The Sommerhauser Family

Thanksgiving weekend

2010-12-08T14:49:00.008-06:00

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend in St. Louis with Mark's family. We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner (which I forgot to take pictures of), took Sarah to the Magic House, played lots of cards and got to see some good friends from college. And for the first year in a while, I slept in on Black Friday instead of going shopping.

Sarah helping Aunt Lisa make scrambled eggs for breakfast

Grandma helping Sarah make music at the Magic House

Checking out the letters

Taking a picture of mom

Shopping for food in the market

Checking out the little Liberty Bell

Working on the construction site

She loved the bulldozer

Daddy and Sarah drawing

Making bubbles

Playing with the sand and water tables

Feeding a baby in the nursery

Snuggle time with grandma

Enjoying some pumpkin pie...check out the size of that bite! She LOVED it!

Playing matchy-match with daddy

Playing dolls with Aunt Lisa

Sarah and her new friend Lucy (the daughter of our friend Kevin from college)

Having fun with Grandma and Aunt Lisa

Sarah and Uncle Kurt

Welcome to the world Leila Faith!

2010-11-14T10:54:00.004-06:00

My newest niece, Leila Faith, was born November 12th at 2:53pm. She was 7 lbs, 1 oz and 21 inches long. We are so happy for my brother and sister-in-law...they are going to be great parents! Future family get-togethers should be lots of fun...between my siblings, we have girls ages 3, 2, 1, and newborn. Sarah and I went to visit them a few hours after she was born. She's absolutely gorgeous and we can't wait to see her again!

I think she was tired of the flash already

Annaliese holding her new cousin

Sarah loved holding Leila!

Uncle Josh and Leila

Aunt Ashley and Leila

The proud papa!

I forgot to have anyone take a picture of me holding my niece, but we'll see her again soon!

Fun fall weekend

2010-11-08T14:29:00.006-06:00

Grandma Diane and Aunt Lisa (Mark's mom and sister) drove in from St. Louis for a visit this weekend. It was a beautiful fall weekend and we had a great time. We ate lots of bbq, played lots of cards and even helped Mark clean up the leaves in the yard...or maybe we just made a bigger mess :) Sarah had lots of fun playing in the leaves and even the puppies got in on the action.

She thought it was fun to bury daddy in the leaves

Mollie and Lucy decided to get daddy too

We even tried to get a picture for our Christmas card this year. We got a couple of good ones. I'll save those for later, but here are a couple I thought were cute.

I love how Sarah is leaning on Mark...so cute!

Apparently Lucy was done with picture taking...

Sarah trying to run over grandma with her big wheel

Picking some flowers for grandma and aunt Lisa

Snuggling on the bed with grandma

Playing kitchen with aunt Lisa

Isn't that the sweetest!

Playing cards with grandma and aunt Lisa

Soccer, hockey and a haircut

2010-11-04T14:54:00.012-05:00

Looks who's sporting a sassy new haircut! Sarah's hair was getting a little on the shaggy side and since she won't let me do anything except put a bow in, she was due for a little trim.

A new hockey season has started which means daddy has lots of smelly hockey gear stinking up the garage :) Mark had an early game a few weeks ago, so Sarah and I got to go watch. We had gone to something else that afternoon and Sarah had to catch a nap in the car. There's nothing sweeter than a sleeping little one!

Sarah loved seeing daddy in his hockey uniform

Our Parents as Teachers group had a free soccer session for toddlers last week and we actually remembered to sign-up for it :) It was kind of mass chaos, but lots of fun!

Scoring a goal!

Jumping over the noodle

All the kids under the parachute

Checking out her soccer ball stamp on her belly

They also gave us a tattoo with their logo on it, which is two little dinosaurs in soccer uniforms. Sarah insisted on putting the tattoo on her belly, just like the stamp...and you can still see it a week later :)

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T21:20:00.008-05:00

We had a fun, busy Halloween weekend! This was the first year Sarah was old enough to really understand what candy is and how to get it, and it only took her a house or two to get the whole trick-or-treating thing down. Though I had to keep her from walking in the first couple houses.

