Christmas 2010

Everything is so much more fun now that Sydney is old enough to understand what's going on. She carried around a toy catalog for about a month (even brought it to school) and she'd circle all the different items she wanted for Christmas. She kept saying that she was such a good girl, Santa just had to bring her all these items. We are keeping true to our little tradition of wrapping all the presents and placing them under the tree after she falls asleep. Yeah, this doesn't seem like the smartest idea. It usually ends us that I'm stuck in the room wrapping almost all the presents because Chris says he wraps them too slow (which is true). :) She had picked out some M&M cookies at the store the previous day and she just KNEW that Santa was going to love them. So cute, I wanna eat her up!

She was so excited to put this out for Santa. She insisted that she put jelly beans on the plate too because she was pretty positive Santa would be giddy over them.

I just love how precious her little happy smile is.



The tree after we got all the presents under it. Time for bed!!



Syd played Santa and placed the gifts for everyone in their own piles. The first present she chose to open (American Girl doll)!



Aunt Manda rocked her world with this Leapster. She plays this thing every single day!



American Girl overload!



Oh my goodness, she was so excited over this camera. We got this for Savannah for Christmas when we saw her at the Polar Express and it just ate at her. She asked Santa for one when we saw him that night at the Polar. Silly girl.

Polar Express

Our second year of heading up to Prescott with the Husvar's for the Polar Express.

Gymnastics Award Ceremony

It was time again for the Shining Stars classes at Syd's gymnastics's class to have their award ceremony again. It's a fairly quick process where all the kids gather in the main auditorium and warm up. From there they do animal walks (or run if you're Syd), forward rolls and split leg forward rolls. From there they create an obstacle course with about 5 different stations that the kids all go from one to the next. It's just to show all the parents what they learned over the last few months. Then all the kids line up to head over to the podium. They call each child's name and hand them a medal along with a certificate with their name on it. Syd gets the biggest kick out of this, and us too.

Syd warming up with all the kids.



Doing giraffe walks (run) across the floor.



Sitting with all of her friends waiting for her name to be called to receive her award.


Walking up the podium.



Receiving her award.



Wooohoooo!!! Congratulations baby girl!

Christmas Recital

One of my favorite things this time of year is the Christmas Recital that Syd's school puts on. They practice for months and Syd walks all around the house practicing. She takes her singing very seriously and if you could see the video from her class you'd understand her passion. The girl was super into it and I love her to pieces for that. She walked out on stage super proud, her teacher, Heather, was as horrified as she could be to have to sit in front of a crowded room to sing. The kids did great and sang all the songs. In fact, on Rudolph, Syd was the one doing most of the "like a light bulb" comments and such. So proud of her!

Syd first coming out onto stage in her Christmas dress with her class.



Miss Amy on the floor and Miss Heather walking up. Syd's whole class is ready to sing!



Syd singing her little heart out to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer



Enjoying some popcorn that came as a gift from Syd's BFF, Savannah, for Christmas. Thank you Savannah!!!!

O Christmas Tree {the lighting of the tree}

Syd was super excited to put up the tree this year. It's fun having her know what's going on and what to expect. Although it puts a little bit more pressure on us. I remember being able to say "We don't need to put those up, she won't know the difference" oh how things change! This year we have Christopher Pop-In-Kins, the Christmas Elf who moves to a different location in the house every night after she goes to bed. He watches her every day and reports back to Santa Claus. Every morning she runs out to the family room to see where Christopher has moved to. She shrieks and makes us come running to show us. It's so cute.

There are good and bad points of having a three year old help to decorate the Christmas tree with you. The good part is that I can sit on the floor and just take ornaments out of the boxes and hand them off. Makes the process go a heck of a lot faster. The negative side is that all of the ornaments tend to be placed in clusters from four feet to the ground. Thankfully Chris chipped in to help be the re-distributor of the ornament placement. This position of employment is one of the most valuable, I'll have you know. Ok, on the the awful photos. I never realized how awful our house is for lighting. Don't judge.

Syd strategically placing ornaments in her mini-clusters



O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree



Ornament close-up



Then it came time to place the Teddy Bear on the top of the tree. Who knew this was such a petrifying task? But apparently it is per Syd!



TA-DA!! Our Christmas Tree for 2010

Aunt Amanda's Trip to Can Salsa in Tucson

Ok, well that's not really why Amanda came to Tucson, but sadly I don't think I have any photos of her while she was here, but I do have the salsa that we made! She helped me can some salsa, I'm not exactly keen on the recipe we used, so Amanda you need to come back to help me make it again. Please note that when you make salsa, wear gloves or your hands will burn for two days after you have completed the canning experience. I think it's time to invest into a pressure canner so that I can can any recipe I want to versus the ones specifically for waterbath canning!

