Almost 1!

For those of you not keeping track, Sadie has less than a month to go before her first birthday. This constantly amazes me as she seems much older than her 11 months. She's walking almost full-time, not that she's good at it. Her balance is not good and she falls a lot, but she wants to walk all the time so she does. She walks about 20 steps now before she falls. She can't get herself back up without help from an object, so she crawls over to something, stands up, and tries again. She's so determined (with everything. I guess that's a good quality to have in life, but it can be very frustrating for me especially when she's refusing to take a nap)! She's also off of the bottle and only doing sippy cups which makes me very very happy. She gets table food except for breakfast and, if you haven't noticed by the size of her cheeks, loves to eat. She has yet to refuse any food. Well, she refused hard-boiled egg yolks once, but hasn't refused them since. Otherwise, you would think that every meal was her last meal because she eats a lot and enjoys every bite. She's practicing using the spoon and is so proud of herself when she actually gets the food to her mouth! Last night, we had couscous. She fed herself:

Eli had a class at the zoo. We met Ky there and Eli was just beside himself with excitement. Sadie went crazy over the tiger as the tiger was pacing right next to the glass. Everytime the tiger's face was right next to hers she screeched with delight. As the tiger walked away Sadie would sign more. Luckily, the tiger gave her more.

While at the zoo, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to ride the carousel:


Eli, Sadie and Sofia playing with their babies. Sadie looks less than thrilled:

Racing Eli down the slide. The girl has no fear. She went down all by herself and was signing more before she got to the bottom:

Crawling through the tunnel:


Buckeye Village had its annual picnic and carnival. There were lots of forbidden foods: cotton candy, popcorn and snow cones!! It was more than Sadie could handle. She was going nuts because everyone was eating except her. So, we gave her a snowcone without any syrup and she ate the ice! They had balloons, games, and face painting:

A New Family Hobby!?!

I think I discovered a new family hobby that will keep everyone happy. It involves maps (to please dad), paper and stamps (to please mom) and a treasure hunt (to please the kids). It also involves taking trips to unknown places and often times a little walk through the woods. What is this new found hobby you ask? Letterboxing! Letterboxing (similar to geocaching only without the GPS) is relatively new to the U.S. but has been in England and Europe for many years. A quick search on the Letterboxing website will give you all of the details that you need to begin your first hunt. It involves searching for boxes that are hidden in parks, cemetaries, museums, etc. and collecting the stamps. There are several dozen hidden around Columbus alone! The idea is to make a really cool homemade stamp, but because of lack of time and materials, we just used one we had on hand, but I think I'll make one at somepoint that represents our family. This was a relatively easy hunt and it took us to a field at a Catholic University. The box was in a tree hiding at the end of a stick! It was very exciting. Eli and Sadie were so excited by the discovery:

Our very first stamp:

Posing with books and letterbox:

Yea for family fun!!!

Sadie's Latest Milestone

Sadie recently started taking a few steps. Lately, she's been taking off on her own, walking between large objects or going after something she desperately wants. Her balance is getting better, but she hates falling!

Our Friends

We had a going away party for some good friends that are moving to Sacramento. Not that this means a whole lot to you, but it means a lot to us. Constance was my first friend in Columbus and she is the reason why Eli, Sadie, Dennis and I have all of these friends.

Constance (bottom row, first on the left wearing white) is from France and is the jester of the group. Eli has always had a super-duper crush on her daughter, Abigail, who for awhile there ran around naked all the time. So, you can see the allure: French AND naked!! Her son Clarence is 6 weeks younger than Sadie so they were perfect pals too. We are really going to miss these guys. Bon Voyage.

Not Much Going On Around Here

It's been pretty ho-hum around here. I didn't even take any pictures in the last week. So, I took some today, just for all of you!

Eli and Sadie snuggling on the floor.

Proof that Eli is a little boy. He has a bruise above his right eye (your left), a bruise on his forehead, and what we think is a mosquito bite above his left eye (your right). It seems the mosquitoes have come out in full force over the last several weeks. Eli didn't have one bite all summer and all at once he got like 30! He was pretty miserable for awhile. Sadie has stayed bite free. She must not taste as good.

Sadie really doesn't like to sit still too long for books. She'll sit longer if it's interactive. This book sings a completely annoying version of Old MacDonald (thanks Robyn!) but she loves it!

Eli rode the train at the train festival. He really wanted to ride the train until he sat down. Then, he got a worried look on his face and held on for dear life. He was very brave.