We carved a couple of pumpkins last weekend...next year we will have to do it a little closer to Halloween. They were pretty shriveled up by the time Sunday rolled around, but we had fun doing them. Though Sarah didn't want anything to do with the pumpkin guts.

Last week, our library had a Halloween party for all the two-year-olds in our story time group. Talk about a little chaotic...30 toddlers in costume, but very cute!

Sarah's friend Lucy as an adorable Elmo

Ready for the cake walk

Miss Vicki...the librarian that does story time. Sarah LOVES her!!

Checking out her goody bag

Sarah and Lucy

In a chocolate induced daze...

Miss Vicki and her green witch

On Saturday, we went to the KC zoo for the Boo at the Zoo. They had stations set up to get candy and other goodies, including ice cream and chocolate milk!

Daddy and Sarah on the carousel

Walking the pirate plank

Giving a five to Sizzle, mascot of the T-Bones, our local minor league baseball league

Sizzle on the carousel

Adam, Angela and their kids stopped by to visit before going trick-or-treating. Their whole family was dressed as pirates.

All bundled up and ready to go!

She was very excited about getting candy!

Omaha Zoo and Children's Museum

2010-10-29T14:21:00.012-05:00

We have had a really busy October so far, especially this week! In addition to our usual story time at the library on Tuesday, we had a library Halloween party on Thursday. We also went to a pumpkin patch on Wednesday and this morning we went to a toddler soccer session sponsored by our Parents as Teachers organization. All this activity has resulted in long naps for Sarah, so that makes for a happy momma :)

A couple weeks ago, we went to Omaha with Josh, Ashley and the girls. While we were there, we visited the Children's Museum and the zoo. We had a great time and will definitely have to make it a yearly event! Here are a bunch of pictures from the weekend.

Happy Jorjia!

Annaliese playing puppets

Sarah getting kitty whiskers and an orange chin

Annaliese perfecting her milking skills

Mark having a tea party with all the little girls :)

Sarah and Annaliese doing a little grocery shopping

Feeding a pear to the calf

I love how they are all looking in different directions in both pictures

Aren't they cute!!

Daddy and Sarah watching the mongoose

A little fox getting a treat

Watching the orangutan

This orangutan was looking for a handout

Riding the gorillas

I think these lemurs were looking for the escape route

Beautiful white tiger

Cute little tiger cub and it's momma

Another cute little baby and it's momma

Sarah showing she can hang like a monkey :)

Trying to get a shot of the girls together in the aquarium...this is the best one we got :)

Watching fish in the tunnel aquarium...very cool!

Shark!!

Lots of fun with cousins!

2010-10-26T14:35:00.015-05:00

Last month Josh, Ashley, Annaliese and Jorjia spent the weekend at our house. We went to Union Station in KC to see a dinosaur exhibit and play at Science City. The girls had lots of fun together! Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Story time with daddy/Uncle Mark

Jorjia eating some ice cream :)

Clean girlies!

All the girls after bathtime

Digging for dinosaur bones

Checking out the giant dinosaurs!

HUGE dinosaur leg bone

Josh, Ashley, Annaliese and Jorjia

Happy little Jorjia!

Annaliese and Sarah learning to be pilots

Of course the guys had to get in the helicopter with the girls :)

Mark and Josh put the arch together...and it fell over about 2 seconds after I took this picture :)

We had lots of fun and just went to Omaha with them last weekend. I will post pictures from that soon.

Finally New Pictures

2010-08-28T20:57:00.021-05:00

It has been a long time, so here are a bunch of pictures from Sarah's summer of adventure...

Sarah wearing her pretty summer dress and hat to church...the sippy cup has gone away in the past month.

Sarah loves playing dress up, especially with her SilverMist fairy outfit that she received for her birthday.

A few weeks ago Sarah wanted to play over and over in Otis' and Clementine's cages...she proudly said "I'm in puppy cages"...

