sadie thank you notes

Thanks Much Blush Thank You 5x7 folded card

Unique party invitations and announcements by Shutterfly.

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Shutterfly Holiday Cards

With Halloween on its way out, now is the perfect time to get a jump start on holiday preparations. Choosing a Christmas card is one of my favorite holiday tasks. I tend to pick the card and then stage the picture to suit the layout. Its probably not the quickest way, but it allows me to be creative to make sure my card stands out. This year, Shutterfly has tons of new designs guaranteed to suit just about every family. It seems like this year they have many more modern designs than in the past, utilizing bright colors and more artistic backgrounds.

Here are a few of my favorites picks on the Shutterfly site:

The Mod Ornaments Holiday Card is for when you fall in love with that one perfect close up of your little one.

The Love 2010 Holiday Card is fun card for keeping family near and far updated on your family's past year. I really like how you can sum up important details in just a few words to keep your Christmas card from turning into a novel.

Merry Memories Blue will automatically stand out in the stack of holiday cards due to its unique perfect square size. This card holds a whopping 5 photos to give everyone in the family a close up.

Happy card-choosing!

Sadie Confesses!!

It started off with some simple fact checking.

Then we got into the good stuff.

She doesn't seem a bit sorry.

...and we're back

After a 2 month hiatus we're back online. Here are some videos of Sadie in all her 21-month-old glory. Please enjoy the kitchen cabinet repainting fiasco in the background.

and here's almost all of the rest of the abcs.

Can you believe she's not even 2 yet?!

Fun Visitors

One of the best things about living in Columbus is that it's right smack dab in the middle of several major highways so we get lots of visitors. On Sunday Great Aunt Christine and Great Uncle Paul stopped by for crepes on their way home from Vermont.


Sadie modeling a dress from her great aunt and playing with necklaces.


Monday night the Thorpe family and friends took a breather on a long trip home from Buffalo. Can you tell we were glad to see them?


Thanks again for the visits and we wish we could see you all more often!

Girls' Weekend

Today was the big Westgate neighborhood garage sale. Though there wasn't as big of a turn out this year that didn't stop Chris from racking up the bargains early in the morning while Sadie and I slept. Our friends, Jake and Jenny, and their adorable girls, Madison and Emerie, came over to bargain hunt with us.

Everyone's smiling!

In the evening the Snow family came back for a free cookout I won online. We sampled 4 different flavors of bbq sauce and ate some horrible lettuce. Apparently you have to water lettuce every day or tastes like a bee sting, who knew? The girls played in the sandbox and ran around like crazy. It was a blast!

Yum!

Little Miss Bossy

This week Sadie has started telling us what to do. She figured out that if she pushes or pulls you to where she wants you to go, she will get her way a lot faster. I mean, who can resist a little cutie grabbing your hand and saying, "Mommy come here"? Chris bought her a little teepee at World Market for our upcoming Denver trip. Nothing makes Sadie happier than being squished in the tent with Mommy and Daddy. The weather has been crazy hot and she's had a little bit of a cough so we've had to spend more time indoors than we would normally. Luckily she adores Tinkerbell and the Princess and the Frog so we've managed.

Mid-June in Pictures

Brought to you by Nikon, Mama Odie and my awesome husband.

Peekaboo!

Rain, rain go away! We've been cooped up at home quite a bit due to the weather so not too many photo ops lately. The good news is, Mommy got a cool new camera from Daddy, plus Grandma & Uncle Brandon are here to visit for the week. Much more to come later!

Where did this 18-month-old child come from?

In honor of Sadie turing 18 months on June 4th, here are 18 things about her:

1. She loves Pocahontas so much that she has started to speak Powhatan.
2. She sleeps 12 blissfully uninterrupted hours a night.
3. She sings "Happy Birthday to you" when she eats cheese.
4. She is very sensitive to babies crying or Mommy/Daddy getting hurt.
5. She thinks that "Daddy," "coffee," and "work" go together.
6. She thinks that every drive thru will give her fries.
7. She can say several 4 syllable words, such as "cinderella."
8. She still a little skinny minnie, weighing only about 21.5lbs.
9. She loves broccoli.
10.Some of her favorite books are Happy Dog Sad Dog, My Family, Where the Wild Things Are, and Ferdinand.
11. Someone taught her to say "mine," "gimme" and how and when to say "damn it." Oops!
12. Sadie will cuddle anything full of Polyfil.
13. She usually listens and can follow multi-step commands.
14. She has 3 main friends and knows their names.
15. Her temper tantrums almost always involve the high chair, the car seat, or a diaper change.
16. She loves to put chapstick on her "bips" as well as eat it for an afternoon snack.
17. She likes to play soccer.
18. She loves to talk about her aunts, uncles and grandparents.