Sadie Is 10 Months Old

Sadie is 10 months already. I know it's cliche, but time does really go by so fast. In fact, today was the first OSU football game of the season. Sadie wore her OSU cheerleader outfit to celebrate, but wouldn't you know the camera battery was dead so I couldn't take a picture. Anyways, Sadie has been doing lots of exciting things most of them with her hands: patty-cake, waving hi, blowing kisses, putting her hands on her head as if to say, "oh no!", signing "more", and doing actions to songs. It's so much fun.

Could Sadie's cheeks get any rounder?


Wrestling with Eli. Seriously, the girl loves to rough house. If you are sitting on the floor, she takes this as a hint that you want to wrestle her and she'll come over and plop down on you.


At the water table at the science museum. Notice her Thomas tat? Eli picked it out for her.

Petting the goats at the zoo. This is almost as exciting for her as seeing kittens at the pet store. Almost. She giggles with delight.

Bye-Bye, Ky!

Eli's BFF moved this week. While I'm very happy that the Kralovic's are moving up in the world and bought their first home, I'm very sad for Eli as he's heart-broken. He asks for Ky quite frequently and misses him to whatever extent a two year old can miss something, which I'm guessing is a lot by the way he says, "I want Ky" with his eyes welling with tears and his lip quivering from sadness. We are all very fond of Ky and his parents. They will really be missed. Luckily, they are only 15 minutes away so we can still get together for playdates and pizza!

A Really Fun Weekend

The weather this weekend was absolutely perfect: mid-seventies, low humidity and sunny. We took advantage of it and spent the weekend crossing off things on our summer to-do list. We went to Slate Run Historical Farm on Saturday. Oh, my goodness. My fascination with Laura Ingalls continues and it makes me think that I've really got to get Sadie a bonnet. This is a working farm so people are busy working and they love having help. Eli's personal favorites were the pigs. He kept saying "pigs. PeeeeYeeeewwww.....". The pigs are eventually butchered (which we're invited to watch in December) and for proof there are actually hams hanging in the smokehouse! The women were pickling and picking veggies. And Eli helped water the garden. Oh, and the best part, it's free!!!

Sadie loving every minute of the horses. The girl is crazy for animals.


Sadie and a ragdoll. Who enjoyed it more? Dad or Sadie?


Eli pumping water. It's a lot of work.


Carrying the water out to the garden.


Finally, pouring the water on the plants.


On Sunday we went to The Wilds to go on safari. We rode a safari bus through the open range and saw camels, wild horses, cheetahs, wild dogs, giraffes, rhinos, buffalo, and a bunch of different deer. It was pretty awesome.

I have to include this picture, because Eli was telling me "no picture, mommy" and Dennis is giving me the put-the-camera-away look. Yeah, it was a big two-year-old melt down moment. Eli wanted to be carried, we said he needed to walk. It was very traumatic for him. He was mad because he wanted to be on the bus and be done looking at the birds. We quickly got back on the bus so we could look at something a little more exciting.

They just opened up the carnivore exhibit. Look at the lazy cheetahs.

You can see all of this and more if you make the trip to Columbus. Plus, we have some great accommodations and I'm a pretty good cook. Come visit!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Eli!!!

Eli has really been looking forward to his birthday. He knew he was having a party, going to get to eat cake and was going to get to open presents. He was sooooo excited for today arrive. This morning he woke up and the festivities started. And I think he wasn't disappointed. It was a great day.

He had a huge stack of birthday French toast. After we sang "Happy Birthday" Eli sang "Happy to. Happy to." all day long. I got it on video, along with me asking him how old he is as I've been prepping him all week and he's said two all week, but today he said he was five!

His very own train and track!

Eli had most of the neighbors and some of his good friends over for his party. They all loved hitting the pinata, but no one managed to break it. We eventually had to just tear it open and let the kids run crazy picking up treats.

Eli's fire truck birthday cake. This is my second attempt at cake decorating. I don't know why I get myself into these things. I am my own worst critic though as Eli and the rest of the kids loved it.

One of Sadie in case you've forgotten what she looks like!

A haircut.

I'm Falling Behind

It seems I can't keep up with my blogging obligations. Either we're way too busy or I'm spending most of my free time reading a book. (Seriously, I'm right in the middle of a good book and I'm staying up way too late trying to finish it. Plus, I just got another book from the library that I want to read...) So, I'm falling a bit behind, but not so bad. I'm just trying to post at least once a week! Anyways, to catch you up on the latest Sperle news.

It's been hot and humid here and we've been trying to stay cool. Going to the pool hits the spot especially when it only costs 50 cents to get in and is only a mile away!


