Princess of the Nut Tree Farm

Our "baby" girl is 19 today! It seems like just a few months ago when we welcomed our dark-haired, brown-eyed (or hazel-eyed as she claims), beautiful Sara into the world. After being the parents to two very colicky girls, we were ready for a calmer baby, and we got her. Sara has spent the last 19 years amazing and amusing us. Here are a few of our favorite Sara anecdotes.


*When Lance noticed spider legs protruding from Sara's 18-month-old mouth, he ordered, "Spit!" She produced the spider in her dad's palm and proudly claimed, "I eat the itsy, itsy 'pider, Daddy!"


*Not content to go through life with no middle name, she created her own--or series of them: Nightingale Captain Rose Amelia Isabella Lance Myrna Teddy Roosevelt Franklin Roosevelt. Her 2nd grade teacher actually believed that we had given Sara all of those nicknames.


*One day when she was about 4 years old, Sara bolted out of the house and took off running down the street. She didn't stop when I called to her; in fact, she picked up speed. Still I called after her. She stopped at the stop sign at the end of the street and returned home. When I asked her why she hadn't obeyed me, she replied, "I was just having a race with myself to see which foot would finish first."


*A "stranger" rang our doorbell one evening. Rather than answering the door, I opened the living room window and asked the man what he wanted. He answered, "I'm employed by the County, and I'm here to license your pets." I assured him that we had no pets, and he started to walk away. Sara called out to him, "She says she doesn't have any pets, but she does!" We had 2 goldfish.


*When her younger brother Zachary was born, three-year-old Sara started acting up and bugging the baby and me at every turn. Grandma was here to help and she tried to distract and dissuade Sara to no avail. On one particularly trying afternoon, Grandma again tried to stop Sara's antics and announced, "I'm going to win this battle." Sara emphatically retorted, "No, you're not! I'M going to win this battle!" Despite a rocky start to their relationship, Sara and Zachary are the best of friends.


*Sara is multi-talented, very intelligent and uber-creative. She excels in learning languages (Spanish, Japanese), art, singing, sewing, test-taking, writing, cartooning--just to name a few of her talents. She's also quite perceptive.


Happy, happy birthday, my ladybug!!!