A lot of littles.

"I like to read in littles. I read a little here and a little there."

"Guess what Emmie. Today at school it was Veterinarian's Day. When they said it was Veterinarian's Day I thought at first that they were talking about people who take care of animals."

Sarah the Viking

Sarah had to be a Viking for her history fair. I sewed this costume, yes me! I didn't even get super cross doing it. We had a hat for her too, but apparently horned hats weren't historically worn by women or girls during the Viking Era so Sarah refused. (There was $7 down the drain.)

Sarah is amusing at the least, and hysterical at the best of times. We love having her in our family. One day in August I noticed these on her bedroom wall.

confirmination

"Daddy, it was a special day for you. 'Cause you got to do your own daughter's baptism and confirmination."

Huh?

"I might call you 'Da-Da' for the rest of your life because I'm teeming with growthment."

She does it again.

At dinner last night we were telling Alan/Daddy about the game I came up with to get the children to pick up. It involved a volcano in the bedrooms and lava slowly moving down the stairs and throughout the rooms, necessitating the immediate pick up off all items that we didn't want to burn up. The girls were very enthusiastic about the game and it was several minutes before they could walk into a room without burning their little feet. The house got picked up faster than ever before and everyone had fun. As we finished telling Alan about it, Sarah said, "Did you make up that game to get us to clean up?" I admitted that it was my intention, but didn't she have so much fun as well?
She replied, "I am seriously offended!"
I was seriously entertained.

Worries

About twenty minutes after we put her to bed tonight, Sarah came downstairs wailing, "I don't want to die!"

Shannon was on the phone so it devolved to me to handle the situation. I said, "It sounds like you've been thinking about death while trying to go to sleep."

"Yeah, and I don't want to die! Especially I don't want to have a heart attack."

I tried to reassure her that she was not in danger of a heart attack. "Sarah, I'm sure some children have died of a heart attack, but I've never heard of anyone as young as you having one." I also explained a little bit about what causes a heart attack so she'd know she wasn't much at risk of one.

"Okay, but can I sleep down in the office so if I have a heart attack you can take care of me?"

"No, you'll be fine upstairs."

"Can I at least sleep downstairs so if I do have one I can wobble into the office and find you?"

I nearly lost it at "wobble." Fighting to keep a straight face, I assured her that we'd be able to help her no matter where she was in the house.

Then she asked about what they do to help people who are having a heart attack. I told her that they use a technique called CPR to push against a person's chest and get the heart to start again, and that sometimes they also use electricity to send a signal to the heart to tell it to start. She was calmer by this point and presently went back upstairs to bed.

After Shannon and I had a good laugh about "wobble" and I had started this blog post, Sarah reappeared in the doorway and asked in a mildly concerned tone what would happen if you pushed on your own chest when you weren't having a heart attack. "'Cause I just pushed on mine," she said apprehensively. We told her that you couldn't do CPR on yourself because it took much stronger pushing. "Oh," she said in relief, and scampered back to bed.

Well, I declare

Sarah wasn't feeling well a few days ago and left the table early to go rest in her room. Several minutes later she came out and said, "Well, I declare I'm feeling a trifle bit better." She didn't understand why Alan and I found that so amusing.

ready?

Setting: After her shower

Mom: Sarah, are you ready yet?
Sarah: I'm done lotioning. (sigh) All I need is faith.

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

On the way to our surprise destination on Monday night: "Daddy and I ransacked a plan," she said.

Who does this remind you of?

Active

On the way home Sarah was playing a noisy squealing game with Alyssa. Eventually we told her to quiet down and play something quiet. "But that takes all the fun out of it," she complained. "I'm active and high-spirited!"

Wow! America

This is Sarah's reflections entry.

Reflections Contest

Sarah won the art division of the Reflections Contest at her school and took 3rd place at the city level. We are very pleased with her efforts. :)

So she is like me after all

I found this while tidying Sarah's desk.

