Yardwork and Starbucks

We hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. We stayed at home since I had to work Sunday and Monday. On Saturday, we did lots of yardwork, including spreading some new bark dust in the yard. Before we got started, my dad put Sydney in the wheelbarrow for a trip around the cul-de-sac. My dad used to do this with my sister and I when we were kids, I loved riding in the wheelbarrow! It was fun to see Sydney having her own little ride, although she was hanging on for dear life!


No, we don't have a polka-dot wheelbarrow, that was blanket I threw in for a cleaner ride!

We had some visitors this weekend. Chris' dad came up from Cloverdale to spend some time with us, and he really enjoyed playing with Sydney. My sister came home from school for the weekend, too, and this morning her and I went to coffee before she headed back to Eugene. Sydney had her own wee little coffee cup with some milk in it and she thought she was very grown up to be having coffee with the "big girls!" She is just too cute!

Magnets and Pie

Last weekend we took Sydney to the farmer's market. We love going there in the summer and looking at all the flowers, fresh fruit, and vendor stands. We usually get breakfast and spend the morning there, and it's something we look forward to every year. Sydney had a great time. She is so observant these days and loves to point out everything she sees. She goes crazy if she sees a dog (as long as it doesn't get too close) and she points at all the other babies in their strollers.


Here is Sydney eating a snack in her stroller at the farmer's market.

While we were there, some of the little shops were open and we found a cute little toy store. We bought some magnets for the fridge and Sydney loves them! Every morning when I'm making her breakfast she plays with them. What a find! We'll have to go back next week and get some more!




On Tuesday we went to Marie Callender's with Matt, Melissa, and Madison. Sydney decided that she would like to feed herself and she helped herself to some of Chris' pie! She has really been getting into feeding herself with a spoon, which is surprising to us because she doesn't really like to do things for herself! Some people call her mellow, we call her lazy, but she prefers to have things done for her! For some reason, though, she's into feeding herself with a spoon and we let her, even though it makes a mess!


That face is just too precious!

Sydney and Eli, sittin' in a tree...

Chris and I have recently made some new friends, Ben and Alisa. They recently moved here from Indiana and they go to our church. Their adorable son Eli has been featured in many past blogs since we all think Eli and Sydney are boyfriend and girlfriend. They are so cute together and they have the best time playing. Sydney doesn't normally like little boys, they are too rough around her and she's pretty quiet. Eli is very nice to Sydney and always shares his toys. He just loves on her, it's so cute when he rubs her arm!
Last week Alisa and I were walking with the kids at the park when Eli reached out of his stroller and took Sydney's hand! She actually let him hold it, too! It was the cutest thing ever! Then, he kept one hand on her stroller like he was protecting her! We were laughing so hard at the two of them! Who knows, maybe someday they'll end up married.


I had to include this picture, too. Until Eli, I had never seen a little boy eat before. Sydney likes to throw her food on the floor, but when she eats she is always so dainty and takes one little bite at a time. Last week when we went to mexican dinner with Ben and Alisa, Eli showed Sydney what food was all about!

What you can't see in this picture is he had refried beans up to his elbows and rice all down his overalls! The floor underneath them was a mess of rice, beans, and chips. It was so cute!

Update

I know it's been almost an ENTIRE WEEK since I've last posted a blog. I do apologize, things have been crazy around here. We have all still been sick, and poor Sydney had it the worst. She was throwing up last Thursday, on top of her three week old cold, plus she's getting new teeth. She's been a real trooper, but what a mess! She's had a snotty, stuffy nose and lots of drool from her new teeth, so she's been getting 2 baths a day for the last week. Last week was the worst of the sickness for all of us, but it was terrible! I almost made another cake I felt so sorry for us! We have all mostly recovered and spent the weekend helping our friends move. Normally moving is not what I would call fun, but it's our good friends Matt, Melissa, and Madison, so it WAS fun! Another positive thing is that on Sunday I worked my first DAY SHIFT! After 5 years, no more night shifts for me. I am finally in the land of the living! So, things are on the up. Sorry no new pictures, I'll post some soon.

