Birthday Girl!

Sarah just celebrated her first birthday! I can't believe it's already been a year since she joined our family. --At the same time, I can't imagine our family without her!

She has been the sweetest baby, and now that she's getting more personality I can tell she is going to be lots of fun. She has a lot of spunk and definitely knows her own mind! Her favorite pastime right now is to grab my fingers and lead me to exactly what she wants --the bookshelf (at which point she will start pulling books off the shelf one at a time until she finds the one she wants), the toy box (she digs around until she finds the exact toy she wants), or the kitchen for a snack. And don't even think of trying to lead her somewhere she doesn't want to go!



This girl is smart! She is actively using 5 words now --Mama, Dada, bath, duck (Can you guess what her favorite time of day is?), and pancake ("pa"). She can also point out a few different object in picture books while we're reading.


(Mom, why did you stick me in a boat full of pumpkins?)


While visiting my parents earlier this month, we took a trip to a pumpkin farm. Matt's mom drove up from San Antonio to double the fun. The kids had a blast! We will definitely be going back.

This was the cutest thing ever! Using hay as bait, Michael learned how to entice the goats at the petting zoo to stick their heads through the fence so he could give them big hugs.


Pumpkin painting is messy, but good fun.


Michael, Kylie, and Cole after successfully completing the kiddie corn maze.


Michael loved cutting flowers for his fall bouquet with Grandma. The real fun lay in using the scissors, which, up to that point, I had never let him use before.


Back at Nana's house, Sadie spent most of her time in the swing outside. (It doesn't matter how cold it is, she hates wearing socks and pulls them off as quickly as she can.)


Michael enjoyed reading the paper outside with Nana



and baking Halloween cookies. (Nana asked him what color he wanted them to be and he said purple! If the color was a little unappetizing, the taste made up for it.)


We also had a little birthday celebration for Sadie and my brother Joel. Mmmmmm . . . chocolate cake!


Back in Houston, we celebrated Sadie's birthday by going to the zoo. We took her there several months ago, but she was definitely more interested in the animals this time around.


She was mesmerized by this hornbill that was squawking and flapping all over its cage.


Michael loved the reptile house. Yes, that really is an albino alligator!


Sadie preferred the aquarium.


Being close to Halloween, Michael got to color a pumpkin and take it home!


That evening, we enjoyed some birthday custard. . . . Actually, Sadie didn't really enjoy it. She kept spitting it out.

September Recap

Over the River and Through the Woods . . .

Since my last post, we've made 3 trips to Grandmas' houses, so I will give a brief recap of each:

#1 to Nana's

We visited Nana for a few days and enjoyed a picnic at Georgetown Park,


making cookies with Nana,


and a trip to a nearby petting zoo,


including a free wagon ride provided by Uncle Stephan.


#2 to Grandma's

Then we headed south to visit Grandma. Our visit included lots of sidewalk chalk (Michale is so funny! Whenever I say "Look up" so I can take a picture, he takes me literally and looks straight up.),


a trip to the Texas Transportation Museum (of course!),


and a trip to Natural Bridge Caverns.




Michael looooooves caves! He has had his room decorated as a cave ever since he saw the Caves episode of Planet Earth--complete with stalagmites, stalactites, bats, and birds.


Sadie liked it too!


Thank you, Grandma, for making this little boy's dream come true!


#3 back to Grandma's

A few days after getting back home, we got a phone call from Grandpa saying he was just called to be the bishop of their ward. So, we made another quick trip the following weekend to see him sustained and set apart. What a special day!


Coincidentally, that Sunday was also Grandparent's Day. Michael and Sadie made some very sweet cards.


More pics & updates:

Matt is in the middle of his second-to-last semester of law school. Yikes this semester is going by fast! He will be taking his first midterm next week.

He is the sweetest husband and father!. . . .and yes, he is still giving me 2 hours a week free!


Michael is all over the place. He is the sweetest little boy most of the time, and then in in a split-second, he throws himself into a raging fit. He is talking non-stop now, and he loves to sing. He favored me with a spontaneous rendition of "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" this afternoon. He is learning to dress himself . . . that is to say more correctly, to undress himself. (I leave him in a room fully clothed and come back a minute later to find him completely stripped.) He loves making little crafts, helping in the kitchen, and wearing hats!



Sadie is close to walking. She loves holding my hands leading me around the house. With the cooler weather, we've started taking more walks, and more often than not, she will lead me to the stroller and start climbing in wanting to go out. She uttered her second word last week --duck! (She has several bath toy ducks she loves playing with, so I guess that just stuck. --"Mama," was her first word, of course!) She loves reading just as much as Michael did at this age and will drag books up to Matt and me wanting us to read to her. She hates wearing hats! I had to really work to snatch this one before she whisked it off her head.