Sarah still likes to go to the KC zoo, especially to see Nikita...the new polar bear!

Sarah showing off the dress that Uncle Kurt gave her for her birthday...she looked very cute at church!

Sarah eating her favorite summer snack...ICE CREAM! Sarah's high chair has also been put away...now she has a big girl booster seat.

And finally a little more dress-up time...this time as Ariel! I think that we might have found her most favorite princess...

ABCs

2010-08-03T15:40:00.009-05:00

Sarah has had a very busy summer so far. We have spent lots of time at the pool and she is definitely a water girl. We have also been to the zoo a couple of times, though it's been pretty hot lately. She has been busy learning new stuff, like her ABCs and nursery rhymes. She has also picked up some Spanish from Dora and Diego and her toys. We managed to get some of it on video the other day. It's amazing how fast she learns stuff...we call her our little sponge :)

July Pictures

2010-07-16T20:16:00.018-05:00

New Sarah Videos

2010-06-15T20:25:00.003-05:00

Sarah's 2 Year Portraits

2010-05-29T22:04:00.016-05:00

Sarah was very good today at the portrait studio. Enjoy a sneak peak of her proofs!

Birthday Pictures

2010-05-27T15:40:00.012-05:00

Sarah had lots of fun last weekend celebrating her birthday. On Sunday she was able to celebrate with Uncle Kurt by helping him blow out his candles.

Aunt Lisa taught her how to give her baby doll a bath.

Grandma Diane read stories to her and Amelia...

Everyone ate the yummy Dora cake that mommy made.

Sarah was able to try on her new Silvermist dress, even though I don't think that her baby doll's tooth brush is very effective on her teeth.

Sarah cooled off running through her new sprinkler.

And she sure looks cute in her new Minnie swimsuit that Aunt Lisa gave her...she has even been good about keeping her hat and sunglasses on!

Sarah played bows with Mollie and Lucy...poor puppies.

Joella worked very hard on Sarah's Dora cake and it turned out great!

March of Dimes Walks (or rides for Sarah)

2010-05-08T21:23:00.018-05:00

Here is Sarah getting a little snack before the big March of Dimes walk in St. Louis...

She also had fun and burned off some energy inside the inflatable monkey playground. Daddy had to dive in and pull her out because she didn't want to leave.

Daddy and Sarah with Louie the blue bear...

Yeah Team Sarah Bears! Sarah was very tired after the long walk.

Sarah got to go with mommy to the children's farm last week and she loved seeing the animals again...she could care less that she saw them just a few weeks ago.

Here is Sarah visiting with the UMB Bank bear mascot before the March of Dimes walk in Kansas City...

Sarah even received a special pin from the Renaissance festival queen before the walk.

The starting line...

Sarah eating a snack during the walk/ride...

And Team Sarah Bears (the KC edition) at the finish line...

Springtime Fun!

2010-04-20T21:05:00.015-05:00

Sarah got her hair trimmed today for the first time. She was not very happy, but she did good for quite a while.

She even didn't mind the hair dryer too much...

But by the end Sarah was definitely "All Done"!

The haircut was definitely worth it and Sarah looked very cute this afternoon for MoDOT's annual Big Truck Night festival.

Sarah kept trying to turn on the sirens on all of the police motorcycles and cars.

Look who is going to be plowing snow next winter!

And while mommy was away at the robot competition last week, daddy and Sarah went to the children's farm and the Longview kite festival...

Story Time

2010-04-10T07:38:00.003-05:00

Sarah has a new favorite book that she likes to read before bedtime! That girl is so silly...I will have to load the video later on so you can hear what she was doing while "reading" it.

Easter Fun

2010-04-04T20:41:00.016-05:00

A Few More New Pictures

2010-03-25T21:55:00.012-05:00

Here are some good pictures of all of the fun stuff that has been going on lately...

Playing with beads...

Getting ready for the big Kansas City St. Patrick's Day parade...

