Christmas

We has a wonderful Christmas. Sydney was so cute. Everything was magical to her. She is finally old enough to "get" Santa. Everything from the Christmas lights to checking the advent calender everyday was so exciting for her. On Christmas Eve we went outside and left some reindeer food for Santa's reindeer (oatmeal and glitter for those of you who are interested - thanks for the idea Kristi C. it was a huge hit!) We wouldn't want them to get hungry while Santa was bringing in the presents! Of course we left out milk and cookies for Santa and so the reindeer had an extra special treat we left them carrots. She was so amazed on Christmas morning when we came down the stairs and there it was ----- the dollhouse from Santa! After we played with that for a bit we got down to opening all of her presents. Wow, what a haul. She kept getting distracted and wanted to play with each thing she opened. We had to keep reminding her to keep opening presents. After we got though opening and putting everything together (my least favorite thing - they make the packaging adult proof!) we went to my dad's house. Diann put together a fabulous Christmas feast. Then more presents! The best part of it all was spending time with my beautiful girl and all of our family.

Jena's Christmas Party

Here are some pictures of Jena's Christmas Party. I think we all had a great time. It is one of my favorite things to just spend time with my friends! I just wish we could do it more often. I was slacking a bit with the camera (just enjoying the evening) so I didn't get pictures of everyone. Next year will be better!

Santa!

Sydney got her picture taken with Santa on Wednesday. We got there right when it opened but still had to wait an hour and a half before we actually left with pictures. Sydney did amazing. She kept saying "we have to wait our turn to see Santa". She was very patient. I was very proud of her!

Christmas pictures

I had Sydney's Christmas pictures taken. It went really well. It is a wonderful thing to actually be able to explain things to your child and actually have them understand. She really had fun posing for the camera (shocking I know) and even helped the photographer take pictures of another family (she was making silly faces and jumping around trying to get a teenage boy to smile). It was adorable. My kid definitely likes to be the center of attention and does not have a shy bone in her body. Something she does not get from me.

Mommy points

This is kind of a sad confessional post. I have never painted Sydney's nails. I know, pretty sad. Sydney's babysitter Hibah painted her nails last week and she was over the moon. When the nail polish started to wear off she was so sad. "Mommy, my nail polish go away!" She was heartbroken. So I decided that I better get with the program and polish the kids nails. So we finally did it tonight. Boy did this one get me some serious mommy points. Keep going I have added 3 other posts!

Gingerbread house

Sydney and her Nana made a gingerbread house today. It was comical to watch! I just took pictures and laughed. Boy did they make a mess, but they had fun doing it. I think that it was alot harder that my mom thought it would be. I also included a picture of our finished Christmas tree.

Black Friday

My uncle and I got up bright and early for the craziness of black friday shopping. I confess, I love it. It is an experience for sure. I spent more money on myself than on Christmas presents. I only have 3 more gifts to buy and I am done!!! After we got back from shopping we decided to put up our Christmas tree. I really wanted my mom to be a part of all the excitement. Sydney went crazy. She was so excited.

Thanksgiving

We had a great time on Thanksgiving. My mom and my uncle came to spend it with us. We had a wonderful dinner including a fabulous turkey thanks to a recipe from Kristin Zee (with a little help from Martha Stuart). We also had my grandmothers famous (to us anyway) stuffing, cauliflower with homemade cheese sauce (yes I can actually cook if I try), mashed potatoes and gravy (again thanks to Kristin), sweet potato casserole (pretty much the best thing I have ever eaten especially involving sweet potatoes), rolls and of course pumpkin pie. It was all great and I ate way to much. It was really nice spending the holiday with my family, even though there were a couple of empty places. Sydney was of course the center of attention and loved it.

Sydney's busy month

Well Sydney had lots of fun in the last month. We went to the Wildlife World Zoo with Adia and Di a couple of weeks ago. The girls had a blast. Sydney is still taking swimming lessons every Wednesday with her teacher Miss Gigi. She has really taken off. It amazes me how well she can swim. I am so glad I started this now. Even if she got nothing out of it but water safety it would be worth it. We also have the side benefit of her loving it! Our busy month also included a trip to the Zoo with Kristi, Kristen, Nerissa and all of our rambunctious children. It was an adventure! Everyone had so much fun and all of the kids were really well behaved. The moms also got in some good exercise chasing after the kids (we were outnumbered!) and pushing the strollers up all the hills that the geniuses that designed the zoo thought were a good idea.

Swimming lessons.

Sydney and Adia at the Wildlife World Zoo.

