Water Day!

On Saturday, we went to Aunt Emily's house. This was Sarah's first time to play in the sprinkler and she loved it once she got used to it. It was so much fun to watch her enjoy it.

Aubrey is Sarah's first cousin. They are 9 months apart and love to play together.

I just could not get enough pictures! I really had a great time watching Sarah enjoy playing in the water, really for the first time. She went to a pool last summer and cried the whole time. I took her to the lake a couple of weeks ago and she was afraid of it, too. I am so glad that she is cautious, and this sprinkler is right up her alley!

They have this blow up water slide. Sarah hated the slide, but she did enjoy wading around in the little kiddie pool.

This is Sarah's other first cousin, Kylee Jo, who is about to turn one. She likes to sit in the water. We all stayed outside and watched them play.

Soon, it became more fun to let water run into the grass than it did to play in the pool.

Aubrey wanted more sunscreen.

She loved dumping water on Sarah.

My dad helping Sarah with the slide:

Outside Today

My favorite part of the picture above is the old “troll” stroller! I remember having troll toys! This stroller was in the storage room here. Sarah has asked to go blow bubbles for the past two days, so we go out and do that for a few minutes and then she kind of plays around on the carport and driveway. I am still afraid of snakes, so we stay out of the grass. I always put her in boots just in case she does step away from the pavement.

I love this comic strip umbrella. My parents had it for a long time, and I put in my car several years ago. We still have it! I think it was a free gift for subscribing to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Still loving her little car!

Sarah has finally started saying “I love you” on her own! It’s so sweet. She has also learned other phrases. We were outside a minute ago and she wanted my bubbles, so she said “I wanna take it, Mama!”

Everything at Once

I feel like checking in and giving an update, in no particular order. So here it is: Our house is finally under contract. It's been for sale for 11 months now, and we will close just two days after our year "for sale" anniversary. It's not the best situation, but it's not the worst, either. We are just so thankful to have a good buyer. I cannot WAIT to have all of my stuff back-beds, dishes...not that we've ever slept on the floor or missed a meal! Everyone has been a big help to us this year, but I still want my bed! Every time we have gone up to stay, my bed has been heavenly! Ben is on the last stretch of his master's internship. He has pretty much done everything except write about what he's done, if that makes sense. He has one more class to take this summer, and should "graduate" in August. I will be one happy and proud wife! We are approaching the one year anniversary of his dad's passing, and I can see that it is hard on his whole family. I think we are all ready to move past that anniversary. My dog, Leia, got a promotion this weekend. UNFORTUNATELY, my parents' dog (Luci, who was my sister's dog, until she had Aubrey almost 3 years ago) died unexpectedly on Saturday night, and on Sunday my dad called and asked if he could move Leia inside and be her new owner :) So Mace and Millie are still outside in the pen at their house, and Leia has moved inside. She is learning the ropes! We have been working so hard on Ben's grandparents' house. So far, we have put in a new kitchen floor, all by ourselves, but with a lot of advice from my good friend's husband, who just happens to know how to lay flooring. We also painted the kitchen, got the lawnmower running, got a plumber for three different jobs...did you know that if your hot water heater has a gas leak that a plumber fixes it? I didn't. I am working on a plan to paint all the rest of the walls before we move all our furniture down here. I think I can work on a wall or two a day and have it done just in time. I can't even explain what it has been like to be moving for a whole year. CRAZY is my best description. I can't wait to feel more settled. This is just a small update. I am feeling like taking more pictures and posting more, we'll see if it happens. Sidenote: I DID post in paragraphs, I don't know why that didn't translate over from my draft to my post.

Dad’s 60th Surprise Party

My sister had the privilege of hosting my dad’s 60th birthday party. It was a surprise, which is really unusual for our family-big party AND a surprise?! So it really was a surprise!

My dad has a lot of hobbies. He has 5 Broncos that he works on, so we got him a Bronco cake.

I loved watching Sarah play with her cousins. Here she is with Emily’s youngest daughter. These two may favor a little with their blue eyes!

I love Aubrey and Sarah! They loved watching Beauty and the Beast !

Here comes the 60 year old grandpa! He purposely left the sticker on his shirt so Emily and I would say something about it.

This was really fun-my mom had an old sign restored. This is a store where dad worked in high school. She had someone take down the sign and put new lights in it so dad could put it in his garage. He was so surprised!

I think mom was pretty proud of how it turned out!

Regular old age party pranks:

Blowing out candles with help from Aubrey and our 2nd cousin, Ana:

Here are three tired little girls eating snacks and watching Beauty and the Beast:

Emily got a bouncy house last summer and I know it will be in use all summer this year, too

Here is our family minus Kylee Jo, who had to go to bed:

I really wanted to give Sarah a big bubble bath, so I did right before we went home. These two just loved it :)

See below for another post I did tonight!