Happy Halloween!

Yes, I would love to post pictures here, but I can't seem to tie Andy down long enough to show me how to do it on my computer, and to get me whatever cables, etc. I need to do it.

*sigh*
Yes, well, I suppose the doctor's kids are always sick, the shrink's kids are messed up in the head and the techie's kids are the last websites in the world to get some attention!

Hey maybe that would be a great xmas gift for me -- a card reader of my very own, so I don't have to hunt down Andy's any time I want to post pix on this blog!!!! Hint Hint Hint

Ah well, at any rate --

the girls look STUNNING in their Halloween costumes -- Sydney of course was a tomato (precious!) and Sally was a Scary Bat. She LOVED her wings and her ears, and they both looked fabulous.

Sally went to school this morning, then came home to carve a pumpkin with me before her nap. I took the girls trick or treating at the Outlet Mall in Castle Rock (Sally totally racked up on candy and stickers!) while Andy picked up our friends at the airport. Then we all gathered at the house and our friends Marsha and Marilyn manned the front door/candy basket while we took the girls trick-or-treating in teh neighborhood.

We only made it about 2 blocks down our street because it was FREEZING! Andy and I were dressed as Roman god and goddess, which are NOT warm costumes!! So we hopped in the car adn drove down to the street below us so Sally could see her friend McKenna. Then we went back home, ate dinner and crashed out.

What a fun day!!!

Busy Busy Busy Bees

Whew! Things have been busier than usual around here. Andy attended a conference called The Capital Factor this weekend, which meant I had the girls to myself (!) Fortunately, we had a nice evening on Friday night -- it was Parents' Nite Out at Sally's school, so we dropped off the girls and caught a movie ("Dan in Real Life" -- LOVED it, LOVE Steve Carell!) and then had a scrumptious dinner at Union Bistro.

We are gearing up for Halloween and for a visit from our friends Marilyn and Marsha (woo-hoo!)

Sally is doing very well in school and really excelling in her swim lessons. Sydney is cutting her 2nd tooth, but handling it quite well.

We've selected pix for the website, but haven't yet updated...yes, I know -- talk to Mr Techie!

Craft Day at School

Today was craft day at Sally's Montessori school, and I offered to help out. It was ADORABLE!!

Sally's class (just 10 kids) had 6 stations to rotate through: face painting, cookie decorating (it's remarkable how much sugar can be piled onto a sugar cookie, especially if you pile the frosting high and deep and stick some candy corn, M&Ms and sprinkles in there), mini pumpkin decorating (note to self: hot glue guns have only a temporary effect on mini pumpkins), "scary witch's hands" (a non-latex glove stuffed with popcorn with a piece of candy corn in the tip of each finger to resemble a fingernail), glitter & glue spider webs on black and orange paper plates, and pumpkin foam placemats.

What fun! It was an ideal day for Sally, as I think singing and crafting are tied for first place on her ever-growing list of things she loves to do.

Mommy definitely enjoyed hanging out and getting to know all of Sally's classmates a bit more. I also met Jill (Anthony's mom -- we affectionately call Anthony Sally's boyfriend -- he is downright adorable and they both get along extremely well together...maybe because Anthony has an older sister, so he's somewhat accustomed to being bossed around a bit).

I also got to chat with both of Sally's teachers in a much more casual setting than the daily rush of car line.

I knew that Sally loved crafts of all kinds (bead work, jewelry making, painting, coloring, drawing, gluing, cutting, glitter, markers, baking, play-doh, you name it, she loves it) but I never noticed that it settles her down. And of course, it seems so obvious to me now. Her teacher Alicia was saying that whenever Sally is having a less than fabulous day, she heads over to the arts and crafts section to work by herself, and she's completely calm and centered almost immediately.

I was looking into some art and drawing classes for Sally, but then I found a book that can teach me how to teach her how to draw, so we'll start with that and see how it goes...if she does well, it would definitely be worth looking into art classes

If I'm Dreamin -- Don't Wake Me

I think I must be dreaming because BOTH the kids were in bed asleep by 7PM tonight! Probably becasue we went on a 2-mile hike today to do some geocaching this afternoon. Man, I love being self-employed.