We should have named her Anne-spelled with an "e"

Sarah is so much like Anne, in Anne of Green Gables. She is dramatic, emotional, and delightful. She reads voraciously and incorporates the characters into her own life regularly. Sometimes though it gets her into a crazy crying state. Tonight at bedtime she for some reason asked Emmie who she (Emmie) liked better: her (Sarah) or Alyssa. Emmie, being brutally honest, said without any hesitation that she liked Alyssa better because Alyssa didn't pester her. Naturally this was not what Sarah wanted to hear. 2 minutes later she was sobbing about trying to not pester and working so hard at being kind and it being just so hard and being so devastated and sad that Emmie didn't love her best. I let Alan deal with her directly because sadly I am more like Marilla, I just want to tell her to be sensible and quit overdoing the drama. However I did suggest that Emmie go give Sarah loves and reassure Sarah of her love. I reminded Emmie that Sarah is doing so much better at not pestering and that of course she loves Sarah and so forth. I am left thinking this child is not like me. She is like my mother. I sometimes wonder how she ended up my daughter and not my mother's. Regardless we should have named her Anne with an "e".

Dialogue

Setting: The whole family is in the car, on the way home from having dropped off Grandma P. at her house.

Sarah: This is the Addams Family song: [Sings the ditty: "They're creepy and they're kooky...."]

Emmie: I think Adam and Eve's family are creepy.

Dad: Emmie, the Addams Family was a TV show, and Addams was their last name. It wasn't Adam and Eve.

Sarah: I don't want to talk about the Addams Family anymore. It creeps me out.

Sarah to Emmie

"Will you stop talking like a grown-up! You're always talking like a grown-up and I'm sick of it." (Sarah lost her glasses and Emmie was suggesting she put them away when she takes them off so she knows where they are.)

Romeo and Juliet

After telling us that she had read Romeo and Juliet (we're sure it was a children's version) at Grandma's house Sarah said, "I felt a terrible sadness in my heart. It lasted a long time, like even until it was time for bed."

Spelling list

Sarah's class has a weekly spelling list. The first six words are chosen by the teacher for the class, and then each student chooses four more to work on. As an advanced reader, Sarah gets to replace half of the class words with her own spelling words each week, in addition to the four she already gets to choose. Sometimes she chooses them from books she's been reading, but I think this time she opened up a dictionary and chose words that she found interesting. Here are this week's words.

1. spicate (instead of "Sam")


2. spiral (instead of "tram")


3. speculation (instead of "scam")


4. amble


5. scram


6. camera


7. sodium


8. sopaipilla


9. spacious


10. spazzes

Sarah's Introduction

Alan and I thought this should be shared.

Sarah handed me her swimsuit inside out and asked me to please "fix it outside in".

Sarah at the talent show

(Emmie and Alyssa were making it difficult for Alan to hold the camera steady.)
This was at the 1st grade talent show.

Cuteness

I was doing Sarah's hair this morning when she asked me, "May I be cute?" Uh, you don't need my permission. Go ahead.

I did try and do a cute ponytail.

Airplanes

At breakfast today Sarah said, "The airplane was invented in ?? (she knew but I can't remember) but it wasn't very popular at first. When the Righteous Brothers flew it not too many people liked it." Alan immediately started to sing, "You never close your eyes anymore when I fly my plane..."

Sarah uses words we don't hear much anymore

Sarah is starting to use more and more words and phrases that she reads in books. The ones from Little House on the Prairie are a bit dated and others are just strange to hear from a 6-year old. She'll say, "I declare, we're almost out of soap in this bathroom."

A play

Sarah and her friend wrote a play (meaning reader's theater) for their class. I was invited to come and watch it. It's about a scientist (Sarah) who encounters a dinosaur statue that has come to life. They resolve this issue by having the oxygen atom remove all the oxygen in the air, thus creating very bad air. The dinosaur turns back into a statue and the oxygen atom releases oxygen back into the air. It was very funny to hear 1st graders doing a "play" about atoms.

Another List

Sarah is into making lists lately. She handed me this one last week. I'm not sure if she knows we're expecting or just decided to do this on a whim. We haven't told the girls the news yet. Anyway here it is:

If We had another girl I would name her:

1. Rosemary
2. Daffiddle (Daffodil is what she was going for I think.)
3. Lavender
4. Blossom
5. Rose
6. Daisy
7. Katie
   

The birthday plan

For some unknown reason, Sarah decided to plan her birthday party now. (Yes, her birthday is still Aug. 28th) Here is the list she made. And I quote:
By Sarah Wessman
1. Make the whole family room into Dinosaur Land.
2. Have cake and icecream.
3. Play Dinosaur games.
4. Learn about Dinosaurs.
5. Open presants.
6. Go home.
What I will do on my birthday party.

Spy List

Sarah and Emmie have taken to playing a new game called 'Spy'. It entails sneaking into the room I am in and 'hiding' in plain view. Sarah takes notes about what I am doing and I found this list yesterday. (I've typed it exactly how it was written.)

