Where is Elmo?

Hmmm ... what is that crazy Elmo up to this week???

School Friends

Okay Sarah.  I give up.  I know that you have fun at school and that you are making friends.  I will persevere and continue to take you even though you cry each morning when we leave you.  I am sure you are making new friends.  Do you really need to take all of your own friends with you to school??

Beanie Weanie was the only one lucky enough to actually go into school today.  All the rest got to come to work with mommy -- which reminds me, can I get in trouble for leaving them in the car?  Is someone going to report me to DSAPR (Department of Stuffed Animal-People Resources)??

Now I lay me down to sleep ...

Sarah and her daddy had a sweet prayer time the other night. As you can see, Sarah has all of her babies and friends in her bed. From left to right, we have Monkey, Beanie Weanie, Pinky, Elmo and Mae Mae. Hmmm ... you may be wondering ... will there be enough room for Sarah in bed??

Sarah climbs up into bed and gives each baby a kiss and tells them all night night.  She is such a sweet mommy to her babies.

Sarah and daddy lay down with the babies to help them fall asleep.  Success, right?  Sarah is laying down in bed!!!  Take note of a few key features in this picture: 
1.  Sarah is outside of the covers.
2.  I think her eyes are open.
3.  Read her mind and it says, "are you kidding me? i'm only laying down because mommy said it would be a sweet picture!  i am about to go move into mommy and daddy's bed to sleep and around midnight daddy will give up and move to the front bed and then mommy and i have the bed to ourselves!"

Yes, I am convinced that is what she was thinking! 

On a side note, notice her bed was not a crib anymore!!  We changed it into the "toddler bed" a few weekends ago.  New bedding and everything!  Do you like the bedding?  If so, you can buy it from me for $20.  It is totally unused because this picture was the only time her little body has laid down on it! 

We have now bought a full size mattress and will be changing her bed in the next week or so.  At least this way, if she is still having to sleep with someone, at least we can sleep in her room.  Hopefully that will go far in letting her know that her room is not scary at night! 

Precious Time with Friends

This is Sarah's sweet friend Eveline.  Eveline with be turning 2 years old in just a week or so.  Sarah sees her picture on the refrigerator and gets so excited.  She really likes playing with her.  Eveline is the daughter of our good friends, Matt and Kay.

Sarah and Eveline were so good last week at lunch.  They sat next to each other and shared their meal together and then went outside to wait on everyone else to finish.  It's hard to be a kid and have to wait on grown-ups.  Oh well, at least they have each other!  Although, not so sure Eveline wanted Sarah to kiss her!

Girl Scouts, Here I come!

Look at this little girl scout!  I was in the Brownie's growing up, but didn't finish out with girl scouts.  I saw this shirt at Old Navy and just had to get it for Sarah.  She is looking like such a big girl!

Fun with Daddy

Check out the fun creations that Sarah and Daddy made with Potato Heads.  We really aren't obsessed with them.  Sure, we went to the potato head exhibit and you are looking at 3 potato heads in a family with only one child, but wait, I can explain!  We have bought Sarah only one potato head.  One was given to her at Easter by her Aunt Mel.  It was a bunny potato head.  Another one was given to Michael by me several years ago because it was "Darth Tater".  Amazingly, he is letting Sarah play with it.  I guess he didn't see any real value in that compared with some of his precious little characters wrapped up in bubble wrap hiding out in the closet!

Not Happy with Daddy

Sarah wasn't happy being told to clean up her toys.

Happy Birthday Anderson

Today a precious little boy is turning three years old.  I have been fortunate enough to work with Anderson and his family for the past year.  Anderson and his family are very special. 

In January 2009, Anderson was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.  He has been receiving treatments and is doing so well with those.  He is a very brave little boy.  However, due to his illness, he wasn't able to really have any contact with outsiders.  Therefore, he wasn't able to hear any other kids and interact with them, so he started to present with a speech delay. 

When I first started to see Anderson, he was this adorable bald-headed, super-quiet little boy ... nothing at all like what I see today.  Oh sure, he's still adorable, but now his little personality is shining through and he's cuter than ever before!

