More Pictures

Well here are a few more pics from today on her actual birthday. It was a great day because we had a few of our favorite people stop by to visit. The Pineda family even brought mini cupcakes. Yummy! Thanks again everyone for all of the wonderful birthday wishes and gifts. We love you all and hope that Sydney's next year goes just as great. (but with more Daddy).

Posing so pretty
Loving her new hat Gramie bought her
Eating the mini cupcakes the Pineda family got for her
Helping Mommy pack a box to Daddy

(Can you tell that Crystal Light was on clearance?)

Pictures of the week

Thought I would post a few pictures that were taken over the past few weeks. Enjoy...

Can you guess who picked this shirt out?
My Daddy is the King of Battle
One year old and already on the cell phone
Crazy hair
Helping Mommy do laundry

Sydney is Officially One

Today is Sydney's official birthday. It was this day exactly a year ago at 2:06 am when our beautiful and precious baby girl came into all of our lives.

I thought we could take a minute and remember all of those great memories and see how much she has changed over the past 12 months. Happy Birthday punkin head. Mommy and Daddy love you very much.

Apple TV

All of you should know by now that we like to spend money and our trip home was no exception. When we went to visit Nathan's brother Matt he showed us this great thing called the Apple TV. It basically makes your TV and speakers one giant ipod. It connects wirelessly to iTunes and the Internet and is able to download YouTube videos and a variety of other neat stuff. We have been enjoying it a lot and actually have taken down our old stereo and speakers because who needs a CD player when we have everything on the Apple TV.

Morning in the Park

With this being Nate's last day home for a while we decided to spend a little time at the local park. Sydney obviously isn't big enough yet to play by herself on most of the equipment we did have to help her. The main thing we did was swing because we didn't think she would like anything else.
I am really glad I was able to get today off work to spend it with my two favorite people.

Daddy giving a pep talk before we go play
Trying to see if she likes it or not

Having fun swingingTaking a break for a morning snack

Llama Llama

As some of you know Sydney got a book called Llama Llama Red Pajama for her birthday from her uncle Matt. It came with this very cute stuffed llama and she absolutely loves it. She loves it so much that llama is a new word for her to say. I think it came out quickly because it does sound a little like Ma Ma.

Home Sweet Home

This is a little late, but obviously we made it back to Louisiana. It was a very long day of traveling and again a fussy Syd. Neither of us want to go through that again. When we finally made it home we discovered that our air conditioning was not working. It was 86 degrees and rising. Lets just say that was not the welcome home we wanted. To top it off I threw our only standing fan away about a year ago because we never used it.

We had one hot and miserable night. We did end up calling a repair man and suprisingly it was an easy and not too expensive fix. The heat was a real slap in the face to us since we had enjoyed the great cool weather at home.

Batman

Last night Nathan drug me to see The Dark Knight at 12:01 AM. I didn't know if I would stay awake for it but it was actually a pretty good movie and Heath Ledger did a great job as a super creepy Joker and Christian Bale was out in his full glory. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Day in Seattle

We decided to spend a day in Seattle shopping, sight seeing, and visiting Nathan's brother Matt. The day started out great. We got our Starbucks and Nate got to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. It wasn't until we headed to meet Matt on Queen Ann Hill when the "real fun" began.

We were stopped at a red light when some crazy lady driving a red Miata decided to take the turn a little fast. She tried to get around us but still clipped the corner of the bumper. Boy was it a shock to me considering I was trying to take a quick nap in the backseat. For anyone wondering we were driving my Dad's car which made it even worse because it wasn't our car. We exchanged info and went on our way.

One big shocker was that Nathan was actually sympathetic to the driver. She started crying and he actually consoled her. I kept waiting for his favorite four letter word to be used but it never came out. WOW!!

As a result of that event we decided to spend the night drinking and hanging out in Seattle. A fun ending to a crappy day.

Poor Car :(

Sydney's Birthday Party

As most of you know we had a big party for Sydney in Washington. We were very busy the first few days of our vacation getting ready, but it was all worth it.

The majority of everyone we invited showed up to visit and celebrate with us. We barbecued, had a swimming area set up for the kids, a volleyball, and a variety of other outdoor activities. Sydney of course wore her birthday dress that Mommy made for her and looked adorable. To see how the day went check out the montage.

For anyone who was there and has any different pictures I would love for you to send them to me. Thanks.

Plane Ride

I thought we would post a quick note telling everyone how our big flight to Seattle went. We ended up leaving at 11:00 PM from Houston, TX and did not arrive in Seattle until 1:30 AM (really 3:30 AM our time). Sydney was in great spirits until we boarded the plane. Since it was definitely past bedtime she was very sleepy and wanted to fight it. About an hour after we took off she finally stopped crying and screaming. After that she slept the rest of the three an a half hours and actually slept through landing and did not wake up until we hit baggage claim.

