Here we come 2010! Hopefully with the new year come less issues with family....they're really starting to pile up around here! We had a nice long snowy christmas....who knew so much could fall in such a short time! I'm extremely glad we talked grandma into leaving work early wednesday so Hubby and I could go visit with the Wyoming relatives....oh how I miss the miles and miles of nothing out there! We intended on only staying for a short time, but we were having too much fun! Syd and grandma held grandmas house down for what turned out to be about 3 hours! After that we did a lot of nothing but play Wii....we opened it early since we knew church was cancelled for the next night already and that's normally what happens before presents....which meant cole, caley, daddy and mommy had LOTS of fun with the new toy for hmm....oh yeah, 5 whole days! I got rather restless at the end of our stay at grandmas and couldn't wait to get home....Syd  misses the attention she gets there, the cat hates the car ride to and from.....and me and daddy....we just couldn't wait for our own house again! We just ran into a few issues when we got here....

See that house way down on the end....yeah, that's ours! We had kind of an uh oh moment when we drove up! The street was a one laner to begin with....then we had to somehow make it through there to find our house! The worst part was it had been completely cleaned out the day before, so all THAT was from saturday night to sunday afternoon!

Luckily my trusty chevy had new tires....but it didn't get any better...

That one was deep enough Syd and I sat in the car and waited for a path to the garage...I should have taken one of the side of the house not pictured, that drift is as tall as the neighbors fence, which means it's a gorgeous 6 footer!

And the good news....we won't be using the sliding door until JUNE! I'm no shorty, and that drift was chest high when I stood by the door! Hubby was worried about the broken insulation so he took on the task of using his snowblower on the patio.

All snowdrifts set aside I learned one thing when we got home....new top of hubbys wish list will be a bigger snow blower....

The neighbor reminded him just how bad his snow blower needs to grow up! Luckily we have awesome neighbors down the street and he was nice enough to come help with the driveway....and make hubby drool over the snow eating abilities of his pride and joy....

'Tis the season.....to be growly! Again, why is it that the holidays always bring out the worst in me? First off, I DON'T like being told what to do....that's probably a big part of it, and second, it's all about the presents now days and not about the time spent with those you love! We finally started drawing names at my dad's last year so it's no longer about who has the biggest pile of presents in front of them, we have a limit, and that's it! Now if only I would draw all kids, they're the easiest to shop for! That brings me to another point....what's with new mothers these days?!!! I've heard of more than one (not going to say any names....) in the last month that want someone to watch newborns so they can nap....hmm...heard of "sleep while the baby sleeps?" I'm not the only one that I know of that hasn't been able to pick up the phone at a moments notice and have a babysitter so I can nap!!! If you're having kids, you should figure out how to care for those kids yourself, not rely on anyone else! I will readily admit that I was somewhat sleep deprived (....ok, who am I kidding, I still am...) when Syd was born, but that comes with the territory, new baby + new parents = 0 sleep! For the sake of my sanity, if you're a new mom, figure it out! the world is not your oyster, take care of your own kids! OK, I'm moving on now....we have a pretty fun story to share later on, you'll just have to remind me....sometime after Christmas...I'm kind of in the spirit since I've been revisiting the pictures I took of Cindy's family at the birthday party...

Not my best....but not the worst either, that spot belongs to daddy long legs....aka the baby brother!

These three were nearly impossible to get sitting still looking at you long enough to blink, much less snap a photo of them!

It's come and gone....and we still can't convince her she has a choice in turning two. I ask Sydney daily if she's two and every time I get a no, so either that's a contempt for the number, or her true age coming out. All the people and all the festivities went off without a hitch on Sunday. We had a house full of kids Saturday night, and the energizer bunnies kept going and going....well all but Camden. The oldest of the bunch was passed out in front of the TV by 9!! All the noise the other three could muster didn't make him flinch! (I wish I could sleep like that) Here's a little tidbit of Sydney with her cake....

You can even see a small remainder of where the fingers found the cake before they were supposed to!

(hint....look by the purple heart....)

We switched it up this year, cousin Camden also had a cake for the double bash, and rather than 2 cakes full of sugar and sweeter than sweet I chose to try something new. What a better time than when you have 15 testers, right? Syds cake was mock angel food with cream cheese frosting. Not super sweet, but definately a hit!

We have been going round and round about this since Sydney was born....do you pierce your infant daughters ears, or wait until they are old enough to make the decision themselves?
Syd's ears are NOT pierced and that's because I actually won the battle (or maybe haven't left her home alone long enough with daddy to get it done) I'm a firm believer in letting girls make the decision to get their ears pierced themselves....mine were for my birthday a LONG time ago, and I remember every part of the pain associated with it. Hubby wanted to pierce her ears right away so she won't remember having it done and it doesn't hurt her (um...still hurts, just unable to form long term memories....) And my strongest argument was what if she doesn't want pierced ears when she gets older? Just came to mind again since I've seen SO MANY teeny girls with pierced ears lately!

Hello winter! I didn't miss you! So one of the perks of having no houses around us are the snowdrifts....apparently we're in the least snowy part of the storm, if that's the case, how come when I went out to get the mail I had to plow snow with the door? While we are inside staying nice and warm, and really testing the new furnace, we're busy busy preparing for the birthday bash....Painting, hanging pictures (hopefully), digging through boxes still sitting in Syd's room, doing a never ending PILE of laundry (luckily it's a snap in my new LG's) thinking and thinking about what to do with cakes. Wrapping all the presents so no eyes spy what santa will bring their way in a few weeks.....and working feverishly on the blanket! I really got in over my head with that thing! only 44 flowers to sew on patches, then oodles of patches to sew together, and hopefully a finished product after a trip to the laundromat.

I said it before, I can't believe how fast 2 years have gone by already, it's crazy! I was asking Sydney today if she was ready to be two and trying ever so hard to get her to actually say two when you asked how old she was...instead...."are you ready for your party?" "no" "you don't want to be 2?" "NO" "don't you want auntie caley, grandma, grampa, uncle cole, camden, chase, baby jalyn.....to come see you sunday?" "no" "do you want to stay a baby forever?" "no" "well then you have to have birthday's..." "no" you get the picture. That is her favorite word of all time, and it drives you nuts when that's all you hear...although I have no sympathy when daddy gets it, cause he laughs at me when I get the "NO" so I get to laugh back and watch the steam flowing from his nostrils.

Here's a little photo treat of the last 2 years.

This was taken when she was just shy of 2 weeks at grandmas house

This is about a month....

3 months....

And uncle Cole teaching her how to dig into her cake! Hairdo compliments of Caley....why must everyone violate babies' hair?

I have hundreds more, but just wanted to share a few from back when she was actually adorable and unable to talk back! I still wouldn't give her up (most days) but I miss that cuddly little thing we brought home from the hospital at the same time.

The big day is sunday, so hopefully the weather cooperates for the festivities!