Sarah Avery's 1st Birthday!

This weekend was a big one for our family.   Our little Sarah Avery Mallory turned 1!    I know I'm probably supposed to say how I can't believe how fast time flew by, but if I'm honest, this year has been challenging and, more often than not, it felt loooong.    So Saturday wasn't just a celebration of Sarah Avery's birth, but also a celebration of our family's survival of her first year.   And as all of the sleepless nights and scream-filled car rides are slowly starting to fade into our memories, we are so grateful for this new stage with our happy, adventurous and adorable little almost toddler.    Here are the pictures from Sarah Avery's birthday week:

The girls and I spent one day at the zoo.   Here we are eating our picnic.

And playing at the playground.

This was more of a hit than the animals I think.  

The girls have had lots of pretend picnics with their baby dolls.

Sarah Avery loves playing with Susannah.  

Such a big girl!

Saturday morning was birthday day.   We let Sarah Avery open all of her birthday packages after breakfast. 

"What's in this one, Daddy?"

Some of the packages had things for Susannah, so I think she felt a little bit like it was her birthday too.   

Sarah Avery loved all the packing supplies.

Aunt Susan sent Susannah this neat dry erase book for practicing her letter-writing.  

And this sippy cup was Sarah Avery's favorite present by far.   It's the little things, right?

Susannah was excited about her new bracelets.

Sarah Avery scored lots of new clothes for Fall.   Thank you everybody for making her day so special!   She is so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents and aunts and uncles.  

We invited another family over for lunch to help us celebrate with BBQ and birthday cake. 

 Susannah was happy to be the hostess of  the kids table.   

Sarah Avery was a fan of the pulled pork.  

"Yum!"

After BBQ, it was time for birthday cake!!

I had to laugh at just how typical of a "second child story" this party was.   When Susannah turned one we had a huge themed party with thirty people, a photo booth, and a specially made cake with low sugar and no preservatives.   Sarah Avery had four guests, crock-pot BBQ and a grocery store cake.    Bring on the high fructose corn syrup!!  ;)

The only thing that matters, though,  is that our sweet girl felt loved and celebrated and I think we accomplished that goal.   When it was time to blow out the candle, she wasn't scared, but I think she was happy to have big sister there to help.

And Susannah was happy to oblige.  

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SA ate her entire piece of  the birthday cake, but left all the icing.   This behavior led me to question if she is actually my daughter after all.   ;)

After lunch we headed to the park to enjoy the beautiful weather.  

SA still tries to eat the sand on occasion, but she is getting better and loves to play with the sand toys.  

"Check out my big girl shovel!"

She is such a little person now and so fun to watch as she explores and learns.

The big kids enjoyed the swings.  

She is still a major Daddy's girl.   

She loves playing with the water features in the sand box.  

As do the big kids.  

Sunday after church we decided to take the U-bahn up to some hiking trails near our apartment.  

It was fun to get out of the city without actually having to drive out of the city.  

There is a great little playground out in the middle of the trails.

Sarah Avery liked the swing.

So did her big sis.

This is how SA rides in the stroller lately.....Like she is driving a chariot.   It cracks me up because I remember Susannah doing the exact same thing at this age.   

Here is a little collection of clips from Sarah Avery's big day.  

Sarah Avery, we love you so very much!   We had no idea how incomplete our little family was until you arrived and made everything fit.   You are adventurous,  funny,  and  affectionate.   Susannah, Daddy and I are so proud of you and can't wait to watch you continue to grow and learn.   

And to our awesome family....Thanks again for sending the packages and cards and letters.   We are so thankful for each of you and can't wait to see you soon!   

Kindergarten Summer Break: Week 2

Our week was fun and busy, which helped distract us from the sweltering temperatures.   We had several playdates with friends, although I failed to take even one picture at any of them.   Here are the photos that I did remember to take.....

Peter actually took this one.   Tuesday was a very special day for Susannah because she went to work on the Ubahn with her Daddy.   The command hosted a parent-child breakfast.   Susannah was beside herself to get to spend the morning with Daddy on base.

They had breakfast, went to Peter's office for a little while, and went to the barber shop before meeting SA and I at the library for story-time.  I think it will be a cherished memory for them both.     

