Christmas eve service

The girls went to the big people service with us. They loved the candle light part. :-) We sang a lot of Christmas carols as well. Those are always a hit.

Christmas story

It was so worth the effort to continue the tradition of acting out the Christmas story. It took a little effort and creativity to carve out the time.

Confidence

Today Sydney was picking out what she was going to wear to school tomorrow.  I was doing my best to guide her in a direction that I thought would be cute for all tlhe first day pictures.  Needless to say, she is quite confident in the outfit she has chosen.  So tomorrow is the day.  We start a new schedule and a new journey of discovering life with a school girl.  Alarms are set and her lunch is packed.  I'm so excited to see her grow as a person through the social aspect of school.  Have fun Sydney Marie.  You are a beautiful person from the inside out.  We love you so much.  Fly, girl Fly!

Meet and greet

Tonight was Meet and Greet.  Sydney was so excited that she coudln't hardly contain herself.  I'm so thankful that we decided to do Roaring Springs in the morning or I don't even know how I would have survived the day.  Here they are walking in with all of her school supplies.  Sydney is so confident and excited, I can't even imagine the stories I'm going to get.  Here is to a new chapter.  

No words necessary!

Similarities

I was at mom's house the other day and snapped pictures of me when I was little, then put them together with our girls' pictures. Here is the result...

Sydney's Kindergarten

Sydney,

Today we received your class placement for Kindergarten.  You are SO excited for school to begin.  Today was the first day I saw a little bit of anxiety from you.  You were a little nervous when you couldn't quite pronounce Mrs. Howerzyl's last name.  You are such a confident little girl.  You love to be in social situations.  You have a tender heart that loves and cares for people deeply.  I know on your first day of school it will take about 10 minutes for you to stay close to mom and once you take in your surroundings you will "jump" in with both feet.  You will be helping the kids that are scared, laughing and playing just minutes after you see all you need to in order to feel comfortable.  God loves you and even though mom can't be there the whole time, he can.  A "bucket filler" is what you are created to be.  There will probably be kids around that don't know how it feels to have a "full bucket" but I'm confident that you will be the one to help them with that.  Be sure to use your "lid" when you need to.  The "bucket dippers" don't understand what it feels like to fill buckets or have a full bucket.  Put a lid on yours and continue to fill others.  Yours will be over flowing.  I love you girl.  I can't wait to hear the stories of your day and see the friendships that you will have for always.  

Get ready to fly.  You are ready.  Enjoy each day.  You ROCK!

Mommy

Best friends

Our girls are becoming best friends. It is so fun to watch them interact and work through conflict. We are so blessed to have been given 2 beautiful girls!

Beautiful rain

All the family has left. And we get a beautiful rain storm just in time for the girls to be able to play with their umbrellas in the rain.  Listen to their gratitude as their singing in the rain saying, "thank you for the rain." I love my girls!

Sydney's heart

Today we are in mccall and Sydney was at the farmers market and saw something she wanted to buy. I told it was too expensive for me to buy two. I asked her if Kaitlyn and her could share. After a while of thinking she told me that she wanted to spend her money from the lemonade stand and I can buy Kaitlyn that way I wouldn't have to spend as much money on both of them. she is such a joy to have in our family. It just about makes me cry to even think about how she is making such kind choices.

Almost a year?

