Princess Fisherlady

This weekend, Faith was eager to take her dad up on an offered fishing trip. Funny thing was, as I was getting her ready for our trip, she INSISTED on wearing her "pink princess dress." I just decided that the dress would wash, and I put her rain boots on and packed her daddy's girl hat.

Faith was good at carrying the pole around, following mom and dad as they fished. She quickly tired at the thought of holding the pole in place while waiting for a fish to bite. More interesting, however, was the plight of throwing each and every piece of dried mud into the pond. (Yes, Texans, I know it's technically a tank, but we are Arkansas rednecks and you can't deny your raisin')

I've never seen a prettier fisher lady, and I'm sure Grandma Mary would've had the biggest grin on her face seeing Faith prance around the pond, getting mud on the pretty pink dress.



Turkey Tradition

It's April again, and Bubba has turkey fever...again! As he will do every year of his life, I'd imagine, and now Faith is destined to have her pic with her daddy and his turkey from here on out. Although....Bubba has declared that Faith will be shooting her own turkey next year. We shall see.

In April 2008, Bubba really wanted me to go turkey hunting with him. It was cold that morning, and I wore an over sized set of coveralls. I wasn't feeling well, and I hustled to stay about 50 yards behind him (waddling in all my clothing---looked like the Michelin Man). I stopped several times because i was sick at my stomach and tired and dizzy. I stuck it out though, because I wanted him to know I could hang with him. On the way back in to town, I suggested that stopping at Walgreen's for a pregnancy test would be advised. That day we learned that there would be a new addition to our family :)

2009

2010

2011

Cow Poo Poo

This past Sunday afternoon, in an attempt to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful weather, we spent the afternoon "helping" daddy and Uncle Josh check and reload their pig feeder. Wild or feral hogs are apparently taking over the US, destroying farm land and costing landowners lots of money. So, Bubba and Josh have an agreement with this landowner that they are allowed to hunt his land for all kinds of game as long as they shoot as many hogs as they can.

Faith was excited at the venture, so she dawned her camo pants, her rain boots, and her pink camo hat (not pictured) with enthusiasm at the potential to see cows and "drive" the four wheeler.

Faith "drove" us to a place where we had to park, then "hoof it." She quickly lagged behind the rest of us as she began collecting what she called rocks. I laughed...the rocks were old cow poop. I told her that was cow poo poo, and she dropped it on spot "Eww, Cow Poo Poo!" Faith then proceeded to point out each time she found more.

We made it to the pig feeder, which needed more corn. The guys filled it up and tested it to make sure corn was dispersed appropriately. Faith promptly made it her mission to attempt to collect each piece of corn that had fallen on the ground...



We distracted her from the corn and began to make our way out of the woods. There was a problem though. Little sticker bushes stressed her out. She demanded to be carried by dad as she proclaimed "I'm stuck!" Dad told her she was going to have to learn to step on it or go around. She made it apparent that today was not the day to begin.

After the pigs were taken care of, so to speak, we ventured down to the big pond for some splish splash time and of course, to through rocks in the water. All three of us adults immediately tried to skip rocks on the water and hurt our arms/shoulders quickly. We decided to find rocks for Faith to chunk, and Faith and dad ventured into the water to try out their rain boots.

What a great day all around! It made me miss those days of playing all day long outside. I remember leaving the house in the morning and not returning until dark or unless I heard mom's calling (no cell phones then!). I wanted to stop and build a fort, but we were without the needed tools.

Faith found a baby cow that she adored. She ran towards the herd of cows in an attempt to convince the baby to let her ride him. It didn't go over so well. They spooked to her dismay. By the end of the afternoon, we had one tired little girl!

That's all I can write for now. I just noticed that Faith is playing in the fireplace ashes! Better pay more attention!

[Pey-shuh ns] Is A Virtue

Faith is now two years, two months old, and she is doing and saying some remarkable things! But there are trials that we as parents would rather do without. Watching Faith grow up has made it painstakingly clear to me that while a child is a beautiful, wonderful being...a child has the innate sin in him/her that dates back to the fall of Man. The root of it seems to be selfishness. Anything she sees and likes becomes "Mine!" Last week she was put in timeout in school because she had claimed all the toys in the classroom and was guarding them from the other kids.

But watching Faith, I also can see my own selfish desires. I'm often so full of myself that I can't see beyond my own wants, needs, and dreams. This is why we all need a Savior. To save us from ourselves. I'll keep working on Faith, Lord keep working on me!

10 things I love about Faith at 23 months

Faith has kept her mommy so busy lately that I haven't been able to update in a while. Wow, how time flies. Faith is turning two years old this month! In the past couple of weeks, she has really developed her speech so that she is sounding less and less like she's speaking Chinese.

Here are my top 10 favorite things that she's doing at this time:

1. Saying "please" with a cheesy little smile that gets her almost anything she wants.

2. Following Gracie (the chihuahua) around the house with her arms wide open saying "hugs?"

3. Pressing the glowworm in the middle of the night several times in a row just to listen to the music.

4. Insisting on wearing her rain boots (which are two sizes too big) to school several days in a row and on more than one occasion.

5. The way she lights up when she sees her Papaws, and the way any older man in any store also qualifies as a papaw.

6. That one of her first intelligible longer sentences at school was "No Jackson! My toy! Get back!"

7. The way Faith loves on her mommy and daddy at night time and gives the best long hugs a parent could ever ask for.

8. Extremely wet and messy kisses (on the mouth of course!)

9. How she cannot sit on the potty without saying "My teeth!" She brushes her teeth no less than 4 times a day (that's a week day, many more times on the weekend!).

