So many clothes so little time

A few days ago, Sara and I were sorting through bins of clothes that were given to her. Most of the outfits are still too big but I did find a few that will fit her now. I'm thrilled to have three bins filled with clothes, one with all 2T, one 3T and another with 4T! Thank you everyone!

I'm not sure if it's a girl thing or a Sara thing, but Sara loves clothes! When we were first going through the bins she found a Dora nightgown. She flipped out!! She was holding it up screaming with joy to put it on! As if that weren't enough, she then found pink cowboy boots and wanted them on! It was hilarious! It was then time to pick up Sean at school! Dora and the cowboy boots came too! When we got there, she ran up to Sean, held up her leg and said "boots" with a huge grin! She then walked up to the other moms one by one, said "ya-ya" (which is "Dora") while pointing to her nightgown and then went on to show off her boots! We were all cracking up! Unfortunately this is the only picture that turned out! She was so busy running around it was hard to get one!Day 2 - Halloween costumes - Sean has been wanting to decorate the house with our fall decorations. When we went to get them out, we found costumes. Sean went straight for Obi Wan Kenobi. It even had a light sabor with it! Here he is in action...he's even making the Star Wars face!

Sara went straight for a pirate outfit. The costume is a 3T so it isn't even close to her size but on it went! First the shirt, then the pants. Nope, that wasn't enough, she wanted the headband. Then she kept saying hat over and over. I couldn't figure out what she wanted. She took my hand, took me back to the table and showed me! There was a clown wig that she thought was a hat! I for one wasn't going to tell her it wasn't a pirate hat, I was looking for the camera! First the Pirate...

...then Bozo the Pirate Then the switching of accessories...Pirate with a light sabor and Obi Wan meets Bozo!Here's just one more from today. This is another dress that we got from the wonderful bins. Paired with her boots, oh' yummy! (Yes, it does look like she's throwing gang signs!)

Organizational Update

I have a confession. My plan to organize the house room by room hasn't come to fruition. Not even close! Funny that I thought I'd have time to take on a new project with being Team Mom, Room Mom and volunteering in Iain's class every week!

I've decided that goal is better left in my dreams for awhile. I'm sure you were all waiting for before and afters of my junk drawer. Sorry, you'll just have to wait a little longer!! ;-) Instead I'll leave you with this picture of Sara. She dumped out all of her toy baskets and laid on the floor for several minutes staring at the ceiling! I thought it was funny, she looks like a big toy herself! Not sure what she was thinking, maybe just taking a rest between antics!!

Fall Festival

Last weekend was the annual Fall Festival for the boy's soccer league. It's a day of games, rides, activities and junk food. I'd compare it to a carnival or a small fair. The league plans team pictures for that morning, to lure us all to the location. When the kiddos see the bounce houses and booth games, it's over! It's a great strategy actually!

These are the pictures that I took while they were having the professional ones taken! Don't you just love the background? It does look fairly real until you see it cut off on Iain's.

Being a girl

This afternoon when Sara woke up from her 3 hour nap, I asked her what she wanted to wear. I pulled open a dresser drawer and she picked a tu-tu! So, dressed in ballet attire she went outside to join the fun with her brothers and some neighbors. She jumped right in.

I think we learned from today that you can still...

...skateboard...

...catch bugs... ...and play baseball... ...in a tu-tu!

In the game

One year ago I posted this. Fast forward one year to this past weekend. Iain was again playing in the seasons first game and he was again center forward. Add one more year of soccer experience and a cousin from Italy that taught him some tricky moves and you've got last Saturday.

The game was great! Iain played so well! He was seen slide tackling (disclaimer: he was getting the ball, no one got hurt!), doing headers and getting in the middle and getting the ball from the other team. It was yet another one of those proud Mom moments.

This picture was taken as he did the header. You can't see him but he is the one in the burgundy uniform that is hidden behind the kid in the front. I guess you had to be there to appreciate the shot!
I was so busy running up and down the field cheering (does that fall into the embarrassing mom category??) that I didn't get many pictures. I promise to get more this Saturday!

Soccer star

First quarter of the game. Cute little blond boy playing goalie dives to stop a ball from flying across the goal line. He stops it, the crowd goes wild!!!

Second quarter. Cute little blond boy takes the ball all the way across the field to score his first ever goal!! The crowd goes wild again!

After the game. Same cute little blond boy sound asleep on the couch, still in his uniform. It's tiring being a soccer star!

New responsibilities

I'm starting to realize that parenting a little girl comes with a few responsibilities that I wasn't familiar with. Finding matching tights, cute shoes and the newest one, cute hairstyles! Since I'm growing out Sara's bangs, every morning I put her hair up to keep it out of her face. We've done high ponytails, low ponytails, one ponytail, braids, headbands... I've just recently tried a new one, french braid. I've never done it before ( on anyone) so it was quite a challenge to figure out. Her hair is long enough but it's so fine that it's hard to get it to stay.

Here are pictures of my first and second attempt. No laughing!!!

First attempt. Yes, a little (lot) loose and crooked...

Second attempt. A little better but definitely still a work in progress!

Another new school year

We've had another first day of school this week also. On Monday Sean went back to preschool. As most of you know, we decided to wait until next year to start Kindergarten. We're so pleased with our decision! This year we've chosen for Sean to go back to the same class he was in last year. He has two good friends who are also going back so he's been looking forward to it all summer. When we got to his class, it was almost like he never left. He walked right in and jumped back in his routine with a huge smile!