I began to realize how long it has been since I have written when I decided to share my blog with someone and I couldn't even remember the address. I am a little sad about that because I have had some amazing things happen this last year. On August 11th we were blessed with another healthy little girl. She is such a joy to have in our family. She is just a happy little girl that definitely has an opinion. She loves to be see Sydney and watch her play. When Kaitlyn is fussy, Sydney runs to her and say "its okay KK!" Sydney is such a compassionate little girl. Of course the minute Sydney smiles at Kaitlyn she stops fussing usually. I can't say the last 6 months have been easy, but the moments that make me smile are well worth it. Kaitlyn is just about to crawl and we are sure that it will only be a couple months and she will be chasing Sydney. Sydney is so excited to get to play with Kaitlyn. I have caught her pulling Kaitlyn across the floor and Kaitlyn is just smiling and having a great time! Kaitlyn will be buckled in her infant seat ready to walk out the door and I will hear Sydney say "Go Big" as I look over to see Kaitlyn's carseat rocking so high that she is almost perpendicular with the floor and of course they are both just smiling and loving it. Kaitlyn has really started reaching and grabbing things ie. skin, hair, clothes and pretty much anything she can get her hands on. At first Sydney really didn't like it, but I noticed tonight that Sydney has really started being quite patient and I pry Kaitlyn's hand open in order to get Sydney's hair out of her grasp. So many smiles. I think that I am going to stop here for the night, but I hope to be back before the year is up to share more fun stories of the girls. There are days that I think I am crazy for having kids this close in age, but when I see them start to interact, I wouldn't trade it for the world. (Thanks to a TON of family support as well)

Its a crazy life!

Well things have been going crazy around out house, but it is fun to slow down and take a minute to write about our baby!

Today is week 19. This week Chip got to feel the baby move for the first time. It was so fun to finally get to have him get to feel the reality of the new little life inside me. I am still feeling really good and the weather is starting to warm up so I'm enjoying that thoroughly!
I took Sydney on a bike ride this week and didn't realize how windy it was until I got out there. By that time it was too late to turn back. We rode for about 4 miles and I realized that I didn't get out of 2nd gear much. The good thing is that on the way home the wind was at my back. Sydney loved riding in her trailer. I put one of her dolls in there, a water bottle and a ball. She picked up a rock somewhere along our journey so she was completely happy just sitting there playing with her stuff. It was so fun to be out and about getting exercise. I couldn't help but smile as I rode and listen to her just jabbering away. She is such a blessing!
Needless to say, the next day my legs were jello. I tried sleeping in a little, but they wouldn't let me. I finally gave in and got up to stretch because I was miserable laying there in bed.

Just woke up from a nap! Binky, baby and shoe...what more does she need?

We were at the hospital a couple times last week to see Kay. She started Chemotherapy for Lymphoma. Sydney loves to go to her room because there is a curtain that she can run through and play peek a boo. She was pretty proud of herself when she figured out how to climb into the window sill all by herself (dad and mom close by) She would walk back and forth just smiling. It was so cute.

Tonight Chip and I get to celebrate our 9th anniversary. Sydney is going to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa Kellogg so we can go on a date. I am looking forward to having a little break!

Games to play

I have to tell a quick story on Sydney. This morning I was checking email and had one eye on Sydney. I knew all the doors were closed and the stairs were blocked so I was safe to do a few things for myself. She was playing so nice with her toys. I was enjoying the moment when I looked up and couldn't find her. I quickly got up and looked around the house to make sure all the doors truly were closed, they were. Where could she be? My heart went to my stomach... I stopped for a moment and thought, okay, she can't be far. I looked around the room to see if she could be under something. That wasn't a possibility so I started looking behind things. I looked behind the love seat and there and a smiling little girl. I think she knew all along that I was looking for her. She just makes me smile. I made sure that she had room to crawl through and just let her play back there. :) She had a ball. It is the simple things in life.

Continued Miracles...

December 15th. This date has so many amazing memories attached to it... First of all it was the day I was born. The day my mom says was so special. McCall, Moonlit night, easy labor and delivery and a tiny 5 lb 15 oz baby girl. Even though I give her a really hard time about having me at Christmas time, now that I am a parent, I realize it would be an amazing gift.

The next really significant event associated with this date was the day that Chip and I went on our first blind date. We actually started the date on the 14th, but things went so well he didn't get me home until after Midnight. That was 10 years ago! 1999

The next memory associated with that day is one that doesn't bring quite as big of a smile to my face yet it is a memory that was wrapped in hope and God's love. On this day in 2005, we found out that I would be going in to surgery the very next day in order to make sure that the baby we were miscarrying would come out and not leave any infection. Although this was one of the most sad days that I have ever experience, we now knew that we could get pregnant on our own so there was a LOT of hope!

