A few posts back, I said I was going to try and take some time to do a post about each of the kids and what their lives are like these days. Well now it's Sadie's turn....who we call "Sadie girl" "Sissy" (for sister) "Sleeping beauty" "Beautiful" (by Matt) "Sades"
A few things about Sadie:
She is little-miss creative. The girl loves to work with her hands and I don't think the word 'messy' is even something she comprehends. I truly believe she sees anything that I would call a 'mess' as a work of art or something in the making. It is as if the usual 'order' of things never crosses her mind. For example, she loves to have her fingernails and toenails painted....but not just one color. Oh no, that would be too boring. She asks that I paint each fingernail and each toenail a different color. Which is just the same as how she likes to color pictures....remember this?
Yes, this has Sadie written all over it. And I love it because it is the exact opposite of me but something I always wished I had....oh to see the world through this girl's eyes!
However, she is like me in some ways. Matt refers to Sadie as our 'community-girl'. She loves to be 'in-community'....no experience can be enjoyable without others with her. She loves to be with other people and often asks us if we can live in a 'connected-house' (townhouse/condo/apartment). When we tell her that that is all we have ever lived in until 2 years ago when we moved here, she can't understand why anyone would want their own house. If you ask her why, she'll answer, "Because then I could live so close to all my friends and be with them all the time." It's amazing the perspective kids have, isn't it?? But along with being my 'community-girl' and loving having people around her, she is also a HUGE cuddler. Yes, she is definitely our most touchy-feely girl. She loves hugs, kisses, cuddles, etc and will lay in bed with Matt or I in the morning for as long as we want. It did get her in to a bit of trouble recently, however. We were at a friend's house and the boys came out front to tell us that the neighbor's cat had a kitten and the girls were petting it. When my friend said, "They have a male cat....there aren't any kittens!" we ran around the back of the house to find Sadie and their daughter Taylor petting not a kitten, but a half-dead vole that the male cat had attempted to kill and brought to its back door. Yes, Sadie was PETTING it and talking to it......I just about threw up I was so grossed out. We ran inside and washed the girls' hands and explained what the 'thing' was, but to this day Sadie doesn't really get what the big deal was. Oh dear!
Back to Sadie being my cuddler......she loves to sleep in. The other day, she slept until 9am!!!! The girl won't wake up until she is fully rested, which as a mother I love! She has never woken up grumpy and definitely eases in to her day.
She also LOVES LOVES LOVES babies. She is always caring for her babies and carrying them around. I took this picture of her at one of Wyatt's baseball games recently....
Yes, she is nursing two babies, just like our friend Steph does with her little girls. And if you ask her what her babies names are, lately they are Ellie and Claire, after our friends' Steph and Bill who just had twin girls. Sadie loves her babies and loves to share her babies with anyone willing to hold them. I have had several people comment at Wyatt's baseball games or when we are outside how I hold her babies just like a real baby, but I have to remind them that if I didn't, she would be very upset because she insists they are 'real'. In fact, we will often be trying to get out the door to go somewhere and she just HAS to get something for her babies....bottle, blanket, clothes, etc.
Sadie sharing her babies with Gabby (friends of ours from La Crosse who visited recently and both girls had the same t-shirt on--they thought it was so neat!)
One more thing about Sadie....she talks non-stop (I have
no idea where she gets this!:) Matt is continually amazed at the speed of her talking and thought processes and ability to talk continually. The other day she looked at us and said, "Ugh...I can't stop thinking!" It was as if her inability to stop her mind from thinking (someone I think all women experience) was becoming bothersome to her. We just laughed and I looked at Matt and said, "See, I'm not alone!"
Sadie had farm camp this week and last week and before you laugh, let me explain. When I first told Matt I was signing the kids up for "Farm Camp" this summer, he said, "WHat? Are you kidding me? We have to pay for that? Can't they just go to a farm like we did?" But here is the deal....we live in the city and all their grandparents also live in the city, unlike Matt and my grandparents. So we learned about life in the country by going to our grandparents but our kids don't have that ability. The closest they get is my parent's huge garden and my Dad's John Deere riding mower.....not exactly a real farm! And virtually all my friends in Iowa have said the same thing Matt did....which I can't blame them, but it is our reality. So I sent Sadie to farm camp for two weeks in the mornings and she LOVED IT!! She brought home crafts each day and had so many stories to tell us. Each morning they fed the animals and did chores on the farm. Their daily snack was picked from the garden at the farm and then they made a craft.
Here are a few of the things she brought home, along with a daily painting. The wool was from the sheep and the blocks of wood were her 'sculptures'.
They gathered eggs from the hens and Sadie got to scramble her own eggs and eat them one day, after washing the eggs and then using the shells to make this.
Today was the last day and I got to join her for the last hour.....it was so much fun and she was so excited to show me everything (Wyatt was at VBS with a friend and I had a sitter for Blake, so it was extra special!)
Sadie and her friend Meryl
The calf was so cute.....
Right after I took this, the calf bit Sadie's finger...notice how close it is?! It didn't hurt too bad, though!
Sadie kept telling me all week how she didn't want to feed the calf by herself because she couldn't hold the bottle without the calf pulling it out of her hand, so I helped her out today!
And that thing was really strong!!!
Her favorite thing was feeding the goats
pumping water to take to the animals
The hay loft....we couldn't go inside today but Sadie was excited to tell me all about it!
(notice the rainbow-colored fingernails!)
Riding Gertie!!!
"Whoa Gertie!"
One more thing I forgot to mention.....I have been telling that Sadie that she has to brush her hair every morning and each day she compains about the tangles. I told her about a month ago that the only way to avoid that is to cut her hair....and after a month, she had had enough. So off we went to cut it....
She got it cut just before farm camp, so you can see it short in all those pictures too, but this girl definitely prefers comfort over style. She didn't care that she couldn't wear a side ponytail or french braid anymore...she just wanted to be done with the pain of those tangles!!! And she looks pretty cute with it short as well. We may even go shorter next time!!!
Now I know you are all wishing you could spend an evening with us, but these activities are reserved for the five of us only! You'll just have to recreate your own headstand competitions at home!
