Encouraging creativity

Alright! I took a few pictures of the girls just a few minutes after I hung their new artwork.

I took this picture a few months ago and finally got it enlarged for the girls' playroom. They love it! Sydney keeps saying "its so pretty" and then she will sit there and point out all of the colors of each of the colored pencil. I think she will enjoy spending a lot of time at her table coloring with this picture as her inspiration!

I love how it looks in their playroom. 20x30 is my new favorite size!!!!! I have to find more things to photograph as my walls could use more decorations. Anyone have some interesting ideas for me???
Silly Soybean walked right in front of me as I was trying to take the picture.

Silly Sydney.

3 year well visit

Sydney had her 3 year old well visit today. Everything is great. She has stayed in the same percentiles for height and weight, which is good. She talked up a storm to the doctor, even though she didn't do as Dr. Karen instructed without a little hassle! I guess that is a 3 year old for you. Dr. Karen laughed and said it is typical 3 year old behavior.

Soybean goes in two weeks for her 18 month! Really!

Sorry for the lack of pictures. Had a couple of sessions this past weekend so the kids haven't had their pictures taken for a few days....heaven forbid!

Out of the blue

I was in Rochester for most of the day on Sunday for work. I came home in the late afternoon and the girls were excited to see me.

We were heading right out to friends' for dinner, so I was in the kitchen with Jim helping him wrap the food up.

Out of the blue Sydney said to me "I love you Mommy. I missed you Mommy." I was so thrilled and touched. It really made my heart swell. I am glad she is saying I love you without being prompted by us!

New decoration for Lake George

Enough said : (

New prints

I realize that I haven't update my prints for a while. I ordered two foamboards the other day of two of my favorite images from this summer. Once the house is put back together, I will have to find the perfect spot for these two.

The pictures don't do them justice. I love how they turned out.

Soybean

While Sydy was having a bad day, Soybean was having a good day. Look at this face!

Seriously, she has the sweetest (and feistiest) personality. Even if she does spill the dog water, throw things in the toilet, climb the steps, steal my shoes, feed her food to the dogs...she is still the happiest, sweetest thing ever.

Sydney's grumpy days are rare, so I always feel blessed when I think of how easy my girls are! Everyday is an adventure and a pleasure.

Lily pad

Our bay has the prettiest lily pads. I didn't have the right lens with me the day I saw this, but I still think this is a pretty shot. It would have been nicer had I been able to get closer, but they are so pretty to look at.

Snack time

Izzy and Soybean have a special bond - especially when food is involved. Izzy decided to follow Sawyer around while she was eating her fishy crackers. I had to get the camera out to watch this interaction. It was priceless.

Nose to nose.

Still following her.

Alright, she gave up. Poor old Izzy dog. Not a single fishy cracker to share.

Grumpy Sydy

Sydy was having a very emotional day this morning. I am not sure if she was tired or just bored, but she had a few time outs in her room for not listening and not sharing. Even after the timeouts, she was still a wreck. So I decided to lay some blankets in their new tent so she could chill for a little while. It helped a little.

Then I made them their favorite (and not often served in my house) lunch of mac and cheese. Not the usual Annie's organic, but the nasty Kraft mac and cheese (it taste better, I know). That did the trick. She was a doll the rest of the day : )
Soybean couldn't get enough of the mac and cheese. She is such a picky eater but there are certain things that I know she will eat. I barely had to wipe the table or her face off after this meal. Somehow the spoon made it to the right spot every time! Stinker.

Every morning

Every morning since we brought her pottery piece home, Sydney has asked to bring it downstairs. Every night before bed, we have to bring it upstairs!

So cute and so Sydney...

Kitchen

Haven't posted any pictures of the kitchen remodel on here. We finally got counter tops last week and I love how everything looks. There is still a lot of finishing work to do, but at least the kitchen functions now. The new space is so amazing to work in. It makes me realize just how bad the old layout was.

Kitchen hardware goes on today and my laundry room counter goes on today. I can get all of the cupboards filled with dishes and finally get my laundry room/mudroom put back together.

More pictures to follow soon.

Lady Bug Meets Hardwood Floors

Some little lady wanted to carry her lady bug all around the house. I told her we should put it in her room because it was going to break. She really didn't want to let it go.

A few minutes later I hear a very loud crash...

Sydney's first masterpiece landed on the hardwood floors...

It wasn't pretty...

and after lots of tears, cuddles and kisses....

we decided to put lots of band-aids on it...

so now it is all better.

Sydyisms part zillion

I was rushing around like a crazy person this morning trying to get out of here on time to get to Sydney's preschool summer orientation playgroup. I didn't have coffee, I was running late, so I was a little stressed out. Got in the truck, realized that the slow leak in our tire got worse, was worried about driving, etc. Just a crazy morning.

