Busy birthday for Sydney!

Happy 3rd birthday to our sassy Sydney Louise! I can’t believe she is 3 years old already. In some ways she seems older, so I have to remember that she just left her two’s behind. This kid is in the nice phase of being caring and helpful. She loves to share. She is great with Sierra… I will often find her reading to Sierra or trying to give her the binkie or a toy if she’s upset. She loves to sing and dance and color/draw! I’m constantly amazed by how much she picks up – songs she learns so quickly, stories she remembers. She’s been singing the alphabet forever, she knows her numbers and shapes and colors with no problems. Her funny: she has been speaking since 10-11 months so when people ask her how old she is she just answers. Most people expect fingers to come up… she is just now mastering holding up three fingers by themselves. We love our Sydney and her spunk!

 

  

 

Good morning sunshine! {That attitude just kills me!}

 

 

Traditional breakfast donuts and chocolate milk!

 

We went to Lakeshore Learning to make some bongos. The girls had fun using LOTS of stickers. They love arts & crafts!

 

Then Seoul had her dance rehearsal for the big recital. Doesn’t she look so cute?!

 

Then we found out Great-Grandma Salway was in the hospital because she was in a coma and wasn’t expected to live. So we went down to Salem to visit her. The girls did surprisingly well seeing her laying in the hospital bed, not what they are used to. By then the girls were exhausted, though.

 

Birthday dinner: Dairy Queen by request! This girl rarely makes a nice, smiling face for any pictures. We love it because it shows her crazy personality. It was a super busy day but so fun to spend it with our princess. We missed daddy, though!

Happy early birthday Sydney!

We spent some time with my mom. Sierra was excited to see Sydney and Seoul walking up the sidewalk. Cuddle time with Grandma is becoming a bit more difficult because the girls are getting big. It's pretty hard to hold two on a lap plus hold the book.

Kelley left for Orlando early on Sydney's birthday so we celebrated the night before. She had fun opening her gifts. When Kelley asked if she wanted dad or mom to help her, she gave him a scathing look and said, "Just me. I'll do it." What a little sassy pants! The favorite gift? The Anna doll that has a water wand to make flowers on her skirt. She has such great expressions! Seoul had just as much fun as Sydney anticipating what was coming next.

She chose The Wild Hare for her birthday dinner. She loves the Oreos! Sierra did her first coloring page AND had her first Oreo. Sydney licks the cream out of the cookies then shares the cookie part. I'm pretty sure Sierra enjoyed it :) Afterward we went out to froyo. Love that gummy-worm-mouth girl!

We love our Sydney Louise! It was a good day :)

Personal Hair Cut

Well, it happened! Sydney took the scissors to her own hair. Seoul came to tell me in the bedroom... quite calmly. "Mom, come look. Sydney cut her very own hair with the real scissors." Then walking out to Sydney she calls, "Sydney... Mom is coming..." Good thing Sydney has crazy hair anyway that it's not noticeable and she supposedly cut it off the top. She was a bit sheepish but did say she wouldn't do it again. The twinkle in her eye leads me to believe otherwise, though!

Let the fun begin this year!

On the sunny days we head to the park even though it's still FREEZING. We do love the fresh air, although sometimes I admit I wonder why I suggest going outside a few minutes after we get out there. Christmas gift unicorns accompanied us on this particular adventure. I didn't get pictures but they love rolling down the hill lately. It's so fun to see how much they've grown and how easily they do some of the activities at the park {as compared to last year}. We have moments of disagreements, of course, but I'm so pleased with how well the girls play together. It makes my heart sing when they help each other and play well together. Just wait til Sierra can join in the fun and not just turn into an ice cube watching.

I discovered Seoul helping Sierra play "Stampede Run" [a game on the iPhone] one morning. It was pretty funny! I think Sierra knows how to navigate the phone already - haha!

Sierra is growing up. She scoots around backward. She discovers fun things like sippy cups. Or getting stuck under the bed and coach. Nothing is safe anymore!

Oops - a tired little babe. She apparently couldn't wait until she was put into bed.

Santa brought Seoul a craft kit for Christmas. (The blue container filled with drawers of crafty fun on the table). They spent hours one morning crafting and making creations. Seoul has the attention span of an adult sometimes. She gets to serious about what she's doing. Sydney tries and actually focuses for quite a while also. Thus, our house is covered in pictures and crafts because Seoul knows how to tape them up. At least they're not on the floor, right?

Sierra loves her toys. This is just a bin full of balls that go with other games and it keeps her entertained.

A rare picture that Sydney has her eyes open and is looking at me for a picture. She's not blurry and her hair isn't completely out of control. Win! She is so beautiful and has such a magnificent personality!

Oh my! How can our baby be getting so big already?! She was so proud of herself for balancing and standing. It lasted about 30-40 seconds before she started rocking the castle so of course it fell over. I did catch her, though.

Seoul and Sydney had her laughing hysterically one night after dinner. It was awesome! I love the huge open-mouth smiles.

As much as I love my kids, sometimes I love them even more when they are asleep. They're so calm and quiet and innocent. I wonder what they dream of. Seoul and Sydney barricaded themselves into the bed with pillows. They've taken over the bed.

{Yes! These are from 1/1-1/9 of Jan 2014!}

All things Frozen

 

As I mentioned before, the girls LOVE this movie. {I love this movie!} They know all the songs. It is fun to listen to them sing together. Seoul is Elsa and Sydney is Anna – they sing their different parts in certain songs.

Here are a couple videos of them singing.

Seoul is pretty (should I use the word obsessed?) with Elsa. She carries her doll around with her. She wants to listen to the music constantly. I love that she knows the songs and this isn’t the best depiction but she really gets into singing with facial expression and dramatics. She does love singing, which is so fun to listen to whether it’s movie songs or primary songs or her own made up songs. Enjoy! [Notice she is holding her Elsa doll.]

 

 

Don’t mind Sydney sounding a bit unclear and stuffy… darn colds! Anyway, her favorite part is about 1:10 into the video. After 1:35 it kind of goes down hill, although Sydney does get one more cute part in. Seoul is yelling in the background and Sierra is tired of me not giving her attention. Enjoy!

Happy 2014!

We started the year by seeing this pretty fantastic flick... for the second time. The girls are IN LOVE with this movie. They know the songs. They have lots and lots of Frozen toys and books and dress up clothes from Christmas. So what do we do? We spoil our little princesses by taking them to see it again.... it's all worth it to hear them giggle at their favorite parts and sing along quietly under their breath. If you haven't seen it, do.

We ate at The Olive Garden. It's been a long time - yum!

It was a great way to start the new year! With family and friends. Yummy food. Making our girls happy.

We ended the day with Sierra insisting on standing up to hang out before prayers. She is getting too big too fast! Love that cute little body. What an exciting year we have ahead of us!

a new start

New goals for a new year, right? I need to keep up with the blog. At this point it's so far behind I'm completely overwhelmed with it. Unless I abandon all my other responsibilities and just blog. Not realistic, right? So, my plan is to start at Jan 1. I will go back and post about the last few months eventually. I will link to them at various times if you're interested in seeing those. So here goes...