Favorite quotes of the year

Late May, Josh to Sarah: "You look weird with a tan. Like something just isn't right."

Early June: Sitting in green chair, Piper on the right side of my lap. About 5 minutes after Brenna crawls up on the left side of my lap, Piper turns around, sees Bren and says, "I didn't know you were here!"

Mid June: Sitting on Piper's bed discussing random things. The conversation turned to having babies. Piper tapped my on my arm and asked; "How did you feed me when I was in your tummy?" I said that our very smart God designed a way for that to happen, then I explained about belly buttons. While Bren and I continued to discuss babies, I could tell Piper was still thinking. Then she tapped my arm again and said "Did I like chips?"

Mid June: Piper comes running naked into the kitchen needing assistance with her swimsuit. Josh says "You have such a cute bottom" and gave it a little pinch. Piper turns her bottom toward Josh, pats it twice and says "This is my tissues".

Mid June: Brenna was telling company about our family watching Dancing With the Stars. After telling what she likes about it, she said "My mom sure is sensitive about what they wear."

Mid June: While listening to "Evermore" (scroll down the link until you find the title, then click LISTEN) written by Sandra Boynton, performed by Allison Krause, Brenna says "Mom, when I get an apartment, we can listen to this song." The tears spilled over and I cried while listening to it two more times.

Mid July: Piper says from the backseat of the van, "Mom, when I get a daughter, I'm going to let her get a dog."

Mid July": Piper said first thing in the morning, "When I am a mom I'm going to let me kids wear long pants and shirts after swimming." I wonder what she was dreaming about?

Late July: "It's a skill I have at being gross." - Brenna

September: "Syrup even takes good on skin!" -Piper

September: Josh was talking to the girls about singing harmony vs. melody and explaining the difference. He said that he usually sings bass and I sing alto and those are both harmony, but Mr. Scott sings lead, which is the melody. Brenna said "Yes, I sing melody with Scott, but I sing sparrow."

So, there are these cats...

...that were born and raised in our back yard.

We found them as itty bitty kitty's in March of this year. And I took pity on them (and still do) and fed them. Twice a day. Better food than most beloved house pets would get.

We still call them wild cats even though they pretty much live on our back porch. We don't pet them. We don't let them in. We do, however, call them by their names (Sam and Sophie) and may or may not have made a bed for them so they won't get cold in the cold windy winters we have in these parts.

Sophie (whom I now think is a boy) hisses as us every time we go outside. S/he no longer runs across the yard from us, but keeps our distance. I think the hissing is her/his way of letting us know he is owned by no man.

Sam (whom appears to be a girl) is actually quite friendly (as all the Sam's in our life are). He (she) has let me pet him (her) a few times and will eat out of our hand. He (she) has gotten in the house twice when I am taking food out, but both us panicked immediately and the cat ran out. Overall, Sam is a great backyard adopted stray wild cat to have around.

Here's the problem. Sam is brave. Sam might possibly want to be an inside loved and cuddled house cat, which ain't gonna happen for many reasons. In his (her) bravery, he (she) runs in our garage as soon as the door opens. Very stealthfully (huh-that isn't a word). Twice now, Sam has spent the night in the garage. This is bad. Really, really bad. 1) I don't know how to and won't potty train a stray cat. 2) Sam is a stray cat that doesn't live in our house in any way. 3) Josh is allergic and I'd sure hate for him to have to give up lawn mowing and garage cleaning because of cat hair in the garage. Plus it makes Sophie even more cranky in the morning because s/he is even colder alone and misses her brother/sister.

So, all this to say, I need your help. I need some suggestions on how to keep the cat out of the garage. Most of the time he runs out scared when the door is going down, but twice now, he has not. And he is really sneaky about getting in. Do you know how may hiding places there are in our garage? Well, not enough room for a vehicle to hide, but plenty for a cold stray cat.

I welcome any suggestion that isn't telling me how to get dispose of cats or recipes for cats. I just wanna keep them out of my garage. I appreciate your help in this matter.

~Sarah

PS: I could also either a spay/neuter fund set up for us or the name of a really generous vet clinic who might help us keep from having lots of itty bitty kittys this spring.

Piper's first birthday (party)

Our baby turns 5 the day after Christmas, which is a pretty terrible birthday. Maybe not as bad as the day before, but pretty bad. We try to make it a special day for her by taking down all our Christmas decorations either Christmas night or the morning of the 26th. We also have a special birthday tree in her room with non-Christmas ornaments. She loves this tree so much and looks forward to decorating it like us non-christmas birthday people look forward to the Christmas tree.


