strawberry picking!

we went out on a saturday morning to a nearby strawberry farm and had a blast! it was very hot and very windy, but so nice to spend the day outside as a family, doing something different and fun! a few friends met us up there later with their kiddos too.

 wait for me daddy! look, i have my own box!

 she was great at spotting the strawberries and grabbing them...but couldn't quite master the art of picking, without squishing. oops! she left quite a few squished berries before we could save them!

 and of course she wanted to eat them right away...they looked so juicy and delicious!

 "dittledittle. hand. clean it."

 we quickly assigned her the job of holding the box while daddy and mommy picked...although all the bending and squatting involved in picking didn't allow this pregnant mommy to last very long either. daddy did most of our collecting!

 i tried and tried to get a good shot here because i loved the background and the way the winde was blowing, but my model was too distracted and not wanting to cooperate. can you tell?!

 "hiii goat. hiii. hiiii". she still talks about goats and food because people there were feeding them. she was fascinated.

 the choo choo ride! first daddy tried to get in, but his long legs didn't leave any room for sierra to fit, so mommy and her big belly squeezed in instead! you can't tell by this face, but she LOVED it. she loves trains and this was her very first choo choo ride!

"daddyyyyy! hiiiiii! hiiiiii!"

what a fun morning! we also enjoyed some fresh strawberry lemonade and ice cream and then ate our PBJ sandwiches at the picnic tables in the shade before heading home. sierra crashed in the car and then continued napping for another hour and a half once we got back. we were all spent, but it was well worth it!

new phrases and funnies

i'm sure these will keep coming by the week, or even day and then they won't seem so amazing once she's speaking in full sentences...but it's just so cute!

in the last few days, i've said these phrases one time and sierra repeats me and then keeps saying them...in context! it's so cute! her memory is amazing - she truly is a little sponge!

* "bye bye daddy. have a good day" (ok, so it's not perfect, but pretty darn close!!)
* "night night mommy. sleep tight mommy"
* "oh boy"
* "ah maaan"

* when i ask her a question, she often replies with "ummmmmm. hmmmm..."
   - examples:
         me: "choose one more book. which one do you want?"
           S: walking up to the bookshelf, "ummmmmmm, ummmmmm..." until she chooses one. then she brings it to me saying "read it. read it"
   - me: "ok, now it's time to go home"
       S: "no. no."
      me: "well, where do you want to go?"
       S: "ummmmm, ummmmm..." (there hasn't been a response to that one yet!)

* a conversation with herself today in the car, on the way home:
    - "daddy home. bye bye. daddy wort (work). waawaa (her fake cry). ouwie. daddy ouwie. sad daddy. happy daddy. heeheehee. funny daddy. heeheehee. tittletittletittle (her sound for tickling). heeheehee."

Sierra funnies

* she says "whoa" when the toaster pops

* anytime she sees a bug (alive, dead, a picture in a book, or anything on the floor that looks like a bug), she says "bug, bug, pider, ewww, clean it"

* i love the way she says "hand", in a very British accent...it's more like "haund"

* if she sees a picture of a snake, she says "ssss, sank, mouth" and points to her mouth. it's all because the first time we played with play-doh together i made a snake and she put it in her mouth and bit the head off! now she always associates snakes with her mouth, hehe!

* the way she says expressions is adorable: "aw man", "oh nooo", "o-tay", "alwiiight"

* she still hasn't figured out how to jump in place - she doesn't ever lift her feet off the ground, but instead if you ask her to jump, she gets up on her tiptoes, then back down, up on her toes, back down. precious. she thinks she's jumping off the ground  :)

* she is really into "happy" and "sad". anytime she hears a baby crying she does this little fake cry and then with a very sad face says "sad, baby sad". or if she knows the baby she'll say their name, "sad, anya sad". she also likes to pretend that her animals fall (a.k.a. she throws them on the ground or down the stairs) and she does a fake cry and says "aww, Gu, sad Gu" and wants me to hug and kiss Gu. or she will hit Gu's head under the table (which she did once) and do the whole crying, sad Gu thing. it's pretty funny, but can get a little old when she does it over and over and over! so that's why we're working on making everyone happy now and we laugh instead of cry  :)

this girl is F-U-N, full of energy, nonstop talking and just plain hilarious

in Mommy's footsteps...or shoe steps

we love having a backyard!

from last month...isn't she precious?! (please ignore the unbuttoned jeans, haha! her belly is a little big and it seems like it would have to be uncomfortable sitting down with the botton closed! i guess i forgot to button it back when we went outside :)

fieldtrips

for the last month, we've gone on one "fieldtrip" adventure a week to visit different fun things around the city. it's been super fun to get out of the house, meet up with other friends and their kiddos and spend some time outdoors with the nice weather!

