News Flash...

I can't post this on Facebook yet because there are people who can't read this until I officially give notice, but I was offered a full time position today at a great office. I am so excited to finally have something that I love. It is four days with a great benefit package. I will be the only hygienist at this family friendly office. It is EXACTLY what I was looking for. :)

Hopefully this means our luck is starting to change and Nathan will find something soon. Keep sending us good thoughts.

Disney on Ice

Last Saturday we all went to see Disney on Ice. It was so much fun, neither Nate or I had ever been so taking Sydney was a fun event for all. It was the Worlds of Fantasy and featured the Disney Cars, Little Mermaid, Lion King, and Tinkerbell's Pixie Hollow. Sydney's favorites were Tinkerbell and Cars. She was a good girl so she even got a few cars souvenirs.

End of the show

Little Mermaid

Cars

So Excited...

Look what I got...

Trick or Treat

Yesterday was Sydney's first time to go trick or treating. Daddy picked out her costume so she was a Manchester United soccer player. The outfit was a little big but we made it work.

When we left the house she was a little confused, but quickly got the hang of it. She said trick or treat to at a few houses and most of the time thank you or Happy Halloween unprompted. Before we left she kept saying "candy in here" (while she was pointing to her bucket) so I am glad she didn't say that. She had a blast and as you can tell by some of the pictures we had an entourage with us to experience her first "real" Halloween. We ended up only going to eight or nine houses but that was plenty for her. I know she can't wait until next year because she keeps talking about it. I hope everyone enjoyed the night.

Getting ready

Say candy...

All ready and waiting...

Which house are we going to next?Lots of family
Let's check out the loot!Happy Halloween!Flying like a witchI've got you under my spell...

Happy Halloween!

We hope everyone has a spooky Halloween. Weather permiting we will be taking Sydney trick or treating tonight for the first time. We are only planning on going to a few houses but enough for her to have some fun. Stay safe and happy haunting.

Happy Birthday Doug

Happy Birthday Doug, we hope you had a great birthday and are able to go home to visit your family.

Happy Birthday Shana and Aiden

Today is Shana's 27th birthday and Aiden's 2nd. We hope both of you have a great day. I also hope this helps Shana remember how old she will be for the next year. :)

Enjoy your birthday celebration and hopefully we will get the oportunity to visit with you guys again soon.

Happy Birthday!!!

On Sunday morning it cleared up enough for us to finally go to the pumpkin patch. We had never been to this farm before but we will definitely go back. It was a lot of fun and of course very muddy. Sydney got to play on tractors, hay, go on a cow train ride, ride a pony named Patty, play pumpkin mini golf, see some animals, and of course pick out pumpkins. There was a lot more to do then I expected and it was only $5 to get in so I think it was worth it. Most of the proceeds went to St. Jude too so that was an added bonus.

I even begged Nate to let me get her face painted and then she decided she didn't want to so the lady painted a pumpkin on my cheek instead. It was a good couple of hours and next year if she is up to it we will tackle the corn maze. We decided against it this year due to all of the mud.

Marris Farms was awesome but I don't know if anything can compare to Dewberry Farms or the little pumpkin patch at the church in Houston.

Alton Brown Book Signing

Most of you know Nathan and I watch a lot of Food Network and love Alton Brown from Good Eats. On Friday night he was doing a book signing in our area so we jumped at the chance to go. He spoke and answered questions for about an hour and then we waited two hours to get him to sign our book. It was worth waiting, but we were glad that we didn't have Syd with us because she wouldn't have been a happy camper (thanks again Mom for watching her for us). Here are a few pictures...

Nate and Alton chatting...
The three of us... Some lady brought this and it he offered her $1000 for it, but we don't know if she sold it or not.

During the Q&A session

Older Pictures

It has been a while so I thought I would just start off by posting a few pictures of Syd that are a little older. Everyday I tell Nate "I can't believe how big she has gotten". Time has just flown by too fast. Syd is the only other toddler we are around so of course we miss all of her other friends from down South.

Getting into things in the kitchen. (she moves the chair around so she can reach whatever she wants)

Monster Face in the Monster Jammies

Go Seahawks!

Silly munchkin likes to put socks on her hands

Giving Rocky a kiss (with those silly socks again)

Happy Birthday Kirsten!

