Brody's 1 Year Photo's

Its been so long since I've posted, that I think the first person to check this blog should get an award! Leave a comment so I know someones still checking. (If not, I'll just mass email this out so you know I'm trying to make time in my life for this again) Here's about 1/2 of the pictures we had taken at Brody's 1 year photo shoot. Some are the good ones we got prints of, but some are just pretty funny. We couldn't get Brody to hold still long enough to take a picture-he's a handful! He kept trying to pry himself loose from Sydney, but she was a very patient big sister. He's got 1 of 4 molars, and must be cutting the rest now because it was hard to keep his hands & everything else out of his mouth. He even tried to bite the soccer ball & made his mouth bleed. Got blood all over me, and I was wearing white....so we only had a few select family-of-four pictures to pick from (the pre-bleed shots). Enjoy! One day I'll catch up on what we've missed since Christmas.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Time Flys......

The explanations & stores are going to be brief, since I'm so far behind on blogging. Here's what we've been up to for the last 6 weeks:

Brody's first taste of rice cereal. He ate 3 bowls!

Sydney enjoying a witches hat (ice cream cone) at the Halloween Party

Enjoying a donut at the party

My littlest pumpkin

Sydney trying to win the contest to eat a donut w/out using her hands. She was so dedicated that I almost felt bad for her. It was super windy & cold outside, so all the other kids gave up and went inside...but she kept on brushing her hair out of her face & trying again. I finally just gave it to her & told her she won so we could go inside. God bless her little heart!

all the big kids

Sydney made me a cake for my 30th birthday. Can you tell she put the sprinkles on all by herself?

This crown has been a favorite accessory since VBS this summer. The feather wreath was out for Brooke's baby shower, and Syd like to dance with it as a tutu.

This scratch on her face is from a fit she threw at Paula's. She was having a hard time adjusting to my new work schedule, but I think we're doing better now.

Tanner came over to spend an evening with us. They were so cute in their (almost) matching pj's.

I let them take a shower together for some good "clean" fun. I can't show most of the pictures in case any weirdos look at this page, but I'm sure you can imagine how much squealing & fun they had! They were in there so long we totally ran out of hot water!Brody is such a good cuddle baby

Learning to sit up. He really figured this out right after Thanksgiving & now sits like a champ!

One afternoon, right before I went back to work, I left Syd playing while I put Brody down for his nap. When I came back out, she'd just fallen asleep in the middle of her toys & inside of this pop-out ice cream truck. She's such an angel when she's asleep!

My cutie in her Strawberry Shortcake outfit waiting for me to get ready in the morning.

My boys in brown

This is a common scene...Brody pulling Syd's hair

And me prying open his grabby hands to free her

What a funny expression!

5 month pict November 4, 2008: Brody's shirt predicts him to be the future president. Not this year bub, Mr. Obama's the winner-hooray!

Clean ducky

Sydney sang "Twinkle twinkle Christmas Star" in her debut appearance in the annual Christmas program at church. She made me so proud & sang ever word very seriously!

The "Christmas Moose" is very entertaining to my kids (really its a reindeer that sings & dances, but Syd thinks its a moose)

Sydney got her very own big-girl Christmas tree this year. Cousin Trevor has one in his room, and she was very jealous of it after our Thanksgiving visit.

Jumping for joy

See those teeth? Razor sharp! He's bit me half a dozen times, yikes!

Its really hard to stay mad at this face though

First snow! Jeff showed Syd how to catch it on her tongue.

Try as he may, Jeff is still learning that there is no sleeping in with babies in the bed

Syd practicing her photography skills. See how nice Jeff's teeth look? He's nearly done with his invisaline (quite an investment!)

Our last trip was Sydney's first time to sleep without the Pack N Play. She outgrew it a while back, but we kept using it anyway. For her 2nd birthday, Addie Sue got her this inflatable Dora bed. She was so excited to use it. We practiced the night before we left town to make sure there weren't any surprises. It worked like a charm!

Brody enjoyed it too (which means he tried to eat it)

Gram got this gift when Brody was born. He & Sydney both really appreciate it. I've been pleasantly surprised at how many toys they can enjoy together.

Who can resist a naked baby bum?

Brody enjoys his feet most of all. When he's naked, I can't hardly keep them out of his mouth long enough to wash them.

6 month picts

he always tries to eat the elephant

And his shirt...he's such an oral baby. This probably means I need to baby proof soon. Syd never put things in her mouth, so I'm probably in trouble this time!

I will post again, soon!

I promise I will post again soon.....maybe Monday night if I'm lucky! I started back to work 2 weeks ago at UPS, converting my old DHL customers through the US shut down. Kinda a sad time seeing the company I worked for for 5 years shrink down to a fraction of the size & everyone I knew scatter in the wind. I feel lucky to have a job, especially given these economic times............but I miss my kids horribly & nearly all other aspects of my life are being neglected.

On top of all this Jeff has volleyball 4 nights a week and the last 2 Saturdays were full 8 hour days at the gym for try-outs!

I think we're finally getting into a routine & figuring things out. I have actually managed to take some pictures of my kids in the last couple of weeks......so.....more to come soon!

Christmas Shopping

Imagine if everyone had this on their wishlist:

http://adventconspiracy.org/

Sydney's Glasses

So, we officially got Syd's glasses on Friday afternoon. I was a little nervous that it was going to be a long weekend of battling her over them, but my wonderful daughter amazed us by not complaining once. I think the trouble at first in the office is that they were teaching her the proper way to put them on, take them off, & put them away all by herself. She's just not quite ready for that yet, so as long as one of us do it for her all is good. Her favorite part of having glasses is putting them to bed each night in thier "suit case".

