Dancy Pants

This post is mostly about Sarah but I just had to throw in this picture of Handsome Henry. I kiss his face a lot.

At some point every day, Sarah declares, "I need to dance." Then she goes upstairs and puts on whatever dress strikes her at the moment.  In this outfit she says she's a ballerina wearing a crown. I need to get a video of her "dancing".  It's really her prancing from the kitchen to the living room while singing "Just a spoon full of sugar" at the top of her lungs. She then bows and tells us to clap. She told me she danced and sang in her nursery class yesterday "but my teacher didn't clap."

This morning at 7:30, I awoke to Sarah at the side of my bed wearing only her diaper, a dress in hand.  She needed help getting it on. This was taken later today and is the third of 4 dresses she has worn today.  She wanted to wear her blessing dress and cried when I wouldn't help her put it on.  She compromised by wearing the bonnet. She looks like a milkmaid or a Dutch girl.

 Picking vegetables with dad. Anyone need any tomatoes?

She watches the neighborhood kids get on the bus every morning so we've been talking about school a lot.  She'll tell anyone who will listen that she's going to school when she's 5 with her friends and mom will stay at home.

 This is my favorite part of summer because all the kids are back in school so we can go to the park and the store without all the crazy kids. She wouldn't go near this splash pad last summer. Today she cried when we left and didn't care that she was shivering.

My favorite Sarah quote of the day: "I'm going to drive in the silver truck when I'm big and you're going to be little and I will buckle you in your carseat. And we'll go to the park and I'll get you out of your buckles."

She will also tell anyone who will listen that her birthday is "Tober tebby-seven" and ask them when their birthday is and what kind of cake they want. We love birthdays around here.

If I didn't already love him like crazy....

this picture would seal the deal.  Happy 3 months, Henry.

20 Questions

As soon as Sarah heard the shower turn off, she was at my bathroom door.
Sarah: Are you all done in the bathroom?
Me: Almost, just drying off.
Sarah: Are you all done?
Me: Almost.
Sarah: Are you all done in the bathroom?
Me: I am just drying off.
Sarah: Are you all done?
Me: Sarah, I already answered you!
Sarah: You did?

Sarah asks non-stop questions all day long. Her favorite is "What are you doing?" It drives me the most crazy when I'm doing things she's seen me do a thousand times like putting dishes in the dishwasher or picking up around the house. No, I take that back, it drives me the most crazy when I'm driving.  "What are we doing?" I hear that anytime I stop at a stop sign or red light, slow down because someone is turning or waiting for cars to pass. At least she's learning the traffic rules.

It's a good thing she's cute.

 Speaking of cute.....here are some more.

 This is up American Fork Canyon last weekend.  I don't feel like camping with a newborn but I needed my campfire and smore fix so we went up for the evening.

 Sarah eating goldfish crackers sitting in her doll stroller while inside her cardboard house. Childhood is precious.

 Henry likes tummy time for about 5 seconds.

 I don't think I'll ever have a chubby baby like I've always dreamed.  But I love what I can get.

This pretty much captures how they play together.  Silliness meets tolerance.

It's getting super easy to get Henry to smile.  Just talk to him and his face lights up. It's a real self-esteem booster.

You know, I really believe God made babies cute so we'd want to take care of them.  And then He made their cries the most grating sound in the world so we actually would.

Henry's latest, greatest accomplishment

Henry slept a record-breaking 10 1/2 hours last night!
Don't ask me what I'm doing, what books I'm reading or what schedule he's on.  I'm doing none of that.  The accomplishment is all his. He is just a kick-butt sleeper (at night).

The Great Outdoors and Such

Do you feel that panic at the end of July/beginning of August like I do?  That summer is almost over?  Retailers don't help with their "back to school" ads coming out right after Independence Day.  Justin has been feeling it more than me and is making the most of every last weekend until he has to go back to school.  And by "making the most of it", I mean trying his hardest to live in the mountains.

But first, what I wanted to do all summer, Mapleton's Pioneer Day celebration.  Pancake breakfast, parade, games, fireworks.  Feels like summer.

 The first 10 minutes of the parade are every automobile that Mapleton owns that has a siren.  It gets a little old, especially if you have kids with sensitive ears.

We took Sarah to play a few games at the park.  It feels like a big ward party.  Keeping with the pioneer spirit, all the games are cheap and simple like this classic fishing pole game.

 Sarah's favorite was giving the lady a ticket and picking a sucker. Everyone's a winner.

The fireworks that night were a-mazing. Better than Stadium of Fire for 2 reasons. 1. You don't have to go 5 hours early to get a spot and spend 2 hours getting home. And 2. You sit so close, ash lands on you.  And you get to play with glo-sticks.

Justin took Sarah camping with his parents Sunday night. I don't know who was more excited to go, Sarah or Justin.  She was so excited to go camping and sleep in a tent. He was excited to be in the mountains and fish. Sarah went fishing and even ate some fish. I missed her but it was kind of nice only to have Henry to take care of for 24 hours.

Wednesday my friend Tiana, brought over her twin boys.  They were born a week before Henry but check out the size difference. They were so quiet and calm the whole time they were here.  I thought Henry was a calm baby but he seemed like a spaz compared to them.

 Friday we went to Scofield to go to the cabin and so Justin could fish again (and again and again).  Sarah talks about the cabin all the time.  The last time we went was in March and it was snowy and we went sledding and snowmobiling.  Right before we headed out the door, Sarah ran to her room to get her hat and scarf.  Then half-way there, she asked where her snowboots were.  She had it in her mind that it was still snowy up there, it was so cute. 

 Eating pancakes with Papa Saturday morning. It was a long night.  I started out trying to sleep in the bat room but the sounds of the bats creeped me out and there was no way I was staying, nevermind sleeping.  So I made Justin and Henry move out to the loft.  Henry grunts in his sleep a lot, like every 10 minutes so when Sarah woke up in her room, I went in to reassure her and ended up staying since it was so quiet. But then she woke up every hour or so to accuse me of things like eating her Starbursts or to whine about being thirsty or that her stomach needed a wipe (still figuring out that one). I lost track of time since there was no clock around but I'm pretty sure I got a solid hour of sleep at some point.

 Sarah swung for like 20 minutes and would have kept going for who knows how long.

 Henry was sad he couldn't swing.

Justin's massive splinter he pulled this out of his shin. That's what you get for fishing, I told him. I don't know why he's smiling since it was in there pretty deep and it hurt.

 Sarah's new dress.  Gotta love Target clearance.  She's looking up at her dad which makes me love her smile that much more.

With only 4 weekends left, I've got to make sure I check off everything on my Summer To-Do list.  All I can think of is see Cowboys and Aliens and eat corn on the cob and smores.