Kindergartener

Sara started school this year and LOVES it! She was SO ready. During the few weeks before school started, I tried preparing Sara for all-day kindergarten by doing some "school time" at home with her during the day. She loved it! And if we missed a day, she would ask, "why didn't we have school time today mom?" It was nothing fancy, usually just reading a book and doing activities to go along with something we read about. But she loved it so much that I knew she would love going to school. And she does!

The school year started with a "meet the teacher" night, where Sara got to see her classroom and meet her teacher and a few other students who were there when we were.

Then a few short days later, it was time for the first day of school! Sara loves posing for the camera, as you can see with that fancy middle pose there. :)

The photos above are really washed out, so here is a better picture to see the shirt she chose for the first day. It has a million sequins on it forming the shape of a heart. 

Here is Sara in her classroom on the first day. She was so excited!!

So proud of my little Kindergartener!

We live about 4 miles away from the school, which means the bus comes to our neighborhood! Sara was unsure about it at first, but now she likes riding the bus! Mommy still drives her to school on the mornings when we don't get ready fast enough to catch the bus, but she rides it home everyday since it actually gets her home faster than me going to pick her up would. (Waiting in the pickup lane takes forever!) Plus, it saves me from having to interrupt Ava's nap, and I get another half-hour of quiet time before Sara comes home since I don't have to drive to the school and back. Hooray for the bus!

A funny story about Sara's first day of school: at "meet the teacher" night, Sara met a boy in her class named Max. He is a cute boy and was very friendly. He was talking with Sara and said to her, "Maybe we'll be best friends!" -- I thought that was a funny and cute comment. THEN, after Sara's first day at school, I was talking with her and asking how her day went, and she told me another cute thing Max said to her. He said, "All the boys have girlfriends, and you're mine!" -- Haha! She snagged a boyfriend on the first day of Kindergarten! I don't think I'm ready for this. :) 

Sara's Book

(From July 2013)

Sara is quite the little story teller. I have several voice recordings on my phone of Sara telling stories. This time I got one on video because she made a book to go with it.





"Go To The Hospital" by Sara Hinckley

So one time there was this little girl that was thinking what she could do today, and she decided to ride her bike, but she didn't know that she wasn't very good at riding it, so she rode her bike and she fell down and broke her arm.

She was mad because she thought that her dress did it, but it didn't because it wasn't so long that it could touch the floor and into her wheel.

But then doctors came and tried to fix it. Then she got a cast and felt much more better.

She was happy, and she was so happy that she looked up at the sun and said, "I wish that I was a bird. That way I could fly right up to the sun." And she jumped off of a brick and flapped her arms and she hoped that she flied, but all she did was fall.

THE END!

Sara likes doing exercise videos

Sassy Sara

trying on glasses at Target

playing Rapunzel

flying to the moon in her spaceship (aka baby's activity mat toy)

Birthday Girl

Sara's birthday was last month, just a few days after Christmas. She's three years old already! We celebrated with my family in California.

Sara requested a kitty cake. This is what I came up with. I'm not too proud of it (I thought it looked like a grampa cat) but Sara loved it, and it tasted good, so that's the most important part I guess. Thanks to my sis-in-law for helping and imparting her cake decorating wisdom! She has much more experience than I do in this department.

Sara's other request for her cake was that it be pink. I opted for pink cake with yellow frosting. We put a little lemon extract in the frosting and it was tasty!

Here's what happens when you ask kids to say "Happy Birthday!" for a picture. :)

 "Happy Birthday to You..."

Blowing out the candles! (with crazy eyes, and a little help from her cousins)

After blowing her candles out, Sara said, "K, now let's get Daddy's birthday." -- so generous to share her big day with her daddy, whose b-day isn't until later this month. :)

Sara got lots of great gifts. While opening them, she kept saying cute things like, "WOW!" or "I wonder what it is?!" -- she loved everything she got. Some extra special gifts included a porcelain tea set I had when I was a little girl, and a quilt my mom made. 

Sara loves her cousin Kaya. When it was time to leave a few days after her birthday, Sara said, "I want to take Kaya with us!" They are best buds. I hope it stays that way as they get older!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARA!

P.S. just for fun, here's a look back at Sara's other birthdays:

• Her actual day of birth
• her first birthday
• and b-day number two

Sara Love

Just a few things about Sara I want to jot down so I don't forget them in 20 years.