Let Them Eat Cake

Sometimes you just need to have some cake. The last 2 weeks have kind of sucked around here. Please don't worry, nothing is terribly wrong. We have all been sick for the last 12 days (and we still are) and we have been REALLY busy. When you're sick you want to stay home, but we've been gone a lot. Lots of stuff going on. Plus, we've been having this freakish weather here and everytime we leave to go anywhere we've been battling rain, snow, and hail. Isn't it April? The weather was so bad that we had a power outage and when the power came back on it fried our refrigerator and we had to have some parts of it replaced. Of course the repair couldn't be simple, it had to take all week to get it done. So we lived out of the tiny little fridge I used in college for a week (thanks mom and dad). Things are looking up, though. May is tomorrow and surely we'll get a little sunshine. Our good friends are moving this weekend and we're so blessed to have them moving close to us. I have just worked my final night shift and am moving to day shift after 5 years of nights (HOORAY!!). We're all recovering from our colds. So, things are better, but when I was grocery shopping last weekend, I was walking down the baking aisle and couldn't resist getting the makings of a cake. After 2 weeks of the dumps, I think we deserved a cake. So, tonight I made it. I wasn't Martha Stewart or anything, it's out of a box, but it's a double layer with yummy frosting.

Then, Chris was gone tonight, and it smelled to good, I had to have a slice before he even got home! So, I took the picture to show him how nice it looked and thought I would share it with you!

Kitchen Play

Sydney loves to play in the kitchen with me while I'm cooking. She has the best time playing with my pots and pans, and she absolutely loves my tupperware and wooden spoons. She pretends to stir and then she holds up the wooden spoon to her mouth to "taste" what she is making! We decided to get her a little "temporary" kitchen set of her own. By that I mean I'm sure someday she'll have the fancy little kitchen set that all 3 or 4 year old girls have, but this one is much more toddler friendly. She just loves it! It makes noises when you open the fridge or oven doors, it has a little sink, and lots of lights and buttons to push. Definetely a good investment for our chef in the making.



I found her shirt on cafepress.com and just couldn't resist!

Graduation Day

This past weekend my cousin Brianna and her fiance, Sam, graduated from George Fox. We're all extremely proud of them both for this major accomplishment. To help celebrate the big day, we all went to the Olive Garden after graduation. It was a great opportunity to meet some of Sam's family. Sydney was such a trooper, we were there for almost 3 hours and she did great. She actually loves the Olive Garden, she totally digs those breadsticks!

Happy Birthday, Marilyn!

Today is the 27th birthday of one of my closest friends, Marilyn. Normally, when one of my friends has a birthday I would take them out to coffee or a birthday lunch, but I can't do that with Marilyn because she lives all the way in Oklahoma. But, I'm hoping she'll move back soon! I wish that everyone out there could know Marilyn. My life is truly blessed by her being in it. We met in the seventh grade and fast became inseperable. In a wierd it's-a-small-world thing, my mom and her aunt actually grew up together. Junior high and high school would have been unbearable without her. Of all my friends, Marilyn and I have the most inside jokes. Something you should know about Marilyn is that she is near perfect, and I have always told her so! She would laugh and tell you it's not true, but it is. She is pretty, smart, spiritual, and naturally kind and loving to everyone. Her life is pretty charmed, too, things just always seem to work out for her. It's like her life is out of a disney movie. I think birds probably dress her in the morning, too, just like a Disney princess! But, if things always work out for her, she truly deserves it. She works hard and is the nicest person I know. She's that girl we all want to be. Marilyn also has an infant, an 8 month old son named Wesley. The above picture is when Marilyn was home last Christmas and I got to meet Wesley. I am truly thankful to have her in my life and I can't wait to see her this summer. So, today Marilyn, as you turn 27, know that I have been thinking about you and I miss you and I wish you the happiest of birthdays.

Walking With Eli

Today is a beautiful, Oregon spring day! It's actually in the 70's! This morning Sydney and I went to the park with Alisa and Eli while Chris was golfing with his buddies from church. Sydney had her first encounter with the swings, which she was not too sure about! We had a great time!


I know she looks upset in the above picture, but she wasn't. This is her scrunchie face that she makes when the sun is in her eyes!

Sleeping and Eating

A large portion of a baby's life is taken up with sleeping and eating. Sydney isn't really a baby anymore, which is still hard to believe. She's a fast-growing toddler, and the sleeping and eating things just keep getting easier. For instance, Sydney takes just one nap a day now, which means we can do more things during the day instead of having to stay home for nap time. Going to a restaurant is SO much easier now, too, because we can just order off the children's menu instead of bring the makings of a bottle or a tub of babyfood.
This past week we have all been getting over a cold, so Sydney has been sleeping more than usual. I took this picture at 9:00 in the morning! She went to bed at 7:30 the night before and slept until I woke her up at 9:15! That is very late for her! Chris and I are extremely hopeful she will like to sleep in when she gets older, just like us.