We are in the process of updating the kids' websites, which we know is long overdue.

Aunt Susu called to ask me a question about making a stocking for Sydney, and Gigi already emailed me looking for gift ideas for Sal & Syd. Well, at lest SOMEONE is thinking about Christmas, becasue I know I'm not. I'm more focused on Halloween at the moment.

Today I realized I have to have Sally's scary bat costume ready for Saturday -- it's her school Halloween party. Dangit! I was thinking I'd have all weekend to fool with it. Ah well, it's probably best to get it done while Sally's in school anyways. Might as well get Sydney's tomato costume finished as well.

Finally got Syd some toasty warm clothes...there wasn't much from when Sally was this size (think January in New Orleans vs. fall in Colorado). Kohl's had some fabulously soft fleece pants and long sleeve tops, and of course we're still sticking to pink and purple and girly designs since the kid still has minimal hair.

Hey, how about the World Series, huh? I admit I'm a bit torn as to who we'll root for (haha, just kidding) but it is somewhat dangerous to cheer for the Sox in these here parts...

How fabulous would that be for the Sox to win the world series AGAIN! Man, that would kick butt..

OK, I'm off to enjoy the rest of my evening and some much-deserved R&R after having full-on Sally 24/7 for 5 days. Thank goodness school is back in session tomorrow!!! Dang that fall break and teacher's inservices!!!

Crafts-n-Snow Day

Sally's school is on Fall Break for a few days (yikes...Sally gets a little punch drunk whenever she's out of school for more than 3 or 4 days...) so Mommy decided we'd have craft day today.

Mommy made salt dough, and Mommy and Sally made shapes while Sydney watched and Daddy worked on his laptop. Mommy made a sun, butterfly, the word "love," a frog, an "S" and a yin yang. Sally made a rock, a circle, another rock, an unidentifiable object (even by Sally) and a pirate. It was great fun.

Next, we ventured out into our front yard to roll around in the snow before it all melted. A typically gorgeous Castle Rock day, it was sunny and temperatures were rapidly rising, so we figured we'd let the kids play in the fluffy white stuff.

Yesterday we went shopping and Sydney got her very first snowsuit -- an adorable pink on pink OshKosh set, with a hat and mittens. Of course, everything is still pretty big....why do clothing manufacturers think a baby doesn't want to go roll around in snow? Up to 9 months, you can buy a baby bunting (not waterproof), but no snowsuit. 12 months is the first size, and Syd is just BARELY wearing 12 months clothing. And the smallest waterproof mittens we could find go all the way up to her elbows! But at least they're made of Thinsulate...

Poor thing, we can't even zip her jacket all the way, otherwise her face is completely hidden. And Sally's old boots are ridiculously large on Syndey (which is fine, since she can't quite walk yet!) Well, at least I found a hat that fits her perfectly. She looks adorable, but I couldn't help being reminded of the little brother in A Christmas Story. Seriously, she couldn't put her arms down. And we put her on her back, and she couldn't roll over, which she was NOT happy about.

But she LOVED eating snow -- couldn't get enough of it!

Sally got a new purple snow jacket with pink dragonflies on it, and she is between sizes for snow pants...so last year's just barely fit and the ones we'll buy for this year will be ridiculously long. Ah, well, so it goes. Fortunately, hats still fit, but we need some new snow mittens! Time to go shopping again...

After just about an hour of pelting each other with snowballs in the front yard, plus eating snow and building and destroying snowball walls (thank goodness daddy bought those snowballer tongs last year!) the stuff on our lawn was at least half melted, and Sally's hands were cold and socks were soaking wet. After snow play time, it was time to clean up and warm up. We snuggled by our fake fire (no wood burning fires in Colorado -- stuff is too dry and creates a wildfire hazard)

Sally took a nice long nap (worn out after all that snow play) and Daddy and Mommy made New Orleans style snowballs with some fresh snow on our back deck and some Torani syrup...yum yum who needs a SnoWizard when you've got the real thing?

