Springtime!

Oh, how we love spring!  Honestly, what isn't to love?  Besides todays insane snow storm and yesterdays hail storm and tornado sirens (fun times) I mean.  We love doing yard work

We love all these trees.  We're tree huggers here. ;)

And remember how much you loved dandelions as a kid?  We're discovering them.

Going on walks.  Summer walks are the best!

We've got lots of sisterly affection going on in this house right now.  Mady is in LOVE with Sydney and constantly says, "SYDNEY!" whenver Sydney comes in the room or leaves it.  The other day Sydney came up to me and said, "I love my sister!"  Melts my heart.  Hooray, I didn't ruin her life forever!

Oh, and all that summer fruit.  My kids ate half a watermelon (a good size one) in 2 days.  Pretty much by themselves.  Heaven.

Easter Happenings

My parents came to visit us 2 weeks ago and left on Sunday.  We had a great time while they were here and we have very few pictures to document the trip!  We hit the zoo (absolute madness), the historical museum, and the Wildlife Experience/consignment sale.  At the Wildlife Experience Mady and Sydney had fun in the butterfly exhibit.  Mady got stuck in the web like a little bug.

Miss Sydney had fun climbing "like Spiderman!" She really likes Spidey for some reason!

At the Historical Museum they had a working farm and blacksmith shop.  It was fun to see, but I think we were too early in the year for the animals and farming part and the blacksmith was only interested in the older kids and was kind of rude to poor Sydney.  We ate lunch at the park across the street where the girls had a blast chasing squirrels!  We don't really have them out by our house (we've seen 3 in almost 4 years!)  Mady is so happy to be a big girl and get to run around!

We also had some Easter fun.  Our HOA put on a little event at the clubhouse with a bouncy house, a petting zoo, pony rides, airbrush tattoos, and a visit from the Easter Bunny.  Mady wanted to watch, but Sydney was right in the thick of things.

The Easter Bunny was much like Santa Claus pictures.  Mady took the eggs he gave her, sat on his lap long enough for me to snap a picture and took off.  Sydney went back 4-5 times.  Not for the eggs either, she really liked that Easter Bunny and talked about him for the rest of the day!

And last but certainly not least, the pony rides.  Mady was fine if I was RIGHT next to her, but those moving things made her a little nervous (are you sensing a theme here?).  Sydney was in heaven with those ponies though.  There were never more than 3 people in line while we were there (they said we missed the huge line of earlier!) so Sydney got to ride each pony multiple times.  I lost count, but I think she rode 5-7 times.  One of the girls leading the ponies started calling her Princess Sydney.  It was very cute and fun. 

On Easter morning we had a little egg hunt at our house for the girls.  Sydney was a good sport and went hunting, but Mady found an egg with jelly beans in it and wouldn't budge until every last one was gone.

The girls got their first kites (a tradition in Aaron's family) and we went outside to try them.  They were both briefly interested and Sydney even took a turn flying her Spidey kite, but they quickly lost interest and left Aaron and I flying the kites alone.  We had fun though!

Happy Easter!

Something Fishy...

I've taken the girls to PetSmart frequently as a reward for good behavior on trips to Target (the stores share a parking lot).  Almost every time we have gone in someone has commented on Sydney's absolute love of all animals by saying, "You've got to get her a pet!"  At which point I usually smile politely and inform them that I have enough messes and bodily fluids to clean up with 2 toddlers.  Mady has really gotten into the animals lately too, but I still held with my firm resolve that my hands are just too full right now.  Then we met Pancake.  On an ordinary trip to PetSmart we met the most adorable little Dachsund/Boxer/Sharpay (i.e. MUTT) you've ever seen.  If he hadn't been a puppt in every sense of the word (the poop guy couldn't take a drink without tipping his water dish over), he might have come home with us.  As it is, my resolve just weakened a little.  When Aaron brought up getting the girls a fish tank a few weeks later, I thought, "that wouldn't be too bad."