Sarah to Emies Spy list.
Day 1.

1. Check on the cookies.
2. Get them out.
3. set them on the counter to cool.
4. Wipe the counter.
5. Melt butter.
6. Put suger in it.
7. Mix it with spoon.
8. Add coloring to it.
9. Mix it with a spoon.
10. Worck on computer.
11. Get balloon for Alyssa.
12. Talk with hunsbend.
    

Sarah's Home Rules

Sarah wrote this list of Home Rules a few weeks ago. It's taken me this long to post them because I think the list makes me sound like a bad mother, but I need to be humble and they are amusing so here they are for your reading pleasure.(Typed exactly how she wrote them.)
1. No yelling
2. Obey your mother
3. Be good
4. Don't run away
5. Don't be naughty
6. Help one another
7. Don't tire your mother
8. Don't ask to many questions
9. Don't bother your mother
10. Don't be bossy

things she said tonight

While brushing her teeth she said to Alan, "Don't watch me, I've got a trick up my sleeve."

In the car she was chattering non-stop (literally) asking questions and generally being a chatterbug. "Why do we need to eat? Why do we have a bum bum? Why do we have to breath?" Finally there was a 5 second pause... "I can't think of what to say." I replied, "Then don't say anything. You don't have to talk all the time. It's nice to be quiet sometimes."
To which she responded, "Why don't you say something."
"I don't have anything to say."
"You can't think of something to say?"
"Nope."
"Why don't you think of something and then you will have something to say."

Bibbity Bobbity Boo

The other night I had forgotten to have Sarah do her asthma breathing treatment. So I took the little plastic thingy that gives her a dose to inhale upstairs to her bedroom when I was going to bed. She was sooo asleep and I couldn't seem to wake her. I rubbed her back and talked to her and tried to get her to sit up all to no avail. Finally she sat up and I explained that she needed to do her breathing thing. "Okay," she mumbled and raising her hands slightly she said, "Bibbity boppity boo. There." and laid right back down and went to sleep. Even with my laughing it took several more minutes to wake her again.

Sarah is bossy

Sarah was playing school with her Grandma Paulsen. Sarah said, "I'll be the teacher and you have to obey my commandments." Grandma told her something about maybe rules should be used instead of commandments. Sarah responded that she needed them to be commandments because she wanted Emmie to obey her.

a list

I found this list Sarah had made. No idea why she wrote it but I liked it.

1. Lern Things
2. Be good
3. Drink water
4. Share
5. Obey
6. Don't be bad
7. Be polite
8. Use your manners
9. Love
10. pray
11. Obey the word of wisdom
12. Write

And that is exactly how she wrote them too.

figured out

Yesterday the whole family had the stomach flu. Alan was the slowest to feel gross and was a huge help in the morning. By afternoon he was gross and went to lie down during nap time. Sarah woke up and came downstairs where I was resting on the couch. "I see Dad is resting in bed." "Yes," I said, "he isn't feeling well." "Oh," she said, "so he finally figured it out."

doctors doctors and more doctors

When Sarah woke up after coughing all night Saturday morning she was wheezing quite a bit. So away we went to the doctor's office. While we were waiting Sarah was observing the receptionist. The receptionist had a ear piece to talk on the phone. After a few minutes she said to me, "That lady is talking to her computer." Clearly she thought the woman was unbalanced and shouldn't be around a place trying to help people get well. I digress. Finally we were seen by a doctor who listened to her and congratulated us on our soon to be purchase of a nebulizer. She had two breathing treatments there and we went home. Well we went home after stopping at Carls Jr. and ShopKo. Five minutes after getting and giving her the medication on the way home, Sarah threw up. Oh well. She took a nap and then we redosed her with the steriod to help keep her lungs open. Jump forward several hours. Time for baths. 8:00. Sarah goes to the bathroom and squeals because it hurts to go potty. Great. 8:00 is when all the clinics and urgent care places close. After talking to the on-call doctor we drove to the emergancy room in Payson. We arrived home at 10:30 where we gave her another breathing treatment and a bunch more medication before finally putting her to bed. Sarah is the one who likes to take a common cold and turn it into a viral lung wheezing episode and then visit the ER the same day for a bladder infection. Today in her journal she wrote, "I am sick. I went to a hospetlle that I've never been to before. None of it hurt. It was fun!"