2008...I was blessed to be holding my first child! A healthy baby girl that was born on November 16th. I remember finally starting to get the hang of her schedule and knowing how to feed her correctly. God truly has blessed us with this little girl, Sydney.

Here we are 2009. What more could we ask for? Well, the only that that would even come close to those memories is that one that I am going to tell you about. When we started trying to conceive Sydney we had always wanted two children. After Sydney was born, we thought "wow, she is a Lot of work, are we sure we want two?" After some thought we decided that Sydney would absolutely love a sibling, but we had no idea how long it would take us to get pregnant again. We decided that we just wouldn't worry about it. We would just continue to work on my health, our marriage and let God have control of the fertility part. Here is the 4 memory. Last night Chip took me out to dinner for my birthday. I am never very good about keeping gifts until Christmas so I told him that I was going to give him a gift on my birthday. This is totally something I would do... After dinner, we got to the car and I decided I would give him my gift. At the bottom of all kinds of paper, there was the positive pregnancy test. I must say that I have had a few moments of realization that it is going to be completely different having 2 kids instead of just one. Maybe a little bit of nerves realizing that I am going to go through another pregnancy. I had such an awesome pregnancy with Sydney, I hope this one is the same.

Well, those memories...I'm not sure how they can be topped, but I am sure with children there will be times when memories will compete. They will all have their special place. I just can't hardly believe that God has created another miracle within us. Thank you God for the blessing of another child. I am so thankful for a God that is compassionate, loving, and all-knowing.

Facebook Downfall

I must admit that it has been fun to reconnect with my friends on facebook, but the problem is that I don't get my blog updated like I would like. Recently we have got some fun pictures and videos of Sydney. She has 8 teeth now and is walking. This week she has really started climbing a ton.

Enjoy the pictures and videos. I would love to have your continued prayers for wisdom as I seek to raise my child for God!

She loves to fly

Finally a family

She loves her Dog, but I can't say the feeling is mutual. Zoe just tolerates her, but is very protective.

Fall pictures for her 1st birthday. Homemade photo shoot.

This field was by our house this summer and we just couldn't resist pulling out the western wear and taking some pictures. It was spur of the moment, but they turned out pretty good.

It has been a while!

Well, sorry about not keeping up this blog very well. I am going to try to do better. Sometimes we get distracted from the important things to waste time on things that are less than necessary. I guess I am really saying sorry to myself because I really wanted to keep this up to date and I let other things keep me away. Here are a few fun pictures. I hope who ever looks at these continues to pray God protection on Sydney and wisdom for her parents! Thanks
Sydney's first food. She did awesome. (6 1/2 months)

Swimming lessons with mommy at Joy's house.


Chillin' in the cool sunglasses with Daddy! (someone left these at our house)

First 4-wheeler ride! (she was too tired to care much about it)

Playing with Mikayla's toy in Portland. (she now has her own, she loved it so much)

Troy's wedding in Silverton.

We had the privilege of babysitting for our good friends on their anniversary! Don't worry, Chip was actually just reading to Nya and Zoe, but we decided to throw Sydney into the mix for a picture. :)

Sydney's Dedication. Thanks to all who supported us. Such a beautiful day in so many ways.

My first bath with out Mommy holding me. (5 1/2 months) I snapped the picture and then quickly went back to her side so she didn't tip over.

Mother's Day!

At 5 months Sydney started sitting up on her own and at 6 months she started crawling. Now she thinks she is pretty hot stuff we someone (not me!) helps her walk. She turned 7 months yesterday. I can't believe it.

New Things!

Each day brings new joys and experiences... Here are a few of our latest.

New toys from Grandma Kinzler. She loves them. Just a little intense don't you think?

She discovered her feet last week and this week she figured out that she not only has fingers to suck on, but toes as well. :)She is definitely teething, but the extreme wetness is her trying to drink my water out of my glass. She actually did pretty good and loved it.

Daddy helping her pose for a picture.

I love Chip's expression!

Showing off her new talent in her cute spring time diaper. :0)
Just a beautiful face. (Nice photo, daddy)