The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Last month we celebrated Sydney's third birthday with a Very Hungry Caterpillar themed bash. We decided to have her party early this year because it has snowed or been icey every year on her birthday. Of course, I was in my element planning another party! TVHC is one of her favorite books, and it turned out to be a great theme!

I found that fabric under the centerpiece on EBAY. Thanks, mom, for sewing it up!


The kids got to decorate their own cupcakes...


...on their very own placemats!

I had found a picture of this cake last year, and it was so cute I immediately picked that for the theme. Last year I'll probably be able to pick the theme!


All of the food was themed after the food in the book. I love the balloon caterpillar behind the table. My cousin Brianna did that and it was so cute!



The goodie bags were themed from the book, too, with "ice cream" shooters, fruit stickers, lollypops, and caterpillar bubbles.


There was face painting, too, but Sydney didn't like the idea, so she got her hand painted instead. She had a cupcake, to match the one on her shirt, painted on her hand and it was darling! Cupcakes are from the book, too!


The kids had such a good time, and made such a mess, decorating their own cupcakes!



Sydney's favorite present was the kitchen set! She plays with it every day and was so excited to get it!


The twins had lots of fun at the party too!


I can't believe Sydney and Madison are both 3 already! It seems like they were just born, and now they are so grown up.


Just for comparison, here they were at Sydney's first birthday party.


And a few more from Sydney's first birthday party. Look how little she was then!

Not Me

There is this lady named Patti, she is a friend of a friend. I have only met her once, but she is friends with Melissa. She posts something every Monday on her blog called Not Me Monday, and I thought I'd give it a try, even though it's Tuesday. Here goes...

That was not my daughter dancing around the house this morning in her underwear to Beyonce's "All The Single Ladies." She does not know every word to that song, or the dance moves to the music video, because I would never let my daughter watch that.

I did not just spend the last hour watching Eastwick. I am always super productive and happily spend my days cleaning, cooking, and doing loads of laundry that always get folded right away. There is no way my laundry stays in the dryer for a couple of days, wrinkling and waiting to be folded.

I never spend any time in idleness, except to read, and then it's only books on how to be a better Christian wife and mother.

I did not pick up KFC for dinner last night. I always cook hot, homecooked meals for my family with a balanced diet that fulfills the government's recemmonded vegetable requirements. The original recipe chicken was not calling to me as I drove by, because I don't fall for stuff like that.

I did not just throw my hair in a ponytail today. I always am dressed in freshly pressed clothes, make-up on, and hair just right by 8:00am, and I certainly am never in sweat pants when my husband gets home from work.

I just love keeping my car in pristine condition. There is no way that in my car, you can't even sit in the backseat because of all the toys, water bottles, sippy cups, and trash littered around. Not my car.

This was fun...stay tuned for more. Thanks for the idea, Patti!

Third Birthday

On this day three years ago, at 11:11 pm on December 12, 2006, Chris and I welcomed sweet Sydney Grace into the world. She has been the most amazing blessing to us and we are truly thankful to God that He gave her to us. We had her party a few weeks ago (pictures to come soon), but today on her actual birthday we had some presents and of course, cake and ice cream. I decided to make Sydney a Cinderella barbie cake.


Funny thing, in order to make the cake I had to take off Cinderella's legs. They snap right back on, but this picture made me laugh!


Blowing out the candle :)


For Sydney's birthday presents from Chris and I, we got her lots of dress-up clothes. She got some Princesses, a fire-man outfit, and a construction hat. I am still looking for a chef's outfit and maybe a barista set.





We are taking Sydney to Disneyland in a few weeks and she is so excited to go and meet Cinderella, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty. She is even more excited, though, to go to the "Duck game" aka the Rose Bowl. She has been singing that "I Smell Roses...I Love My Ducks" song a lot these days and today Abbie put this shirt on her!


Finally, she got to do her favorite thing on her birthday, watch some Taylor Swift videos on YouTube. She really gets into it!


On a sentimental note, I can't believe my baby is 3 years old! She is such a great kid and it just seems like yesterday she was born, and now she's so grown up! Here are a few shots of her when she was born.



Also, here is the "I Love My Ducks" video. Enjoy :)

Christmas Parties

Today we got to go to two Christmas parties! Sydney was so excited for today to come because she knew there would lots of parties, which means lots of treats for her! Tonight we went to my mom's work party. There were a ton of people, and there was a children's choir and a high school jazz band there, plus a station for making ornaments and of course, Santa. We haven't had good success with Santa the last 2 years, but this year Sydney had it figured out...she knew she would get a candy cane if she sat on his lap! And she did it! And it took her, literally, less than 2 minutes to eat the entire candy cane!