gradulation

Yesterday was Sarah's kindergarten graduation or "gradulations" as Emmie called it. I never had this sort of thing and I don't feel bad about it either. It reminds me of Mr. Incredible when confronted by his wife about not wanting to go to Dash's graduation. "He is moving from the 4th grade to the 5th grade! They keep finding new ways to celebrate meritocracy!" Seriously though, it was cute. They sang a bunch of choreographed songs and there was a short slide show featuring the children. Sarah was in the front row which was great because of how expressive she is when she sings. The best part was getting to take her home afterwards and being done with school for a whole summer! I love having her home. Her report card (which is another joke) had a note from her teacher letting us know she's reading on a level "N". This isn't actually all that helpful for parents unless they've been teachers before. She's reading on late 3rd grade level. (The letters allow for the reading levels to be broken down into smaller steps within a grade level.) She started the year on a level "K" so we're happy she's progressed.

gravity

Yesterday at lunch I was trying to get the last of the applesauce out of the jar and said something like, "Come on gravity, do your job." A few minutes later as Sarah was eating her applesauce she said, "I think that gravity is broken."

Mt. St. Sarah

"Let's play volcano. I'll be the volcano. Let's pretend I'm interrupting. That means I'm alive and pulling out rocks."

We'll see

After lunch today Sarah asked Shannon if the girls could have cake after their naps, and Shannon replied, "We'll see." Immediately Sarah asked, as with sudden realization, "Is 'we'll see' another word for 'no'?"

At Walmart

Before we went to Walmart I asked Sarah if she needed to go to the bathroom and encouraged her to go but no...
So at Walmart...
"My body is telling me it has to go potty but I am telling it not now because we are at Walmart. I asked it if it had to go at home but it didn't but then it made potties and now it says it has to go. (A few minutes later) My potties are growling at me. (We were on the way to the bathroom here.) My potties are like a monster that is growling and telling me it has to get out."

innernet

At dinner Sarah was telling Alan about her day at school and the movie they watched about being safe on the Internet. We didn't realize she was saying "Innernet" until she asked Alan, "Daddy, where's the outernet?" Well, where is it?

upside this

Sarah just handed Alan her inside-out nightgown and said, "Can you upside this out?"

money

Yesterday when I picked Sarah up from her primary class she excitedly told me, "I learned about money today, and not to hide it!" I thought this was a strange lesson until I saw her coloring paper entitled "I have many talents." Ahhhh, the parable of the talents. It all became clear.

show and tell

This morning Sarah says over breakfast that it's her turn to bring something for show and tell and it's supposed to start with the letter "F". (Why does she tell me these things when she only has 10 minutes until she has to go and I haven't done her hair yet? ) So Alan and I are brain-storming and she isn't enthralled with our ideas. "How about fish? I have a thawed salmon steak in the fridge." "Or a fly, there's a dead one in the living room window." Then Alan came up with a Japanese fan. Here was a winner. Something she isn't allowed to normally handle, which is pretty and starts with the letter "f". Next we had to find a paper bag to put it in and come up with 3 clues she could share with her class. All went well and she was off to school only 2 minutes later than usual.

things she said that made us laugh

Here are a couple of things Sarah has said today:
"Daddy, when I cough the germs get in my mouth and they're all stuck together." Alan explained the whole mucus thing.
Sarah is wearing a Christmas outfit today including socks with jingle bells on them. She said, "I took a nap. At first I jingled my bells but then I didn't jingle anymore."

that's silly

Just now at dinner Sarah asked me if I knew as much as Daddy. "No," I replied. Alan said, "Mommy knows more about some things and I know more about other things. Some things we both know. Like about stock car races." I said, "Yeah, we both know that a) it's stupid and" Alan finished with "b) there's nothing else to know." Sarah laughed and said, "You're silly mommy. "a" isn't stupid."

Not supposed to say

Ever since she was potty trained, Sarah has been very free and open about her actions in the toilet and the results thereof: "Mommy, I made...three poopies! Two little and one big." Our response has historically been to provide a brief acknowledgement and encourage her to wash up.

As the time for kindergarten drew near, it began to dawn on us that if we did not provide some correction, she would soon be announcing the details of her lavatorial experiences to her teacher and perhaps the entire class. So Shannon gave her instructions recently to be more discreet; specifically, she should not tell people what she produced during her potty break. This is now the rule at home too.

