Outside

The weather has been unseasonably warm this past week, up to the low 60's, and nice and sunny. Yesterday Sydney and I took advantage of this nice weather and went outside for her afternoon snack. She was being so cheesy for the camera, it was so cute! She even shared some of her goldfish crackers with me-such a nice girl! There is nothing better than an afternoon outside with my sweet Sydney, goldfish crackers and all!

A Night at the Oscars

Last weekend we went to Matt and Melissa's to watch the Oscars. They actually had a huge Oscar party where everyone placed bets on who would win. The winner of the most right in all categories was...Dara! Actually, I tied for first with another team and won a whopping $13.00, plus a really cool martini shaker (since it was hosted at the Marteney's...get it). We enjoyed watching the presentations and seeing what all the actors/actresses were wearing. The fashion is always one of the best parts of the evening (Sydney was stunning in a crimson sweater by Old Navy paired with jeans from the Gap, while Madison was the height of all fashion in a khaki colored jumper from Osh Kosh). Sydney and Madison had a great time playing together and they emptied out a couple of Melissa's kitchen drawers a few times. This top picture just cracks me up, they look like they are partners in crime here, ready to get into trouble! We had a blast and can't wait to do it again next year.

Tom and Heather's Wedding

One of my best friends, Heather, just got married on February 2. It was a beautiful wedding, and Sydney and I were in it. It was Sydney's first time to be a flower girl! Unfortunately, she was not too happy that day, either from getting in new teeth or wearing the most adorable puffy dress. Both Sydney and Brody, the ring bearer who is 10 months old, cried all the way down the aisle! It was a great day, though, and a beautiful start to a happy and blessed marriage.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! We hope you all had a nice day. We stayed home since Sydney is getting molars and is still not very happy about it, but we had a great day anyway. Sydney helped me make my favorite sugar cookies for Chris, and she even got to lick the beaters, which she loved! Then, it was such a nice, clear day that we went for a walk when Chris got home from work. My mom brought over the best cookies ever, from Beaverton Bakery. She always gets one for everyone with their name on it, so even though Sydney had already had lots of sugar, she got to eat part of her cookie from Grandma. Chris brought me the most beautiful bouquet of red roses, and I got him three small boxes of chocolate in sports ball shaped boxes (one baseball, one basketball, and one football). It turned out to be a nice, quiet Valentine's Day. It sure is fun to celebrate even these little holidays with Sydney. She is such a blessing!

A few moments...

Here are a few moments from our busy week. Last week Sydney's friend Eli came over to play for a few hours. They had a great time, but I'm not sure Eli knew what to do with all those pink toys! It was fun to see them together and it sure was different to have a boy around!


Sydney had been getting molars, and on this particular day she had wild hair and was flushed from her fever from getting teeth in. It made such a funny picture, it doesn't even look like her!


We hosted the men's poker night last weekend, so Chris and Sydney posed for this picture while I was setting up. They sure do look alike!


I love these pink Converse on her! These last pictures really show how thin she is. We joke that she has no junk in the trunk!

Long Distance Shower

One of the ladies from my mom's group at church moved to Fresno a few months ago. She and her husband are expecting their third child next month. Since we can't be there with her and she can't be here with us, we decided to throw her a long distance shower. We all got together this morning at our usual group time and had a blast throwing the shower. We took lots of pictures and video taped the whole thing, including us opening the presents we got her, and we'll send all the presents and the video down to Fresno to our friend Christa. Christa, we miss you and love you and can't wait to to hear that your new son has arrived.

13.5 Months

Our little Sydney is growing up to be quite the little lady. She is almost 14 months old, she weighs 19.5 lbs, and has 8 teeth. Her molars will come in any day now. She pretty much is done with baby food. She eats mostly regular food with the exception of fruit. She still doesn't like regular fruit, but she'll take it out of the jar. She crawls so fast and pulls up to a standing position, although she still won't walk. She's still pretty lazy! She figures she can get there crawling, so why bother to walk?! She is a silly girl and makes us laugh all the time. She continues to be an amazing blessing in our life and every day we thank God for her.

