Sadie's 2nd Birthday!

Well, our baby girl turned 2 this week (2 going on 12, but hey, it's ok!).

She has slept this way since she was born. I love that she still does it! This girl loves her beauty rest.
I made my 2nd attempt at sewing her a dress. I was much happier this time with how it turned out, but I'm realizing that she is such a petite things and patterns always need to be more narrow in the shoulders for her....so this dress falls off her a lot. Oh well!
She's a very wiggly model so it was hard to capture a good photo. oh, and I couldn't find my camera so all these photos were taken from my phone, so they are a little grainy. Sorry!
We had a little extended family birthday party for her two nights before her actual birthday because I was going out of town for a family wedding on her birthday. This was the cake I made....an ice cream potted flower cake (oreos used to make it look like potting soil on top). Anyone that knows Sadie knows she LOVES to eat dirt (even today at nursery they took the kids on a walk and I saw Sadie come in with a mouth full of dirt). There's no stopping her...she'll hopefully grow out of it...right???? For now I'm not too concerned.

Checking out her presents. This was when she started to realize she was the star of the evening.

Trying to convince great grandma mclelland to open a gift for her early. :)

She then realized that wasn't working so later she started giving out hugs (something she does every so often, when she feels like it)...hoping to find someone that will start helping her open gifts!

Ahh, finally time for gifts! She was a happy and spoiled (in a good way) little girl! Thanks to all our family for the great gifts!

No joke, for 2 months I did occasional research to find a great doll for her-one that was soft and cuddly, easy to clean, durable and had long play time based on other parents online reviews. I'm a little crazy, I know. But I love this doll and so it was so fun to see her love it too!

Once I found the doll I had to get the matching diaper bag as well! She loves bags/purses! Preparing to be a mom on the go!

Real men (in Toy Story underwear) carry diaper bags too!

So, since Christmas I have also been in love with this wooden doll care center at Target. It was a bit more than I wanted to pay so I was so excited when I found it for sell on craigslist from a really nice family who's daughter had hardly used it. Sadie LOVES it....and so did all the kids, even the older boys! They were all playing with it! And the best thing is it was in great condition and SO cheap!

This picture is especially for Megan. She was complaining that night that I am never in any of the photos (and the few she took of me against my wishes that night I deleted) so here is my earring and arm. Enjoy!!

Sadie was a little freaked out by the fire on the candle..totally out of character for her. So Max, her eternal protector, blew it out for her.

On her birthday morning before I left for out of town, I picked up some sprinkled doughnuts for her.

Sometimes she looks like Mowgli from Jungle Book to me. I love that about her!

Pop (Aaron's grandpa) called her and sang "Happy Birthday" to her and she had a huge smile on her face the whole time!

Although this was her a few minutes earlier right after she woke up with her typical "mom, it's 8 am and you are seriously already getting on my nerves" look. I get it every morning...and I love it!

This Max helping(fighting?) her open her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Keough, and Aunt Emma. The princess wrapping paper was a huge hit!! She loved everything in the box!! I tried to get more pics, of her trying on the shoes and dresses, but I was also having to play referee between her and Max so all the pics were blury! Thank you though for everything!!

I love my little girl! I think the thing I love most about her is that she makes it clear that I am seriously bugging her most of the time. :) Is that bad? She does have a lot of sweet bones in her body and can be so loving most of the time, but when she's not in the mood, you'll know! She rolls her eyes already so far into the back of her head, you think they will be lost. Probably shouldn't be proud of that, I know, but it's hard not to laugh. We are in the full blown terrible two's, so numerous timeouts are apart of her daily ritual, but we also spend a lot of time playing dolls, doing princess dances, giving her manicures and pedicures (my absolute favorite thing to do for her!), watching Caillou and Dora, playing outside, watching her swim with no fear whatsoever of the water, or concern if someone is even there to catch her if she jumps in, playing monster trucks and doggies with her brother, and more! She talks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and we love her little voice. She is a joy and a challenge to raise and I wouldn't have it any other way!! We love you Sadie Rose!!!!

July!!

