How convenient...

Sydney's imagination never ceases to amaze and this was no different. She was pretending that she had a puppy, and now that Gavin crawls.....yeah, you see where I'm going with this. :) Apparently he resembles a puppy so much so that Sydney started calling him her puppy. Lucky him. :)

~*SNOW*~

Mother Nature sure hasn't skimped this month on the typical winter weather. The week after returning from the longest week ever (first back from winter break :) ) we had two snow days in a row because of the inches upon inches of snow. Nothing catastrophic, but just enough! The first snow day was probably the most magical snow day ever. I had the joy of waking Sydney up to tell her we'd be staying home today....because it snowed. The most priceless of expressions came across her face and she said to me: "can I look?" (meaning out her window) She was in awe...."snow is EVERYWHERE Mom! It's on EVERY-SING!" And proceeded to list off all of the things she could see that was covered in snow. I told her we would play in it later on, which of course she interpreted as NOW. :) She did not want to eat pancakes. No yogurt for her. No toast, no cereal...she wanted only to go outside and play in the snow! After awhile I finally convinced her to eat even a little something--applesauce maybe? Then we bundled up and headed out. Ha....as if it's THAT easy. :) Bundling up was quite a process, to which explains why we really haven't been out again to play in the snow. She didn't understand why she needed all that she wore, but the end result was pretty darn cute. Gavin even had a snow suit though he wasn't nearly as excited as his big sister!
And the perfect way to end a snow day.....watching a movie, snuggling with your favorite doll, in your favorite dress, drinking some hot cocoa. :)

Dear teeth...

You have been invading my sweet boy's mouth for some time now and while I appreciate you all coming through around the same time (so as to not drag out this incredibly painful and stressful process), it is causing us all some discomfort. (Most of all him of course, but Mom and Dad do suffer in other ways as well). Please come through soon!!!!!

Love,
Gavin's tired Mommy

Our little big boy is 9 months old!

Gavin is such a joy! He is mellow and laidback, very loving and affectionate, adventurous and fearless, on-the-go constantly and curious. I love love love our sweet son. He is the most perfect addition to our family and I could not ask for more than the sweet little man that he is.
He is also...

crawling...everywhere...

...standing...whenever possible....(he also loves to dance!)

...exploring...when he can get past Mom to forbidden places...like under end tables...

He is also:

• eating some table foods (toast, puffs, some cheese, and vegetables)
• getting lots of teeth, all at once! poor baby :( 2 top middle, possible 2 eye teeth, 2 bottom middle
• in.to.everything.imaginable....enough said
• talking and jabbering all the time
• oh, and he loves to screech too!
• snuggles with a blanket now at bedtime
• almost always happy and sweet and happy-go-lucky
  

And...he is 9 months old, today!

:Gavin Joseph:
You are the sweetest little boy! We could not have dreamt of having a more perfect little boy to call our own. We feel so blessed to be your mom and dad. I love your sense of adventure and your curiosity to learn new things, even though I know that it will also give us a run for our money! (You already are!) I can't wait to watch you grow in to the sweet, adventurous, smart little person I know you will become!
We love you!
Mom, Dad, and Sydney

Happy New Year!!

We had a great evening ringing in the New Year with our dear friends Tiffany and Ed. I will hold off sharing photos of that night because these two are far cuter.....

I love this little boy!

He melts me every.single.day.

Happy 3rd Birthday Sydney Lee!

3 years ago on December 23rd at 12:27 p.m. our lives were changed in every way, in the most amazing way. Sydney Lee Helget was born (over a month early!) and made us a family. Being her mom has been the most amazing, most blessed experience I could ever ask for. She has become the most amazing little person who is very caring and sweet, nurturing and silly, brilliant and sassy, sensitive and loving. I feel so grateful that we were chosen to be her parents because I can't imagine a more perfect daughter for us. For the last three years we have always done something on her birthday-day as our own little family. This day was no different!

To begin her day she opened some presents and then indulged in some princess pancakes. White chocolate chips created the face and a strawberry tiara completed the ensemble. (she did NOT want syrup....which is shocking. maybe she was worried it would mess up the princess-ness?)
Then we got dressed and headed to Kansas City where we grabbed a bite to eat at the mall before going to do some shopping. Our first stop was the American Girl store so she could pick out an outfit for her Bitty Baby, Baby Miss Kim. She was oohing and aahing the whole time we were in there! I finally had to narrow the choices down otherwise we would have spent a small fortune in there on everything she thought Baby Miss Kim needed!
Next we went to the Disney store to spend some of her birthday money from Great Grandma Dodo. As soon as we stepped foot in that store, she found it. The doll she wanted to be her very own. The one, the only, Belle. She kept telling her "Belle I have missed you so much!" and "I love you Belle!" It was the sweetest thing!
We also shopped for some new clothes for her and then she got to enjoy some ice cream on our way out of the mall. Later that night we enjoyed a movie night (just Daddy, Sydney, and Mommy) and it was so much fun! I hope she enjoyed her special day as much as we did! We love you Sydney Lee!!

3rd birthday party-Pinkalicious style!

Since this summer Sydney has loved the books from the Pinkalicious "series." There is Pinkalicious, Purplicious, and Goldilicious (that we have read so far). She is completely in to PINK and PRINCESSES so I had fun planning a Pinkalicious party for her. :)

It was such a fun day! We had so many people there to celebrate with us and it was such a blessing!