Bike Parade

Grammie and PaPa's new neighborhood does a lot of fun things, including hosting a block party every fall.  Knowing that Sarah loves bikes, parades, and dressing up, Grammie and PaPa invited her to join them for the pre-block party bike parade!  

Grammie glammed up Sarah's bike and we rode up the street to the parade route.  By the time we got there we had actually missed the parade, but Sarah still enjoyed showing off her bike and riding around on the street (a rare treat!).

Grammie and PaPa actually kept Sarah that night so she could enjoy the entire block party.  She had a blast dancing to the live music and playing all the games they had set up around the neighborhood, and she talked about "Grammie and PaPa's bike party" for days and days!

Circus Circus

Every night, part of Sarah's bedtime routine is asking me to "dream" about something.  This involves me closing my eyes and narrating a pretend "dream" to her.

Some nights she tells me to dream about something we did that day, like going to the park or taking a walk.  Some nights she asks me to dream about preschool (a real challenge for me, since I really have no idea what they did that day!) or spending time with friends or family.  Most nights, though, Sarah asks me to dream about the circus.  I have no idea how this became important to her, but I'm not kidding when I say I dream about the circus 3-4 nights a week! 

Naturally, when I found out the circus was coming to Kansas City, I knew I would have to take her.  After all, if I'm going to have to dream about something, she (and I!) should have a good understanding of what happens at the circus!

So I put aside my personal feelings about the circus (Poor elephants!) and got tickets for us and our friends, Grace and Miss Monica.

I couldn't bring my camera in, so please excuse the cell phone camera quality of these pictures.  Regardless of the graininess, the joy and wonder on the faces of Sarah and Grace are pretty precious...

We saw performing elephants, horses, poodles, rabbits and tigers.  We saw tightrope walkers, trapeze artists, clowns, and a girl who was shot out of a cannon.  We saw things I don't even have the words to describe...

Sarah also had a great day in terms of special treats!  She got a snow cone in a souvenir elephant cup, her first-ever soft pretzel, and a spinning, light-up elephant-topped wand to twirl during the show.  Not a bad day for a three-year-old!

Soccer

Every spring or fall, I dread the drive down 79th Street between Pflumn and Lackman.  Because every time we drive past and see kids playing soccer at Little Mill Creek Park, Sarah starts asking why she can't play soccer, too.  Well, this fall I've found a solution - let the kid play!

And then it was super cold on our first game day.  She wasn't thrilled about the idea of running around outside when it was so cold, but she put on her sweats and decided to give it her best.

Sarah is playing soccer through i9 and is on the most adorable little team of 3- and 4-year-olds ever.  I say "adorable" and not "soccer stars" for a reason.  They are all super cute.  But not a one of them has any idea how to play soccer!

We started off easy by putting the kids in their jerseys.  Sarah was excited to be "High Five," but was a little confused by the concept of team numbers because she said to me, "But Mom, I'm not five!  I'm three!"

We then had 20 minutes to practice with Coach Brian and our team before our first big game.  The kids all practiced kicking the ball into the goal, and we thought that we might have some talent on our team!

Then we made sure our shoes were tied tight, and it was game time!

Coach Brian brought the team in for a little pep talk.

GO TEAM!!!

Coach thought it might be a good idea to show the kids which goal they wanted to kick the ball into.

Then the whistle blew and it was game on!

Except that only one kid on our team seemed to know how to play the game...

Poor little guy!  Looks like all three kids on the other team knew what they were doing.

As I was yelling for Sarah to go help her team, I realized that she doesn't actually KNOW how to play the game!  She can kick the ball.  She can even run with the ball.  But she has no idea that you're supposed to try to take the ball away from the other team!  I've spent three years teaching her to let other kids have their turns, and that's just what she did...

It soon became apparent that we ALL need some coaching.  Notice that one of the members of the white team is missing?  That's because she's at the other end of the field, scoring a goal while all of the other kids mill around the opposite goal.  One of our team was even playing with one of the practice balls!

Soon, her first (clearly exhausting) 7-minute half was over.

Maybe I'll work with her a bit this week on the concept of soccer!

18 Weeks Old

September 3 - September 9

This week was all about the cool fall weather!  We took lots of walks and enjoyed sitting outside on the deck.  Kate has discovered trees and stares up in wonder through our entire walk each night.

We also celebrated Grammie and Aunt Megan's birthdays this week, but I was busy hosting and totally forgot to take pictures!  Just another bad Mommy moment...

On Saturday, Kate got to go to her first Lenexa Spinach Festival.  She was too little to go on the bounce house or get her face painted, but she enjoyed being outside in the warm sunshine!

Kate also loves hanging out tummy-down on the ottoman right now.  Sarah has discovered that the spot right next to Kate is perfect for watching TV, so the two of them hang out by Daddy's chair a lot!

We didn't really have any big milestones or events to document this week, but here are some adorable pictures of Kate as an 18-week-old: