Super Birthday Sleepover Party!

Me, too!

Bryson likes to give hugs, too.

Little mommy

Sariah is an excellent helper.

I Want a Robot!

Sariah has been telling us since August that she wants a robot for her birthday. She is always very specific about what this robot must or must not have. Here are just some of the things she's mentioned:

It must talk.

It can't have wheels so it can go down the stairs.

It must be big, but not too big.

She wants it to play with her toys with her (I'm starting to wonder if she thinks she's getting a life sized android.)

Then we had a conversation about naming the robot because then it will know if it's a boy or a girl because "Robots don't have hair."

(As an aside, when I asked her how she knows that a certain friend that is a girl but has very short hair is a girl, she told me it is because she wears girl clothes, but "robots don't wear clothes.")

So the grand question is, where am I going to find this magical robot? It's the only thing she wants, but I'm afraid anything I get won't live up to the robot vision in her head.

I've looked online without avail so our next stop is the local shops. I think maybe I should have her draw a picture for us, too. Anybody have any ideas?

*edited to add a photo of the picture Sariah drew for me of what the robot (on the left) should look like. Oh my. Anybody seen one?

Big School, Little Girl

I agonized over this decision (I still do) but we decided that Sariah would attend 4 year old kindergarden (known as 4K) this year through the school district.  This is the first year that they are doing 4K, so its new for everyone.  She goes 4 days a week Tuesday-Friday for 4 hours.  They have a morning & an afternoon program.  We're doing the afternoon so we can still attend our morning activites like story time and dance class. 

Sariah is really excited for this.  She feels like such a big kid.  I feel like she's such a little girl to throw her into public school already.  She's doing pretty good, though.  They eat lunch at school, have class time and recess at the end.  I hope its a good step for her before attending full day kindergarden next year. 

I bought her a new dress for school while we were in Texas and painted her nails esp. for school.  She's been very excited all week.  I'm getting use to the schedule, but it does work out well, because Sariah is gone while Bryson naps, so I have some time every day to get things done for me.

We weren't going to buy Sariah a new backpack for this year, because her old one is still pretty good, but we saw this one at Whistler and had to buy it.  You can't see it from this pic, but its got a cute bear & moose on it.  She likes it way more than she would've liked a t-shirt or something. 

There she is, my big-little girl.  She has learned so much already, and she's going to do great at school.  The first week so far has been crazy.  Lots to learn for both her and me.  I'm still trying to get use to the schedule.  Thurdsay was crazy because I took Sariah and her friend to school and her friend's mom picked them up.  Friday there was construction blocking my way and I couldn't get to school on time.  Its the peril of choosing the elementary school that I want the kids to be in and not going to the closest one. 

Sariah's teacher is Ms. Pirkel.  Sariah really likes her so far.  She was excited to eat school lunch, too until she found out that her friend brings her lunch, so now she wants to bring her lunch, too.  I'm not excited so much about that, because I'm horrible at packing a lunch, but we bought her a lunch box, and we'll be doing a mixture of the two. 

Sariah is doing well with the rest of school, too.  She's gotten to pick prizes from the treasure box twice already, and she told me Wed. that she is awesome because she never had to sit next to the wall during recess for not listening and following directions. 

By Friday, I think we both felt overwhelmed.  Its a big change, but one I know she can handle.  She's ready to be challenged and learn.  She's growing up before my eyes!

Sabbitical Blog

http://epiccanada.blogspot.com/

Click this if you want to read about our amazing vacation to Canada via Texas.  We spent 12 days sans kids basking in the glow of Vancouver and the surrounding areas.  I've split the blog into 3 parts,  Part 1 is our trip down to Texas.  Part 2 chronicles the fun we had in Canada.  Part 3 wraps up our trip home.  It was a blast.  I hope you enjoy reading it!

Happy Birthday Husband

Doug had a fabulous 29th Birthday, which I have neglected to blog. My camera is unavailable at the moment, but imagine pictures of Doug & Sariah at the PBS Open House seeing Mr. Steve (of Stevesongs) sing, meeting the Cat in the Hat & more!. Then follow it up with him getting neat gifts like an expansion pack for our Settlers of Catan game, and a new stratigy card game, Dominion, plus a new DS game, Fire Emblem (all which he has really enjoyed.)

The next night we had friends over to enjoy one of Doug's favorite dishes, Noodles Romanoff, and play games. But before the kids went to bed, we had to eat this amazing, awesome & fantastic Settlers of Catan cake, made by my friend Heather.


Doug likes being 29, but if you ask him, he'll tell you he's 24. Sigh. Last year he always answered that he was 26, so somehow he got younger. Oh well. Happy Birthday to my magnificant man!