Sick Kids

We've been fairly lucky this winter, but finally we got hit with a bug.  Prior to this, only Aaron has been sick, but the girls and I finally got it.  This means we've been hanging around watching a lot of movies and such.

The kids got sick of just laying on the couch and wanted something more exciting, so they commandeered (nautical term) my laundry baskets to make "boats."  As you can see, they enjoy their comforts and insisted on pillows and sleeping bags and blankets while at sea.

After the boats were put away for a bit, Mady decided to find her own and came up with this - one of the toy bins.  Notice she's still got her "favorite book?" 

Funny kids.  I think we're finally pretty much over the colds now.  Thank heavens.  Two weeks of Mady not sleeping was enough to do me in.  Is is summer yet?  We're ready to have no more sickness and lots of sunshine!

Adventures in Feeding Toddlers

Sydney and I just made chicken salad.  While making it, Sydney informed me, "Sometimes I don't like chicken salad, 'cause I don't like it."
"How do you know?  You've never had it," I responded.
"I just don't like it," she said.
"What if someone said, 'I don't like gumbo; I've never had it?'"  I asked.
"I would say, 'That's silly!  Gumbo is tasty!  I like gumbo!"  she exclaimed.
"Exactly.  I like chicken salad.  You don't know if you like something until you try it.  This has chicken and celery and grapes and onions in it.  Do you like those foods?"
"Yes."
"Then why wouldn't you like this?"

After tasting it she exclaimed, "This is TASTY!"

My point exactly silly girl.

Looky What We Can Do

Sydney is learning her Articles of Faith for Primary.  Mady didn't want to be outdone and has memorized them just by listening to Sydney!  We're so proud!

Sydney passed off her first one and is working on the second.  She was so proud when she was able to pass it off to the Primary President and get a little bead for her accomplishment!

End of February Fun

Our girlies got invited to a birthday party and they were supposed to dress as princesses.  Thanks to a friend who had recently given us a bunch of dress up clothes, they had loads of choices!  Sydney ended up going with Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and looked darling.

 And wow, despite her hair being a bit crazy since this was after the party, don't you love my adorable Snow White?  I do.  She was the cutest kid and finally let me put that ribbon in her hair and kept it in.  I won that battle. :)

 Lots of girl time.  These babies are my favorite girls to hang out with.  Boy do I have fun with them.

 We had mock fondue for the kids one night.  Hilarious.  Sydney would have eaten an entire bag of marshmallows if we had let her and Mady devoured every strawberry she could find.  So typical of my kids.

 As a kid I remember spending hours threading buttons on a needle on the floor while my mom was sewing.  It's great hand-eye coordination and my kids are completely good for a long time because they feel so grown up crafting with mom.  I've recently let them start doing this sitting right next to me and I've got to admit, I love it just as much as they do since it means they are good and quiet without just watching TV (which they do plenty of).  JoAnns has a big box of buttons for $6, so with a coupon, that's a steal!  Also, what the heck is up with Mady's face in this one?  Zoom in for a better look.  I crack up every time I look at it.

 That's better!  Happy kids = Happy Mommmy!

Hope you enjoyed your February, now on to summer!  Er wait, I think I missed a season.

Pack Rat

Confession time, I'm a bit of a pack rat.  My mom is too, she sort of cursed me that way. ;)  We hang on to all sorts of stuff.  Last summer I came home with this old nightgown of mine (which is rather threadbare, hence the long sleeved shirt under it.  It IS still February you know, despite it being 60 degrees today).  I even have some matching black and hot pink hot pants that go with it.  Sydney rocked it for awhile, but tonight it was Mady's turn.  Poor Sydney was not pleased to find that her Mickey Mouse pjs were no longer hers (this happens a lot).  What's a girl to do?

 Raid Mommy's dresser!  She was pleased as punch when she found this little number.  And let me just say, that paired with the red heart covered leggings and white socks pulled up to her knees that she chose, she looked very Valentine-y.  Can you believe this shirt was mine when I was like 8 years old?  And it still fits me?  Shocking I know, but it means I'm either really small chested now, or I wore really big shirts as a kid.  But hey, that was really in then, remember?

 Look at these happy little monkeys.  Now imagine them sound asleep in their beds.  Ahhh.  I'm going to go enjoy that for a bit until my youngest looses her pacifier and wakes me from a dead sleep at 2 AM. 

All Dressed Up

Sydney's not much of a girly girl, but the kid still likes to sport some princess wear once in a while.  Today she found a set of press on  nails that we got on after-Halloween clearance for like 30 cents.  She begged me to put them on her and this is what we ended up with.

