Our New Years Eve Party with Cousins Noa and Ethan.  A rare shot of Ryan on the left! Did I mention Ryan hates having his picture taken?

We've Got Some Catching Up to Do!

Well- it looks like we have about 4 months that we need to catch up on!  First I will let you know what the kids have been up to, and then I will go to town with the pictures...

To start...Ryan is almost done with his Pre-K year. In school, he loves show and tell (figuring out which superhero to bring that corresponds with the letter of the week), playing with his friends, numbers (math), and field trips.  He is getting good at writing and his sight words.

Ryan also started playing T-Ball, which he looks forward to every Saturday morning!

At 16 Months, Sydney is a very active, fun-loving and slly little toddler!  She loves dancing, jumping on the trampoline, babbling, playing outside, going to the park, music class, and eating everything in sight!  She really loves Charlie, and other dogs that she sees.

Most of all, Ryan and Sydney love eachother.  They are always hugging, laughing, being silly, and playing!

Smash Cake!

We had a "Chinese Take Out" theme party for Sydney's first birthday.  The highlight was the eating of the smash cake! Sydney did her signature move...rocking back and forth while eating, and making a "mean" face while breathing deep from her nose.  Sydney seems to know this is funny, and when we laugh, she does it even more!

We finally had the camera.   Not the best picture, but you get the idea...

One Year!

Sydney tuned one today! She sure is doing a lot! This past month, she went to the beach and LOVED going in the ocean and playing in the sand.  She can waive "bye bye" and says it too! Other tricks include shaking her head "no," playing "Where's Sydney?" (she can pull a blanket or towel over her head when we say "Where's Sydney?") She started music class this morning, and loves to dance and clap her hands to music.  Perhaps the strangest thing is that she seems to have found her voice this month.  She went from our sweet laid back quiet girl to our still sweet but VERY VOCAL Sydney! The biggest change is that Sydney started walking this past week.  She was doing it a little bit over the past couple of weeks, but the last couple of days, she really took off.  We are having a great time with our little one year old!



Halloween


We had a great Halloween this year!  Ryan was excited to dress up as Batman, and the best part was that he already had a costume from his dress-up toys and didn't want anything new.  This was great because in the past, we have bought him costumes and he has refused to put them on.  Sydney was a little ladybug.  Since we went to Henry and Claire's this year, Charlie got away with not having to wear his pumpkin costume.  Plus, since he is now considered "geriatric," maybe it's not appropriate for him to dress up...

Sydney tried on her Ladybug costume before school.



Henry (red) and Ryan (blue) survey their loot.

Sydney and Claire (the Watermelon) celebrate their first Halloween!

11 Months

It was very hard to get a picture of Sydney at 11 Months.  It took 2 days, and this is what I got...

Sydney was too distracted by the "monthly sign," the blanket that we were using for the poses, and the everyday distractions of her changing table to bother posing for a picture.  

It was no better when we moved into the playroom.  (All rooms that we tried that had no distractions failed to work as well because Sydney would quickly crawl to the playroom or kitchen).

At 11 months, Sydney is quite active! She is not so easy to bathe or change.  She would rather crawl, cruise and explore than be still.  Sydney is able to stand for a long period of time, and is very proud of this fact.  She has learned to waive bye bye, clap her hands to music, and loves to babble.  It seems like Sydney may be referring to per pacifier as "mama" just like Ryan did!

Sydney has 2 teeth on top and 2 teeth on the bottom.  Teething didn't seem to bother her too much, as she is still a great sleeper at night!