Happy Birthday Kirsten. We hope you have a great day and of course a very fun night! We will see you tonight.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

We would like to wish my step brother Cameron a very happy birthday. We hope you have a great day and good luck with college.

Happy Birthday Maya

Happy Birthday Maya. I can't believe you are already 3! Have a great day. We miss you guys.

Do the Puyallup...

On Monday we got to go to the Puyallup Fair. It is the best fair ever! Nathan and I have never gone to it together so it was a lot of fun. If you remember we went to the Spring Fair but it does not compare to the Fall one.

My mom and Brad wanted to take Sydney so she could enjoy some rides and all of the yummy food. Syd got to pet a few animals (duckling, chicken, bunny and a pygmy goat), see a bunch of pig's, piglets, and cows, and go on some Rides! I think the rides were her favorite part. Even though she was about 6 inches to short on the "you must be this tall to ride" sign some of the people let her go on. We made sure they would be safe for her and that she was secure. She got to go on the carousal, drive a car, dump truck, and a motorcycle, but I think her favorite one was the Giant Slide. She was so excited and laughed the whole way down. She enjoyed it so much we went twice, once with Papa and then with Daddy.

We also played a few fair games and Syd got two stuffed animals. It was a lot of fun and of course we ate ourselves silly with fair food.

Nathan and I also were able to see a concert on Tuesday night with Rodney Atkins and Julianne Hough. It was a great date night, thanks again mom for keeping Syd for the night. We can't wait for next year and hopefully syd will grow some and be able to enjoy more rides.

Happy Grandparents Day!

Happy Grandparents Day to all our favorite Grandma's, Gramie's, Nana's, Grandpa's, and Papa's out there. We love you very much.

Happy Birthday Makinley

Happy second birthday Makinley. We miss you and your family. We hope you have a great day in Pennsylvania.

PS: Thanks for the book and coloring book for Sydney, she loves them.

ABC Sounds

It has been a while since I have posted any video but I thought this was cute and there is a little message at the end for all of our friends and family. She just got out of the bath so her hair is a little wet. Some of the letter sounds are cute because she pretends she is licking something when she says "L" and she sticks her tongue out like a puppy when she says "H". She also shows off drawing an almost circle. Enjoy...

Sydney 2 Year Check Up

I know I have been slacking again lately but I still wanted to show Sydney's two year pictures and updated info with everyone. Sydney weighs 23 pounds and is barley 32 inches tall. I don't think it comes as a big surprise to anyone that she is going to be a shorty.

Over the past few months she has just blossomed into full toddler mode. She sings songs, dances, and loves to read her books. Her latest favorite book is Curious George and the movies she wants to watch over and over again are Cars and the Leap Frog Letter Factory (I highly recommend this one to all of you moms). It is so cute because she knows most of the letter sounds now and makes faces to go along with them. I got some on video and will post it later.

She has also begun pretend playing. The other night she kept bringing us "hot chocolate" She would run to her favorite drawer in the kitchen to "fill it up" and then bring it back to us and make us blow on it before we would take a drink. Then she brought us a "snack" she said it was onions. Silly silly Syd. We just went along with it and we all had so much fun.

On a side note the mysterious fevers that she has had for the past year and a half or so are still happening. We have seen the doctor many many times now and still have no answer. Hopefully we will go 6 weeks without one. This next year is going to be filled with so much fun, I don't want her to grow up but I also can't wait to see the girl she becomes.

Happy Birthday Bryant!!!

Today Syd's buddy Bryant turns two! I can't believe how big all of the kids are getting. Happy birthday big boy and good luck with the potty training. Hopefully we will get to see you soon.

New House

Here are pictures of our new house. It is perfect for a rental. We have the option to buy it as well but we haven't decided yet if that is what we want to do. Sydney even has her own playroom too. I think that is her favorite part.

Happy Birthday Nate!

Today is Nathan's birthday. I had to work all day and didn't get to post earlier but I wanted to wish him a happy birthday on the blog. Syd is with Grandma tonight so we just got back from dinner and are going to see a movie later to celebrate.

Happy birthday sweetie and I am glad we can actually be together for it.

