Ready

Our tree is up, the wreath is on the door, and I'm anxious to start baking and planning Christmas activities. I'm going to go watch TV with Charles and cut construction paper and make a chain for Sydney to count down to Christmas. I think we're ready for December.

It's good to be home

Highlights from this weekend:

• Spending time with our family, especially Trevor and Julie.
• Charles' birthday.
• Watching New Moon.
• Sydney being SUPER excited for Thanksgiving. She sobbed when I put her down for a nap because she didn't want to miss Thanksgiving.
• Visiting the zoo and Gingerbread Display.
• Going to the temple.
• Listening to my dad's talk about families and his tie ins to Twilight.
  

Too Keyed Up to Write

Winter Quarters Temple

Mmm...

Want to eat a super yummy breakfast?

Try these...you'll love them. I made them for breakfast today and they were GONE!

Now, how can I top that tomorrow?

Happy Thanksgiving!

From our family to yours.

Yeah, it's not the greatest picture, but we were hungry. I'll try harder next time.

Happy Birthday, Charles!

We had a nice day today. I made breakfast for everybody...biscuits and gravy per Charles request. We had a small cake after lunch (we still have cake from Talia's birthday yesterday, so a small cake was necessary). We've played Bang and Break the Safe. And Charles and I went out to Old Chicago for dinner...all by ourselves! We haven't been out on a date in months, so it was really nice to be just the two of us together. Hopefully Charles enjoyed his birthday celebrations.

Birthday Eve

I was going to upload pictures of Sydney playing Wii with Trevor and Julie and from Talia's birthday tonight, but my mom's computer isn't reading my card right now, so maybe tomorrow.

By the way, tomorrow is Charles' birthday. Be sure to wish him a happy birthday!

Looking Back

These pictures are from when Charles and I were first married. This was the first Thanksgiving meal I cooked all by myself. I was so proud of myself. The rolls are a little flat and we didn't own a gravy boat, but not bad for my first try.

Things I Never Knew I Would Say, Or Didn't Know I Would Say So Often as a Parent

1. Sydney, NO! Pepper spray is not a toy.
2. The toilet is not a toy, it is only for pooping and peeing.
3. No Sydney, urinals are only for boys.

Waiting...

Charles is still working on his open memo for his Legal Writing class(it's due tomorrow.) I think at this point, neither of us can wait for Tuesday afternoon, when we head out to my parents house...a whole hour away. It's especially exciting since Trevor and Julie will be there AND it will be Talia's birthday. We're quite excited!

Winter Quarters Temple

Charles and I went to the temple today. It was a nice, much needed break from the everyday.

Random Pictures Accruing in My Flickr Account...part 3

Extreme Hide and Seek

Where is Sydney?



In the closet, in the bathroom, about five feet up!



She thought it was hilarious.

Don't read this if you're hungry...

Seriously!



It might be hazardous...



You will be craving these...



Don't say I didn't warn you!




Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings. My pictures don't do them justice! These were soooo good! So good, that Charles willingly took some over to our neighbors so we couldn't eat them all. So good, that I'm pretty sure the apples are no longer fruit anymore. And they were ridiculously easy to make. So, stop sitting there drooling, and get cooking!

Lamp

My sweet mother redid this lamp for us. I love it. It was originally cream and kinda odd looking (at least I thought so) and now it's just amazing! Thanks, Mom!

Cold again

I think that our nice warm break has ended. Today was blustery and cold. Thank goodness we had broccoli cheese soup in the crock pot, nice and warm. It was delicious.

Elder Oaks

We spent the weekend at my parent's house, in part to go to Stake Conference with them. We got to listen to (and shake hands with) Elder Oaks, who came to preside. It was interesting to hear him speak in a setting other than General Conference, since he has more formal speaking style in General Conference. He told a lot of stories to make his points and he made a point to shake as many hands as he could. It's always nice to hear an apostle speak and this was no exception. And it was especially nice to have Sydney recognize him from his picture. We had been showing her pictures of the apostles and telling her who they were and after he entered the chapel, we asked her who Elder Oaks was and she stood up and pointed right at him.
(picture from LDS Newsroom)

Dancy Dancy

My mom and I took Sydney to a Fancy Nancy story time at Borders today. I think she enjoyed it. We dressed her up in Sunday clothing. She got to color pictures, march in a parade around the store and sip hot chocolate and eat cake. It was pretty fun.

