Change Comes!!!!

Finally!!! on July 9th we got a contract on our house.  It was super exciting... AND... crazy because the closing was set for July 31st (just about 3 weeks) and we were heading to the beach the next week.  It was such a funny time because we'd been in Wait Wait Wait mode and suddenly we had to hurry up and take care of things quickly!!!

So we spent our last few days before vacation frantically packing up the house.  Lucky for me that just happened to be the week that I'd signed Sabine up for camp.  So I had my mornings free to pack pack pack.

Enjoying a last treat on the front porch.

We packed as much as we could and then took off for the beach.  Actually, Max and Sabine left for the beach on Saturday while I helped manage a yoga workshop and hosted the teacher and her dog at the crazy boxed up house.  Then I went to the beach on Sunday night.

Max left our beach trip on Wednesday night so he could come home to work on Thursday.  Then on Friday he met the movers and they moved everything from the old house to the new.  All the furniture and big stuff was loaded onto the truck and moved the 3 blocks to our new place.

So when Sabine and I came home on Saturday we came home to our new house instead of our old.  (it was definitely a little strange!!)  There was still more boxing and random items to collect at the old house, not to mention plenty to do at the new, so my very sweet mama came home from the beach with us to help for the weekend.  Saturday night we just got ourselves settled in, but Sunday afternoon and into the night we boxed and boxed and boxed... the basement, the kitchen stuff, the bathroom... whew! Who knew we had so much stuff???  We really need to purge!!!

But by the time mom left on Monday afternoon we'd gotten plenty of work done in both houses.  Thank goodness for Mamas!!!

Here they are together on our new front steps (no big porch anymore).  

Sabine is in her princess dress, and Mamaboo is holding 

the sweet doggie puppet: Brown Sugar!

Summer Fun

The beginning of July was much like the beginning of the summer.  We spent the first week or two just hanging out together around the house.  Sabine particularly loved hanging out with her new dolphin: "Gracie" she got as a souvenir from our trip to the Bahamas.  

not sure what this pose is about

This is a "manta ray bed" and her pillow has pictures of Manta Rays and Sting Rays on it.

We got to have one fun morning playdate at the garden playing in the water fountains with her best friend from school.   Here are the girls:

And, who can deny the charm of the outfits she picks out.  Just in time for summer a long sleeved plaid shirt and hot pink flannel pants, covered by her spotted sundress.  Beautiful!!!

June: School Ends and Summer Begins

The first day of June was also the last day of preschool for the year.  Here she is all ready to head out the door.  She seems a lot taller than when she started in September!

The last day of preschool concluded with a closing circle and a picnic.  You can see Sabine back there right beside her best friend. Both are holding their ears because it was loud in the room where the circle was held...

The whole preschool (with parents watching from the outside)

Besties!

Here she is with her two teachers: Jill and Sara

Later in the month my mom sent another dress. This one came with a great surprise, an outfit for Clifford to match!!

The special rose in the front yard bloomed and we went out to check it out!

I'm not sure where she got this pose, but there it is!  Notice the cute hello kitty tattoo

Borrowing my shoes for the adventure

At the end of June we went on a beach trip to the Bahamas.  I really wanted a mani/pedi and didn't have childcare... So, Sabine came along and got her nails painted at the same time.  Pink with little white sparkles please!

Here she is on the trip wearing her new Hello Kitty necklace.  Eyes are closed on purpose so she can model the necklace!

And.  Look what happens when the kids get locked out of their room with Grandy.  Chocolate covered Oreos for all.  Yum!

End of June house update: No change. Still haven't sold the old house or moved into the new one yet. bummer.

May

May was a very full and busy month.  In the beginning of the month Max was out of the country for 2 weeks!  Luckily my mom came (and brought Brown Sugar back too!)  She also made Sabine a dress with a matching tie for Brown Sugar.

 Nothing like a playful cute face!

Later in the month Sabine took a weekend with her Grandparents in Roanoke while I assisted at a yoga weekend workshop.  That was probably the first time she'd been out of town while both Max and I were in town.  It was strange, but a nice little moment of freedom.  

Later in the month school started to wind down and we started to gear up for the events of summer.

April: Easter and a Big Event

Here is a cute little shot from a car ride we were taking.  No idea what this shot was all about, but she is darn cute, isn't she?

My parents came for a visit for Easter weekend.  We had fun dyeing eggs.  We even used crayons to draw on the eggs before we dyed them.

Another sweet outfit... Sabine with some gifts from the Easter bunny: A special wand and dress-up ballet slippers (and of course the Tutu)

After a little egg hunt at a friend's house we went to my Aunt Marty's house where Sabine made friends with all the stuffed animals.  This is "Middi-kitty"  She really kept trying to wear the cat on her head.

 Even Gigi got in on the animal on the head fashion

 Sabine's favorite stuffed dog from my parent's house came to visit too.  She LOVES "Brown Sugar"

Grandy and Yettie came for a visit at the end of the month.  Here is Sabine with Fat Cat and Yettie by the race car!

Oh.... and then we bought a house!

We bought it right at the end of the month.  We decided to put our house on the market and try to sell it before we move into the new one.  So we didn't move in April.

March Round up (yikes)

 OK.  I'll crawl back into blogging after such a long break....   I figure the spring will come in monthly installments.

March brought Spring break from school.  Max was away that week so we just took a girls' week together.  We enjoyed staying home and playing.  And going to some of the places that are our favorites: the garden, and the "chicken tickle" park.

One thing I really loved this spring was her new interest in fashion.  Here's one of the winning outfits...
A pink spotted zip-up sleeper with a red ladybug dress and wings over top!

In March we also hosted our potluck group.  One set of friends was missing because they'd just had their little girl (hooray!)  It took a few tries....

But we did eventually get a photo of all the moms and daughters.

Sabine is the big girl of the group so it'll be fun to watch the kids grow up and start to play together.  

The boys enjoyed running around the house and trying to tackle Max.  If you look closely at the lower photo you can see that Max is standing up inside Sabine's tunnel tube.  And all the kids are there to try to take him down!  So funny!

Snow Day!!

Not two weeks ago it started snowing while Sabine was in for nap and I was practicing yoga. It was actually a thundersnow -- where a thunderstorm came on and suddenly snow started falling instead of rain. I ran into her room and got her out of bed (she wasn't sleeping) and took her straight to the window because I knew it was only going to last a few minutes. I figured it would be her only chance to see any snow all year. Since then the conversation has gone like this: "Mom, what do you want to talk about?.... I want to talk about snow" and then we've talked all about snow.

Luckily the weather goddess had some goodness left for us. Yesterday afternoon the flakes started to come down and just cover the ground. It picked up in the night and this morning we woke to about 3" on the ground. Sunny weather and a relatively warm day, plus because it's Presidents' Day her school was already planning to be on holiday so I didn't have to scramble to re-arrange plans. YES! And it'll all be gone by tomorrow, so no missed days. Hooray!

This morning was a family outing into the snow to do all the things she's dreamed of:

Cuddling Tyco in the snow.

We made an igloo

Going Sledding on Max's snowboard

And pulling Tyco on the sled

Who needs a real dog??

Hanging with dad