So yesterday, she went upstairs to visit the toilet. After a while, she called downstairs to me, "Daddy, I went to the potty and I made..." Then a pause as she considered the new rule. "In my head I am thinking 'poopies' but I'm not supposed to say it," she finished.

favorite animal

Today I was doing a get-to-know-you page for Sarah's kindergarten. I asked Sarah what her favorite animal was. "Pigs. Because they make hot dogs and hot dogs are my favorite food." Hmmm, I guess that works.

webs

This morning Sarah was sitting in the office while Alan got ready for work. She saw the word search and said, "S, E, A, R, C, H. That's spelling like Sarah." Alan agreed and told her it was the word "search" and that it meant to look for something. She read further, "Search the web. That's silly. You can't search the web. Only spiders can do that!"
So I guess I'm a spider.

a funny think

Today at lunch Sarah started giggling. I asked her what she was laughing at and she replied, "I'm laughing because I'm having a funny think."

if you could save time in a bottle...

Me: "Do you want me to clean up doggy poops?"
Alan: "That would save me time." (He is going to mow the lawn.)
Sarah: "You can't save time, ha ha!"

that's disgusting

Sarah just came into the office to find Alan examining his toes. Sarah asked, "What are you doing Daddy?" "Looking at my feet." To which she replied, "That's disgusting."

a fishy tale

Yesterday we had salmon for dinner. Alan said, "That fish smells good." Sarah said, "I think the fish smells good too, but the fish does not think so."

I suppose the smell of your own flesh cooking wouldn't smell that good.

just too tired

Last night as we were going to bed I heard Sarah saying something I couldn't make out so I went into her room to see what she needed. I asked her if she wanted me to get her down so she could go to the bathroom and she sort of said yes so I pulled her out of her bed and helped her get to the bathroom where she dutifully went. After she was done she went back into her room and about 2 feet from her bed she just suddenly sat down. I stopped right behind her and after a couple of seconds she laid down on the floor and was clearly sound asleep. Laughing I went back to get Alan and he lifted her up and put her back in her own bed. Clearly climbing up to the top bunk was just too much work for a good night's sleep.

playing dead

I could hear Sarah talking in her room and so I asked her what she was doing. She said,"I'm playing dead." (Imagine me with a blank confused look.) All I could say was "what?" Sarah repeated, "I'm playing dead. I'm pretending to be dead and the beds in my room are clouds and you are the little child." And you thought only possoms could play this game.

a bad think

Today for some unknown reason Sarah said, "Mommy I'm having a bad think." Unsure of what she was thinking I said, "I'm sorry Sarah. Why don't you change it to a good thought." She responded, "I will say a prayer to Heavenly Father. I will not say a voice prayer, I will say a prayer in my head." And she did. And that was the end of the bad think.

One one thing at a time

While we were kneeling down for family prayer this morning I said I had a doctor's appointment today and Sarah asked if she could go. I said yes at which point she said she didn't want to go. Naturally I then asked why she had asked to go if she didn't want to go in the first place. Alan, who was late for work, suggested she think about it and asked if she would like to say the family prayer. Sarah responded that she can't think and talk at the same time and couldn't possibly say the prayer today.

thinking

Today Sarah tapped Alyssa's temple and said, "I'm helping her think."

I wish someone would help me think.

Vox purpli

I was driving the girls home after visiting Shannon and Alyssa in the hospital today. Sarah apparently had been working out her best shot at the Random Question of the Day, because she suddenly queried, "Daddy, what color is your voice?"

I wasn't sure I heard that right, but upon my request she repeated the question. Now, I've learned from experience a bit about how to respond to questions that don't seem to be founded on aspects of my daily reality: I acknowledge the question and then return it. It often helps to clarify exactly what the person had in mind when they asked. So, in this case I responded, "That's a good question Sarah; I'm not sure I've thought about that before. What color do you think your voice is?"

"Well, I think it's kind of yellowish."

So I guess she did mean to ask what the color of my voice was. "I suppose my voice is probably dark blue...or dark green. Probably dark green," I said. "What color do you think Mommy's voice is?"

"Pink. And Emmie's is brown."

So, sorry, Shannon, we're mostly a warm-color family.

Last night at dinner...

After a thousand or more questions, many of which had obvious or no answers available (like why does Emmie like milk, why are you setting the table, and when are we going to bring Alyssa home) Alan told Sarah that we would not answer any more questions until after dinner. She turned to him and said, "But Honey, if I don't ask any more questions my body will get angry."

