school stuff.

sk is enjoying her second year of playschool. i want to remember some of the things that she did at two-year playschool so i'm posting some recent going-ons on here. i think she'll enjoy reading about her little toddler activities when she's older=) this year is quite different than last year! last year was more of a mother's morning out type situation and this year she is in more of a "classroom" type setting and a more "preschool" type learning environment. i'd love to be a fly on the wall....they're only two for crying out loud, but nonetheless they go to art, chapel, and music. they have calendar time, circle time, a letter of the week, shape of the week, number of the week and color of the week.

i love everything they're doing and i appreciate all the work that her sweet teachers put into making each day lots of fun! she only goes twice a week from 9-12 but she enjoys the socialization and she is learning. she is being introduced to so many things that will be a part of her learning experience for years to come.

she is learning about God and prayer and manners and values. going to school at our church means that she is at our church 3 days a week total and allows her to see familiar faces on a regular basis which i like because our church is rather large with over 2500 members. i want her to feel a part of her church and feel special and loved when she's there.
so....so far we are enjoying 2 year playschool alot! minus the strep of course, but she bounced back from that very quickly and only had to miss one day of school. she was back today and came home with some cute stuff in her bag...

they've learned about the letter B. they had to take in their favorite bear last week....sarah kate shared "baby bear" with her peers. it's the tiniest little stuffed baby bear you've ever seen, but it's her favorite. they glued beans on the letter B.


thier circle time song.


at chapel they are starting from the beginning;) this plate has a crab on it made from her little handprints....."God made the animals." -Genesis 1:20-25


i'll do another school update in the spring towards the end of her year so that i can compare the beginning with the end. she's growing, learning and changing all the time.

suddenly we are two going on 20....


aaaha! there's my two year old goofy girl.....


sweet baby-face.....

strep.

yeah, that's right people. i have strep. i got it on purpose. i know that if i can find a way to get to the doctor then mama will let me grab one of these yummy suckers on the way out. i even try to convince her to let me have a sucker when we take beau-beau to the doctor. doctor=sucker. simple math. i'm a model patient while i'm with the doctor just to be sure mama doesn't deny me one of these rare treats.

i can't go to school tomorrow, but man every lick of this sucker is worth it! although i'm enjoying my stickers and sucker, i still want this to leave as fast as it came. so just say a prayer that these antibiotics work fast like doc says they will. my mom is looking really BAD these days....her hair looks real bad and frankly, i'm embarrassed to be seen out with her, but there is hope.....she has an appointment on thursday morning with her hair girl - if i'm well enough to return to school. another reason i need some prayers for a speedy recovery. so for now, i'm going to get back to watching my new princess songs singalong video, lick my sucker, and kick mr. strep's hiney. -sarah kate

some not so fun stuff and some very fun stuff.

you can see it in her eyes, but other than that you'd never know that this little princess fairy woke up this morning with 102 degree fever. not sure what is wrong yet. we'll probably make a trip to the dr. tomorrow depending on how she does through the night and how she wakes up. she had fever again (102.6) before bath tonight but we brought it down before bed. she's just been real sweet and playful all day. she is very proud of her "high heels" from ava and bryce. and just when you think they can't get any fancier....they light up. she feels so important in these guys.

trey got home from his golf trip at 5 today. thankfully, "aunt yauren" was able to come over and stay with sk while i ran to publix this morning. sk enjoyed spending time with lauren today! when we got upstairs to go take a nap sk yelled, "yauren! are you here??? yauren, where are you??!" cutie=) thanks lauren for coming over! i enjoyed having lunch together too=)

now for the pre-sick girl fun. sk and i went down to folkston thursday right after school to spend 2 nights with mimi & papa. we had dinner with some of our kriner family on thursday night and it was so nice to catch up with them! on friday, sk and i enjoyed a trip to jax with mimi. we rode the train at the town center (when it was over sk said, "one more time!"), ate lunch at our favorite spot, and went to toysrus for a minnie mouse costume. the rest of our trip was spent having fun with ashley, ava and bryce (& mimi and papa of course). sk thoroughly enjoyed her cousins....playing inside, playing outside, pretending to be pirates, riding horses, eating at the okefenokee, and playing dress up. she was in heaven! she cried and cried when we had to leave yesterday, although those tears cleared pretty darn quick when mimi gave her a sucker. good times. now to figure out about this fever.....

wednesday in review.

playdate.


friends.


haircut!


crazy.


scientists.


pals.


bubbles.


installation complete!


love!


hugs.


and just because she was so cute in her pigtails yesterday....


getting her monkeys all situated in her microwave. all monkeys go in the microwave. not sure why she keeps them in there, but it's very upsetting when someone tries to take them out so that's where they go. monkeys only. happy wednesday everybody!

they're here!!! (and a recipe to share).

