Crazy for Chocolate

Sadie loves chocolate, especially chocolate cake and brownies. She does not like chocolate ice cream, but anything else chocolate is yummy.

Here, she is going crazy enjoying some chocolate birthday cake that we had while out to dinner in NYC with Grandma, Grandpa, Jenny, Andy, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Michael and cousins Jessica and Aaron. Sadie told me that Jessica and Aaron were "not cousins, they're grown-ups!".

Thanksgiving Day Parade

Aunt Jenny got us amazing bleacher seats to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade. With the unseasonably warm weather and great seats, Sadie had the best time at the parade. She was mesmerized by the balloons and the bands.

Sadie and Daddy before the parade:


Watching with Mommy:


What's coming next?


It's JoJo!


Jandy (a la Brangelina):


Family fun:


Post-parade, with special Dora souvenir balloon:

Less than a week...

...until Sadie turns 3. I cannot believe she is almost three years old. She is feeling like such a big girl these days.

Sadie turns 1:


Sadie turns 2:


We're share some pictures from Thanksgiving weekend over the next few days.

Thanksgiving

Happy (early) Thanksgiving. We are off to NYC this evening for the holiday. Can't say we are looking forward to the drive, but we are definitely looking forward to seeing family and having fun in the city. We'll probably be able to update this site a few times over the long weekend.

This picture is another holiday card outtake. It would have been a good one except for the lighting...look how you can see my whole shadow over Sadie. Don't worry though, we did finally get a good picture and the cards are ordered!

Big Milestone

Yesterday, Sadie did something that I have been eagerly anticipating for a while now. She drew her first human figure. She actually drew this one and then another before moving on to another activity.

This one is titled "Me, Sadie, With Very Long Hair"

Imagination

"This polar bear is my baby girl and this necklace is going to be my baby sling and I will put my baby in the sling and carry her around because she's a good little baby."


(As you can see, Sadie desperately needs a haircut...she's scheduled for one while we're in NYC for Thanksgiving and I can't wait.)

"Snowflake, get on my tongue!"

snowflake
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

We saw our first snowflakes of the season this morning. Sadie was determined to catch one on her tongue.

Friends at the Farm

Sadie and Samuel peek through the fence to see the cows at Billings Farm.

Holiday Card Outtake

coy
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

This funny expression is from a failed holiday card photo session this weekend. None of the pictures came out well...I waited until too late in the day and the flash kept going off. No big deal, I still have plenty of time to get a good one.

Dinner Time

We try to have a family dinner at least a couple of times a week. When we can make it work, we all really enjoy eating together. The dinners need to be able to be prepared in approximately half an hour, because we all usually get home a little after 5:00 and Sadie is pretty hungry. Plus, we like to have her in the bath by 6:30 so she can be in bed with stories by 7:00 or so.

That means we are eating a lot of pasta, chicken breasts with rice or couscous, quesadillas and other simple dishes, or something from the crock-pot. I try to make something that all of us like, which is fairly easy to do. Sadie likes many foods, as long as they are room temperature at the warmest. She'll wait quite a while for her food to cool off. I usually cook some veggies for Sadie because she still does not like salad. She loves cooked veggies (all kinds!) but other than red pepper strips, she does not eat raw veggies.

Leftovers are good for lunches, so it's a good dinner when I have enough left over for at least one person's lunch.

Billings Farm

Old Friends with Young Kids
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

We went to Billings Farm yesterday with Beth and Jake and Samuel and had a great time, even though it was pretty chilly. Sadie and Samuel both loved seeing the chickens, horses and cows and just being outside.

So, I missed two days of posting. I guess I am not going to achieve daily posts in November, but I'm still going to try to post as frequently as I can.

Bundled Up

IMG_0665.JPG
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

The arrival of November has definitely brought a change in the weather. We've been bundling up for school every morning, with jacket, hat, mittens and scarf. Sadie has been a really good sport about putting on all her many layers, although I've probably just jinxed myself by writing that.

The Best

Over the weekend, Sadie and I baked pumpkin muffins. She wanted to bake pumpkin pie after reading a story where a little boy and his mother go to the pumpkin patch and get two pumpkins, one for a jack o'lantern and another for a pie. I don't really like pumpkin pie and certainly didn't want to spend Sunday morning baking one especially since I wasn't sure if Sadie would actually eat it. But pumpkin muffins are easy. We mixed up the batter and popped them in the oven.

Sadie had one for breakfast today and another one after school. She said, "Mommy, these are the best muffins I ever had. We made them! 'Member that, Mommy?"

I do remember, sweetie. It was really fun baking with you.

Cousins

sadie and cousins
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Sadie was thrilled to see some of her second cousins a few weekends ago for the christening of another cousin, baby Caroline. Sadie loves playing with them and they are really sweet to her. They aren't all in this picture but Sadie has nine second cousins from this branch of the family.

(Left to right: Kelley, Kara, Sadie being held by Erin)

Yummy

Sadie has loved pizza for a while now. She likes her pizza plain, although if you ask her if she wants plain pizza, she'll correct you, "I want pizza with sauce and cheese on it."

This slice of pizza was bigger than her head and she ate pretty much the entire slice.

