Sara's Birthday Continues

Sara got a package the other day addressed to just her. She was so excited to think that someone had sent her something!
She opened it up to discover lots of presents from Grandpa and Grandma Cloward. Let the unwrapping begin!


More Hello Kitty Legos. She loved it and was so excited to add to her collection. Both her and Anna sat and played with them for about two hours. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma! You're the best!

The Sermon

So, the other day Rob came home from work with a shocked expression on his face. I guess shocked really isn't the right word, more like a dazed and confused. He had received a text from the Elders Quorum President (Rob is the 2nd counselor) telling him that one of the members of the Presidency was asked to give a talk at a funeral. The funeral was for an inactive member of our wards father who is not a member of the church. He was Catholic. When they found out how much the Priest was going to charge to direct the services the son said that the Mormons do it for free, so it ended up at our ward. And somehow the Bishop ended up planning the whole funeral, and put the Elders Quorum Presidency in charge of speaking. Both the President and the First Counselor were out of town and that left Rob. He had to speak at a funeral of someone he had never met. In fact, he had to call the Bishop and ask what the name of the deceased. He felt incredibly overwhelmed, but even more overwhelmed when he got to the church and saw the program. Not only was he the only speaker (besides the Bishop) but it had him down as giving a sermon. Talk about pressure! But I heard from several people that he did a great job talking about the Plan of Salvation. What a missionary opportunity, seeing that most of the congregation were not members of the Mormon church. Gotta love living out in the "field".

Secret Admirer

The other day I received the following note on Facebook:

"Just so you know...I now have "Anna" carved into one of my tables...By one of my boys. This is serious. Lol. As I was getting upset he just couldn't wipe a smile off. He tried, but..."

Tornado

We had a tornado touch down about fifteen miles from our home. It was just a little one (pictured above) and it didn't do too much damage, but it was nerve wracking none the less. We got the call while I was at a friends house, Sara was at preschool, Anna was at school and Rob was at work. It was incredibly unnerving having all of us separated. I knew that everyone was in good hands, but if there was an emergency I didn't know how to get my whole family together. Rob would be the hardest to get to, since he works about an hour away by car. It really made me realize that we need to get a plan into place in case of emergency.
When Anna came home I asked how her day was. She told me that they had a tornado drill and got to sit in the hall for about 151 hrs. First of all, I love that they did not panic the kids by telling them that there really was a tornado. Secondly, her perception of time is awesome. I figure they were probably in the hall for about an hour. I guess it can feel like 151 hours when you are six.
All in all, we are all sage. The tornado passed us by without any damage to our home or to our city for that matter. I guess it is always good to have these little reminders to get prepared. Oh, and BTW, tornado season isn't supposed to start here until March. What's up with this crazy weather?!

Hex Bugs

The girls got Hex bugs in their stockings this last Christmas. If you are not sure what they are, go ahead and google them. They are a lot of fun. Well, the girls were able to accompany Rob to Home Depot the other day and they picked up a couple of extra things. They decided to build an obstacle course for their bugs. The girls have been entertained constantly and Daddy was able to do something fun for the first time in a long time. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the girls have named their bugs. Anna named hers Tarzan and Sara named hers Goonia. We have no idea where she came up with that one. That girl has one big imagination!

Birthday Dress

Grandma Hadfield made Sara a new dress for her birthday. She loves it because it is so purple! She was able to wear it this Sunday and she also insisted on having her hair in colors. Isn't she cute?! My big 4 year old!

Little Miss Smarty Pants

I volunteer in Anna's class. When I walked in the other day her teacher asked Anna to show me what she had done that day. The teacher had given her a small chapter book to read with a reading group for the week. I think it was about 20 pages. Well, Anna finished it that day. So we decided to let her check out a chapter book. She checked it out on Tuesday. She came home and read one chapter. The next day she read on the way to ballet, at Sara's ballet class, on the way home from ballet and for about a half an hour after we got home. She had finished the book! It was about 70 pages! I was worried that she didn't really comprehend what it was about, so I asked her to explain it to me. She was able to. I couldn't believe it! What a little smarty pants! I think when I was her age I was able to read a couple of sentences in the Dick and Jane books. I'm so proud of her and I love that she is choosing to read over watching TV. Way to go Anna!

