A Perfect Summer Day

We had such a perfect day today, I just have to quickly post about it. First, we had an awesome weekend - Aaron took me garage sale-ing (my idea). Hooray! We got a tricycle for Sydney, a booster seat for Mady, 2 sets of Mega blocks, 2 little toy trucks, and a dinosaur bowling set for $11.50. Yay!

Today we made it out the door by noon. Sydney has been sleeping in (bless her!), although Mady continues to wake up the roosters between 5:30 and 6:30 AM each day. But bless her too please. We made a couple of quick stops and then went to Target. We hit the jackpot and brought all this home:

It includes: 10 rolls of Bounty and Viva paper towels, 4 Dove deodorants, 2 each of Dove lotions, body washes, soaps, poufs, and body sprays, travel sunscreen, Glade flameless candle refills, Herbal Essences hair gel, 2 Schick razors, 2 Caress soaps, 4 Caress body washes, 3 packages Pop Rocks, 13 boxes of Puffs Kleenex, and 3 bottles of Arm & Hammer laundry detergent. Incredibly enough, I got all of this for under $15! (not including tax - the sign is wrong). I had tons of coupons and it was sooo exciting. I had a blast.

Next we went to Burger King. A few weeks ago I tried this for the first time. Lugged both girls and all our crap into the restaurant, changed bums in the restroom while Sydney screamed because she wanted a hamburger (possibly her favorite food ever), waited in line while she screamed and the woman who gave us our food looked like she was sad when I told her it was for here, not to go. Sydney dropped her burger immediately on the floor, etc. You get the picture, it wasn't pretty. This time, I learned my lesson. We changed bums at Target, went through the drive-through, and sat in the parking lot on a grassy spot where Sydney was blocked in on 3 sides effectively so she couldn't run away or get run over. It was beautiful, we had yummy food, happy kids, and only 1 stop left before we went home. It was a perfect picnic. Here's Sydney with her own water cup. She backwashes.

After dinner (both girls crashed in the car and transferred to the house for naps until Aaron got home), Aaron & Sydney mowed the lawn and I weeded while Mady took another nap. What do you think? Yes, that's a broom she has. Helpful, I know.

What do you think? Would you hire this kid to mow your driveway? (She's not so effective on grass yet). She charges 50 cents or a hamburger.

All in all, we got a bunch done, let Sydney have a bubble bath, and try some Pop Rocks. This video isn't overly exciting, but I thought it was cute. Mostly I loved when she would start bobbing her head a little like she was trying to jam to the music, then realizing the music was inside her mouth. I think it was sort of trippy for her, but she's a fan!

Oh we're so happy to have summer back! Yay for $3 picnics and all the other joys summer brings!

We Love Summer!

Am I the only one that is always playing catch up? I feel like I am so behind. Oh well, at least I am blogging a little! We've all been sick over the past couple weeks and are finally starting to feel normal again. We've been having awesome weather (85 degrees) and trying to take advantage of it. I also tried to take some more pics of Poquito Tito here. Aaron thinks my backdrop makes it look like a DMV photo. Ha ha!

Don't you love baby toes? Oh, and my $10 Craigslist Bumbo that Sydney loves? Not Mady, Sydney.

Background: I love this dress. No reason, it's just one of my faves. Someone with awesome taste gave it to us when Syd was born. Too bad it was December when it fit her. I was worried Mady was going to miss out too, but I squeezed her into it and snapped some shots. YAY!!!

She just wanted to eat it the whole time

Assembly line style
Sydney's new favorite thing to say, "No, no!" as she wags her little finger and does naughty things. Stinker girl.
We discovered sidewalk chalk this week. She's in love.
First lawn trim of the season. Look who got in on the action with her 50 cent (garage sale!) mower! She couldn't stop saying, "vroom vroom!"

Mady discovered her voice this week and is constantly cooing or gurgling now. She also smiles and giggles at almost everything and everyone. It's so fun to see her mellow little personality shining through now!

Family Photos

My great friend Alli (click here to visit her blog) was good enough to do some rather impromptu family photos for us in time for mother's day, and they turned out great! The one at the top of the blog is our new official family pic and the one in the post below is just too darn cute. I'm so happy Alli captured that moment! This would be the perfect little Kodak moment if it wasn't for Mady's sad sad face. :(

My sweet girl

The one we have of Mady sort of smiling. Too bad Sydney looks like such a sour puss.You just gotta love Syd's baby blues in this one. She's showing Alli her rock. Very important.
Thanks so much Alli! We love them and you did a great job!

