'New' Old Favourite

My friend Tara gave me a CD of pictures that she has taken over the years. I cropped one that she had of me holding Jason & it has become a new favourite.


There is also one taken of Sydney on the same day & it never fails to amaze me to see how much she looks like a little 'kid' now.

These are my favourites of Tara's kids.

Not much action in January

I am pretty tardy in my posts lately, but truly there is not much going on. A few weeks ago Sydney & I went shopping in the afternoon & she picked out her own outfit which she models proudly here. Sydney's favourite colour is yellow & when we went into Old Navy it seems that yellow is the "it" colour for the spring. So Sydney picked out a pair of 'skinny jeans' and a top. She had the pants on for less than 2 hours before she got some black on them, so I was really happy that she liked the pants & not the jacket that was very cute- but very yellow.


Sydney also started a preschool gymnastics class & although I don't think she will learn any real "skills" from the class, she does have fun. After both classes the teacher has come to speak to me to say what a wonderful attitude Sydney has & today she apologized that she talks the least to Sydney. This is because our 'little pleaser' will do exactly what the teacher tells her to do & while the kids are running through the obstacle course, Sydney will wait at the somersault mat so that the teacher will come over & help her do one. Meanwhile all the kids who race through are starting to pile up in a line behind Sydney waiting for her to go. They don't bud in front, they either wait or skip it altogether. Imagine a class of 8 3-year-olds & one teacher & I am sure you can picture the chaos.


On Friday we went to visit Grandma & Papa to see their new kitty- yet to be named. When Sydney heard they got a cat she was quite excited & really wanted to go see it, but when we arrived she could hardly care less. She just wanted books read to her. Jason, in his typical fashion, was very slow to warm up to this new creature running about & also could not care less. Surprisingly when it finally tired out & laid down- then they wanted to see it. We will see if anything changes tomorrow. Hopefully it has a name.

New Sleep Habits???

On Friday Jason did not get up until almost 8am, was cheerful all morning (we did not hit the 10:30am need a nap moment), ate a good lunch, had a good afternoon nap, & went to bed well. I was so excited about his late sleep, that I went into his room with the camera when I got him up. As you can see by his reaction, he was not too impressed by the flash going off. Can't say that I blame him, but he was much happier a second later when I opened his blinds.

Relatively speaking, I can be a morning person. Before kids I liked getting up early, reading & having a coffee or heading out with Logan for a good walk. Since kids, that early morning bounce has disappeared & I really do not greet a dark, wintry 6:30 am with a big smile. This later wake-up time is a pattern I would love to see repeated every Friday thru Sunday.

Jason slept until 7:15am the last 2 mornings & that means Sydney too will sleep later. Sydney is also at that point where the nap in the afternoon just means that she is up playing in her room until 9pm. We haven't "napped" her for the past 2 days & I think that has resulted in her getting more sleep overall. She has been asleep by 7:45pm & slept through until 7:30am. Right now she is in her room, but I can hear her fooling around- so there will be no nap this afternoon I am sure. Actually, I now hear her opening her door. Since she is staying at Grandma & Papa's tonight, it is up to them to get her to be at a reasonable time. We'll see.

Photographer in training

Little photographer

Mom gave Sydney a camera for Christmas & she really likes it. Most of the pictures I have from Boxing Day are hers. She actually got some 'good' shots- all things considered. However we did delete a lot of pictures of the wall, crotch-shots, and very blurry images- but some are keepers.

He loves it, but there is a cost

Jason loves cars, trucks, trains, boats- "things that move" in general. Brad & I picked out a little car track for him & he really seems to love it, but there is a cost to us & Sydney. It is LOUD!!! The cars make a lot of noise going around on the plastic track & the music it plays is of course loud enough to be heard over the cars.

Mom gave Sydney some books that have a CD to read aloud to her. When we put it in for her to read her stories, Jason has to go over & hit the track to make it go. He may not have played with it for an hour, but chooses now to play. He really is a little bugger. So, now we need to think ahead. Part of putting the CD in for Sydney is also first remembering to turn off the car track. Sorry Jason, but preventative action is required.