We were thinking something small-ish but still bigger than our 1 gallon tank from college.  We started out with a 5 gallon tank.  The girls kept themselves busy during the set up.

Due to issues with filters, location, and I don't remember what else, we ended up purchasing 3 different tanks and keeping the largest - a 10 gallon tank.  This did mean we got to get some pretty things to put in it though!

Can you see the fishies?

Funnily enough, we originally though Sydney would enjoy the fish the most, but Mady is the one who loves them!  She drags a little chair over to the counter and watches the fish while she eats her snacks.  So cute.  Sydney prefers our frog and vacuum fish.

All in all, we ended up with 12 schooling fish (3 different kinds, 4 each), 1 vacuum fish (a corydora I think?  they clean the bottom, thus Sydney's name for it), and 1 African dwarf frog that Sydney named Rupert.

I think that's my favorite part.

Sprouts Fun

We love Sprouts Farmers Markets, so we were thrilled when one opened just down the street 2 weeks ago.  We had a great time at the grand opening (I think my kids thought we were at a carnival or something).  We went back last Friday to get some great produce at even better prices.  As I put the last item on the conveyor belt at the cash register to check out, I heard a loud crash.  I turned to discover Sydney lying flat on her back on the cement floor with the shopping cart on top of her (on it's side) and Mady still tightly strapped in the top seat just hanging there...screaming.  Sydney had stood on the side of the empty cart and pulled the whole thing down.  There was a lot of screaming from both kids and we were surrounded by freaked out employees immediately.  Once I got Mady a pacifier and Sydney some fruit snacks they calmed down.  I was able to get Sydney to tell me where she was hurt and she pointed to her feet.  I couldn't believe that after all that only her feet hurt (glad, but shocked).  Sprouts was great and helped us a ton.  No one was majorly injured and Sydney was thrilled because, "I got purple toes like daddy!"  Her feet had little purple bruises from where the cart hit her, but otherwise both kids were thankfully unhurt and very scared.
Today we went back to Sprouts.  The first thing Sydney did was climb on the side of the cart (which, incidentally, she had almost never done before).  We had a good talk about what had happened last time and I think maybe it finally clicked this time.  I hope.  The good news?  The cashier we went to today remembered us.  "Were you the ones that were in here and..." Me, "Fell?  Yup that's us."  Glad to know they have people who care!  Make sure you buckle your babies in the carts from now on!

Spoiled Girls

Ahh, winter is so long this time it seems.  We try to keep busy, but some days we just have to leave the house to keep from causing each other bodily harm.  Where do we go?  Target.  It's 1 mile away.  And guess what?  January is a HUGE clearance month at Target (I've heard July is too).  We went there a LOT that month, but recently too.  Back to my post title.  I love to spoil my kids.  It's so bad because I know they just don't need these things, but I want to buy them for them anyway!  Target has graciously offerred to help me out in this situation and provide cheap cheap toys for me to buy my kiddos.  Like this beauty.

Seriously?  Who doesn't love a blow up car that doubles as a ball pit?  With the extra balls it was $9.  Sydney rolls it across the house like a hamster ball scattering small plastic balls everywhere.  Priceless.

Next we scored a Lightning McQueen sleeping bag for $5.  So we had to put up the tent.  She was very excited about her new "bed."

 Next was a perfect toy for me.  I love the Mr. Potato Head toys as a kid and even had baby potato heads that my kids now play with.  We got them Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head for Christmas and then I saw this:

I so wanted it.  But not for $17 when I had just bought the Mr. & Mrs. ones.  So I didn't get it.  But then good old Target marked it down again and again.  And I happened to be in the store when it was $4.24.  SCORE!!!!  My kids are going nuts over these guys. (And let's just be honest, I am too).

I think one of the favorites though has been this:

I can remember countless hours spent playing on hoppity horses as a kid.  Ours were actually horses too with a horse head on it.  This one just has Dora.  :(  Oh well.  It was also only $2.50.  We had one already but it is slightly large for Sydney.  This one is toddler size and she is thrilled with the bouncing capabilities.  Mady is just thrilled that the ball has a handle on it so she toddles around the house dragging it behind her repeating, "bah bah bah" (ball ball ball) over and over again.  Also Priceless. 