Crashing out at the end of the parade...

Eating blue chalk and playing in the mud...

Showing off someone's muddy butt...

Walking with lion...(not really scooting quite yet)...

And reading stories with Grandma Diane...

Still Keeping Busy...

2010-03-23T20:01:00.007-05:00

It has been a long time since the last post, but believe me when I say that Sarah is still keeping us very busy. Sarah has accepted her new chore of making sure that lion stays fed. Maybe soon she will be ready to take care of Mollie and Lucy.

Sarah now is quite fascinated with all of the beads that she got during the KC Robot Competition and St. Pat's parades.

Sarah loved seeing all of the mascots during the robot competition...I can't wait until she gets to meet Fredbird this summer!

And Joella is very proud of her little engineer...

Busy Miss Sarah

2010-02-11T17:36:00.009-06:00

Although Sarah been sick off and on for the past couple of weeks, she still manages to keep herself very busy...

Showing off her new princess jammies while riding lion...

Giving thirsty lion a drink from her Dora cup...

Wearing her apron dress while playing alphabet on the fridge...

Showing off her big girl pony tail...

And blowing kisses before dinner...

More Animal Noises

2010-02-10T21:45:00.002-06:00

In these videos Sarah is showing off both her spoon skills and her animal vocabulary...

Getting So Big!

2010-02-03T20:05:00.005-06:00

Sarah's hair is getting longer every day and she is getting quite good at telling you what she wants. Although her favorite word is still "NO!", she still loves to point at all of the free samples at Costco and she even said "Hi" to the checkout guy today. Sarah now enjoys telling us that cows say "MMM" and ducks say "ACK" so she has quite a bit to say.

These pictures were taken after we got home from church one Sunday last month, but unfortunately we haven't gone again since because Sarah has been sick. Sarah is almost over her ear infection, but the worst part is that the medicine is causing her to wake up at 4 am every morning.

Winter Videos

2010-01-12T20:53:00.002-06:00

Here are some fun videos from Christmas and the big snow storm...

Sarah in the Snow

2010-01-10T23:23:00.010-06:00

Sarah loved playing in the snow after Christmas and we'll see how she likes sledding later this week when the temperature finally gets a little warmer.

Sarah's Visit With Santa

2009-12-18T18:28:00.007-06:00

Sarah had another great visit with Santa today. Although she loves to point at him, she really isn't interested in sitting on his lap. I am suprised that she lasted as long as she did...

Fun At Crown Center

2009-12-15T20:46:00.019-06:00

Earlier this month Sarah had a wonderful time at the Crayola playground at Crown Center. Joella met up with our church's play group where they got to shop for a little bit before playing at the great indoor playground.

Getting Closer to Christmas Time

2009-12-13T06:33:00.010-06:00

Although the Christmas tree is not yet completely up, Sarah has already started getting into the Christmas mood. She did not want anything to do with Santa at the mall, but she loves pointing to his picture on her shirt. Here little reindeer Sarah is posing with baby Big Bird.

Sarah is fascinated by her bows and she needed all of them in her hair before she would read a story to Big Bird.

Last weekend Sarah had lots of fun playing with cousin Annaliese...

And Sarah tried to be gentle with cute cousin Jorjia...

Thanksgiving Fun

2009-12-03T20:50:00.016-06:00

Here are a bunch of great pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend in Arkansas with Karl, Loretta, Maggie, and Amelia. Mollie and Lucy really enjoyed playing with cousin Cocoa too...especially since they will not be seeing her again for a long time.

Here are the Sommerhauser girls posing nicely for the camera like always...

Sarah and Amelia always love their story time.

Sarah was positive that the doll's cradle was made just for her (and boy does she love that Little Mermaid cell phone)...

Miss Amelia did an excellent job getting the marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes.

Karl was happy as ever when he got the deep fried turkey out of the cooker...it did taste great and the turkey legs made great soup!

Maggie and Amelia posing on a bench during our hike. The weather was great and in the 60s that Saturday...

