Conversations with Sadie...

On a daily basis I think, "I should write this down!" So here are a few questions/conversations with Sadie that I took the time to record:

• "Mom, when you spin and spin really fast and then stop spinning, the house takes you for a ride. But you have to be careful because sometimes the ride makes you fall down."
• (2nd morning of school) "Mom, please call Mrs. Chervaney and tell her that I don't feel like coming today."
• "When will I be a mommy and have a baby in my tummy?"
• "Mom--what's a date?" (It's when two people spend time together doing something fun.) "Oh you mean without any CRAZY kids to make you be frustrated?"
• "Daddy, you just teached me to say a bad thing. It's not a good idea to say rude things." (He said Dang It while watching television.)
• "Mommy, you're not setting a good example because you keep interrupting me and not listening when I'm talking."
• "Mom, I guess we'll have to get a new sink when it runs out of water."
• "Mom, I'm not getting angry by myself--it's just that you're making me get angry."
• To Kinnick: "Wanna help me get my computer to facebook so I can look at my pictures from Maddie's party?"

1st Day of Pre-School

Sadie has now finished two weeks of pre-school. I must admit, I was pretty nervous dropping her off the first day. I thought there would be tears and "Mommy, please stay!" but she did amazing! She goes to "Little Bulldogs Pre-school" which is located in Streator High School. The child development classes help plan lessons and work with the students. There are 20 children in Sadie's class and three different periods of HS students with about the same number, so they get lots of one-on-one. We drop them off in the main office where they are greeted by HS students and walked down to their room.

We were able to go in a few weeks before school started to meet Mrs. Chervaney and see the classroom. Mrs. Chervaney also had an open house the week before school started, so Sadie was able to meet a few classmates. So far, she has left happily every morning to walk with the "big girls" and come running out every day with stories to tell me. She has been hesitant to play with the other kids (she kept telling me that she just watches them play), but on her 4th day she came running out and exclaimed "Mom, today was my first day of playing!" This cautious side is one that I would love to witness in person!

She goes to pre-school Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8--10:40. We are often rushing to get out the door by 7:45, but we've done pretty good so far! I've been enjoying these mornings to take long walks with Macey & Kinnick (we also went for a bike ride one day--Macey's first time in the bike trailer!) I also use the time to run errands with only two. Another thing I have enjoyed is having one-on-one time with Kinnick. I've always felt like I've gotten daily one-on-one with each of the girls, but it's harder with him. Macey usually naps for at least an hour so Kinnick and I have been doing lots of reading, playing with blocks, baking, etc.

I feel like I've done pretty good with this transition (for the most part). But at times, I do feel like it's much harder then I thought it would be. It's hard to realize that there are so many other children (and teachers) having an influence on Sadie. We've been making it a tradition to pray on the way to school every morning and I always ask Sadie if there is anything she is nervous about. We also talk about what kinds of things she can do to show Jesus love to her classmates. She's getting big, for sure... but I just love hearing the excitement in her voice as she talks about new adventures. I'm praying daily for wisdom and patience as we experience this new phase together!

I had picked up this book bag for Sadie when we were in TN over Christmas. We saved it for her and surprised her with it the morning of her first day. She was very excited! (She also picked this outfit out herself to wear for her first day. She has agreed that I get to fix her hair every day that she has school without arguing. She has also agreed that I get to approve her outfits... so far she has done VERY well with this! On the other days--anything goes!)

When we picked up her up after her first day, we all went to McDonalds for ice cream cones. I told her that we had another surprise when Daddy got home--that night we all went out for dinner at Burger King (BK is the only place in Streator that has a play land--so it's a special treat!) We enjoyed dinner together and hearing all about Sadie's first day.

These are two of the projects Sadie made this week. They did letter B and had a bumble bee day and a butterfly day. On the butterfly day, she was excited to tell me about they wrapped people up with a big blanket to make a cocoon.

Labor Day Weekend

Go Hawkeyes!

We spent Labor Day weekend with the Knopps--it was a great 3-day weekend! We got there Friday night and had dinner. We were able to enjoy some time visiting after we put the kids to bed. Saturday morning we had breakfast together then Marc and Andy left to golf and Lindsey and I took the kids to the Farmer's Market. Cedar Rapids has a HUGE farmer's market--we spent about 2 hours walking around and made a few purchases.

That afternoon we enjoyed the Hawkeye season opener... About half way through the game, we got a BIG surprise when Marc went to check on Sadie (she was supposed to be napping). He yelled for me to come upstairs--I made it into her room to see big hand fulls of hair everywhere! She found a pair of child scissors and decided to give herself a trim. After that, Lindsey and I walked her to a cost cutters to get it fixed (as best we could). Saturday night we enjoyed grilling out and played a game after we got the kids asleep.

Sunday morning we were up early to get ready and pack up for church. We traveled to Grinnell to go to church with Marc's grandpa & grandma DePauw. We also picked up his Grandma Gorsch on the way (our Pilot was loaded--I think it was the first time we had 8 people in it!) After church we went out to eat with his grandparents. It was a nice visit. On our way home we made a quick stop at the outlet mall. The kids didn't really get a nap, so there were ready for bed early and we enjoyed another game night and a movie!

Monday we decided to visit Bloomsbury Farm. Sadie kept calling it Blueberry Farm. We took the kids in a "haunted" barn, rode pedal go-carts, jumped on a "jumping pillow", fed goats, took a hay rack ride, rode a barrel train, and played in the corn box. We had great weather--it was a very fun day. Afterwards we had a late lunch at Red Robin and then loaded up to come home. As always, the weekend went too fast...

