Happy 5th Birthday Sydney!

I can hardly believe that 5 years ago today, in the middle of a New York City blizzard our Sydney Joan was born!

Five Fabulous Things About Sydney:

• A stickler about following rules! (just like her namesake)
• Kind to others
• Loves a hot breakfast
• When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, "A TEENAGER!" (yikes)
• Helpful around the house

5 years old

4 years old

3 years old

2 years old

One Year Old

6 months old

It is all about food!

My first restaurant high chair!

Sampling the soup!

Waiting for seconds!

Winter is stifling my boy!

Austin came downstairs the other morning all dressed in his soccer gear and told me he was going outside to play a soccer game.

I then took him to our back door to show him why that would not be an option.

Next came the expected 3 year old tantrum.

Saturday Chores

Sydney and Austin are learning that if we do our daily and Saturday jobs, then we can play. Last Saturday I asked them to clean out their lockers in the mudroom, which meant taking everything out and wiping down the shelves and then putting their shoes, coats, backpacks, etc away in the locker in an organized manner. I explained the task and then left the room to take care of Camryn. When I walked by, this is what I saw...

And then I heard Sydney say to Austin, "Ok Austin, you have to take out all your shoes and line them up, then you can wipe your shelves and organize your stuff back in the locker! Got it?"

Austin's finished product!

Sydney's finished product!

Austin's Antics

Our little Austin never ceases to entertain us all! He has quite the sense of humor and makes us laugh daily! Here are some of his antics over the past month!

"Look Dad! I'm a deer!"

Take note of the sparkling princess Belle slippers; his older sister's influence. Hopefully, the alligator and dinosaur will neutralize the estrogen.

"Mom finally gave in and bought me a sword!"

So truth be told I avoided this day like the plague! I finally grew tired of my letter opener, vacuum attachments, empty paper towel rolls and other like items being used as swords. So thank you Brooke for the dollar store tip, Austin now has 2 swords to have those "friendly battles".

Our 6th Wedding Anniversary

You know you have really "arrived" when this is how you spend your wedding anniversary. December is a crazy time to have an anniversary to begin with, but we have always been able to set aside the 12th to celebrate our special day. However, this year Sydney's dance recital fell on the same day. We postponed our celebrating till the next week, which did not happen either. We had one child with the stomach flu and another with RSV. We are hoping to enjoy a nice dinner and evening out now that the holidays are over.

OUT OF TOUCH!

Dear Friends and Family-
If you think I have been completely out of touch, I have! We have not had a computer since the 8th of December. Just today I traded in my 5 year old dinosauer Dell desktop, for a new HP laptop.

Besides the obvious lack of blog updates, I could not access email (except work ones on my blackberry), retrieve my calendar, type my Christmas letter from my own computer, download pictures from camera, pay my bills on-line and the list goes on. I can honestly say I felt completely disconnected from the world. So for any of you who have thought I was exeptionally rude by not responding to emails, blog posts, or I forgot your special day, I sincerely apologize!

Thank goodness for a new year and a new computer!