Summer fun...having a blast!

Summertime is the best! I look so forward to the end of the school year, so that I can spend time relaxing with my favorite little girl and doing all the fun outdoor activities that are forbidden fruit for the majority of the year. This year, we bought Sarah a rather large kiddie pool with a slide attached. Sarah invited Maura and Tristan over for a swim.

It appears that Maura is not quite sure whether she wants to wet her golden locks. The water was a little cold and I think she spied a bug.



Sarah and Tristan had no problem braving the waves.

Water guns, pails, and some cool water are all you need for backyard fun in the summer.


Summer also means VBS! Pretty much the whole month of June, Sarah has been a VBS hopper. She LOOOVES vacation Bible school. She went with our neighbor, and next, the church we attend in Frankfort. This week she plans to attend VBS in Lexington as well. She is a real traveller.

The theme at Holly Hill this year was "mad scientist". The youth group ran the whole VBS and did a great job creating a control panel and some really funny videos to accompany the theme. On the far right, you can see the youth minister, David. The kids love him so much, he seems to have youngsters "orbiting" him at all times.




Closer view of the action.

Sarah is sitting here with a friend, Caroline. She just turned three last week. I love their conversations. Just the other day, Caroline turned to Sarah and said. "Hi Sarah, oh I LOVE your sandals!" Ha! What little women they are.

Over 200 attended VBS this year. 209 to be exact on Wednesday night. A challenge was put out by Bryan, the minister. If more than 200 attended on any night, he agreed to be drenched with pancake batter! Sarah also brought Caden to VBS as her visitor. She was so proud to have him ride in her car. They were so funny, telling knock knock jokes all the way home. They made absolutely no sense, but were funny anyway.

Here is one example of my daughters three year old wit.

Caden laughing at Sarah's "out there" humor.

Sarah asked me if she could have the camera to take a photo of Caden. I think she did a pretty good job for a three year old.

Caden had a turn next. Sarah is just giddy!
Next post: Vacation 2009!

Drum Roll Please...

It's a girl!!!! She is healthy (as far as the doctor

can tell) and beautiful! Photos to come.

Sarah "isms"

Sarah"isms"

I need to throw this in the trasha can (aka trashcan). I can't bring myself to correct her. It sounds so cute!

I was very queasy one day and was actually in tears and Sarah came up to me, patted me on the shoulder and said. It will be OK Mom. Get real Mom, just get real. It will be OK. She had me laughing in no time.

I forgot to buy milk on my recent trip to Wal Mart and Sarah says " If you bought it, you bought it, if you didn't, you'll have to go back. That's the way the world works, Mom.

Sarah has many "babies". Many of you remember the yellow baby she carried everywhere as an infant. She still sleeps with this one and loves it so. She also has a pink, baby blue, and multicolored version. She collects them and has named them recently. There is baby bunny, peppermint baby, and my personal favorite "Bluegrass Bubba Hill Baby". (Where does she come up with these names?)

More to come soon.

The week that was...

Summer is off to a great start! We have had a pretty busy week eating out,(because I still don't feel like cooking), meeting friends, and visiting family. I decided to post one big mishmash of photos from the past week. They were too cute to pass up!

Out to dinner (just the three of us).




Out to lunch with Maura. Look at these two! She is so excited they are back from Georgia!

Any three year old will tell you that there is no better stop than McDonalds!

We made it to the grandparent's home on Saturday. This is a new house they built on the site where I grew up. The old home is just a distant memory...


When we made it to Mamaw and Papaw's, Sarah immediately picked up her garden tools and assisted in the creation of a flower bed. She was so proud!

She adores her Papaw and is fascinated by all of his tools. He is preparing to cut some rocks to fit the bed border. Watch out!

A break for the ladies. Boy, I look like I need one!

Daddy and his girl.

Sarah is sooooo happy to be in the mountains. I am convinced she would go there to live if I said the word.

This is the reason why. Papaw takes her exploring on the 4 wheeler and Mamaw takes her on long walks to look at rocks, plants, wildlife, etc. This time Papaw and Sarah even "camped out" on the front porch! Mom said it only lasted about two hours past bedtime, but Sarah was still ecstatic. I only wish we could create as many adventures here in the old subdivision, but I don't think this is possible. One day I dream of a ranch home on a basement and lots of land (with few neighbors). Maybe someday... But for now, we are blessed to have a safe home to raise the family. We are lucky she has a place to go now to find her inner"country girl."

A day at the park

Sarah and I snatched the rare opportunity this spring to hang out at our local park, just us girls. It has a really great playground and a nice pond where we like to feed the ducks. We sat beside the pond and had lunch and then decided to let Sarah slide to her hearts content.

Here is a photo of the playground. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but it was mighty crowded on this day. I think every school in Scott County was in attendance!!


Luckily, Sarah opted to hang for a while in the smaller kids playground, away from the chaos.