Anderson is so blessed to have wonderful Christian parents.  When he was first diagnosed, they trusted in God's plan for complete healing of their little boy.  I trust in that plan as well.  Anderson's big sister Avery started kindergarten last week in Vestavia.  In July 2009, his parents started aTeam Ministries (http://www.ateamministries.org/) with the goal of providing spiritual, emotional, and financial support to families who are dealing with the needs associated with having a child diagnosed with Oncology or Hematology diseases.  They do so many cool things for these kids.  Be sure to check them out online or on facebook.   

Anderson has come so far!!!  As I worked with him for the last time, I heard lots of laughter, words, jokes, etc.  He makes me so happy!  He no longer has a language delay at all.  He is well above his age level with his language skills.  He still has some articulation errors, but those will be addressed by the school system.  I am so thankful that I was able to meet this family.  They have been an encouragement to me in my Christian walk and an excellent role-model for Christian parenting, especially in tough times.

Good luck with everything you do Anderson!  You can do anything you want, you're a superstar!!

P.S., Sorry for the weird formatting today.  Can't get it fixed the way I want it!

Happy School Days

Happy First Day of School to everyone.  I know that some schools in Alabama and surrounding areas started earlier this week, but today is Michael's first day back at school.  Poor, pitiful thing.  It must really be hard to wake up and get dressed and work all day!  Just kidding.  Michael has been working really hard all summer with his class.  By the way, he got an A in his History class!!!  I am so proud of all he does for our family.  This year at Cornerstone, he designed a new Bible curriculum that will be used in 7-12 grade Bible.  Now, if they would just pay him more -- this private school gig might work out after all!!  Well sweetie, have a great day at school today.  Sarah and I will be asleep when you get home tonight.  I'm sorry that you'll have to stay at school for high school open house and not get home until almost nine.  We love you and are so proud of you!!!!  (We'll get you your own Elmo for school since Bug doesn't want to share!)

Best Ribs Ever

This was our first meal at Callway Gardens.  I wish I had taken a picture of my ribs, but I forgot. They were so good.  I got the rib basket which had three bones and fries.  The meat was falling off of the bone.  The sauce was great and the meat was so tender.  I really wanted to go back and get more later in the trip.  This is a family run restaurant and everyone was super nice.  You must try the ribs if you are ever in the area.  A bonus is that everyone in the family are HUGE Alabama fans.  Roll Tide Whistling Pig!!!  See you on Game Day!

Butterflies

Can I touch it?  Please, I'll be gentle.  Yes, we tried to touch butterflies at Callaway Gardens.  No, we were not successful.  Sarah enjoyed seeing the butterflies, but they moved a little too fast for her.  She could never get one to stay still long enough to touch it.  And that is why God designed them that way! :)

Are you kidding me?!?!?!

This past weekend, we went to Callaway Gardens with my parents.  We had intended on buying some stuff at the grocery store, but it closed at 8 pm.  So we had to make do with buying some "groceries" at the corner store (aka, gas station).  I was amazed at the cost of some things.  Here are a few examples. 

Seriously???  $7.19 for a box of graham crackers and $7.15 for a jar of Easy Cheese.  Who can afford this?

We had to break out credit cards just for a few groceries, and before you ask, no we didn't buy those things!!  We did spend $15 on just a few little important things ...

These were really important things ... chocolate and Mountain Dew.  Oh yeah, and the other stuff for Sarah!  But one thing I noticed, normal food was crazy expensive, but what about this --

Are you kidding me??  Something this disgusting is only 99 cents?!?!  Just for comparison sake, I checked at Publix the other night and look what I found ...

So ... who's getting the extra money?  Welcome to vacation people ... where everything costs more!

Welcome Home

It has been two weeks now since Granny went home to be with the Lord.  I found this picture on my computer today at work.  This was taken last June.  It is amazing to look at and see how much both of them have changed over the past year.  Sarah has obviously grown up, but Granny had dwindled down to nothing really.  She had lost a ton of weight and she wasn't herself.  Secretly each time we saw her, I worried that it would be the last time.  I am thankful for this picture because she looks happy and looks like herself.  The past few months had been really hard and she didn't look or act like herself.  I know that she is in heaven now dancing and rejoicing.  She is back whole.  She is at peace.  She can see, she can dance, she can remember everyone and tell them all stories of us.  Michael told me that he hopes that she can get the chance to meet his grandparents and tell them all about me and Sarah.  They never met me and they would never have imagined that he would be a teacher now!  They were convinced he would be the next Billy Graham.  Talk to everyone Granny.  Have a great time.  Hug your daughter, your baby Sarah that you only had for one year.  Love your friends, your husband, your family members.  We miss you, but your craziness and love for life lives on in little Sarah Mae.  I love you!!!

