Photo-A-Day-For-Daddy; Day 3

Between mosquito bites and now rain, we have been spending more time inside than usual.  Getting a little annoyed by this, by the way. 

While Sydney was in school this morning, I came home and packed a few boxes of toys and books that I felt were cluttering my family and living rooms.  Sawyer was contentedly playing with playdoh at the counter, so I had lots of time to get some things done.  I didn't finish before we had to go pick Sydney back up so I had an empty box sitting on the family room floor.  Syd and Sawyer decided to play with the box and spent a good hour putting their babies inside and pushing the box all around.  It was fun to watch. Now I am sweeping up all of the dog hair that got pushed around with the box!!

Thankfully the relocation package that Jim got includes packing and moving so I don't have to do any of it.  I just figured, the less clutter they have to play with on any given day, the less I have to pick up when the house is showing!!  They won't even miss the few things that I packed. 

Sawyer and I enjoyed some quiet time together while Sydney was at school.  It always amazes me how different Sawyer is when she is by herself.  She is certainly more quiet and less bold when we have one on one time.  I guess that is the nature of being the younger child.  Feeling like you are competing for attention???  Who knows.  She loves stacking blocks up as high as she can. 

Photo-A-Day-For-Daddy; Day 2

We are settling into our new routine. Sydy has school MWF.  On Tue and Thurs I swim laps at the YMCA while the girls enjoy the Y daycare.  Then I treat them to an hour in the kiddie pool and then we picnic at the tables in the Y.  It is a great routine for me because I get some much needed mommy time and the girls have so much fun at the childcare.  Not even a bit of hesitation on either of their parts when we first started going. 

Just a quiet afternoon of playing with babies and playing a fun game of memory.

 Sydney was so excited whenever she found a match! 

Photo-A-Day-For-Daddy; Day 1

Not a great quality picture, but I sure did capture a moment.  Seems our little lady is a fan of princess dress up too.

Struggles

So it begins...

We put the house on the market with no competition anywhere near us...now there is a house for sale right down the street.  The house is bigger and newer and only listed for a few thousand more than what we originally listed at.  They have their home listed well below maret value and significantly lower than what they bought it for over two years ago.  This is driving our value down now too.  I am so frustrated and so sad.  Thankfully we have a significant amount of equity and no fees to pay with the relocation package that Jim's company gave him, it is just so frustrating.

On top of it all, the realtor for that other house had nerve to come through our house as a "showing."  Pissed me off something fierce!  Our realtor was ticked off to!  She said it is an extremely unprofessional approach.  I wasted so much time cleaning and not spending time with the girls for a fake showing!  Crap.   All crap. 

I don't need anymore stress in my life right now. 

Ok, done bitching for now.

Look how little they were...

I love it when I am going through old files and find pictures that take me back to special moments.



Pretty Girl

Baby Dolls

The girls love their baby dolls.  Sydney likes to pretend to carry them on her belly.  I think I will buy her a baby carrier for Christmas this year.  She will flip out!  Anyway, I decided to wrap their babies on their bellies today and they had so much fun carrying them around.  So sweet. 

Sydney asked to look at the picture on my camera and after seeing it, she asked me to take it to Mr. Steve to print it.  Awe, warmed my heart up.  Maybe I will print it for her so she can have it for her room.

Yummy treat

I am not a big fan of feeding our girls sugar treats because I would rather they eat healthy and not sugary!  I know what my sweet tooth has done to me and I don't like it!  But once in a while, we find something that they will surely love.  The other night we were out buying clothes for Jim for his new job and the girls were very cooperative.  We rewarded them with a yummy surprise.  Soybean loved her treat. 

Annual Apple Picking

Apple picking season is something I always look forward to and we headed to our favorite orchard on Sunday morning - just in time to pick our favorite kind of apples.  The girls had an awesome time as usual!  The day was super sunny and there isn't much shade to be found, so picture taking was not fun for me this year.  I still managed to get a few images that captured our fun family day.

