Destin 2014

A couple of weeks ago we made the voyage to Destin, Florida with 3 families. We spent a week in a big house (8 kids and 8 adults...well, I suppose you could call the dads adults...) and had a great time.  We had a private pool and were a hop, skip and a jump away from the beach.  This was Sadie's first time at the beach or seeing the ocean, so it was super exciting.  We ate fresh seafood every night and made great memories with our friends. We did, however, get attacked by mosquitoes (or sand fleas, not sure), and made friends with about a 1000 caterpillars.  That was a little interesting!  The only other rough spots during the trip was when my credit card number got stolen (unless Troy knows someone in the AL State Penitentiary!), and my dear friend's mom unexpectedly passed away :(.  Oh, and BIG lesson learned....do NOT drive 16 hours with an almost 4 year old. That was ROUGH!

We spent a few mornings at the beach, followed by afternoons at our pool.  With Sadie being in the water so much and without her aids, I definitely started to think about waterproof hearing aids.  For those of you that might wonder, Sadie CAN hear some without her aids, but you have to talk LOUD and close to her ear. Trust me when I say I was very tired of shouting during that trip (as I am sure were the other adults and kids who had to listen to me!).  So when I got home I started researching and talking to our audiologist about water proof hearing aids.  I figured that since we are at the lake so much in the summers, these surely wouldn't be a waste.  Unfortunately, there is really only one truly waterproof hearing aid out on the market, the Siemens Aquarius.  It is quite pricey...and it is only for moderate-severe hearing loss.  Sadie would be on the very end of the range of eligibility.  If her hearing loss got worse, they wouldn't work for her.  But on the flip side, these would not be her primary aid, only for when she was swimming.  So..even if her hearing got worse, she would still get SOME gain out of them, it just wouldn't be perfect sound.  So I am torn.  I will probably be deciding later this year (since summer is almost over) whether or not we will decide to purchase a pair.  If anyone reading this blog has any information or experience with the Siemens Aquarius, I would LOVE to hear about it!

Now, on to the pictures!

After dinner on the way down to Destin

Our home for a week

Our private pool

Sadie loving the beach

She couldn't get enough of the sand

Neither could troy. He was proud of the hole he dug

Night stroll on the beach

 Adult picture

The whole crew!

 At Fudpuckers restaurant on the 1 rainy day we had

 Feed the baby alligators

 Beach Buddies!

 Catching a jellyfish and harassing it

 This is what a day at the beach and no nap looks like (this was 5:00 pm)

 The kids, er men

 The ladies

The kids!

Sadie jumping in!

The Jokes on Me

During the summer months our family tries to spend as much time at the lake as possible. This summer's goal is for Sadie to become more comfortable jumping in the water and actually attempting to swim. Right now she is just very content playing on the steps of the pool. I really want her to be completely comfortable in the water.  So, over Memorial Day weekend, while playing at the pool, I told Sadie that I would buy her a Frozen Elsa doll if she jumped in the water 5 times by herself.  I knew this was a safe bet. She was very excited at first, but then when she stood at the side of the pool, she got scared and would not do it.

A couple of weekends later, Troy spent some time with Sadie actually practicing swimming.  All of a sudden, he talked her into jumping into the pool!  When she came up for air, she had this stunned look on her face, and I was just sure she was going to start bawling.  But no, she looked at me, and said, "If I jump in 4 more times, I get an Elsa doll!!!"  So that is exactly what she did!  Apparently my bet was not so safe.  And to top it off, Elsa dolls are hard to come by and are selling for 50+ bucks on Ebay. Doh!

So, I had to have a little conversation with Sadie about the concept of supply and demand.  So while she was a little upset, she is happy knowing we will check the stores each week and once an Elsa doll is in the store (for $15, not $50), we will buy her one.  I am thrilled that she jumped in, more than once, and now we just need to remind her that she has done it before and that she liked it.  She is still a little hesitant when I ask her to jump in, but hopefully by the end of the summer, she is jumping in comfortably and starting to swim more!