Karl, Maggie, Amelia, and Loretta taking a break...

Joella, Loretta, Maggie, and Amelia posing inside a hollowed-out, but alive, tree along the hiking path.

Amelia taking a break on a log bench.

Sarah was very content riding is Amelia's (used to be Maggie's) backpack carrier. Sarah only dropped snuggle bunny about 5 times and she was really excited when she found some velcro on the backpack that she could play with.

Happy Miss Sarah...

Busy Miss Sarah...

2009-11-17T18:45:00.014-06:00

Sarah has been keeping busy since we returned to Kansas City from our vacation. Before Halloween, she even got to feed some goats (with Cheyenne's help of course) at the pumpkin patch. Sarah has gotten good enough with this that she can give Mollie and Lucy their puppy treats with just a little help from either mom or dad.

Sarah really enjoyed Aunt Lisa's visit last week and she was so excited to get her first pair of Dora jammies!

Here is a cute picture of Sarah snuggling with Aunt Lisa before bedtime.

Sarah was sick with the flu last week so she really just wanted to watch cartoons with Snuggle Bunny.

Before Aunt Lisa left, though, Sarah wanted to show off her new big girl bathrobe.

Of course even after bathtime, Sarah insisted on reading Dora one more time before going to bed...

A Few More Videos

2009-11-15T14:02:00.002-06:00

Here is a video of one of the iguanas that we saw at Bahia Honda State Park.

We saw this iguana by our resort pool.

Sarah still does not quite understand how to hold her mouth closed when she goes under water, but she sure has fun anyway.

Halloween Fun

2009-11-02T20:00:00.014-06:00

Vacation Videos

2009-10-25T11:58:00.002-05:00

Here are a few videos from Key West...

More Vacation Photos!

2009-10-25T11:32:00.010-05:00

We saw a bunch of iguanas at Bahia Honda State Park. Three of them came over to our picnic table while we were eating lunch.

Can you see the iguana that Sarah is pointing at?

Sarah and the iguana smiling for the camera.

Sarah smiling and pointing at mommy...

Here is the southernmost point in the United States...90 miles from Cuba.

The end of Highway 1 in Downtown Key West.

We didn't eat here, but Sarah sure wanted to...

Hanging Out In Key West

2009-10-14T19:31:00.016-05:00

Greetings from 60 miles or so away from Cuba. The drive was very long but we are definitely getting the most out of our week here in Key West. Enjoy the pictures...

Here we are driving across the first bridge that leaves the mainland and heads towards Key Largo.

The famous 7 mile bridge right in the middle of the Keys.

Here is a good picture of the old railroad (then car) bridge through the Keys.

A wide view of the resort from our balcony.

A closer view of the resort and the Atlantic.

Sarah enjoying the beach for the first time.

Sarah waving to daddy.

The Sommerhauser family enjoying the beach...

Sarah working hard at the beach.

Sarah playing with her new friend at the beach.

So many tools to choose from...

Sarah squealing with mommy in the resort pool.

More September Pictures

2009-10-05T23:16:00.014-05:00

Sarah's September pictures have been as adventureful as always. Here she is showing off her jelly face...

Sarah knew right away how to climb up on her newly painted rocker, but just this week she figured out how to turn herself around and safely sit in it.

Here Sarah is practicing her sign language with Grandma Patty.

Sarah always loves her story time, and she will prove it to you by throwing a book at you and diving on your lap!

Here Sarah using her sign language to ask for "more"...which at that time was Teddy Grahams. Joella had to keep Sarah distracted so she would leave her bow and ponytail alone for a few minutes at least.

Yummy Teddies...

Sarah with Great-Grandma Millie...

Sarah with Daddy, Grandma, and Great-Grandma...

Grandma and the "innocent" Sommerhauser girls...

Oh Maggie and Miss Amelia!

Sarah had lots of fun last week at the Parents as Teachers messy play event at the Lee's Summit Community Center.