Happy Women's Day

I have a confession: I'm slightly anti-mother's day. I mean don't get me wrong, I love being pampered and told why I am a great mom and have a day be about me, but I hate the exclusivity of it. (Is that a word?) I think it should be about all women, not just those that have been blessed with children. I know lots of women who don't have children that are MUCH better mothers than a lot of women that DO have children. Children don't make you a mom, not in the sense I mean. Being a mom is something that you cultivate inside yourself. Being loving, caring, and nurturing to those around you. In that vein, there are some women in my life who deserve some serious kudos today.

Moms that raised Aaron and I, Aunts that helped raise each of us, Grandmas, without whom our moms (or aunts) would not be here. Then there are sisters and sister-in-laws that have been the best friends I could have asked for and the best aunties my girls could ever have, friends that should be sisters, cousins and many many more.

"As daughters of Eve, we are all mothers and we have always been mothers. If we really want to make a difference, it will happen as we mother those we have borne and those we are willing to bear with." (read the rest of this talk)

So as my tribute to YOU (yes, you), Happy Womens, Mothers, Sisters, Aunts, Cousins, and Grandmas Day. We love you! Now go kiss and hug the women in your life!

More of those darling pictures to come soon!

Mess Maker

Aaron got home from a business trip tonight (good thing too or my neighbor might have inherited a couple of children for a short time). Both of my girls are good, but the do have a tendency to gang up on me when Aaron is gone and they were terrible sleepers! Seriously, 8 hours of sleep over 3 days doesn't cut it. We're so so so glad to have Daddy back. Here are some highlights lately:

While playing at a friend's house, the kiddos all played in some gravel. Everyone else was digging and playing and staying fairly clean. Sydney sat in a large puddle and proceeded to shovel gravel in her mouth and try to drink from the puddle. Rock on. (don't worry, she spit them all out). I stripped her down and let her play.

I went to Qdoba (yum!) and grabbed lunch. Sydney stole it when I left the table.

Little girl+ ginormous burrito= pure bliss

She threw a fit when I asked her to give it back

For some reason, she was thrilled to sit all squished up in her doll box.
Remember how this doll stroller is for dolls? And how it was mine as a kid! That would make it about 20 years old, so we're having to be much more careful and keep her out of it since I would hate for her to break it now!

Just before Aaron left we got his suitcase and Sydney had so much fun playing with it. As you can tell, she thinks squealing/screaming is fun and is uber good at it.

We haven't taken a lot of Mady videos, but I finally got her to smile and giggle while the camera was in sight today. Wait for it, it's about 2/3 through the video, but it's worth it. I'm biased. I like this squishy little kid. How is she 3.5 months old?

Mady continues to be my cuddle bug. We fell asleep on the couch together today (remember the lack of sleep?). I love sleeping with babies. So snuggly. Then sweet Sydney came and woke me up to inform me that the garbage truck was at our house. Thanks babe. Love you. :)

Snow!

A week ago we got about 14 inches of snow (by Aaron's calculations) and today we got about 4 more (by mine). The stuff we got today was almost all gone by noon, but we had fun in it while it lasted. We went outside to play (check out those snow pants!).

Started a snow man

Showed everyone how big Syd is

Syd scarfing snow like crazy. Today while we were walking through it she hasd to stop to grab some snow every couple of steps! Too funny!

Two days after our last weeks snow storm. Look at those funny matching shorts! Love it.

Easter and Dress Ups

Sydney's never understood dressing up before, but while Kayden was here to play with, I brought out our dress up bag. It's filled with halloween costumes bought on clearance a few days after the event (when they go 90% off I can't resist!). After many outfits, Sydney finally decided this was the look for her. No seriously, she wore it for 2 days straight basically. Note: those were my sunglasses when I was 6 and my fancy purses too. I know, you're all jealous. Abby, Alli, Kristi, does the tiara look familiar? Passing it down to the next princess. :)

You can't always be the princess, sometimes you have to be the knight too. The pacifier makes this outfit.

Priceless face. Back to a fairy princess.

