Winter Olympics

In honor of the 2010 Winter Olympics, and because we've gotten loads of snow recently, Spencer and I decided it would be fun to do a "Winter Olympics" themed FHE with our friends, the Hermans. Lorelei and I serve in the Stake YW presidency together, and Spencer and I think their family is the coolest.

After a dinner of yummy chocolate chip pancakes (courtesy of Joe), we suited up in our winter gear and headed outside for the events.

Event #1: Snow angel making contest

Event #2: Snow ball making contest- who made the most round snowball closest to 6" X 6" in 30 seconds.

Event #3: Snowball toss- who threw their snowball closest to a predetermined target.

Event #4: Snow dive- who covered the most distance and was the most horizontal to the ground after jumping at a line in the snow. This one was my favorite.

Cole's running start.

Lorelei's dive.

Joe's landing.

Event #5: Hot chocolate making contest- who made the best tasting cup of hot chocolate using any of the following ingredients: cocoa, water, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar.

Spencer judging the hot chocolate contest.

Lorelei and I anxiously anticipating the results.

Following the events, we had a very memorable medal ceremony. Spencer hummed the Olympic theme while I awarded a gold medal to the winner of each event.

Lorelei won the snow angel contest. It was a big win for her as it was the first snow angel she ever made.

Spencer won the snowball making contest.

Cole won the gold medal for both the snowball toss and the snow dive.

And Joe (who took this picture himself), won the hot chocolate making contest.

The champions. I stripped Cole of one of his medals so I would look as cool as everyone else in the group victory photo.

Afterward, Lorelei taught a lesson while we enjoyed homemade ice cream sandwiches.

I think that was Sydney's favorite part.

Dodgeball

Last Friday was a snow day for me, so I got to stay home with Sydney! We got do a little play date with friends in the early afternoon, then that night we went on campus to see Spencer play in a dodgeball tournament with his other 3rd year friends.

They thought they were shoo-in's to win their first game because the opposing team had a few girls on it, but they lost. There was a LOT of cheating going on since the refs weren't being very strict about calling people out when they got hit.

Trent, Brad, Brent, Chuck, Spencer, Matt, Aaron.

It was double elimination, and they won their next game, then lost the third one.

The kids and mom's hid from flying balls in this conveniently caged-off area. We also had fun heckling the cheaters while our husbands played.

My Little Helper

Sydney helped me Swiffer the floors this afternoon, and then continued to "clean" for about 15 minutes after I threw away the cleaning pad.

Phew! All in a day's work.

Life in a (Really Big) Nutshell

February has been a pretty busy month. Spencer finally has a counselor to help him out in Young Men's, so it's nice that he doesn't have to fly solo anymore with his calling. We have a hot date this Saturday night chaperoning a youth stake dance in Kirtland. Should be romantic :) Speaking of dates, we went on our first actual date (i.e. totally by ourselves- no friends, no kiddo) a few weekends ago to see Avatar in 3D. It was cool, and despite the treacherous drive home during a snow storm, we had a good time talking and just being out together.

My beautiful Happy Valentine's Day roses from Spencer.

Work has been pretty good for me, and in a few weeks I'll start going 2.5 days a week instead of 3. It will be nice to have that much more time home, but at the same time it will kind of be a nightmare at work, changing schedules, finding time for kids on interventions, testing, etc. Not to mention the 4598234 billion IEP meetings I have coming up in the next few months... should be hectic.

I certainly love my two days off each week. It is so nice to be home with Sydney and stay in my pj's until nap #1. She is so good at entertaining herself these days, so when we aren't reading stories, dancing to ABBA, or chasing each other around the house, I can do the dishes, dust, sweep the floors, or fold laundry without feeling like I'm totally neglecting her. Plus, we have the freedom to run errands and play with friends.

Sydney and Jack checking out the monkeys in the Rainforest at the zoo.

Taking her baby for a ride in her old car seat.