Our Beautifual Handful!

2009-09-21T20:29:00.002-05:00

Here are some new entertaining videos...I don't think that it is a good sign that Sarah already knows how to lock herself in her room. Notice the squeal of attitude that she adds after the door is shut.

The Middle of September Already!

2009-09-17T21:43:00.017-05:00

It has been great stretch of weather the last few weeks so Sarah has enjoyed going to the park, swinging in the backyard, riding in her wagon, and doing lots of stuff outside. She is walking more and more inside the house too, but Sarah is still not very interested in running yet.

As far as new pictures go...Sarah really likes playing with her new Diego and baby jaguar ball in the house.

Sarah likes showing off her new "big girl" car seat too. She is still only about 20 pounds, but she was getting too tall for her infant car seat.

Sarah also likes running around half naked showing off her cool cloth diaper.

And Sarah loves climbing on anything that can serve as a makeshift trampoline. For instance, here she is using Mollie and Lucy's dog food bag...

And here Sarah is climbing all over the toilet paper from Costco...

Sarah's Climbing (Into) Adventures

2009-08-29T21:38:00.010-05:00

Besides climbing into her toybox downstairs, Sarah has figured out how much fun it is to climb inside her stuffed animal basket. Apparently all of the animals wanted out to play.

Sarah also really likes to play inside the cardboard box that daddy brought home from work.

Sarah and Her "Pretty"

2009-08-17T19:16:00.011-05:00

Sarah wore a beautiful dress for church yesterday and even had a "pretty" in her hair. Mommy has even started to brush her hair a little bit after bath time. Sarah has started to drool a bunch more again because she has lots of upper and lower teeth coming in.

Sunday afternoon Sarah got bored playing with daddy in the basement so she found her own game to play...

Even More Summer Fun...

2009-07-27T21:45:00.010-05:00

Sarah continues to have lots of fun this summer. She keeps us very busy, but it is even more amazing when she crawls back into her room and reads through her books for a half hour or more just pointing and babbling at the pictures.

Here Sarah is playing with Grandma Diane by one of her favorite spots...the refrigerator. Notice how neatly Grandma has placed the letters in alphabetical order. Sarah loves to go after all of the magnets then and knock them down.

Sarah loves to crawl up and down the hallway or as another option, grab onto her lion (in the background) and walk back and forth banging into the walls. The little blue wheel on the lion is what she fell on to give her that nasty black eye.

It is such hard work for Sarah to be cute...here she is practicing her lady-like clap.

Sarah chewing on her moose magnet. I am sure minutes after this picture was taken all of the magnets were on the floor.

Lucy visiting Miss Sarah while she decides whether she wants to read another book or play with her sandwich.

Sarah "borrowed" my birthday card that I received from Amelia and it quickly became her new short story book. She just loved the girl doggie with pigtails on the cover of the card.

Sarah is growing fast and by the looks of this picture you would think that Joella and I never feed her. The only thing more interesting than the inside of the fridge are all of the pictures on the freezer door. Sarah could spend hours pointing at all of the pictures as we tell her all of the names. I wouldn't be suprised if she says someone else's name before mommy and daddy.

More Summer Fun With Daddy

2009-07-26T22:32:00.012-05:00

Sarah finally made me add a new post to the blog because she has to tell everyone about all of the fun stuff that we have been doing lately...

Here is daddy and I getting all dressed up for church (Thanks for the cute dress Aunt Lisa!)...

Daddy and I had lots of fun cheering for Albert during the All-Star game! Too bad the National League lost again...(ignore my black eye, I fell onto my lion the day before)...

Daddy has been trying to teach me to hang onto my tricycle this week. Amelia gave it to me when we came back from Arkansas. Give me a little time and I'll be cruisin' everywhere!

Daddy even found these old pictures of Amelia learning how to ride the tricycle...

Bye-bye everyone...Love You! (especially when I get to play peek-a-boo, eat ice cream, open presents...)