We love you, Sadie!

Clinic Picnic

old friends

Sadie at bat

This afternoon we piled in the car and drove out to the boonies for Chris's clinic picnic. Sadie was thrilled to have a new home to explore and celebrated by immediately falling out the front door. She recovered quickly and jumped into the whiffle ball game. She ran around the field and literally stole second base. After visiting with some old friends and meeting a real life Percy dog we were thrilled to be reunited with the Pocahontas DVD.

Mom and Dad's Big Night Out

Last night we attended the House Staff dinner for the graduating residents. Hopefully our next door neighbor isn't too mad that we came home 2 1/2 hours later than we said we would. :) I'm pretty sure that Sadie lost herself in the world of Nemo and probably didn't even notice we were gone.

Priceless

Hanging out with Uncle Matt

This year we decided to spend Memorial Day in Indy with Uncle Matt. Sadie loved hanging out with her uncle and ate lots of yummy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Matt took us to his friend's lake house and we all rode around in the boat for a couple of hours. Sadie wasn't scared at all and loved seeing Daddy and Matt jump in the water. She got a little nervous watching Mommy and Daddy go tubing but almost feel asleep on the way back to the dock.

Sadie was obviously jazzed about her dad's time off. :)

Vote for Sadie

We've entered Sadie in yet another Facebook contest. Vote for her here:

http://apps.facebook.com/organiccutie//showentry?entryurl=%2Fcontests%2Fshowentry%2F268747%2Fnull%2F4

Thanks!

Never a Dull Moment *UPDATED*

In the last week or so, Sadie has started to engage in some imaginative play. She feeds her babies, teaches her dogs tricks and even brushes their teeth. Today at lunch she was particularly animated and I tried to capture it on film. As usual, hilarity ensued.

We tried a little Special Agent Oso.



Then an impending shark attack distracted Sadie from counting.




After that Sadie wore me down and we just watched videos of her. While she continued to pick her nose.

Garden Reveal

Over the past few weeks we have taken on the task of getting our yard in shape. Chris planted an impressive vegetable garden in the back, complete with watermelon. Sadie, Kristin and Grandma planted flowers in the back flower bed.


The biggest project by far was tearing out the shaggy, overgrown bushes in the front yard. Chris had to go all Paul Bunyan on them for several days before they finally gave up. We don't really have a good before picture of these monsters, but you can see the craziness in this pic:


And after the addition of impatiens and probably too many hostas.


Voila!

(Don't worry we didn't forget about Sadie. She was a big helper and saved Mommy from all the savage wormies.)

Warm Weather

Today, Sadie practiced for the pool opening next weekend. She looked so cute in her swimsuit from Tee-Tee.

Sadie's Favorite Chair

Yes, folks, that is a napkin basket.

Pops & Gigi Come to Town

This past weekend Sadie received a long-awaited visit from her favorite Memphis grandparents. She kept them busy gardening, pushing the pink car and watching "Pochas."
After getting spoiled rotten with lots of presents and goodies, we met some friends at a Columbus Crew soccer game. Sadie loved all the noise and had plenty of helicopters and "sharks"/airplanes to watch.
Quote of the weekend: "Stop it, Daddy!"

Cutest Video Ever Recorded

Happy Belated Mothers' Day

Happy Mothers' Day to all of the moms, grandmas and great grandmas in our lives!

Kristin Mothers' Day

Today, Chris and Sadie treated me to a wonderful early Mother's Day. Sadie and I ran in a Mothers' Day race. She was definitely the youngest (and cutest) runner. We haven't quite adjusted to the Midwestern weather so we all froze our butts off. Sadie was a little nervous at all the commotion but finished the 30 yard dash on her own. I finished the 5k but forgot to listen for my time. Afterward, we all warmed up indoors and watched selected scenes from Pocahontas. For dinner, Daddy & Sadie took me out the the Cheesecake Factory for some yummy orange chicken and strawberry cheesecake. They bought me some workout pants, a non-diaper bag purse and the Brett Michaels cover People magazine. I'm so spoiled! :)

Sadie at 17 months

Dear Sadie,

Today you are 17 months old. We celebrated by getting your hair cut, going to Homestead Park and watching Daddy's softball team win their game. At 17 months, you are glued to Mommy & Daddy. You like to eat broccoli, any fruit, and any food where rice, chicken or cheese is involved. You look even more like your Daddy. You are a big Pocahontas fan. You love making new friends and talk about them all the time. Just about everyone that meets you marvels at how well you speak, how many words you know and how fast you can run and climb. Mommy & Daddy have to watch their words around you because you repeat EVERYTHING! Daddy loves that you take a flying leap into his arm everyday when he gets back from work.

