Best Friends

     Last week, Adam did a little babysitting. Tristen and Sara Beth had a blast together! This is such a fun time in their lives!

Birthday Celebrations

     I'll be the first to admit that I've been terrible about keeping up with the blog and updating facebook since I've started working again. Honestly, I just can't find the time. So, here's my attempt to get caught up. The next few days should bring some new posts about the last couple of months at the Hart home.
     Last month, we celebrated birthdays for some of our really special friends. First, we made the long trip down south to Hammond, LA for Sullivan Tabb's 2nd birthday. His parents, Michael and Kristin, just built a new house on some great property, so this trip was a good excuse to see their new casa too!  The tractor party was fun, the jambalaya was delicious, and the weather was perfect. But the best part was just getting a chance to spend time with good friends. I wish we could do that more often!

Tactor ride!

Sully and his mommy blowing out the candles

Who knew an ice chest full of ice could be so much fun?

     Later in the month, we drove over to Marshall, TX to celebrate the birthdays of ALL 5 of the Stringer kids. Our long-time friends, Michael and Laurie Stringer, have 5 precious kids. Little Michael and Hope were turning 7. Titus was turning 5. Faith and Grace were turning 1. Each kid had their own decorated table and their own homemade cake in whatever theme they requested. It was so much fun! Kudos to them for raising 5 children! I can barely handle one!

According to SB, the watermelon was the best part of the party!

Water slide fun

Cool girl!

The Stringer family 

Sara Beth's Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

     I finally finished a photo book for Sara Beth's first year. Hooray! I'm only about 5 months late. :) I used the journal entries from my monthly blog posts as the text. I wanted to remember all those sweet little milestones.

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

Adam is so sweet to text me pictures of Sara Beth throughout the day while I'm at work. It makes my day so much easier to be able to feel like I'm a part of their day. This is one I got last week while she was "helping" her daddy add on to our porch. Love it!

Back in the Saddle Again

     Well, my year of being a stay-at-home mommy is officially over. Sniff, sniff. . . I started working again a couple weeks ago when school began. I'm at a different school this year--- back at my elementary Alma mater actually. I do miss my friends at SGE, but I'm so grateful to be where I am this year. If I had stayed at SGE, I was going to be teaching 1st grade again. Don't get me wrong, I love first grade! But being in the classroom entails A LOT of "take-home work". I was worried about missing time with my family. Through a series of texts, I caught wind of a reading interventionist position that was opening at Summerfield. At first, I wasn't interested. My brain had finally started settling in to being back in the classroom. Adam finally convinced me to at least throw my name in the hat. So, I updated my resume and emailed it (tacky right?) to the principal on a Sunday night. Monday morning, while I was visiting my friend, Crystal, in the hospital, I got a call to come in for an interview. They were interviewing for the position right then, so I needed to be able to come within a few hours. Thankfully, I was decently dressed and even had make-up on. The interview went well, but I never expected what would happen next. I went to pick up Sara Beth from my parents' house, which is literally 3 minutes away. As we were headed home (it had been about 20 minutes since the interview) I got a call asking me to come back to the school again. So, there I was, with my baby on my hip, in the Principal's office, surrounded by administration folks. "We'd like to offer you the position, if you are interested."  Really. It was that easy! I've never before had something just fall in my lap like that! God is amazing!  So, now, when I'm lonely in this new place, missing my best friends and my baby girl, I try to remember that God put me at Summerfield. It's where I am supposed to be. I hope that I can shine a little Jesus and be an encouragement to others while I'm there. Maybe I'm there for me. Maybe I'm there for another teacher. Maybe there is a child that I can help. Maybe God put me there for my nieces, Shelby and Maddie. I get to hug their necks every day now. No matter why God put me there, I am so glad He did! Here's to a great year!
     On another note, Adam is being a stay-at-home daddy this year. He resigned from his job during the summer so that he could be with SB this year and also supervise the building of our garage. I'm so glad that he is able to spend this time with her. He will cherish it forever! I love to hear about what they did while I was at work. It's usually so different than what I would've done with her. He teaches her about tools, helps her climb things, lets her get dirty outside, and other "daddy" stuff like that. It's priceless!

15 (and a half) Months Old

     It's been a while since my last post, and even longer since my last monthly update about Sara Beth. She is now 15 months old and growing up WAY too fast! At her check-up with Dr. Ritch this month, she weighed 22 pounds (50th percentile) and was 31 inches long (75th percentile). In the last few months she has gotten lots more teeth (all the better to chew with, my dear) and now has 12 in all. She is a great little eater, which I love! I'd list the things she eats, but it's pretty much everything now. Her tolerance for spicy foods is still pretty low, but we're working on it. She usually takes a bite and seems to enjoy it until a few seconds later the spice hits her and then she cries. A sip of milk helps put out the flames, and then she goes back for another bite.

     Sara Beth is becoming quite the little monkey lately too, climbing on everything. Her favorite places to climb are up into her highchair and onto the back of the couch so she can see outside. She can kick and run, dance and clap, but can't throw a ball quite yet. She's learning to ride her balance bike, slowly (VERY) but surely. She learned to build with blocks a few weeks ago. She was enamored with blocks for a while and that's all she ever wanted to play with. Now, she's moved on to books. Sara Beth is a book-aholic! She has always loved books, but since Adam built her some bookshelves that she could reach, she has been obsessed with books. If you can't find her, just go look in the corner of her room. There she'll be, sitting in a pile of books, quietly flipping through each one or naming every picture that she sees. It's pretty amazing, and entertaining to watch! She can even name a few of her favorite books:  There's A Wocket In My Pocket ("Pocket"), No, No, Noah ("No, no, no"), Mr. Brown Can Moo ("Moo"), Go, Dog! Go! ("Go, go, go"), and Uh Oh, Calico! ("Calico" most of the time, but occasionally she'll say the whole title).
     Sara Beth is a talker! I wonder who she got that from? Hmmm.... Anyway, she can parrot pretty much anything that you say to her. It only takes 2-3 exposures to a word before she's using it independently. Dr. Ritch asked us if she had a few words that we could understand. We said "Yes, quite a lot actually." He said, "Around 6?" Our reply. . . "Um. More like 100!" I love the way she says "happy", "yellow", "Zilla", and "Shelby". Her little voice just makes me smile! She is even starting to put 2 or 3 words together sometimes. Before we know it, she'll be spouting out sentences.
     This summer has been fun-- full of lots of play dates with friends, Gymboree classes, and swim lessons-- but it has been unbearably hot! We've been cooped up in the house for the last few weeks because it's sooo hot outside, even first thing in the morning. Here are a few pictures from the last 3 months to show you what our girl has been up to:

Watermelon was a summer favorite!

This is one of my favorite pictures. I love how SB looks like she's the queen!

Spray park fun!

Fourth of July boat ride

First time at the movie theater

Making music at the park

Watching Mommy and Daddy fly a kite

Reunited with her friend, Rivers, after way to long

Second haircut---- this time by our friend, Ashley, at her shop.

Indulge Me for A Mere 3 Minutes Please!

 I know that some people despise watching other people's kids show off on videos, so feel free to skip this post if you are one of those people. Sara Beth is learning so fast, and I am always amazed at her. I'm not the best at documenting all that I should on video, but I catch things when I can. Today, we filmed her building with blocks. When I watch this video, I find myself cheering her on. "Go, SB! Just turn the block a little to the right and it will snap on for you." Anyway, I'm a proud mama! Please indulge me and watch 3 minutes of my girl doing her thing! :)