I know I have been posting lots of crazy hair pictures lately, but you have to understand what a novelty that is for me. For so long, Sydney had almost no hair, so it's lots of fun now that it's thickening up and getting longer. This next picture takes the cake, it's the craziest I've ever seen her hair get. This was about 2 minutes after she got up one morning, and she was about to eat breakfast but I couldn't resist snapping one picture. You can tell she's still sort of sleepy in this picture!

Where the Wild Things Are

One of my favorite books when I was a child was Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. I loved the story of Max, who was wild and was sent to bed without supper and dreamed of going to live with the wild things, where he was the King of all wild things. He returns home/wakes up to find his supper waiting for him, and it was still hot. Sydney has this book and I love to read it to her. I clearly remember asking my mom why she couldn't just send me to bed without my supper instead of grounding me from TV (especially if that supper included peas). I remember her saying, "withholding food is not a punishment, it's abuse to not feed a child." As a parent, I certainly agree, but at the time I would have gladly traded my peas for my TV.


So, why this trip down memory lane? Well, today, my little Sydney certainly resembled one of the Wild Things. At least, her hair did. It's getting longer and thicker now, but some days it just defies all gravity and goes WILD! Sometimes to make it worse, we'll rub her hair on a pillow and then it really goes crazy. We were laughing so hard today at her hair!

A Trip to Eugene

This last weekend Chris had a 3-day weekend, so we decided to head down to Eugene. We hadn't been there since Christmas and we had missed it. We crammed a lot of activity into those 3 days! Friday we went and did some shopping at the Duck Shop, then we met my sister Abbie and her roommate April to walk around Autzen Stadium and nearby Alton Baker Park. It was such a beautiful day, perfect weather for a long walk. Then, we had dinner that night with Chris' step-dad and close family friends Phil and Patty. Unfortunately, all the pictures from that night are on Patty's camera! On Saturday we went to lunch at one of Chris' favorite restaurants, a little hole in the wall called The Jail. They have really good BBQ chicken, and it was Sydney's first time there. We were sitting where you could see back into the kitchen and she was waving at all the cooks! That night we went to my aunt and uncle's house, where we met up with my grandparents, who recently returned home after wintering in Arizona. We all went to Red Robin that night, again joined by Abbie and April. While we were there, Sydney got to meet a very distant cousin named Kendall, who is only 6 weeks younger. We wrapped up the weekend with a trip to our favorite restaurant ever, the Original Pancake House. It had burned last fall and we didn't get to eat there all season when we were down for the football games. It's back up and running, so we had to go! We had such a nice time this weekend and can't wait to go back again next month for a baby shower and a wedding shower, all in one weekend!

Sydney's Main Squeeze

Well, it was bound to happen. Sydney has her first boyfriend! He's a darling little boy named Elijah. She normally doesn't like boys, she always cries when they try to play with her, but she loves Eli! They play together and he rubs her arm and it's just so cute! Eli and his family came over last night for dinner and we got these cute pictures.

Vernonia, Banks, and Hillsboro

We are so excited that our best friends, the Marteney's, are moving into Hillsboro! Melissa and I have waited for 13 years to live by each other! When we first met, she lived in Vernonia. Most of you probably don't know where that is, and for good reason. It's 17 miles from the middle of nowhere. Every few years or so the whole town floods and they end up on the national news. It is so far away that it used to be long distance to call each other. This was in the days before every family and multiple cell phones with free long distance, so we were only allowed 30 minutes a week of phone calls to each other, which is TORTURE for teen girls! Finally, in our late teens, her family moved to Banks, which is the middle of nowhere that was referenced earlier. She and Matt bought a house there when they got married and it's at least a 20 minute drive to get there now. But, finally, they are moving to Hillsboro, less than 2 miles from our house! Sydney and I went over there yesterday to check out the new house. We took pictures of the girls in Madison's new room, and I couldn't help but take a picture of the phone jack in Madison's room, just because I know it will get lots of use between Sydney and Madison!

Phone Calls and Double Chins

A few random pictures from the last few weeks...
Our daughter is such a girly-girl, in many ways. At the ripe old age of 9 months she discovered the telephone, and it is her favorite toy to this day. This top picture is the look on her face when the phone rings. If we don't immediately get up to get it, she starts saying, "Uh-oh, Uh-oh, Uh-oh" over and over until someone gets it.

Then, when we're on the phone, she pretends she's on the phone, too, and that's what she's doing in this picture...


Another silly thing about Sydney is that she is SO thin, but she's starting to bulk up these days. She's a whopping 19 pounds (which is hardly anything compared to her friends who are 23-26 pounds). She is eating better now and the other day I noticed a bit of chub under her chin. It's not exactly a double chin, it's more of a one-and-a-quarter chin. It's so cute!