Sarah loves her "Boy!"

Sarah is a funny little girl full of personality, and she's starting to let some of it shine through.  In the last few months, she has decided that talking is fun, and she isn't afraid to try and say new words...except one.  For some reason she almost always refuses to say Samuel's name.  When looking at pictures she'll point to each of the kids and say in her own cute way "Jacque, Calista, Ellen and Boy!"  The other day we were driving to Mom and Dad's farewell potluck dinner in Baker and we were trying to get Sarah to say Aunt Tiffie.  Samuel turns to her in the car and says very nicely, "Sarah, say Aunt Tiff-ie."  She looks at hime and says, "No Boy!"  Another time she was the last one finished with her lunch.  As she's eating she's looking around the table at the plates that were left sitting there and starts talking to m about them, "Calista's plate?"  "Yep."  "Jacque's plate?"  "Yep."  "Boy done?"  "Yes, Samuel's done."  I know she can say "Samuel" because I've heard her do it before, but for some reason she prefers to say "Boy" when referring to Samuel.  I'm glad she knows that she's a girl and he's a boy, but Samuel would like to be known as Samuel rather than "Boy!"  We'll see how long she keeps it up.

Which van is yours?

Sometimes we get a kick out of how the kids describe things.  We went to Baker this weekend, and before we left yesterday, we stopped by McDonalds drive-thru for a quick lunch.  After getting our order, we noticed that they had forgotten one of our chicken sandwiches.  Samuel volunteered to run in and get it.  We sent him with the receipt and then waited in the car.  He came running back and said, "They said they'd bring it out.  I told them we had a white van with black handles."  This is always how the kids describe our van.  We'll be going down the road and they'll say, "Hey, I just saw a van just like ours.  It was white with black handles!"  I'd like to know what the McDonalds employee thought of Samuel's description.  He wasn't far behind Samuel, so he probably saw him get into the white van with black handles.

First day of school 2012

I actually got a picture taken of all three of them this year!!  Samuel is in the 4th grade which means he got to move to building B and is now a "Big kid!"  Jacque is in the 3rd grade and is the oldest class of Building A.  Calista is in the 1st grade and gets to go full day every day this year!!!  We are all excited for this new school year and the exciting things that will happen.  They were all happy when they got home from school yesterday but also very tired.  It's amazing how much energy school takes out of you.  Each of them really like their teachers too.  Yesterday the girls were up and dressed before 7am, which is understandable being the first day of school.  But this morning all three of them were up and dressed before 7am too!  I'm glad that they are excited for school!

How did you know that?

We have loved our fridge phonics.  We were first introduced to them when Calista was 18 months old and we were at our cousins, the Gees' house.  I don't know if it is the music that goes with it, or the colorful letters, but the toddlers love to play with it, and end up learning so much from it.  They also love to take the different letters off and play with them around the house.  I find them all over the place.  Last Monday, Aaron had someone over and was in the middle of a guitar lesson, when Sarah brought a letter over to the couch where I was sitting and started playing with it.  She tried tickling me with it and fun things like that, but kept saying "I" as she was holding it.  I finally decided to look and see what letter she was holding.  It was a lowercase I.  I didn't think too much about that, because I figured she just knew that I was a letter and probably called each of them that.  But just to make sure, we grabbed a few more letters.  We held up an F and sure enough she said I again.  Then we grabbed the O and she said O.  We grabbed a W and she said, "doub-u."  We grabbed an S and she said "sssssss."  We ended up going through most of the letters and no, she didn't know all of them, but I was really impressed with how many she did know because no one has actually sat down and worked with her, and besides that she's only now decided that she can talk, so there aren't many words she will willingly say.  I know she can say more than she does, but to hear her cute little voice say "doub-u" was lots of fun.

Dear Santa,

Most of you are probably thinking that it is a little early to write a letter to Santa, but Ellen brought me a coloring page today and asked if I would help her write her letter.  At first I told her it was too early in the year, but then I changed my mind.  I mean what would it hurt? 

          Dear Santa,

                  I love you and thank you for my Rapunzel doll.  And thank you for my toys.  And thank   
          you for the toys you gave me.  I was falling asleep.  I do not peek when you give me presents.  
         I like you.  Thank you for my gifts. 

         Love, Ellen. 

          Bye, bye.  I like you Santa!

I was very surprised at her letter. I bet Santa never gets letters like this. Wouldn't it be nice if all the kids around the world would write a letter like this the day after Christmas?

Samuel got it!

We've had a "wascally wabbit" around our place lately, munching on things that it shouldn't, so Samuel borrowed Uncle Eli's pellet gun and he "killed the wabbit" yesterday morning all by himself!  You should've seen how excited he was!!  Luckily, Aaron called me just after Samuel killed it so he could hear the excitement.  Samuel insisted on hanging the rabbit in the tree until Dad got home so nothing would eat it until Dad could see the proof!

Fun with cousins

Tonya came a week earlier than our family reunion and got to spend a few days with us.  We had lot of fun getting to know our Arkansas cousins better!  Thanks for spending time with us!!  Here are a couple fun pictures that I was able to snap while they were here!  By the way, Tonya was able to trick my kids a couple of times, but I wasn't able to fool hers.  Carson, her one-year-old, wouldn't even take a second look.

 Samuel, Jackson, Ellen, Calista, Jacque, Carson, Aunt Tonya, Emmy

Jacque, Calista, Ellen, Emmy, and Sarah.

The kids have been kind enough to try to teach Sarah how to play air hockey and she LOVES it!  Here are some cute pictures of Sarah and Emmy playing together.  Emmy is 3 and Sarah is almost 2.