Disneyland

We had so much fun! I have been to Disneyland many times but nothing compares to bringing your child for the first time. Sydney was just amazed by everything. She didn't really enjoy the waiting in line part but who does. By the third day she had it down, we have to wait our turn. She wasn't scared of the characters at all and ran up to all of them with complete joy and wonder on her face. She loved seeing them and having them sign her autograph book. We also rode on a ton of rides including the Matterhorn (she wasn't really a fan of that one) and the Haunted House (she was only a little scared in the beginning). I have to say that the Haunted House at Halloween is amazing. I loved it. The Toy Story ride at California Adventure was also a favorite for everyone. We at at Ariel's Grotto (loved it, the food was great and all of the princess came around to each table), the Blue Bayou (was a neat experience but won't really need to go back. It was really expensive and the food was just ok) and Goofy's Kitchen (the characters also went around to all of the tables and there were times when the kids could get up and do the congo line and bang on pots). We also went trick or treating in California Adventure (they closed the park for this special event). It was the highlight of our trip. Everything was completely decked out Halloween style, there was live music and treat stations all over the park. There were also tons of characters and all of the rides were open. I can definitely tell that I am not a spring chicken anymore because as fun as it was it was also completely exhausting! My legs hurt so bad by the end that I could barely walk. I definitely need to get in better shape for our next visit!

A few more pictures

Here are a few more pictures that didn't make it to the slide show. I think they deserve to be bigger anyway!

Schnepf Farms

Sydney and I went to Schnepf Farms yesterday with our friends Luci and Jonathan. We had so much fun despite being baked. It was so hot. The kids were so well behaved and had some really neat experiences. They rode on their very first kid ride without the moms (little scary for us) and a roller coaster! I think they liked it about as much as we did, they both cried and I wanted to! I love roller coasters but apparently not the rickety portable kind. They also went on a hay ride and got to feed a heard of Fallow deer that live at the farm. After all of that they finally got to go to the pumpkin patch and pick out their own pumpkins, and put up with this mom forcing them to pose for pictures. After all of that we went to the mall and hit up the Disney store. When we got home I attempted to upload the 260 pictures that I took while we were there and my computer ate them. This time the tears really flowed for me. So I spent $35 dollars on recovery software for my SD card and hours of stress and finally, thankfully recovered those precious pictures! What a day.

But why?

Sydney informed me this morning that " I not a baby anymore!" and proceeded to prove this by asking me "but why" to everything. I have to say when she told me that she isn't a baby anymore I got a little misty. She is right. She is not a baby anymore. She is this little person with opinions, likes and dislikes. Though I have to say it has me asking "but why?". I miss that sweet little baby but I am so proud of the person that she is turning into. Everyday is an adventure for her and I love watching her learn and explore the world. Being a mom is the hardest and most wonderful thing I have ever done. As hard as it sometimes is to do this by myself I have to say I wouldn't change anything even if I could. Because that would change who Sydney is and she is amazing.

My sweet girl

Not much going on at my house, hence the lack of blog updates. I thought I would put up a couple of pictures that I took recently. She is getting so big! Her hair is getting long, not that you can tell when it is dry. Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Relay For Life

My mom is doing Relay For Life in honor of my stepfather Luis. I am writing this on her behalf. It would mean so much to her to raise a ton of money to benefit the American Cancer Society. She has a Relay For Life personal page that is about Luis and where you can make donations (the link is below). It would mean so much for both of us if all of my friends and anyone who reads my blog would make a donation for Luis. I know you can all afford a little something! Even $5 could make a difference and help cure a horrible disease. Thanks guys!

main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeGreatWestDivision?px=6980711&pg=personal&fr_id=5565&et=f8NvzG1-W_ZDPo5zX5KebA..&s_tafId=99656

White girl fro

This post is dedicated to my friend Jena. She has tons of beautiful curly hair. She told me stories about when she was little and no one knew how to take care of her hair so she frequently had the white girl fro. She has promised to give me curly hair lessons so Sydney doesn't have to go through that. Yesterday morning I was getting Sydney ready to go to the babysitter (at 5:45 am, not either one of our happiest times) we had a white girl fro moment. I was laughing hysterically at Sydney and you can see how she felt about the situation! Jena, I think it might be time for those lessons! By the way, we did not leave the house like this, the squirt bottle is our friend.

Swimming Lessons

Sydney has swimming lessons on wednesdays. She has had a new teacher these last couple of weeks that is very strict with her. She makes her do the things she needs to do whether she wants to or not. I think this will be very good for her and really help her learn to swim faster. It is a whole new world in the pool and not one she always likes! She also surprised me this week when out of the blue she said " my name is S-Y-D-N-E-Y". She actually spelled it out with no prompting from me. We have been working on letters and spelling her name but it just amazed me that she could do it on her own. She is such a smart girl!