here's what we've done so far:

picnic lunches at a couple different parks

Nature & Science Center

Chick-fil-A on a rainy day

Zoo

strawberry picking

at the nature center...aren't they so cute?! there were 4 of them all about the same size. they had a blast!

fascinated with the "meow, meow"

little friends

digging at the dino pit

 playing with Cannon at Chick-Fil-A (Peyton was there too, but is a little too small for the play area still)

 she sat there for so long and all the big kids has to crawl around her to climb up the steps and she loved being in the center of all that action! she said "hiiii" to each of them and just laughed and laughed. she thinks she's sooo big! while she can often be shy around adults she doesn't know, that is definitely NOT the case with older kids...she LOVES them!!!

more pics to come from our most recent adventures  :)

Daddyyyy

Kyle's birthday was yesterday and we all got to enjoy blueberry muffins together for breakfast! We had a combined bday dinner the night before with Stu and Cat (Stu's bday was 3 days earlier) and celebrated with some really yummy homemade (by Cat, not me!) ice cream cake! Since last night was our community group night, we went out for dinner instead of our normal group time and it was so much fun - sat outside to eat and then play washers...with the beautiful sunset and amazingly cool weather it was a perfect evening!

Sierra enjoyed coloring a bday card for her Daddy and we practiced singing Happy Birthday all day long.

We are SO incredibly blessed to have such an amazing husband and daddy!! He loves us and cares for us so well...and is so much fun! We love you Daddy!!!

Here are a few recent pictures/videos of Sierra and her Daddy...

 "yes, that's right. I'M her daddy" - this was ideal for both: Home Depot (daddy's fave) & a tractor (Sierra's fave)

 she was loving it - a dream come true for her...a real tractor!

 playground time after mommy and daddy got ice cream shakes (ok, sierra did get a few sips too!)

 this has been almost a daily ritual...we watch daddy get in his car and drive off to work

sierra just learned Ring Around the Rosie and to say she loves it is an understatement! she was watching barney (wow, never thought i'd show my kids barney! but we don't have cable and it's on netflix.) and they were playing Ring around the rosie. daddy got her to do it for the first time and she couldn't stop giggling! we have done it over and over ever since!



like momma, like daughter

everyone says Sierra is a little mini me...

 please ignore the bright purple socks...must have been low on clean laundry  :)

we got her a mini bottle just like this for Easter - hopefully that will keep her from using mine! we'll see!

she definitely likes to use/wear mommy's things!

Dandelions

it's so sweet to watch Sierra explore nature for the first time - the awe, excitement and pure joy

Anya is ONE

yes, this post is 2 months late. these are from cousin Anya's 1st bday in february...

(blogger has changed and i can't figure out how to rotate the pictures)

the only picture i got of all 3 cousins together. sierra LOVES cousin alex! she is so hyper when they're together. one afternoon she was in a bit of a bad mood and alex was the only one who got her to smile and laugh...just by walking in the room!

cuddling with "bap" (capt's)

look at that pose! ha, really i just got lucky that she happened to pause while i snapped her picture.

girl time...it's fun that anya is now at an age that these two can play together more! looks like they'll be the only girl cousins, at least for awhile - and they're only 4 1/2 months apart so i see lots more girl time together in their future!!

time with Grana

at one point sierra disappeared and i found her playing with the big boys and their trucks and trains! she was fascinated and giggled nonstop. they were very sweet to her as she pulled apart their tracks and trains!

i love this one - bday girl, pretty in pink, playing with the big truck  :)

18 months

Sierra turned 18 months on the 1st - WOW, how did that happen?!?! it seems like she just turned 1

she had her well check this morning and is growing like a weed, just as suspected. everything checked out really well and our 2 only concerns are excema (the worst is on her little face) and allergy to peanut butter (which we hope goes away and isn't all forms of peanut! please pray against that!!).

a snapshot at 18 months.....
height: 90%
weight: 75%
head: 97%
feet: big! haha, that didn't come from the doctor, but seeing her other stats i now understand why she has such big feet! :)

sierra LOVES to be outside - she could play outside all day. rocks, acorns, bubbles and her "new" cozy coupe are her favorite outdoor toys. but just running around screaming is fun too! oh yes, screaming. we're working on that one because she has this high pitch shriek that she does when she's happy and just to get someone's attention - we're trying to distinguish between outdoor/indoor voices. so far it's not going so well- ha!

