Happ Birthday Abbie!

Last week my sister, Abbie, turned 19 years old. We all went out to our favorite restaurant to help her celebrate her big day. Sydney always loves a chance to see her auntie. The two of them are very cute together!

Summer BBQ

Last week we went to a local neighborhood for a family fun BBQ. It sounds like something Clark Griswold would be all over, but it was actually a lot of fun and a great opportunity to support my mom, since she planned it. It was also a fabulous opportunity to show off Sydney in her Hawaiian tube top and sarong outfit!


I got this one of her and Chris walking away, it's so cute!


In addition to the BBQ, there was lots of entertainment. I took Sydney down a ride on the bounce house slide...


...which she did not enjoy at all...


...and had to be comforted by Grandma!


She was soon much happier and was willing to pose for a few shots.


My newly married cousin Brianna and her husband Sam were there as well. Sam manned the karaoke booth and I tried to get him to sing "Man, I Feel Like A Woman" but he wouldn't do it. Sydney loves cousin "Nana" as we call her and adores Sam as well.


It was lots of fun and we can't wait to go next year!

Ode to Starbucks

Let me just start off by saying that I love Starbucks, if you couldn't tell from the title of this post. I LOVE it (notice the capitals there). I go often. Chris prefers the local mom and pop coffee joint and always says Starbucks is a monopoly on the market. Well, I don't care! I support the monopoly! I have at times thought about the money that some might say is poured down the drain by frequenting a place that charges almost $4.00 for a cup of coffee. I say that sanity is worth it. I am a terrible sleeper, thanks in part to two people in my life. First of all, my wonderful, loving, handsome husband who I love very much, but who snores SO FREAKING LOUD that it sometimes takes me hours to fall asleep. Then, when I do fall asleep, I hear sweet little Sydney coughing or fussing through the baby monitor and get up to check on her. The Chris' alarm goes off at 4:45, and that's it. My sleep is over. So, coffee is a staple for me, a necessity, but I also love the atmosphere of Starbucks. I love how they paint it and decorate it, I love saying to someone "I'll meet you at Starbucks." I even get that warm fuzzy feeling when I go through the drive-thru. I was thinking about this yesterday on my drive back from the coast. It was raining, and I had just loaded the car with all the stuff that me and my toddler need (a suitcase for me, then a suitcase for Sydney, a booster seat, a portable crib, extra mattress, bag of food, diaper bag, extra clothes bag, etc...). I was soaking wet, Sydney was already tired of being the car after 10 minutes, and I was exhausted. I even cried out in agitation "Isn't there a blasted Starbucks around here?!" (Blasted is about as bad of language as I use, but if you want to hear some real whoppers I'll introduce you to my swearing-it-up friend Jami). Then, as I rounded the final bend in Highway 101 in Lincoln City, there it was, like a haven, a drive-thru Starbucks! Let me tell you, I milked that grande non-fat with whip peppermint mocha all the way home. I was thinking about all of this today when I was reading my friend Jill's blog. Jill has recently moved back to her hometown. I'm happy for her to be near her family, but she will be missed here. I'm sad, too, because I was just getting to know her and now she is 2+ hours away. I am more sad for her, though, because she is 10 miles from the nearest Starbucks! One of her friends coined the phrase "Civilstarbucksization" and I think that is the perfect phrase to describe me and my generation. I almost had a panic attack 2 weeks ago when the news said they were closing down 600 Starbucks across the country. But not mine! I am happy to report there are 5 drive-thru Starbucks within 5 miles of my house, plus other regular ones. I miss you Jill, and you should come to visit and we'll get some coffee. In the meantime, I will pray that Starbucks opens a location close to your new home.

A Visit to the Coast

This past week while Chris was out of town Sydney and I went to coast to visit my grandparents. It was such a nice, relaxing trip except for the fact that Sydney decided to wake up between 4:00 and 6:00 each day. I guess she was excited and wanted to pack in every minute of our vacation. It was so nice to be able to visit with my grandparents. We went on walks, we went to the aquarium, and did some good old fashioned chewing of the fat (that means talking, or chatting, for all you non-country folk out there). Sydney had a blast and enjoyed showing off her newly acquired counting skills for my grandparents. Yes, that's right, sign her up for Mensa, my 19 month old daughter can count to five, and sometimes seven except that she always leaves out six, but who needs six anyway? She is also starting to try her ABC's. I know, you're impressed, so am I. The last two weeks she has started saying so many new words, it's getting to the point where we can almost have a conversation. As long as that conversation doesn't include the number six. Anyway, this top picture is of Sydney "helping" my grandma with the dishes. She loved to play in the suds!


We were getting ready to go to the aquarium, and it was almost 70 degrees, which is freezing to my grandma. So of course she was bundling up in her sweater and scarf, and she also added a wool blazer before we walked out the door. Sydney was impressed with the scarf and she wanted to get in on it.


We went down to the beach for a few minutes. It was a bit windy so we didn't stay long, but long enough to capture a few pictures.



This last one is a shout out to my friend Marilyn, who is a native Oregonian but for some strange reason decided that she should live in Oklahoma. Oklahoma doesn't have beaches, you know. Oregon does. Yet another reason she should move back here.


Last but not least, here is a slide show of the trip to the aquarium. It's super fun and if any of you bloggers are ever on the Oregon coast, it's worth the trip to go.

Emily's Baby Shower

My friend Emily is about to have her third child, a daughter named Stella Rose. Last night we threw her a pink and brown themed Asian baby shower. We had such a yummy dinner with potstickers, orange chicken, and fortune cookies. She got so many nice gifts. Thanks to all who came and enjoyed the shower.

