Half Way!

I'm officially 20 weeks tomorrow! WOW, it's gone fast so far. I'm getting nervous b/c I'm definitely bigger than I was with Kinnick at this point--does that mean that I'm going to keep getting bigger at each stage or just that I got this big faster? Hmmm.... and thank goodness the dress fit--if I try it on in another few weeks or so, I think it will be a different story!

Jessica & Jack's Wedding

We had a fabulous (and exhausting) weekend... It was so much fun to watch Sadie enjoy her day as a flower girl. It was also amazing to share my little sister's wedding day with her! Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Cousins--Jadyn, Jaren, & Sadie at the rehearsal

Jessica and I at the rehearsal dinner

Sadie & Mommy

We were cracking up at Kinnick during dinner! He just kept eating and eating. I love this picture w/ his foot propped on the table and his cheeks full!

The big day... Sadie is getting her hair done. She heard the bridesmaids talking about getting a bump in their hair and she said "Do I get a bump in my hair?" One of the girls told her she could have one and at first she thought it sounded like a good idea, then she said "Mommy, I don't want a bump in my hair."

She absolutely couldn't wait to put her dress on--she was SO excited! Here she is in Jessica's shoes.

Sadie & Grandpa

Sadie making pouty faces at herself in the mirror...

Kinnick was having a good time during pictures--he just crawled around and played!

This was getting close to wedding time--Jaren & Sadie were getting excited!

After the wedding, we went to a park to take outside pictures. Sadie fell asleep (for about 30 minutes) on the way. She did really well for only having this short nap and not going to sleep until 11!

Aunt Jessica & Sadie

Jadyn & Kinnick at the reception... I didn't get any pictures of the kids dancing, but Sadie had a blast! Her and Jaren ran around so much and she did so many twirls! Kinnick did a little crawling around and some dancing w/ mommy.

Sadie & Daddy

When we finally made it up to our hotel room, the kids were still pretty wound up. Sadie really wanted Kinnick to snuggle in bed w/ her, but he just kept crawling away and trying to grab her face. They were both giggling!

The next morning we had a brunch and watched Jessica & Jack open presents. Kinnick ate two enormous pancakes and he was so tired that he fell asleep with Aunt Kassie.

I have to apologize for my lack of pictures... I ended up with no pictures of Jack, my Mom, or Jordan. It was a bit hard to even keep track of my camera, let alone take all the pictures I wanted to... I'll have to get some more from other people!

Pudding Painting

A few weeks ago, my friend Stephanie and her daughter Mikenna came over and we let the kids paint with pudding. It was a riot!

Mixing up the pudding--chocolate & vanilla.

It was raining, so we set up in the garage on an old sheet. I had big sheets of butcher paper for the girls to "paint" on.

Kinnick was covered in less than 2 minutes. He thought it was great fun at first, but quickly got annoyed with the pudding all over him.

It didn't take long for the girls to get covered!

Both girls enjoyed giving Kinnick handfuls of pudding to eat--he didn't mind it!

The rain died down and the girls were excited to run around outside... They took the bowls with them and enjoyed throwing handfuls of pudding into the yard! (Good thing it was raining!)

Clean up time! This was great fun that I'm sure we will try again in the future... (Note to moms, don't wear white clothing!)

Sadie--2 1/2

Sadie is now 2 1/2... I can't believe how big she's getting! These are some things we LOVE about her right now:

• Her ability to communicate--she's always telling us stories and she loves to retell things that she thinks are funny (over and over). We enjoy talking about our days at dinner time. Sadie is always sure to include Kinnick in the conversation also, she usually tells us what he is "saying".
• How observant she is--she is always noticing little things. We are amazed sometimes about what she recalls. Today as we finished a hike, a woman drove by us holding a Starbucks drink. Sadie said "Look Mom! Are we going to Starbucks now?" Tonight when we got home, she was sitting on the couch with her dad watching the Bears game. She pointed out "Dad, they are not wearing blue. Why are they not wearing blue?" Marc explained to her that last week they were not playing at Soldier Field but this week they were.
• Her adventurous attitude toward everything--she loves to go and do all the time!
• Her growing independence--this is sometimes difficult b/c she thinks she can do everything by herself which is sometimes time-consuming and inconvenient. However, it's fun to watch her doing more and more by herself.
• Her love of people--she loves playing with her friends and her brother. She is (mostly) very kind and does a pretty good job of sharing. She adores her little brother and always works hard to take good care of him and entertain him.

Sadie plays hard--this is her third black eye in her less than 3 years of life...

"Just like Mom"--she loves to imitate things that Marc and I do!

Growing up... Some of her recent accomplishments include:

• Riding her tricycle by herself. Her legs are finally long enough to reach the peddles! We're still working on steering, that's a bit trickier.
• Counting to 20 and naming all of her shapes and colors.
• Spelling her name (she loves to get help writing her name!) She can usually recognize S, but we're still working on letters... slowly but surely!
• When Sadie comes to school w/ me she loves to sort objects by characteristics (she loves playing with my "junk jars"), lacing beads onto shoestrings, playing w/ play-doh and the magnadoodles, and playing on the computer (she is still trying to master the mouse!)

Finally, I just have to share a few Sadie sayings:

• One day she was playing with Wrigley and told me she was giving Wrigley a new name. She proceeded to chase him around the house yelling "Honey Sue Gorsch!"
• As we are getting ready to leave, "Come on mom! We have to go so we can get late!"
• When the dryer beeps from the basement "The basement's done!"
• When pulling up to a drive through, "Are we going through the driveway? We are not going inside?"
• The other day she asked me "Mom, why do we have to sleep a lot every night?" I answer, "So we can rest our minds and bodies to play, learn, and work." Laughing, "No mom, that's not why. It's so I won't be crabby!"