Another month has flown by! This summer really has gone by fast (and slow at times...like the days when it's over 100 degrees for several days in a row and we have to AC :)). We've been swimming A LOT! Both of the kids have great tans, Max can swim all over the pool by himself, and Sadie has no fear of the water and just goes right off the edge and steps with no care as to if someone will be there to catch her. Next year she will also be getting swimming lessons for sure!

So here is the month of July wrap up...

4th of July
4th of July is still my favorite holiday! I'll admit I'm always a little bummed when it falls on a Sunday, but we still had a great day this year. It started with church followed by a small BBQ at home after naps.
Then we went to my parents where we also celebrated Samuel's 4th birthday. I LOVE these cupcakes Tami made based on the aliens from Toy Story! So cute!!

I could take pictures of this little girl all day! She is so cute! I love getting her ready for church. She is being more cooperative these days when it comes to doing her hair, and she loves to dress up in dresses, and especially loves a great pair of shoes.

Best Buddies- Max and Sam

Having a little lesson in Firework Safety.

Sadie was not a huge fan of fireworks at first. But her reactions were great!

Family Campout
So excited to leave!! If only we knew...this would be the camping trip from Hell. Literally, because it was humid and in the high 90's. It felt like we were in hell. It was MISERABLY HOT, thick with mosquitos...oh and the cute little girl in the picture above, well an hour into the trip she vommited twice. Nice. We were camping this year at a new place and the curves to get there were horrible, it took forever, and again, was miserably hot and no breezes came through the campground. I think it's safe to say we will never go there again, and will stick to Shaver.

The saving grace of our 3 day camp trip was a wonderful little river nearby that we had a blast playing in Friday night and all day Saturday. I wish I could have just slept in the river and never left to go back to the campground.

Sadie didn't love the river as much as the fact that I was so hot and exhausted that I didn't stop her from drinking my soda. This girl loves her DC. What can I say, she's a product of her parents!

At one point we looked and Max and Sam were taking off in the boat. These two are always trying to escape together, out windows, on boats, etc. :)

William pretty much had the same idea as Sadie...to just eat everything in site all day. He's so cute!

I was trying to get Sadie to take a little nap with me. I think we both did get a few minutes of sleep.

Love my Max!!

We didn't have room to pack Aaron's fishing poles which was a bummer because they had just stocked the river, but he did catch one by hand! We were all super impressed! Bear Giles, watch out!

This is why I brave it in the outdoors, dirt and heat. The kids loved camping and these boys were in the natural element.

So sleepy!

So remember how I mentioned Sadie threw up twice on the way up? Well, I washed her carseat out and left it out to dry and during the night an animal took off with the straps to the carseat. Awesome. SO we had to drive home with Max buckled in the middle and Sadie in his carseat (since she's smaller). Both my uncles in the CHP said they totally would have bought my story had they pulled me over. :) I did make Sadie hold a bucket on the way home, which she subsequently wore on her head most of the way down.

Sacramento/Lake Tahoe
The last weekend in July we went to visit my cousin Melanie and her family in Sacramento while Aaron worked all that week at the State Fair, also in Sacramento. The first day there we drove a couple hours north to Lake Tahoe. It totally lived up to everything I've ever heard about it!! It was absolutely gorgeous! I was shocked at how clear and blue the water was. I hope to go up many more times and check out the area and lake some more!





Day two we went and visited Aaron at the State Fair. The company he works for, Alhambra, had a couple booths there. He got us free tickets which was great!! And the kids were so happy to see Dad!
There was an amazing dinosaur exhibit which Max was terrified of, although he played it off nicely by playing Sadie's protector.

The Jensens (minus Marley)

Sadie and Marley...it's a love/hate relationship. I hope as the grow (and Sadie hopefully becomes nicer) that they will be close!!

Some cool animals in the rainforest exhibit

Awesome BMX bike show. It was hot, but we had great seats!

All the kids got to milk a cow too, and they loved it! Later that night Max told me, "Mom, that cow had two wee's and milk came out of them!" We've since explained that they are udders, but it was funny!



We had a fun month and are laying low this month, enjoying the last days of summer...and looking forward to Sadie turning 2 in a couple weeks. Stayed tuned for photos.....