Chore Day

This was from about a month ago. .  I'm seriously behind with my updates!

 

I've been having the kids help me clean the house - they each have a couple chores to do each week.  Caleb has to make sure there are two rolls of toilet paper in each bathroom and Sarah has to clean the sink in the bathroom. 

 

After they were done with their normal chores, they both decided to help me finish cleaning . . . wasn't that nice?!?  They both did a great job & I was thankful for the help!

From the mouth of my kids. . .

As Caleb and I were patiently waiting for Sarah's dance class to end last night we were discussing what to do when we go home.  Caleb got so excited and said "I know Mom, we can watch the Cardinals!!!"  To which I sadly responded "The Cardinals lost, buddy.  We have to wait another 5 months to see them again."  Then he proceeded to tell the other Mom waiting that the Cardinals lost.

 

Now for Sarah's lovely comment. . . . I just finished fixing my hair in a new style (and for me this is quite a huge accomplishment).  I went into the kitchen to show Brandon and Sarah to see what they thought.  Brandon, such a smart man, said it looks great!  My beautiful, nice daughter, what did she say??  "It looks like you woke up with bed head and didn't want to do anything about it, so you put your hair in a pony tail."  And so it begins. .  .



This morning Caleb informed me that he kept his gum under his pillow all night so the tooth fairy would know where he put it!  (Sadly, I ran out of time to check to see if the gum was still in the wrapper or not. . . )

On the way into town this morning Caleb informed me that "Daddy is a good van driver and a good boat paddler."  Not sure what he was thinking, but he did mention them as we were driving past a lake. . . I wonder if he was worried I would drive off the road???

Sarah's Halloween Summary

Kids truly have a different view of the world!  Here is a paper Sarah created after Halloween.

 

It reads: "Mmmm! Yummy! I drew a picture of my candy bag with candy in it. Wow! That was delishous! I got a lot of candy! Raise your hand if you want to hlep me eat all of my candy P.S. My favrit candy is The snickers."

 

My favorite part of the picture. .  that she wanted to share her candy! 

Sarah's Time LIne

I'm not sure if they were talking about life issues in school or why exactly Sarah was thinking about the rest of her life, but this is what she came up with. . .

 

Here is her time line:

Age 3: Walking

Age 10: High School

Age 18: Car Riding

Age 30: Have a Baby

 

Sigh. . . oh how wonderful to have your whole life in front of you!!!

Sarah's 7th Birthday!

Sarah turned 7!  Yippie!  Well she turned 7 a couple months ago, but I'm reliving the past! 

 

The dress she is wearing was a gift from Grandma - it's all she asked for - a dress with horses on it!  Way to go Grandma, she loves the dress! 

 

Sarah has discovered how to search for images on Google,

so she designed her own birthday cake this year. 

I believe this was her third choice only because Brandon's store can't make a cake out of fondant icing!  But the cake looked great and Caleb was generous enough to let us use his farm animals for decorations! 

 

Sarah waiting on Brandon to say her special Birthday Prayer! 

 

Great Grandma Lill, Sarah & me

 

The BIG birthday gift from Brandon & me. .  a monkey bar addition to her swing set! 

 

But of course, that wasn't enough of an addition. . . so Brandon extended the swing area and added this other swing "thingy" . . not sure what it's really called, but you can swing & twist on it.  Sarah seemed to enjoy it! 

 

Even though it was a very hot day, the kids all enjoyed playing outside on the improved swing set. . well for about 30 minutes anyway - it was hot!

Caleb even got to enjoy the new monkey bars thanks to a little help from Uncle Jason!

 

Then Uncle Jason got to play too - I just wasn't fast enough with the camera!

 

After such a wonderful birthday party, we always need a follow up birthday party on our actual birthdate!  So we had a little leftover cake and a few more gifts to stretch out the excitement!  After all you only turn 7 once!

 

Happy Birthday, Sarah!  We love you!



Sarah's first day of school

It's finally here . .  Sarah's first day of SECOND grade!

Mrs. McFall is her teacher and she is very excited!

I even painted her nails purple with white polka dots!

 

What a difference this year is making for her - she is actually excited to go to school! 

Of course, we had to have chocolate chip pancakes to start off our first day right!

 

Our traditional first day of school picture with backpack:

 

She is so beautiful!

 

Brandon had to rush off to work before Sarah woke up, but he called as we were driving to school to wish her good luck on her first day!  What a Dad!

