Thaksgiving

Remember on The Office when Jim and Pam got married and Pam kept taking mental pictures? I do that, but with blogging moments. I blog in my head. And they are so darn funny. And then I look at my blog so I can read all your comments. But I'm so disappointed, because you haven't written any. Because all those funny posts I wrote never actually got written. drat. Now they're gone. Starting over. So here was our Thanksgiving. On Monday for Family Home Evening, we talked about being Thankful. And made hand turkeys. And Sydney got to use scissors for the first time ever. Oh, happy day for her. Yikes for me.

See how thankful we are? Even Mady's up there.

The night before Thanksgiving I made Cranberry Cheesecake and let Sydney lick the spatula. Because she is an awesome sister she went to share with Mady. Too bad Mady didn't really open her mouth, so she just got cream cheese goo all over her face. She was less than thankful for that.
On Thanksgiving Sydney and I made rolls. I can't get enough of her in the leopard apron. It's my favorite right now.

She got her own little bowl of dough and her own pan. Dang she was proud. They were tasty too. Baby rolls. I think she ate 4 for dinner. Smothered in homemade jam of course.

Our great friends the Bergesons came over and Max and Mady chilled together while Sydney and Eli played with the baby dolls.At pie time Sydney got to experience Redi Whip for the first time. Oh yeah, she's a fan.

It also reminded me how quickly time has gone. Last year we had a 14 month old baby that couldn't walk. This year we have a 10 month old baby that can't walk. And a Toddler. What? How is Mady that old? How has Sydney been walking for less than a year? Ahh! I feel more behind now. Please excuse me while I go polish off Karen's flippin' amazing homemade key lime pie. Oh yum.

Childhood Revisited

Remember when the coolest thing at the zoo was the mister in the rain forest room and a friend to run around with?

Wait, scratch that. The best part by far was riding a hippo on the carousel shortly before going home. Oh, how happy this toddler was. Poor Mady fell asleep in line for the carousel and missed riding a monkey. She would have loved it. Next time. Sydney's already begging to go back. Thank goodness for zoo passes and 70 degree days in November.

THAT Mom

Today at Walmart I had a sad revelation...I am THAT mom. sigh. I mean, I've always known I was that weird mom that sings to her kids in the middle of the store and talks more loudly that other people (weird, but my 2 year old doesn't know I mean business when I whisper). I've given up caring what people think and try to make sure I am getting done what I need to do while taking care of my kids and making the whole trip as painless as possible. But today it was different. Today, I was that mom with 2 screaming children and a GIANT cartload of groceries. I was that mom with 6 price matches and $20 worth of coupons, bickering over every price that comes up wrong and taking forever in line. And yes, there was THAT ticked off lady behind me who did not think my precious hellions were cute or that my coupons made me thrifty. She was just ticked that she was behind me with 1 item.
In my defense, I had already let someone else with only 1 item go ahead of me. There was a speedy checkout line available, she just chose not to use it, and, oddly enough, I was less than thrilled about the excessive amount of time I was spending with my screaming children in line too. So to the lady behind me, sorry, get a life and quit acting so huffy.

Dr. Sydney

When we were at Target on Saturday we happened to check the price of a Halloween pumpkin before we got to the register and discovered that they were 90% off, not the 75% that was advertized. We snatched up this darling doctor costume for $1.99. Not too shabby. Add that to the $2 doctor kit I bought at a garage sale last summer and Sydney had a fun morning playing pretend. Cutest doctor I've ever seen.

Apparently dolly needed some immunizations. In her ear... ouch.
Checking dolly's reflexes. She was a little slow.

I love playing dress up and pretend, so I'm super excited about this phase! Yay!

Family Visit

I think with this post our catch up is finally complete and we can focus more on those mostly shorter and more frequent posts. Heck, there might even be one in there that doesn't have to do with my kids. Shocking, I know, but I do actually have those thoughts occasionally. While my parents were here visiting us we got to do lots of fun things. Like when it snowed. My parents love leaving Idaho to come here and watch it snow for 2 days. Sydney had fun though. Wouldn't put that snowman down.

See what I mean? He went everywhere with her.
With Nana & Grampy at the aquarium Look, a picture with mom & dad too!
Mady had fun at the zoo - she is starting to get into seeing all the animals. I think she can see them for the most part now. Some of them are so darn camoflaged to babies they are near invisible.

Sydney really liked this crocodile. She was also convinced there were toes in the water where the light was making shadows. Oddly enough, she didn't seem bothered by that.

She was overjoyed that she not only got to see the gorilla, but sit on him as well. Pretty much made her day and started a trend with all the kids around us.
Playing dress up. She's a fairy with a knight helmet on. She was prepared to fight for that cereal.

We had a great time with my parents and were thrilled they could come. You're welcome anytime! We love company. Who wants to come next? Seriously, how can you resist the knight fairy?

Happy Halloween!

I had a different title for this post, but it was slightly scandalous sounding. Being 2, Sydney doesn't always say all the letters in all words, but she communicates effectively nonetheless.

It's interesting though how when you truly sound out what she says, it can turn out very entertaining. Take for instance, what she said to every neighbor, regardless of gender, whose house we visited on Saturday night: Kicker Teats!

Aw, those are some cute little witches. She said it to everyone at our ward trunk or treat too. It totally doesn't sound like that when she says it because of the inflection she uses, but that's how it gets sounded out Kick-er-teats!
Mady with all our festive pumpkins, pre-carvings

Sydney doing much better than last year with the gooeys while Aaron showed off his mad carving skills and we gave Sydney a quiz on her shapes.

The girls were thrilled to death to sit in the trunk. Mady sat in it and helped me pass out candy while Sydney pillaged from our ward members. Then Sydney came and demanded to be put in the trunk too. It's the little things people.

Cutest darn little witch - minus the hat

Look who's so darn big! And still let's me take as many pictures as I want of that cute mug.

My new goal is to post more frequent, shorter posts. I share this so that I have some motivation to follow through. Good luck to me. Hope your Halloween was super spooky!

Cheap Thrills

Thank you to the 5 million phone books we get...

And the Target $1 section...
and our major kitchen appliances for providing me with 20 minutes of quite time. The magnets were a huge hit. Thank heavens. We're all sorts of sick of the terrible twos today. I mean really, Sydney had a tantrum because Mady had a bow in her hair.
Seriously people, them's fightin words apparently.

We Love Target

My kids were completely beat by the time we got home. The were both awake, but very tired. Then Sydney informed me she didn't want to get out of the car. Multiple times. She stayed like this for an hour and a half. Don't worry, I was a good mommy and took a monitor out so I would hear her when she woke up.

What funny places have you or your kids chosen to sleep?