Ricky the Pony

For Christmas my parents got Sarah a gift certificate for pony lessons, but there's more to it than that!  A year and a half ago at a fall fest in town, Sarah rode a pony named Ricky, and she fell in love.  We've talked and talked about that experience.  When she rides the carousel at Silver Dollar City she calls the horse Ricky.  We just love him!  So my mom tracked him down at his stable and got Sarah's lessons.  It was so fun!  She went four times for an hour and learned how to brush him and what brushes to use for different body parts.  She learned how to help put on the blanket and saddle.  She got to ride him and steer him.  Ricky was sick one day, so she rode his friend Daisy that time. She took it very seriously.  It's fun to watch her learn new things!

Life Lately, November 13

Sarah is at preschool, and the house is clean, so I can blog, right?  Preschool has been so great for Sarah and me!  She genuinely loves her teachers and feels very safe and comfortable there.  She's making some new friends, and learning so much!  I'm enjoying time to run errands and clean the house by myself, but I'm also loving having some silence.  You don't get much silence when you have a talkative 3 year old girl around!  She's the best, but it's been good to have some down time.  Right now all I hear is the click of the keys and Mittens snoozing next to me.  

Sarah loves going with me to vote.  The church where we vote has a huge elephant named Sue.  Sarah asked me why the elephants at the zoo are just grey when this one is all the colors of the rainbow.

Aunt Pam came to town, and we got to see her for a day.  So fun!

I always let Sarah's hair air-dry, but since it's gotten so cold I didn't want her to have a wet head.  I dried it with the diffuser, and she was ready to model!

Pretending to teach Sunday School

 Sarah is in a habit of waking up around 5:30 for the day.  This was going on before the time change and is continuing.  It's kind of miserable.  She comes to our room several times before we finally officially start her day at 7:00.  It won't last forever, right?  But yesterday when she came to our room she was dressed in a fancy dress and tights!  Princess Sarah!

We got our first little snow yesterday.  Sarah really enjoyed it!  Obviously, it wasn't enough to play in, but Sarah and Robert did make the world's smallest snowman complete with Froot Loop eyes and a toothpick nose.

Who's ready for some recent Sarah quotes?

• In Sunday School we were watching a music video that went with our lesson.  Sarah was doing the motions, and another kid got up in front of her.  Sarah said, "Stop trying to ruin my worship!"
• We were playing with Play Doh, and Sarah said, "It's purple like Lydia's (from the Bible) cloth!"
• "I brush my hair like Cinderella because she's a princess and I'm a princess.
• Sarah didn't like the fish Robert made for lunch.  "My doctor said I'm allergic to fish."
• Me: "Use your mind to think about it."  Sarah: "Actually, it's my brain."
• Sarah's Sunday School teacher said, "Mmm somebody smells good," and Sarah said, "Well, it's not me!  I didn't take a bath today."
• Sarah's prayer: "Dear God, thank you that it's going to rain tonight so we don't have to water our flowers.  Thank you for Grandma.  She's so perfect.  Thank you for my new school.  We do stuff all the time.  Thank you that I get to play on the big playground there.  Thank you that tomorrow is water day.  Amen."
• We were at a hotel, and Sarah said, "This is going to be the most perfect sleepover!  Is everyone else in this hotel waiting to go see their Papas?"
• "My toots are funny.  Your toots are funny.  Dad's toots are funny.  But don't tell people that we're the toot family!"
• "At the Temple (where we have Bible Study Fellowship) I learned that there are three parts of God.  It's God, God, and God.  It's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  And God is in heaven on a sparkly throne!"
• "When I get married I want to wear a crown, and my husband can wear a cowboy hate.  I'll move out and you can get a new kid to live at your house.  When I have kids you can keep on at your house, but I'll need to keep the rest at my house."
• "Jesus might have a hard time carrying me to heaven since I'm such a big girl."
• "Stomp, drop, and roll!"
• We drove by something stinky, and Sarah said, "We must have driven by a toot factory!"
• Sarah to me at bedtime: "I could huge and kiss you all day!"

Life Lately, October 23

Since I've been off of social media for almost two months, I thought I'd share some pictures and tidbits about our days the last several weeks here on my blog.

Robert finished up our shower!  We had a shower/tub combo originally which I really didn't mind, but it was cracked and stained pretty badly, so we decided to replace it with a large shower since Sarah's bathroom has a shower/tub.  Robert did a great job!  We're hoping Santa gives us a shower door for Christmas. :)

You all know that our yard is a work in progress, to say the least.  Here's what it looked like last year in a blog post.  This year it's really looking great!  It's much greener and thicker.  I think in the spring it'll really look great when we do a pre-emergent to control the weeds.  I'm so proud of our hard work! 

We are loving the cooler weather!  It's so much more enjoyable to play outside when it's this nice out!  Trying to cherish it before it gets too cold.

We made our annual trip to the beach to visit Robert's dad.  Sarah really loved the beach this year!  We picked mid-September hoping that it would be cooler, and it wasn't. :(  But we got in lots of swimming!  Sarah enjoyed "camping" in the RV.

Front porch swinging!

I love having an awesome park so close to our house!

Sarah, Robert, and I got to ride with Memaw in the Model A for the SBU Homecoming Parade.  Sarah loved sitting on Memaw's lap and throwing out candy!

You might remember that last summer we had to remove our red maple tree because it was rotting from the inside out.  We planted a moon bay magnolia tree.  It just never did well.  It had a one year warranty, and we got a refund this fall.  The roots never took, and the branches were all dried out.  We replaced it with a ginkgo tree.  Here's hoping it does better!

We went up to KC for the in-person portion of Robert's class at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for three days.  Did I tell you all that Robert is pursing a PhD in Biblical Studies with an emphasis in Ministry?  Robert's mom took us to a fun farm park while we were there, and Sarah was thrilled to pet the animals and feed the baby goats a bottle!

She also loved the chalkboard at their house and drew a "jellyfish with hundreds of legs!"

My parents treated Sarah to a day at Silver Dollar City.  She looks so grown up in this picture riding the tram to get to the park!

We celebrated 5 years of having Mittens!  She really is the best. 

Sarah is in a big princess phase, so it was thrilling to see Anna at the mall!  She told Sarah that she and Pocahontas are friends. :)

This girl has a thing for bugs, and it's so endearing.  Shes so inquisitive!

My little cashier!  She loves dressing up!

We got to celebrate her cousin Sadie's second birthday.  Sarah enjoyed pulling her around in her new wagon!

Last year, Memaw took us to the Harvest Fest and Sarah rode a miniature pony named Ricky.  We have talked about Ricky for an entire year!  She loves riding "Ricky" on the carousel at Silver Dollar City.  So obviously we had to ride Ricky again this year!  She took it very seriously and loved every second of it!

Robert's grandparents came for a sleepover, and we were so glad to have them here!

Sarah is going to be a princess for Halloween.  She's very excited!  Preschool is going well for her.  She's learning so much!  I'm enjoying my eight hours a week on my own.  It's been a good time to clean the house, relax, and do my Bible study.