First Bike Rides

After a little debate determining if Sydney was ready for a big girl bike we headed out to the store and came home with a new bike and helmet. Sydney seemed pretty excited at the store but seemed much less interested on the car ride home. Well, she decided she was excited about it when we got home so we headed out to give it a try. We live on a hill and it was pretty difficult for her to get the hang of pedaling going up the hill and going down the hill proved a little too scary for her. So a few days later we found a nice flat and empty parking lot where she enjoyed her bike ride much more. We have also taken her a few more times to several other parking lots and she is improving and seems to be getting the hang of constant pedaling. Logan loves the bike and didn't enjoy riding his little Clifford toy when there was a big bike to try out. So we let him have a turn or two even though his feet don't even touch the pedals. Here we are on the first afternoon.

Always a Fun Time at Pa's House

A week ago Heath took off to Minnesota for a few days to visit with family, baptize our niece, and bless her new baby. I took the kids and stayed at my parent's house while he was gone. We always have a fun time when we visit and the kids especially enjoy themselves. This time was no exception. The night we arrived my dad brought home a goat. Yes, you read that right - A GOAT! He is building a fence to house some goats on his "farm." He found a good deal on one and went ahead and got it. Sydney and Logan really liked it. Ok, Logan LOVED it and Sydney was a little apprehensive at first. Logan squealed and tried everything he could to open the cage and get at it. Sydney warmed up after watching Logan enjoy himself so much. It quickly became apparent that there is no way for us to have a pet (not that we want one) because Logan would "love" the poor thing to death. Sadly the goat got sick and died the next day but the children sure loved him for that one night.

Snow Day

Remember how I mentioned that we have had some crazy weather lately...well, here are some pictures of the big snowstorm to prove it.

Here are the kids getting ready to go outside. This took forever but you have to do it, especially when it only snows every once in a while.

Sydney's main goal at playing in the snow was to learn how to make a snow angel. Here she is mastering her technique.
Logan was really excited to go outside, probably because Sydney was so excited. But he didn't really like the snow very much. It was a little too deep for him and he couldn't walk without falling. Here he is wanting us to pick him up out of the snow. Poor guy.
Sydney just loved it though and would have stayed out all afternoon if we let her. Heath stayed out and helped her make a little snowman while I rescued Logan and warmed up inside.
All in all it was a fun day but I must admit that I don't want to see anymore snow until the end of the year. I am ready for Spring!

Silly Kids!

Either us or our children have been sick the better part of this year. It has been quite some time since we have all felt good enough to enjoy a free weekend together. We currently all have colds so this weekend is once again being spent in the house trying to feel better. I must admit that these walls are getting a little old lately. One of my saving graces has been my silly children. They make me laugh constantly and that has been a life saver! Sydney has decided that she really likes the song"Hot and Cold" as seen on TV commercials for the CD Kidz Bop. It cracks us up because neither Heath nor I know or ever listen to this song. After several requests Heath downloaded this song from ITunes and Sydney is obsessed. ( He downloaded the Kidz Bop version b/c I am not sure if the real version is appropriate.) She requests it several times each day and she must dance to it each time. She has started to learn most of the tricky lyrics and Heath and I laugh every time we hear her singing it.

Logan has discovered that he enjoys being LOUD!!!! His decibel level must have increased 10 times in the past three weeks. He is all boy and is constantly doing anything he can to get into trouble. He is very adept at climbing and will move our little stools all over the house to climb on and get into something new. He has also decided that he is too big to come down the stairs on his tummy and now must come down like a big boy. This scares us every time but there is no changing his mind. Either we have to carry him or he is coming down his way! He is starting to attempt a few more words. He can say "Uh-Oh" and "Cracker" pretty well and has for a while. Just yesterday he attempted "button" but normally he sticks with his constant baby babble that only he can understand.

We love our little ones and are excited to have one more in a few months!

Dance Class and Building Stuff with Daddy

Sydney has been taking a dance class since the beginning of February. At first she was little apprehensive about attending but has decided that she likes it. A few weeks ago they had a parents day so Heath and I went to watch her. It was so fun to see her dancing and interacting with her friends. Here are a few pictures from that class.

She has a little leotard with an attached tutu that she wears each week but she didn't want to take her other clothes off this time. Too bad, because she is super cute in it.

