A Sand Box of Sorts

This weekend, the weather was warm and wonderfully spring-like.  On Friday night, we went out to eat and then took Sarah to Franklin Park.  This park is amazing, but it's not very close to our house or exactly on our way anywhere, so we don't get there very often.  It has several play areas, a man-made creek (which it's not *quite* warm enough for yet!), and a giant sandbox.  Sarah spent about 15 minutes playing on the equipment, and then she found the sandbox.  She took off her shoes and jumped right in, filling and dumping the bed of a toy dump truck about 100 times. And it was all we could do to get her out of it 30 minutes later when it was time to go home!

I suggested that we fill her water table with sand for her to scoop and dig in, but Sarah just looked at me and said, "But where will I put my feet?"  So Tom and I decided that it would be worth it to turn her old kiddie pool into a sandbox for her.  I think Sarah was okay with the results...

Easter Eggs

This Saturday, we took Sarah to an Easter egg hunt at Grace Christian Church.  Our purpose was twofold - one, she got to run around and find a bunch of eggs and two, we thought it would be a good way to introduce her to the building where she will be attending preschool in the fall!  I figure it can't hurt to be able to say to her, "Preschool will be fun!  Remember when you got all that candy there?"  I am SO not above using positive memories of chocolate to my advantage!

The event started with a quick reminder of the story of Easter.  As the kids sat and listened to the story, Sarah sat and modeled her sunglasses.  Someday I'm sure she'll figure out how to wear them the right way, but until then...

It WAS very warm and sunny, however, and I guess her sunglasses just didn't provide enough UV protection for her.  Instead, she decided to wear her basket on her head to provide some much-needed shade.

  

When sitting in the sun became just too much of a challenge for her, she took advantage of the fact that Daddy was standing right behind her and snuggled while waiting for the hunt to begin.

Of course, she was able to pay attention again when it was announced that it was time to find Easter eggs!

Sarah went with the other 1 to 3-year-olds to a big grassy area next to the playground.  There were probably 12 kids and 200 eggs, so the odds were definitely in her favor!

Poor Sarah.  Her basket was so full of eggs that it was getting too heavy for her to carry!

Luckily, Daddy was there to rescue her again.

Having Daddy hold your basket really frees up your hands to grab more eggs!

Once all the eggs had been picked up (it took a while, let me tell you!), we got to empty them into Sarah's basket.  She was thrilled beyond belief that they all contained chocolate!  Since it was 70 degrees out, I wasn't so thrilled, but we managed to make the best of a very sticky situation...

Hand fed a peanut butter cup by Daddy?  I'm pregnant and even I don't get that kind of star treatment!!!

Check out her haul, though.  I think we'll have a lot of happy memories of this place when it comes time for Sarah to go to preschool here!

Mmmmmm.......

Chase is on the Case!

Sarah is completely obsessed with Chase from Paw Patrol.  Any German Shepard we see is a "Chase dog."  Any police car we see is a "Chase car."  And anything blue is her "favorite" because "blue is for Chase!"

So how could I pass up getting her this adorable police uniform when I found it at a consignment sale on Friday night?  Now she can look just like her favorite member of the Paw Patrol (without the tail, of course).  What a win!

She spent a lot of time this weekend talking on her walkie talkie and asking me if I had "an emergency."  I would make up some silly thing I needed help with ("Help! Help! It's an emergency! I can't find my water bottle!") and then Sarah/Chase would rush to help me.  The best part of this game, though, was how serious Sarah got when I explained my problems to her!  Look at her "oh-no!" face!!! 

It was definitely the best $4.00 I've spent in a long time...

A Family (Wedding!) Shower

Not that I don't love all the attention that comes with having a baby (meaning, of course, that I am every bit as uncomfortable with the spotlight this time around as I was with my first pregnancy), but it was so nice to have an event this weekend that focused on someone else for a change!  And Adam and Megan's upcoming wedding is definitely something worth celebrating!!! 

The location of the shower was a wonderful little bar and grill in Lee's Summit with tasty drinks and amazing food.  We had our own private room in the back of the restaurant to celebrate, and it was beautifully decorated by my amazing cousins (Carrie, Lizzie and Natalie) and aunt (Marilyn).  I mean, how cute are these gift bags?!

And the Tiffany's blue mason jars were the perfect pop of color on the tables...

My contribution to the shower was the flowers and a special vase for Adam and Megan to take home with them.  I also ordered the cake from our all-time-family-cake-maker, Karen Peterson!

We had a spectacular lunch (we got to choose between corn and chicken chowder or house salad as an appetizer and tilapia, roast beef, fried chicken salad, or seafood mac and cheese for our entree), and then we let Adam and Megan open presents!  Adam was still in a sling recovering from surgery to fix his broken arm, so Megan did most of the heavy lifting herself...

Once all the presents had been opened, we dug into the cake.  Adam and Megan were still in the spotlight, though...but at least they had a sense of humor about it!