Happy Birthday, Nathan!

edited picture

Ok. Here's the same picture as below with a few edits. :)

a couple pictures

So...I haven't been updating like I want to lately, but here are a couple pictures for your enjoyment (please ignore the scratched head, blue eye, and snot):

This one was a couple weeks ago, but is more like reality!

some of her words

Wednesday morning I wrote down Sara's words. I thought you might enjoy reading some of what she's saying these days. She has many more words, but these are the ones that I caught that morning:

potty - poddy
Mommy
eat
eww - usually about snot or poop
too - in this case meaning "I want to watch tv too."
my - meaning "mine"
eat this
spoon - poon
ok - tay
thank you - she has various pronunciations for this, for a while it was "doity doity"
eat more
all done - dah dawn
out
batteries - bah-ies
down
top
door
uh-oh
help - hawp
some - tum
juice - joos

Homeschooling

In case you were wondering, here are the subjects (in no particular order) that Nathan is covering in school:

- Reading
- Writing (print and cursive)
- Math
- Science
- Bible
- Piano
- Project Planning
- Sign Language
- Creative Writing
- Geography
- History
- Art
- P.E.
- Spelling

(Don't miss the post below.)

she's not such a baby anymore

This post was mostly written last Friday.

Our "baby" is growing up. She seems to be getting big so fast. She's 19 months now and acting more like a 2 year old. Her vocabulary is very quickly expanding. She is picking up words left and right. It's so crazy for us because Nathan didn't say much until he was 2.5 and Caroline started when she was about 22 months. Sara has been picking up words for months now and, in the last week, she has started combining words. It's so neat to hear her start to be able to put words together to communicate what she wants. Here are a few examples:

see...Mommy? - she wanted to know if I saw another airplane
please...door - asking Caroline to open the door
color...me - pointing to the crayon on the high chair where she had been coloring earlier

She also jabbers on in "sentences" - something the other two never did. It's really cute. It's funny how you can tell that she thinks she's saying something. She repeats words that we say regularly. For example, just a minute ago she found her ball and I said "you found your ball" and she said "found".

Since Sara was about 15 months old, she has been using the potty. I've taken her when she's asked and she pretty much always goes. At first she pooped in the potty, but more recently she has only peed. I've been thinking for a while that I needed to get on to "real" potty training while she's interested in going. But we've just had a lot going on so I wasn't ready to commit. Today, though, she is wearing underwear - the thicker training pants kind. I couldn't find our vinyl ones to go over them, however. A little while ago she came to the door (of the room where Nathan and I were doing school work) and called me. I told her to go back and play. Mistake. A little bit after that, Caroline told me that Sara was in the bathroom. I headed that way to take advantage of the opportunity to take her. Too late. She had pooped in her underwear - nasty poop - and it had come out the back. She had found it with her hand and had wiped it on her shirt to get it off. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! There was no saving it. I had to just put her straight in the tub. I don't mind the pee pee messes so much, but poop in underwear is just nasty. I think Sara agreed. Maybe next time she'll think to head to the potty. I hope. (She decided this weekend that she didn't want undies. We'll try again when we have at least a week to stay home...mostly.)

Sara loves to play with Nathan and Caroline. She thinks she's as big as they are and can do everything that they do. She enjoys playing with her babies and is often a little Mama. She pushes them around in strollers and feeds them and covers them with blankets to sleep. Her favorites are still the two hard headed babies. They are the ones that she sleeps with and wants to play with most often. Nevermind that they were both Caroline's...they aren't anymore. She also has a favorite ball. It's one that my grandmother bought her at Cracker Barrel. It's on of the bumpy rubber-ish balls. But this one is special. It lights up when it bounces. Sara is good with puzzles. She occasionally works on the chunky puzzles that we have around. She always knows where the pieces go, but she sometimes has trouble getting them lined up quite right.

Sara knows one color - purple. She makes one animal sound - moo. She loves doggies. She is very strong-willed - that means lots of discipline for blatant disobedience. She screams...loud...like a girl. She went through a biting phase - it was her retaliation for the other two doing something she didn't like. She loves to cuddle - with her head on your shoulder. The end.

quick pics

Sara in August

Nathan in August

August was a busy month. On the 2nd, we started homeschool with Nathan (and a little with Caroline). Nathan also started soccer - with Daddy coaching. But the most important thing that happened was that Nathan was baptized at church. For a long time he has said that he believed in God, believed that we sin, and believed that Jesus died on the cross for us. But we didn't want him to do anything publicly until he really made it his own faith (and how do you figure out when that is?). At the beginning of August he really started asking more questions and eventually wanted to be baptized to let everyone know what he believes. So, we let him. The Bible says that we should all have the faith of a child. We pray that he has truly made Jesus the Lord of his life and that it's a decision that will guide the rest of his life. And I included the last picture down there just so you'll know that he's still enjoying his trains (when he can keep Sara out).