Happy Birthday Sara!

My sweet Sara turned four. I guess you can say it was finally numbers. When you ask Sara when her birthday is she will always reply...numbers. Anyway, she is also finally admitting that she is four and not three.
She woke up and found purple balloons and a purple flower that daddy and Anna had left for her. She was so excited!My big four year old! She had to go to school, and was able to take a giant purple cookie to share with her friends.

When I asked her what she wanted for her cake she insisted on a rainbow cake. This was the best I could come up with, but she was happy. (Don't mind the big belly in the background!). She also chose popcorn shrimp and mac n' cheese for her dinner.
She got all four candles.
She insisted on having a piece with all of the colors. The crown is from her school.
Some of the things about Sara right now:

Favorite Color - Purple

Favorite Food - Chicken nuggets

Favorite Princess - Cinderella

Favorite TV Show - Bubble Guppies, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Team Oomi Zoomi.

Favorite Toy - Her doll, Pretty.

Friends - Cassidy, Mary and Reagan.

She loves to read and has a vivid imagination. She loves to play with Anna.

I am so thankful for Sara. I can't imagine what my life would be like without her. The last four days have not been boring due to her. I love you Sara! Happy Birthday!

Crazy Sara

I got out of the shower the other day and came upon this:She was so proud of herself how could I not take a picture. Silly girl!

The Dreaded Phone Call

Monday morning I got an interesting phone call...

"Hello."
"Mrs. Cloward, this is Nurse Lisa. First of all, I want to let you know that we were able to stop the bleeding and Anna is doing fine."

Not the best way to start a conversation. Anyway, I guess Anna tripped and fell while in music class (yes, I said music class) and landed on her face. She got a bloody nose and scraped up her face pretty good. They said that she was brave and didn't cry too hard. I'm just glad it was something little and nothing like I first imagined when I got that phone call!

32 Week Ultrasound

I don't have any pictures to include, but we had our 32 week ultrasound last week. So far everything is still looking good. He is still a boy, a very big boy! At the time of the ultrasound they figured it weighed just under five pounds. I still have eight weeks left and the baby gains about a half a pound a week. It is going to be one big baby! He is currently breach, which really doesn't matter since I have to have a c-section, but it explains why I keep getting kicked in the bladder.
I'm getting pretty excited to see the little guy. Now we just need to come up with a name. Any ideas?

Luminaries

I forgot to add the pictures that my family sent me of the luminaries for Christmas. I was extremely sad that we were not able to be at the cemetery to do it with them, but so grateful that they took time out of their celebration to include my sweet babies. Love you guys!

Snow?

Kentucky finally got some snow. The girls were so excited! Sara looked out the window and said that she wanted to go outside and eat some snow. As soon as I opened the garage she proceeded to do just that! I found the irony in the fact that it snowed the day we took the Christmas decorations down.You will notice that there is not a lot of snow...Just a trace. It was good enough for the girls. I caught Anna jumping with joy!
Sara's favorite part was throwing snowballs at Anna.
Sara's shoes were pretty slippery. She walked into the house and immediately fell down. She just sat there, stunned, and then said, "Oops! I fell!". It was pretty funny.
Right after I took these pictures Anna's friend came over to play in the snow, all bundled up. I decided to bundle up the girls as well. It took me fifteen minutes to do so. They went outside and played for a total of three minutes before I heard a little knock on the door. They were done and wanted to come in and have hot chocolate. Crazy girls!
There is now maybe a half an inch of snow on the ground. There is a snow advisory out until 5 am and it is quite possible that school will be canceled. Gotta love snow in Kentucky!

New Years Eve 2011

We had a quiet evening with a couple of our friends. The girls got their groove on with Just Dance and at 10:00 we rang in the New Year (You have to do it early when you have church the next day!).

We are already looking forward to 2012. The baby will be here in two months. We have a couple of vacations planned. Lots of goals to meet. It will be a good year.