This morning was our annual mom's group Christmas party. This year there are a lot of babies, plus all the toddlers! Sydney had lots of fun and got all the mom's to get her another treat any time I had my back turned, the little turkey :)


Here were 5 out of the 7 babies that were there today. So cute!

(Jacob, Twin, Lucas, Saralyn, and Twin...I know, "Twin" isn't very nice, but I can barely tell them apart face to face, there is no way I can tell their back's apart).
12-11 Addendum: I have since learned that the top left twin is Micah, Mason is on the bottom. Thanks Melissa!!

Pure Delight for the Masses

My friend Marilyn and I once decided that we each had to live within 5 minutes of a Target. I love that store, it has everything you could ever want and more. And it's usually pretty affordable. When I went to college the nearest Target was 30 minutes away and I had to shop at...GASP...Fred Meyer. Nothing against ol' Fred, but it's just not the same. I bring this up because the people over at Walmart have been trying to put one of their stores in my town for years, and each time this Target-domitated town kicks out their plan. We are a Target town, not a Walmart town, and don't you forget it (insert me sticking out my tongue at Walmart here). So, they moved their interests about 10 miles over to the thriving metropolis of Cornelius. Why do I bring this up, you might ask? Well just this week my friend Melissa's husband, Matt, told me about a FABULOUS sight that you all need to go to right now. It's www.peopleofwalmart.com. Click here to get there. These are pictures of actual people taken at actual Walmart's around the country. I can't wait for Cornelius to get their Walmart so I can hightail it over there with my camera and spend an afternoon snapping pictures of some of these gems. I do have to warn you, there are a lot of butt cracks on this website, might not want the kids around when you look at it.
Here are some examples:

Isn't that classy?


Hey, I used to have saddle shoes when I was a kid!


It's too bad I've already got me a man, because this handsome specimen comes complete with an ankle tracking device! I bet his parole officer could chaperone our dates! Awesome!

And the best for last...

...oh yes, that's a MAN! I love those boots, by the way.
Enjoy this site. You can thank me later for the hours of laughter it will bring you!

Elle Woods is in the House

This year's halloween celebration was a bit off-timed. On Saturday, we were actually in Eugene at the big Oregon vs. USC game, which was at 5:00 in the evening, prime trick or treating time. It was fine, though, because we don't really believe in celebrating halloween and all the evil that it can represent, we choose to instead celebrate Harvest, so it doesn't really matter what day we trick or treat, and Sydney didn't know any better! So, we went trick or treating on Sunday to some family and friends in Eugene, and tonight we went to some friends near our house. Here is Sydney posing in her costume.

What is she? She is Elle Woods, from Legally Blonde! We wanted something different and non-traditional, and of course anything like a witch or a ghost was out, but my sister came up with Elle Woods and with Syd's blonde hair, it was perfect!
Here is a comparison from the original Elle Woods:




Here she is going up to our friend's house to trick or treat! You can't see it, but in her left hand she is holding a purse with a stuffed dog in it, just like the real Elle Woods.


She got ahold of my camera and was taking some self portraits, and this one just makes me laugh! You can tell she was having so much fun as Elle Woods!

Jen's Wedding

Our family friend, Jen, just got married on October 10. Sydney was in a state of pure bliss, she had so much fun! She has been really into weddings lately, and she loves to look through all of our wedding pictures. She got a little wedding doll set with cake, presents, flowers, a bride, and a groom. She had so much fun at the wedding, she was in awe of all the pretty ladies in their dresses and all the flowers and of course, the cake! She twirled around and around in her pretty dress all evening, too!





Since we've been talking so much about weddings lately, we have taught Sydney the curest thing: If you ask her when she's going to get married, she says "after college and I'll live by mommy and daddy." Priceless!

Roloff Farms

Many of you have probably watched the show Little People, Big World on TLC. It features the Roloff family, a family with little people parents who are raising their 4 children on their farm here in Oregon. They actually live about 10 minutes from us, so this year my mom and I took Sydney to their pumpkin patch. It was so much fun! There was face painting, a whole lunch area, a hay maze, and a fun pumpkin family house, which had pumpkins set in domestic looking scenes. Sydney had a blast!







Chris, Sydney, and I also went to our annual pumpkin patch trip with Eric and Shelley. We don't get to see them very often, so it has become a nice tradition to go to the patch with them. We always ride the train and the boat, and Sydney always hitches a ride in the wheelbarrow.



We found our pumpkins out in the field, but we had to put one back once we went to check out and Sydney found this one painted up like Cinderella's coach!