Happy Chanukah!

Here is Sadie eating dinner after we lit the Menorah.  She's too little to be distracted by the site of presents yet!

After dinner we opened some presents...

And read the new Elmo book Sadie got.

Thursdays with Babulya and Deda

Since Mom has had to go back to work full time, Sadie has been spending Thursdays at Babulya and Deda's house with her cousins.  It's been working really great.

Babulya sometimes takes and sends pictures, which we don't post enough of. So... here they are all hanging on Deda yesterday.

Sadie - Now (Almost) Officially a Toddler

Sadie will be moving to Toddler 1 at day care on Monday Dec 15, the day she turns 18 months.  This week is her transition week and so she spent this morning playing in her classroom (see pictures).  She is adjusting well (according to the email from the teachers) and it is a bittersweet moment for Mom and Dad.

UPDATE: When Dad went down to see Sadie, he was informed she was unwilling to leave the Toddler Room this morning and was only lured out with a promise of lunch.

Wordplay

Sadie has a couple of fun words at the moment. Captured on video for you...

Thanksgiving 7 - Thanks and Goodbye

Thanksgiving night, Taylor showed Sadie how to play the piano. We didn't grab any pictures of them then, but Sadie returned the the piano on Friday, enjoying herself as you can see.

Once nighttime came, it was time to say goodbye to our St. Louis family as we were leaving very early the next morning.

Bye-bye Aunt "Nae-Nae-Nae-Nae" Renee.

Sadie learned how to give someone a kiss just in time to say bye to Grandma.

And we don't have a picture of Grandpa's goodbye, but Sadie continued her habit of long goodnight hugs with Grandpa, which is a perfect excuse to show this picture again...

Bye bye to St. Louis. We had a great time.

Thanksgiving Part 6 - The Zoo

Two fortuitous things came together this week...
1) Sadie has a new found love of labeling animals and acting out animal sounds
2) St. Louis has a great zoo that is also free, making a short trip guilt-free.

In preparation, here is Sadie reading a book featuring elephants.
(This may or may not really just be an excuse to show off her new overalls).

As you can see, it was a cold day at the zoo, which resulted in more than a few empty enclosures.

The hippos were missing (perhaps they'd gone Berserk?) but the fish were still there...

The elephants were out and Sadie had a great time making elephant noises at them, directing only a few back at the camera.

 Then it was off to find Sadie's spirit animal, the frogs!

 We saw lots of jumping and some hopping. Sadie was pretty into it all

Our trip is nearing it's (blogging) end... Next time on Sadieblog, some long hugs...

Thanksgiving Trip Part 5 (The Thanksgivinging)

The Thanksgiving week rundown continues with, appropriately enough, Thanksgiving Day.

After a reasonably calm morning...

...it was time to get dressed and be ready for family:

Of course, with dinner still to come later, we needed a pre-thanksgiving banana-snack, just like the pilgrims ate!

Pretty soon, Great Aunt Ava, Great Uncle Steve, and cousins Erica, Mitch, Lauren, and Taylor were here. 

Beads were once again the toy of the moment and Sadie even shared some with Ava.

 Aunt Renee surprised the family with an art project she and Sadie had been working on together (Handprint and scribbles courtesy of Sadie).

No photos of the meal (or the amazing ice cream pie Lauren made), but we think everyone had a good time.

Not sure when this photo was taken, but it's likely that engineer Great Uncle Steve may have had something to do with it.

Next - the zoo!!!

Thanksgiving Trip Part 4

Wednesday was a much calmer day, allowing us to spend some quality time checking out our St. Louis toys.

 We also got to break out a favorite toy of Dad's from his toddler years.

All kids who come to Grandma and Grandpa's seem to enjoy these multicolored coasters. In fact, it looks like Aunt Renee is tickling Sadie just to get them for herself!

That night, we went to Spiro's, a longtime favorite, but a first trip for Sadie (and Mom, due to the fire Spiro's had some years back). Sadie was great at the table, charming much of our section of the restaurant. 

Sadie's working on her sense of humor...

Thanksgiving Trip Part 3 (Photo Day)

We once again took some family portraits during the Thanksgiving holiday but rather than head to a super crowded studio, we had a photographer come to Grandma and Grandpa's house.* Unlike last year's fuddy-duddies, this photographer had no problem with us snapping pictures of the photo shoot in general.

* This was photographer attempt #4 as photographer #1 wasn't able to confidently leave North County and her backups (#2 and #3) refused to travel at all on Tuesday.

Actual photographer photos from the shoot will be available in a few weeks, but in the meantime, here is Sadie on a rocking chair that was Dad's in his youth...

Between shoots, Sadie relaxed just like Mom, with a pillow in her lap.

While not quite for the photos, Sadie couldn't pass up an opportunity to accessorize!

After that, it was time to check out her brand new book with Aunt Renee

Tuesday night also marked Mom and Dad's night out while Sadie to got spend quality time with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Renee without pesky parents around. She clearly didn't even miss us because at bedtime, she gave Grandpa a 20 minute (!) hug.

Thanksgiving continues soon, this time with more trains!