact, you couldn't even taste it.  And it turned out a lovely shade of pink ;)
After the cupcakes we finished up our canvasses by putting on princess crowns and a Bible verse on them.  Then SK got to open her presents and dance and play with all of the balloons!
Overall it was such a fun party and I know Sk had a blast at it.  I had fun planning it too!
Sk was so cute when she openned up her presents from mommy and daddy too.  She had very specific requests and we tried to get some of them at least.  Her favorite she says is her new Dora goggles :)
She says that now she can swim and put her face under the water.  We will see about that...she hasn't had a chance to try them out in the water yet!
More blogs to come today later...We had a fun weekend with Nana and Papa including dinner out at the Old Spaghetti Factory as Sk requested! 

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Guess who's birthday is tomorrow!?!!?

Our little girl is turn 4 tomorrow!  I can hardly believe it!  We are looking forward to celebrating her day with Nana and Papa (driving up from Alabama today!) and her friends at her "Princess Painting" party tomorrow afternoon.  There will definitely be another post on the actual party, but for now I wanted to share these questions I asked SK and ideally will ask her at her future b'days and see how the answers change over time :)
So I asked the questions about mommy then changed and asked them about daddy.  So the pink answers are for mommy and the blue are for daddy.
1. What is something Mommy always says to you?
“I love you!”
“dont hang on the chairs!”
2. What makes Mommy happy?
That I am not sad.
Hugs!
3. What makes Mommy sad?
When I am sad.
When I don't give him hugs.
4. How does Mommy make you laugh?
By tickling me!
By tickling!
5. What was Mommy like as a child?
Me!
Me!
6. How old is Mommy?
7
7
7. How tall is Mommy?
This big (holding her arms out wide)
same
8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
Play with me!
Play with me!
9. What does Mommy do when you're not around?
Sew
Work.
10. If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
I don't know.
He wrote a Cinderella Book
11. What is Mommy really good at?
Sewing
Building all the things that are in our house.
12. What is Mommy not very good at?
Making a flower when we do art work.
I don't know.
13. What does Mommy do for her job?
To cut with scissors.
Look at his books and write on them.
14. What is Mommy's favorite food?
Piscetti :)
Hamburgers.
15. What makes you proud of Mommy?
For sewing all for me
By making lots of flowers and drawing lots of flowers with me.
16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
A princess.
A baseball player.
17. What do you and Mommy do together?
Play.
Go to the piscetti factory with daddy on a date.
18. How are you and Mommy the same?
We have matching hair.
We have the samest eyes.
19. How are you and Mommy different?
Our noses are different.
We have different clothes.
20. How do you know Mommy loves you?
Because she tells me she loves me to the moon and back.
By getting hugs from him.
21. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go?
To Disney World.
To Chic-il-A

I also asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up and she replied I am gonna be a Mommy like you!

She is so goofy these days and we love how fun spirited she is.  Other funny things I want to remember about her at this age:
*She says she can spell her "opposites of her name" which means the initials of her name.
*She loves, loves loves to read books.
*She is our little social butterfly.  When we go to the playground, if there aren't any friends there to play with she asks to go back home since there are no friends to play with.
*She is so excited about her baby sister.  She says since she will be four, she will get to hold her "all by myself!"
*She loves to do crafts including painting, coloring, glueing, cutting stuff...
*The girl loves her some movie time too.  If it was up to her she would watch movies all day every day.
*She is getting really good at her letters and writing them.  She pretty much knows the phonics too, which is really fun to see her learning so much!
*She is also very opinionated about everything.  What she eats, where we go, ect. ect.

We love our little girl so much and are enjoying her so much at this age!
More posts to come after this weekend!



