An Open Letter to Department Stores

Dear Department Store Buyer,

If I am 26 and don't want to look 40, which one of your 'Misses' shirts should I wear?

And if I don't want to look 15, which should I choose from your 'Juniors' collection?

Believe it or not, there is a huge population of women out there that aren't 15 or 40.

Please make a new department. You could call it 'Little Miss' or 'Senior' if you can't come up with anything else but please make it happen.

Also, judging from the patrons at the mall and from your sales racks, skinny jeans are here to stay. I guess I'll just have to ride this one out. Please don't stop selling what is flattering for every other female that doesn't have skinny calves, the bootcut jean. I'm begging you.

Thank you.

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Seriously....I can't be the only one hating on the age gap in clothing stores. Has anyone out there had good luck? Where?

Pictures but not much else.

Justin busy with school + Hotter than heck outside = Not doing much

But Sarah sure has a pretty face. And she's obssessed with Mary Poppins. Boppa, as she calls it, has been on every day for the past week. She only likes the part when they jump in the chalk drawing and clean up the nursery so I've seen that 1/2 hour many times. Aladdin is boring but Mary Poppins is captivating.

So here's a few cute pictures of her.

The Daily Gathering

I love summer, I really do. But is it bad I'm looking forward to school starting again? It would just be nice to be outside for 5 minutes without my front lawn turning into gymnastics land. And it would be nice to talk to people that aren't shocked that I haven't seen High School Musical 1-3. And no, I don't want to hear the plot either.

Sarah is just a really good audience. Too good, probably.

A Little Lady and Her Gloves

This is a story of a little girl who wanted to wear peach socks with her pink plaid pants. Her mom would not let her since it was a hot day. And they were ugly socks--where they came from and why they are still here is anyone's guess.

So the girl carried her socks to the store in her hand. She dropped them way too many times so her mom decided to put them on her hands to keep them from falling once more.

The girl loved her sockgloves. She had to touch every box and package she could reach with them on.

She also had to try out a few actions to her favorite song.

She continued to wear them all the way home. And while the groceries were put away. And while she sat on the counter while her mom made her lunch.

She took them off for her nap but they went right back on when she woke up. And she wore them while she picked grapes off the vine.

Two days later, and there they are still. The peach sockgloves. Even stained with strawberry juice and dirty from playing outside, the little girl loves them still. There's even a newly made hole by a wiggly little finger. The little lady and her sockgloves shall never be parted in the foreseeable future. The End.

This picture brings me to the garage sale find of the week. This little doll stroller I got for $.50. I wanted to get her one for her birthday so I had my eye out. So did she. There was no way I could hide this until October. She tried pulling it onto her lap while in her carseat on the way home.

Sarah takes turns with her doll sitting in it.

They also take turns wearing these sunglasses I got for a dime. I figured if they survived the ride home, they were worth the money. It's been 2 days now and we're still going strong.

Justin thinks Sarah looks like his mom here. Nadine, what do you think?

Sarah gets really hyper after dinner and likes to run and jump on the couch. I don't know if you can tell but she is all sweaty.

We must destroy in order to create.

Justin came into our bedroom the other day and saw his shirt cut up into pieces all over the floor.
Justin: What have you done to my shirt?
Me: You have to destroy to create.

I didn't know I was paraphrasing Joseph Stalin at the time. I just googled the phrase wondering who said it because I didn't think I made it up. Surprise! Just to make it clear, I am not a communist, just ingenuitive.

With some elastic thread and bias tape, voila! New dress for Sarah to grow into. I don't know where I was on the day they covered bias tape during my 5 sewing classes I had over the years, but I just discovered it. I love it.

And no shirt in Justin's closet is safe. I already have plans to make Sarah an apron out of another.

Happy Birthday to Zack. He hit the all-important 8 on Sunday.

Mapleton Park has the best playground for Sarah. There are 5 slides she can get to and go down all by herself. Now I can just stand around and watch how cute she is.

Here's Sarah taking a break from being a spaz at the mall fountain today.

I meant to post these awhile ago. This is at our family reunion. Listen carefully for Sarah to say "Brr" when asked if she's cold.

This is Sarah's favorite song for the moment. Well actually it was her favorite song the week after Father's Day. She's already moved on. She's a sucker for a song with actions.

I love how Sarah says popsicle.

