Happy Girl

what's so funny?
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Sadie had a fun visit from Nana and Auntie Kara yesterday. They were planning to visit in the afternoon, but were kind enough to come up to Lebanon early after a water main break forced Sadie's daycare to close. Of course, we had no water at home either!

They took Sadie to the Montshire Museum and to the bookstore in Hanover. In the evening, we all went out to dinner at Lui Lui's, where Sadie had a great time playing with her lump of bread dough while waiting for her pasta to be served.

The water finally came back on late yesterday afternoon but was a little brown, so Sadie skipped her bath. It looked nice and clear this morning, thank goodness. I still used bottled water to make the coffee.

Too cute

This picture is from New Year's Eve, but it's so cute I had to share it, even though it's a couple weeks old.

Isaac didn't sleep over in Sadie's bed. He napped downstairs while the grown-ups relaxed and then went home with his parents. I think both Sadie and Isaac will laugh at this picture when they're teenagers.

City Time

We had a super weekend in Cambridge, meeting up with Grandma and Grandpa. Sadie had a great time at the aquarium.

She was not a big fan of the jellyfish exhibit. It was pretty dark in there and she had just watched Finding Nemo the day before, in which Dory is stung by a jellyfish. But she loved, loved, loved the penguins, both real and scuplted.

The other big highlight of the weekend was a "train ride". We rode the red line from Harvard Square to Porter Square and then back to Harvard. Sadie had so much fun on the "fast and bumpy train".

Friends

Sadie loved seeing Samuel and Riley on Sunday.

What good pals they are already. We loved meeting Baby Riley for the first time. She is even cuter in person! It's very funny how in this group of kids, the girls both look like their daddies and the boy looks a lot like his mommy.

We'll get some weekend in Boston pics posted soon too!

Political Commentary

"Mommy and Daddy and me voted for Barakobama. My teacher voted for Hintery Clinton and my other teacher doesn't vote because she lives in Bermont."

(Sorry for the lack of pictures lately...we have been having trouble getting new ones to upload to Flickr.)

Three Year Old Check-Up

Yesterday, Sadie had her three year old check-up. She now weighs 33.5 pounds and is 3 feet, 1 inch tall (37 inches). She is still average for her age for both weight and height. If she stays on her growth trajectory, she will probably remain in her carseat until she is close to 5 years old. As part of her check-up, she had a vision screening and a hearing screening and passed both very easily.

Before the doctor came into examine her, we were asked to change her into a little tiny hospital gown. For all previous check-ups, we've just been told to get her naked. I guess she is growing up and they wanted to offer her some privacy. Little Miss Loves to Dress Up was thrilled to try on the purple "dress".

The doctor asked if we thought Sadie was saying at least 50 words. Then she laughed and said she thought she had hear Sadie saying at least 50 words within the past few minutes. Sadie's verbal skills continue to be a strength.

Physical milestones looked fine too. Sadie is now jumping well, running, etc. She was dancing all over the office, standing on one foot, climbing up and down off the examining table by herself and generally being a total show-off for her new doctor.

Clap if You Believe in Fairies

Sadie loves playing dress-up. She wears a variety of different costumes, but her favorite is this Tinkerbell set from Auntie Kara. She likes to pair it with plastic slip-on Little Mermaid wedges and then go clomping around the house.

A discovery in her stocking

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Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

"Mommy! It's Cinderella barrettes! Santa knows what I like!!"

Sadie loved opening all her gifts from Santa, both at our house and again at Nana and Bob-Bob's. The favorite present of the holidays was definitely her guitar. We'll try to post a video of her playing and singing!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all our friends and family. We wish you a wonderful 2008, filled with all good things.



We're woefully behind in posting pictures, so I promise to get a few new ones up over the next couple of days. We had a really nice Christmas in Concord and had fun seeing lots of family members and relaxing at Nana and Bob-Bob's.

Sledding

Up to the top of the hill with Daddy:

Here I go!

That was fun!

Quotable Sadie

"Mommy, I have the holiday spirit! What is the holiday spirit?"

Holiday Party

Last night was Dan's department party, which is always a fun time. Dan and I get a kick out of the party being held at Food Court (the Dartmouth dining hall where we ate dinner almost every night in college) and Sadie loves seeing the other kids, getting a gift from Santa and dancing up a storm!



Sadie liked seeing Santa and getting a gift, but this picture perfectly captures her slight hesitancy about getting too close. Santa gave her a box of finger paints. Since we're snowed in today, the finger paints were a perfect morning activity to prevent cabin fever.

One for Me and One for You

"Here Nana, you have the big tree and I will have this little baby tree for me!"

Three Look-Alikes

triplets
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Sadie, Daddy and BobBob having fun at the Christmas tree farm...this picture doesn't capture it as well as some others have, but the three of them have a strong resemblance to each other.

Over the past two nights, we have decorated our tree. Sadie really enjoyed helping Dan with the lights and the ornaments. The tree looks great.

Happy Hanukkah

hanukkah
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Tonight was the last night of Hanukkah. We had a good holiday. Yesterday, Laura and I went to Sadie and Isaac's daycare and brought latkes, applesauce and dreidel sticker for the children in their class. We read some stories, sang the dreidel song and showed the class Sadie's wooden menorah and candles. The kids loved the applesauce and stickers. The latkes were popular with some but not with others. It was fun to visit and see the kids during their daily routine.

Fun in a Truck

Fun in a Truck
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

Nana and BobBob borrowed a pick-up truck from their friends and brought it up when we went out to the tree farm to get our Christmas trees. Sadie loved climbing into the truck and had a great time picking out our tree. Nana and BobBob got a nice big tree for Concord too!

Getting Near the Music

right up by the stage
Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

We went to see Dan Zanes on Sadie's birthday. She started the concert a little tentative, but by the end, she wanted to be dancing right up by the stage. Daddy helped her get up to a little platform where she danced with a group of kids, including her friend Clara (in the red dress). You can see Dan Zanes in white pants and lime green jacket in the background, although Clara's arm cuts off his head.

She's 3!

Sadie is 3 years old! Here's the annual first thing in the morning, picture in bed.

We were only able to coax a half smile out of her because she was still wiped out from her party. Sadie had a roaring success of a 3rd birthday party the night before, with 25 friends and their associated parents. The kids ran around, bounced on the bounce house, climbed through all the gym equipment, ate a ton of pizza, ran some more, consumed a huge sheet cake in it's entirety, got party bags and went home happy.

Busy

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Originally uploaded by Dan and Ann

She was too busy enjoying the playground near Grandma and Grandpa's to even look up at the camera!

And now we head into the busy excitement of Sadie's birthday weekend.

Thank you!

Thank you Jenny and Andy for the great suitcase filled with art supplies. Sadie had a super time working with the glitter glue paint!

New York Haircut

We went back to Cozy's Cuts for Kids to get another haircut for Sadie. We are trying to grow out her "bangs"...which never really worked as bangs. Her hair is still too wispy. The stylist Janet (who also gave Sadie her first haircut) evened up the back, cut some cute layers to encourage the curl and angled her bangs so they blend more into her hair. She still needs a clip to hold hair out of her face, but the haircut looks great.

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!