Some Odds and Ends

2009-07-10T22:06:00.006-05:00

We finally got our nice painting framed and hung above the fireplace last month. That is over two years from when we bought it and who knows how many years it will be until we decide to paint our fireplace and great room.

Karl helped me hang the painting up on their way back from South Dakota. I took this picture as they were packed up and ready to leave...it is funny seeing how much older Cocoa and Mollie are these days. Plus, good old "Green" (the CRV) has seen many miles over the years.

Quite the Handful...

2009-07-09T22:01:00.009-05:00

This week Sarah decided to help mommy with the laundry again, except this time she went for her dresser drawer instead of the clothes basket.

And apparently Sarah is already interested in going cruisin' (but not for boys). Allison was nice enough to take Sarah for a slow Jeep ride during the Swearingin big Fourth of July picnic.

Good thing little Miss Pebbles is so cute because she definitely keeps us on our toes. It seems like every week there are far too many stories to even begin telling...but she will always be our little Sarah-Bear angel.

A Fun Filled Summer

2009-07-05T20:38:00.021-05:00

Sarah has been having lots of fun during these first couple months of summer. She has been showing off plenty of her new summer outfits...

Going on lots of wagon rides to the mailbox...

Playing with her cute puppy dog that Uncle Kurt gave her at their birthday party...

Showing off her dress (that Uncle Kurt gave her...daddy hasn't even bought clothes for Miss Sarah yet) before church...

Munching on some yogurt at Grandma's house...

Feeding herself (and the doggies) like such a big girl...

Rocking with Cousin Maggie before bedtime...

Playing with cousins Maggie and Amelia...

Having mommy take incriminating naked photographs of Sarah playing with the dog's water dish...

And drooling on her camera with Uncle Karl and Cousin Maggie...

Finally More Videos!

2009-06-16T22:06:00.015-05:00

Well I finally had some time available tonight so everyone can now enjoy some "new" videos of Miss Sarah.

It is hard to believe that less than 2 months ago that she was just starting to crawl...

And then within a few weeks of that Sarah started pulling up on (and falling off of) everything...

Sarah had a wonderful birthday party and here are a few highlights for those of you who missed the big party!

And finally, here are some cute videos from Sarah's first swimming lesson several weeks ago. She has already gotten more used to the pool and tonight she was talking all swim class long. She even didn't mind going completely under water for the first time!

Laundry Time

2009-05-31T09:59:00.014-05:00

Do you remember how Sarah used to help mommy with the laundry last year? Well she has become quite a bit more productive now. Just this past week, Sarah decided to suprise mommy by helping her sort laundry in the hallway.

Summer Time

2009-05-30T09:47:00.015-05:00

The beginning of summer is already becoming very busy for Miss Sarah...

Playing in the grass...

Playing with her laundry basket...

Munching on cookies...

Showing off her new summer hat...

And playing her new piano with grandma...

Our Swim Angel

2009-05-29T23:26:00.012-05:00

Sarah started taking swim classes this week at the YMCA. Here are few pictures of her getting ready at the house. She looks very cute in her swimsuit that Aunt Lisa got for her. Sarah did very well in the pool with mommy and we are betting that she will want to go swimming lots this summer.

Here are a few bonus pictures of Mollie helping to clean up Sarah's birthday cake.

Our Little Birthday Girl

2009-05-27T18:39:00.022-05:00

Sarah had a great first birthday party and we are so happy that lots of family and friends got to come celebrate with us. Sarah definitely put on a show for everyone and she even managed to take a short nap so the party kept going on for quite some time.

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...and Sarah just thanked everyone for all of her wonderful presents!

Sarah's First Day of School

2009-05-18T21:22:00.007-05:00

No, Sarah didn't start school yet but she did visit grandma at her school last week. She had lots of fun meeting all of grandma's teacher friends and students. She even got to show off her crawling skills in grandma's classroom.

And There Were Just a Few Out-takes...

