Chuckle

I just had to chuckle last night when I was helping Sydney undress for her tubby and a breast pad fell out of her shirt! We just got back from the mountains and had been traveling for several hours yesterday but some how this one breast pad managed to stay in her shirt all day. No she did not remove the tabs and stick it to her body. Yesterday morning when I was getting dressed I doubled up with a washable pad and a disposable pad because I was wearing a thin shirt and did not care to sport a leak while in the presence of friends. When I was dressing Sydney decided to unwrap one of the disposable pads and stick it up her shirt. I am not sure how it managed to stay in place all day. She was wearing a tee shirt and a long sleeved shirt neither of which were tucked in. We had breakfast at the Inn and then finished packing up and got in the car to drive home. We made one stop to eat lunch and then came home and unpacked and played for a while before tubby time. Too funny.

Top Events of 2009

Top Events of 2009



1. Meghan gets a new job- what a blessing! I work with 3 wonderful female pediatricians and a great group of nurses, office staff and administration.



2. Pregnant with our second child! Some of the fun details here and here.



3. Visits from family- my sister, her husband and their two children! The kids had a great time playing and we had a good visit. We visited the Lazy 5 Ranch and had a fabulous time. Mom and Papa came to watch Sydney the week of the 4th of July, see details here. Christopher (my husbands son) and a buddy of his came to visit and later in the year Marcus (my husbands other son) and one of my husbands old friends came to town. Mom and Papa returned in November to meet their grandson. We enjoyed having all the company and welcome everyone in 2010.



4. Great vacations! We were blessed with a free trip to Myrtle Beach due to my husbands selling ability. We had a wonderful time- highlights here. We spent a second week at Myrtle Beach at a different resort for a conference for my work- again we had a great time. See details of that beach trip here and here and here. Sydney and I flew to Michigan for my sisters baby shower and had a great visit- details here and here and here.



5. My husband and I celebrated 7 years of marriage. I cannot believe how quickly the time passes. I am blessed to have Bill as my partner and best friend. Life is not always rosy but we are a team and we both appreciate each other and the life we have been given.

6. Our son Griffin Sawyer Hall was born on October 9th. He weighed 7 lbs 5 ounces and was healthy. We realize how truly fortunate we are and we try not to take our healthy children for granted. See details about Griffin here and more here. At the same time that I was pregnant my sister Ashley was pregnant- her daughter Daniela was born November 24th and is a super cutie. See Daniela here. I also had 3 friends that were pregnant- we all had boys except Ashley. All mommies and babies are healthy and that is truly a miracle.

7. Sydney celebrated her 3rd birthday! Mom and Papa were here for the big event which was great. We had a great time celebrating. Sydney is a spunky girl but a true joy. Bill and I are in amazement daily. She continues to grow and learn and adds so much to our lives. We are so blessed to have Sydney in our lives. See birthday fun here.

As you can tell from reading through this post we feel very blessed and are so thankful for all our blessings. We hope and pray that our friends and family are equally blessed and recognize all their blessings- big and small. We are looking forward to 2010 with excitement and anticipation for what God has in store for our lives. Care to share the top events in your life in 2009?

Suprise Again

Remember the lady that made this? Well she made this Thomas the train pillow for us to give to our friend Sam. Sam is a huge Thomas fan. It is Sam's face on the front of the train. I knew my husband was having this pillow made but I did not know abut these bags.

One for me and one for my friend Ellie, Sam's mom.

This is a picture of Syd and Sam the summer of 2008, adorable.

Christmas Favorites

Here are a few of my favorite Christmas photos:

Bill bringing Sydney down - a little blurry but too cute to leave out

First wagon ride around the house- wagon from Grammie La la and Grandpa for Syd and Griffin to share Griffin Sawyer just hanging out- wearing little Santa's helper pjs from our neighbors

Griffin Sawyer surrounded by his presents

Mommy and Sydney opening brothers play yard from Grammie and Grandpa

He loves it!


Smiles, doesn't he look adorable on the pillow?

Sydney opening her little yellow kitten from Santa, she loves it

The mommy kitten came with three babies that attach with magnets


Daddy looking through kodak gallery book mommy made

Mommy and Griffin Sawyer playing game with daddy and Syd- baby chicks. Fun

Too much?

A girl can never wear too much jewelry. My mom sent some crafts for Sydney and one of them was to create a necklace. There were enough supplies for Syd to make three so she did and she wanted to wear them all at the same time. She loves projects like this.

Out of the mouth of a 3 year old!