sierra LOVES to be around other kids - especially older boys. but other kids just give her lots of energy. her best friend right now is Cannon. it's is awesome that we live so close and are able to spontaneously get together to play often! she asks about him all the time and when we're with a big group of kids, she's always asking where Cannon is if she can't find him. so precious  :)

sierra still LOVES peas and fruit. her love of cheese has waned, but she is eating more meats now. she can still be pretty picky but is much better than a few months ago - she does not like strange textures and is often not consistent one day to the next. she has become a lover of bread of any kind and i end up sharing my breakfast with her most days because as soon as she sees the toaster, she knows i'm having some kind of bread/bagel/english muffin!

sierra can still be clingy and is definitely still a momma's girl, but LOVES bath time and tickle time with daddy! it is sooooo sweet to hear them giggling and laughing together before bedtime. she has become more afraid of loud noises and will crawl up on my (or anyone's) lap with this look of terror when she hears loud trucks, motorcycles, thunder, etc.

sierra still LOVES to talk!!!!!!!!!!!!! i can't even imagine what it's going to be like when she can start asking questions and speaking in sentences!! i love it, it's so fun  :)  i can't even count the words she knows now and seems to learn several new ones each day. she repeats everything we say, which can be pretty funny when we're driving and hear a word we just said coming from the back seat. she is stringing words and concepts together so we often can have basic conversations - when did our baby get to be such a big girl?!!? here are a few examples, so i can remember our first conversations...
     me: "we're here. we're at the store."
      S: "Gu?" (holding up her bear asking if she can bring him in)
     me: "no, Gu stays in the car. Gu can sit in your chair" (this is always the answer, but she always asks just in case!)
      S: "O-tay" (puts Gu in her chair)
___________________________________________-
      S: "det down, det down" (while standing in a chair)
    me: "yes, sit down please"
      S: "fall" (pointing to the floor)
    me: "that's right. sit down or you will fall"
      S:  "owie" (with a sad face)
    me: "yes, if you fall you will get an owie"

sierra is SO expressive. everything is dramatic! she has facial expressions for everything, it's hilarious. people have always told me that i'm that way too (my friend Meli says i have more faces than she's ever seen), so i guess she is copying what she sees me do! uhoh, i have to be careful how i react - she is watching me!!

sierra still LOVES her stuffed animals and babies. they bring her so much joy and comfort. when she reads a book and sees an animal, she say it and then starts to look around saying in the animal's name in a question voice, looking for hers. once she finds it, she hugs it and says "awww". she has started doing a lot of pretend with them too - Gu "falls" down (aka - sierra throws him) and she says "oh noooo. Guuu. fall. owie" and then picks him back up and hugs him. she also makes her animals/baby cry and says "sah" (sad).

sierra has started referring to herself in the 3rd person, "sahssah". it's precious. i'll do a separate post on this.

ok, that was long but i hope it helps me remember this stage. it is so fun!!! (...and challenging! we have re-entered the throwing things from the table stage - ugh. and sharing is a big challenge - she's rather steal toys and say "share. nonononono". she also thinks it's funny to run from us when we say to "stop" or "come here" - not good. that one needs to get resolved before baby brother is born or mommy is in trouble. yes, discipline is our biggest challenge right now. but that's not as fun to remember!)

oh, Sierra Grace, we LOVE you!

this is the only picture i have uploaded from March so far. it's not the best, but it shows some of her best friends  :)

taken literally

sierra is picking up new words every day and loves to repeat what we say - she's our little parrot.

there have been a few times recently where our communication has gotten mixed up because she hears what we say literally and that's not always what we mean. i'll give some examples, it's pretty funny...

daddy (while helping her brush her teeth) - "good job on the top. ok, now can you brush the bottom?"
sierra - puts the toothbrush on her (actual) bottom
(i mean, she got it right! she brushed her bottom!! hahaha)
______________________
sierra loves to dance and we ask her to do it a lot because it puts her in a happy mood. right after her dancing, she always does some spinning around and we call it "turn around".

one day a few weeks ago she couldn't find a specific toy and i spotted it behind her. i said "sierra, turn around" and she did a complete 360 (spin) and just looked at me like 'ok i did a spin, now where is it?!". it was very cute. she was right...she did turn around - just all the way around!

this has happened a few times since also - when i'm dressing her or doing her hair or lifting her into a chair.

she sure does keep me laughing!

"Washington"

Sierra and I were driving to my parents' house the other day and she said "Poppa". I told her that Poppa wasn't there because he went bye bye, he was in Washington.

She then says "hands" and I look back to see her rubbing her hands together like she's washing her hands (the sign for "wash hands").

She thought Poppa was gone, washing his hands (when really he was in Washington)!!! Sooo cute!

The rest of the day, every time she or we said Poppa, she said "hands" and rubbed her little hands together.