 And yes, those are spiders on them.  Awesome right?  To a 3 year old, yes.  She's in heaven.  We also made our first successful attempt at french braids.  Don't get me wrong.  I know how to french braid, but this little miss's hair never fell out when she was a baby and it's still as soft and fine as it was when she was teeny, so it doesn't like to stay in stuff like this without massive amounts of gel and hair spray.  She's going to hate it when she's older.

 All dressed up and no place to go.  Guess we'd better head to Target!

We're planning pedicures for this afternoon and she's stoked. 

I love having girls.

Some Fun Times

Sorry for my absence.  My madre and sister came for a little visit and let's face it, I don't blog when I have company.  Too much chatting to do!  So here's what we've been doing.  Syd and I made some tasty rolls for Sunday dinner (are you shocked that I cooked?  Aaron is, but he actually made the turkey, so I don't actually get full credit for that one).

 Doesn't Syd look darling in this rockin' apron I made in 8th grade home ec?

 My sister has heard us rave about our zoo too many times, so despite this chilly temps, we braved the weather on Monday and headed downtown.  Right before this picture, we exited Bird World to discover a fat little squirrel sitting in the bottom of my stroller inside my soft sided cooler.  Little devil had ripped the plastic and the insulation out and strung it around, ripped the crap out of the zipper, and was eating a turkey sandwich.  And here I though squirrels were herbivores.  Beast.  I have bad luck with small animals.  Better luck with the big ones.  The teeny baby orangutan Hesty was showing off for just us and made the whole trip worth it.

 Jessica had to go home on Tuesday (sniff) and it got freezy cold.  We made sugar cookies to stay warm and hung out a little closer to indoor heating for the next few days.  On Saturday Nana took the girls to the park on the "boat" she got them for Christmas.  By the time Aaron and I arrived to take pictures, Mady was through sledding and had rediscovered the slide.  Slogging through 18 inches of snow when you're not quite 3 feet tall is a little much, but she kept going, taking advantage of the lack of kids at the playground (aka, we were the only ones crazy enough to be playing at the park while it was covered in snow).

Nana and Sydney had a great time sledding down the big hill at the park.  This was really the girls' first time going, so it was fun to see Sydney realize that this was fun!

 Look at that smile!

Here's a little video of Nana and Sydney going down th hill.  Sorry it's a little bumpy, but you can tell they're having fun!

The snow is all but gone now, so it was good we enjoyed it while we did!

Something's Wrong Here

Tonight I offered my kids 2 dessert options:

Popcorn

or

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Pudding, Whipped Cream, and English Toffee bits

They chose popcorn

and then forgot about it.

St. Valentine's Day

Fun Times

 Yesterday was kind of a rough day for us. I had two of the whiniest kids on the planet (freezing temperatures, being sick, etc. will do that to you), we had to take the cat to the vet for his last boosters (during nap time!) so then we had a whiny cat on top of all of it. I'm sick too, so I'm not exactly the most patient person in the world. By evening we were all going nuts, so we had to sit down and de-stress.  I made a New Years Resolution to try to only yell at my kids on special occassions.  I haven't done very well this week, so I was trying to redeem myself.  We set up a whole little Playdough operation and we all had lots of fun.

  Art is good therapy right?  So I got in on the action too.  I think I have a bright future ahead of me.

  Sydney made a family and about a  million shapes.  She had much more fun than it looks like.

 Mady took the playdough out of the can, tore it into a billion teeny pieces, and put it all back in.  She loved every second of it.

Love That Girl

Sydney is not usually much of a cuddle bug, at least not to me.  She's a definite Daddy's girl, and while I know she loves me, she's usually more affectionate to the cat than to me.  (Who happens to be laying on my shoulders trying to get some attention as I write this!)  But today was different.  Everytime I moved anywhere away from her, she said, "But I just want to hug and kiss you, Mommy!"   When  got after her for splashing bath water everywhere and sent her out of the bathroom so I could clean it up, she came running back in saying, "I just need to give you a kiss!"  After putting her to bed, she came out saying, "I love you so much, Mommy!  I just want you to hold me!"  How could I say no to that?  We snuggled, and then after I heard, "Still snuggle me Mommy" we snuggled some more.  I love my girls, and today was a fun day with my little Sydney Bean.  I love you baby girl.

A Good Start to our Day

At 8 AM it was -11 degrees.  Brrr!  How do we start a cold day like this?  By bundling up in pullovers and sweatpants and having a breakfast of milk, bananas, and wheat thins under the table.

Guess whose idea this was?

Only in Colorado

On Wednesday we enjoyed a 50 degree zoo day with a new friend (who had never been!  My kids couldn't believe it!)

And this is the view out my front door right now.

It's supposed to be -1 tomorrow.  for the high!  Ugh.  What is it, January?

Happy Birthday Mady!