Caroline in August

You just never know...

more Sara words

Sara is picking up more and more words. I have added new words to the previous list.

From Previous Post:
- Mama (sometimes "Mommy" and used to be "Ba")
- Daddy
- No
- Aye (you know...like Pirate for "Yes")
- Bye
- Baby
- Na-Ne (means "Please pick me up")
- Doggie
- Pee

New Words:
- Nah-nee ("I want..." or "Mommy" or "I need help")
- Bah (ball or balloon)
- Bow (elbow or hair bow)
- Boo
- Tsee (please or cheese)
- Uh-Oh
- Whoa
- Shoe

Every once in a while, she will say "Mama", but mostly I get called "Nah-nee". "Daddy" and "Doggie" sound almost identical. She is so cute with all her talking.

8/21 addition: After posting this originally, Sara started saying "bah-bow" for "elbow". She is also copying words. Today, for example, Nathan said "me" and Caroline said "me" and a moment later Sara said "me". So cute!

school is coming

I think we're about ready. I KNOW Nathan is ready. He's been asking to read his school books since we got them over a month ago. And he told me yesterday that he wanted to start earlier than we're supposed to start (meaning before public school starts). Lucky for him we will be starting next Monday - one week early.

Sara's words

Sara has been talking more and more. She babbles a lot and uses some English words regularly. There are also many times that it seems that she's saying a new word, but there's no way to be sure until she uses it more regularly. Anyway, here are a few that she has definitely used intentionally:

- Mama (sometimes "Mommy" and used to be "Ba")
- Daddy
- No
- Aye (you know...like Pirate for "Yes")
- Bye
- Baby
- Na-Ne (means "Please pick me up")
- Doggie

The one that I am hearing most often these days is "Baby". She loves her baby dolls!

Late Addition: She also says "pee". And yes, she does mean what it sounds like. She has been asking to go potty regularly for a couple weeks now. She has only started saying "pee" in the last couple days, though.

Fripp 2010 - playground

Since Nathan was little I've tried to get pictures of the kids on the playground at Fripp. Here are a couple from this trip.





I had to include this one because Sara climbed all the way up this slide...and it was rather steep.

Fripp 2010 - creatures

On one of our morning walks Nathan and I came upon a crazy ghost crab. I really do think something was wrong with it. For starters...it was out on the beach instead of hiding. It also went in circles several times. If I can get it to work, I'll try and put up a video of it at some point.


One afternoon we went over to the Activity Center and the kids got to touch and hold several creatures including turtles, snakes, and a baby alligator.



The main reason that Nathan and I were walking the beach in the morning was to look for turtle nests. On Tuesday we walked with the Turtle Patrol. On Wednesday we started out and found a nest in front of the house next door. The "Turtle People" relocated the nest so the high July tides wouldn't wash over it. Here the kids are getting to hold an egg that will go for DNA testing.



One morning, Nathan and I came upon this dead baby shark. It had a hole in the side that I (kindly) left out of this picture.


At Fripp, the deer are everywhere. They are used to people, so they don't run. This one was right outside the back door of the house when we headed out to the beach.

Fripp 2010 - on the beach

updates ready

There are two new post below. Also, the April and May videos are up. You'll have to scroll through to find them. Beach posts should be going up daily.

Fripp 2010 - group shots

We don't do very good getting all of us in one picture (mainly because I'm usually behind the camera) so I made a point to get at least one. I think if we're all looking the right direction we're doing good!


It's so hard to get a good picture with all three kids. I decided to try a walking shot so they would be on the move and all looking basically the same direction.


And later I tried to catch a few while they were playing. But yes, this one is "posed".

June Pictures

Nathan and Caroline were hanging out and Sara wanted to get involved...so she climbed right up on Nathan.


The kids and some friends had fun catching fireflies. They did such a good job sharing, too. The caught them for each other's jars.


Sara has been doing a very good job using utensils. More often she uses a fork. (And just as a side note, she's getting in her 7th tooth now.)


Since I was taking pictures of Sara, Nathan wanted one of him as well.


And there's a reason why I call her "Monkey Do".


Nathan and Caroline started this track. I helped out a little bit. Then Caroline kept adding until there weren't any pieces left.


They have a good time playing with the trains when Sara isn't around to destroy the track.


Smile!


Another smile.