Happy Leap Day!

Today is Leap Day! May you enjoy your "extra" day by leaping around with a silly grin on your face!

Here are some interesting facts about Leap Day: (well, I think they're interesting anyway, and since it's my blog I get to write about them!) hee hee...

~Did you know that a year which is not a leap year is called a common year? (2008 is definitely NOT a common year!!)

~There is an honor society of Leap Year Day babies: http://www.leapyearday.com/

~February 29th is also known as Sadie Hawkins Day: http://www.care2.com/gates/holidays/leapyear/leapyear.html

~Anthony, TX, claims to be the leap year capital of the world: http://www.leapyearcapital.com/


SILLY LEAP YEAR JOKE:
Q: What's the toughest time to catch a frog?

A: Leap year!

Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November;
All the rest have thirty-one
Save February, she alone
Hath eight days and a score
Til leap year gives her one day more.

Spring Poems...

A Prayer in Spring
by Robert Frost

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.


A Light Exists in Spring
by Emily Dickinson

A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That silence cannot overtake,
But human nature feels.

It waits upon the lawn;
It shows the furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
It almost speaks to me.

Then, as horizons step,
Or noons report away,
Without the formula of sound,
It passes, and we stay:

A quality of loss
Affecting our content,
As trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a sacrament.

Apple baby

The little apple of our eyes...
(Sarah getting ready to go to sleep tonight in her striped apple-outfit.)

Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8

Reading Materials

Steve bought me a new bookmark yesterday! (Thank you Honey, that was very sweet!)
It looks just like Kitty Alice:
I have a lot of books on my reading list, so I'll definitely make good use of that new bookmark:
I am almost half-way through "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan", and it's a very good read. It makes me thankful to live in this day and age in America though! (Think: feet-binding at age 6 in China.) Thank you Lord!!

Steve & Sarah watching TV

Sarah and Daddy were hanging out watching TV last night....


Look who's got control of the remote now!

Before we know it she'll be programming her favorite cartoons and Sesame Street into Tivo!

Click HERE for more pictures of Sarah and Steve watching TV.

Added at 9:30 pm: I took Sarah to the Roseville Galleria Mall tonight, and walked up and down the length of the mall 4 times with her in her stroller. She had a lot of fun looking at all the lights and colors passing by. We walked by the big carousel going around and she loved looking at that!

It's Spring!!!?

Hello everyone! It is nice and warm and sunny here in Northern California today, so I decided to dress Sarah in one of her bright-colored new outfits. We're thankful for the blue skies!
Click HERE for all the new pictures of Sarah taken today.

Steve got a new lunch bucket today! Not a lunch box, a lunch BUCKET!
Good job packing a healthy lunch Honey!!
Click HERE for more pictures of Steve's new lunch bucket.

Songs in my head today...

"LEGACY" by Nichole Nordeman:

I don't mind if you've got something nice to say about me
And I enjoy an accolade like the rest
You could take my picture and hang it in a gallery
Of all who's who and so-n-so's that used to be the best
At such'n'such ... it wouldn't matter much

I won't lie, it feels alright to see your name in lights
We all need an 'Atta boy' or 'Atta girl'
But in the end I'd like to hang my hat on more besides
The temporary trappings of this world

I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me?
Did I choose to love? Did I point to You enough
To make a mark on things?
I want to leave an offering
A child of mercy and grace who
blessed your name unapologetically
And leave that kind of legacy

I don't have to look too far or too long a while
To make a lengthy list of all that I enjoy
It's an accumulating trinket and a treasure pile
Where moth and rust, thieves and such will soon enough destroy

Not well traveled, not well read, not well-to-do or well bred Just want to hear instead, "Well Done" good and faithful one...

(Click HERE to see the video of the song.)

That song always reminds me of what is really important in life. What is going to matter in the end? What things will last, and what will be blown away like the wind? What will my life be like as an example to Sarah. Will my actions, not just my words, point to Christ enough to leave a mark on her? I hope so.

And the second song has been a favorite of mine since, oh, about High School...

"How Could I Ask For More" by Cindy Morgan:

There's nothing like the warmth of a summer afternoon
Waking to the sunlight, and being cradled by the moon
Catching fireflies at night
Building castles in the sand
Kissing Mama's face goodnight
Holding Daddy's hand
Thank you Lord, how could I ask for more

Running barefoot through the grass
A little hide and go seek
Being so in love, that you can hardly eat
Dancing in the dark, when there's no one else around
Being bundled 'neath the covers,
Watching snow Fall to the ground
Thank you Lord, how could I ask for more

So many things I thought would bring me happiness
Some dreams that are realities today
Such an irony the things that mean the most to me
Are the memories that I've made along the way

So if there's anything I've learned
From this journey I am on
Simple truths will keep you going
Simple love will keep you strong
Cause there are questions without answers
Flames that never die
Heartaches we go through are often blessings in disguise

So thank you Lord, oh thank you Lord
How could I ask for more?

(Click HERE to see the video of the song.) **I really love this video too!!**

That song always makes me smile, and reminds me how it's the simple things in life that are the most precious, and how very much I have to be thankful for!

Blustery weather

When I look outside my window today, I see the dictionary definition of a "blustery day". It's a good day to stay inside and sip coffee!