Here is a little video I got of her jumping in (it was her 2nd or 3rd time).  Ignore my face at the end, I was using the ipad.

During this trip to the lake, we also celebrated Father's Day.  We enjoyed a great, sunny day at the lake, and then a nice dinner afterwards.  Happy Father's Day to Troy, Troy's dad Ron, and my dad!

 Sadie driving the boat with dad

 3 generations of Lovins!

 My 2 loves!

 Pretty backdrop at dinner.

Grandma Karen and Sadie

Fancy Nancy

I have been reading the Fancy Nancy books (by Jane O'Connor) to Sadie since she was probably 2 years old. She absolutely loves them, and I love that she is learning big words! If you have never read a Fancy Nancy book, you should definitely check them out.

Fancy Nancy came to our local library one night and read a story, and then afterwards everyone got to dress up in Fancy costumes.  This was a dream event for Sadie!

 Fancy Nancy and all her costumes!

 Costume # 1

 Posing with Nancy!

 Costume #2

 Posing alone.

 Posing with Nancy...again!

 Costume #3 (mom's fav!)

Posing with Fancy Nancy....yet again!

1st Roller Skating Party & Easter Sunday

Sadie got invited to her first Roller Skating Birthday party the Saturday prior to Easter. She tried on the "rental" skates and HATED them. I thought we might end up sitting at the birthday party watching everyone else skate the entire time.  Luckily, Lil D (the mom of Lucas whose birthday it was) brought some princess, adjustable roller skates that fit on over your shoes.  Sadie immediately loved them and wanted to try them out.  She actually did really good once we got her up and going!

 Not a fan of these skates!

I LOVE these skates though!

The next day we celebrated Easter by going to church and helping out in the 4 year old room (we attended service Friday night).  Afterwards we went over to my aunt's house for lunch and an Easter egg hunt!  Sadie even got a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny!

 Being silly opening my Easter basket.

Opening my Easter basket. Ignore my gibberish. I get nervous on camera!

 Dressed in my Easter Best!

The actual EASTER BUNNY?!?

Seeing the Easter bunny. Pardon mom's horrible filming in the beginning. It does get better!

Valentine's Day

I told Troy not to bother buying me flowers this year (although he still did!), but he should get some for Sadie.  I captured it on video. My two favorite people in the whole world. Love them!

Sadie's First Joke

Sadie absolutely loves the movie Wreck it Ralph (which I must admit is pretty darn cute).  She asked to watch it the other day and I said "Sadie, you always want to watch that movie!"  And her response...she shrugs and says "Well, I like it."  I guess I can't argue with that!

So this is a video of Sadie dancing to the music when it is over.

And then Sadie also picked up on a joke from the movie (thanks to her Daddy).  Ignore the jibberish at the beginning of this clip (she gets nervous and starts making up her own language).  I do find it funny, though, that her own language is to the tune of"Eeney, Meeney, Miney, Mo, Catch a Tiger by his Toe."  Ha!

Christmas 2013

Well, better late than never!

Sadie had a GREAT Christmas this year.  She is at an age where she is so much fun. She is starting to understand the meaning of Christmas and I loved seeing her expressions when she opened presents.  This year all she really wanted was Disney Princess stuff.  So she got a Disney Princess castle, as well as about every Disney Princess doll and clothes available!

We started off the holidays by doing Christmas Eve with my relatives at my grandpa's house.

Dress and ready to go!

The next morning we had my family over to our house and opened presents there. We really wanted Sadie to be able to walk down the stairs and see her Princess Dream House from Santa.  It was hard to get her to open other presents after that!

This is all I wanted!  

(Notice the raging party the Princesses had..looks like a frat party!)

 I love this picture!

Finally, Christmas afternoon we went over to Troy's Parents house for more presents! This girl must have been REALLY good this year!

Notice my princesses next to me!