Because of the timing, she has never had a friend party. (Not that B has had very many in her life either.) But we decided for the big 5 she should have one. And party we did! Piper invited her bestees from school and church for a Rock Star party. We bought blow up guitars and made a mixed tape for Piper and the Rockers to enjoy. We played a few games and had a ton of fun!! I think Piper felt it was worth the wait for her first birthday party. And I think it is worth the wait for another 5 years for a birthday party. :)

One happy birthday girl

Piper and the Rockers!!

the cake

Merry Christmas

Now these girls will make you smile!

I mentioned earlier that we let the girls do most of the decorating of the tree this year. I loved doing it together and them taking ownership of it really. Below is one of my favorite branches on our tree. Good thing I'm not "type A"! :)

Christmas lights

Last Monday night we started putting up our Christmas lights.


Josh got sick that night and we put everything on hold until he felt better. It took until Saturday before Josh felt 100% again. Saturday afternoon, we put up our tree and put a few other decorations out during the weekend.

I love decorating for Christmas. This year I really enjoyed telling the girls about the ornaments, where we got them, what we were doing, etc. They liked hearing about the ones we purchased on various vacations, ones family members bought them and on and on.

We are still not finished, and we still have Piper's Birthday Tree to put up, but that will happen through out the week.

Good bye, friend

On Thursday, we said good bye to our first family pet, Nemo. Our sweet friend, Molly, gave Bren a Betta fish for her 5th birthday, July 2008 and he lasted until December 2010. I feel that is a pretty good life for a Betta fish, but B was heartbroken. She sobbed on her bed for a long time, breaking all our hearts.

We had a little ceremony for him in the back yard. (Bren decided against flushing him.)

Bren wrote on a box "I will miss you, Nemo. Brenna"

Putting the box in the hole Daddy dug.

A moment of silence. (Bren didn't want her picture taken.)

He was a good fish and we will miss him. If anyone knows fish age, we'd like to know how old he was when he died. We are assuming he was about 2 1/2 human years when he died.

Making "ordaments"

I learned yesterday that Brenna has been saying ornaments wrong. "Ordaments" are hanging on our tree, but we'll get to that later.

Last Saturday we took advantage of some of what our great Metro area has to offer and made ornaments at one of the museums. We all had a great time. There were about 20 projects to choose from and you could as many as you wanted in the time allowed. We walked away with a LOT of ornaments!! The girls had a great time and I enjoyed watching them use their creativity.

Making holiday necklaces
(just for the record, I didn't take this picture, a volunteer did.)
I love the expressions on their faces.

Making scratch off art

This was my favorite. They made birdfeeders out of pine cones.
After they dried a little, the kids got to hang them on a fence out behind the museum.
We decided to swing by Pops for gas and sodie on the way home.
It was cool and windy!!!

The Mayor's Essay contest

Brenna was encouraged, by her teacher, to enter the Mayor's Essay Contest this year. The theme was "The Best Gift I Have Ever Given". Brenna accepted the challenge and wrote the essay completely by herself. After she was finished, we asked a few questions to fill in more details, but she simply added her answers to what she has already written.

This is what she entered:
In case you can't read it: "Saying Thanks" The best gift I ever gave was a pair of earrings to my Lunch Lady Mrs. Stephanie. I got my jewelry kit from my Aunt Mary. I made the earrings for Mrs. Stephanie because she was a nice person. Every day I sat at the end of the table and she said hi. The earrings are hoops with beads. I gave the earrings to Mrs. Stephanie aurond Cristmas time last year. She loved the earrings. When I gave the earrings she said Thank you. And that made me happy that she wore them sumtimes. The End

Josh and I were proud of her for entering the contest. There was a lot going on the week she had to work on it, but she kept herself on track. She wrote slowly to make sure it looked good and didn't ask for help from us on anything except spelling Mrs. Stephanie's name (I hope we got that right!).

Brenna won third place for 1st grade!
She received a shiny plaque (with her name on it) and was able to be in the Lighting of the Tree parade with the mayor. Here are the best of the terrible pictures I took.

Getting her award from the mayor, you'll just have to trust me on this one.

Just coming back from getting her plaque

With the mayor after the ceremony.