We made it to preschool and enjoyed our visit. Sydney has decided to be shy all of the sudden. Yes, you read that correctly. She is becoming somewhat shy. Shocking, as she has aways been miss social butterfly. Who knows. Just a phase.

Anyway, we left preschool to go pick up our pottery pieces. I went to DD for some iced coffee (much too late at this point). Sydy had a lot to say on the long drive into town because she would not stop talking. After my stressful morning, I was hoping she would rest. After listening to her talk about the same things over and over, I told her she needed to rest because I couldn't think straight! She tells me "No thinking about it." Nice!

Speaking of pottery, we picked up our creations and she hasn't let it go since. Here is her lady bug and the flower piece I painted to match Sawyer's bedroom. I think Sydney's first pottery piece is a masterpiece! I am so proud of her and it brought me so much joy just watching her create so freely. We will be doing this again soon since she had so much fun!

All caught up on posts

As you can see, life has been a little crazy. We don't have a computer or internet at camp, so pictures have stayed in the camera for a few days. So now I am officially caught up on my posts!!!

We enjoyed our week with Teddy and the girls had such a fun time playing with him. We got back in town yesterday and I have so much to do to get things back in shape around here.

First on my list is grocery shopping. We now have a functioning kitchen. It isn't done, but at least we can cook and clean and function!

Worms

The day that we celebrated Sydy's birthday, she fished with her buddy Sammy and daddy. She was more interested in playing with the worms than catching fish. I didn't have my camera with me that night, but I did have my camera the other day when Jim and Teddy had worms for their fishing trip. Needless to say, Sydy insisted on holding one.

Yawning while cuddling her worm on her belly. Yuck.

Gross.

Hairy kid

Look at this hair! I love the girls' hair. I love how different their hair is too.

Some woman in a store told me that Soybean's curls were just baby curls...I hope not! My mom assured me that my curly hair looked just like this when I was a baby. Here is hoping she keeps the curls.

I told you so

I don't always get much credit for good ideas so when Jim tells me I was right and he was wrong, I love to throw in a good dose of "I told you so."

He insisted that a golf cart at Lake George would be a great idea. He said it would be more practical for going up and down the hills at camp on our way to the lake. I told him that a golf cart would scare me on those hills and that we would be better off with an ATV.

He won the battle and we got a golf cart (which by the way, stayed at home for several weeks and was so much fun to run around the yard). Once we got it up to camp and after only one week at camp, I heard the statement that I don't hear too often. I was right, we should have gotten an ATV. Whoo hoo...told you so!

Now we are on a mission to sell the golf cart. In the meantime, he found a fantastic deal on an ATV that has very few hours and miles on it.

He brought it home on one of the first days that Teddy was here. Teddy has one at home, so he was excited to ride this bigger, more powerful one! Soybean nearly freaked out from excitement when she saw it.

Look at this expression! She rode on it immediately. Sydy took a quick ride too, but she was more interested in searching for frogs in the yard. Go figure.

I will miss the golf cart and I will especially miss hearing Soybean say "gof car ri." She actual says golf cart ride. Very clearly. Even Teddy was shocked at how good she was saying it. Now I just need to teach her to say ATV ride.

Sydyisms again and again and again

Sydney loves band-aids. They make her so happy and she asks for them all the time. She and I were out running erands and people kept asking about all of the band-aids on her legs. No real boo-boos, just for fun.

Ever since Sawyer wound up with 4 stitches in her chin, we are constantly reminding her to be careful so she doesn't fall again. Each time we tell Soybean to be careful, Sydney pipes in and says "no falling and bumping her chin open." It is too funny!

The other day Sydney fell on her belly while running and didn't hurt herself, but insisted on getting a band-aid for her chin. Not to be left out, you know : )

Teddy's Lake George Portraits

I took pictures of Teddy while he was visiting. Similar to the ones I got of Bethany when she and Jared were visiting. It makes me sad that I didn't get any shots of Jared, but we just ran out of time. Luckily Jared may be coming back up for a quick visit. I will make it a priority to get some shots of him too.

Here are a few of Teddy that I love.

No, the photo isn't crooked, the boat was sitting on a slope. I love that our neighbor's row boat was still out and set up. Cool photo prop!

Dumb Dog

We have two labs that have no retrieving instinct when a stick or ball is thrown their way. Izzy will chase it, grab it and then run away. Remi will barely acknowledge when something is thrown at him.....except in the water. Remi is an amazing swimmer and becomes obsessed with retrieving sticks, balls, rafts, etc. Anything he can do to swim swim and more swim.

We love taking the dogs down to our bay at camp. They run down the hills to the bay, they jump in the water and swim until they are exhausted.