Sydney says some pretty funny stuff. Last night Bill and I were talking about my day with the kids and I told him I wish there was a tape recorder going at all times so I could catch things that Syd says. Two nights ago I put Sydney to bed and she put up a fight. I was frustrated because we had read a stack of books and then I rocked her and Griffin at the same time while singing Away in a Manger. So I tucked her in a came down stairs and listened to her cry for a few minutes. I cannot handle my girl crying herself to sleep so I headed back upstairs to try some soothing. I reminded Sydney of all the fun things we did together that day and told her to close her eyes and think about all the presents Santa might bring to her house. To this she replied "I can't." I asked "you can't what?" Sydney then said "I can't close my eyes because my eyes are swollen." I tried not to laugh and said "fine lay there with your eyes open and think about all the presents Santa might bring.

Last night the living room looked like a tornado had hit. I just knew she would give me a fight about picking up toys so I decided to attempt to make picking up a game. I told her we were going to play "beat the timer" so we set the timer and raced into the living room to pick up. She was putting memory cards back in the box and I was picking up blocks and she yells "hurry mommy get your arms moving". I cracked up! Well we beat the timer so high fives we passed out and mission accomplished the living room was clean.

She is too funny sometimes. I keep a journal for each of the kids and I write down stuff they say and do with the date. Some entries are detailed and pages long and some are one liners. I try to write things like this that Sydney says and little things she does so one day I can read through and reminisce I plan to give the journals to my kids one day, maybe when they leave home.
Have your kids said anything funny lately?

Spanish Omelet

18 eggs, well beaten
1 and 1/4 C milk
1 tsp salt
1/3 lb grated american cheese
1 lb bacon, fried, drained and broken into pieces
3 T butter

Sauce:
2 medium onions
1 green pepper
1 large can mushrooms, drained
2, 3 oz cans of tomato paste
1 jar spaghetti sauce
5 dashes of Worcestershire
4 drops Tabasco sauce
2 T brown sugar
2 T vinegar

Mix all top ingredients and pour into large buttered casserole dish, dot with butter and bake at 325 for 35 minutes. Cook onions and pepper in a bit of butter or olive oil until just tender and add all remaining sauce ingredients. Simmer sauce ingredients together in large skillet and serve on top of egg casserole or on the side. Yummy!

My mom usually made this dish on Christmas morning- so yummy and feeds a crowd. We will be having it with cinnamon rolls and some fruit Christmas morning. I plan to make the sauce and cook my bacon a day in advance so I have minimal cooking to do that morning since I will be watching Syd open gifts.

Random Tid Bits

Okay my house has been taken over by a 3 year old! Sydney does not have daycare this week and so she is hanging out with Griffin and mommy. She has every blanket that we own on the floor in the living room with a baby or animal on the blanket or wrapped in the blanket. A tea party set up at her little table. Burb clothes all around for her babies. The kitchen table has turned into craft central so sorry if you want to sit down to eat. Sydney has been gluing beans on paper- she loves Elmer's glue so there is a puddle (or sometimes a lake) for every bean. We have painted some today and also have every marker we own out! So my house is not clean but we are not bored and in fact are having a lot of fun.

Can you believe only 3 days until Christmas? I am excited. Bill and I did very little this year in fact just bought for our kids but we are looking forward to seeing their reaction. Actually Griffin will not have much of a reaction so we are looking forward to seeing Syd's reaction to her gifts. I did get a few stocking stuffers for my husband and I made him a special gift that I know will make him cry- he is tender hearted. We will be having a very nontraditional meal since it is only going to be the 4 of us (3 that eat real food)- potato soup. We will however be having a family tradition for brunch- Spanish Omelet! I will share the recipe later.

Well gotta run someone is a bit cranky at the moment.

Hat and Booties

One of the ladies from my book club made this hat and booties for Griffin. The booties are the only thing I can keep on his feet. I love to see his bare pigs but it is a bit cold these days so we try to keep his feet covered. Isn't he just the cutest?

When you tie the bow it tightens the booties and they are secure.

Aren't they sweet?

Calzones anyone?

I like to make homemade pizza but everyone around here does not always want the same toppings. My solution- calzones! I will admit I usually buy Pillsbury pizza dough for a short cut but on this particular day I forgot to buy the dough at the store so I was forced to make my own. It turned out wonderful! Sydney enjoyed helping of course and watching the dough rise. Sydney's calzone was stuffed with pepperoni, lots of mushrooms, cheese, a touch of pizza sauce and a few green olives (the girl is crazy about all olives). Bill's had pepperoni, mushrooms, green pepper, cheese, pizza sauce and mine had everything that Bill's had plus green olives and some artichokes. Yum. Of course we had extra sauce for dipping. So easy and much better than take out, much cheaper too!

Cookie Time!

My little baker! She was concentrating so hard at putting the cookie cutter in a good place.