Riding in the Parade. Yes, she chose Dad to ride with her.

There were two other winners from our church, which was a great surprise. Congratulations to Isaac and Joel, as well.

Our good friends, Morgan and Jessica, came to see the whole thing. We enjoyed watching the parade as much as B enjoyed being in it. When it was over I asked B what she thought and she told me it was fun, but long. All that waving! haha

Piper was really proud of her sister, but a little jealous that she didn't get to ride with her. I think it helped having Morgan and Jessica there to focus on her. Then she got to meet Sparky and she was fine.

This has been coming for over a year...

We plan to donate her 8 inches to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths.
Or as she says "The factory that makes the wigs."

I really have no words. She is thrilled with her decision. I think she looks adorable, but will take a little while to get used to the two big girls at my house now.

Thank you, Ms. Katie!

I felt the need to post these pictures...

That is all.

I love these women

While we were in Ohio, mom's sister came to visit from a not-so-neighboring state. I'm not sure she was there for 48 hours, but I loved, loved, loved having her around. Our time with Aunt Jaye is always wonderful. I think she is one of the most friendly and giving people I have ever met. She, like her sister, will literally give you the earrings out of her ears or the "doo-dah" right off her shelf. (I think they get this from their mother, but that will need to it's own tribute post.)

Jaye has a way about her of making people feel really comfortable. She is amazing at her profession because of this personality trait. She works with kids all day long and I have a feeling each kid thinks he or she is Jaye's favorite. I know mine do.

When we spend time with her, we talk about important stuff, we catch up, we invest in each other, but it seems we laugh a lot. I have a dozen picture of her from our short visit this month, but not one she would be proud of. And some, my mother would kill me for posting. But they tell such a story...I have to post some of them.
I don't remember what got them so tickled, (I think it was Josh) but they sure did laugh. I love to hear them laugh together.

(Hey, Mom and Jaye, I took out the worst ones. Yikes, I know!!)

I know there isn't a flattering picture in here, but these pictures show two women I love and admire more than words can say. And these picture show part of what I love about them: their smiles, their joy, their relationship with each other. And I am honored to be part of that.

I suppose after posting these pictures, I should also mention they are very forgiving women, as well. They are not the kind to retaliate or hold a grudge.
Ever. Right?

Ma?
Jayebird?
I love you. :)

Ohio trip

At the beginning of the month we went to see my parents. It is always a welcomed adventure when we go. We have things that we always do, every time...time honored traditions, like eating at Young's Dairy.
We also enjoy nature. Sometimes we go canoeing, which we all love, but not so much in November. They have several amazing state parks in their immediate area, so this year we headed to Glen Helen. We had a picnic lunch then went to a Raptor center where they care for injured raptor birds. This year we got there just in time to hear the presentation students get.

Piper kept raising her hand every time a question was asked. It was pretty cute.
By the way, did you know that owls never sleep? They just rest. Now that you learned something new today, use that to justify spending all your time on the blogs.
:)

We also are usually a little silly at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Somehow Grandma suggests things most adults would not.


This time, we had some new experiences. Like listening to an octogenarian play her guitar. It was very sweet and I loved every minute of it. This woman, Nanny, plays her guitar just for herself, by herself. She will occasionally call up Mom and play for her over the phone. And, Mom, being the woman she is, always listens. We went to meet Nanny and received our own concert. At the end of every song she said in her thick, "holler", been-smoking-her-whole-life accent, "You like that one?" And we did like that one.

The main reason we visited my parents in November is because my dad was running for House of Representatives for the State of Ohio. He is not a politician. As far as I know, he never dreamed of running for office. But a series of events made seem obvious that he needed to do this at this point in time. He campaigned for about 7 months with his heart and his head. And I think he had a really good time. He didn't win the election; there were lots of things stacked against him. But he ran a winning campaign. He was dignified, honorable and challenged the young incumbent he ran against to think about some things in a new way. I loved being there for even just a little bit to be a part of that with him. And we all did our part while we were there.

My dad would have been a great asset for Ohio. He would have truly acted and voted in a way that would have brought good things to the state. But instead good things will come to OUR state. Since he wasn't voted in, he gets to retire from his career at the end of year and he and Mom will arrive in THIS great state sometime in the spring. Hard to get too sad when living near grand babies is the consolation for not winning the election.

As usual, it was a great trip. I will miss visiting Ohio, but I'm sure we'll go back from time to time.