Happy 1st Birthday, Sarah!

Today, my baby was born at 9:46 a.m. one year ago. She has grown up so fast! Here are a few pictures from one year ago today and from this afternoon:

Adventurous Days

We have been having lots of adventures the past couple of days. This past Saturday, we celebrated Sarah's 1st birthday with a Baby Einstein party. She had 6 of her little friends over for some Fruit Puffs, Mum-Mums, and Wagon Wheels. We also had a veggie tray, fruit tray, and cheese and meat tray for the adults and older siblings. Sarah loved her party, but she hadn't taken a nap that day due to all of the excitement. As soon as she had her cupcake, she looked like she was ready to fall into a sugar coma. I tried to get her to open her presents, but she was so tired, her little head kept nodding off. Everyone seemed to have fun though and when Sarah woke up from her nap, she was excited to see all the new things.



The next evening, Eliana was trying to run down the stairs on our way out the door. She tripped and fell down the stairs, hitting her head on the tile floor at the bottom. I didn't see any blood so I figured that it had scared her more than anything. We went to Walmart and she kept holding her head and crying that it hurt. When we got home again, she said she felt like she had to throw up. I called our doctor who told me to take her to the ER because those were symptoms of a concussion. Andy was on a trip so I left Emily with our friends and took off. On the way, I called another friend who looked up Andy's schedule and told me that he was on his way into Memphis. Andy borrowed a car from our friends (I'm driving the only vehicle right now as the van isn't working) and came up to the hospital. Thankfully, Eliana ended up being ok with no lasting problems. I am hoping she learned her lesson about running down the stairs.

Emily woke up the next morning with a temperature of 101.5. She had to miss the Thanksgiving Feast at her school yesterday and wasn't happy about it. I reminded her that we would get all of those foods on Thanksgiving Day and that helped a little bit, although she really hates to miss school for any reason. She is doing better today so it was probably a 24-hour thing that the rest of us had last week.

I hope I can keep everyone here out of trouble and healthy for a little while. Happy Thanksgiving to all of our family and friends!! I hope the day is full of good food and relaxation!

No More Soccer

Eliana had her last soccer game last night. Before the game, we all met at Pizza Hut for a end-of-season celebration. Eliana was really proud of her trophy!



I don't think she will be playing soccer next year though. Last night, she was so cold all she wanted to do was stand there. When I gave her a coat, she put her hands in the pockets while trying to run. The coaches handed out cupcakes after the game and as Eliana was eating a cupcake on the way to the car, she had a change of heart. She decided that she LOVED soccer and wanted to play another season. I asked her if that decision had anything to do with the cupcake she was enjoying. I guess we will see next fall, but I think after she thinks about it some more, she will change her mind. She just started gymnastics a couple of weeks ago and looks forward to that all week. Maybe that will be her new hobby.

Not a Good Sign

Emily is always coming home singing the rhyming songs that we all sang in elementary school. It usually makes me smile to see that those songs have actually made it through to the next generation. I have taught her a couple of them when they come to mind. Her favorite right now is "Say Say Oh Playmate" with all the clapping. She asks me to play it with her all the time, no matter where we are. "No, Emily, I can't play right now, I'm driving. No, Emily, I can't play right now, we are at a restaurant." I do try to play it with her as much as I can though. I have noticed, however, that some of the songs that she learned at school have been changed a little since we sang them in school. I wasn't too happy with what I heard her singing recently:

Emily --
______ and ______ sitting in a tree.
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First comes love, then comes a kiss.
Then comes a baby with a baby carriage.

Me -- WHAT?? A KISS?? What do you mean a KISS? That is NOT how that song goes! It's supposed to be MARRIAGE!! MARRIAGE comes before the baby carriage!! You can tell it's right because it rhymes! Kiss does not rhyme with carriage!

Emily -- Well, that's how they sing it at school!

Me -- Well, that is not the right way! Why don't you practice singing it the right way or don't sing it at all?

Emily -- Ok, I will.

I know I probably went a little too crazy about it, but it just reminded me of how society is slowing trying to push marriage out of the picture. I just hadn't realized it started at such a young age.

Southern Accent Emerges

Emily wanted to quiz me on contractions the other day as I was driving. She was giving me a contraction and I was telling her what two words made up that contraction. She asked me one that I had never heard of before...

Emily -- Should've
Me -- Should Have
Emily -- Ow
Me -- Ow? What do you mean Ow? Did you hurt yourself?
Emily -- No, not Ow! Owl!
Me -- Owl? What kind of a contraction is Owl? Owl is not a contraction!
Emily -- Yes, it is! Owl is I WILL!
Me -- Ooohh, you mean I'll **dragging out the I and l sounds**, not Owl.
Emily -- That's what I said, Owl.

I gave up trying to correct her. I figure it's a lost cause while living in the South. :)

Outside Fun

It was such a nice day a couple of days ago that Andy and I decided to venture out with the girls to one of the parks here in town. I have been feeling bad lately because Sarah has never really been to a park. I have pictures of Emily and Eliana swinging at a young age, sitting at the bottom of the slide, and climbing up the playground steps. I was expecting a mass of people since it was so beautiful, but I guess we went at the right time because there were only a couple of other families there when we arrived. Emily and Eliana could not wait to show Sarah how to use all of the playground equipment. Sarah wasn't too sure about it at first, but was smiling at the end.







Andy showed Emily a huge black beetle walking around the ground. She took a piece of bark and picked the bug up, gaining the respect of a boy who was watching nearby.



Just after this shot was taken, I heard a scream and saw the piece of bark being tossed onto the ground. Apparently, the bug had gotten a little too close to her face.

More children started showing up, but the girls weren't ready to leave yet. They decided that we needed to take a hike on one of the nearby trails that leads through the woods. Emily assured me that she and I would be able to handle walking the trail in our sandals so we set off.

The trail wasn't that long, but it seemed to take a while because Emily had packed a backpack with three items: a pen flashlight, a piece of paper, and a marker. There are plaques located throughout the trail and her goal was to write down the names of all of the trees from the plaques as we walked along. She says she is going to make a book about them.



About halfway on the trail, we were attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes that followed us all the way back to the playground. Emily still wanted to write down the tree names and Eliana still wanted to run down into the gullies. All the while, Andy and I are swatting at mosquitoes that are buzzing all around our heads. I tried to keep them off of Sarah and thought I was doing a good job until I noticed three bites on her forehead while taking her picture the next day.



Emily and Eliana had bites on their foreheads as well. I have no idea why the mosquitoes were there. I kept looking around to see if we were walking by a swamp. I made a mental note to bring bug spray next time. We did finally make it back and left right away. I hope we will be able to make it back sometime soon to feed the ducks which will be another first for Sarah. I plan on making a morning trip to try to avoid any more bug problems.

New Word?

Sarah has been trying to expand her vocabulary lately. I thought I heard her say "Uh Oh" the other day. We got video of her trying to say "boat".



Yesterday, I asked her to bring me a ball out of her bucket of toys. She walked over there and picked up a ball in each hand. She didn't bring them back to me, but she stood there, holding them both up in the air, laughing.