Lets just say we are never going to fly late at night again with her so young. Wish us luck on the way home, but at least it is during the day.

Build A Bear

We are on our first leg of our vacation and staying with our friends Mike and Michelle in Houston, Texas. We decided today to take the kids to Build A Bear and give them something to remember. Nathan wanted to make Sydney something special that she could snuggle with that would represent him. He choose a little puppy and named it Giggs after one of his favorite soccer players, and of course dressed him to match. Bryant got a monkey named Banana made. It was a great day full of activities and visiting.

Daddy helping her pick out the puppy
Kissing the puppy dogs heart (both of them did)
Posing with freshly stuffed puppy
Giggs the soccer puppy dog

Bryant and Sydney passed out on the car ride home

Happy Anniversarry

Nathan and I are getting ready to celebrate our 4th Anniversary. It is hard to believe that it has only been four years because it sure seems a lot longer then that. This is a little early since the actual date isn't until July 9, but as most of you know we will be on an airplane flying home.

This will be the first time in four years that we will actually be together on our anniversary. Between deployments and summer field problems we just never were able to spend it together until now. The two of us are just excited to spend this time together and of course with Sydney. Happy Anniversary and I hope we have many more wonderful years to come.

Big Girl

Well it is official Sydney is a "Big Girl". We decided to move her car seat to the front facing position and boy has she enjoyed it. She is so happy to have a better view of her surroundings and not have her feet squished up against the seat. Of course I had to get a picture to commemorate the moment. You can see in her face how proud she is. She is just growing up so darn fast.

Pictures of the Week

A lot of these pictures are focused on Nathan and Sydney. I thought it was fitting since this is the first time he has seen her in almost 8 months. They have been having a blast together. Nathan has even changed a few diapers. Sydney loves her Daddy very much and is glad he is home for a while.

Crawling around after Daddy gave her a bath
You can see that Linus and Henry have taught her how to play tug of war
Yey! Daddy's home Piggy back ride with Daddy
She's not Mia Hamm.....yet.

Nate is Home (for 18 days)

Well we got a big surprise when Nate called at 8:30 this morning from Dallas, TX saying he would be home in a few hours. It was a little shocking because I had not heard from him since Wed. After getting the great news we went into overdrive trying to get everything cleaned and ready for his arrival. He is here for only for 18 days but they will be so wonderful.

Sydney has taken to him very well. She has said Da Da a lot today and I really think she knows what it means. It is great to have our family together again. We will see some of you soon.

Our complete family
Sydney and stinky Da Da
She was so excited she decided she wanted to drive us home

Sydney's Spotlight

I thought we would start a new tradition and have a Sydney's spotlight section to announce fun and interesting things going on:

Happy Birthday Krystin!! (Sydney's boyfriends Mommy for those of you who don't know). We hope you have a great day. Celebrate with fireworks. :)

We also wanted to congratulate Aunt Becca for getting her first teaching position. She graduated earlier this year and we are happy to announce that next year she will be molding the minds of second graders in Sumner, WA. Congrats and Good Luck!

Now this one is just kind of interesting and fitting with the holiday. Our small town here in Louisiana was chosen to be the only city in the state to host "The Moving Wall" Vietnam memorial this year. "The Moving Wall" is the half-size replica of the Washington, DC Vietnam Veterans Memorial and has been touring the country for more than twenty years. It will be up and open 24 hours until July 7. It is always exciting when something so special comes to town considering nothing ever does. :)

Happy Birthday America

I thought I would put together a little montage of pictures to celebrate Independence Day. Nathan said it would be alright if I shared some pictures from Afghanistan and of course cute patriotic pictures of Sydney.

Take this time to celebrate and be thankful that we live in the greatest country in the world, but don't forget the ones who are protecting it. Happy Birthday America!

Sydney's New Bag

I finally got Sydney's new diaper bag back after three months of waiting. A lady I work with has a cousin who makes personalized bags, purses, etc. and I have wanted her to make us one for a while. However, she has been busy and unable to complete it until recently and I sure think it was worth the wait (especially for only $15). Let me know what you think because it will be so great for her to use as she gets older too.

Too cute, but can you picture Nate carrying this around?? :)

Back -with embroidered butterfly

Sew Adorable

As some of you know I have been attempting to sew for a few months. I started my first dress when my Dad and Michele were here in April, and of course when they left I was too scared to finish it by myself. That first dress is still not quit done but is getting there.

With Sydney's birthday coming up I found so many cute dresses online and got inspired again so a friend from work took me under her wing and has been giving me pointers and boosting my confidence. I am happy to announce that it is finished. I even got it embroidered with her name and a little cake with a single candle (I really wanted a cupcake but she did not have one, but I think it looks just fine). The point was to have her wear it to her party at home or at least get a picture of her in it standing next to the number one. I hope you all enjoy it because I am pretty darn pleased for being my first completed dress.