Milestones

Three Big EVENTS in Sabine's life this fall.... Each warrants it's own post but here are the highlights:

First Day of Preschool

Uncle Jacob got married so Cousin Izzy came to play

Sabine turned 3 last week!!!

Exciting times around here! (and LOTS of Hello Kitty!)

End of Summer Wrap Up #3

One of Sabine's favorite things this summer was being at our local pool. We joined the Lewis Ginter Recreation Association last year and have enjoyed being at the pool as often as we can. It's nice to see neighbors out and about and to feel connected to community just by being there.

This year we found out that Sabine was finally tall enough to stand on her own in the big pool which was a huge benefit from last year when we had to hold her the whole time. She enjoyed going deeper and deeper - up to her neck even- to try to chase down her inflatable ring. She also really loved it when Max made waves with her kick-board "kickboard waves!!"

Here she is on the last day of being at the pool this summer:

Some of her favorite things to do in the pool included: being "spinny dog" which meant she would hop in circles saying spinny dog spinny dog (this is from a pup in our neighborhood who used to bark and spin in circles whenever Tyco would walk by). She also loved playing Ruby from the TV show Max and Ruby. She did syncronized swimming and called it the water lily (after something on the show) when she would first put her face in the water (hooray!) and then lay on her back in her ring and kick her legs high in the air.

A few times we had our act together really well and took dinner to the pool which Sabine seemed to like pretty well. She didn't like it when the flies came to visit OR the day when the wind kicked up and a storm was definitely brewing. But she did like hanging out on the lounge chairs with us for about five minutes then it was back to the water... no matter how purple her lips were.

On our way out the door for the last time, stopping to be by the "ginter park dolphin"

A little fun playing in the water: Spinny Dog in action!

End of Summer Wrap Up #2

Photos from our visit with Mamaboo and Granddaddy over labor day weekend.

Playing with the ducks in the washtub in the back yard

Moving the wagon around the playground

Being a statue with Granddaddy

Hmmmmm a wagon is NICE!

A visit at Gigi's house


A short but sweet visit to Roanoke just before the beginning of the school year. super fun!

End of Summer Wrap Up #1

Here are the long awaited photos from the end of our summer. They'll come in a few installments as time is available to me.

First. MAINE. We had a lovely trip to Maine with Max's family at the end of August. Here are some highlights:

Riding the Merry-go-round at Palace Playland. She got to ride the Cat with a fish in its mouth which made her very happy.

Daddy, David and Adrian crashing the bumper cars

Looking for Lobster on the lobster boat demonstration

a new friend: Lobster-y

The belly button obsession continues -- let's check it out under the magnifying glass.

Just enough time to write in her journal before going home

all packed in and ready to go for the unplanned DRIVE back to VA after the hurricane forced the cancellation of our flights.

Maybe we should take this one?

13 hours in the car and this is as nutty as we got (she has a babydoll bed on her head)

Rocking the Outfits!

Sabine's most recent looks. It's been fun to see her putting herself together in the last few days. Not super fun helping her get dressed every morning, but still, fun to see what comes out of everything.

Exploring fun glasses at the wedding over the weekend

Good outfit for the children's museum

The Fashionista: Turquoise socks with yellow chicks on it, the daddy shirt, tattoos, and the head-band worn like a sweat band. rocking it OUT!

Necklaces

Our most recent crafting venture together... fruit loop necklaces. (or Neck -a- laces if you ask Sabine). We've been making a transition to the small room beside the kitchen. It was first Tyco's room, then we had her little kitchen there, but decided to move the little kitchen upstairs where her dolls and animals are... leaving this room to become an arts and crafts space that will eventually include a desk for my sewing machine. In my wildest dreams she will play at her own table doing her own craft and I will sit at mine doing mine. Could happen, right?

So recently we popped into the room for a little crafting together. Child has incredible fine motor skills and soon had a long long necklace of fruit loops. She also has incredible self discipline and didn't eat a single fruit loop while we were there even though she really wanted to and knows how yummy they are. Later, I made the mistake of letting her eat the broken ones and now she only wants me to pour out more and more of the box so that she can look for broken loops to eat. oh well.

It was nice to sit just beside each other and "work" on our necklaces. We put on music and settled into the work and then every little while when she'd about hit her limit for fine motor skill focus she'd get up and dance a little jig around the arts and crafts room for one song to clear the tension in her body (wouldn't the world be better if we all did that from time to time). Then she'd come back and settle in to work again. The result was two long necklaces in one day. And a sense of accomplishment and enjoyment it seemed. Super cute!

Beach Trip 2011 Highlights

We made it to the beach at Topsail Island, NC for the week last week. It was a full trip with plenty of time in the sand and in the pool. Sabine liked the ocean for the first day or two but then really preferred the pool.

We also did some eating out and our favorite spot is the Crab Shack (aka Surf City Crab) which is a hole in the wall seafood joint. Max and I ordered "red fingers" which is spicy peel and eat shrimp.. and we also got Hushpuppies which Sabine describes as 'kind of like dogs, but they're puppies!"

Other highlights from her point of view included getting to hang out and play with our cousin, Charles who is 11. He was super sweet to her and would play in the pool and then read books out in the living room.

At the ice cream shop she got to ride a dolphin!

She liked it when 'everybody got on fancy clothes' (beach fancy that is) to go out to eat one night

And she could not be dissuaded from ordering the Blue ice-cream (bubble gum flavored) with M&Ms at the ice cream shop on our last night. Oh JOY!

Getting Cozy

Most of her games lately have involved getting a pillow, a blanket, and tons of 'sleeping friends' and then cozying up somewhere to suck her thumb and cuddle her toys. It's pretty cute. This one is from playing train in the laundry basket. The other side of this game is that while she's all cozied up taking a rest, we're usually the ones who have to run a race or, as in this case, pull the train around... unfortunately we can't seem to get her to switch roles with us either. oh well.

Philly Trip

We took a quick trip to Philly over the weekend to visit with Max's family. It was super nice to get to be with everyone and very fun to see the cousins all playing together. Here's a photo round-up of the trip.

Sabine hugging the frog statue in Rittenhouse Square. She finds things to love where ever she goes!

Cousin Brandon works the Mister at the backyard BBQ. We joked that he was giving Sabine a spray-on tan.

A quick cuddle between events.

Bubbles

Keeping up the Garden for Great Nedra

Sticker time fun with Grandy

On Sunday everyone visited a farm. Here's Sabine with Olivia and the pig

Big cousin Adrian (almost 5) and Sabine drive the truck

Wait, here's another giant frog statue.
As I said, it was a lovely trip and a great time to catch up with everyone. Now it's time for a little relaxation at home after all of our travels in the last month! Whew!