Friendly visitors

After their stop at the farm Denise's family also stopped at our place. 

 Teresa decided to dress for the occasion 

 Sarah really liked Uncle Dave... just didn't want others to know it.  ;)

 A perfect reason to get the whole crowd together

So glad to see my lovely goddaughter Julia

Mom's Birthday

We ventured home to join Mom for her birthday celebration.  Denise & Doug's families also were there.  So much fun!

 Dave was determined to be buddies with all the little gals... success!

 This was our first time meeting baby Rachel.  What a dolly!

Bring on the animals!

 Made our first zoo trip of the year!

 Rebecca adopted this peacock

Hoping for many more adventures there this summer!

Sharp shooters

 

Andrew did really well at his first State Archery competition.  He scored 215... almost reached his personal best!  So proud of how much he has learned & practiced in these few short months.

Two of a kind

Birthday celebration

My sister & I enjoyed dinner out with our "old" nephews for Michael's birthday. 

So fun!

How could I forget?

Sarah also has quite the obsession with doing puzzles.  It's one of the first things she asks for in the morning.  This one of safari animals is a favorite.

She also has a strange obsession with randomly putting food on the bottom of her feet!  When she gets bored with eating, she just gets a fingerful of ranch/ketchup/soup & "paints" it all over the soles of her feet.  Disgustingly hilarious!

***

She's loved putting bows, headbands, & anything else she can find in her hair for months.  But, it never stays in for long.  We had a breakthrough this week & she left a small ponytail in her hair for 6 hours!  Her hair curls so cute in the back, but her bangs lay straight down over her face.  So she can see again!

21 months

At 21 months Sarah

has quite the variety of vocab but most often says

muck (milk), juicy (juice), awful (waffle), uppy (cup), eefill (refill), allsaush (applesauce), ogut (yogurt), eese!!! (cheese), egg, buttah (butter) 

dipah (diaper), ipe (wipe), des (Desitin), ook (book), ock (rock - in the rocking chair), lappie (sit in your lap), pay (pray)

inky (which based on context can be binky, drinky, or stinky),

 

side (outside), alk (walk), sing (swing), ball, shoes, ocks (socks), coat,

puppy, kitty, fishy, baud (bird)

*She tweets like crazy when she sees a bird...

but it's LOUD & intense... more like a large bird in distress!

 

versions of our names: 
Dada, Mama, Bubba, Becca, Teesah, Saah

versions of our friends' names: 
Gus, Hen, Wahnuh, Weo, Shasha, Hawee

 

*She almost always sleeps with Bugsy (her ladybug), a CareBear, a binky, her mobile turned music box playing ocean sounds, & a swaddler blanket half wrapped around her.  She usually goes down like a dream & naps for about 2 hours every afternoon & sleeps with minimal waking from 7:45-6:15.

 

 *Her favorite books are "Jesus Loves Me", "Baby Faces, & "5 Little Ducks"

 

*She goes crazy dancing in the kitchen if she hears any TobyMac, Newsboys, or Matt Maher songs.  Enjoys dancing & music in general.



 

*Though she has LOVED baths since she was little the last few weeks she has an extreme aversion to them.  Still trying to figure that one out.

 

*Her hair is curly in the back & mostly straight in the front but often plastered with the remnants of her last meal.  Makes for some awesome crib head!

Turtah. More!

 We spent our Bishop's Day Off exploring the nature center.  Sarah continues to be fascinated by creatures large & small.  She was a big fan of this "turtah".

 Little chilly but great animal action, always a fun playground, & happy picnic for all

Mola making

 

We learned about & then attempted our own "molas" in all of my elementary Spanish classes this month.  They turned out so cool!  I loved watching the kids work.  Every one had such a different idea of how it would look best.  Their creativity was awesome.

Here's Rebecca's in process...

 & complete.

 A couple more of my favorites

Andrew's class:  His is the orange fish at the right towards the bottom

Such a fun project!

We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo

 Took advantage of a free Sunday & went up to the "Big Zoo"!  It was a pretty day, so even walking between the indoor exhibits was nice.  We enjoyed the new touch pool at the aquarium.

Sarah was in awe of pretty much everything.  She LOVED the fish & all the other animals.  I remember Andrew & Teresa at this age being more fascinated by all the other kids in strollers.  Rebecca & Sarah just wanted to climb in with the wildlife! 

 

 "Woah. Turtah."

 Andrew has to photo-bomb everything these days!

 Rebecca was trying desperately to catch a butterfly & finally did at the end.  At one point Teresa goes, "Look!  Rebecca has one on her shirt!"  Get it? 

We've never done the IMAX there before, but since our tickets were half off with our other zoo pass, we decided it was a doable splurge.  We watched a show all about coral reefs.  Very interesting! 

 Loved watching this mama gibbon swing around wildly while her baby just clutched her fur.  At one point it looked as if she were even rocking her to sleep.  Pretty cool to watch!

 After a full fun day, we had to stop at Hardee's on the way home.  Not exactly the ice cream we were expecting, but it was delicious.  I shared my first shake with Curly.