Add a few feather boas, a witch hat, and some hawaiian leis. Oh yeah, we had fun.

Mady's Easter picture - she's so big!
The best one of Sydney. This girl is constantly in motion!

The Visit - Part 1

My brother and his wife and son came to stay with us for a week. We were never close enough in age to be great friends growing up, and we've always lived far away from each other as adults (except for 1 glorious week when we both lived in CO before they moved), so this was the longest amount of time I have spent with him in ages! We had tons of fun all being together. His son Kayden is 4 months older than Sydney and they loved playing together! We hit a lot of fun places while they were visiting too, so there was never a dull moment with 3 kiddos!

Our first stop was the Children's Museum. We had never been, but Sydney loved it. Mostly she loved that everything was little. She pretty much would have been content to sit in the bathroom and use the short sink and automatic soap dispenser all day. That and the short drinking fountain. Hea-ven.

I think her favorite part was the Young Children (0-4) area. And of course, the slide was a fave. Uncle Ryan must have helped her up and down this thing at least 15 times.

My brother and his cute family

Sydney and Kayden in the little grocery store. This was another favorite section. Sydney also loved the veterinarian section. Basically she got to run around with a stuffed "meow" and "woof woof" for awhile.

Kayden painting... everything

Next day we did the Aquarium. Daddy came along this time. Possibly Syd's favorite here was the ducks (below), although she also really enjoyed the tiger.
I really enjoyed when neither of the kiddos were crying because they were both being fed. Yay for snacks. No one fed the rays like last time (click here to see that crazy video), but we still had lots of fun.Next was the zoo. We got creative in our transportation methods here.

The kiddos had fun and we ended the day with Kayden asleep in his stroller, Sydney asleep in hers, and Mady asleep in the front carrier. By the time we left the zoo, I was ready to sleep for a year! Good thing Mady was nice and slept the whole night that time!b

I have a few more pics I may post, but we had tons of fun with Ryan, Sarahi, and Kayden and can't wait to see them again! Thanks for all the fun guys!

So Behind

Remember how I practically haven't posted since we came back from Idaho? And we have tons of pics from then to now. Awesome. Here's a catch up post to start off with. Sydney is all sorts of a big girl. I think she's learned 3 new words in the past 2 days and can understand almost everything we tell her. She has also christened Mady "Mlner." This is most accurately pronounced with the tongue coming out of the mouth on the "ml" sound. Nice. I think she's figured out she's not going away though and likes "Mlner" for the most part.

I tried to do a photo shoot of the girls. Mady didn't move (shocker) but also wouldn't smile. Sydney wouldn't hold still, and wouldn't pose or smile or even look at the camera for the most part. Stinker. Here is a sampling of what we ended up with. We'll try again another time.

How much do you love you?
Mady went in for her 2 month check-up when she was 9 1/2 weeks old. She weighed 14 lbs 15 oz and was 25 .5 inches long. Sydney also had her 18 monthe apt at the same time. She weighed 28 lbs and was 32 inches (I think). Sydney was in the 80th percentile (except for that big ol' noggin - still up at 95th) and Mady was, um, above the top line. You know how they chart your kids growth and show you the curve and where they are? She was above that. Our doctor's words, "You have big kids!" Yup, we do. And for the most part, happy ones too.
A week ago we got to listen to General Conference. We enjoyed it all, particularly the sessions (2) where Sydney was asleep or watching Winnie-the-Pooh with no sound while we listened to conference. Genius. Here she and daddy are snuggling during a session.
Mady has become (for the most part) a pretty happy baby. She will almost always smile for her daddy and has even giggled a few times for him.

She's also starting to discover the world a bit and will bat at toys and reach out to touch the sides of her little play gym at times.

Sydney is discovering her independence more and more each day and wants to do things like a big girl, including climbing stairs, etc. She's discovered all sorts of new things to love at the park lately. She now loves the slide and the stairs going up to it.

In slightly more exciting news, remember this post? (click on it). Monday I had a deja vu when my sewing needle snapped while I was sewing and a needle shard flew up and hit me in the EYE! I got it right out, but honestly, who else do these things happen to? I'm seriously considering Aaron's advice of wearing steel toed (sp?) boots and safety goggles from now on when I sew. It's dangerous you know.