Love you, Boo-boo!

PS. The toddler bed ended up being a hot mess so we decided to try again when Chris is NOT on a Q4 month. Turns out our floors get crazy noisy once the weather warms up. For now the bed makes an excellent story time couch.

Weekend at the Columbus Zoo

Yesterday and today we took full advantage of the free family passes to the zoo. The weather wasn't the greatest, but Sadie still got to see lots of her favorite animals including the "mingos" and fishies. She was delighted to find that fishies love to eat broccoli, too.

Mickle No More!

Don't worry, Sadie still loves Mickle, but as of yesterday, she calls him "Mickey." My little baby's all growns up! She also knows "Meenie," "Dahold," "Daisy," "Pewtoe" and "Goofy." I guess even toddlers can say "Goofy."

The Great Outdoors

This week we are grateful for the warmer weather. Sadie is definitely a child who benefits from fresh air to breathe, flowers to touch and dirt to taste. Mommy and Daddy definitely can't complain about the long naps and quiet nights brought on by all that running around. So far we've tried out 3 new parks this week alone: one by a friend's house, one just a few blocks from Daddy's work, and one with a fun creek and walking trail nearby. Surprisingly, Sadie's no longer a fan of slides, she mostly just climbs to the top and laughs at how tall she is. In other news, her vocabulary has blossomed to somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 words, though she's picked up a few inappropriate ones along the way, such as "stupid," which she says whenever she gets in the car. Luckily a little misdirection is all it takes to get her to change the topic.

Chef Sadie

Tonight's featured entree: Macaroni and Sidewalk Chalk

One of these days I'll get with the program and post more flattering pictures of my daughter, but for now, you get Sadie in all her sticky-faced glory.

Bon appetit!

Can you tell I was born in Tennessee?

We thought it might be time to join us at the table but turns out she's not quite ready yet...
If that wasn't convincing enough, she now likes to sing "O Me Dahn," or "Old MacDonald."

Big Girl

It seems like Sadie has gotten out of her funk after our big trip. She cooperated for her photo shoot today and even showed off a few new tricks. First, she put her shoe on all by herself when it fell off at Target. Then, on the way home she said "Shee-na" a few times, instead of just "Shee." Sadie is still polite as ever, saying "fink you" all the time and "bless you" if you sneeze, cough, or clear your throat.

A Weekend in the Bend

We decided to make good use of Chris's Super Golden Weekend and take a trip to South Bend. As luck would have it, both Jenna and Matt were in town, reuniting all of the Piscione siblings, an event as rare as a solar eclipse.

Though it was a little chilly, we spent lots of time playing outside. Sadie enjoyed long wheelbarrow rides, lots of banana milk and two other dogs to chase around.

Sadie the Diva

This pic is a reminder that Sadie is a cutie even when she's mid-tantrum. :) The past few days have been a little rough for the Sadester. She wants to be involved in everything and instead of asking to go "up" she will call out "hold choo" over and over again until you pick her up. She has been rather restless at home and is much happier when out and about or playing with other kids. Luckily Daddy is on a lighter service this month and has lots of time to take her to the playground to channel some of that energy.

A Visit from Grandma and Uncle

This past weekend, Grandma Julie, Uncle Brandon, and Cassie came to see Sadie. They were all amazed at how much Sadie has changed and delighted that she knew who they were. Sadie spent lots of quality time with Uncle and Grandma: she took them on a Target hop, ate yummy broccoli, and played outside.

Sadie goes to the farm

Today we took a trip to Slate Run Living Historical Farm with some friends. Sadie had a ball. She showed some interested in the animals and knew most of their names but had the most fun climbing on the rocks (I was watching her, I swear) :) and running out in the open.

Sadie turns 16 months and Easter Sunday

Sadie celebrated her 16 month birthday and 2nd Easter with Mommy and Daddy. It was a bit chilly in the morning but Sadie still sported a super cute Liberty of London dress from Great Aunt Christine.
The Easter bunny brought her some yummy candy and a few toys which were much less interesting than the candy. In the afternoon, the weather cooperated so Daddy hid eggs for Sadie to find. She loved the ones with the Goofy stickers and became an expert at opening and unwrapping the "chakies" (chocolates).