Sarah is 3!

Sarah turns 3 today!  It's been a big year of growing physically, socially, and intellectually.  She'll have her 3 year old well visit in a week or so, but the last time she was measured she was 33.5 pounds and 37.5", so I'm guessing that's about right.  Her hair continues to be curly and light blonde.  I think the front has finally gotten long enough that it doesn't get in her eyes quite as much.  She enjoys wearing it down as well as in ballerina buns. :)

We have full conversations now, and pretty much every waking hour is a running dialogue with her.  I think most people understand all that she says, and I know we definitely do.  She enjoys teasing people and making people laugh.

Her favorite TV shows this year have been Llama Llama, Sarah and Duck, and any Barbie shows on Netflix.  She still loves books and has started noticing the letter S everywhere she goes.  She knows how to spell her first and last name and is very interested in rhyming words.

This summer she went to preschool one morning a week for 3 hours, and this school year she'll be going 2 mornings a week for 4 hours each time.  She really liked preschool, and I think it was good for her and will be this school year as well.  This summer she took a four week ballet class and absolutely loved it!

 She has developed a good crew of friends, and we had a friend party last weekend.  It was very fun!

Here are some of her most recent quotes:

"Mommy, if you become a boy I’ll marry you and you can be my husband."

“Mommy, I’m glad you’re in my world.”

She was mad at me and said, “You’re a philistine!”

We were at the zoo and couldn’t see the otters, “Maybe they’re in jail.”

Me: It’s a rainy day. Rainy days make me want to take a nap. 

Sarah: Yeah, rainy days make me want to poop.

Dear Sarah,
I love you very much.  God has made you very smart, and I hope you use your desire to learn new things to do something great for Him.  You are very sensitive, and I love your ability to identify those in need and desire to meet their needs.  You teach me new things all the time, and getting to spend my days with you is an honor.  You are a fun-loving girl who knows how to have fun, and I hope you always keep that part of you.  Let's keep being buddies.  You love reading your Bible and learning more about God, and every day I pray that one day you will become a Christian.  If nothing else happens but that, I will be a happy mommy.  I love you so much, and I'm thankful for you!

Summer So Far

Summer is the time of year when Robert is gone the most.  I remember the first summer as being the summer where I went to most things but was very hot and very pregnant, the second summer was the summer of Sarah teething molars and crying, the third summer was the summer of potty training, and this fourth summer is the summer of taking forever to fall asleep.  Interesting what major themes stick out to you.

Before summer stuff really got kicked off for Robert, I was in my second wedding of the summer!  Congrats, Tiffani and Matt!

Robert had Serve Springfield at the start of June.  Although he's technically home at night, he had 14 hour days Sunday-Wednesday.  It was an exceptionally hot week so Sarah and I really didn't join him for much.  I think we stopped by to say hi two or three times, but that was it.  Each morning the students worked at a senior adult's house scraping off chipping paint, power washing the exterior, washing his RV, and doing some yard work.  After they finished Sherwin Williams was going to send a crew to paint it for him.  In the early afternoon they worked doing landscaping for a new community of tiny houses for homeless men.  Super cool!  In the late afternoon they went door to door near our church asking if they could pray for people.  Talk about courage!  I don't know many adults who would be up for that, but the Holy Spirit always enables our students to get out of their comfort zones.  Then they'd meet up with other local student ministries for dinner and a worship service.

Sarah had her first lemonade and loved every second of it!

We celebrated Robert's 28th birthday early before he left for summer camp. 

And we got to celebrate Father's Day the day before Robert left for camp.

Camp was a week after Serve Springfield, and they returned to Camp Revo at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, AR for the fourth time.  We're hoping/thinking maybe Sarah will be able to handle going next year.  I really hope so!  The students had a great time, and I know God did big things in their lives.  Monday we went to Jump Mania with friends, Tuesday I went to visit my parents for the day, Wednesday morning was preschool, and then Wednesday afternoon hit and there was nothing left to do for the week.  I had an hour or two of panic and a pity party, but I managed to pull it together.  We went and used a gift card at Starbucks and played outside to end the day.  On Thursday we had dinner at Chick Fil A and stayed at the play place for a long time.  Thursday and Friday mornings I had other mom friends over for play dates.  Sarah has been taking an hour to an hour and a half to fall asleep at night for the last nine months.  It wouldn't be so awful if she'd just stay in her room, but she comes out several times.  She prefers Robert to do the majority of her nightly routine, and it's always worse when he's gone.  That was the case this week, but I am glad that once she went to sleep she stayed asleep.

Last day without Robert

 Robert's birthday is during camp every year, and the students always make a huge deal of it!  This year they all had cutouts of Robert's head on a stick to carry around. :)

We've been able to tag along for some small student activities like a game day and a pool party next week.  We've had lots of trips to Bolivar and have met up with Robert's mom and sister and their families.  We aren't taking any trips this summer, but it's just so hard with Robert's job, so that's how it has to be, and that's okay. :)  We'll have a fall trip to Alabama.