Sunday was Mady's actual birthday and we had lots of fun!  She was thrilled to go to church (no really, she ADORES nursery!) and even said her own prayer (rather loudly) during the opening prayer in Sacrament Meeting.  The same family has had the unfortunate chance to sit behind us for the past month.  At least they should be entertained, right?

Here's the little miss with her presents.

 

 Very intent on those presents.  She kept asking, "Is this mine?"

 She got a baby lion (Target has awesome after Christmas clearance so she always gets some really fun presents!) and some princesses.  She was thrilled and has carried them around for days!

 She was very happy about us singing to her (despite the face) and keeps saying, "Happy Birthday to you!" over and over!  It's very sweet!

A bit about Mady: she has always been a girly girl and has recently found a love affair with dresses. She won't take them off and always chooses to wear one if given a choice!  She loved the skirt she was wearing that day and had a fit when I took it off for her to eat cake. She cried, "My Tutu!" She's such a little bundle of pink and so much fun!  We love you very much Mady!

A Birthday Girl!

Surprisingly enough, my baby didn't stay a baby for long!  She's 2 now!  On Wednesday we went to the zoo and she got her free ice cream cone and carousel ride.  On Friday night we went to Chili's and the servers all sang to her.  She looked confused until they put a nice big molten chocolate cake in front of her.  Then her eyes got huge and she said, "WOAH!"  The whole meal was worth that moment!  On Saturday morning we took the girls to see Tangled.  All the girls loved it and Aaron had fun taking his little princesses to the show!  They did great, so I think they're finally at the age that we can take them!

 Saturday night was the annual "Little Girls Party!"  Mady has 2 little friends born within 3 days of each other, so we always have a party for them. Remember last year?  Mady was awesome and went to town on that cake.  This year was similar.  They all ate their cake this year, but Mady dove in before we could even get a picture of the girls!

 Look at these little princesses!

 Mady had some of the french vanilla/blackberry cake I made, but then ate 2 of the chocolate cupcakes that were provided for the adults.  She knows the good stuff!

 Even the crown slipping over her eyes didn't slow down her eating!

 All the little girlies enjoying some cake!

 Opening presents - there was an accidental My Little Pony Theme!  Always fun!

What a fun day for these little girlies!  We're all so excited for them to grow up together and be good little friends!

Me Favorite Book

When Aaron got home from work last Thursday, Mady came running up to him with a phone book.  She yelled, " Daddy, this is me favorite book!"

She's sort of easy to please.

Helper Fairy

A few nights ago we were having dinner and Mady wouldn't try it.  Sydney decided to help out and speared a tortellini on a fork to try and feed it to Mady.  Mady finally obliged and tried one.  Sydney was elated and said, "Good job Mady!  She tried one!"  Mady decided they were actually pretty good and Sydney proceeded to feed her the rest of her meal!  What a good helper and sister she is!

Winter Days

We've been having a bunch of slow, fun winter days since Christmas.  Most mornings start out with the girls running downstairs, snagging a box of crackers (Sydney) and sitting under the kitchen table giggling while munching on them.

 Don't they look darling together?

 Snow Days!  Around New Years we finally got enough snow to play in.  It took so long to get them ready that I almost didn't want to go out and play with them!

 But it was worth it!

 Mady's finally figured out that snow is fun, although she can't figure out why her hands get cold when she plays in it!

 Sydney got a Toy Story Memory game for Christmas and she has loved playing it.  She's also gotten really into puzzles and is trying to figure out Candyland and Chutes and Ladders.  It's very fun to see her learning and figuring things out.

 Look at that happy face!

Christmas Eve

Here's our little girl on Christmas Eve!  She was so excited!

 Here's Sydney and Mommy being silly!

When Aaron was little, he would wrap an empty box for Santa to fill, so Sydney did it this year.  This is her with her box and a note for Santa.

 

 Sydney and Mady both had so much playing with Grandpa John and Grandma.

 

Here's a hilarious video of Mady singing "Jingle Bells" on Christmas Eve.  Her version goes "Tinkerbell, All the way, Fun to ride a pony, YAY!"  It cracks me up every single time.

Christmas Morning was so fun.  I awoke to Sydney in my face saying, "Mommy, Santa came and put presents in our socks!"  She was right!

 Even Frodo got in on the action and opened a present!

 The girls got a sled from Nana and they immediately dubbed it "a boat" and have been sailing ever since!

 Grandpa & Grandma got some books of the kids to see all their cuteness when they are far away.

 Here is Sydney with her new guitar.  Mady got a piano, so I guess they can start a band!

 Mady got twin babies (one for each hand!) that she's been carrying around ever since.

We had a great Christmas and had so much fun!  Hope yours was equally exciting!  Happy New Year!