Eli loves sitting on these fountains and getting a "water enema" as I like to call them. I don't know if he likes the way it feels or if its because he sees the big boys doing it, but it occupies him during the breaks. Silly boys!!


The Columbus Symphony has "Picnic with the Pops" every Saturday night during the summer and on several Fridays they have concerts for kids. We went to the "Teddy Bear Picnic" concert. It rained on us, but we still had a great time singing, dancing, getting our faces painted and making bear ears.


Sadie stayed dry in the stroller, but she didn't mind the water. She was just excited to stay out 3 hours past her bedtime.


Pictures of tractors as promised. I don't think Eli was impressed as his dad was.


Even Sadie liked them!


Sadie walking with a little help from a pushcar.


A little tuckered out.

Sand and Chocolate

Last weekend we went to a reservoir to cool off from the summer's heat. Sadie loved the water and Eli loved the sand. It's getting harder and harder to get a good shot of Sadie.

Where are Eli's legs??

An old one of Sadie in the sandbox.

Eli loves brownie batter for breakfast. Pretty soon he's going to have to share the chocolatey goodness with his sister.

Standing, Big Trucks and COSI

Sadie is really on the go now. It's amazing how fast babies learn. Now, I really have to keep a close eye on Sadie as she is everywhere getting into everything. The other day I ran upstairs for a second and left the gate open so Eli could follow if he wanted to. By the time I came down the stairs (literally about 1 minute later) Sadie was already on the third step!! She's so determined and gets very angry when we don't let her do something that is dangerous. She wants to be doing everything that Eli is doing, wants everything that Eli has and gets so mad when she can't. She's pretty fiesty. Here's a lovely picture of her standing. Look at those thighs!! The girl loves to eat.

How many trucks can Eli see before he gets bored? I don't know as he hasn't reached that point yet. He can't get enough. Every truck is sooo exciting and big and wonderful and brings on smiles and giggles. We can hardly deny him the opportunity to see and sit in big trucks when they come to the local science museum. (Tractors are coming soon. I'm sure you'll be seeing those pictures too.) This is the first time that Sadie got to sit and drive. She loved it too.

Sadie enjoying the baby water table at COSI, the science museum. Splashing is her forte.

Sometimes Blogger drives me crazy. Currently, it won't let me post a title for this post. I was going to call this entry "Fourth of July and Bikes", not really creative, but a title nonetheless. Enough rambling, here's the kids and a little info. behind the pics.

We just arrived back from a trip to Hornell, NY to see Dennis' sister, Pat, and Lewisburg, PA to see our good friends, the Rosenbergs. We had a wonderful trip and the car ride wasn't even that bad! We had this brilliant idea to leave when Sadie woke for her nighttime bottle around 4am. This idea backfired for several reasons. First, Sadie decided that this would be the night that she sleeps through the night so we had to wake her up from a deep, deep sleep at 5. Second, when you put your kids to bed at 7pm they never get to see darkness. Eli and Sadie were so excited to see the moon, street lights and other nighttime things that they didn't fall asleep quite like we had anticipated. But, it was fun to hear them giggle at the darkness.
We all loved seeing Aunt Pat. Eli and Sadie loved Pat's drawers full of all of her OT stuff. I can tell that their fine motor skills have improved already!!
The Rosenbergs just added another addition to their family in March. It was wonderful to finally meet Alexey. It was fun for the grown-ups to have to work around 4 different nap schedules. We didn't get to do much, but it was fun just visiting and watching the kids play. Oh, and Eli LOVED Gabriella. He called her name for hours and did a very good Marlon Brando impersonation when he called her name with an anguished,"ELLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!". We spent the Fourth of July with them and Eli got his first taste of fireworks, which also resulted in his first burn with fireworks. Now he knows we aren't kidding when we say, "Hot!".


Sadie is getting around in many different ways. She has upgraded her army crawl to a full-fledged crawl. It's amazing to watch her cruise around on all fours. She keeps surprising me when I put her down in the living room and she ends up in the kitchen. She's pulling herself up and starting to cruise with the help of the furniture. But, her favorite trick is letting go of the furniture and smiling with "look mom, no hands" pride. She also has a new way of getting around. She's discovered the fun of going for a ride in the car! Eli thinks this is very cool. He loves to crash into her.

Eli also loves his "bike". Here he is with his best buddy, Ky, going for a ride. His feet don't actually touch the pedals, so he has to do the Fred Flintstone walk to go anywhere.