2009-05-16T22:25:00.006-05:00

Of course the out-takes were really not bad this time and they were mainly caused by someone getting a little hungry towards the end of the picture shoot.

More Bonus Pictures

2009-05-16T22:16:00.007-05:00

Sarah's Soon To Be One Year Old Pictures

2009-05-16T22:07:00.010-05:00

Almost a Month's Worth of Pictures...

2009-05-09T20:43:00.015-05:00

Sarah has been scooting around very well for the past couple of weeks so she has been keeping us pretty busy. Joella should be able to load up some new crawling videos sometime this week so just hang in there.

Sarah still loves her jumper, but the exertion always seems to cause her to fill her diaper big time.

This picture shows Sarah's new "crinkle-nose" face that she loves to give mom and dad. In the past couple of days, Sarah has also added a snorting noise to it in order to really get mom's attention.

Sarah showing off her cute new blue outfit to Aunt Lisa a couple of weeks ago...although she looks impressive right here with her sippy cup, she has regressed a little bit now that she knows that she can shake it and have water drips go everywhere.

Joella, Matt, Mia, Sarah, and I had a great time walking last weekend in the March of Dimes fundraiser. Our team name was the "Sarah Bears" and we will be recruiting more walkers next year. Maybe by then we will have convinced Sarah that she doesn't need a second pair of sunglasses just to chew on...

Matt and Mia leading our team at the start of the walk...

The finish line...we all got some good exercise and Sarah got a nice long nap in the stroller.

Mia giving Sarah a few licks of the celebratory rainbow pop-pop.

Have a great Mother's Day everyone!

Our Third Puppy Dog

2009-05-06T21:44:00.006-05:00

So do you remember our new puppy dog from last October?

Well apparently she wants to use the doggy door just like Mollie and Lucy...

Miss Sarah even knows how to make that face when she knows that she is in trouble from mommy, but she goes ahead and turns around again to play with the flap...

Good thing that Sarah is so darn cute. I promise to load lots more pictures throughout the weekend, but for now I will leave you with some pictures from dinner tonight. Sarah was trying to get some good use out of her new chompers.

Our Arkansas Adventure

2009-04-21T22:53:00.021-05:00

We had a great, but short, visit to Arkansas last weekend for Miss Maggie's First Communion. Although it rained during our drive to and from Karl and Loretta's house, the weather on Saturday was very nice. Here are some pictures...

The Sommerhauser family all together.

The Sommerhauser girls sitting as still as we will probably ever see for the next 5 years.

A good picture of Maggie and her daddy.

Another good picture of Amelia, Loretta, Karl, and Maggie.

A fuzzy picture of the girls' impromptu slumber party.

Everybody loves story time...and Maggie is a very good reader.

Sarah had lots of fun playing with (and in) Maggie's new storage box...but don't even think about buying Sarah a bunch of Hannah Montana stuff. Of course Amelia had to cram herself inside of the box when Sarah was done playing with it (sorry no pictures of that).

Our Colorado Adventure

2009-04-20T19:22:00.018-05:00

We had a great time in Denver several weeks ago. Joella enjoyed the robot competition and we had a great visit with all of her cousins. The drive back across Kansas was very windy and Sarah got pretty grumpy for the last few hours. Here are some pictures...

Sarah getting a bath in the sink at the hotel in Denver.

Taking a nap in the Baby Bjorn during the competition.

Sarah caught trying to escape the hotel room.

Sarah having lots of fun with Christine.

Richard letting Sarah play with his safety glasses.

Richard letting Sarah chew on his glasses.

Richard getting caught letting Sarah chew on his glasses.

Denver after the foot of snow rolled through.

Sarah all bundled up for a trip out in the snow.

I think that Jacob has a new baby sitting job.

Sarah had lots of fun with cousins Katherine, Arica, Pamela, and Bo.

Sarah posing with Arica.

Sarah wasn't too worried that she couldn't find her spoon...as long as she had her washcloth.

Stay tuned because tomorrow we will talk about the great Arkansas adventure that we had last weekend.