The Complete Chia

After 2.5 weeks, my chia head is all grown out! It has been fun to watch it grow, so thanks Abbie for the fun and unique Christmas gift! Here is the final picture.

Superbowl Party

Chris and I love football, so of course every year we host a Superbowl party. This year's party was so much fun. Sydney was all ready to go in her football jersey and she played with her pink Nike football all day.


We had lots of football decorations around the house, but the only one I took a picture of was the flowers, which had mini Giants and Patriots flags in them.


We always have Matt, Melissa, and Madison over for the big game, but this year we also had our friends Scott and Tracey and their son Kian, who is six weeks younger than Sydney and Madison. The three kids had a blast playing together all afternoon. My dad also came and enjoyed spending some time with Sydney and all the kids.


Madison was REALLY into the commercials!


Sydney was playing, but Madison was still watching those commercials! My favorite was the Godfather one with the motor oil all over the bed.

Just a Cute Picture

Someday she'll be embarrassed by this picture of her in her little ponytail, but it's so cute, I just had to post it. Enjoy!

Watching daddy

One of Sydney's favorite things to do is sit at the front window and look outside. She loves to see cars drive by, birds flying overhead, and people walking their dogs. Garbage day is a big day in our house because she loves to watch the big trucks come into the cul-de-sac and empty the garbage cans. The garbage man always waves at her! A couple of weeks ago she had the best time watching Chris take down the Christmas lights. He was waving to her and making silly faces at her, and she would laugh so hard and wave right back! It was a fun sight to watch!

"Helping" mommy

Sydney is absolutely fascinated with the dishwasher. Everytime we load or unload dishes, she loves to sit and watch. Lately, she likes to "help." It sure is cute!

New Years Babies

Sorry, these pictures are a few weeks old, I forgot to post them earlier. These are from New Years Eve. We went over to Matt and Melissa's house for a fun evening of food and games. It's starting to become a tradition to go over there every year, but this was the first year with the babies. Sydney and Madison had a great time playing together. Then, we got them in their jammies and were just about to put them down when we realized that Matt and Chris had the same hat on, just in different colors. So, we put them on the girls and got this cute picture. We hope you all had a happy and safe new year.

Ch-Ch-Ch-CHIA!!

My sister, Abbie, and I are big into tradition, especially around the holidays. We get very upset if my parents don't set out EVERY SINGLE holiday decoration now because it's tradition. It doesn't matter that neither of us technically live there anymore. We need things to be the way they always have been. For example, we always spend a day doing holiday baking every year. Every year we make fudge with nuts in it. And every year we use this ancient, old, falling apart nut chopper. We could use the fancy Pampered Chef chopper that would take literally 30 seconds, but we spend a half hour using the old chopper because it's TRADITION. One of my favorite holiday traditions with my sister is watching the Christmas commercials. Once a year, every year, holiday commercials come on to advertise things that can only be bought at Christmas. Like the Clapper. You all know the song, "Clap on, Clap off, the CLAPPER!" And it has all those cheesy people clapping on their lights, including that really old lady who claps and rolls over in bed. That commercial has been on all our lives and every year we laugh at the creepy old lady clapping off her lights and rolling over in bed. Another great commercial is for the Chia. I have always wanted a Chia, just to be able to say I've had one when those commercials come on. This year my sister went and stood in line and bought me my very first Chia. She got me the Chia head, professor. Since she is away at school and can't watch it's progress, I promised her I would post pictures to show her how it's doing. Enjoy!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3-it kind of looks like it's covered in maggots!

Day 4

Ringo Sydney

Last week I was trying to get the kitchen cleaned up, so I gave Sydney some of my old pots and pans for her to play with. She loved playing the drums on those pots and pans! It was very noisy, to say the least. But, she had a great time!