Wednesday, June 6, 2012

23 weeks :)

I went to the doc yesterday for my checkup and got to see sweet Evelyn Joy again with an ultrasound.  I will be having an ultrasound from here on out for the remainder of the pregnancy just to check on growth.  I had IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) with SK and so this time around the doc is just going to keep a watch on growth for us to make sure everything is looking good.  I like ultrasounds so it works out pretty good :)
She was measuring right on yesterday, actually measuring more like 3-5 days ahead!  She was all scrunched up on a ball wth her foot on her head.  I must say she was really cute all folded up and all.  According to the ultrasound she is weighing in at about 1 lb. 5 oz.  I was so overjoyed to see how good she is doing and growing. 
So far looking at the pictures from the ultrasound, she looks like she is going to have a little button nose like her sister. 

The nurse had a bit of a hard time getting any good pictures since her foot was up by her face and her little fist was there there (and you could see her sticking 1 little finger up...it was cute :))
I should take a belly pic to share I know :)  Maybe this weekend we will get around to that...

Monday, June 4, 2012

Diving into Summer!

We are gearing up around here for a full summer.  We have enjoyed the last couple of weeks having Daddy around a little more while he was in between semesters....but the break is now over.  Over the break we enjoyed some swimming, picnics, playing, and plenty more (plus some good ole lazy days too).  Michael is now in class mode, and an intense class at that.  Sounds like he will have his work cut out for him on this one, but he likes that kind of stuff, right? :)
This class is a 3 weeker intense (did I already mention that?) then we are headed out of town for 2 whole weeks!  We will spend 1 week in Illinois with the family I nanny for watching their daughter while they sail (in a race) throughout the weekdays.  We are looking forward to staying at a fun lake and making it into a little bit of a vacation for ourselves too.  The family I nanny for said they might even be able to take us out one afternoon/night on their sailboat!
So we will be there for a week, then from there head straight down to Alabama for a week.  So very excited about this :)  I am ready to see some Alabama folks for sure.  And take care of some long awaited cravings.  hehe.  So far, I have discovered that we will be in town just in time for some good friends wedding at our church and we will get to see Act of Congress play at the Trussville 4th of July celebration!  So exciting!  We can't wait to see everyone and introduce Evelyn Joy (meaning my big ole belly) to her Alabama family and friends ;)
Oh, guess I haven't mentioned that our little girl is named now :)  Sarah Kate is so cute saying her "sissy's" name.  So, let me formally say our baby girl will be named Evelyn Joy.  We aren't 100% sure what she will actually go by yet.  We were like that when we named SK too.  We like Evelyn, Evie, Evie Joy.  We shall see what sticks, but we are excited to be calling her by name and be able to pray for her by name now.
Once we get back from Alabama, Michael will be getting ready to head on his trip to South Africa!  My dear sweet hubby will be gone out of the country for a grand total of 19 days!  19.  Not looking forward to being here without him, but so very excited for him to go.  He will be going with a church here in town to join with some MTW missionaries that are in Cape Town doing campus ministry at the University of Cape Town.  He also will get to make a little pit stop while flying through London to see some good friends of ours, Trace and Ginger who have been in Manchester, England for almost 2 years. 
After that we will have a few weeks till fall classes begin.
Whew.  Quite the summer right?  I am planning to try and get out to do some fun things while Michael is in class every morning. 
We are gearing up too for SK's 4th birthday too, which is next Friday!  I can't believe my baby is going to be 4.  When did she get so big???  She has requested a princess painting birthday party and I am trying to make that happen.  It will be very simple, but cute and fun for our seminary budget :)
Papa and Nana will be in town for it and she is super thrilled about that!
Off to fold some more laundry....hope everyone else is gearing up for a fun summer too!

Oh!  And I can leave you with a couple pictures.  I have been horrible about picture taking lately, but we did go with some friends last week to Shakespeare in the Park down at Forest Park (about 15 minutes from where we live).  It was craziness since we had 4 kiddos between all of us, but the kids did great and made it all the way till intermission (about 9:30 p.m.!) 

the kiddos (minus 1) reading up before the play started!