Daddy, Can I Have A...

Chick...


Or maybe a rabbit...


How about a pony? :-)

Sarah & I are in Virginia right now visiting family so we decided to do a little strawberry pickin' last Saturday. There is a local strawberry "festival" every year over Memorial Day weekend which includes various moon bounces, pony rides, a petting zoo, and even a flat-footin' contest.

Sarah did pretty well with the moon bounce and pony ride, but she absolutely LOVED the petting zoo! Her favorite was the area with the smaller animals where she got to hold a baby chick, a 6-week old kitten, and even a baby rabbit. She knew no fear either as she reached in and picked up each rabbit one by one and then made over them like crazy. :-)

The strawberry picking was fun too and Sarah had the best time trying to fill her bucket. It was a hot and tiring day, but a lot of fun too! Of course, the strawberry freezer jam we made is pretty good too. :-)


Sarah picking strawberries. :-)

Sarah's New Room

As you can probably imagine, there are a lot of "little projects" going on right now in the Noto house as we prepare for our newest arrival. The biggest of these was getting Sarah into her new "big girl room," which I'm happy to say we've finally done! We really wanted to make this room all about Sarah so we let her pick out everything from the light purple color of the walls to the Dora bedspread (a major concession on my part, but definitely worth it!). :-)

Grams & Grandpa were a huge help as they took Sarah for us for the day on Saturday and we were able to work. Steve did a great job with the painting and I tried to keep busy and help out anyway I could. :-) The end result was worth it though as we had the "big reveal" when Sarah got home. The look on her face when she saw everything finished and the room put together was priceless! She was so excited for her new room and has finally started referring to her old room as the "baby's room." This is a huge relief! :-)

Here are a few pictures of Sarah in her new "big girl room." Enjoy!

Sarah coming into the room for the first time.


Taking a slow walk around so she can see everything.


Her new bedspread. She LOVES Dora! :-)


Ready for bed on her first night! She has done a great job of sleeping in her new room too which is wonderful!

Finally, here is a video of Sarah going through her new room. :-)

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my amazing husband!! Time seems to have gone so quickly it's hard to believe it's been seven years. Thank you for the best years of my life! I look forward to many more to come!

I love you!!

Fun in the Sun

After two fun filled days taking in the Magic Kingdom, we decided to spend the third day of our trip close to home where we could relax and take it easy. Steve's buddy Matt had an awesome ski boat for us to take out and the kids had the best time swimming in the water. Now, they say that every body of water in Florida has at least one alligator in it and I will admit this made me a little nervous. We made sure to do our swimming during "people time" as the locals like to call it, but rest assure I made sure Steve was swimming with Sarah while I sat on the boat and scanned for eyes. :-) Fortunately, no alligators were spotted, but our little girl turned into quite the fish. It took a little bit of coaxing at first to get her into the water, but once she did, she never wanted to get out.

We also got Sarah out on the tube which was a lot of fun. We pulled her slowly behind the boat at first, but then Steve joined her and they went for a faster ride. She loved it and you could see her laughing the whole time. It was great!


Sarah eating grapes as we get started. The only thing missing was someone to fan her! :-)


Swimming...FINALLY!


Sarah loved jumping to Daddy, but she had very specific instructions for him. His hands had to be visible at all times so she could ensure he would catch her. :-)


Steve...the wake board king!


Getting ready for some tubing.

Here is a video of Sarah jumping to her Daddy. Very cute.

Disney World - Day 2

Our second day at Disney was just as amazing as our first and included more meets & greets with the characters, a dance party in the middle of street as part of the "Move It, Shake It" parade, and even more rides. We were very fortunate during our first couple of hours in the park too as we kept stumbling upon parades & shows with the various characters which was great. We felt like we really got to see everything but we never really waited for more than a few minutes which was a definite plus. These parades & shows were nice for Sarah too since they allowed her to see more of the characters since she'd already been on every ride for her age.

We definitely saw more characters on our second day, but the trip was complete when we finally had the chance to meet Mickey & Minnie! Seriously, who goes all the way to Disney World without meeting the main guy? Sarah was so excited when she saw them and couldn't leave without giving each a big hug.

We'd only planned on two days at the Magic Kingdom, which was perfect for this trip, but I'm already looking forward to a return trip in the years to come. The time together as a family was wonderful and we were all a little sad to go "back to the real world" when it was over. It was a great trip though and much needed as we prepare for the craziness this summer promises to bring. :-)

Below are a few pictures from Day 2, but like yesterday, more pictures can be found in the slideshow on the right hand side. Enjoy!


FINALLY...Meeting Mickey & Minnie!


A hot and hungry little girl...thus the frown. :-(


Sarah with Daisy Duck.




Sarah with Buzz Lightyear.


A quick family pic. :-)

Disney World - Day 1

As many of you know, we recently took a family trip to Orlando to visit friends & of course spend a couple of days at Disney World. As the primary planner of the trip, I was very excited for our first day at Disney to arrive and can honestly say I was more excited than anyone else in our group as we arrived in the Magic Kingdom. :-) Sarah didn't disappoint though and really seemed to enjoy herself once she fully understood where we were and what was going on. She enjoyed the various rides and especially loved meeting the different characters. We thought the characters might scare her a little, but she walked right up to each of them and even wanted to give hugs to everyone before she left. :-)

Below are a few pictures from our first day at the park. Be sure to check out the new slideshow on the right hand side though for more pics. I'll do my best to get day 2 documented and up very soon. :-) Until then...enjoy!


It's official! Here we are with our park passes! :-)


Cinderella's Castle


Sarah riding the carousel.


With Daddy after her 1st of many rides on the Mad Hatter's Tea Party ride! She LOVED it!


Waiting for the light parade to begin. Cute ears! :-)