Tis the Season

Sadie tried on her Christmas outfit the other day, and I tried to take her picture for our Christmas cards.  She wasn't really happy about it.  She was more interested in looking at the tree than anything else.

So then I figured I'd try it in her Christmas pajamas and sitting in her chair.  She didn't really cooperate there either.

Oh well, we will do our best with what we got I guess!

Sadie has a beautiful wooden advent calendar in her room that her Grandma bought in Door County.  Instead of filling each day with candy, I put a coin behind each door.  Each night before we go to bed, she gets to open the door and take out the coin, then she puts it in her piggy bank without any help!

We got our first blizzard last night.  We only had a dusting of snow on the ground previously, then it dumped about a foot last night.  What ever happened to the snow building up slowly over the winter?  We decided to try playing outside anyway, even though the snow in spots was up to Sadie's waist and Miller's belly.

This was her first time wearing her snow pants.  Not a fan.

Once she had everything on, she was the spitting image of Ralphie's little brother... it was either standing or laying, no in between!

"OK, Mom, I'm ready."

As I suspected, she didn't really know what to do once we got out there.  She pretty much just stood wherever I placed her.

Oh well, maybe next year!

Growing Up

Sadie is really growing up to be a big girl!  For her Christmas present, we decided to get her a chair for the living room that is just her size.  We took advantage of a black Friday sale, so she got to have it a little early.

She has already gotten bored with coloring, and now she likes to just pick through the crayons in the box and gather up the ones that don't have labels on them.  She puts them all in one hand and keeps cramming them in there until she can't hold anymore.

She's also starting to get pretty good at making her puzzles.  The ones that have interlocking pieces are a little tougher, but she does well with the ones that just have single pieces that fit into holes.  She can do the vehicles puzzle all by herself.

She used to be so good at getting her picture taken, but now she's too busy to sit still for the camera.  It's a two person job- one getting and keeping her attention for a few seconds while one takes the picture.  This is the best we could get for Thanksgiving, she didn't want anything to do with that turkey-

NEW Zoo

On Sunday, we took Sadie to the NEW Zoo in Suamico for her first time.  It has actually been a really long time since I've been there, too, so we both got to discover the zoo.  It was kind of cold, in the lower 40s, so we wore our winter jackets and mittens.  It drizzled a little bit while we were there, but not intolerable.  A lot of the animals were already inside for the winter, but we still were able to spend a couple hours there.  Sadie was very well behaved, and liked to look at the animals, but got bored with each one pretty quickly.  Here we are by the otter.

The newest exhibit is the giraffes, they have one male and one female.  They were actually pretty cool.  They have a building for them so you can see them inside, which was nice to warm up a bit. 

Sadie got to feed one of them a cracker, and she giggled when he took it out of her hand.  They have really long, black tongues, so he was licking her hand too.  Here's her face when she first saw them...

I can't wait to go back with her when it's a little nicer and spend more time with the animals!

Artist

Sadie is working on learning how to color.  In her room, she has a stack of coloring books and the box of crayons that we had when we were little at my Grandma and Grandpa's house.  She likes to take them out and play with them.

She usually just likes to play with the crayons, but occasionally will scribble on the paper too.

I've noticed that she has a preference for green and yellow crayons.  She will sit and dig through the box, and toss aside the other colors.  She generally holds the yellow ones in her hand and colors with the green ones.  She is definitely right-handed, and she even holds the crayon correctly sometimes!

Here is her first masterpiece:

October

We started the month with the open house at my new store.  The 6th was family night, so Kevin and Sadie joined me.  Sadie tested out the registers for us.

It's hard to see in the picture, but she is "Vanna-ing" the sign that says "Warning- Keep fingers, arms, and children away from this belt area."  Everybody thought she was so cute in her yellow festival t-shirt!  I work with our uniform company, so they made it special just for her.

Sadie also started to learn how to eat with a spoon...

Eh, screw that, I'm using my hands!

Forget that!  Why bother using anything when you can just eat straight from the container?!

After more than a year, her hair is finally getting long enough to be crazy-

Then of course we had Halloween.  Sadie dressed up on Saturday, then Dad took her to Boo Fest at his store, and then stopped by mine with her.  Then Grandma brought her back to my store to trick-or-treat.

Bye!

We really haven't been taking too many pictures lately, but I wanted to share that I think Sadie has now said her first word!  I thought she was saying Baby a while back, but it was very sporadic and only lasted a couple days.  So I don't think that counts.  The past couple days she has been saying Bye quite clearly, and always at the appropriate time, when she or someone else is leaving someplace.  She is waving when she says it too, so I'm pretty confident that she knows what she's talking about!  As long as she keeps it up, Bye is her first word!

Happy Birthday Sadie!

Sadie turned one year old yesterday!  In the last month before her birthday she has become a pro at walking.  She likes to carry things around with her, especially things that resemble purses...

She is starting to keep hats on for more than a second at a time, she used to immediately pull them off and get cranky about it, but I was able to get a few shots...

We had Sadie's birthday party on Sunday the 5th so that her whole family could come.  She was so adorable in her birthday outfit!

This month she got a "real" tiara to wear for her picture, but like hats, she wasn't really digging it...

Dad ordered her cake for her, and it turned out really cute. 

With a quarter sheet purchase you get a free baby cake, which is intended that the baby can have that cake for themselves, but it was actually quite large, so Sadie just had a slice of the sheetcake.

She got lots of nice presents from everybody!  Lots of toys and clothes, and a few other things.  Here's some of the gifts she got...

She got her very first baby doll, Stella, from her Mama.

Her present from Dad and Grandpa Kox is a big hit too.

On her actual birthday yesterday, we took her to get her pictures taken at a studio.  She did really well, and we got some adorable shots.  She looks like a baby model in some of them!  Then we weren't able to do much else because it rained most of the day, but it was nice to be off work and be able to spend the whole day with her.  I can't believe how much she's grown up in the past year!