I put Sarah on her new play-mat yesterday for a little while to try it out. I think she enjoyed it!
We went to church last night, and Sarah did really well in the nursery again. The message from Pastor Ray was really good too. He's doing a series on "Staying Married in the Age of Divorce", and talked about the Myths of Marriage:
1) The myth of smooth sailing
2) The myth of greener pastures
3) The myth of problem free marriages
4) The myth of compatibility
5) The myth that positive change is impossible

Next week he's going to talk about specific ways to build unity and intimacy in your marriage, and about the 3 stages of marriage, and what to look for to know what stage you're in. Good stuff!

After church we did Applebee's curbside pickup, then watched one of our Netflix movies - Super Size Me. (A very interesting documentary about McDonald's food.)

Steve took a really cute video of Sarah this morning too. (Click HERE or on the "Sarah videos" link under Mary's Favorite Links if you want to see it.) We're having so much fun!

Sarah-speak

We're developing our own little language around here these days. (Okay, so I'm primarily at fault, but it's fun!) hee hee.... I call it "Sarah-speak", (aka baby-talk), and it's all the little words and phrases I use, (and sometimes Steve too), when we talk to Sarah. Here are just a few examples of what has taken shape over the past couple months:

The word "milk", is now "klim". Such as, "are you hungry for some klim?" I guess this got started because Steve & I like to invert the spelling on words, just for fun, and this was a fun word to do it with! Anyone for a klimshake?

The word "burp", is now "murp". Such as, "can I get a murp?" when trying to burp her during & after her drinking of klim. Or, "where are the murps hiding? Come out murp!" A burp in practice sounds more like the word "murp", so that's where that started from. Plus, I just like the word murp better than the word burp. More pleasant-sounding somehow I think.

Other words/phrases/actions in "Sarah-speak"...

~ her diapers have cartoon characters on them, (such as big-bird, elmo, cookie-monster, ernie, etc.), so when putting a new diaper on her, saying something like, "oh look, it's elmo! Elmo likes you! Elmo wants to be your friend!" At least someday when she starts watching Sesame Street, she'll already know who all the characters are!

~ giving her a high-five for any and all #2 diapers. It's funny all the various ways our excitement regarding #2's is exhibited these days!

~ our nickname for her is "Bean". Ever since the very first ultrasound in April 2007 when she looked like a little bean, that was what we called her. So now we refer to her as either Bean or Sarah-Bean most of the time.

~ my favorite is cooing back and forth with her. Pretty self-explanatory... she'll coo, I'll coo, she'll coo, I'll coo, then we both get big silly grins on our faces!

The weather is changing here in "sunny" California today. We have a big storm on the way, with sustained winds of 25-30mph and gusts of 40+ mph, and a fairly substantial rainfall. Hopefully our backyard patio will look about the same in 48 hours as it does now, and the lattice won't blow down again like it did in the last gusty storm.

My devotional this morning was from "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. Here is an excerpt: "The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first - wanting to be the centre - wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race. What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could be 'like gods', - could set up on their own as if they had created themselves - be their own masters - invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God."

Well, I'm off to feed Sarah some klim and hopefully get a few murps, then to Zumba class.....

Teething is starting early

Sarah is definitely starting teething. (Is that the right way to say it?) Hmm.... anyway, she's just starting this week, and is drooling a lot from time to time, and blowing cute silly little bubbles. She's been a little fussy off and on, but not too bad. She still grins at us a lot, and is such a Sweetie-Pie! She's been cooing more too, and is getting stronger. She tries to sit up in her little red chair, and her legs are getting stronger with little kicks.

Here's Sarah hanging out with Daddy:

A sad day for the tree

Well, our front yard looks a lot different at the end of this week than it did at the beginning.

It's sad, but we had to have the big tree removed. We really didn't want to, but there are cracks in the sidewalk and driveway that are only going to get worse if we didn't. Next week we're going to remove the rest of the sawdust that is still on the ground, and put grass seeds down so the lawn should hopefully look nice and green in a few months. We're also planning on re-paving the driveway so it's nice and smooth and a little wider, hopefully sometime later this year.

Here are before, middle and after pictures of the "big-chop":

President's Day weekend

The weather was really nice again this weekend, so we took Sarah to a new park in Rocklin and walked the trail. They play frisbee-golf there, and it was fun to watch. On Saturday we went to church and Sarah went to the nursery. She really seemed to enjoy it, and was sleeping on one of the nursery workers shoulders when we went to pick her up.

On Valentine's Day Sarah was at Luana's, and made a little Valentine craft for Mommy & Daddy with an outline of her hand. She also got her first Valentine from a little boy in daycare named Jared.

Steve sent me tulips and irises & a teddy bear at work for Valentine's Day. I love the polka-dot vase too! -Thank you Honey!!!

Royer Park

Another trip to the park!

It was so warm and sunny again, Steve and I decided to take Sarah for a picnic lunch to Royer Park. It's a bigger park in Roseville, and we walked on a nature trail for a while, and had a lot of fun.

Last night we went on a date to Chaat Cafe. The naan bread was my favorite. We bought coffees after dinner and had a really nice time being out and about!

Sarah is 13 weeks old today, and had fun with Grandpa & Grandma last night.

A Walk in the Park

~Sunny Day~
It's been warm and sunny the last few days, so I decided to take Sarah for a walk to the park around the corner yesterday. She enjoyed hearing the birds chirping, and it was nice to get some fresh air!

Grandpa & Grandma Wagner are going to watch her for a few hours tonight while Steve & I go for a date! We're going to dinner at the Chaat Cafe in Roseville, (Indian food), and then probably to Borders or Barnes and Noble to sip coffee and read books and magazines for a little while.