Welcome to fall in Castle Rock!!!

1st Snow of the Season

Today was the first snow of the season, and it sure was lovely. We were practically in white out conditions this morning, so we opted to skip the 45 minute drive to church. In fact, we hung around the house most of the day, until we got too stir crazy and ventured out for dinner later on this evening. Called Nana to tell her we had our first snow, and she said she saw it on TV on the Bronco's game!

A Comprehensive Sally Update

Oh, Miss Sally! Where shall I begin?

Hanging out with Sally is like hanging out with a teenager in a little person's body. I don't thikn I can put any true "organization" into this post, so I'll just let it free-flow.

Sally loves mirrors. She primps, she preens, she makes faces, she practices her mood faces (pouty, sassy, scary, adorable, mischevious, fake-crying, etc.) and she can entertain herself for a half hour in a full-length mirror. She also loves dress-up, which I suppose is normal for a girl her age.

When I was out buying her a new outfit for her school picture this week, it occurred to me that Sally has her own distinct style. No froofy-frilly-fluffy stuff for her -- she is a modern chick. Bold colors, high contrast and big hair -- that's our Sally. I swear she looks like a 70's rock-star in her school photo (you'll see). I volunteered to help out during picture day, wiping mouths and combing hair. It was waaaaaay fun. No, seriously, I mean it.

Sally also loves music and singing. She has a pretty eclectic style -- we don't listen to any of that sappy kid-crap in the car. It's mostly 80s retro, 60s oldies, some alternative stuff, top 20, and classic rock. Sally cracks me up, because she knows exactly what she likes and doesn't like. And she LOVES to sing -- that kid sings all day long.

Every day when I put her down for her nap, she asks me "can I sing for a few minutes?" As if I could stop her. She even sings while she does her work at school. She makes up songs about what she's doing, what she's wearing, who she's playing or working with. It's a riot. Some of her lyrics are actually pretty good, I'm thinking we may have a born lyricist on our hands. A microphone and tape recorder would make a great Christmas gift for her. She can jam out in front of her mirror.

Sally is also very heavily into crafts. Sometimes even more so than me, I think! Right now, her favorites include drawing, painting, coloring, jewelry making, and using foam shapes. We also do some sculpting with clay and play-doh, and Sally loves to draw with chalk outside (she also has a small chalkboard hanging very low in the kitchen).

I didn't realize this until recently, but Sally's fine motor skills are much better than the average kid her age. Probably because I refuse to buy her "kid" beads -- she uses regular (tiny) beads like you get at the bead shop, and she does all her own threading. So it forces her to hone those fine motor skills by using tiny parts.

Right now, Sally is learning how to snap and to wink. Both are hilarious to watch. She's getting closer on the winking, but the snap thing takes massive coordination -- which I never realized before. Watching her struggle to master a new skill makes me realize how much I can do, that I take for granted.

Apart from singing and crafting, her favorite thing to do is to play outdoors. She loves to find caterpillars, spiders, ants, beetles and any other kind of bug, and she loves to pick up leaves, sticks, pebbles and acorns. I have to make her empty her pockets before she comes home, otherwise I'm liable to have a heap of acorns in my washing machine.

Sally is in her 5th week of swimming lessons (we just started the 2nd session), and I must say, I'm quite impressed. She can jump into the pool on her own and get out on her own, swim with a floating noodle under her armpits, dunk her head completely underwater, and other stuff. The teacher she has now (Miss Megan) is FABULOUS. When we started swim lessons last month, I figured I'd be happy if she could swim by summer. Now I'm thinking she may be swimming by her birthday (late January). Sweet!!!

Although her attention span is still pretty short when it comes to games, we can finally get through two entire games of High-Ho-Cherry-O before she wants to put it away and get something else. And she actually counts now, which is great because it helps develop her math skills.

Sally is also learning to draw her letters, to determine the first letter of a word phonetically, and to trace using stencils. She is doing quite well at school, and her teacher is very pleased. A couple of months ago, she came home and recited hte entire Pledge of Allegiance. Now THAT was impressive at age 3! Right now, her class is working on the letters M, G, and F.

