Golden

Today was my Golden Birthday.  Yep, 30 on the 30th.  Though there was nothing spectacular about it, today was definitely one of my favorite birthdays so far.  Simply for the fact that the people I love most went out of their way to make me feel special.  I am very blessed.
Isa decorated the house.  It's difficult to see, but there were about 15 signs that said "30" and "I love you" on them. 

Mom and Cade got special plates and napkins, and Isa, Cade, and my Dad made a cake (forgot to get a picture of that!).  Marcus made me breakfast, brought me lunch at work, and cooked dinner and cleaned up.

Thank you for a wonderful day!!

Merry Christmas!

Sadly, we will not be getting a Christmas Tree this year.  We never had this problem with the first two, but we decided it's just not possible with Sydney.  She would tear it down in a heartbeat. :)  So, we are trying to decorate other parts of the house instead. 

Before I show you this picture, I should say this.....I am thankful for my husband for many reasons.  One of them is that he doesn't call me crazy (ok, he does, but he still loves me anyways :)) when I stay up late doing things like this...

The lower parts are in Sydney-reach and so will probably be torn down loved on first thing in the morning, so I had to take a picture right away.  :)  I can't wait to see the kids' excitement when they see this when they get up!

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Today is my dad's birthday.  We went over to my parents' house for dinner.  Cade was very cute when, in conversation, he referred to my dad as "The Birthday Boy."  I was quick enough to snap this great picture of them.  Isn't it cute?!  Only missing 2 sweeties....

Halloween

This year for Halloween, we had Ariel (Isa), Super Why (Cade), and Minnie Mouse (Sydney).  It's pretty much impossible to get all 3 of them still and looking at the camera all at the same time....especially when the older 2 were so excited for the evening ahead.  I tried.  (Also, Blogger doesn't like me tonight....I have edited my pictures and they are rotated correctly, but when I load them in they keep getting rotated again.  I tried twice and it did the same thing both times.  So I give up.  You may just have to turn your head. :) )

I love this picture of Sydney....it really shows her personality. :)

We went to a Harvest Festival and then trick-or-treated in my parents' neighborhood with friends.  The kids had a great time, and now we have way too much candy! :)

Books, books, books!

Our love for reading has intensified recently, and I am really enjoying it.  The amount Isa has improved really blows my mind.  Cade loves to sit and listen to his big sister read to him- especially since there's not much she can't read.  And Sydney, oh Sydney.  She loves to sit in your lap and have you read to her.  She also loves to eat books. ;)

Reading behind the curtains in our room.

"reading" her shapes book

Oh this girl!

God Created.....

This evening while Marcus was putting Sydney to sleep, Cade and I worked on his Bible verse for Cubbies.  It went something like this...

Me:  "On Day 1, God created the Heaven and the Earth.  Remember that Cade?  That was your verse last week.  Then on Day 2, God created the sky and the land.  He knew just what we needed."

Cade:  "I know!.."

Me: "Just a sec, Cade.  On the third day, Day 3, God created the plants, flowers, and trees.  He made everything beautiful."

Cade:  "Ooh!  I have one!  God made cabinets!  He made cabinets with TVs in them.  You have one right there!!"

Love that little boy!

13 Months and Thunderstorms

I haven't been posting much lately.  I think I'm a little bit bitter that I'm back at work and it's taking up too much of my time!

Sydney was 13 months last week.  She thinks she's 3 years old though.  She's talking a lot more, and she certainly understands everything we say.  She also learned how to say "no" this week.  Great.  It is pretty cute, though.  She says, "Nnnnnnooooooo." and it's more of a joyful noise and not an angry "no".  She's still putting everything in her mouth (the list is growing by the day!), and she's still just as busy as ever.  I can hardly keep up.  Pictures are quite difficult.  She wants to grab the camera.  And, she hears the other kids say, "Cheese," so she tries to as well.  Only it just comes out, "Aaaahhhh," which is why her mouth is wide open in every picture.

This last weekend we decided to have a movie night during all of the thunderstorms.  The kids brought out their blankets and pillows and Isa even set up a little spot for Sydney.  So sweet!



Love my little babies!

AR

Super proud mama here!  We had Back-to-School Night at Isa's school this evening.  Her teacher, Mrs. Bates, is a wonderful woman and Isa is thoroughly enjoying first grade.  It was great to hear about what they do during the day and the different types of programs they're in. 

One of the reading programs is called AR.  Isa began this program last year in Kindergarten, but I guess I didn't really know that much about it.  She would check out a book from the library, read it 3 times at home, and then go back to school and take a little quiz on it.  She earns points for every quiz she passes, and right now she's working toward earning enough points to receive a library card. 

What I learned tonight is that many of our books at home are AR books as well.  Mrs. Bates showed us how to use the AR website to check.  It also shows the grade level of the book as well as how many points it's worth.  Of course I was curious, so I typed in the names of the books Isa's been reading lately, and found that most of them are levels 2.9 and 3.1.....which means she's reading at about a 3rd grade level!!  So proud of my baby girl!!!

Moses

On the way home from church we always ask the kids what they learned in Sunday School.  It used to be that we would ask this question, and Isa would rattle off every detail, while Cade would act like he hadn't heard a thing.  Today, however, was different.  (Last week Isa moved up a class, so Cade now gets to be in a class without his little mother big sister.) 

I asked Cade what he learned- fully expecting him to say, "I don't know," as usual.  (Actually, I was already thinking how proud of him I'd be if he just gave me the church answer of "Jesus".)  Instead, he said, "Moses."  And then he proceeded to tell me EVERY LITTLE DETAIL in the story of Moses.  It was just about the sweetest thing ever; brought tears to my eyes.  Not only did it mean that he's paying attention, and that what he's learning really is sinking in (even when he acts like it's not), but it meant that our little boy is growing up.

"Cade!!"  I said, "I am so proud of you!  You remembered everything you learned.  You did such a great job listening!" 

"Yeah, and then I started talking."

That's my boy!

Noooooo

If Marcus could have stopped time, I'm pretty sure he would have.  Sydney turned 1 today.  Watching our babies grow up is so bittersweet.  It's so fun to watch them learn and grow, but at the same time it seems to be passing so quickly! 

We decided to have a small dinner with family.  Of course, I had to go with a theme, so Syd had a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" party.  I liked the idea of serving all of the foods that the caterpillar ate through.

The birthday pillowcase (made by Gramma) and hat.

This was the best I could do....she wouldn't leave the hat on!

The sweet birthday girl at church.

Isa and Cade painted the plates.

Sydney's cake.

Caterpillar fruit skewers.

Birthday Girl and Daddy. 

Sydney's birthday outfit Gramma made.

A better shot of the caterpillar.  I'll have to take another picture of it off of her- it was hard to get a good one of her wearing it- she doesn't hold still!!

The frosting tasted good, but she didn't try to dig in to the cake.

Pretending to feed some to Gramma.

Happy Birthday Sydney Lee!!!

Climbing, climbing

.....and more climbing!  (Warning: I've found my camera charger and have a lot of catching up to do!)
Sydney is climbing like crazy.  See what I mean....


That look says "trouble"!



Climbing on the couch.  She pushes Isa's stepstool over to get up.

Into the entertainment center.

Going down the slide....

and so very proud of herself.

no help needed

Climbing into Cade's chair.

Trying to figure out a way to get onto Cade's bed.

She climbs back down, too.

And this is what Sydney looks like when she's throwing a fit.  Diaper changes are just the worst!

And in case you've forgotten, she's not even 1 yet!