Ahhh, so that's why they ask questions. It's a method of anger management. Someone should get their PHD on this.

err... whoops

Sarah's mommy and daddy have communication problems.

Bunnies and carrots

Mommy was explaining to Emmie that the reddish-orange things in her soup were carrots, not tomatoes, when Sarah piped up with an observation. "Bunnies make carrots for us to eat, huh?" Er, no, Sarah, it's the other way around: Carrots make bunnies for us to eat. Make sure you understand that by the time you start school so you can impress your friends with your knowledge.

where carrots come from

Last night at dinner Sarah announced, "Bunnies make carrots for us to eat." Apparently she missed the primary lesson on where carrots come from and we have failed as parents.

Sarah's latest

Sarah's latest accomplishment is to be able to read words with the silent "e" on the end. Let me specify that it must be words that follow the silent "e" rule. Words like "some" don't count. She has also learned to use a number line to subtract numbers and can add small sums without problems. From reading with us during family scriptures she has learned "and it came to pass that" and also "Spirit", "Lord", and "wilderness".
Sarah likes to ask questions to things she already knows the answer to. This drives her mother crazy sometimes. Today she asked, "Mom, what does meal mean?" as we were eating lunch. I might point out that I've already defined this word several different times in a couple of different ways including giving examples. Every day she also asks, "Mom, how big is the baby?" and "Mom, how big is your tummy."
Sarah enjoys remembering fun family activities and sometimes amazes me with how long ago she can remember. She remembers, for example, going on an airplane to visit my grandparents when she was still not yet 2 years old.
Every morning Sarah starts the day by telling us about her dreams. She always asks us what we dreamed and we seldom remember well enough to suit her.
She is also curious about how the baby got into my tummy and how it is going to come out. This was evidenced one day when she was telling me a story and it involved the doctor cutting a small hole in my tummy to put the baby in so it could get big and then cutting another bigger hole to take it out. (I have tried to explain is the simplest way possible how the baby thing works, but she is clearly not convinced or else doesn't quite get it yet.)
She is perfect with elderly people. We did our family home evening with the "grandmas and granpas" at a rest home near here and they loved her. She is not at all reserved and talks plenty loud. She allows them to pet her face and hair and doesn't mind answering the same question every 30 seconds from the same person. She sang and prayed right into the microphone and they loved her. Emmie followed her lead and also did her share of talking and singing into the microphone.
Sarah is a delight as always. We love her.

no more questions

Alan is way too busy and stressed to blog this even which happened to him last night so I will. Yesterday evening Alan was in the office frantically trying to do his consulting work, which is way behind schedule. Sarah is "hanging out with him" in the office, climbing onto the back of his chair and hanging over his neck while digging her little elbows into his shoulders etc. So Alan suggests to her that she "close the door on your way out okay?" "I'm not going out," she responded. "I am going to stay in the office." Alan tried to resolve concerns. "Why are you going to stay?" "Because I want to stay in the office." Again Alan tried, "Why do you want to stay?" "Because I want to." Alan: "What do you want to do here? Why do you want to stay?" Sarah: "No more questions daddy."

Counting

Sarah has learned how to count to 100. We are surprised (maybe) and happy (definately).

a conversation with her apple

Today at lunch:
"No apple, you may not get down. Why? Because I have to eat you."

Cute phrases

Yesterday Sarah came down from breakfast and said, "My tummy is full. There is not room for one more chex."
This afternoon she came downstairs and said, "The juice is on its way down to my tummy."

temple recommends

Tonight Alan and I had temple recommend interviews with the Stk Pres. We brought the girls and it just happened that we were both called at the same time so I took Sarah in with me. (This was what Pres. suggested.) Tonight at prayers it was Sarah's turn. She said, "Thank thee that we could go to temple square and I could sit and feel the spirit thing. In the name..."

holding hands

While crossing the street Emmie asked to be picked up. Sarah said, "But I need someone to hold my hand. How about if I hold my shirt. I will keep me safe." And she did. The end.

a trip to the dentist

On the way home from the dentist Sarah is going through the bag of goodies they gave her. "Look Mom, I got a new toothbrush, and they gave me some bum bum meddies for Emmie." (Bum bum meddies?? Also known as desitin, it makes me curious enough to glance around at what she is holding up. ) Ahhh, a small tube of toothpaste...

a whole new meaning

During the Sunday meeting of stake conference Sarah and Emmie ate some snacks. Afterwards Sarah said, "Mommy, I'm still hungry. I want some snackrament now."