 They loved the pony rides.  I thought that Sawyer would be scared but she surprised me and got right on the horse without a care in the world.  Of course, Sydney was in her glory with all of the animals!

 We love this cow friend.  So sweet.

The cider slush was so yummy....

 Until "brain freeze" made our baby sad...poor Sydy girl.

Soybean didn't get brain freeze - luckily.

Yummy cider donuts! 

I have already made an apple crisp and apple brownies with our delicious apples.  The girls picked plenty of apples for a big batch of applesauce and more yummy baked goods. 

"No see me..."

Haircut

The girls got their hair trimmed today.  They both had crispy ends from pool and lake swimming.  After we got home Sydney decided to "cut" her stuffed animal's hair. 

 Admiring her handiwork...

From warm to cold

I went school clothes shopping for Sdyney over the holiday weekend.  I can't remember if  mentioned this before or not, but I was showing Sydney her new clothes and Sawyer got a little upset when I didn't have anything for her.  I felt really bad and Jim mentioned that we probably wouldn't be able to get away with this anymore now that she is old enough to understand. So I was a good mommy and went back out and bought Sawyer a few items to make her happy.  She tried on her new outfit today since it was so cold outside.  She was so proud of her new clothes.  I don't mind buying her some new clothes, I just hope she doesn't have too much of an opinion about what it is that I buy her.  Fortunately, Sydney could care less what kind of clothing I buy her.  They are just too easy to please now.  I expect that they will have opinions sooner than I will be ready for them!

Doesn't she look so grown up.  This was taken just this morning and it made me think that this time next year, she will be heading off to preschool too.



School Days

Sydney started school on Wednesday.  She was so excited ...I think the picture below pretty much sums up her excitement!  I stayed with her the first day and then today she stayed by herself.  I was a little sad that she didn't even cling to me a little bit... just walked right in and started her morning. 

Not to be left out on the first day of school, Sawyer got all dressed up to go on a date with Daddy so that I could devote my time to getting Sydney to school by herself.  Sawyer was very excited for her morning out with daddy and she was so happy to dress in a "princess dress." 

Sleepy girl

This is after repeated attempts at waking this little lady up.  She loves her nappy time. 



Play dates are so much fun

Friends came over last week.  The girls had so much fun playing dress up and singing and dancing to the music. 

Sydney's BFF.

 Sawyer's BFF too!

Drawing faces

My girls are addicted to sidewalk chalk.  Our driveway is forever covered in pictures.  The rain may wash it away, but they always draw more pictures.  This is Sydney's princess.  I was drawing with Sawyer and turned around to see Sydney's work of art.  I love that she is drawing faces now.  She drew this entire picture all by herself.  So cute.

Emma Grace

Emma has gotten so big since the last time we saw her.  She is still the happiest and most contented baby ever!  My girls enjoyed holding their baby cousin this past weekend.

Boating Naps

Soybean loves to nap on the boat.  Usually I hold her which is rough on me because I am getting  bounced around while trying to balance a very larget 2.5 year old on my lap.  We went boating with Nana and Pap Pap the other day and she decided the rocking boat and full sun meant she should nap.  I put her on the seat beside me and covered her all up.  She stayed sound asleep for a long time. 

Her cheeks were all squished from her lifejacket and greasy from all of the sunscreen...but I think she is so adorable anyway.

Camp visit

We had a fun visit with Nana and Pap Pap at camp.  Tropical Storm Irene may have delayed their visit, but we had so much fun during the time that they were here.  I didn't take too many pictures.  I will share them in the next few days.  The lake water was freezing!  Just two weeks ago it was so warm but the cold nights and the yucky storm really cooled the water.  Sydney didn't care, she swam as much as she could.  Sawyer prefered playing more than swimming during this visit to camp.

Nana bought the girls a baby diaper bag and they spent the last two days playing with their babies and their new diaper bags.  Thanks for the gift Nana and Pap Pap.