2nd grade, here she comes...

Here are a few pics of the first day of 2nd grade for Sydney. She was very excited to start back to school again. We were a little sad that all 4 of her close friends from last year were all separated into different classes this year. Maybe they were trying to tell us something. :) Hannah was excited about Sydney's first day of school too.

On the Eve of the day that changed us all...

I was thinking tonight, as Sydney is doing her homework, 7 years ago tonight, I had put her to bed probably right about this time. She was 6 weeks old to the day. We had moved back to Springfield from St Louis just that weekend, so I'm sure I had spent part of the day unpacking boxes and probably even more time just staring at my newborn baby girl. I went to bed at a decent time that night, because I had an interview the next morning. I woke up before Corey the next day and turned on the Today show while I was getting ready. The first plane had already hit the World Trade Center and they were still trying to make sense of what had happened...a lost commuter plane, a plane with engine trouble...no one could even have comprehended at that point that this was deliberate. I remember sitting there watching the TV when the second plane hit. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and when they slowed down the footage to show that huge airliner flying straight into the other Tower, it's a sight I will never be able to forget. I was consumed for the next week watching only coverage of the terrorist attacks, a lot of the time watching with my newborn daughter in my arms and looking at her wondering what kind of world she would grow up in.

I pray that we will never have another attack like 9/11, I pray for the troops who continue to fight to keep us save and I pray for those who were directly affected by the loss of a friend or loved one on that horrible day. We will never forget.

Another milestone

Sydney turned 7 on July 30th. She had a mask making art party at the Y with friends, grandparents, (excluding Papa, Sydney really caused a problem being born during the week of the fair) even Uncle Travis and Cara got to come and make some masks. The big event happened that evening though, when her good girlfriends from 1st grade got to come over for Sydney's first sleepover. We had pizza, watched the Hannah Montana 3D concert and had peppermint pedicures...and that was just what mom got to participate in. The girls had lots of fun playing in the basement too from the squeals and laughs Corey and I heard upstairs.

What a wonderful little young lady she is growing up to be. Just tonight I came across an assignment she had completed at the beginning of the year during Martin Luther King Jr week at school. The top of the paper reads Dr King had a dream. My dream is... Sydney wrote: I have a dream that evrey wun will be nis to echuther. The end. What a wonderful world it would be if we could all just be nice to each other.

Finally! Some vacation pictures...

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip to Destin this past June. It's hard to believe Sydney missed her very last day of school so we could hit the road and start our vacation and now summer is over and she is already 2 weeks into the 2nd grade. Is it just me or is it the older you get the faster life goes by. The first picture here is the first official picture of vacation. The car and girls were all loaded up and I took this as we were leaving our house. The first line of Sydney's journal she's holding reads, "We are getting set". I wish we had been better about helping her keep that up, but you know how it gets when you're on vacation, too much going on, too much fun and if you do stop to slow down, you'll probably fall asleep, it's hard to find the time to write. She did manage to log our first evening when we stopped in Hattiesburg, MS for the night about Hannah throwing up in the car in Arkansas. Note to self: A full sippy of milk, followed by a 1/2 sippy of chocolate milk, followed by curvy Arkansas roads leads to at least 4 sippy cups worth of curdled milk all over Hannah and her car seat. Luckily that was the worst thing that happened the entire trip so we couldn't complain.

Yes! It's an update!

Ok, I realize I have been horrible about keeping this updated and I hate for my first post in months to be picture less but I wanted to post a quick funny story from the other day while it was on my mind.

The other night Corey was carrying Hannah to bed and he took her hair tie out that was holding the top part of her hair out of her eyes right on top of her head. The hair pretty much stayed in place and just fanned out a little bit over her head. Sydney was looking at her while this was going on and said, "Ha! Hannah has 80's hair!". Corey and I both cracked up. How did she even know what 80's hair was, but sure enough that's how I would have described it too if I was picking a decade. Apparently Hannah Montana has been to an 80's party on the show...

Who is this girl?

Do you recognize her? It's Sydney! She had a couple of changes to her appearance this weekend. First the summer cut. Cousin Jenn cut off about 6 inches of hair on Saturday, at Sydney's request. She wanted it to her chin. I think it makes her look older which is very sad for Mom, but it looks so cute on her and she loves it. Plus, no more fighting with horrible tangles after showers and in the morning before school. It will be perfect for summer.

Then Sunday night after we got home from bible study, Corey pulled Sydney's third tooth. The first of the upper front teeth. By the way, Sydney requested Daddy wear the purple glove from the dentist's office. She didn't want to go to bed without pulling it out but as you can see from the video, I think it was a little more "stuck" than she thought. But now she's excited because it's out and the tooth fairy is coming tonight. Although she may be disappointed in the morning, someone at school got a Polly Pocket for their last tooth and Syd's tooth fairy doesn't bring gifts, only a $1 bill...that won't cover a Polly Pocket either.

Happy Easter!

Here are some pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses. I think one of my favorites is Hannah with her legs propped up and crossed on her sister's Dora couch. She got up and sat like that all on her own. She just loves that couch. She likes to walk, yes walk finally, into Sydney's room, pull the books off of her bottom shelf and climb up into that couch. I have my good friend Amanda to thank for her adorable dress. You did find the perfect Easter dress for Hannah! Thank you so much! And then my mom found Sydney's matching polka dots when we were all out shopping together with my grandma and aunts.

The Easter Bunny brought both of the girls sunglasses and as you can see they both thought that was very cool.

Hannah has a short attention span for pictures. We like to say that when Hannah is sweet, she is very very sweet and when she is mad, she is very very mad.