Developing Her Personality

A few things you might not know about Sarah...

-She loves Flo from the Progressive commercials. Sarah stops dead in her tracks whenever she's on.

- When she wants a bite of what I'm eating, she'll ask "bite?" then open her mouth really wide and close her eyes.

-She's deathly afraid of bubbles in the bath but begs to blow bubbles outside all day long.

- While watching Looney Tunes, she'll say "silly" whenever someone gets hit/electrocuted/exploded/etc.

- If her hair is in her eyes, she'll come find me, grab my hand and put it on her head and say "hair" because she wants me to brush it back for her.

Our Yard Sale Find of the Week:

Child's Rocking Chair $3

Sarah has barely let go of it since Saturday.

We also got Sarah a snowsuit for $1. Here's Sarah sporting the hat.

And then it was the doll's turn. I found it like this on the kitchen floor.

Speaking of this doll....(it doesn't have a name yet. Just "da" which is also her word for dad). I threw it in the washing machine last night so Sarah couldn't sleep with it like she usually does. She asked for it once while we were getting ready for bed but I told her no doll and she was fine with it.

Well this morning when I went in her room to get her, the first thing she asked for was "da". "Doll or Dad?" I asked. "Da" she replied. So we go downstairs for breakfast and she sees her doll on the counter where it had been drying all night and she yells "Da!" I give it to her, put her in her highchair and make her oatmeal. I look over at Sarah and she's hugging the doll tightly and taking short, fake cry-like breaths. It was quite the emotional reunion. She pats her, kisses her and continues the fake whimper until I put her oatmeal and Flinstone vitamin in front of her. Then she hands the precious doll to me so she can eat.

After breakfast she raided her diaper bag, pulled out the changing pad and got into diaper-changing position just for fun, I guess. This is the best shot I got of it since she runs for the camera once she sees it out.

And I'll just let these pictures speak for themselves.

Father's Day Weekend

There are 2 things I love about this picture. First, I love how serious Justin takes his Lego building. It's always about making it the tallest possible. Second, I love the socks Sarah is wearing. Finding these lovely peach socks and insisting I put them on her was the first thing she did after her nap that day.

This picture freaks me out. When did my baby become a little girl?

Friday and Saturday was the Baadsgaard Family Reunion. I love typing Baadsgaard. You can type it all with your left hand. Which makes me so jealous of my mom--she can type her maiden name all with her left hand except for the M at the beginning. Margaret Baadsgaard. So cool.

Anyway, here's my nephew Tyler. Notice his cool necklace. My aunt Melanie helped all the kids make these. The wood is from my grandpa's cherry trees (I miss him and his cherries). The kids sanded the disks and then either put spider stickers or glued silk flowers on them and then strung them like a necklace. It was a lot of work for Melanie and I'm so happy Sarah has a piece of her great-grandpa's cherry tree.

Zack showing his off. Sarah will only wear hers for 2 seconds at a time so no picture of hers, sorry.

My little happy camper. Sarah loved camping. So much so that it took her hours to finally fall asleep. I think it was a combination of too much candy and the excitement of being in a tent. It took a good 2 hours for her to calm down. Maybe more. She would not stop jabbering away in the dark.

My mom and cousin Chelsie. And the beautiful nose and lips of my aunt Mel.

My cousin Hailey and niece Jessica. I loved seeing cousins who rarely or never met hanging out together like old friends. Family bonds are so cool.

The Happy Camper Dye Family

My cousin Trevor and his dad. Don't let the sweet face fool you. Okay, he really is sweet but......

He climbed into my aunt Sue's motorhome and put it in gear. No one knew he had even awoken from his nap. Suddenly the RV rolled back toward the campsite. We all ran for our lives (well not me, I was somewhere else and missed all this excitement). It was stopped by this tree on the right before it could roll over anyone. The ladder has a nice bend in it now. Good times.

The circle of love. The chairs had to be pushed out and the circle made bigger as more people came.

"Just wipe it on my pants." Sarah wasn't quite sure what to do with the dirt on her hands. But then it was pretty fun for her to wipe her hands on me.

The circle of love even bigger.

Sarah thought the tent was so amazing. She didn't want to get out when we were breaking up camp.

Father's Day! Here's Sarah helping Justin open his super-cool new pepper and salt grinders.