Sarah's 2nd Birthday Party

Sarah's 2nd birthday was such a fun day!  This year she definitely grasped some of the concept that it was her birthday.  She woke up jumping up and down in bed.  Throughout the day she said things like, "I'm 2," "I'm doing happy birthday," "Happy birthday, Sarah," and, "I open presents."  The day before we had gone to Silver Dollar City with my parents, and Sarah got a birthday name tag and some special treats compliments of the park.  She was very proud of herself!

One her birthday morning we started the day off with a wagon ride with her babies, and she wore her birthday tutu from last year.  She got a good afternoon nap and was ready to party when she woke up.  My parents, Memaw and Pepaw, Jim and Taylor, Serina and Mark, and Ray and Terri were able to make it.  The theme was Minnie Mouse.  I was pretty happy with our homemade cake.

It rained late morning and early afternoon but stopped in time for the party.  We started out with snacks - grapes, chips and dip, meatballs, and cheese and crackers - Sarah's favorite foods.  We opened presents, and then watered her annual slideshow of pictures from the year.  Sarah loved her cake.  She blew out the candles and enjoyed joining in on singing Happy Birthday to herself.  She got some great presents and was really interested in opening them and trying them out right away which was different from last year.  Her favorite stuff revolved around dolls: a baby doll, baby stroller, baby grocery cart, Minnie Mouse doll.  She also got a purse that she is very proud of.  It's silver and glittery.  She got some cute new clothes for the fall.

The party was from 3:00-5:00, and it went by so quickly for me.  When it ended Ray and Terri stayed the night so we ate dinner together.  They were able to go to church with us the next day and stayed one more night before going on to visit Robert's sister and her family.

New outfit, baby doll, and stroller

Baby has made her first visit to church

Sporting a new outfit

Baby has even gone to the grocery store with us and may be the secret to getting Sarah to sit in the cart!

Sarah's two year old well-visit went great!  She's healthy and continuing to grow.  We estimate she'll be 5'6" - 5'10" when she's finished growing which seems pretty believable considering Robert's and my heights.  The doctor told us that Sarah is her favorite patient.  I'm sure she's never said that before. :)  Sarah just loves her!  Dr. Toth is pregnant, and Sarah kept saying that she wants to hold her baby.  Sarah got to stand on the scale and get her height while standing up for the first time.  This was the last time for them to take her head measurement, and at her three year old well-visit they will start taking her blood pressure which is kind of funny for me to think about.  After her good appointment we celebrated with a trip to the park.

I love celebrating Sarah, and I am blessed to be her mommy!

Christmas Parties

On December 1 we had Robert's work Christmas party.  It was a lot of fun.  Sarah enjoyed wearing her first Christmas outfit from Grandpa.

The party was held at a church member's house.  We all met at the church so we could caravan out to her house, about 45 minutes away.  The homeowner is a former architecture professor, and her house proves it!  Every room had a different theme: unicorns, peacocks, castle.  Dinner was delicious, and we enjoyed smothered steak, ham, hash brown casserole, sweet potato casserole, corn, rolls, veggies, and way too much dessert.  After dinner we played Dirty Santa, and we were able to come home with some new toys for Sarah - story book, rubber duck pool toy, and Jenga for Robert.  It was great to enjoy being with his co-workers and families outside of church!

I had my MOPS Christmas party on the 3rd.  Robert needed to go to a middle school orchestra concert for some of our students, so I had to take Sarah with me even though it was supposed to be ladies only.  She's one of the girls, right?  It was just my table group so there were maybe seven of us there.  We enjoyed dinner together, a game, and a gift exchange.  The other ladies were helpful with Sarah and held her while I ate, but Sarah was just on edge the whole evening.  She's such an easy going baby, and I am very thankful that these nights aren't her norm.  I had to leave the party early because that's just what Sarah needed.  Once I got her home she ate and went to sleep.  Maybe it's just me, but when I was pregnant I knew that becoming a mom would be very sacrificial - losing out on sleep, staying in more, doing things on Sarah's schedule - but I'm continually reminded of how many more sacrifices are needed than I ever dreamed about like leaving a Christmas party early, not eating when I want to eat if Sarah needs me, and saying Shh Shh Shh for 10 minutes straight to make Sarah fall asleep.

Last night was our final Christmas party - South Gate Youth.  It was so fun!  It was hosted by one of our seniors' family.  We had probably about 20 students and 30 people total.  We had a yummy dinner of spaghetti, salad, and bread and enjoyed Christmas treats after that.  We had a white elephant gift exchange.  Highlights included toilet paper, a plunger, and a paper clip.  The students are absolutely hilarious and very entertaining.  We also watched Charlie Brown's Christmas and played a game.  Sarah came dressed as Santa Claus.  Her outfit only lasted for a little bit, but it seemed to be a hit!  Sarah enjoyed being loved on by everybody, and I was very thankful for their voluntary care for Sarah while I enjoyed being with the students.

The Christmas parties are over, and we have done absolutely no decorating.  Last year, we didn't decorate for Christmas since we knew we'd be moving shortly after Christmas.  This year we're moving from our apartment into our new house at Christmas.  I'm not sure if we'll end up doing any decorating.  I think we can at least manage to put out our stockings.  It seems weird to not really decorate two years in a row, but it's also kind of a good reminder that Christmas isn't about the decorations or traditions at all.  Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, our Savior, who was born so that He could die to save us from our sins and provide eternal life and relationship with our LORD.  Sarah doesn't care about our decorations or lack thereof.  I don't need to put unnecessary pressure on myself to have our house settled and decorated for Christmas.  There will be many many more years to come where I can do that.  But even during the chaos of moving and having a baby we can celebrate and remember the birth of the Prince of Peace.

Super Bowl Sunday

We had a great time at our Super Bowl party on Sunday!  Let me rewind to the start of the day.  Robert and I joined the church choir last week and sang in the service for the first time on Sunday.  It was really good!  We practice each Wednesday night for about an hour and a half.  We're gearing up for Easter.  On normal weeks the choir sings backup for all of the songs, but for the month of March we will be doing one special song each week.  We've got some good songs lined up.  We're also excited because the praise team is putting out a new CD soon, and the choir gets to be part of it.  I believe we'll be recording in March.  How cool is that?  Our first album. hehe

We spent Sunday afternoon the way we always spend Sunday afternoons - I take a nap while Robert studies.  It's a pretty great deal, really.  I get to rest, and Robert is able to study without me crying out for attention and being bored.  Last week I slept for 3.5 hours.  He got a lot of studying done then. :)  This week I only slept for an hour.  Who else loves a good Sunday afternoon nap?

Studying hard!  He has a Greek vocab app on his iPhone, so he really is studying. :)

Sunday evening we had 11 people over to our apartment: Our neighbors Ben, Allie, and their daughter Jolie; their friends Adam and Amy and their kids Eden and Bennett; and Jared and Whitney who used to live in our complex before moving a few weeks ago.  Adam and Amy were in town from Ohio.  They were here to tour the campus as they plan to come to school year in the fall.  Amy actually graduated from SBU in 2006.  How cool is that?  Small world!  After the first quarter the moms left to tuck in their kids.  It was a fun night with great friends and tasty food - tacos, guacomole and chips, pinwheels, and football cookies.

What did you do for the Super Bowl?