Chilly, but a Good Time

nana, sadie and bob bob
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Sadie gets some snuggles from Nana and Bob Bob at yesterday's football game. It was pretty chilly but Sadie stayed in good spirits and had a good time with her grandparents. She really enjoys going to the football games, although she definitely prefers the bouncy house and balloon animals to the actual football.

In November, a lot of bloggers try to post daily. I did this last year and it was fun and a good challenge. I forgot about it this year and already missed posting on November 2nd, but I think I am going to do it, with a goal of posting at least 6 days per week.

I'll see how many things I can post about 2 year old Sadie, because in less than a month, she is going to be 3. Unbelievable.

Thanks, cheerleaders!

The Dartmouth cheerleaders gave Sadie quite a thrill today when they let her come down and pose for a picture with them.

They were incredibly nice to her and to top it off, Dartmouth won - 59-31!

More Halloween

Sadie trick or treats at Amorette's house. Amorette is one of Daddy's classmates.


Sadie was thrilled to run into her daycare friend Diya in front of City Hall. Diya was dressed as a glitter fairy.


Posing with Big Bird at City Hall.


A little Halloween swinging with Isaac, dressed as a cow.

It was a really fun Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

halloween kitty
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Happy Halloween from our little kitty! Sadie is off to school, where she will have Halloween activities and go on a costume parade with her class. Last night, we baked mini cupcakes and sugar cookies to share with her classmates and Mimo is providing a pizza lunch for all the kids, so we didn't need to pack Sadie's lunch box. I love Halloween!

Pumpkin Time

Last night, we carved our pumpkins.

Sadie wanted a happy face for hers. Dan made a cyclops and mine is a sad face, complete with a tear drop.

We'll post pics of the pumpkins with the candles inside on Halloween. Tomorrow, Sadie will wear her costume to daycare and then we'll go trick or treating with Isaac at night.

Homecoming Weekend

Last weekend was Dartmouth Homecoming and Grandma and Grandpa came to see us.

Sadie, Grandma and Grandpa dry off at a reception following the bonfire. It was pouring rain!

The worst bonfire weather we can remember. During the parade, the weather was better and there were very few spectators. Sadie collected a lot of candy from the various athletes. We ran into Heather and Chris and their two cute kids at the parade.

Mommy and Sadie relaxed during halftime of the football game.

She got this pom-pom from the young alumni tent. Sadie was definitely more interested in the cheerleaders than in the football players. The Dartmouth cheerleaders are no better than usual this year but Sadie copied their cheers very happily. While at the game, we got to see Pete and Danielle! That was really nice.

On Sunday, we went pumpkin picking at Riverview Farm. The wagon was easy for Sadie to pull when it was empty, but not once we had chosen our pumpkins.

It's hard to be a toddler

Yesterday, we gave Sadie a toy catalogue to look at in the car while we drove to do some errands. She looked at it happily for a bit and then we started to hear some whines of frustration. When we asked her what was wrong, she shrieked, "I can't read!"

Apres Bath

glamorous
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Doesn't Sadie look glamorous?

Do you want to know something strange? Every time Sadie wears this bathrobe, she tells us that she is dressed as a "private bunny". What in the world is she talking about? A private bunny sounds like something risque!

We're looking forward to lots of fun over Homecoming weekend...Bonfire, football game, Grandma and Grandpa...we can't wait!

Circles

The Montshire has a new travelling exhibit these days, Secrets of Circles (for some reason, Sadie calls it "The Magic of Circles"). Sadie loves the various activities that this exhibit has added to the museum.

Circles can be used to build an arch.


Vietnamese boats are shaped like a circle so they can easily move in all directions. Sadie loved climbing in and out of this boat and playing with the various round fruits that are in baskets in the boat.


This exhibit has the kids try to roll balls across a spinning disk.



This is a large tire that kids can climb into. Sadie will not climb into it, but she likes to look inside.

Hot Stuff

It was so hot in Illinois!

Sadie got to ride a pony at Curtis Orchard. She was so overheated!

Look how flushed she is!

James pulled her in a wagon for a while.


Mommy and Sadie on the big, inflatable slide.


Sadie tried this obstacle course, but wasn't able to get up the slope at the end of it. We reached over the side and got her out.


She posed with Bob Bob.


I think this is funny.

University of Illinois

We had a really fun trip to Urbana Champaign, Illinois to visit Lolly and James. It's a neat city...we enjoyed seeing the campus and walking around in different neighborhoods. Their apartment is in an old school and it's beautiful with high pressed tin ceilings and exposed brick. Sadie said that James' engineering building was "gorgeous", which cracked everyone up.

Daddy put Sadie on the famous "Alma Mater" statue on campus.


She got a little nervous so high up, so Mommy climbed up to join her.

So exciting!

Auntie Lauren and James are getting married! We're so happy for them.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Ann and Sadie at Poverty Lane

Happy Birthday to Mommy! Sadie and I think you are the best! Thank you for taking such great care of us for another year.

A birthday story: I took Sadie to the dollar store and told her she could get Mommy anything she wanted for her birthday. So Sadie picked out a shower puff and a little Halloween lantern (actually two lanterns, because she wated one too). I let Sadie pick a musical card for Mommy too - guess what song it played (leave your guess in the comments). Ann loved the gifts and card.