I donated 10" of hair to Locks of Love, and am enjoying being a bit cooler!

Sarah got more in to fireworks this year and really enjoyed throwing down the snappers.

Can't believe there's just one more month until a new school year and Sarah switches to going to preschool twice a week!

Life Lately, June 6

The last four months or so can be summed up in this picture:

Honestly, Sarah's "spirited" nature has been kicked up a notch (or 50?) since late January/early February, and I'm clinging to the idea that if two is hard three is easy????

Robert got ordained in April, and we had a ton of family in to celebrate with us.  It was a great weekend!

Sarah and I have been able to go to Silver Dollar City a few times this year, and Robert is bummed that he hasn't been included in a single one of those trips.  I think Sarah has now ridden everything she's tall enough to ride, and I'd say the ladybugs are her favorite.  It's one of two rides that she's allowed to ride by herself.

I went on my annual weekend trip with Robert's mom, grandma, and sister, and Robert and Sarah survived!

This year we went to Tulsa, and my favorite part was our stop at Ree Drummond's Merc.  The food was tasty, and the line was long but worth it for special occasion.

My dear friend Leigha got married on May 5, and I got to be a part of it! It was a special day!

For about a year I've wanted to paint our garage door, so Mother's Day seemed like a perfect time to cash in on that request!  It only took one coat and Robert agrees that it looks much better now.

On May 20th Robert and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary!  Wow!

Sarah loves chips - a girl after my own heart.

On May 22nd Pepaw passed away.  I could spend a whole day listing his positive attributes and reliving fond memories and attempting to express the love that our family shared, but that wouldn't do him justice, so I'll just say that Pepaw loved God and devoted his life to Him.  I look forward to seeing him again one day.

Sarah started preschool and couldn't be more excited!  This summer she's going on Wednesday mornings from 9:00-12:00.

Robert had a work meeting in Hannibal (4 hours away), and Sarah and I tagged along.  We slept remarkably well in the hotel, and Sarah and I enjoyed swimming and eating lunch at a cafe.  She ate off all the icing from her cupcake and the server brought her more, so it's basically her new favorite restaurant.

We have put so much hard work into our yard, and it's a lot of fun to check on it and see how it's progressing.  Our lilies were looking really good last week!

We went to a Springfield Cardinals game since Yadi was in town.  Sarah caught a shirt, and Robert participated in musical chairs and won a shirt.  We lasted for about half of the game and had a lot of fun!

Sarah and I picked strawberries with friends and even got Robert to try one!

I was in another wedding yesterday!  Tiffani and Matt got married, and it was a great day!  Sarah sat through the whole service and loved the cupcakes at the reception.

When Sarah says something I really want to remember I try to type it up in my phone really quick, so here are the endearing things she's said the last couple of months.  It's quite a bit, but the grandparents love this kind of thing, right? :)

April 3 - Sarah was asking about our wedding rings. I explained what they mean and told her maybe one day she’ll marry a nice man. “I hope I get to marry Santa!”

4 - She saw the moon, but it was faint since it was day time. I talked about how the moon goes away during the day and comes out at night. She asked me if it sleeps. I told her that's kinda right. She asked me if the moon has a blanket and bed when he sleeps. ️

May - She came out from nap to say, “I just needed to let you know that I love you. Do you love me too?”

Am I allergic to pokey trees? I don’t feel very affectionate towards pokey trees.

I have to have a babysitter because I’m not allowed to stay home alone. 

S: We need to sit in the car and die. R:  No, we don’t want to do that. Dying is a bad thing. S: But Jesus died, and that was good. 

9 - Sometimes big girls get out of bed to kiss their mommy

11 - My strength wants to go pee pee, but my brain won’t let me.

12 - Holding two receipts. “If you give me 100 bucks I’ll let you pick which one you can have."

23 - Nana, did you know that I’m a child?

26 - I hope Jesus comes back for us soon 

30 - First day of preschool - Preschool was good! When I picked her up she said, “You came back! I was wondering if you would!” Then when we got in the car she said, “I wish I could go to preschool every day!” The teachers’ names are Miss Michelle and Miss Elizabeth. She used the potty twice and told me one time she zipped up her pants by herself, and the other time Miss Elizabeth helped. She met a boy named Skyler and a girl named Cora. They learned about the letters C and M and played a lot. She got goldfish crackers for snack and ate a big lunch that I packed - string cheese, half a PBJ sandwich, mandarin oranges, and half a pouch. She had a good time!

(Frustrated with stickers) "For pity’s sake!"

31 - Knock Knock

Who’s there?

Sarah!

Sarah who?

Sarah Varner!

Knock knock

Who’s there?

Nobody!

Nobody who?

Just kidding! It’s Sarah!

You’re a sweetie pie. I’m a sweetie pie. Mittens is a sweetie pie. What’s a sweetie pie?