We have a book called "Nellie" that is set in a town right down the road from where we go in Maine every summer. Sarah's been really into it lately and the other day I mentioned that we'd go to Maine this summer ... oh wow has she latched onto that! Of course she has no concept of how far off "summer" is and literally 5-10 times a day she looks at me and says "Go Maine summer?" And then rattles off all we'll do and see - "play sand, toes in ocean, see lobster boats, sail boats, see seagulls, cousins in Maine!" Every time we get in the car she asks if we're going to Maine. I wonder if she'll keep this up until July?!

Another funny thing she's doing lately is stripping down in her crib when she wakes up in the morning - we often go in to get her to find her totally naked - pj's AND diaper off! And typically she's quite cold since we keep our house on the chilly side. She's a nut.

Last Sarah story - we've weened her of her "bunny and plug" (plug = pacifier) expect for nap, bed, and sometimes car. She knows when we get her out of her crib that she has to leave them in. Last week I told her we could cuddle and then we were all done cuddling, she'd need to put bunny and plug back in her crib - so now almost every day after her nap she asks to cuddle. I know it's purely for the sake of keeping bunny and plug a bit longer, but I love it - she so rarely cuddles because she's so busy and active, so I'll take what I can get!

Stuart & Ellyse, dear friends from Northern Ireland, where recently in town for 2 days. Jon lived in Vienna at the same time as them in the late 90's, and has kept in touch ever since. I got to meet them when we went to Ireland in early 2006, and then saw Stuart again the week before Sarah was born. It was so fun getting to spend time with them - and Sarah absolutely adored "Mum E and Chubby Bubby" as they are affectionately called :) And a HUGE thanks to my cousins for letting us stay at their cabin - it turned into an unexpected mini vacation for Jon and I as well! When we 1st got to the cabin, Sarah ran to the window looking for the ocean :) ... the lights of the valley were almost as exciting! We walked around a ton, always visiting the chickens, and it even snowed our 2nd evening there!!

And a few more random pictures ...

This picture is a glimpse into Sarah's personality ... on Tuesdays she's going to MDO from 9am-2pm (last semester she did Tues & Thurs but only 9am-12pm) - she LOVES it but is always worn out afterwards. As social as she is, she needs her alone time - as this picture shows!! (she's on the other side of the ottoman reading her books)

more quiet play time ...

and our dogs ... getting more camera and blog time because they're in the house more! Here they're watching Sarah push her little cart around the house - it's pretty loud so always wakes them up and sparks their interest.

"Let's look"

Sarah loves looking for things as we're driving down the road. The usual things are big rigs, big trucks, bobcats, backhoes, ambulances, fire trucks, choo choo trains, (yes Jon loves the fact that his daughter is so into trucks and construction equipment!), doggies, and kitties. Well today, driving home from bible study, she said "See monkeys, lions. Let's look! Mama look!" - so the whole way home we were "looking" for monkeys and lions :) Nothing beats the imagination of a child!!!

Saturday mornings and random pictures

During the Fall cross-country season, I was away most Saturdays at races so Jon and Sarah had extra special Papa-Sarah days. After breakfast and a bit of play time, they'd head out ... Starbucks always being stop #1, and then typically on to Home Depot or Lowes for Jon to get things he needed and Sarah smell flowers in the garden section ... or they'd go to other random places. Since the season has ended, Jon has continued this tradition. I love it! Both that he and Sarah continue to have this special time together, and it gives me a quiet morning at home. Beautiful!!!

This morning they were going to Babies R Us to take advantage of a 2 day special of buy 2 boxes of diapers and get a $15 gift card and then on to Circuit City to see what deals he can find with the company liquidating. Having down time this morning is especially nice ... Sarah fought a cold for over a week, and thankful it never got bad, but Jon and I both caught it. He's feeling mostly better, but as of last night I have laryngitis. Sarah's having a hard time understanding why I can only whisper and why I'm not reading books to her. She keeps looking at me saying "Mama all done sick" - I wish!! :)

This is a random slide show of pictures from the past month that I've wanted to post.

