Samuel Turns Two

Samuel turned two and we had such a great time celebrating his birthday.  He is so precious and growing so quickly. Samuel pretends not to like me but I know he really does and I love him so much.  His birthday theme was Pirates and it was a lot of fun.

 

Ashley decorated a cookie cake that her mother-in-law made and did a wonderful job and it was delicious.  Ashley is so talented.

 

 The weather was perfect for family fun.  Abigail and Sarah had fun riding a rope swing that was hanging on a tree.

 

I could really see how much Abigail has grown up recently she was very mature at the party and was such a big help with the little kids.

 

Abigail and Paw Paw eating a yummy birthday lunch.

 

Sisters

 

Anna and Sarah don't always get along, they know how to push each other's buttons but they have had more time to work on their relationship while Abigail is in school.  They have learned to have more fun with one another and to share.  Sarah told me "Look Mom we are sharing germs."  Well I guess I can't complain they are learning to share.

Welcome Noah

The girls got a new cousin on September 8th and although it was another boy they were excited. We went to Wichita and the girls had fun waiting for Noah to be born and seeing him.  He is so sweet and very loved.

Noah's cousins waiting for him to be born by passing the time watching The Lorax.

 Noah came to visit last week and the girls looked forward to seeing Aunt Emily and Noah each time we saw them.  Abigail seemed so old when she held Noah and I think she felt like a little momma too. 

 

Anna LOVED Noah and was very intrested in holding him and giving him his passie.  She still walks into Grandma's house and looks for him.  She loves babies but I also think that she likes being the big girl and she is thinking of how she can boss him around soon.

First Day of School

Abigail started first grade on August 23rd.  I had quite a bit of anxiety over her starting a new year. I just wanted her to have a great teacher who made Abigail excited to go to school everyday. I should have listened to God because she has loved every minute of school so far.  She told us that she wanted to go to school everyday; even on Saturday and Sunday.  She told me that her teacher makes everything fun and that first grade was harder than kindergarten but they were going to have so much fun.  Thank you God!  I know Abigail is going to learn so much and grow and mature so fast this year.

My little girl is growing up soooo fast.

Gramma was able to see her classroom.

 

Sarah started Pre-K last week.  She seemed to have no inhibitions and is excited to be in the oldest class at her school. Sarah usually would rather stay home than do anything but I haven't had to convince her to go to school at all.  She too has a smile on her face when I pick her up and is excited to tell me about her day.  I expect Sarah to learn and grow a lot too this year.  She seems so much younger than Abigail did when Abigail was in Pre-K, but I think that is because Abigail was my oldest.  I know Sarah is going to have a great year.

 

Anna has been enjoying her time alone.  She usually just bosses me around and keeps me on my toes.

 

She has Grandma all to herself and wrapped around her little finger.

 

Tea Time with Gramma

Gramma came to visit in August and we had so much fun with her.  She came while Josh was in China so it helped the time to go by faster.  The girls wanted to have a tea party with the tea set they painted for her for Mother's Day.  They couldn't wait for tea party food so we had pizza.  I recovered the chairs that day so the girls played with the left over fabric all afternoon and wanted us to wear the fabric on our heads as party hats.  We love spending time with Gramma.

 

 

Anna is 15 months

Anna is 15 months old an is growing in leaps and bounds.  She is a little busy body.  She doesn't really play with toys but instead walks around and looks for something to get into.  When we are home she likes to make sure I am always near her but she seems to be doing better when I leave her with a sitter. She has begun to chatter a lot in the last week.  It is pretty funny because she uses a lot of hand gestures and facial expressions when she tells you something.  She is pretty determined which can create some drama now, but I know that she will grow up beautifully with that character trait so I try to embrace and direct it.

 Anna loves Cooper or "oop-er" as she calls him.  She tries to make him eat his food and follow her lead.  She gets very excited when she sees him in the morning or when we get home.  They have mutual respect for each other.

 Anna is pretty sweet with other babies.  Anna is kissing her cousin Matthew here.  She kept petting him and making sure he had his passie.  She doesn't always like it when I give my attention to a baby though.

 Anna is pretty adventurous climbing up anything she can but she freaks out when she sees a fly.  We have been trying to calm her fear by getting her involved in the fly swatting.

Here is one of the many faces of Anna that makes me laugh.  She can give pretty mean looks and has started to fake cry and pout.  (She has had good role models for that.)

Anna refuses to let me help her eat...so we now need a bath after every meal.  Tonight she even threw a fit when I didn't let her eat ice cream by herself.  I love her independence but wish it was a little cleaner.

Dusting off the old blog

I use to keep up with this blog so well and sadly it has gone to the bottom of the to do list.  I am going to commit to do better.  We started the summer off busy.  We had swim lessons followed by vacation bible school.  The girls loved both of them but they were worn out every night. Abigail can now swim and Sarah has become a lot more comfortable in the pool.  They both learned new songs and had lots of fun during VBS.   This weekend we went to Witchita to visit Emily and Brett.  The girls thought that they lived too far away but they had a lot of fun visiting and wanted to stay forever.  Abigail thought it was funny to say she was going downstairs to the basement because she had never seen one before.  They have grown up so much and it was fun listening to them giggle together. 

Abigail, Paw Paw, and Anna building a zoo.

Sarah dancing to the Fresh Beat Band.

Aunt Emily, Uncle Brett, and the girls.

Now summer seems to be flying by.  We have been swimming, playing with friends, and having lots of fun dressing up.