We were running out the door when I went to get the camera so the pictures are a little rushed, out of focus and not so cheery! Bummer! Maybe I'll take some more tomorrow on his 2nd day and post those!

2nd Grade here he comes!

We're back in our school routine! Last week Iain started 2nd grade! 2nd grade, that sounds so big to me! I remember looking at the the 2nd grade homework last year and thinking it looked so much harder than 1st grade! Now that's his homework! He was in a combo class last year and we he was picked to have the same teacher again. So this year he's the 2 in the 1/2 combo! We're very pleased with it! The teacher is very good at getting the kids to perform to their own individual potential! We're looking forward to another great year!


The morning school started I was all ready to take my annual back to school picture and I received two big eye rolls from my models! Guess the pose that I think is so cute, isn't their favorite! It's amazing how big they've gotten!

First day of Kindergarten

First Grade

Second Grade

Sweet times

I'm too tired to find anything profound to say. Just a few pictures...

The boys and I trying to take a picture of ourselves. It took three tries to get Sean in, and as you can see we didn't even get all of him!

Being attacked by Sean and Sara!

Now some gentle hugs!

And a sweet kiss!

Tan Lines

Sara has such a different skin tone than the rest of us! She tans pretty easily and doesn't burn. When we all get a little red, she gets more brown!! Love those little tan lines! And those buns...ooohhh love em!

The bonds of summer

I can't believe summer is almost over. Tomorrow is our last day of sleeping in, playing outside all morning, no schedule to follow. Part of me is ready to get back into our school routine though. I do have to admit I love a good routine and getting up and out of the house early in the morning. I'm pretty sure the boys are ready too! They won't admit it of course!

Looking back over the summer, I've noticed how close the kids have grown. The boys are constantly playing together. If one of them is off doing something else, the other one is asking when he will be back! They are really enjoying each other and have been getting along great! They have similar interests so figuring out what to play is getting easier. I love that they are also both willing to set down the Pokemon cards or put down the Lego's to play with Sara. They love her so much and are very willing to show it! When Iain started school last year Sara was 8 months old...when he finished for summer she was 17 months. All she knew was Iain in school. If she wanted to play, she would call for Bubba. (That's what she calls Sean) I knew that this summer would change things. She would get the chance to spend more time playing with Iain. Now she calls for both of them. Yesterday she was playing with a castle and putting her little figures in it. She took Dora, a lion, a Pokemon figure and several others and placed them in certain places in the castle. When she was finished she called "E, Bubba, meer". (That's "Iain, Sean come here" in Sara talk) When they walked out, she stood very proudly and pointed to what she had just done. They both oooh'd and aaaah'd, making a huge fuss about her creation! The smile on her face said it all! It was such a proud Mom moment. Being two older boys, they could easily have walked out there and blown her off, or not walked out at all! I know Sara will miss them when they're back in school! She'll have to get use to mornings without them again!

Sibling love...

Eating Popsicles on a hot day. Love that they are sitting right next to each other!

Playing Pokemon together

Bumper cars toddler style!

One chair is more cozy that two!Iain playing wash the dishes with Sara. Maybe she thought he was a dish??

He said to do what?

Tuesday morning we had family dentist day! We're really good about taking the boys every 6 months and have since they were each two years old. We decided to take Sara this time as well to get everything checked out, make sure her pearly whites were coming in properly. The boys did great, their teeth were cleaned and all was well. The dentist looked in Sara's mouth and before he was even finished he said "Does she have a pacifier?". I cringed as I answered 'yes', because I knew he couldn't be asking just to make conversation. He went on to tell us that her top jaw was changing shape because of the pacifier (nicknamed mi-mi by Sara). He said it didn't happen in all kids, but he highly recommended we get rid of it! Yikes! Any mother out there knows what I was feeling! How can I take away Mi-Mi??? Her pediatrician had mentioned at her last appointment that I may want to consider getting rid of it sometime soon, and I did plan on it! Sometime soon!! I figured before her birthday I would work on it, but NOW?! Oh' my!

The ironic part of this story is that a friend gave us a book a few weeks back called Bye-Bye Pacifier. I read it to Sara (but changed it to Bye-Bye Mi-Mi). As I read, she sat next to me shaking her head and saying "no" at each page. It was the cutest thing. On about page 4 she closed the book, looked at me, said "no" again and put it away!!! I was trying so hard not to laugh!! Now when she just sees the book, she says 'no' and moves it!

We decided not to start the Bye-Bye Mi-Mi process until she is feeling better. Again, I'm not going to go cold turkey on her, I'll ease her into it! Luckily, she is also very attached to her blankets so she still has something to soothe herself with. Well, Iain got her up the other morning and told her she could bring her blankets downstairs but Mi-Mi stayed in her bed for sleeping. She didn't question it and dropped it right in her bed! For the past two days, she has only had it at night and naps. She seems to be fine with it, really!! Then today while she was playing I saw this...

It's a spinning top! Guess she was trying it on for size!

Then tonight she was rolling around on the floor with her blankets and noticed something under the couch! So she stopped to investigate...

...and dig, until....

Yep, you guess it! She found a Mi-Mi!

Then took off running out of the room!
I have to laugh but it's kind of sad! We did let her keep it for the rest of the evening. Finders keepers right?!

(On a fashion side note: we had taken off her clothes and she is wearing the little panties that go under a skirt. I had to clarify so you all don't think those are short shorts!!)