First Haircut

Sarah got her first real haircut last Thursday.  I have trimmed bangs a little here or there, but my child had a mullet.  We took her to Salon della Bellezza in Hoover for her first haircut.  Christi did a great job with her.  We bribed her to sit still by giving her a blow-pop.  She refused to wear the cape, so she was covered in hair.  All in all, Christi probably cut close to four inches off of the very back.  Yes, for all of you who are wondering ... she still has curls.  We layered it so it actually curls better now.  Happy little girl with normal hair now!

Feed Me Books Friday: History

This week's books are BORING!!! At least they are boring to me.  However, they have occupied the past month or so of our lives.  These are the required reading books for Michael's history class that he is taking at Montevallo.  He has enjoyed taking the class and loves to learn about all of this "ancient" stuff!  I'm so proud of him for going back to school to get another master's degree.  He is pursuing something that he enjoys and is really good at!  So without further ado ...

I don't even really have any reviews to offer of these books because they are so far over my head.  However, I will be pleased when we can put them away on the bookshelf in another week or so!!!  Happy Reading!

McWane Center

On Saturday, we ventured down to McWane Center with about 5000 other people for a day of fun out of the heat!  We bought a membership so that we can go more often.  Sarah really has a great time.  This weekend, was Membership Alliance Day.  This means that if you are a member of some specific places in Bham, that you get free entry into several other places.  This is partially why it was so crowded.  However, as a perk of this -- other groups were there to perform and show a little about their organization.

The Red Mountain Theatre Company was there to do a performance of The Sound of Music.  I love this movie, so I was super excited that Sarah got to be in a picture with the VonTrapp Family!

Of course, we had to spend some time with Mr. Potato Head.  After all, he is the main attraction right now at McWane Center.  Sarah actually did pretty well with getting up close and personal with a character.

So much fun for the family!!! 

Daycare Drama

Well, last week we experienced our first Daycare Drama.  On Wednesday, Michael went to pick her up and he was called into the director's office.  She started telling him about how swollen Sarah's eye was when she woke up from nap and how it was all crusted over.  Basically, she has pink eye and can't come back for 24 hours.  Ok, we knew it was coming.  We actually even suspected something with her eye that morning. 

Oh well, Sarah earned a play day with Nana!

Update:  eye all clear, now a cough!

This little piggy ...

Sarah got her toenails painted for the first time yesterday!  They are a bright pink color.  So far, she likes them!  The only funny thing is that she doesn't have any open-toe shoes, so noone else will really ever see them!

Feed Me Books Friday: The Joy of Giving

If you give a pig a party,she's going to ask for someballoons. When you give her the balloons, she'll want to decorate the house. When she's finished, she'll put on her favorite dress. Then she'll call all her friends -- Mouse, Moose, and more.  The little pig from If You Give a Pig a Pancake is back, and this time she wants to throw a great big party! Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond have created another winning story for this beloved character in the tradition of the best-selling If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

This story begins with a girl, a cat that originally appeared in Numeroff's If You Give a Pig a Party (HarperCollins, 2005), and a cupcake. The cat asks for some sprinkles, and naturally, they spill on the floor. Cleaning them up makes the cat hot, so he asks for a bathing suit, and hijinks ensue. The resulting series of events leads the protagonist and the cat to the beach, into a boat, through an amusement park, and eventually back to the sprinkles and another cupcake.

Classy Wedding Style

Michael and I were driving through Hueytown this weekend. We drove past the church where we got married. One thing that I liked about this church is that on the big sign out front, it says "Congratulations to ..." and then gives the couple's name. As we were driving by, we saw this classy little golf cart waiting to take away the happy couple.  Nice, huh?