A Very Busy Day!

Today we had such a busy day! It was one of those perfect summer days and we packed it full of activity. Sydney and I started off by going to the zoo this morning with Melissa, Madison, and some other friends from my mom's group. The girls had so much fun, as usual. They both love the zoo and all the animals. Both girls can identify quite a few animals and make the appropriate animal sound, which is too cute for words. They both went crazy when we saw the sheep, they were both "baa-ing" quite noisily! Here is a slide show of the morning, it's not very long.

After the zoo and a quick afternoon nap, Chris and I took Sydney to paint some pottery. This is something I enjoy doing a lot, and Chris and Sydney had never done it before. Here is the "before" of what we painted, we can't show the "after" because it's a gift for someone. Let's just say Sydney got down and dirty with the paint!


After painting pottery, we went to a really cool Greek deli nearby and had Gyros. They were so yummy, and even Sydney had her own little piece of pita bread. This restaurant is great. It's called The Mad Greek and it's like stepping into that movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Sydney absolutely loved the music and she was dancing almost the entire time we were eating. When we got outside after dinner, Chris started dancing with her and I got some cute shots!



When we got home, we took Sydney outside to play on her little play structure my parents got her. She had such a good time playing on the little slide, the swing, and at her little picnic table.

Happy Birthday, Chris!

Yesterday Chris had a birthday, and since we both worked yesterday, we had a small gathering after I got home from work. My parents and Matt, Melissa, and Madison came to help us celebrate. How sad is it that it was Chris' birthday, but we didn't even get any pictures of him, or any of the adults for that matter. While we did manage to take a picture of the cake, most of the pictures were of the girls!

It wouldn't be a birthday without an ice creak cake. Chris loves those!


Madison came over in the same jammies we had Sydney in! Yet another unplanned matching time for the girls! They were super cute in their polka dots! It's getting more difficult to get them to sit still long enough for a picture together.

Potty Time, Excellent!

I have to start off by saying that I was not nearly clever enough to come up with this title on my own, and I fully admit to stealing it from my friend Christa's blog. If you don't know what movie I am referencing, then shame on you and you missed a fine piece of cinematic history!
Anyhow...Sydney is potty training! I know she is still a bit young, but she is completely ready. She has been wearing big girl panties and she is so proud of herself! She is so cute, but it's a little hard to see my baby up there on the big girl potty, I can't believe she's that old!

And in case you're wondering about my method, it took some reading of a very long, boring book, some good advice from my best friend's mom who leads my mom group every week, along with some good ol' fashioned bribery! Sydney loves her chocolate chips and calls them "cho-chips."

I completely blame the chocolate chips on my aunt Juanita, who gave me chocolate at the ripe old age of 4 months and I was hooked, so of course I passed it on to Sydney.
Since she's been wearing her big girl panties and going potty so often, she's been wearing a lot of really cute dresses, which make it easier for her to go to the bathroom. My sister Abbie saw her in this top one and thought it was a shirt!


And here is Sydney eating her raisins at my weekly mom group sporting another stylish dress.


So all of you faithful readers who can't get enough of the ins and outs of our lives know that once a week Madison comes over to play for a few hours. Last week Sydney and Madison were wearing the same pants on their play date. They often wear the same clothes, and it's not because they are part of an exclusive club, like the Ya-Ya Sisterhood for Toddlers, it's just because Melissa and I have such similar taste that we often buy them the same things and never realize it until the girls are matching. We used to show up at work or church when we were in high school and be in the exact same outfit, which I SWEAR we never planned (we, however, do belong to an exclusive Ya-Ya group for mommies). The girls once again had a blast destroying my family room with all the toys.




Last but not least, I had to include this DARLING picture of Sydney's boyfriend, Eli. Or, as she calls him, "I-Yi." Isn't he so cute?

The 4th of July

Yesterday we had a fantastic 4th of July! We started off the day going to the parade and the annual pancake breakfast. Sydney loved all the horses and old cars in the parade, but she did not like the loud fire engines! After a quick nap that afternoon we went to my parent's house for a BBQ with some family friends. We had such a great time, we got to relax and enjoy good food and good friends all afternoon. Sydney was the entertainment for the day! She actually had THREE, yes THREE outfits for the day. She had a cute red and blue tank-top ensemble for the morning, then a stars and stripes dress for the BBQ, then a 4th t-shirt for the fireworks. She did ok for the first part of the fireworks show. She enjoyed all the bright lights, but the noisy ones scared her so we went home. She was such a trooper all day, she was up 2 hours early and stayed up almost 4 hours past her bedtime! Here is a slide show of all our activities yesterday. By the way, all of our friends who have boys always tease us for how many pink things we have. If you'll notice in the fireworks pictures, Sydney is wearing pink earplugs! Oh yes, I found pink earplugs!

If you run your mouse over each picture, the slide show will pause and show you the caption.

Sydney a la Bohemia

Here are a few pictures of Sydney from last week. This top one was taken at the local farmer's market. We like to go there whenever we can, and they have one on a weeknight, which is perfect for us. We usually have dinner down there and sit in the little park and listen to the music. Sydney loves to dance and in this picture, she is swinging her arms around dancing!


These next two are of Sydney is a darling little bohemian dress I got her (hence the name of this post, and I don't even know if "bohemia" is a real word or not). She was so cute in it!


I'm not sure what she was doing here, but she wasn't upset or anything!