they're here! they are sitting right there in my garage. i just went down to spend some time with them. are they not the most beautiful things you've ever seen in your entire life?!!!

okay, they are actually ugly right now, but they're not going to be once they are installed in my kitchen. i passed the lowe's truck in my neighborhood as sk and i were coming home from gym and flagged them down, asked them to please please turn around, and then our oven & microwave were delivered into our garage. not where i need them.....i need them installed in my kitchen, but this is a step in the right direction. if these 2 wonderful things were not sitting down in my garage right now then i would be on my kitchen floor crying. literally. i'm making our favorite pot roast for dinner which is very time consuming and cooks in the oven for about 3 hours. i did all the pre-oven work on the stove and got it all ready to go in the oven and just guess what happened?? my dang oven started beeping at me, flashing f3 across the screen and would not work! i spent much of my afternoon rendering bacon fat, searing meat, cooking onions and mushrooms and simmering tomatoes, beer and beef stock only to be told by my oven that he's not interested in cooking my dinner. so this is why i am so excited about those 'beautiful' things sitting down there in my garage. just waiting patiently to be installed. i.can't.wait!

and in all fairness to the piece of crap oven/microwave we currently have, i was able to open and slam and jiggle the door a million times and it is now on and cooking our dinner. we may eat dinner at 9 tonight. but, i think we'll eat!

i thought i'd share the recipe for the yummy goodness that is FINALLY cooking in my lovely oven:


it's our favorite pot-roast recipe - beer braised pot roast w/ vegetables. you can get the recipe by clicking HERE. we use kriner cow for the roast=) we do not make the polenta that is part of the recipe....we serve it over rice. i take some short-cuts (canned tomatoes, minced garlic from the jar, pre-cut carrots.) the turnips and parsnips are delish. i use darker beer (for example, today i used sierra nevada autumn seasonal beer.) the initial stove-top steps are all about timing....i use the exact times that emeril suggested. i get everything prepared and measured before i do anything. i think this recipe looks overwhelming but it's not too hard and the end result is the most delicious and flavorful roast ever=)

the installation crew will be here wednesday to install my new appliances! i may not be able to sleep tuesday night. we may never eat out again! (ha....let's not get carried away).

wedding weekend.

UPDATE! i borrowed 2 pics from ashley's facebook page. the bride and groom:

this weekend we traveled to greenville, sc to celebrate bryson and amy's big day. bryson is ashley's (my sil's) little bro. we were excited to be included in all the weekend fun! trey and i were super excited to see ava and bryce make their flower girl debut! they did such a great job. they had ALL of their closest family members there and we were all so proud. it was a very pretty and sweet wedding. i think bryson was in like the 5th or 6th grade when i first met him so it's a little weird to think that he's old enough to be getting married! but, at 26, he's plenty old enough and is in for a really special treat. the lucys wish them all the happiness in the world!

with the exception of friday afternoon, i left my slr in the hotel room and just took my point and shoot. which means 2 things....1)the pics i did get aren't all that great and 2)i didn't get many pics because the point and shoot stayed "lost" in my black hole of a bag. i seriously couldn't find it half the time. one of the times was when the bride and groom were about to be announced at the reception....i had the perfect view for a good pic to share, but the camera was "lost" (aka....in the bottom of my bag). if i get a pic of the happy couple from ash then i'll put it on this post later.

as far as greenville is concerned...what an awesome city!! i was glad to finally explore another part of my "new" state. i can't wait to go back. trey and i would like to go back without sarah kate for a weekend trip. it only took us 3 hours to get there so it was an easy trip. we enjoyed our stay there! and we enjoyed getting to celebrate mimi's birthday with her, too!

pics to share!......

friday afternoon meeting in the hotel. ready to go explore=)


stopped for some froyo...






sk tries so hard to keep up!








before getting ready for the rehearsal dinner, sk played "beauty shop" with trey...


she thought the flower bow would complete his new look...


i took all of 2 pics at the rehearsal dinner.....i think sk was playing peekaboo ...




at the reception.....


sk is a papa's girl for sure...




lots of yummy cake!;)






our busy girl!


a rare moment...pic with papa bear!


nana and granddaddy (ashley's parents) gave the girls these little mice with a book about the "mice on main." there are little bronze mice on main street in greenville so it was a neat keepsake for them to have from the wedding weekend. well, sk is obsessed with her new mouse! she carried it around all weekend long!! thanks nana and granddaddy!!


mimi handing out the goods. sk had her first experience with "smarties." (ava's favorite candy). sk was a big fan.


papa and his sugared up little ladies....


on saturday night, trey, sk and i went to dinner with mimi and papa at a yummy little spot on main street. we were happy to celebrate mimi's birthday with her=) didn't take any pics though.
when we returned to our hotel room, sarah kate got trey all fixed up with some stickers....




and some kisses...


thanks again to the wike and foster families for including us! what a great weekend!