Margaret turns Four

Wow... our little Margaret is four.  Such a big girl age all of a sudden!  Margaret continues to be sweet (with a splash of sass!) and is often quietly enjoying her own little world.  Margaret's biggest love at the moment has to be coloring -- she is constantly asking me to print her out a coloring page (though we have multiple coloring books around the house!), and could color all day long.  She's getting quite skilled in that area, though will quickly lose her cool over the slightest mistake -- something we're working on!  She also loves sticker books, playing in the sand, and puzzles.  I've realized lately that I really need to stock up on some more challenging puzzles around the house, as Margaret has mastered all of the floor puzzles we own.  She has a light, twirliness in her step.  She refuses to wear shorts -- only dresses or skirts, thank you.  She still prefers to be snuggled to sleep at night and will often ask, "Mommy, could you please tell me a short story from when you were a little girl?" before drifting off to sleep.  I love her hugs and when she declares, "Mommy, I really really really really love you!"  How I try to soak up these precious little girl moments. :)  Her lifelong love of letters has now transformed into a love of reading, as she has surprised us all by sounding out words at age 3.  Three mornings a week of preschool was a big change for her this past year and she kept to herself for awhile, but loved it.  It didn't take her long to write her own name at school, despite its length.  It'll be fun to see what this year has in store as she joins her big sisters at Blessed Sacrament.  We're so proud of you, little Margaret Rose!  Happy Birthday!

Caroline is TWO!

Happy 2nd birthday to our Caroline Jo!  What a great kiddo this girl is.  What I'd like to remember from this fun (but busy!) time in her life:

- For many months now, Caroline has struck me as a little grown-up.  She just seems to get things that I don't remember her sisters grasping at this age.  She'll wet her diaper, for example, and proceed to take it off, climb up on the changing table, grab a diaper and a wipe, and lie there until I arrive to change her.  She'll clean up her sisters' messes without prompting.  She can do an entire load of laundry, short of measuring out the detergent, including switching it to the dryer and turning that on as well.  She continues to go down for bedtime fairly easily, and once I sing the last song of the night she'll simply say, "bye!"  She has already started asking to potty train and I predict she'll be the quickest to learn of the four.  She is very aware of what toys in the household are hers, and is understandably possessive of them -- don't even think of touching her pink tricycle, for example.  Anything new she receives (which is a rarity for girl #4) will be happily greeted with "a NEW one!".  "Yay!" is one of her favorite phrases -- she has such a happy, enthusiastic personality.  She's fairly busy and social and isn't as prone to playing by herself or sitting and listening to books as some of her older sisters, but she's slowly improving in those areas.  Her favorite books currently are anything in the "Good Dog Carl" series.  She loves pointing out the moon and the mailman, and has an affinity for dogs.  Her terrible twos are starting to come out and she can certainly get hot-headed at times, but with a little discussion about her behavior she will readily say "sorry," "are you okay?" or "o-tay, Mommy."  How I love that "o-tay."  Of course she loves her big sisters and does her best to try to keep up with all they're doing.  They certainly love her back!  One of their favorite games to play (which Caroline does best) is "I don't like you, Mommy...  I LOVE you!"  So cute.  The fun continues and I'm trying to soak up every moment!  What a joy you are, little Caroline Jo.  Happy Birthday to you!

Still Here...

I'm still here!  I haven't given up on the blog yet, and now that summer's here (aka Birthday Season in the Sustar house) I will hopefully get some annual kiddo updates posted soon.  Until then, I wanted to post a little iMovie project I recently completed for Joe for Father's Day.  It turned out fairly well, I think!  And yes, I was in tears pretty much the entire time I was making it. ;)

To view, click here: Father's Day 2016

20 Months

I promise I have more blog posts in the wings to catch things up...  Just need time to get photos organized.  For now, I just had to share this cuteness.  There's definitely a reason God makes toddlers so adorable -- this girl is a handful! ;)

January: Caroline at 18 months

Oh my goodness, this girl.  Where to begin?  She certainly gives me a run for my money every single day, pushing chairs all over the place to climb up on counters and get into cabinets, playing in the sink and dumping water all over the bathroom floor (saves me a mopping job!), climbing into a bath with all of her clothes on, spilling dishwasher fluid all over the floor and herself, and climbing onto the table to finish her sisters' half-eaten meals, to name but a few of her antics.  She is finally getting patient enough to sit and enjoy books on Mommy's lap.  She uses "no" for "yes" as well as for "no," which can get a bit confusing at times.  She still loves her "froggy" (aka pacifier, which is actually an elephant).  She loves her daddy and runs around shouting "Daddy! Daddy!" when he arrives home.  She is such an enthusiastic kiddo about just about everything, actually -- driving to Winnie's house she'll shout "Winnie's house!" over and over, followed by "Millie!" and "ball!" (her favorite game to play with her favorite pooch).  She continues to be extremely polite and is the first to thank me for pretty much anything I do for her, which never ceases to amaze me.  In many ways I feel like she "gets" grown-up stuff more than a toddler normally would -- she's very easy to reason with (she'll be crying about, say, not wanting to wear her coat and I'll say, "it's cold outside -- we wear a coat to keep warm," and she'll say "okay" and put on the coat.  What kid does that??), she really loves to help and truly DOES help do things like switch laundry, put away dishes, clean up spills, etc.  She is very in-tune with our little family life and what is going on with her sisters, and will often report little stories about them using her limited vocabulary and acting out gestures, which is just adorable.  Naptimes and bedtimes continue to be easy-peasy with this one.  She remains loud, social, and just a fun girl to be around.  As Libby often says, "I'm so glad we have a baby like Caroline in our family!"  Happy 18 months, Caroline Jo!  You are so loved, little one!

Just helping myself to some water here, Mom...

... and my sisters' leftovers...

... oh, and some more water.