Turning 7

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARIAH!! Today was a special day. Sariah turns 7 years old! She has been waiting for her birthday for many, many months. Sariah is our special girl that is always wanting her ears pierced, nails painted, matching clothes and pretty hair. She is super smart and is pretty bendy (her word) and also loves her baby brother. We are thankful we have such a wonderful family member who is kind and thoughtful to others and is often willing to help out when she is needed.
Happy Birthday Sariah! We love you!

The Zoo 2

Spring break is notoriously hard for me to organize fun things for the kids. This year it came quite naturally after we started the week off with a fun birthday party for Jonah with Mason and Max unexpectedly spending the night for added fun. Christina came Tuesday night to pick up her boys and Jonah for a few days of running and leaping at her house. Also on Tuesday Katie John had a playdate with her friend Lauren who had just gotten a baby guinea pig. Katie John also had a scheduled playdate on Wednesday with her friend Norena. That left me with two small girls and a baby in need of something to do. The zoo seemed like the perfect thing.
By going earlier in the day than our last zoo visit we were able to see a few more animals. The orangutans were out and playing. The otter was running around and we could actually see the bongos. Sariah is doing a school project on the Red Ruffed Lemur so we were hoping to see one. Sadly they only had Black and White Ruffed Lemurs. She wanted to so badly to draw a picture of one.
For a special treat we rode the merry-go-round. Both girls had a blast!
Now, this whole time Lucas was being toted from one enclosure to the next without really caring about the animals. He slept a lot. After the merry-go-round he was wide awake. Recently he's learned he has a tongue. It's quite cute seeing him constantly stick it out. So while we rested in the shade from our long walk we laughed and took pictures of this cute boy.

This was a fun opportunity to spend time with just my two smaller girls and Lucas. It's not often we have time for such activities during the busy school schedule. Spring break this year so far is full of fun, what will we do with the rest of our week?

Package from Grammy

Katie John got a package in the mail today! Grammy sent her birthday present from WA and it has arrived! Apples to Apples is such a fun game and the girls have played it twice already today. Katie John is so sweet to play with everyone with her new game!
Also included in the package was a care bear for Keira and Sariah to share. They love care bears and are always giddy over new additions to their "family".
Who knew the box itself would be a fun present!
Sariah and Lucas pose for a cute picture. Sariah is my number one helper with Lucas. She is always checking in on me and asking if I need something. She is always willing to help with diapers, cleaning or holding Lucas. I appreciate her helpfulness.

Katie John and Sariah were a part of this year's Nativity Festival. Both girls sang in the stake primary choir as shepherds. The festival showcases Nativities from all around the world. Katie John's school choir also sang Christmas carols as part of the program. They did a wonderful job and were a delight to watch and hear.

The Holiday's are Here!

Katie John's first choir event of the year was a great success! She did a wonderful job singing and had a great time. They sang a holiday medley song, Jingle Bell Rock, One Little Candle, Jingle Jive as well as a few others. The school's craft fair was also going on at the same time. Sariah went to the kids' craft area and made two crafts while I shopped.
Here are the girls with their popcorn and smiles! What a fun time we had! We look forward to her other concerts coming up in the next two weeks.

Chaulk Fun

Sariah drew this beautiful drawing for me!

Daddy Daughter Dance

John took the girls to the "Daughter of my Heart" dance, a fun event our school hosted for Valentines Day. Katie John and Sariah have been looking forward to this "date night" with their dad for about two weeks. There was a chocolate fountain, pictures and tons of dancing. They really had a great time.

Apricots!

We haven't canned apricots in a few years, but the kid still enjoy helping out!

Sariah has the small hands for filling jars and Jonah has the knife skills to cut the apricots in half. After a few days of hard work we have many jars of apricots and even more jars of apricot jam!

House of Art

Sariah and Katie John spent some time making 'art' on the back our our house. Look how happy they are to show off their efforts!

Other good wedding photos....

Christina and I awaiting the happy couple.

Awe! Look how pretty she looks and of course my brother looks all handsome!

