Disneyland

So sorry it's taken me so long to complete this post. Here, finally, are the pictures from Disneyland and our trip to the Rose Bowl.

First up, here's our little duckling at the Rose Bowl. Needless to say, we will never go back to that stadium again. Talk about ghetto. TINY seats, and the stairs have these huge steps and no hand rails, so you're like having a heart attack by the third stair. No leg room, hard cement seats, hardly any food vendors, and the bathrooms are pitiful. We're definetely spoiled by how nice Autzen is. And there was no parking, we literally parked on a green at a golf course! I'm really glad we went, though, one last vacation with my parents before their divorce.


Here we are at Disneyland. Sydney had SO MUCH FUN!! We all really enjoyed ourselves, but I was just in the beginning of my pregnancy and so tired after all the walking. Sydney had a blast, though. Here she is with a churro, which in my opinion is a necessity at Disneyland.


She didn't like very many of the rides, and she wasn't tall enough to go on a lot of them, but we did manage to fill 2 days with stuff that she could do.


We enjoyed the seasonal peppermint ice cream while watching the parade.


The longest we spent in a line was two hours, and that wasn't even for a ride, that was to meet the princesses! It was worth it, though, because you get to go in and meet 2-3 princesses and spend a few minutes with each one. They were doing shift change at our turn, however, so Sydney got to meet Ariel, Mulan, Snow White, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty! She was on cloud nine, for sure.


The Ariel was her favorite. Ariel told Sydney she needed to practice on her human legs, so would Sydney help her to dance? Sydney loved dancing with her, they twirled and spun around and had so much fun!

While waiting in the super long princess line, Sydney got her face painted!


In a car at Toon Town with Daddy.


Everything was all decorated for Christmas while we were there. It was so beautiful! We can't wait to go again.

Not Me Monday (on Tuesday)

Back by popular demand, and once again a day late:

-I am not one of those women who is miserable during pregnancy. I thrive on being pregnant and only think about the miracle inside me. I am never tired, never sore, and certainly never cranky!

-Since I am NOT miserable, I am prefectly able to keep up with the laundry and every day my husband comes home to a nice hot meal, not a wife passed out on the couch, too tired to move.

-My daughter did not sing and dance and shake her little booty in front of our new pastor. When asked if she was singing a song about Jesus, she absolutely did NOT tell our BRAND NEW PASTOR that she was dancing to Beyonce, then proceed to shake her booty some more, in front of his wife, our youth pastor, and his wife.

-Sydney and I are not going to do our Christmas gingerbread house this week. After all, it's February, and any mother worth her salt would have done that in December, not found it in her car 2 months later.

-And I certainly didn't miss the gingerbread house kit in the car because my car is messy. Oh no. It is perfectly clean, vacuumed, and dusted. The said gingerbread house kit was not found with a pair of Cinderella panties, an old coffee cup, and a bill that was due last month.

-The room for the baby is completely ready. It is not so full of junk and holiday crap that you can't even open the door without pushing really hard. Nope, the crib is put together, the dresser has fresh contact paper, and the room is stocked with cloth diapers that I have sewn up in preparation. I wouldn't even THINK about using dispoasble diapers.

Girl Bedding

I have finally picked a bedding set for if we have a girl. I had wanted to do a brown and pink theme, but everything was so dark, and I really wanted a light, happy room like Sydney's. So, I chose something different. Here it is, the Penelope set from Pottery Barn kids. Surprisingly affordable, too.

Baby Pictures

Today I had my first trimester screening. The ultrasound part looked good, and I'll get the results from the blood work later this week. Here are some ultrasound pictures. The baby is already so big! A few weeks ago it was just a bean, now you can clearly see the head, profile, spine, arms, legs, hands, and feet. The second one looks like the baby is waving, look at that little hand!

Pregnancy Update

I am almost 13 weeks along now, hard to believe. This pregnancy has definetely gone by a lot faster than my pregnancy with Sydney. Thank you for all the well wishes and congratulations, and thank you to all who have voted in our name poll. We are leaning towards Emmett and Savannah, although Sydney likes Carter and Genevieve. Who knows what we'll decide! Sydney is doing better than I thought she would so far with the pregnancy. She has been very patient with her very tired mama. She says hi to the baby each morning and enjoys looking at baby things with me. As for me...well, I've been better. I've had some days of not eating anything and some days of eating tons of food all day long. I am battling daily headaches and constant fatigue. No, exhaustion is the word to best describe the way I have been lately. I joke that I peak at 11:00 am, and it's all downhill from there! Chris has been great about helping out and making me go to bed early. I am so close to the end of the first trimester, I am very hopeful that I will be feeling better soon. Even to just not feel tired all the time would be a blessing. This week we have our first trimester screening, to check for any chromosomal abnormalities. We would never consider termination if something came up, but we would want to be prepared for whoever God chooses to bless us with. Just a few more weeks and we can find out the gender! Chris, Sydney, and I all think I'm having a boy, but everyone else thinks it's a girl. Either way we will be thrilled! I have been looking at baby bedding. Not sure yet for a girl, there are so many cute girl bedding sets! However, I did choose the boy set in a darling little sports set. Here it is:

I'll keep you all posted as new things develop, and when I get bigger I'll post some belly pictures. Hope you are all well!

Christmas and Vacation Part 1

I know I am way overdue, but here are some pictures (finally) from Christmas morning at our house. Chris and I got Sydney a big dollhouse that she had been wanting, and we put it out Christmas Eve after she went to bed. When she got up and saw it Christmas morning, she was just in awe, her mouth just hung open! She had so much fun diving into all her presents!



Christmas evening we started our journey to California. We saw Chris' Eugene family and some of my family on the way down and got to tell them all about the baby! The next morning, we drove to Santa Rosa to Chris' dad's house for one night. It was 11 hours in the car, but Sydney did AWESOME! Here is what she did the majority of the way down...

...she wore her stunna shades, watched Taylor Swift videos on the IPOD, and read her Taylor Swift magazine. Is she 3 or 13?

The morning we were leaving Chris' dad's house, he set up his laptop so Sydney could watch some more videos, and she just camped out in the hallway and watched videos to her heart's content!


Disneyland and Rose Bowl pictures to follow.

Name Poll

I know it's VERY early to be considering names for the baby, but there are TONS of preggo's at church right now, so we want to pick and stake a claim on a name pronto. To the left is a poll, please vote and leave a comment so we know who voted for what!

An Unexpected Blessing

Well, this will be me again the first week of August!

Oh, I look back on how big I was and I just cringe because this time, I know what's coming! Yes it's true, we are expecting a baby! We are very excited and surprised. Most people thought we were trying, but after the miscarriage we agreed to wait until the new year to discuss if we would even try again. God had different plans, however, and now we have a new little blessing on the way! A little blessing who is making me feel not so great some days, but still welcome and loved. I had an ultrasound last week and confirmed that there is one, just one baby in there, so Melissa and I shouldn't be doing the whole twin thing together! We will definetely find out the gender and have been busy coming up with ideas for names. Look for a poll soon to vote on name ideas!

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!!