Hello? Is it me your looking for???

Alright..... I am going to try this blog thing again.... I hope to get going on my family blog, then start a crafting and cooking blog..... After all, before I went back to teaching, my nickname was "Crafty Sarah"!  Now that I have moved, and am not teaching - I have more time again!!! 

First of all - our move..... If you had asked me one year ago if I would be living in Arkansas and loving it - I would have replied, "Say what????"  But God sometimes throws us curveballs, and we have to swing the bat as best we can!!!  

My kids are happy and have made, and are making some really nice friends.

My husband is happy and is MUCH more content and challenged at his job.

Our family has found a wonderful church to attend, a wonderful neighborhood to live in, and has made some friends that I know will be there for years.

All of that makes me very happy!!!

It took me until almost the end of October to get over the stress of my job last year, and the move over the summer.... and to be truthful, I still have nightmares - but I am in a much better place emotionally and stress-wise than I was last spring....

The hard part about moving.... missing my family.... I miss my mom and dad. I don't like being 10 hours from my sister.  I feel very far from my parents when they may need my help.... {sigh}

But I am a 'big picture' type of person.... and I can't look at the hard parts of this move without seeing the absolutely wonderful parts!  

 Here are some pictures from our new town!

Our house sold in an amazing 8 days! Kathy Garst was just getting started in her full time real estate job, and her business has EXPLODED since then - no surprise - she is a wonderful, amazing lady!!!!

Love you honey!!!

Lydia 'faces' the water!

Bentonville is a wonderful town - there is so much to do! The first thing that we found was this wonderful splash park...... Lydia and Drew LOVE it!!! So fun!!!  It is only about two blocks off of the town square - and in the winter, it turns into an outdoor skating rink (scroll down to see those pictures!).

Drew is a crazy man! He has such a great time at whatever he is doing! He gets a little wild, but is a wonderful little boy!

Back to soccer!!! Our new team - the NWA Lightning! Bigger pool teams than what we were used to.... Drew's total team has 37 boys which are broken into 4 teams for tournaments and games. Lydia's team has 27 girls, who are broken into 3 teams for tournaments.  Whew!

Go Wheels!

Drew's team got 2nd place in the tournament in Springfield, Missouri.

Lydia battling in a team scrimmage.

Fall was beautiful here!!

Still feelin' a bit orange and blue!!!

 Carvin' the Pumpkins!!! 
It was nice to not have to worry about cold weather on Halloween - we took the kids and pumpkins out back, and went for it!  This is the first year that BOTH Lydia and Drew wanted to 'do their own' carving.  So I sat back, relaxed, and took pictures!  Next year, I am going to have to get my own pumpkin!
 

Lydia's finished cat!

Drew's finished pumpkin! He was so proud!

Halloween was crazy here!!! Our neighborhood is FULL of kids, and trick or treating was like a big block party! Derrick took the kids out, and I stayed in for the costume parade, with a HUGE bowl of candy!

Our very own Jack Sparrow!

Our Gypsy!

 Random Thought....

We have different grass here - it turns completely brown in the winter. In October, you start to get a 'zebra' effect as the grass turns from green to brown!  I am not sure that I like this lack of green grass for winter.... Looking forward to spring!




Thanksgiving was wonderful - we were back in Illinois for 5 1/2 days - and got to catch up with family and friends!  I am surprised at how rushed I am feeling when we go back to Rochester - like I don't have the time to see everyone that I would like to see! I don't like scheduling things too much - but I may have to be a bit more purposeful to seeing people on our trips home.... 


We had a super time with Nanny and Poppy, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Rob - and of course - Ella!!!  We had a Thanksgiving photo shoot in Nanny and Poppy's back yard....

My two kids are growing up too fast!

The 3 cousins!!!








 

And OF COURSE - jumping out of the tree was Lydia and Drew's favorite picture!
:)

How did she get to be 10?

My baby!!!! How can he be 8???

Catch Up!!!

O.K. O.K. O.K.

It's been a long while since I posted - just got busy, and didn't think much about the blog! I am going to try to post random pictures from the last few months - much has happened!

Lydia and Drew on the beach at Sanibel Island - Spring Break!



Here's Nanny and Poppy with their 3 grandchildren!


Babysitting chicks while friends were on vacation...... when they arrived at our house, they fit in our hands and were fluffy..... By the time they left, they had feathers, and were trying to 'fly'!!!!
We had to make a 'chicken-coop' in our garage!!!


Drew had his last game down at the pee-wee fields at the park -
onto bigger fields at UIS next fall......We LOVE soccer!!!


Lydia and Drew played in their piano recital at the end of May. Drew's first and Lydia's third - both did great!!!

Here is Lydia receiving her first Guild Award. She memorized 4 pieces and performed them in front of a judge.

SUMMER!!!!!!!!


We had a amazing butterfly sighting in our garden - a zebra swallowtail butterfly!!!
Beautiful!!!!

Drew and I made strawberry jam - YUM!!!


And there you have it - everything from beaches to chickens to strawberry jam..... and we are loving life!!!

Drew's lost tooth!

Drew's tooth finally came out! It seems like he has been wiggling it forever. Every day at some point, he would come up to me and say, "Mommy, wiggle my tooth for me!" The tooth finally came out Wednesday evening around 6 o'clock. I am glad that it came out before we left for Florida this weekend, because Drew had told me last week that if you lose a tooth in Florida, you get a 'chicken'. Yup - somehow he thought that the Florida tooth fairies bring live animals to their kids. Who knows where he gets this stuff? He is one creative kid, though, and fills our lives with joy and laughter!

Cute Drew!

Crazy Kitty!

So, I am doing laundry - nothing new about that - I am ALWAYS doing laundry! But this time, when I went back to the bedroom to fold clothes, I found a little surprise in the laundry basket! Sophie, our kitty, LOVES warm clothes, and LOVES to snuggle in them..... It kind of reminds me of our dog Toby when I was a little girl. Toby was an outside hunting dog, but on cold winter nights, we would bring him into the heated garage to sleep. We always put a bunch of beach towels in the dryer, and then put the warm towels in the kennel with Toby. Anyways..... here's Sophie - the laundry cat!

Michigan Fun!

The kids and I spent a recent weekend up in Michigan. Lydia and Drew had a BLAST playing in the snow!

There is a small hill in the backyard of Aunt Barbie and Uncle Eddie's yard.

Lydia and Drew made the most of it!!!

Wrigley kept trying to steal their discs until Uncle Eddie got him his own to play with..... (or tear up).....

There was a lot more snow in Michigan than in central Illinois, so Lydia and Drew were in heaven!!!

We also were able to visit Great-Gram. Debbie, Rob and Baby Elaine came over from Chicago for the day, so Gram was with three of her great- grandchildren. Of course, she wanted to know where the 'other 2' were!!! (Isabel and Grace)

Gram was very aware and lucid on Saturday morning when all the kids were there.
We got some great pictures!!!
Baby Elaine, Gram, Debbie, Robert, Drew, Derrick, Sarah & Lydia

The 2 Elaine's - Precious!!!