Sariah and Katie John smile as they eat ice cream sundaes at the reception.

Sariah spends most of the reception here, as we worry how bad her leg injury is. (unfortunate trampoline accident has Sariah getting her leg landed on) Good thing she is such a happy girl and was a real trooper.

Shaun and Katie on their way up to the balcony for the boquet toss!

Sticker Shock

As we were driving to school the other day Sariah tells me that she found the "price tag" on our car. I said, "What are you talking about, Does it have numbers and letters?" (I was thinking that she was talking about the license plate). Her reply was simply, "No, just numbers." After a few more questions from me, and a few more questions from her about the price of our van, I still couldn't figure out what she was talking about so I just let the subject drop.

Later that day I found out what she was talking about, apparently our van costs 2009. John came in from work and asked why our registration sticker was on the ground behind the van. I had no clue until I remembered my conversation with Sariah earlier. She had peeled it off thinking we had just forgotten to take off the price tag when we bought the car. What a funny, funny girl.

Happy 5th Birthday Sariah!!

With the long awaited day finally here, Sariah is just tickled to have all her friends over to "sing happy birthday to me". The jumpy house was the big hit, all the kid took turns bouncing away for at least 30 minutes. After a bit of bouncing the kids all came in and ate a lunch of hotdogs and chips. After lunch each guest decorated their very own cupcake to take home. The kids were super excited and actually made very little mess during the whole process.
Directly after that we fullfilled Sariah's expectations with a loud singing of Happy Birthday. She was just giddy with happiness with all the attention and the knowledge of yummy cake and ice cream coming. Before I knew it the presents were opened and parents were picking up their kids. Happy Birthday Sariah!

Sariah's Birthday Song

Grandma Myrick sings Twinkle Twinkle little star to Sariah for her 5th birthday! (with the help of Keira)

Dinner Talk

As we were sitting and eating dinner tonight, Sariah & Jonah were conversing about random things and Sariah piped up with this nugget:

"When I grow up I am going to be a Karate teacher, a Gym teacher or a Wrestling teacher!"

Who could have guessed? John and I both had a chuckle about that. What a funny girl.

Spring!

After all this drenching rain, our little 1 year old peach tree is in bloom! Sariah here shows us how happy she is about peaches!
Of course we will have to pick off most of the fruit to prevent damaging the small branches with oversized fruit, but we do hope to keep a few to test out how yummy our peaches will be!!

A trip downtown

Tuesday we bundled up and went out into the wild stormy weather. The wind was really whipping as we made our way 3 blocks to the Capital building downtown. The girls had to keep a tight hold of their umbrellas or the wind would have taken them away. We finally made it and met up with my sister who had driven all the way from So. California to attend the HR-5 hearings. Our little family met her there and listened to the comments from the basement overflow (you had to be there more than an hour early to get a seat in the actual room). For those of you who don't know, HR-5 is the House resolution to encourage the Supreme Court to set aside Prop 8. They voted, and it passed 7-3 I think. The girls were running around and getting a little boisterous so we decided not to stay for the second hearing (SR-7) for the Senate. Later I found out that the hearing had been cancelled due to the budget crisis and a special meeting had been called that required both the House and the Senate.
Here we are on the way home, the rain and wind had calmed enough for a picture. In the background you can see my sister, her kids and another blogger friend standing under that big rainbow umbrella... I thought it funny that our picture caught their little group in the background.

Super Sariah

Sariah is now 4 1/2 years old. The realization that she will be attending kindergarten next year hit me really hard this week when I realized that enrollment is coming up very soon. Sariah is smart and very vocal. She sang a "Rockstar" song while swinging on the swings today. It was loud, funny and all made up by her. I'm sure the neighbors had a good chuckle. Sariah is also my super helper during the day. She strolls the stroller, plays with kids, picks up in front of the vacuum and can pour juice for lunch.
Sariah also loves to color and draw. This is one of her many creations. If she isn't around for a while... I find her quietly coloring in her room. What a wonderful girl!

Her imagination is truly amazing. I can't wait to see what she does next. We are lucky to have her in our family.