I love:

• when she calls me Mama instead of Mommy. (or Papa for Daddy)
• that she says, "I so love you."
• how "I wanna hold you Mama" means "pick me up."
• that movie = oofie, as in "I wanna watch a oofie Mommy."
• when she says something she thinks is funny, and then makes a cute shrugged shouldered, squinty eyed, head titled back, short puffs of inhaled air, open mouthed laugh.
• the face she makes when she is excited about something, or when she thinks something is silly. (wide eyes with big open mouth / wide eyes with tight 'o' shaped mouth)
• how she shakes her hips when she dances.
• when she makes her soft-singing face (dreamy, heavy-lid eyes).
• that she runs everywhere she goes.
• how she gets excited over the tiniest things.
• how caring and empathetic she is (she is very concerned when someone gets an owie).
• that she is starting to make up her own words to familiar tunes (just like her Mama!).
• that she loves rocks and collects them everywhere she goes.
• how she always wants to "help" with whatever I'm doing, or she wants to do it herself.
• how expressive her eyebrows are!
• her mean face (is it wrong to think it is adorable?!)
• that she is starting to speak in surprisingly complex sentences.
• how "thanks" and "thank you" = "ganks" and "gait you"
• when we give her something new, how she gasps and says, "Wow! Oh WOW! Gait you Mommy!"
• that she (usually) wakes up happy. Before switching to a toddler bed she would wake up and just play/sing to herself for at least a half-hour before wanting to get out of the crib.
• how she loves her cousins and friends and is starting to play really well with them (although she still needs frequent reminders to play nice and to share!)
• her sweet little voice.
• when she makes her lovey face (squinty eyes, closed-lip smile, head tilted to the side) and gives me a hug (usually accompanied by "I so love you Mama.")
• and much much much more!

there's nothing quite like relaxing with a good magazine after a nice long bath.

Our desk is a real mess right now

Which is why I thought it was a strange place for Sara to choose to take a nap.
 

In her defense, she was only pretending.

What happens when you leave a two-year-old alone with a giant bowl of popcorn?

You can probably guess.

If not, here's a visual for you.

She wears it as a hat of course! Isn't that what you would do?!

singer/songwriter

Sara loves singing and playing the piano. She gave a wonderful performance today that I would like to share with you.

Here she is singing a rather recognizable song:

But here is one that is not so recognizable. I have no idea what she is saying, but at least she's singing with some gusto!

And here is a song she made up all by herself:

"No Put Away the Keys"

Lyrics:

Put the keys away, put the keys awaaaay.

Put the keys, we put the keys, don't put the keys, no put the keeeeey.

{spoken: no put away the keys!}

No put away the keys, grandpa you can't put away your keys. Noooo no.

{spoken: no keys. Ya, a sad song.}

...put away, put away, put away, put away, won't you put away.

I have no idea where the inspiration for that song came from! Dad, Stuart, did either of you lose your keys recently? Don't you know you should put your keys away?! :)

Other topics she sang about during her performance include:

• a castle
• on the swing
• you so sad the baby
• monkey tail
• no tent
• Cat in the Hat
• Mommy and Dad

and a whole bunch of other unintelligible stuff. Now all we have to do is get the piano playing up to par with the singing and we'll be set!


p.s. sorry the video is such poor quality. Trying to figure out a better way to get it on here.

Sleepy Sara

I was looking through the photos on my phone the other day and realized the majority of the recent photos were of Sara asleep in random places. I already shared one of those photos with you earlier...

 ...but here are a few more to complete the scene.

 while watching cartoons

while out shopping

 while reading books to herself

while wearing her Gabba backpack

 while eating dinner

I guess this is a common problem among 2-year-olds though, because Rob's sister shared a blog post a few months back about the very same thing when their little girl was the same age as Sara is now. Oh the woes of being a toddler.

And just because they are fun, here are a few more photos I found on my phone that I never shared. Enjoy!

helping mommy cook

shopping for shoes

waiting to feed the horses

driving the car

Just doing the crossword

Sara accidentally does the splits

Wholesale

Look what I picked up at my local Costco today.

Sorry, I got the last one. All sold out.

an almost 2-year-old in a 6-12 month sweater (or: who needs warm wrists anyway?)

Just realized I haven't posted this on my blog yet.... My cousin's wife is an amazing photographer (see for yourself!) and recently offered to take portraits of our little Sara. (Thanks again Jessica!) This is the only one I've seen so far, and I can't wait to see the rest. Just look at that adorable pose and cute little face. I just want to smooch it!

We've got ourselves a little musician

 

 

mommy's shorts

Sara decided to put on a pair of my pajama shorts the other day. This was the result (after some help from mommy).

Splish Splash

When Sara asks to go swimming (or as she says, "swinning?"), this is usually what she gets:

A bowl of water and some toys to splash with!



It's not because we don't have a pool (because we do--at our apartment complex), it's because Mommy is too lazy to get everybody all slathered up with sunscreen and into their bathing suits.

Luckily, Sara is perfectly content with this "bowl of water on the deck" solution.

She sometimes even gets creative and improvises to fill her desire for an actual swimming pool.


And yes, she fell over backwards immediately after this photo was taken. No worries. She was okay.

Hooray for "swinning"!

"Mommy, I need a hat."

-- words spoken by Sara today while traveling in the car.

A very merry un-birthday

Sara's new ride in celebration of her half-birthday
(18 months).

At our apartment complex, there are sidewalks galore for her to ride on. A little biker's dream!

Okay, let's see this thing in action! (well, sort of.)



Thanks Mom!! She loves her new "car"!

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p.s. -- a funny side note: we purchased this bike on Saturday with money from my mom (Grandma Christine). The next day when we brought it with us to Rob's parent's house, they had also purchased the exact same scooter for her! So now she has two; one for our house, and one for Grandma and Grandpa Hinckley's house!