Thank you Target for allowing me to indulge my kids for cheap.  We'll definitely be coming back.

Him Have Purple Toes!

A couple posts ago I mentioned that Aaron had sprained his ankle really badly.  He was playing basketball at our church with a bunch of guys on Saturday morning (you can all see how this is going right?) and right at the end he rolled his ankle and went down hard.  He came home and iced it for awhile but it was hurting pretty badly.  He had already broken that ankle 10 years ago, so he was concerned that it might have broken again.  Off we went to Urgent Care (thanks to my neighbor who took my kids!) and got an X-ray.  No breaks, but we did discover that the original break had never healed 100% together, so the new bone that grew in formed a bridge in the fracture.  Coupled with the extra bone around the outside that grew in, and his fibula is almost twice the size it normally would be.  Possibly the only reason he didn't break it this time.  Yay for past injuries?
Anyway, he was on crutches for a few days and now is just hobbling around.  But the best part is, his foot is mighty pretty.  Sydney comments on it daily.  And seriously, wouldn't you too?

Don't you love that the bruising goes halfway up his calf?

As Sydney says (repeatedly), "Him have purple toes!"

Gymnastics

We've been sick lately.  First icky sick, then colds, then other.  As in, Aaron severly sprained his ankle on Saturday at church basketball and is now on crutches and Sydney dislocated the ligament in her arm on Sunday and had to go to the doctor to get it popped back into place.  Oh the joys.  She's all better now and Aaron is on the mend, so here I am.  Finally.
Before all that fun stuff happened though, a friend of Sydney's invited her to attend her weekly gymnastics class.  We left Mady to scream at a friend for a couple hours (thank you Karen for dealing with the separation anxiety!) and went to hang out with Kenzie.  At first all the new kids really freaked Sydney out, but eventually the teacher got her warmed up and participating.  That's when she started having fun!

The teacher made up all sorts of fun obstacle courses for the kids to do and they had a blast.  Swinging, jumping, crawling, running, somersaulting, etc.!

The trampolines really scared Sydney at first but Miss Stephanie came through again and got Sydney to jump in.  Sydney wouldn't let me help her though.  It had to be Miss Stephanie.

Then we got to go to "The Pit."  They had a slide next to it so the kids could go in.  They loved it of course.

Then Sydney saw the rope swing.  She wanted to try it.  I was sure she'd fall right off, but look!

She went out and came back 3 times without even a hint of falling off once!  I was so impressed and it was by far her favorite part of the whole day!  Look at that grin!

She keeps asking to go "swing like Tarzan" with Kenzie again!  Thanks Casey & Kenzie!  We had so much fun!

Snowy Project Week

I have this sort of quirky thing about me.  Whenever it snows, I have a crazy urge to do some crafty projects.  When we woke up to snow last Monday, I knew it was going to be a good run because I hadn't crafted for quite a while.  Turns out I was right!  As Sydney says (often), "Look at me!" 

I first did this star.  I had gotten it for Christmas (thanks Mom!) and had been planning to mod podge some scrapbook paper on it, but had never done it.  So I went for it.  Having never used mod podge before (shocking since I come from a seriously crafting family), I was thrilled with how it turned out.  The fumes gave me some temporary clairvoyance and I saw a lot of mod podge in my future!

See...  Told you.  I saw the idea for these blocks here and had to make them.  I LOVE them and just used scraps from the star paper so they all match.  sigh.  Be sure to check out 10 steps to perfect mod podging and her ABC blocks if you like this project.  I'm in love with this site too!

I was thoroughly enjoying my mod podge at this point so I looked around for things to do.  This used to be painted plain brown and I'd been bored with it for awhile.  Not anymore!  Aaron started laughing at this point because I was going nuts with the mod podge!