A disaster area

Today after lunch I was washing Sarah's spaghetti face. Sarah said, "My face is a disaster area! Sometimes my face is a 'aster area and sometimes it's not."

The fools came up

Just now I heard Sarah singing with her dolly. She was singing the Wise Man and the Foolish Man. When she got to the foolish man verse it went like this. "The rains came down and the fools came up, the rains came down and the fools came up, the rains came down and the fools came up and the house on the sand washed away."

I like to look for...

Sarah likes to improvise her own lyrics to songs she knows. Last night she started out singing the primary song "I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain..." which is actually called the Baptism song. Anyway then she changed it to, "I like to look for Daddies whenever there are babies..." which we thought was very funny and very perceptive.

some fruit don't come from trees

I've been reading Sarah Charlotte's Web at nap and bed-times. Yesterday Wilber got out of his pen and went into the orchard. I was trying to explain what an orchard was. I said it was a place where lots of fruit trees grew. Sarah said, "Not all fruit comes from trees." True, I replied, some like grapes comes off of a vine. "And some, Sarah injected, come from Walmart."

Words

Remember when you were little and you would hear an unfamiliar word. Usually you would just substitute it for a word you knew. Like Sarah in her song "Nephi's Courage". It goes like this (With the real word in parentheses) The Lord commanded Nephi to go and build a boat. Nephi's older brothers believed it would not float. Laughing and mopping (mocking) they said he should not try. Nephi was courageous and this was his reply...
I actually like the mental picture of Laman and Lemuel mopping.

Sunday Prayer

Today Grandma and Grandpa Wessman came with Kevin to retrieve the mini-van. They stayed for dinner and Sarah volunteered to say the prayer. In her prayer she said, "And please help Grandpa that he will get some hair on top of his head..." We all lost it and had great difficulty in maintaining our composure and reverence for the rest of her prayer. There wasn't a dry eye anywhere by the end of the prayer, we were laughing so hard.

mixed up

Once again similar sounding words got mixed up with hilerious results. Today Sarah was going through asking me what my favorite animal was in each of the baby einstein habitats. "What's your favorite animal in the polar region? Mine is the seal. What's your favorite animal in the banana region?" Banana region? I had to think for a minute. Probably the strawberry combo. She meant Savanna and suggested that I like the elephant the best.

Pioneer vrs pineapple

I dressed Sarah in a pioneer outfit my mother made for me when I was little. Afterwards it was family prayer time. Sarah asked Alan to please thank Heavenly Father that she could be a pretty pineapple. It's hard to remember long words like pioneer.

How to make bread

I was making bread this morning and as Sarah watched she told me how to make bread. "First you squish it and then add some flour. Then you do like this and this and make a ball. Then squish it some more and do this and add some more flour."

Another Story

Once upon a time there was a girl named Sarah. If she was good she can give Jesus a love. Then He will give her a blessing and that will be so righteous. The end.

Once upon a time...

Sarah is becoming a story-teller. She will ask if I want her to tell me a story and then she will procede thusly: "Once upon a time there was a baby. Her name was Emmie. She was a good girl. She believed in God and she believed in Jesus. If she were a food she would be spaghetti. The end." Here she is incorporating two common stories that we read to her namely, anything scripture and Julius, Baby of the World. In Julius, Baby of the World, Lily, the older sister, dislikes her baby brother for a time. One day her mother asks Lily to tell the baby a story and Lily does. "Once upon a time there was a baby. His name was Julius. Julius was really a germ. Julius was like dust under your bed. If he was a food, he would be a raisin. A raison tastes like dirt..." So Sarah changed the story for Emmie to include her favorite things. Every story is a little bit different. Today she said, "Once upon a time there was a baby. Her name was Emmie. She was a good baby. She liked both Heavenly Father and Jesus. One day an angel came down and told her to repent. She did. The end."

salad soup

Last night for dinner Alan had brought home some left-over salad from Brick Oven that his department had bought for everyones' lunch. The dressing was in one of those styrophome (sp?) containers and Sarah asked for some soup. We told her it wasn't soup but salad dressing so she said, "May I please have some salad soup on my dressing?" I laughed and repeated it to Alan and she said, "Yes you may," thinking I had asked her. It was very funny at the time.