 

Her first day was only until 10:30, but it seemed much longer (for her & me)!

Here comes her bus!!

 

She even looks like a SECOND grader here!

I'm sure she's thinking "Mom, quit taking pictures . . . I'm just walking to the van."

 

This is the only picture I was "allowed" to take at the open house. . . a picture of her nicely organized desk!  See I have passed a few things to my children - unfortunately she keeps her desk more organized than her room, but I'm at least 1 for 2, right?

Sarah's New Dress

Ta Da . . .

I made this skirt for Sarah!

She loved it - perfect amount of twirl and ruffles for her taste!

 

I cannot wait to make another one!

Now that I have a serger (yippie) - it will take me far less time!

New Bike Helmets

The weather has finally cooled off enough for the kids to be able to play outside again!  Caleb got a new "big boy" bike with training wheels!  He loves it; he jumped on and started riding right away!

The kids love riding their bikes and scooters in the garage.

Look at Caleb go!

I bought the kids new bike helmets because we've started going on walks while the kids ride their bikes.  There isn't much traffic on our country road, but I feel so much better with the kids wearing their helmets!

The first night we bought the helmets the kids did everything with them on!

After bike riding, Caleb needed to move some rocks:

Then he needed to move more rocks with his dump truck:

Sarah was teaching Bella, our cat, to walk:

(not sure Bella enjoyed the experience)

Marley was jealous of all the attention Bella was getting, so here is a picture of him too!

Sarah's 3rd Dance Recital

Sarah participated in her 3rd dance recital on June 2, 2012.

She takes ballet and tap lessons and performs in one tap and one ballet song at the recital.

Her ballet dance was her favorite this year; I think because they dance to a Taylor Swift song, which is currently her favorite singer!

Daddy bought Sarah some flowers . . .

Sarah loved the tap costume.  I wasn't wild about the bow . . .

but she loved the gloves!

Sarah did a great job; she is always a little nervous right before going on stage, but once she is out there she really enjoys herself!  She does a great job with the routine!  We are so very proud of her!!!

Coach Pitch Softball

Sarah finished her third year of Khoury League and I think she really enjoyed it!

Our original coach got a new job and moved right at the beginning of the season, so Brandon & I volunteered to co-coach with two other Dads on the team.  The other two coaches were awesome!

This was my first experience coaching and I had a great time!

I am not sure if I will do it again next year, but if I get the opportunity to work with the same two Dads then I just might!!!

By the end of the season I even worked up the courage to pitch during a couple games!

I didn't even hit any of the players!

Daddy was the catcher for the entire season!

What a great Dad!

Our little team . . .

Bella, Katie, Bailey, Jackie, Ava, Marley, Delainey & Sarah!

Sarah's Softball

Sarah is now playing coach-pitch softball this year!  Brandon signed up to be an assistant coach; lucky him, he gets to catch at most of the games!!  Our coach got a new job and had to move after the first couple practices, so I became a coach along with another two fathers.  We have an all girl team with 8 players; they have really learned a lot this year!

Sarah's favorite part of softball is definitely hitting!

Caleb attends all Sarah's games and watches with Grandma & Grandpa Voss.  Although, I'm not sure how many or how much of the games he's actually watched.  I believe he spends most of the game at the playground with Grandpa!

MKL Kickoff

Another cold kick-off celebration, but it was fun!

Fredbird showed up and after waiting for the mob to die down a little, we got a quick family picture and he signed Sarah's hat!

Of course he didn't have a handy writing surface, but the top of my head seemed to work pretty well for him!

Did I mention it was cold?

It was a good thing Caleb got this awesome Cardinals outfit from Aunt Emily for his birthday!

Fredbird

Each year the Mascoutah Khoury League has a kick off day where we take team pictures, have a hot dog lunch and Fred Bird from the St Louis Cardinals comes to visit!  Caleb was so excited all morning and insisted on wearing his new Cardinal outfit from Aunt Emily!

However, once Fredbird appeared Caleb changed his mind, but that didn't stop Sarah from wanting him to autograph her team hat!  We very patiently waited for the autograph & got a quick picture of us with Fredbird! 

Fredbird thought it was so funny to use my head as a writing surface.

Caleb thought Fredbird was a little too close!

Sarah thought it was hilarious!

After all the excitement was over, pictures were taken and our bellies were full,

it was time for a nice long, cold walk back to the van!

It seems like the kick off weekend is always cold!

At least the sun was shinning this year and it wasn't raining - that made it a great day in my book!