Sally LOVES to play with little sissy, to feed her, play peek-a-boo with her and to "read" to her. But I think her favorite is to take things away from her. :-) Sally also helps me in the kitchen, she takes out her own plates, cups and utensils and puts them in the sink when she's done, and she helps me put the clean dishes away (she puts away her own stuff). Sally loves to help me cook, no matter what I'm making. She also likes to sweep and mop, and to help hang up her clean clothes. I'm teaching her what kinds of things can be recycled vs. thrown away. Hmmm, how long until she can help clean out the litter box and take out the trash?

Life with Sally means never a dull moment, and you never know what she'll say next. Lately she is very lovey, with lots of spontaneous hugs, kisses and "I love you"s for Mommy, Daddy and sissy.

Sydney Update

Our darling Sydney Jane is nearly one year old, can you believe that? I could swear I was just pregnant yesterday. Fortunately, I have finally dropped all my pregnancy weight (thanks to heavy detoxing) and I'm finally starting to drop below what I weighed when I got pregnant with Sydney.

I was tickling Sydney the other day, and of course saying "tickle tickle tickle" when she said it back! "Tee-koo." Ooooh! How exciting! This is SUCH a fun age.

Sydney is crawling faster and faster (we have adopted Grammy's nickname for her: the Crawl-a-gator) and she still loves to climb the stairs any chance she gets. She can weasel out of pretty much anything except her carseat and her high chair straps, so we have to strap her into whatever she's sitting in to prevent any tumbles.

She is standing, and walking with help (one hand holding ours) and cruising -- getting braver, lunging from one piece of furniture to the next while crusing.

The first tooth is still being cut, it's about 25% exposed at this point. No teething symptoms, which is definitely a blessing! I don't even think she's been drooling since a few months ago.

Sydney surprises me with her gentle nature. I recall a lot of hair pulling when Sally was this age, and the poor kitties were terrorized on a regular basis. But Sydney is very, very gentle. I think I told her one time not to pull my hair because it hurts me, and she never did it again. And you should see her with the kitties -- she pets them ever so gently -- it's truly miraculous.

A couple of days ago, she was fussing when she woke up from her nap. I walked into her room to find her standing in her crib -- she had removed her pants and had 1 velcro strip of the diaper undone. Uh-oh! I think she was about to take off that poopy diaper if I hadn't arrived in the nick of time! So that's something to watch out for...

Unlike Sally was as a baby, Sydney can't stand a wet or dirty diaper, she definitely lets us know when she needs a change of pants.

Sydney has a couple of signs: hi/bye, kisses and pointing.

She also "clucks," smacks her lips, blows raspberries, initiates peek-a-boo, claps, and mimics. In fact, peek-a-boo and mimicking are her favorite games. She loves to have books read to her and she loves her sissy.

She is an absolute delight to be around -- so sweet, so relaxed, so loving. People always walk up to us when we're out and about (which I was used to, EVERYONE did that with Sally and total strangers wanted to pick her up and touch her hair) but people are always commenting on how calm she is. Yep! She only fusses when she's hungry, needs a diaper change, or when her sister is mauling her.

Life is good!

We are looking forward to our upcoming visit to New Orleans next month...but of course we have Halloween to look forward to between now and then!!!

Our Trip to Cancun

Mommy and Daddy attended an amazing personal development conference in Cancun over the past few days. Although it was difficult to leave the kids behind, it was a much-deserved break for us both. (I don't thikn we'll be leaving them again any time soon though!)

The conference was absolutely spectacular, and we got to hang out with a LOT of Aussies now that the company has expanded to include Down Under.

Although we didn't manage to squeeze in any diving, we did have a great time and we learned a ton.

Sydney started cutting a tooth just days before we left, adn it's still breaking through the gum. But more about that in an upcoming Sydney update.

It always amazes me when I log in to post, and I see how much time has passed since my last post!

There's so many new developments with the kids, I really must be more mindful about updates.

Anyway, we are glad to be back home and I'll be posting more about the kids soon.