Fortress of Solitude

Uncle Matt got Syd what we refer to as the Fortress of Solitude (FOS) for her birthday. It is a very cute "playhouse" that is suspended from the ceiling and has a big pillow on the floor so she can sit on it. She absolutely loves it, she reads in it, sleeps in it when we let her, and hides from us in it. Linus likes it too but he is not allowed to hang out in it because it is only for Sydney and occasionally someone else when she allows us to come in. Thanks again Uncle Matt it is very cute.

Background

Just in case anyone was wondering about the John Deere background, I let Nate choose it since his birthday is next week. After that it goes back completely girly. :) Happy early birthday sweetie!

Syd Birthday Party pics (Finally)

We officially have Internet so I can now bombard everyone with the ton of pictures that I have been meaning to post.

The first thing is Sydney's birthday party that was weeks ago. We did a Hello Kitty theme which she calls birthday kitty now. It was a good day visiting with family and letting the cousins play.

Thank you to everyone who came and who sent her a gift it was very sweet. A few of her favorite things this year are Sponge Bob and Handy Manny ( I know Krystin is cringing at both of those but she loves them for some strange reason). She got this Bob shirt and a Manny tool set. I really think she has her first crush on Manny because she is way to excited when it comes on and then she will say things like I love Manny. Lord knows we need at least one person in the family who is Handy. :) I guess we are officially in the terrible two's so hopefully it goes as painless as possible. Thanks again to everyone for all of the great gifts.

Happy Late Birthday Landon / Update

We have an announcement... we decided to rent a house so we could finally get some normalcy back to our lives. We moved in Friday and have been super busy unpacking. We will not have internet until next week and have to use it when we can at our parents house so I was unable to post a happy birthday message to Landon. We hope you had a great first birthday and hopefully we will get to see you soon. Once we get things situated at our house I will post some pictures so you can see. I will send an e-mail with the new address to those of you who I know might want that.

New Mattress

Our air mattress we have been sleeping on for the past 7 months has had a few leaks here and there, but last night it died. While we were sleeping it popped and instantly deflated. It was almost comical leaving a 4x4 inch hole in it. (For any of you thinking naughty things we were only sleeping when it happened) Well I guess the point of this is we bought an actually mattress set today for us to sleep on. It is strange how something so small can mean so much. Having a real bed makes me feel slightly better about not having a permanent job or a house of our own. Oh well, maybe this is a sign we will be getting settled soon.

Are we still in the South???

Washington is having a heat wave this week with temperatures reaching 110 degrees in some areas. We have set so many records this week including the hottest week ever recorded in our state. With how miserable it is I feel like we are still living in Louisiana. I guess no mater where we are the heat will follow.

New family "shoe" picture

Since Nathan is now out of the Army we need a new family "shoe" picture. I took a few with different things but if anyone else has any ideas that would be great. I think Starbucks cups would be cute too but I haven't gotten Syd hot cocoa in a while since it has been so hot. Let me know if you like any of these or have any other ideas. Thanks.

Jamba juice cups

Sunglasses

Congratulations!

Congratulations to our friends Mike and Michelle from Houston who are expecting there second child this spring. We are so excited for you. Bryant will be a great big brother.

Birthday Cupcake

I thought I would post a few pictures from Sydney's birthday. I had to work so not many other pictures were taken but she got pancakes for breakfast, met Mommy for lunch and had a special lunch, Daddy took her swimming, and went to Gramie and Papas for dinner and a cupcake. She was enjoying it so much she didn't nap at all that day. By the time she got to eat her cupcake she was ready to crash. Her hair is all wet from the sprinkler if anyone was wondering.

Happy Birthday Sydney!!!!

The day is here, Sydney is TWO. I am so happy to be celebrating this but it is also so sad to realize just how quick the past two years have gone. I am sure all of you with kids understand exactly how I feel. I was looking at the montage from last year and it made me tear up looking at how much she has changed.

On this day two years ago Sydney made her surprise entrance into the world. Since then we have had good times and bad but she has always been the greatest daughter a mother could ask for.

We are having her birthday party this weekend with family and a few friends. It should be a great day.

I am sorry I have to work today sweetie but Daddy is going to take you swimming and to the park to celebrate your special day. I will be home in the evening so we can be together as a family.

Happy Birthday punkin.