Here she is another time helping build a Valentines box with her Daddy. Heath gets these little projects from the Home Depot after they hold a children's workshop. Sydney loves working on them with her Daddy. She especially loves it if she gets to paint it.

Catching Up

Well, I must admit that I have not been in a blogging mood for quite sometime. So here is my attempt to play some catch up.

This winter has been really unpredictable. We have gone from 8 inches of snow to nearly 80 degree weather within just 5 days. We have had a few really warm days and then we will go back to extremely cold ones. I am hopeful that the end of March will mark the beginning of Spring! I hope that the weather stays a little warmer outside from now on. Here are some pics of the kids enjoying the weather one afternoon when it was a little warmer outside.

Logan and Sydney have also started to play together much more and I love it! Here they are hugging before bedtime. So cute!!!

The biggest change we have been adjusting to the past few months has been the idea of having another little one to keep us occupied. We are starting to get excited about the new baby and Sydney always asks what we are going to name the baby in my tummy. Here is a picture of him/her at about 12 weeks.
We will find out whether this little one is a boy or girl in a few more weeks and I can't wait!

New Picture of the Kids.

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It's About Time!!!!

Well, I know that I am way behind on updating the blog and it is really time that I make a post. We have been pretty busy the past month. We spent two weeks in Utah visiting with family for Christmas. We had a great time and Sydney and Logan loved getting to play with their cousins. Heath and I had fun visiting places we frequented when we were dating. We also managed to get a night away for our anniversary. Thanks to Heath's mom for watching the kids for us - We had a great time!

Santa made two stops for our children this year. He came to our house a few days early to bring some gifts to the children. He then made a stop in Utah on Christmas to bring the rest of the gifts. It worked out well and we were able to bring all of Santa's gifts back home on the plane! Here are a few pictures from his stop to our house in Virginia:

And here are the children on Christmas morning in Utah.

Sydney absolutely loves her "I Pod" that Santa brought her. Too bad it doesn't work quite right after being dropped so much.

This was a little later in the day - she kept that thing on all morning!

Here are a few pictures of some of our Utah family. (I could have added lots more - but decided against it to save space.)

Heath and his mom.

Heath's dad and the kids.

Heath's mom, Logan, Heath's grandma, Heath, & Sydney

When we arrived in Utah there was plenty of snow on the ground. It continued to snow for the next several days and Sydney had lots of fun playing in the snow with her cousins. She told me that her favorite part was "digging." She was always the last one to come back inside and the fist to want to go back out again after she got warm.

A few nights before we came home we went to Temple Square to see the lights. Sydney loved the lights and Logan tolerated being out in the cold. We got some cute pictures out of it and had a fun time even though it was really crowded. When we visit Utah I always love to stop by Temple Square - it was where I told Heath that I loved him too - for the very first time. Ahhh - the memories. Here we are a little over five years later with two kids. Man, time flies!

Happy Birthday My Sweet Girl!

Yesterday was Sydney's birthday and I cannot believe that my baby girl is 3!!! I just don't know where time has gone or why it has started to speed up so much since Sydney was born. At this rate I will be a grandma before I know it! Here she is being silly as usual.

We had a little party for her at Burger King and it was lots of fun! I heard a suggestion somewhere to only invite the number of children to a party that your child is turning. We tried that out and Sydney had 3 friends with her for her little party. I think it went great and I loved that it wasn't super hectic with lots of children. We ate lunch, played on the playground equipment, sang Happy Birthday, blew out candles, ate cupcakes, pined the eyeball on the monster, opened presents, and then played a little more. Sydney seemed to have fun so that is all that matters.

The ice cream cone cupcakes I made:

Sydney and her crown:

Logan actually kept his crown on for a while. I was surprised.

Blowing out her candle.

Pin the eye on the monster:

Heath in the play equipment helping children climb:

Emily taking a turn helping the children climb:

Happy birthday my little girl! I love you more and more each day and am blessed to be your mother.

Gingerbread Houses

Two weeks ago we made gingerbread houses for FHE. We had lots of fun and of course Sydney got really into it. I didn't have any decorating bags so I improvised with a ziploc bag that I cut the corner off of. It was working well until I apparently squeezed to hard because it broke and the icing came pouring out the side all over my hands. Heath thought that was pretty funny. We made a big mess but had a good time. We have snitched all the good candy off of the houses now but they lasted a little while.

House #1

House #2 - I really liked the snowman that Heath made.

Here was a little of the mess. The floor was definitely gross after we were finished.