New story

On the way home today Sarah said, "I will tell you a new story. Once upon a time I was at Coralee's house and she have two poddies and I have to go to the bathroom and I go in the right one and Daddy stand in the left one. The end." Where did she get this? She has never, and I mean never, seen Daddy going to the bathroom so who knows.

Prayers

On Friday we went to a graduation party for my brother Eric. They have a in-ground trampoline in their yard and Sarah learned to jump on it. She only jumped alone or with one other child so it was pretty safe. She loved it. At prayers that night she said, "And thank you that I could jump," After this phrase she bounced up and jumped up and down while saying, "like this" (then she kneeled back down) "and I could go up and down," (she said while moving one hand up and down).
Then next night she prayed, "Please help me that I can turn 4 quickly."
I love saying prayers with Sarah.

Grandma Phillis

My Grandma Phillis wears a wig as she has very little of her own hair left. When she isn't wearing her wig she wears this net thing on her head. Today Sarah saw it and asked me, "Mommy, why is Grandma Phillis wearing a bra on her head?"

The Brass Plates

Sarah's latest achievement is quoting the entire story of Nephi and the Brass Plates from the Book of Mormon reader. Even though I have heard it the same amount of time from reading it to her or listening to it in the car I am no where near able to do this. Kids are amazing in their abilities to absorb and memorize information.

She's says the funniest things

So today Sarah said some of the funniest things. On the way to Alan's graduation she leaned back to look at Grandma Paulsen and said, "Emmie's been having issues today." Have you ever heard a three-year old say that? It's hysterical. She proceded to tell my mom about how Emmie had a runny nose. I guess she picked up the issues thing from me talking to Alan. For whatever reason there are just some things I don't expect Sarah to pick up from my conversations. That was one of them. Then after graduation she was looking at Alan's cap. She looked it over a minute then pulled the folds of his robe out and commented, "Daddy you have a funny coat. Only Daddies can wear funny coats, ha." We told her when she grew up and graduated she could have a funny coat too. Next she saw a formal gathering and I suggested it might be a wedding. She said, "I need a wedding too." Yes you do Sarah, but not now or even in the next 20 years.

Measuring up

Sarah is a huge Mary Poppins fan! Whenever she gets to watch a movie it is Mary Poppins. Two days ago she found my cute little measuring tape. (I saw it at home depot and had to have it based on its cuteness factor. I just love babies.) So she goes around the house measuring everyone several times a minute and asking to be measured. Then she tells the person what they are. "Mommy you are twenty-twelve. It says you are sweet and cute." When we measure her we usually say, "Sarah Wessman, truly delightful and sweet." Or something similar. When she isn't measuring, or weighing people as she sometimes calls it, she is practicing jumping into pavement pictures. "Mommy, watch me jump. Want to jump with me into a picture?" All the rest of the time she is running in circles with her umbrella open claiming to be Mary Poppins. "Mommy, I am Mary Poppins. See me flying with my umbrella?"

Pink

After Sarah's bath yesterday she said, "Emmie's is the pink towel and mine is the blue towel." Then she said extremely wistfully, "I wish I could have a pink towel for my birthday."

Gardening

Today Sarah said, "Mom, let's go out and flower the garden." She likes to use her little shovel to help weed the gardens.

I like Daddy

While Alan was gone Sarah would ask about him, mostly at dinnertime when he is usually present. One day she asked where Daddy was. After my reply that he was still gone in California she said, "But I like Daddy, I do!" I'm glad she likes Alan.

Sweet Dreams

Twice now when Sarah has said her personal prayers she asks that she might have good dreams, and lovely dreams and sweet dreams.

Understanding

Tonight I was putting Sarah to bed and she was saying her prayers after a bit of reluctance on her part -- "I want Mommy to say them with me," she complained. Anyway, towards the end of her prayer she said, "And please bless Daddy so he can understand."

This was not a usual request she made in her prayers and I had no idea what she meant, so after she concluded the prayer I said, "Do you feel like I need to understand something?"

"Uh-huh."

"What do I need to understand?"

"About my toys." She gestured towards the stairs. "I have lots of toys downstairs." And with that she climbed in her bed, apparently satisfied.

Found!

I found Sarah's pants in her summertime drawer. You never know where things might end up when you ask a 3 year-old to put something away.

missing

Missing: One pair of pink pants. These pants are one of my favorites because they have lots of pockets. Also the bottoms zip off. The cuffs are currently zipped off and we have those but they are no good without the rest of the pants. A reward is being offered but I can't tell you what it is.