Can you see flour on her nose? So precious

Daddy helped with the frosting and decoratingSydney likes a lot of toppings!


Have you baked any Christmas cookies yet?

Christmas Decorations

This is Sydney's Christmas tree, she has her own ornaments, notice they are all in a basket next to the tree. I keep trying to get a picture of the tree decorated but as soon as she puts all the ornaments on the tree she takes them right off.

Cinnamon ornament that Sydney and I made. We gave one to each of the teachers at her day care and a few of our neighbors. We kept one for our tree.

This is a favorite ornament of mine, with my favorite nephew.



I made these ornaments last year for relatives and teachers at day care. I cannot believe how much Sydney has changed in a year.

A few Christmas boxes.

New ornament for Griffin! I do love snow babies. My little sister collects them and I thought this one would look great on our tree.

I could not find one with Griffin's name so I bought him this one.

Our tree

Mary and baby Jesus from our nativity

Nativity

If I had...

If I had eyes in the back of my head I would have watched my child the entire drive home from daycare yesterday. I have often thought how nice it would be to have an extra set of eyes or hands for that matter. Ever tried nursing while helping another child with a bath, or reading books while nursing (Sydney always holds her hand covering the words which can make it difficult). Hmm what else, oh well eating meals while nursing. These things can be a real challenge. Anyway yesterday on the way home from daycare Sydney wanted to hear "the loud drum song", also known as "Christmas Eve" by Celine Dion. Sydney loves this song and knows most of the words. So per her request on the way home I turned it on and then turned it up! She was sitting in her car seat and just singing and moving her head side to side with the beat. I was trying to drive and watch her at the same time, just cracking up because she is so cute. I must say that thankfully she has her dads rhythm because I have none. Sydney has loved music from day 1, when I used to put headphones on my belly and play baby classical music for her, she would move so much! Have you ever wished for an extra set of eyes?

Our Cutie Pie

Me and my little cutie pie. I could just squeeze him all day!

Smiley boy

Flirty



He is just the most handsome baby I have ever seen.

Recipe

This is a great crock pot recipe! Italian Wedding Soup

Ingredients:

1 egg, lightly beaten

3/4 lb lean ground beef (I use 93/7)

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

3 T plain bread crumbs

3 T grated Parmesan cheese

2 T chopped parsley (fresh)

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

8 cups low sodium chicken broth

3 large carrots, peeled and chopped

1 small head of escarole (8 ounces) washed trimmed and cut in 1/2 inch strips (I could not find escarole so I used kale and it was fabulous- plus kale is a super food a serving has 300% vitamin A and 200 % vitamin C)

1 and 1/2 tsp oregano

1 and 3/4 cups acini de pepe pasta such as Ronzoni (small pasta)

In a large bowl combine egg, beef, onion, bread crumbs, 1 T Parmesan cheese, 1 T parsley and 1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper. Form into 1 inch meatballs. Combine broth, carrots, escarole and oregano in slow cooker. Gently add meatballs. Cover and cool on low for 6 hours. Stir in pasta for last 20 minutes of cook time, add remaining 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Serve and sprinkle with remaining parsley and cheese.

Two Months old

My baby boy is 2 months old. We went to the doctor today and Griffin weighed 11 lbs 15 ounces and he was 22 3/4 inches. We had a great visit except for the shot part.

Isn't he cute even though he is crying? He was ready to eat but I wanted to get a picture.

He is a great baby. I put him in bed at 10 pm and he puts himself to sleep and usually only gets up once. He is very content and is starting to smile and laugh. I am cherishing the rest of my time home with him.

Worthy of a picture

This is what we call a bow out! Griffin is famous for blow outs but this is the worst yet. It was in the back and the front! I thought it was worthy of a picture, or two, or three.

There was as much poop or more outside of the diaper than there was inside. I once had a mom bring her child to an appointment with me 45 minutes late because of a poopy diaper. At the time I was irritated because we have a 15 minute late policy but because the child was sick I went ahead and saw him. I believe he had an ear infection and I would hate to have him be miserable just because his mom was late. Anyway if it was a poop like this I guess I can understand being 45 minutes late. This required a bath for sure!


Griffin is 2 months old today! I will post his 2 month pic and stats tomorrow after his 2 month well child check. Bummer he gets shots.

Christmas Crafts

It is Christmas time which means lots of fun crafts at our house! I love the store Hobby Lobby and they have all kinds of great Christmas craft stuff for kids. I bought these ornaments for Sydney to paint. As you can see she is thrilled!

They turned out very cute and she did it her way!

Next I let her decorate some felt stockings for her and Griffin with some fun embellishments!

Super fun!