I also wanted to comment on our dogs ... Mattie and Isla have been spending a lot more time in the house, which is making them more relaxed. There are plenty of times I still want to grab the BB gun, but I truly do love these dogs. And I LOVE that Sarah loves dogs! Almost to a fault, she has NO FEAR of dogs. A funny side note - we had to switch their collars because Isla's was too big and Mattie's was getting too small, so we've caught ourselves scolding Mattie when we should be scolding Isla - and Mattie just looks at us totally confused as if saying "WHAT have I done???" We did buy a shock collar as well for Isla - we have a remote and can give her a warning buzz or shock her. I haven't used it a ton because it's been so dang cold here that we've hardly been outside, but we plan to try to train her not to jump the fence with it. We'll see how it goes!

Marley & Me and our own dog issues

Jon and I saw Marley & Me on Saturday night (thanks Mom and Dad for keeping Sarah so we could go on a date!) It's definitely a good, funny, real life movie. From what I've gathered from our thoughts and others, if you've read the book like I have, you think the movie is good but the book is better. If you haven't read the book, like Jon, you think it's a really good movie. Regardless, I'd recommend it. Having 2 insane labs ourselves makes the movie all the funnier ... and makes us realize our dogs aren't that bad.

Last night, the dogs were being so calm and peaceful on their beds, and Jon made the comment "in a couple of years they'll both calm down a lot" - A COUPLE YEARS?! was my initial reaction. Part me looks forward to them being old ... deep down I know it'll be so sad to see our lively dogs in that state but it sure is a welcoming thought right now.

Isla has figured out how to jump the fence and escape our backyard. It's a real pain. Being so close to the main road, we don't feel like we can let them run free. It was working so well with our HUGE fenced in yard. Now we're at a loss as to what to do. Please don't call animal control - but I've honestly been tempted to get the BB gun out to disciple Isla. I haven't done it and hopefully won't :) I have to remind myself constantly that she is ONLY 10 months old. She's such a puppy still! It's easy to forget that when she is bigger than Mattie! She will calm down, as Mattie is calming down. 2 dogs is simply A LOT.

So there are our own dog woes!

Sarah cracks us up with her choice of words - she's such a little parrot, so often talks in third person. We've really been working on pronouns with her!

Yesterday, she came up to me and said "Good job Sarah, you almost did it" - she had pushed her highchair almost into the kitchen (which is what we do for meals that's just me and her). Any time she finishes a puzzle, puts something where it goes, etc she says "good job Sarah" Oh she makes us laugh!!

It's been a fun week with lots of people coming in town!

Last weekend, Jon's good friends from college, James and Samantha, were here. We hadn't seen them in several years - since before Sarah and their youngest were born. It was so much fun to see them and their 3 boys (Kobus - 6, Kia - 3, and Koen - 16 months). Sarah is still talking about Kobus and Kia!! Ike came up for lunch on Sunday, too. After having him up for dinner once a week for 2 years, we sure have missed him this Fall. Sarah warmed back up to him so quickly!


Once they left, we had 2 quiet days and then Bob, Anna (Jon's sister), Wes, Seth, & Kate came in town. We spent lots of time together at Rob & Liza's, went to the aquarium, watched Penn State lose :( , went to Clumpies and walked on the bridge, and hiked at Lula Lake - all crammed into 2.5 days. It was cold and wet most of their visit, but that didn't stop us from being outside! :) It was so fun having them here!


Alysia and the kids were here for the weekend, so we spent Saturday afternoon/evening with them - including exchanging our Christmas presents.


It's all been a lot of fun! Christmas/New Years is the only chunk of time were Jon is off work when we're at home. Sarah and I are so spoiled from having him around so much. This week will be a reality check as life gets back to normal. I packed up all our Christmas decorations today, and we can all look forward to next year!

Happy 2009!!!!