Here's a view of our salsa cooking in the pot



Then the salsa in the waterbath!

Homemade Gelato Playdough

Syd is a very artistic girl, kinda reminds me of myself when I was a kiddo. If it involves painting, coloring, crafts or playdough, the girl is excited! I love that, so I try to do as many crafts with her as possible. Luckily she does them all day at school as well. Thanks Heather! So, her obsession with playdough also consists of sneaking little nibbles as she goes. That being said, I decided to make our own gelato playdough. She had so much fun making the recipe with me, choosing the colors, cutting portions and putting them in the jars. In case you were curious, here's the recipe we used:

2 cups plain flour
1 cup salt
4 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
essential oils of your choice

Combine flour, salt and cream of tarter in a medium saucepan. Add water and vegetable oil and stir until mixed through. Place saucepan on a medium heat and stir mixture continuously until the mixture begins to congeal. Take off the heat and empty dough on to some parchment paper. Be careful – the dough will be hot to touch. Split dough into as many colors as you’d like to make, then add a drop or two of food colouring to each ball along with a few drops of essential oils. Knead coloring in to dough completely before setting out to play. This playdough lasts for ages if stored properly in an airtight container.

Mixing all of the dry ingredients in the saucepan. Can you tell she's having fun?



Adding the water



Carefully pouring in the salt



Pinch of Cream of Tartar



Our playdough before we cut it into portions and added oils and coloring



Putting all of the playdough into containers!

Our finished jars with the oils we used.

Palm Springs in October

We followed Nonnie and Poppy back to Palm Springs for a weekend to hang out. We spent our nights hanging out with the Husvar's and days running around with Granny and Grandpa! October is a perfect time of year to head to Palm Springs, perfect weather. Hot enough to want to jump in the pool, cool enough at night for a sweater, just like Tucson.

Nonnie, Syd and I took a trip down to the Moorten Cactus Botanical Garden. Pretty cool and quick little garden of cacti from all over the country. Syd at the beginning of the path!

Syd checking out what's inside the wagon

Huggin' on her Nonnie

This was a little bit freaky for her. Not often do you see a coop of doves in a botanical garden!

Later that night we headed over to the Husvars. Her and Savannah with their matching madcaps.

Having the time of her life!

About to jump in the car to head back home. Checking out the tree with Nonnie.

Nonnie and Poppie. Miss you guys already!!

Neighborhood Halloween Party {trick or treating}

Every year, our neighborhood gets together for food, crafts for kids, playground time and just get all the kids together. It's fun because then we all hit the streets and the houses get hit with 12 trick or treaters at the same time. They ask what time we'll be on their side of the neighborhood. It's funny. It's a blast and makes me love our neighborhood that much more.

Syd doing a few crafts at one of the stations



We rounded up the kids and got a mini-group shot before they headed out. A few others joined us minutes later.



Some of the homes actually put together mini bags of candy. Sydney was SO excited about this. We asked to take a photo and she thought we were going to take it away. haha We calmed her down and reassured her it was ONLY for a photo and shen she happily agreed to be photographed.



Trick or Treat!



This house goes all out every year, it's the kids (and adults) favorite to hit.



After a long night of walking the neighborhood, it was time to head home and count her loot! She did pretty good this year! Until next year...Disney Cruise!!

Pumpkin Carving {a month or so later}

Ok I'm doing some blog make-up. My excuse is pathetic, so I'll spare you and just say we've been busy! Although it's only going to get worse, since the month of December looks like a black hole right now, but that also means good updates for the blog to come, so it's time for me to do some catching up. Since it's now December, let me get a few of my Halloween posts out. Nonnie and Poppy were visiting for Halloween, so Chris was pretty excited that he was going to bow out of carving this year. Apparently he's forgotten who he married and I'd allow no such silly thought. Three big pumpkins this year means, one for me, one for Nonnie and one for Team Chris/Sydney.

The whole crew getting their hands dirty

Hmmm, I'm kind of glad I carved my own. This looks a wee bit tricky to try and cut out

Progress being made



I just love this photo of Nonnie. Had to include it. She went and drew herself up the hardest sketch ever to attempt to cut out of a small pumpkin. That little booger was thick, small and a pain in our arse!

The final pumpkin results for 2010. My Jack Skellington from Nightmare before Christmas, Syd's big pumpkin and Nonnie's masterpiece.