December's Play Date

For our December playdate, we went to the Zoo to see the special display of Christmas lights after hanging out at Emilie's house. We had a little birthday celebration for her birthday while there, too. It was a lot of fun. Sarah had a blast!

She just HAD to wear the birthday hat she got at Emilie's house the whole night. It was cute!

She rode the carousel, too. It was very COLD that night! So, we didn't stay long...

I know you can't see the front of her face, but she looks so happy!

We got these cool glasses, that were holographic. When you looked through them, you could see little snowmen around every light, even the moon! They were really neat!

Here are the girls over at Emilie's house before the zoo. Left to right is Emilie, Lia, a guest, Donna and Sarah.

Riding her BIG GIRL BIKE!

The first week of December, we had awesome weather! Troy took Sarah over to the park with her Big Girl Bike that her Poppa bought her for her birthday back in October. She did awesome riding it and had a lot of fun!

You can tell who did her hair this morning, and it wasn't Mama! I did choose an outfit for them though! :)

QBOM 2008

Well, since my deadline for the drawing at the local quilt store was today, I was happy to stay up way too late last night to finish quilting this quilt and adding the binding. This is my 2008 Quilt Block of the Month project that I did with the class at the quilt store. It was a lot of fun. I learned some new piecing techniques each month as I worked on these blocks. Then there was always that fact that the first block was only $5 and provided I brought the finished block to class the next month the following month's block was free! You gotta LOVE that!! I was able to pick up the sashing, border, and backing fabric after Christmas for 60% off, too! I love the colors and thought I did pretty well with this one. This was also the very first quilt that I actually designed myself (I'm talking the layout here, obviously I followed the block patterns from the store each month). Anywhere, the colors are right up my alley and it was a lot of fun. This was also my first attempt with free motion quilting. Basically, that means that I made up the design of the stitching in the quilting. I had no pattern to follow or a stencil. I just kind of moved it around and had fun with it. I did do a table runner for a Christmas gift this year so in a quilt size, this was my first. Anyway, I liked it and was pretty proud!

Here is a close up of my favorite block. It was the most fun to make and there's something about it that I really like!

Sarah with Santa

Well, we did it. We had to bribe her with a whole pack of gum, just for her. But, we did it! We got a cute photo with Santa!! As we waited and waited in line, she continued to tell us how much she did NOT want to sit with Santa. I told her she didn't have to sit on his lap, I'd be happy if she just stood next to him. Finally just before it was her turn, Troy offered a pack of gum if she smiled pretty for one photo with Santa, and it worked!! WOO HOO!

My Sweet Little Girl

Times like these, I'm so proud of my little girl. Sarah had some birthday money left over and we went shopping. She found some fun leopard print flannel pillowcases that she insisted on buying with her money. When I was helping her put her change back in her ladybug purse, she got all excited and told me what she wanted to do with it.

"Oh Mama! I want to take that change to the people that ring the bell, so that I can help the kids have Christmas presents that don't have money for presents!"

It brought tears to my eyes to hear her say that!

Then a week later, we went to Wal-Mart and there was the bell ringer. She got SOO excited when she saw them and walked up there with her ladybug purse in hand. Emptied it out of every coin, and put it in the famous red collection pot.

It made me so proud of her, I can't even tell you.

Moments like that, I thank God that she's learning the good things and the bad ones aren't rubbing off! :)

Happy Gotcha Day!

We celebrated the 3rd anniversary of Sarah's Gotcha Day on October 31st. We went out to lunch with Bailey, Braden and Sarah's Poppa.

Here is Sarah opening her present that we bought her in China.

She loves here little beaded ladybug purse.

Halloween with Bailey and Braden

So, can anyone tell me how to load photos on blogger in order any more? Something has changed on me and they're loading all out of order! Anyway, on Halloween, we went trick-or-treating with some friends at the local strip mall. The kids had a blast. Afterwards, we went to the local indoor amusement park place with our friend Angie's church. There was nothing we could have done with them, where they would have had more fun than this. It was awesome.

This was Sarah's first try at bumper cars!

Here is Sarah with our dear friend, Miranda on the slide!

Bailey is in the back with another girl from the group that I don't know and there is Miranda and Sarah in the front of the indoor roller coaster!

Sarah and Bailey riding on the carousel.

Bailey is a baby, Braden is the Incredible Hulk, and of course, Sarah is a ladybug

Sarah's Preschool Halloween Party

My Little Ladybug had a Halloween Party at Preschool during the week of Halloween. She looked so cute, if I do say so. She had a lot of fun, too.

Sarah was helping them make their brew. She got to pick a lizard out of the bag and add it to the pot. (It was a plastic one, by the way)

Happy 4th Birthday, Sarah!

I had some major camera difficulties and lost ALL the photos from Sarah's birthday party! Very Upsetting! But, on the actual day of her birthday, she dressed in her Cinderella dress and we had a little cake we brought home from Olive Garden and sang to her. She's my BIG 4 year old!!

Swim Lessons

When My Mom was here visiting, I took the camera to Sarah's swimming lessons to get a few photos.

Here is Sarah with her teacher learning to swim on her back and float.

She absolutely LOVES the water...

Here is her Supergirl-she's learning straight leg kicks here.

And jumping in by herself in water too deep for her to touch!

You can tell how much she loves to swim!

October train ride

Okay, so I'm a total slacker when it comes to this blog. I have been super busy and haven't even had time to load anything here. Finally tonight I spent some time getting a little caught up.

Back at the end of October, Sarah's Lao Lao and her Gigi (Grandma and Great-Grandma) came for a visit to be here to celebrate Sarah's birthday.

On this day, my Mom treated us all to a ride on the Historic Railroad train ride through the mountains. It was a beautiful ride and Sarah absolutely loved it.

For some reason, blogger mixed up the order of the photos I loaded.

Here is Sarah on the train, enjoying the outdoor car.

Gigi, Sarah and LaoLao

my Little Flower

Half way through the ride, we stopped and stretched our legs. Sarah go to play on the playground for a little while.

Ya gotta love that smile!!

Me and my Noodle

Sarah and her Baba on the train

Enjoying the train ride!

Weee, this is fun!!

3 generations!

WEEEEEEE!!