Teddy and Jim went fishing the one morning. I suggested that they let the dogs run down to the dock with them to swim. They usually run right back home, but Izzy decided the girls' breakfast was too appealing, so she stayed home. Remi raced down the hill after the golf cart but he never came back. I wasn't too worried, knowing that he would rather swim.

Ted and Jim got home and I discovered that after they took off on the boat, Remi followed them in the water (swimming a significant distance). The guys decided to turn around and go back to the dock so Remi would follow. Apparently they got back to the dock but Remi wouldn't leave, so they put him in the boat and went on with their fishing trip.

Here are some photos that Teddy took while they were out. You can see Remi's head out of the water. He swam a pretty good distance. Crazy dog!

Nice pictures Ted!

Cool Pictures, Part 3

Teddy is a budding photographer. He was playing with my old D50 all week and I was giving him some lessons on taking pictures out of the Auto setting. We were working with slow shutter speeds in the dark and spinning the camera. We were using a candle and the lights/sconces at camp. I was trying to create letters and managed to make a J and a B for my initials. It came out really cool.

Check it out!

Teddy's visit

Teddy is leaving today. We will miss him. I always get sad when Bethany and Jared have to leave and then when Teddy has to leave. The older cousins always keep my girls so entertained with their big kid antics!

More about Teddy's visit and pictures to come.

Date with my little girl

Every summer that Bethany and Jared have been coming to NY, I have taken them to the pottery place to paint pottery. I love it as much as they do. For several years in a row, the kids let me keep their creations. They are proudly displayed in my bookcase. I can't wait for Sydney and Sawyer's creations to fill my wall shelves.

I wanted to treat Sydy to a mommy daughter date for her birthday so we went the other day. She had so much fun!!! My philosophy is, let her create as she wants. I didn't tell her which piece of pottery to pick and I didn't tell her how to paint. I sat down and painted something myself too! Of course Sydney picked a lady bug. I helped her pick out paint brushes and paint and then she went crazy! She was so sweet to watch. I knew she would love this activity. I can't wait until Sawyer is old enough to join in on the fun.

No fashion sense

It would appear that Sydney has my lack of fashion sense. Go figure.

Sleepy Girl

Soybean is having sleeping issues. Weeks and weeks. Right around the time the kitchen project started and our lives got turned upside down. I am not surprised that she is having a rough time. She is also teething from what we can tell. That is enough to make any little baby sad. Needless to say, she is tired...and out of sorts. She was so tired the other day that she started to fall asleep while eating lunch. It made me laugh.

Going...

Going....

and she's gone...

Fish Bowl

For weeks before Sydney's 3rd birthday, we asked her what she wanted for gifts. She kept asking for a fish bowl. We told her over and over that we would love to get her a fish bowl for her birthday.

Well, life has been a little crazy and I was living at camp for most of this past month, so I didn't get her a fish bowl for her bday. I intended to get one now that I am home, but haven't done so.

Tonight we were looking at all of her birthday cards and I was asking her if she had a nice birthday. She talked about fishing that day and riding the boat and then all of the sudden she said "I didn't get no fish bowl." It broke my heart. Needless to say, I am getting her a fish bowl this weekend.

3 years in review

Here she is at her first birthday...

Here she is on her 2nd birthday. So cute. Love the chubby cheeks and hair. And here she was this year...what a beauty. Growing up so fast...

We celebrated Sydney's birthday on Monday since Jim was off of work. We were at camp and spent the morning playing and baking. She loved her birthday gifts. Just a few small things to open. She was especially enthralled with her birthday cards. She carried them around with her for days (Aunt Adrien's card came in the mail early). She loved them! It was hysterical.

We were invited over to camp friends' house for homemade ice cream and sparklers. The girls loved the sparklers and enjoyed playing with camp friends. From there we went to southern Lake George to visit Karyn, Jon and Sam at their family camp. Sammy, Sydney and Sawyer had so much fun playing together. They fished on the dock, played with the nasty worms (well, Sydney did). We took a boat ride on Sammy's Grandpa's boat. They have a much larger boat than we do so the ride was so smooth and "way fast." Sydney kept talking about the "huge boat." We had dinner, played some more and then headed back up to our camp for the night.

Fun, fun birthday celebration...
Being a shy girl when daddy was telling her to open the gifts up.

She just loved opening gifts this year!

Pretty impressive cupcakes, if I do say so myself! We didn't end up eating too many of them as we took them to a friends. Sydney isn't a big sweet eater, so she took one or two bites and that was it.

Blowing out her birthday candle. She was so excited.

What a nice way to celebrate such a special little girls birthday. She talked non stop about her birthday and her visit with friends. Looking forward to having a 3 year old and all of the challenges and joys that will bring to our lives.

Crazy Hair, Crazy Child

I just showed Jim this picture and he said "She is such a character." Such a perfect description of our little one.