I tried to get some side shots so you could check out the decor on the sides of the arms. Miss Liz, our glass consultant, said that this new trend is all the rave.
I've been getting asked a lot how we knew she needed glasses at such a young age. It started more than a year ago that she would close one eye while she was eating, or sometimes when she was talking with someone sitting beside her. Or, I would catch her looking at her food cross eyed. Doc said she's farsighted & that she was having double vision when she focused up close. Her Rx is not a strong one, 1.5 in both eyes, but I guess it was enough that I don't see her crossing anymore. Doc also said that everyone is born farsighted, some more than others, and that this adjusts with age. He anticipated that she'd outgrow the need for glasses at around 9 or 10 years of age.
Brody got his first tooth yesterday. I haven't got a picture of this razor in his drooly mouth yet, but I'll try again tomorrow. He's obsessed with running his tongue over it and I can't get him to move it so I can see the tooth very often.

Fall is my favorite time of year in KC

I haven't blogged in a month, so this is a long one folks!

My kids at bedtime, all pj'd up. Brody fell over.....Syd was there to catch him.

How can you tell when Brody's tired???? He rubs his eyes.
And yawns real big.
A few weekends ago we went to Tanner's 3rd birthday party. He got every little kids dream....pony rides! Gabrielle is the little girl in the picture below with Syd. She & her older sister, Isabelle, go to church with us. Sydney always asks where the "dirls" are and calls them "Dabrielle & the other Dabrielle". They are both so sweet with her!

A feeble attempt at a group picture.
Brody with his cowboy hat & cowboy face on.

We went to RenFest again this year. I actually think we've gone every year that we've lived in KC. The last few years we struggled with mud, but the weather was perfect this year. Sydney is really into pretend play and she's usually a princess or a fairy. This day she was a fairy princess. Its so real in her little mind! When I put on her wings she said "Mommy, when do I get little so I can fly around?". How darling! She honestly thought the wings would be like magic and make her small like Tinker Bell so she could fly around. I had to let her down easy-don't want to crush that imagination.The unicorn princess/fairy (above) gave Syd a magic jewel. It was hot pink & she loved it. In fact, she carried it around for nearly a week until it was sadly misplaced. Before Syd could play in the fairy house with Addie Sue, she had to tuck it safely in her pocket.

The girls loved these cute little pod looking things. They would swing it around by the ropes holding it up. Since Sydney got wings her first RenFest, we decided that Brody needed a hat. Lucky for him, Aunt Meghan was there to treat him. Sydney thought he looked like royalty in his hat.A brother this cute deserves a kiss!Meghan took this picture from her phone while she was here. I feel awful that we didn't even get any pictures of her with the kids. I'm usually the picture taker, but my hands are so busy & full these days that I've let it slip a lot! Meghan, we'll get you with the kiddos at Thanksgiving!An early Halloween Treat. Jeff is the king of treats & sweets. Hardly a day goes by that he doesn't bring her something home from work.
Apparently I gave Brody a little of the "deer in the headlights" affect here.
Crown Center had a Pumpkin Patch festival thingie to raise money for TLC (http://www.kidstlc.org/). It was great fun. Syd made a ghost out of a Tootsie Roll Pop. The ghost decor lasted about 45 seconds, and the she asked if she could eat it.Syd, not so sure about the Blue Crayon.Lovin' the pony ride.This is how Brody enjoyed the festivities!You might not be able to tell in this shot as much, but my boys look just a like! Especially this day, since they both had on black.We picnic lunched it at Jeff's office afterwards. His building connects to Crown Center, so it worked out perfectly.Our pick:My skeleton man, just cause he's so cute....and I don't always get enough pictures of him since he sleeps through a lot.Jeff prides himself on pumpkin carving. We decided not to do a demonic pumpkin this year, since Syd's imagination often goes overboard and she gets scared. I'm not sure why she doesn't have pants on in this picture....probably because she'd gone potty by herself and decided that they weren't necessary as long as underware were on.

I wanted to get a shot of it lit at night, but I tried several settings on the camera so the flash didn't drown out the inside light....my attempts are below.


Yes, I'm still waiting to take a photography class!

Its so sad, but I think this might be the first time in 5 months that I've taken a picture with both my kids. We usually play a man-on-man defense between Jeff and me.

More....just because I love them so much. And, because I don't always get things documented elsewhere before I forget, I'll make a few notes here. Sydney got glasses on Friday. I haven't taken a picture of her in them yet (outside of the ones in my camera), but I will soon & get it posted. Her prescription isn't real strong, but she's farsighted enough that she was having trouble focusing. She was getting double vision on closer items, and it was most apparent at meal time when she had to close one eye to focus on her food. She has done a wonderful job of keeping them on. It makes Jeff and I a little sad because she looks like such a big girl in them. Anyway, more on that later!
Brody rolled over for the first time on Friday. He's only done it once, but it was still exciting. He was on our bed (in the middle, with pillows around the sides so he wouldn't fall off) and I was getting ready. I put him down on his tummy (like the picture below) and the next time I glanced over he was on his back! I cheered so much that I think I might have scared him a little. Later that night, after bathtime, he was naked in his towel & laying on the floor when he discovered his feet. A baby playing with their feet is one of my favorite things. He kept trying to put them in his mouth, but couldn't quite get them there yet.

American Prayer

http://www.myamericanprayer.com/video.html

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