Christmas 2007

Well all the preparations led to 3 full days of activity. Part of that preparation involved Brad braving the stores on Sunday, December 23rd in search of a camel. Sydney kept saying that all she wanted from Santa was a camel. A Camel??? We are not sure where this came from, but it is what she was telling anyone who asked. So Brad rushed out to contact Santa about the camel requirement- not an easy task as it turned out. But a camel was found & it now spends most of its time just standing around. sigh

Christmas Eve afternoon we went to our Child's Christmas service at church & it was the usual chaos, but I think the kids liked it. Then it was a quick return to home to have dinner with Mom, Graham, Dale, Michele, and Max. Preparing & cleaning is not necessarily fun, but I do love having people to our house on Christmas Eve.


Christmas morning was greeted with some excitement. Sydney & Jason like the presents, but aren't wild about the activity yet. Sydney wasn't tearing into her presents- she approaches it quite methodically, which as my Mom pointed out is quite what I was like growing up. Jason is at the age that you can't rush him. When he opens something- he wants to play with it. So, we staggered his opening & let Sydney do some of it too.


Santa brought Sydney a scooter, Jason a basketball net, & both of them received a 2 tent, 3 tunnel, with centre connector contraption. All gifts seem to be great hits, although Sydney was disappointed to not be able to ride her scooter yet. Jason puts every type of ball through the basketball net & cars too. One of the best things was seeing their reaction to the contraption that took up our entire basement. Brad's reaction was pretty priceless too. My Mom probably still chuckles when she thinks about it.


After presents and breakfast, we kissed Mom goodbye as she headed off to the Robinson Christmas & we headed out to Brad's parents for the day. Graham & Dale got Sydney & Max bikes & wanted to do a big reveal. It was quite funny, because as you can see from the picture Sydney is checking out Max's bike & Max is checking out Sydney's. Jason was not impressed that he was not able to ride Sydney's bike. I am sure that is going to lead to even more battles in the spring. I think it is pretty cool that Sydney has a big girl bike & she is pretty good on it already. Jason was also fascinated by the train that goes around Grandma & Papa's tree. I am not sure if I should be concerned or not about how adept he is with electronic gadgetry things. I do not want a kid that I need to push out the door to play instead of sitting in front of the TV playing video games all day.


On Boxing Day my immediate family came to our house for our celebration. Mom was kind enough to do the turkey for me so I am still a turkey-virgin. Never done one on my own. The kids all seemed to have fun & I enjoyed sitting around and being with my family.

Cookies, cookies, cookies

Typically I will make a whole bunch of turtles at Christmas, but this year I just was not that in to it- so the ones I did make were all made at the last minute because I needed them the next day or to just finish up. My last can of caramel only made 4 trays of turtles, when it will typically make 5, because I made the turtles so fat so that I could just be done.

The one thing that we did make lots of is cookies. Maybe I was more into making these than turtles because it is much easier to involve Sydney in this activity. We made ginger cookies & they are so yummy I will be making more soon otherwise I will have another carton of molasses to throw out. I tried to make gingerbread men out of the dough, but I don't think it was really made for that- but the kids didn't know the difference. Their men looked more like blobs than anything once they cooked, but it's not like they decorated them with any anatomical features in mind anyways.

Snow Play

Yes, I've been tardy in my posts. Truthfully, I was not even on the computer during any of my holidays & I was off for two weeks!!! There were certain emails that I was waiting for, so my computer time consisted of quickly logging on to see if what I was looking for was there & getting off as quick as I could. There were some days that were crazy busy, but there were other days that I did as little as possible. I was in a bit of a funk for a bit.

Thankfully, Christmas arrived & lifted my spirits. The great snow fall that we received the weekend before Christmas was much appreciated by the kids & we went out to have some fun.