plus and minus

negatives today:

-sadie picked up and spilled my starbucks vanilla latte on my favorite seven jeans and pink top

-she wrote in green crayon all over her wool carpet and beautiful glider and ottoman in her room

-i have two ulcers in my mouth that are so very painful

-i spilled an entire bag of gingerbread man cookies on the kitchen floor (that i just bought yesterday)

-i had to take my car into the shop because i ran into my stepdad's car...in my own driveway!

positives today:

-sadie and i had a fun little snack at starbucks (before the latte incident)

-we checked out some really good books at the library

-we both took an almost 2 hour nap this afternoon

-i'm making yummy king ranch chicken for dinner tonight

-we had the best girls' weekend in plano and left the babies with their daddies!

here we are at paradise bakery getting some lunch...kami, mckinlee, and susanne

 kali and i

 after braving the crowds at the mall for several hours, we took a break to eat a delicious dinner that susanne made, then went to our friend, michele busch's house, who happens to be an amazing jewelry designer, to shop some more! after michele's house, we went to target at 10pm and got snacks and pjs, because by that time, we were hungry again and ready to get comfy...great great weekend!

favorite quote of the day...

(to a random lady behind us at hobby lobby):

"hi i'm sadie isabella. i'm cute."

on my mind and heart

 i grew up with the calmest mother in the world (really i rarely, if ever, remember her raising her voice or losing her temper.) when she got *really* upset, she would whistle. that's it. just whistle to calm down.  so in having that wonderful example of patience, i feel like i have a high standard of mothering to live up to.  not that she or anyone else has told me so, but i just feel like i need to stay calm at all times. which i don't. which leads to guilt.

guilt is not healthy. it's not productive. and it doesn't solve anything.

sadie is a very active, lively, and talkative almost 2 year old. she is precious to me, and i love her so so much! but a lot of days, she wears me out. i start the day calm and patient, but some days (like today),  i end up feeling exhausted and sad that i've raised my voice to her or spatted her leg.

 i wonder if i'm mothering her "correctly"...i wonder if i let her watch one too many cartoons...did i let some naughty behavior go because i'm tired, and then discipline her later out of frustration?

i know that there are real, serious problems out there like not having food or a home for your children, but i take the privilege of being a mama very seriously, and i just want to get it right.  i want her to grow up to love spirtual things and to be an encouragement to others.

i want to be the best mother i can be.

i pray for patience and love daily, and i know it's a constant thing to work on (especially when raising kids!)

and i have finally realized, with the help of my sweet husband, i can't control some things. like if she talks too much when she's needing to be quiet, or she doesn't want to eat certain things at mealtimes, or she doesn't always act the way i think she should.

she's unique.

she's a sweet girl.

and i love her more than my own life.

sadie-isms

hi! we had a great, relaxing 4 days off...it was hard to have mike go to work this morning!

we went to see mike's parents this weekend, so i'll have to post all the pictures, but today i thought i would write about some cute things sadie is saying right now...i try to write down all of her funny sayings, but some days i just can't keep up with everything she's saying!

here are a few from the last couple of months:

-When I told her it was time to eat she said, “ don’t want nupting (nothing)”

- she saw a little black spot on her fingernail and she said “gooness gracious”

-Her diaper leaked and mike went to change her…as I was walking towards her room she said, “dandy, we’ve got a mess!”

-“mama, hold my baby”

-When I picked up a crayon off the floor Sadie said “way to go mama…you helped Sadie!”

-Sadie was playing with a lemon today and I heard her say “okay lemon, are you ready to roll?”

-We were outside playing with her balloon and she kept saying she was going to do her “super soccer kick” on the balloon.

-When we do something good together she says “go team!”

-And daddy has taught her anytime football is on to say “go waders.”  (go raiders)

-When we’re out and she’s trying to open a door, she says “abre”

-Patted my arm and said “don’t worry my mommy,” then said “I love you all the trees.”

-Says “Sadie being naughty. I stand in the corner.” Then counts 1, 2, 9, 10, 11

-Takes the wooden end off my desk and calls it “woodpecker”.  She was smelling it and I said what does it smell like, she said “chicken!”

-After getting money at the bank, as we were driving away she said “I appwecirate (appreciate) it!”

As you can tell, there is no shortage of expression and laughs in this house!!

And we officially started potty training today.  I was going for the "just wear big girl panties and i'll clean up all your messes until you figure it out" thing...that lasted until 11 am, and then i decided pull-ups would work just fine for us ;)

trip to the zoo with the cousins

yesterday morning, i took sadie to our local zoo with les' grandkids who were visiting for a few days...it was FREEZING but we just bundled up and had so much fun!

here is sadie with her big cousins, brock, cole, and lauren

 her little mouse hat kept her head super warm

 in the inside aquarium (we stayed in here a long time because it was so nice and warm)

 brock staring down the turtles ;)

 lauren on the lizard statue

 the kids playing with the rope and gong in the asian forest

 sadie dancing on the floor chimes

such a nice little outing! after that, sadie and i went to mcalister's for lunch. i was craving some potato soup and iced tea...we had so much fun!

assembly weekend

this weekend was our assembly in denton..the theme was "let god's name be sanctified" and it was SO encouraging and full of good talks/interviews and just getting to associate with friends was fun!  sadie did so good throughout both days, she colored and was really quiet, but when mike got on stage to give his talk she said "yeah daddy!" really loud...it was cute!  this first picture she was obviously not wanting her picture taken, but i wanted you to see her adorable leopard dress that nana made her. i got it monogrammed and it just turned out so cute.

 here she is with nana

 here we are after the saturday session. isn't that fabric mural gorgeous?  throughout the auditorium, there are 4 or 5 murals like this depicting different locations like the mountain, the beach, etc. they are sooo beautiful!

we stayed at the nicest holiday inn with a huge waterfall in the lobby which was a hit with sadie belle.

she tossed and turned for quite a while but once she went to sleep, she slept all night which was wonderful...i, on the other hand, woke up every hour and had to go potty like 15 times (no joke!)

 mike and i on sunday at lunch

 a family pic

 susanne and mckinlee came on sunday! it was so good to have them there!

 love this one of sadie and her zizi

a wonderful weekend, but man were we tired last night! i kept falling asleep on the way home and sadie went to bed quickly she was so tired...

happy monday!

family pictures 2011

hi! how are you? it's been for.ev.er since i posted but i wanted to show you our fall family pictures! my friend, lorrie dunford, took the pictures for us...she was fantastic and i'm so excited that we got some really good ones. enjoy!