Spinach Festival

This Saturday was the Lenexa Spinach Festival.  The weather was beautiful, and the girls really seemed to enjoy themselves!

 Kate was super happy just sitting in her stroller watching the world go by.

Sarah even shared her "I Like Lenexa" sticker with her little sis.  A three-year-old giving up a sticker?  That's LOVE.

This year, Sarah was big enough to build a project at the Home Depot tent.  Out of all the available projects, she picked a race car kit.  She put on her orange apron, grabbed a hammer, and got down to business!

By the time she finished applying her stickers, the bounce house was open!

She loved bouncing, but she didn't complain at ALL when it was time to get out.  I think that had everything to do with the fact that we were leaving to go get her face painted!

Sarah was very patient while we stood in line.  I read her the list of face paint options, fully expecting her to want a princess crown or a dragon or something.  Sarah had other plans, though.  She wanted a tiger.  And not just any tiger - a BLUE tiger.

Lucky for her, these face paint ladies knew how to make her wish come true!

It started innocently enough.

Then they added the blue.  LOTS of blue.

Next came a nose and mouth.

Then she got whiskers and stripes.

The whole thing was then given a hearty dusting of glitter, and this tiger was released into the wild!

See the glitter?  Guess how many baths it took to get THAT off for good!

Sarah rounded off her morning by gobbling through most of Daddy's bag of kettle corn.  She told him, "Daddy, tigers LOVE popcorn."  Then she paused and asked, "What don't tigers like?"  Daddy, of course, said, "Cinnamon."

That afternoon was as beautiful as the morning had been, so we spent some quality time out on the deck enjoying the sunshine and cool fall temperatures!

Kate enjoyed looking at the sun shine through the leaves of our giant oak trees.

She also practiced planking and making funny faces!

Sarah just practiced her growl!

Wit and Wisdom

Sarah has continued to become more and more observant, and her questions are getting harder to answer.  She never fails to amaze me with her insight, so I've jotted down a few of her more brilliant questions/comments/observations about life to record for prosperity!

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Here are a few of the best of her recent comments:


Anything Sarah enjoys is something she says she "always loves."  For instance: "I always LOVE painting."  She emphasizes the word LOVE, which is super adorable because she says her /l/ sounds like /w/ sounds!

Out of the blue, Sarah asked, "Why are penguins black and white? And why are peoples' heads circles?" (Asked as if these two concepts are clearly related and can be easily answered together.)


Sarah: "Mom, when Kate gets too big, you need to have another baby."
Me: "I don't think there will be any more babies, honey.  Daddy and I think you and Kate have made our family just perfect."
Sarah: "But MOM.  I want a baby brother!  And I want him to grow in Daddy's tummy instead of yours this time so you can keep playing with me!"

Sarah has started using certain phrases a lot recently.  She says "of course" all the time.  The emphasis is always on the second word. (Ex. "Of COURSE I know how to ride horses.")  She also says "I'm okay with..." a lot.  (Ex. "What do you want for dinner, Sarah?" "Um, I'm okay with McDonalds.")  The one that kills me, though, is her use of the word "ages." (Ex. "I haven't played at Gracie's house in ages!")

Sarah went to Burger King with her daddy and came home wearing a crown.  I asked her where she got it and she said, "I got it at dinner.  I wanted it because Miss Sasha's honey has one." (Miss Sasha is her preschool teacher.  Her daughter also happens to be in Sarah's class, and I would imagine that Sasha calls her daughter "honey" at school...)

Sarah (about the car next to us at a stoplight): "Why does that car have stickers on it?  I want stickers on my car when I get big.  They'll be pink and blue and green."

Me: "The stickers will be pink and blue and green, huh?"

Sarah: "No, silly!  I will have one car that is pink, one car that is blue, and one car that is green.  And they will have stickers on them!"

The other day, Sarah wedged herself between the kitchen table and her chair.  She made some dramatic groans and then said, "Now I know how a pancake feels like!"

Sarah loves to go to the pet store and look at the animals.  The other day, I pulled up to PetCo with her and she said, "Mom? I will be delighted if we see puppies at the pet store."


Sarah was brushing Kate's hair and said, "It's soft like a cloud!  But it's not really a cloud.  Because there's lots of clouds, but only one Kate's hair."

 Sarah: "Is Santa coming soon?"

Me: "Pretty soon, baby."

Sarah: "Oh.  I want him to bring me Juggle Bubbles and a chocolate bunny."
(Because a chocolate Easter bunny and "as seen on TV" products are what every three-year-old wants for Christmas...)

We were sitting on the front steps (one of Sarah's favorite things to do) and found a ladybug crawling on the railing by the door.  We were talking about the fact that ladybugs have spots, and Sarah said, "If there's a spot on top of her eye, she will be a pirate ladybug."  (Because a spot on the ladybug's eye would be like an eyepatch???)

"Mom?  (Insert dramatic sigh)  I've never been to China."
(That's right, Sarah.  You've never been to China.  BECAUSE YOU'RE THREE.)  

17 Weeks Old

August 27 - September 2

This week, Kate turned four months old.  She weighs 14 pounds (75%ile), is 25" long, and has a head circumference of 16.5 cm.  She's wearing size 2 diapers and is in 3-6 month clothes.  Her longest stretch of sleep so far has been 9 hours, but most nights she sleeps from 7:00-9:00, has a little to eat, and then sleeps from 9:45-3:00 or so.  Then she eats a bit more and usually goes back to sleep until 6:30 or 7:00!

Kate is generally a VERY happy baby.  She just lights up when she recognizes someone, and her big, toothless grin is just about the best thing in the whole world!  She especially loves her big sister, and shrieks and giggles whenever Sarah plays with her.

She does, of course, fuss from time to time, but it's usually because she has a poopy diaper or because she's overly tired.

Kate also has developed some amazing core strength.  She has learned how to pull herself into a sitting position in her Rock-n-Play and can plank for almost 5 minutes on the floor!

This week, we also learned that she fusses if we try to feed her with a spoon!  We got the go-ahead from at our four month checkup to start feeding Kate cereals.  That meant that this week, Kate got to try some oatmeal!  The recipe for "baby's first cereal" is as follows:

1 Tablespoon of oatmeal + 5-6 Tablespoons of breast milk or formula

Needless to say, she just got a spoonful of breast milk with 1-2 flakes of oatmeal mixed in.  This is how she reacted:

Wait.  WHAT?

First taste...

Yuck!

MORE?!

  I'll hold this for you...

We're done?  Yippee!

What's that?  We're doing this every day now?!?

Bummer...