Thursday was the hottest day and we were lucky to have plans at a friend's house who lives way out in the country.   The kids played with water toys in the yard while the moms and babies tried to hide in the shade.   Can you see the temperature when we got in the car to leave?   It says 111 degrees.   In other words, hot.   Insanely hot.   

Peter was lucky and out of town for the worst of the heat.   So when he returned and cool temperatures finally arrived,  I was more than ready to leave the girls with Daddy and spend a few hours in the quiet.   This is my post-swim cappuccino.    Bliss.

Sunday morning breakfast.   

Sarah Avery is so proud to sit in the "big girl chair" like her sister.   

I know this is blurry but they are both smiling and looking, so I'm posting it.  

Sarah Avery is still pulling up on everything and cruising around the furniture, but she doesn't seem quite ready to walk yet.  

We went to the trampoline on Sunday afternoon.   Sarah Avery wasn't too sure.  

Big sister was a fan as always.

That striped animal in this picture is Sarah Avery's new love.   She sleeps with it and carries it around with her.   And I love it because she isn't crying as much before naptime.   She just hugs sock monkey instead of screaming.  Thank you sock monkey!!

And that is it for our week.   This weekend Sarah Avery turns one!   We have a little lunch party planned with another family that should be a fun way to celebrate our sweet and hilarious girl.   We wish you could all be here to watch her eat her first bite of cake.  Pictures to come next week of course.    Lots of love from Germany!

Remind me of this misery in February when I'm complaining about the cold, dark winter days

Well, the heat has returned with a vengeance.   A seriously mean vengeance.   But Peter had a three day weekend and we were determined to make the best of it, despite the one hundred degree temperatures.   Luckily it didn't heat up until the end of the week so bible school wasn't a total oven.   And we spent a lot of time this weekend at the pool, which helped.  Here are the pictures from the week:

Walking up to the biergarten.   Notice how the grass is completely brown and burnt to a crisp?   It is like that all over this region.  

First day of bible school was a great success.   Susannah had a great week.   We had to add pink accessories to our outfit everyday though because the bible school t-shirts were a little to boyish for her taste.   

Her friend Nora came over for a play-date after their first day. 

Lunchtime!  

And now Frozen time!    They acted out entire scenes from the movie and it was cracking me up.

Jumping on the trampoline after day 2.

We discovered the Sarah Avery is a big fan of mac n cheese.   She loves to rub it in her hair almost as much as she loves to eat it.

Peter was traveling for the first couple of days of the week.   This one was pretty excited to see her Daddy.

Most definitely a Daddy's girl.

If I try to take her while he is holding her she grips him and cries.   I remind her that I'm the one who birthed her and nourished her for the first year of her life, but she doesn't seem to care.  

Friday after bible school we headed to the pool.   It was packed, but we found a nice shady spot and enjoyed the afternoon.

Susannah loves the pool so much now that she can swim.   No matter how long we have been swimming, she always begs to stay for "5 more minutes."

We knew the pools would be obnoxiously crowded on Saturday so we packed up the car and headed out of the city to our favorite little hiking spot for a shady picnic next to the creek.

Unfortunately, these sheep had already laid claim to said creek.   At first this seemed charming, until we realized that they were actually in the creek  and they brought a herd of flies with them.   Needless to say, we packed up about 30 seconds after we finished laying everything out. 

Time for plan B, so we headed to the pool that is in the little village there.   It was so awesome.   There are only a few thousand people in the entire village, so the pool didn't feel crowded at all.   We did get a couple of stares when people heard us speaking English though.   I think we were the only people at the entire pool that didn't know everybody else.   

Sunday morning we headed to church.

And spent the afternoon at Stuttgart's biggest park.   Susannah rode the carousel.

And fed the ponies.   

SA and I hung out by the ponies while Peter and Susannah played on the playground.

Sarah Avery is just like her sister and loves animals.   She laughed and laughed at the geese and the ponies.  

And this chicken that had escaped from the petting zoo area and was mingling around the picnic blankets.   

We ended the afternoon on the little train that goes around the park.  

I tried to tickle this one to get her to smile at the camera, 

which worked, 

until she bumped her head.   

"Too much effort to smile in this heat Daddy."  Contrary to what these faces portray, we all had a great time.  Sweaty, but great.

And now we are starting week 2 of no kindergarten.    But this week we don't have VBS to take up our mornings.    We do have some picnic play-dates planned though so hopefully that will keep us busy enough.   We miss and love you all!