Sydney had a Dr. appointment this afternoon, and she is a healthy and happy kid (despite the fact that she cried during most of the visit). I'm not sure if she cried more when the nurse took her temperature in her armpit, listened to her heart, or gave her 3 shots. There is nothing worse than holding down your child so someone can jab them with a bunch of needles. Luckily, she was quick to recover from the trauma and was happy as a clam when we got home.

This little one is growing! Her stats at 15 and a half months are:
Height: 2' 8" (88th percentile)
Weight 21 lbs. 10.8 oz (29th percentile)
Head: (71st percentile)

Sydney is pretty good at using a fork and spoon, and feeds herself most of the time. She is still a good little eater, although she has started throwing food on the floor when she doesn't want any more of it...not so cool in our carpeted dining room. Her repertoire of words is getting bigger. She can say: mommy, daddy, baby, NO!, boo, thank you (de-tu), bink (bee), hi, bye-bye, shoe, cheese, nana, bean (also bee), apple, poo-poo, night-night (nah-nigh), tubby. She can be a ham when she's got an audience, like in Relief Society at church, but she can get crazy mad when she wants something and we don't let her have it, like the computer.

Spencer ticking Sydney off by not letting her use the computer.

She can also turn on the TV, then she likes to grab the remote and push all the buttons. One of my favorite things she does: if I'm sitting on the floor and she turns on the TV or grabs a book for us to read, she takes little steps backwards until she hits my leg, then plops down into my lap. It totally cracks me up, I think it's so sweet.

Oh Happy Day!

Yesterday, Sydney officially upgraded to a forward facing car seat. I'm still not sure if she's 20 lbs. yet, but if she's not, she's pretty darn close. We tested it out by taking a little trip to Target, and she basically had no reaction to it... almost like it was nothing new to be able to see me in the car. I guess I'm WAY more excited about it than her, but that's ok.

She was having fun playing in the car seat before I installed it, and she kept standing up in it to try to push a red button at the top of the head rest. After she almost tipped over, I started making her sit on her bum. This picture shows her reaction. We've been seeing a lot of this face lately when she doesn't get her way. No me gusta.

Work

My conversation with one of my first graders last Friday:
Kid: "Why didn't I come here today?"
Me: "Because you had an assembly this morning."
Kid: "Oh." (Then points to his new Power Rangers shirt) "Do I look awesome in this?"

He did.

Whenever Spencer Leaves...

The police somehow end up in my neighborhood. When he went to ODS a few summers ago, one of my neighbors was arrested (he was home the next day, so we're pretending like it was for something minor). Two weeks ago, the cops were here again. Here's how it happened this time...

A few weeks before Spencer left for his annual dental service trip in the Dominican Republic, he ordered several things online. The first was some BYU shirts. He checked the online tracking religiously, and then one evening he noticed it said "delivered" even though we never got a package on our doorstep. We thought it was a mistake, but the FedEx driver said he left it in our entryway by our boots. We called the BYU Bookstore, and they said they'd send a new shipment. Problem solved.

The next order was a few filters for our vacuum. We weren't really keeping track of them, but my neighbor brought them to us one day. The box had been opened, and she found it in the snow in her front yard. Weird.

The third shipment was books from Borders. Spencer was in the DR when they were delivered, and Sydney and I had been at my parents' house for the weekend. When we got home, there was an empty box at the end of our driveway. Sure enough, it was Spencer's books... but they had been stolen.

Fast forward about a week. I was coming home from a baby shower (the day before Spencer was due to come home), and I passed a few cop cars on the back roads near my street. I pulled onto my road, only to see a police car parked right in front of MY HOUSE. When I parked and got out of the car, the officer came over to me and asked my for my ID. Turns out my neighbors little girl was playing in their yard, and a teenager walked up to our house and peeked in the entry way. She went and told her mom, who ran to the door and saw the kid walking down the street. She yelled, "We see you! We know what you did!!" and he turned and looked at her and then kept walking. Her husband came from the back room of their house to ask her what was going on, and then he went running after the kid. I guess when my neighbor rounded the corner, the kid was running down a side street. Yada yada yada, the cops were called, the kid was arrested, and my neighbor ID-ed him. I had to write a police statement and everything!

Thankfully, we're safe. At least until the next time Spencer leaves....