Feeling Crappy

I think I have a cold. Expect short entries this weekend.

Blah

I'm not feeling very vocal tonight, so this is what you get. I'll try harder tomorrow.

Babysitting

I'm sitting at home, listening to two two-year-olds laugh with each other. I'm pretty sure that there is nothing better than that. Well, except for maybe eating chocolate cake later tonight when they go to bed.

Big Girl

So, I think it's safe to say that Sydney is officially potty trained. She has not worn a diaper or pull-up during the day for almost two weeks and has not had an accident in that whole time. She's even woken up from her naps and in the mornings completely dry. We're rather proud of her.

History I Witnessed

Today, in 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. My family was living in Berlin at the time. My parents have pictures of us at the wall. I'm going to have to find our pictures from then and scan some in this weekend.
(obviously, not my picture...it came from here)

The face behind the lens

One of the good/bad things about NaBloPoMo is that it makes me be creative in what I'm going to post. It's easy to just put up cute pictures of Sydney and recount what we were doing at that moment. But, it gets boring doing that every day. So, since Charles keeps telling me that I never put pictures of myself up, I thought I would rectify that.


This is how I prefer to look at a camera, through the viewfinder.




And, usually, I just look dorky, because I CONSTANTLY close my eyes in pictures so I overcompensate and then look like these pictures.






And, occasionally, Charles gets a decent picture of me. These last ones were from my birthday back in July. Charles took me out for lunch at Los Hermanos. It was delicious.

Crafty

Sydney loves to do art projects with me. We do at least one every day. She loves to color, stamp, glue, play with playdoh and pretty much any other project I can come up with.

Family and Fall

I love fall days that are 70 degrees and end with cookies and eggnog. And tomorrow looks to be just as amazing. We're out in Bellevue tonight, hanging out with my family. Something about free laundry and time with Grandma and Tata makes it hard to stay away.

Playing in the Leaves.

It was another nice warm day today, so we spent some time in the backyard.



This is apparently her new favorite face. It cracks me up.









They have a good time together.





I don't know what she's doing in this one, but the sun flare is kinda cool.

Walking

Like I've said before, one of the awesome things about Lincoln is the many parks they have. And arboretums. And trails. It's really nice and a great way to spend some time together. Today was nice and warm...well, warmer than yesterday when it was blustery and cold, so we went on a walk after Charles got home from school. We went three miles round trip on the trail that runs near our house, and actually runs all the way past my parent's house (kinda). Sydney had so much fun that she was not happy with us when we turned around. We found a nice park and had a lovely conversation about family history while we walked. Too bad the weather is just going to keep get colder. I guess we have something to look forward to in the spring.

Love this kid!

You know what I love about this kid?

• Her "I'm tuming" when I call to her after she wakes up from her nap...I love even more that she STILL doesn't get out of her bed without permission, even when she doesn't want to be there.
• That she calls us "dorgeous" all the time. Like today, when Charles got home from school and she greeted him with "Hey, dorgeous!"
• She loves to read and has started to "read" to herself, you know...reciting what she has memorized from the books we read.
• She wants to help me in the kitchen. Yesterday when I was making dinner, she pulled up her stool and cheered for me when I added different ingredients.
  

Monday Morning

Sydney and I spent some time outside today. We started out in our yard, raking. Or, throwing leaves, if you are Sydney.





We then went for a walk around the neighborhood. I love her in her hat and pink coat.



It was a nice morning and it made our Monday Morning Movie all that much more fun, since Sydney was willing to snuggle with me for a little bit.

Plus, you can't forget our awesome dinner, Family Home Evening and two no accident days in a row!

NaBloPoMo

November is NoaBloPoMo and I'm going to try to participate. I will spend the next couple days backdating the rest of October as well as keeping November updated. It's a very exciting month for us anyway, with birthdays and Thanksgiving, plus law school developments, so there should be a lot for me to say.