I bought the girls these matching hats at the farmer's market.


This is the before shot of Sadie's hair. She didn't cut much in the back, mostly just the sides. The left side was chopped much shorter then the right!

She did NOT want to get her hair cut, she was so sad and timid, it broke my heart. She cheesed up for me to take this picture. Once they got started she was fine, but it took some coaxing to get her in the chair. They basically blended it as much as they could and since we were there anyway, I had them take off a couple inches. This is NOT how I imagined her first hair cut.

This is the "after" shot. I think we will have to go over few months to keep blending it until it grows it out. (She thinks it is already back to normal--she keeps saying "Mom, aren't you glad my hair is long again?")

Macey has turned into such a good car rider! She now usually makes three hour trips with out a peep (or sometimes a little "talking"). This pic was on the way to church Sunday.

Here we are at Bloomsbury Farm...

We loved these pedal carts--they went pretty fast!

This was the "jumping pillow". We all had fun bouncing!

Sadie was so excited for the hay rack ride...

A Day at the Beach

I have been wanting to take the kids to the beach since Sadie was a toddler. I really wanted to go last summer, but we never made it. I'm so glad that we made the effort this summer--it was as perfect as I imagined it! We went to North Avenue Beach in Chicago. I can't wait to take my kids to the ocean one day, but for this point in our lives--this was perfect (I believe Marc's comment as we were leaving was "Could you imagine doing this every day for a week--that would NOT be a vacation!") Although it was an exhausting (and very sandy) experience, I wouldn't have changed a thing!

This is one of Macey's faces--she does it a lot! She had a great time--she ate her lunch in the stroller, but she wasn't too interested in taking a nap in the stroller like I wanted her to.

We packed a picnic lunch--the kids loved it. I'm pretty sure that they both ate a lot of sand!

The water felt chilly to me, but it didn't slow them down at all--Sadie was so excited to jump the waves and play in the water.

The kids also had a great time playing in the sand. Kinnick loved filling the bucket with sand and dumping it. Sadie was interested in building a sand castle and she loved watching what other people were building in the sand.

We had a great view of the skyline!

While we were waiting for Marc to get clean clothes out of the car, the kids had a wrestling match in the sand--it was so funny! They were both completely covered.

Movie Night

Now that Sadie is getting big enough to watch an entire movie (a shorter one at least!) Marc had the idea to do a family movie night. He took Sadie to the video store to rent a movie and he also took her to the theater to buy some movie theater popcorn to bring home! She was so excited. We set out bowls of all different types of candy (jr. mints, good & plenty, pb m&m's, sour straws, oreos) and let the kids pick what they wanted to feel their bowls. We all snuggled in our p.j.'s and watched the movie with our snacks (Kinnick only made it though about half...) It was so fun--I'm sure it will become a new tradition in our home.

Marc's Birthday

We had fun celebrating Marc's birthday this year--the kids and I made him an oreo icecream cake and the Shinkeys came over to help us celebrate. For his birthday this year, we purchased a Wii (Target had them on sale the week of his birthday--we took it as a sign!) We've been enjoying it and are looking forward to getting some more games! The weekend before his birthday, Marc's parents and sister came to visit. His mom brought him this yummy cheery chip baseball cake (just like the groom's cake from our wedding!) We enjoyed some time with them.

Swinging

Girlfriends!

I have been so fortunate to be able to continue investing in so many amazing friendships that I developed during my college days (and some before!) This summer I was able to spend time with several of my best friends. It's also been fun watching our children enjoy forming new friendships and looking forward to the next time they will get to see each other...

In late July we had a short visit with the Caseys. This trip was a stop before we went to my sister's to scrapbook. We arrived around lunch time, let the kids get naps in and then went to the pool for a couple hours. We ended our night with homemade pizza and bath time. It was very low key and Liz and I were able to enjoy some time visiting. They left the next morning for Wisconsin and we headed on to my sister's...
Hannah, Kinnick, and Sadie--Hannah & Kinnick were born 5 weeks apart, so it's fun to see their similarities.

Bath time... Funny story: Liz & Tim were supervising bath while I feed Macey and got her ready for bed. Liz was shampooing and then passing the kids off to Tim for diapers and p.j.'s. Tim got Kinnick's diaper out of the suitcase and put it on him. A few minutes later, he said "I think I put Macey's diaper on him... I was wondering if they were slim fit." (They look exactly the same!)

I love that Sadie is now big enough to take pictures when needed!

A few weeks later, we got together at my friend Sarah's. She lives about 30 minutes from me, so we've been trying to get together more frequently (but it's still hard.) Our friend Erin who now lives in S. Carolina was back in IL so the 4 of us (with our kids minus Sadie) had a play date. It was so good to have a little time to hang out--it's been too long!

The kids were all pretty close in age... it was fun and funny to watch! (Elle, Macey, Kinnick, Hannah, & Whit)

And us girls... Me, Erin, Sarah, & Liz

And finally... a few weekends ago, I got together with my LCC girlfriends. We try to do this once or twice a year. We decided to do a "no kids" get-together this time (although Macey & Titus were along for the ride). We started our day with some shopping (for the kids), had lunch at Chipotle's, went for pedicures, and ended with some dessert at Cold Stone. It was a perfect day! It was so good to catch up. We definitely need to do this again--maybe even an over-nighter eventually!

At the cosmo school for our pedicures...

Jennifer, Steph, Amy, Me, Abby, & Betty