Christmas 2008

Baby Jesus

Today Sarah and I displayed our Nativity. Grammy bought it for us a few years back, and I thought it would be a good way to tell Sarah about baby Jesus and Christmas. She understands that Jesus was a baby and has a mommy and daddy, and that's about it. She was very fascinated with the whole production, and I finally had to pry baby Jesus and his manger out of her hands so that she could eat dinner. I promised that we would play again tomorrow!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We all had a pretty low-key Thanksgiving, but we had some friends visit on Saturday. Sarah met Meri Margaret for the first time, and I think they were instant friends! Sarah did get a little possessive of toys (and me), but overall, I think she was intrigued with the "baby."










After everyone left, we decided to put up the Christmas tree! I never realized that about 95% of my ornaments are breakable. So, Eric headed to Walgreens for some "shatter-free" balls. Whoever came up with that was a genius...After Sarah tried to eat all of the cinnamon ornaments, she helped Eric hang her stocking on the mantle. What a helpful little elf!

Pretty Pumpkin

A photographer down the street from us takes fall pictures every year with a bunch of pumpkins. Sarah was not having any of it. She did not like the pumpkins. We must have all looked like fools, dancing around and singing, trying to get one smile from Sarah. I wish I had THAT on film. Anyway, we did manage to get a couple of pleasant faces. She can be so sweet!

Random Post

I found some pictures from a disposable camera we bought when our digital camera broke. As you can see, Sarah LOVES bath time! She would stay in there all night if she could! The others are from the MS State Fair. We didn't stay long because it was still 90 degrees outside and once Sarah saw the farm animals, nothing else held her attention. The picture of us is on the big ferris wheel. This is my favorite thing to do at the fair!

Busy Little Bees!

Whew! Life got busy! Between work, church, football season, and more work, I haven't made time to do anything fun! Needless to say, blogging fell by the wayside. Sarah is growing up so fast, and boy, does she already have a mind of her own! She only wants to do things her way, when she wants, and no one can convince her otherwise. I hear all toddlers are like that, but I didn't think that I would have to discipline so much, sooo soon!

Halloween has come and gone, and of course, Sarah was having one of her "days" when she did not want to cooperate, so our trick or treating consisted of standing on the front porch and taking pictures. We found out later that night (1am to be exact) that she was actually sick, so I guess it's a good thing that we didn't drag her all over the neighborhood. But what a pretty butterfly she made!

Panama City Beach, 2008

Our first family vacation! We had a blast. Sarah has issues with textures, so we weren't that optimistic about her liking the sand (she hates the grass). However, we were pleasantly surprised that she loved every aspect of the beach. She was so tired on the last day that she actually just laid down in the sand like she was ready for a nap! The sea gulls were the focus of much excitement on a daily basis (thank you, Aunt Gert) and collecting sea shells in her pink bucket was lots of fun too! We can't wait to go back!

Sarah's First Birthday

On August 13, 2008, Sarah Crawford McKinley turned ONE YEAR OLD! Wow! A whole year has already flown by! She woke up that morning to some strange decorations in the kitchen and didn't quite know what to make of it. After 5 minutes of picture taking at 5 am, I think she figured out that something was special about this day. After daycare, we opened presents from Mimi, Grammy, and Julienne, and then we had birthday cake! Maybe one day she will actually like the taste of birthday cake...What a fun first birthday!

July 4th! (aka 1st Road Trip)

My dad ("Grandpa Bill" to Sarah), lives on a lake in Alabama. It takes approximately 4-5 hours via car to get there, and so we decided that this would be a nice test run for future family trips. Amazingly, Sarah didn't do too badly in the car, so overall, I'd say the trip was a success. Both of my sisters and their respective husbands were there, so we had a nice time hanging out and catching up. Sarah loves the water, and I wasn't too worried about her at the lake. However, the x-factor that I didn't think about was the life vest she had to wear while she was in said lake. Needless to say, she was not a happy camper while sporting this bulky vest, so she didn't spend too much time bobbing around. We had a great time, though! Maybe soon grandpa will teach her how to water ski (not too soon, though)!