Seeing Marilyn

My good friend Marilyn and her family were in town this last week from Oklahoma. It is always so good to see her and catch up. It's crazy now that we each are married and have a child. I remember when we were in high school together and we would talk about our future families, and now we HAVE families! Her son Wesley is 10 months old and super cute. It's only the second time Sydney and Wesley have ever met and we snapped these pictures of all of us.

Dara and Wesley


Marilyn and Sydney


Dara and Sydney, Marilyn and Wesley


The whole gang! Chris, Dara, and Sydney with Clint, Marilyn, and Wesley

Trip to the Zoo

Today we went to the zoo! It was Sydney's first trip to the zoo, and we all had a great time. Chris, Sydney, and I went with Matt, Melissa, Madison, and Melissa's sister Haley. The weather was perfect and we even joined up and became zoo members! Melissa and I decided that an annual trip to the zoo would be a great half-birthday celebration for the girls. We looked at most of the animals and even rode the train. I took tons of pictures today, but I won't bore you all with all of them. I'll leave out the pictures of the animals and the millions I took of the backs of Sydney and Madison's heads as they looked at the exhibits. Here are a few highlights from day...

18 Months

Today our sweet Sydney Grace is 18 months old. I can not believe she is already a year and a half old! At 18 months, Sydney can say lots of words and can pretty much communicate to us what she wants, or doesn't want. She can point to about 10 body parts. She is very communicative and she LOVES to dance! She likes Veggie Tales and the Price is Right. She is using the "big girl potty" multiple times every day and enjoys the mini chocolate chips she gets for a reward. She loves to pretend to put on make-up and lotion when I'm getting ready in the morning! I don't have recent stats on height and weight, but she has an appointment at the doctor next week and we'll find out then. She is still very tall and thin. Here is a picture of our 18 month old girl today.


Here she is playing with her puzzles, which is a favorite pasttime. She loves books, puzzles, purses, and shoes.


I have never been into the whole idea of a half birthday, but when I was pregnant, I decided it wasn't fair to Sydney that her parents thought March would be a great month to make a baby and it wasn't her fault her birthday is so close to Christmas. So, I decided to celebrate a half birthday for Sydney. I got the idea in Parents magazine. I made half a cake with one and a half candles, and half wrapped a birthday present (a puzzle), and we had a half birthday party for her tonight! I made the other half of the cake for Madison, who will be celebrating her half birthday tomorrow. I think we'll do this every year, just something small. I love birthdays, who wouldn't want 2 a year?



Here is Sydney with Abbie, who came home from college today. We were singing her Happy Birthday!


She was so happy to dig into that chocolate cake.


I thought this might be as bad as the mess would get....



...but I was wrong! She made such a mess! She had so much fun.

Chris and I are so thankful that we have our Sydney. We can't believe she's not a baby anymore!

No Martha Stewart Here

I am definetely not a Martha Stewart, but I try. My house is not spotless, but I do try to keep it generally picked up and tidy. Sometimes I don't like the fact that there are tons of toys in my main living area, but I realize it is a season of my life and someday, when Sydney is all grown up, I will miss the hub-bub and the pink toys everywhere. Every night we put away all the toys that Sydney has played with during the day and it isn't usually that bad. Then again...

Yesterday Madison was here to play with Sydney and in three hours those two girls made such a mess! They had such a great time that I didn't even mind picking up all those toys.

Starlight Parade

This past weekend we went to the Starlight Parade, the official kick off of the Rose Festival. It's a family tradition I grew up with and I have never missed a parade yet. Sydney had such a great time!



I don't know what she was scared of here, but she was sure cute!



Sydney and Grandpa.



With Sydney all bundled up like this, doesn't it look like my mom is holding ET on her lap? We were all laughing so hard!


Sydney took a little cat nap for the first 20 minutes of the parade, then she woke up to enjoy the show! She probably had no idea what was going on and thought we were crazy, but she had a great time!

A Busy Week

Last week was a very busy week for us, just lots of little things going on every day. Here are a few pics...
Last week I gave Sydney pony tails for the first time. Her hair isn't really long enough yet, but I sort of made it work. She was so cute! This first one she is crawling and this is how she typically crawls, or prances is more like it, with her little nose in the air!



On Friday Melissa and I loaded up the girls and took them shopping. Here they are enjoying their string cheese at Anne Taylor.

Big Girl

Yesterday was a big day in our house! Yesterday, June 1, 2008, Sydney PEED IN THE "BIG GIRL POTTY!!" I know she's a bit young, but she has been expressing lots of interest in it so we put her on the toilet right before her bath and she peed! I never thought I would ever be so excited about pee before. She wasn't sure about it at first, but Chris and I started clapping our hands and she realized it was a good thing and she was so proud of herself! All day she would point at the toilet whenever we walked by it and start clapping her hands! I did take a picture of her on her little pink potty chair, but I'm not going to post it since she's buck naked in the picture. We are so proud of our big girl!