Then she moved over to the big kids side to conquer almost every slide at the park!


We quickly got tired of fighting the "big kid" crowds and decided to go pick flowers and hang out by ourselves. This quickly turned into a mini photo shoot when I noticed the blue sky and green grass looked really pretty against her yellow shirt.

Here is the look I know so well. This is Sarah's "Mom, do I really have to take more photos?" Look.

There's a smile!

Finally, she gets into the photographing spirit.

Here comes the "ham."

Of all the photos of the day, this one is my favorite. What a beautiful day to be with the little girl I love most in the world. Our days as a twosome are numbered. Next spring, we will have a sibling photo shoot in the park (God willing).

Hillbilly Days 2009!

This post is a little late in coming... Dad had these images captured on his camera from April. Now that I am home visiting, I thought it would be a good time to steal them from him to post!

The day before Hillbilly Days began, I came home to pick up Sarah from an extended stay with the grandparents. I decided to revisit my young days and take Sarah to her very first Hillbilly Days before going back home. Pikeville holds a Shriner's festival called Hillbilly Days each spring. The first year of the festival was the year I was born (wouldn't you like to know...). It gets bigger each year. I have skipped it the past few years, and I was surprised at how great the rides were! The festival always occurs the third week in April, and you never know what type of weather you will see. We woke up to overcast cool weather, but Sarah was determined to hit the rides no matter the temperature. We zipped her up and off we went.

Saying she was pumped to see these rides is a big understatement!

I know Sarah will be a coaster enthusiast when she gets bigger. There wasn't a ride she was allowed on that she did not take full advantage. Here are the speed boats.

She especially enjoyed the "4 wheelers" since she loves her Papaw's so much!

She has been on boats before but not bumper boats. She couldn't quite get the hang of the steering wheel. She turned in circles screaming "I'm dizzy" and smiling the whole time!

This ride reminded her of the magic carpet ride at Disney World. I wondered if she would be scared flying high all alone...


No need to fear, she had a blast!


As usual, she loved the slides
Now off to the booths with yummy food!


Sarah especially enjoyed the gigantic corn dog!

It definitely was a tale of two days... While we were eating, the clouds parted, the sun shined and it became a perfect 70 degrees!

Sarah was quite interested in the gigantic snake across the street from where we stopped to eat. Yuck!

Our park used to hold hundreds of booths. Now they are in the parking garage which gives everyone room to spread out and listen to some bluegrass music. The cool morning weather had kept the big crowds away for the first day of the festival. It was great! No crowds to fight!

Sarah made a friend on the playground in the park. Check out Mom's Hillbilly attire!


Mom is not the only one who dresses up at Hillbilly Days. Shriners come from far and wide for this!

Sarah and her Mamaw. She looooves the mountains!
This was a really fun trip. I am going to try and get her back here as much as possible for the event each year. Next year will be a little more interesting with an infant and a 4 year old!

Till next time,

Sarah's Preschool Graduation Ceremony 2009

Time really does seem to fly! It seems like yesterday that I sent my little one to her first day of preschool. I am so thankful that I did. She had a wonderful year of making new friends, learning about letters, numbers, days of the week, science, music, and so many other wonderful things. Every Tuesday, Sarah was so ready to put on her clothes and strap on her backpack for another great day of adventure. Now summer is upon us and school is over. We had one last ceremony to make it official. Sarah's preschool has a graduation and promotion ceremony for every student at the preschool. Our first attempt at showcasing Sarah's talents on stage didn't go so well (see the Thanksgiving play post last fall), but she was determined to get up on stage and make a go of it again. Many members of our family came to support her in the audience.

Mom (aka Mammaw from the mountains) was there.

Amy and Chris's mom (aka Mamaw from the street) came as well. (Uncle Jason is in the background working on the AV for the ceremony). Here is the whole family anxiously anticipating the show.

Here are the proud 4 and 5 year old graduates. Aren't they cute?

My little cutie made her way onto the stage as well. How will this turn out? Only time will tell. The whole gang is on stage and stage fright is setting in.
Sarah is now in Ms. Christy's arms. I am determined not to go up on stage. I want her to work out her fears this time.
The masks must have made her feel just comfortable enough to strut her stuff. From that song on, she was ready to show off! Yeah! Stage fright won a battle but Sarah won the war. I am a proud mommy.


Video footage of Sarah actually singing on stage! Sorry for the sound, this camera really has virtually no mic.

Our family. Check out the look of pride on her face.




Here is Sarah with Payton, a girl who goes to the same babysitter. Sarah idolizes this girl. She even mimic her manner of speaking. How cute!



Sarah, Payton, and Kylie (Sarah's baby sitter's granddaughter). We feel so blessed to have found such a safe and wonderful environment for Sarah to grow in her book knowledge as well as love for the Lord. Thanks Joan and thanks Preschool teachers. We look forward to another great year in the fall!