10. The way she mothers her little babies and keeps them in her arms (all five) in the morning while i'm trying to change her diaper and get her dressed. "Babies! Babies! My Babies!" Faith, you should not have so many babies, you can't even take care of them! LOL

Little Girl Growing Up, A Summer Recap

This is bound to be a long post! The last was in the middle of May and there is so much that has happened in our little family! I cannot believe how much Faith has changed in these short months, you will notice on the pictures.
So, at the end of May, Mommy left her job at Baylor and ventured out to practice speech-language pathology. Daddy has been making great strides in leadership in his job, though he works some early and loooong hours.
Our summer start with a visit from Nana and Papaw Sartor. She was spoiled rotten when they left! She loves her papaw! (nothing against Nana, it's just that she likes the men better, she does the same thing with Grandma Nina)
Faith has once again moved up a classroom at her school and is she really enjoying all the fun activities at school. Here she is ready for school at the end of May...

With summer comes swimming, and this is something Faith has become somewhat proficient in. Notice the contraption she is wearing below. It is designed to keep the kid afloat, but does not keep your head above water automatically. It requires balance. Faith found out the hard way, and now can balance herself and move about independently around the pool (she wouldn't have it any other way). We've been blessed to have friends with the perfect size and type of pool for
Faith to learn her way about the water in. Here she is taking a break from the pool and sitting up like a big girl in the lawn chair.


Something else that she has explored for the first time this summer is the indoor playgrounds at different neighborhood eating joints. And, of course, she knows that the slide is the most fun when walked up backwards...

I've known for some time that Faith needed to be getting off the bottle all together. For several months she had been only having a night time bottle. She weaned herself in July. She got to where she would just chew on the bottle at night, and not really drink it. I just quit offering it, and she didn't ask. This is one of her last bottles :( Sniff, Sniff

July 4th was a neat experience for us. We had a family wide G and G camp together at a retreat/ranch outside of Fort Worth. It was the perfect little get away for us, and Faith really started warming up to her cousins. I don't have any pics from this...need to get them emailed to me. It was here that Faith led her Grandpa Sullivan all over the property several times a day. He would let her explore and just follow her. They were so cute!

Pigtails have been a staple for Faith this summer. She is hot natured and needs all the help she can get. I try to dress her in as little clothing as possible, while keeping her hair up off her neck. The pigtails also happen to be pretty darn cute! I snapped this in the hallway one morning as she was walking to her classroom.
Mom and dad brought Faith my old rocking chair earlier this Spring. That thing is over 25 years old! Faith enjoys it now, and likes to try my patience inventing different ways to sit or stand in the chair. It's cool to see her using this though!

A nighttime ritual at our household is a family prayer before bed. Yes, this is sunshine you see...it was daylight at 8pm for quiet some time, but it was still bedtime! Faith gets in her daddy's lap and puts her hands together and we all recite the prayer together. Her favorite part is the "Amen," which she says with quiet some fervor.


The beginning of August rolled around and Grandpa Sullivan's birthday. Faith decided to go and surprise her Grandpa for his birthday. He knew not a word about it and the whole trip was super quick but super special. Here she is with her cousin Hayley and cousin Emily riding around the family farm in Briggsville.


Below is a pic of Faith watching Grandma Nina fix a good ole breakfast. I remember many mornings in this very kitchen watching Grandma Anna and Aunt Anna Jewel prepare breakfast. It's cool to see her continuing the experience.

And here is why that trip was worth it. Faith adores her Grandpa.

We had visitors the next weekend. It is rare that we see each other this often, but Uncle Wes, Hayley and Caitlin came and stayed with us for several days. Faith loved the attention and the excuse to stay up "late" with her cousins.

Faith and Uncle Wes

This summer also marked Faith's first real hair cut. She was none too excited about this, but with some help from You Tube and daddy's Iphone, she survived. We only trimmed it, and didn't really have the usual curls that you keep in a baby book. Maybe next time. It's too cute to cut much right now!

Faith was introduced to the deer woods this month too. We had a family day trip to the deer woods, were we checked daddy's game camera and filled up his feeder. Faith favorite part was getting to "drive" through the pasture and of course, not having to sit in the car seat for a while.

And the very next afternoon she took her first boat ride in daddy's boat. She was enamored at the sights around her and liked the experience....as long as we weren't going over 10 mph. That got old quickly and this turned out to be a brief ride, though a successful one none the less.

So there you have it. You are caught up with the events of our summer. No big destination trips or anything. Just everyday life. We cherish our time with Faith each evening and every weekend. She is such a joy in our life :)

Can I just stay under this table, Mom?

Yesterday, We all loaded up to go get Faith's 12 month vaccinations. They had been postponed because of her ear infection issues, so she got them at more like 14 months, which is fine with us!

The room at Dr. Loden's office is brightly colored and painted with a lot of fish and undersea creatures. Faith prided herself in running from wall to wall and slamming her hands on the wall. After a long time of doing this, I think she started to get nervous. She loved the paper on the examine table and tried pulling it off...

She also tried escaping through the door, but she could quite work the handle...

When she gave up on escape, she conceded to hiding under the desk...do I have to come out?? Shots (4 of them) hurt but were OK....bottles make lots of things Ok.

Basketball Fun

This is Faith after a recent Lady Bears basketball game. She was so attentive to the game, and though she was tired...so tired....she kept smiling at people and stayed involved in the game. In the above video, we went down to the court after the game to wait for some of the girls to return from the lockerroom. Faith pushed her way between the seats that make up the bench and spent about 15 minutes walking around the court, bright-eyed and bushy tailed! She was enthralled!