Sledding, Round 2

It felt good to get back outside after dealing with obnoxiously cold weather.  We decided to head to the neighborhood park/dry well and do some sled riding before the little bit of snow melts off.  Warmer weather and rain are coming and will make the snow disappear!

Sawyer had a minor collision after many downhill runs and now has a nice bruised bump on her cheek.  It took some coaxing to get her back on the sled, but she finally decided that it was more fun to sled ride than it was to whine : )

Winter Fairy

We stepped outside this afternoon to scrub off the nasty garage floor and to enjoy 29 degree weather!  It felt like a heat wave in comparison to the frigid cold weather we have been having for well over a week.

Outside play turned into picture time and then turned into us getting all bundled up for sled riding.

Here is a cute photo of Sydney while she was running around the yard enjoying the better weather.

Scooter

We had bad weather the other day so the district dismissed school early.  I picked Jared up from school and he spent the afternoon with us.  Days when Jared comes to visit means tons of activity.  The girls love the unfinished basement so much and Jared does too!  The unfinished side is huge.  The indoor trampoline doesn't even fill up the space.  There is still plenty of room for Jared and I to play basketball (kids sized hoop) and for him to scooter.

The girls joined in on the scooter rides too!

 Crappo quality pictures, but you get the picture!  Basement fun for all!

Color and black and white

Those who know me well know my love of all things color, bright, bright color.  I don't convert many of my photos to black and white as I like to see them all in pretty colors! One of their Valentines Day photos just called for black and white.  I am lousy at making the conversions look right for web display.  They look much better in person, but here is just a snap shot of the two of them in both black and white and color.  By this point, they were done having their photo taken, I just thought they looked cute and SO GROWN UP looking.  Crazy!

Valentine's Day ... Early

While it was warm (almost 50 degrees), sunny and snowy, we raced out for the last of the evening light to get a few V-Day shots.
They were so good.  Got two that I love and a few more ok ones.  I got what I needed!

I will attempt Sawyer's 4 year old pictures in a few weeks.  Hopefully we will have another warm, sunny day.

A few more of Reese

Such a pretty baby girl.

Building and Playing

Jared visited us yesterday and the girls had a fantastic time as always when he is here.  Jared taught them how to build the Lincoln Log houses and barns.  Looking forward to having Bethany and Jared here tonight for a pizza night and sleep over.  Girls are excited too!

Swimming like champs

During the warmer weather, I had the kids at the pool at least once or twice a week.  For several months, I have been doing the treadmill at the Y every morning Monday through Friday so I haven't been taking the girls swimming as much since I can't seem to drag myself back to the Y after Sawyer's nap in the afternoon and while it is so cold.  Today was warm and Daddy could swim with the girls so I could get some pictures!

They are awesome swimmers.  They spend all of their time in the 5 foot section of the pool.  They jump, swim laps and tread water.  I love to watch them and it makes me so excited for yet another season at the lake.  I could barely get them out of the water this past summer, I can't even imagine what this summer will be like.

The few jumping pictures I got are totally out of focus since I didn't have enough light for a faster shutter speed.  Oh well, the out of focus pictures still speak to how much my girls love flinging themselves in the water.

Fish, total fish.

Reese

Reese was pretty wakeful when I tried to take a few pictures of her the other day.  We are going to try again this week and hope that she sleeps more so we can get a variety of poses of her.

She is so pretty and so tiny.  Love her.

Big Girl Activities

My girl is turning 4 years old in a month!  Still can't believe it.  We are looking forward to celebrating her birthday with the family this year now that we are back home in PA.

She loves to make her own lunch now.

A game of Strawberry Shortcake after lunch.  Her face cracks me up after she finds a match.  Trying to keep up with big sister on this game.

A few more from the holidays

I pretty much love this picture.  This was the Christmas card winner.  Love their laughter, togetherness and happiness in this image.  You would never know from looking at these happy smiles that it took me forever to get just a few good images! 

 My favorite Charlie hiding spot.

 The girls' favorite Charlie hiding spot.

 Charlie trying to sneak off to school in Sydney's backpack.

 Blurred tree photo.

 Winter time reading.

Trains, trains and more trains

Jim's dad had a train set as a child and after he passed away, we stored the train set.  This Christmas Jim decided to set a few of the trains up in the living room as he has such fond memories of these trains when he was growing up.  Both girls enjoyed watching these old trains running, but Sawyer took a real interest in them.  She would help Daddy put new trains on, fiddle with them, try to fix them, etc.

More Half Year Celebration Pictures

Sawyer Molly enjoyed taste testing Sydney's half cake tonight! Can you tell my little girl likes her sweet treats!?  I thought she was going to dive right into the cake!

 Not sure what Daddy was saying to Sydney when I snapped this photo, but classic Sydney, avoiding looking at the camera!

Sydney's face is slightly out of focus in the picture below but I had to show it because Izzy dog cracks me up!  Look at the doggy tongue sticking out for a lick at the same time Sydney is taking a taste!

5 and a half years old

Sydney turned 5.5 years old today!  We spent the day at Nana and Pap Pap's celebrating Pap Pap's birthday and then we came home this evening and Sydney got to enjoy her "half" cake and balloon.

I love this tradition that we started when Sydney was a baby.

My sweet, sweet big girl enjoying her special half year celebration.

I have a few more funny ones to post from our celebration.  I will get to those tomorrow.

Trampoline

"Best Gift Ever!"  That is what Sydney calls her trampoline!  What a great purchase this was!  Mommy and Daddy surprised them with this on Christmas morning.  They love it!  They jump on it constantly and follow the rules by making sure a parent is down in the basement when they are jumping.