I was in full project mode by then so I started in on stuff I'd been meaning to do.  A pillowcase for Sydney:

A tutu for Sydney (tutorial found here).  So adorable.

Back to the mod podge for a bow holder.  Something we've been desperately needing but that I was struggling to figure out.  I ended up mod podging a scrap of wood , hot gluing some flowers and ribbons on it and putting some sticky wall velcro on the back.  Presto Chango!  Our bows are all clean and organized!  Yay!

Finished this one this morning (a day late, but we had the V-day from you know where, so...)

And last but not least, I grabbed another of those spare cabinet doors (remember our toy box?) and mod podged a new way to show off my kids.  So darn cute.

Birthday Girl!

Videos Now Included!

Wow! The last year has flown by! Already our little Mady cakes (who was never very little) is a 1 year old! On Tuesday we took her to the doctor. She weighed in at a very healthy 26 lbs and 33 inches. Wowee baby girl! We cheated (despite my being a serious stickler on this rule) and turned Mady's car seat around a week early. She giggled pretty much the whole car ride that day. On Thursday when Aaron got home from work he had a surprise - my sister Jessica came to town to visit! I think this is the only picture we have to document her being here, but she came, we played, and Sydney has asked almost every day since where Auntie Jessa went! She got to come to book club with me which was so fun since Aaron even made sure she knew which book we were reading! Way to go babe! Thanks to both of you for the great surprise! There are 3 little girls out here that were all born within days of each other. We all got together to have a fun little party for the girls. We lined them up and gave them each a little cake and a party hat. Brooklyn and Brynne both hated their hats and cried. They weren't super excited about their cakes either. Mady wasn't thrilled about the hat but she tolerated it. She wasn't interested in the cake at all, until I finally shoved some in her mouth and got her to taste it. Then she went hog wild!
Everyone had a blast watching Mady go to town on that cake. We had stripped her down, so we just let her go at it. Then Paul & Janell were kind enough to let her bathe in their sink so she could be all squeaky clean for bed that night!

The next night (on Mady's actual birthday), we gave her her presents. She struggled opening them but had fun playing with them all! She especially loves that dolly and yells Bah-bee! a lot. It's hysterical.
Brilliant Auntie Jessica even thought to include Sydney in the presents and brought her an adorable little bag with a baby penguin in it. When Sydney opened it she exclaimed, "My handbag!" Thank you granny from Madagascar 2!
Also on her birthday Mady finally let us record some big stuff - she's walking now! She's actually walking a lot and being oh so big! I now have 2 toddlers!

She's walking much better now, although she still has the Frankenstein stance (which I adore). She's walking more than she's crawling now, so I guess she's all grown up! sniff sniff

I Know, I Know...

I stink at this. But my baby had a birthday, almost a week ago, and I'm determined to get caught up. Because she keeps doing funny things. So here we go. January in review...

On New Year's Day we went to the Museum of Nature & Science with our good friends Martin, Casey, & Kenzie. I love this picture of Syd & Aaron in the Expedition Health exhibit learning all sorts of cool stuff.

Kenzie & Sydney had a great time together riding Guanacos
Can't you see them being best friends forever? I can see the sleep overs now...

I decided to get out and go on a walk. I asked Sydney if she wanted to go to the park and she said no. I spent the next few minutes convincing her that she likes the park. After we discussed slides & swings she agreed to go give it a try.

We shopped lots of Target clearance (yay!). And we wore our new boots a lot. Aren't they just stinkin' cute?
On the 16th we went to a local candy shop that still makes all their candy by hand just like they did in 1930. Sydney's favorite part was the candy samples and the brochure rack like they have in hotels.Then over to the zoo. Take advantage of that decent weather when we can get it!
Next we built a fort. This is only blog worthy because it is the first fort my kids have cared about and played in. I'm pretty sure it was because I bribed them with popcorn.
A few days before Mady's birthday we went to the Children's Museum. Had to take advantage of her still being free! Sydney caught on to the role of a fireman real quick. While Mady and her friend just gabbed over some shopping. Ah, such fun.