Meeting Mrs. Easter Bunny

Syd and I made a run to the mall to exchange some items for her and to pick up some maternity swim suits for me for vacation. Ironically, after we left her store, we saw that the Easter Bunny was there taking photos! She as a bit too chicken and said "no way" when I asked if she wanted a picture with him. As we went to my shop, she tried on a few of her dresses and said "I've been thinking, and I'm ready to take a picture in this new dress." So we paid for the items and headed off to get her picture taken. To her surprise, Mr. Easter Bunny took a little break and in his place was Mrs. Easter Bunny! She was so excited!! Not only did they take her photo, but she received a lamb face mask and an Easter coloring book.

Expedition Tanzania

They just expanded our Zoo here in Tucson to include a section called Expedition Tanzania that housed a family of 5 elephants, including some baby elephants. They had a special early viewing for members only, so we fought the crowds and went to see the new family!

Here's the baby elephant and what I'd call a teenage elephant.

Using the binoculars to get a close-up view of the baby elephant

They created this really cool section that has some really fun ways to teach the kids about elephants, their bodies and how they live.

The zoo recently shipped our polar bear off to California to make some polar bear babies. We were sent this polar bear in his place. Poor guy needs some TLC.

When you're a super sassy girl, you take the fish food in both fists and chuck it into the pond. She's giving us a run for our money lately.

Baby's Closet - DONE!

It seems that the second trimester of this pregnancy is creeping by pretty quickly. So much so in fact that we haven't really gotten her room ready or even picked out a name just yet. Finally we tackled the closet. We ordered custom closets and we had to take down the current closet, patch the holes with spackle, sand and then paint before the closet was ready to go in. Syd has been wanting to be a big part of getting the room ready for her little sister. We had her help with painting, she did a great job too! Chris installed the closet while I carefully read the directions. It went up perfectly, at the expense of his upper back. I'm not looking forward to painting the room!

Ladybugs

We headed over to the local nursery to pick up a few herbs and vegetables for our garden. While checking out, Syd spotted a bag of ladybugs on the counter. She begged for us to buy them. Apparently releasing ladybugs into your garden is a natural way to get rid of any bugs and other things in the soil that may harm your plants. Syd had such a blast with these, catching them, holding them, letting them crawl on her hands. She said that they tickle her hands, which means that they like her :)

4th Ave. Street Fair

It's that time again for the 4th Avenue Street Fair. Never seems to fail that the weekend that the street fair falls on is absolutely scorching hot with zero wind. Not sure what it is, but it's getting really annoying. We walked around to the booths and Syd was able to find a rainbow bar of handmade soap. This girl loves handmade soap. Well I should say she loves perfume, flowers, soaps, candles, pretty much anything that smells pretty. I was on a mission to find the lady that cuts silhouette's from paper. I have one done of Syd every year. They're so pretty! Syd was on a mission to find someone doing face painting. Thankfully we both accomplished our goals. Chris just wanted some food. We waited in the zoo of lines for food until we spotted an open table. So Syd and I sat on our dupas until Chris brought the food to us. Now this is where I mention that the benches were metal and painted dark green in the blazing sun. I attempted to dump my water onto the seats to try and cool them off. By the time the food came, I was completely overheating, starting to get splotchy sun burn and feeling like heat stroke was coming on. Yep, it was fun. We ate quickly and tried to cool off in a small patch of crowded shade, but Mom called it a day and said it was time to head back home. This was exactly the opposite of what Syd wanted to do and she was not very happy with me. I was willing to fight this battle though and we got home where I took a HUGE nap! Thankfully we did everything we wanted and no damage was done. Hopefully next year might be a little cooler?? Please??

Syd chose a rainbow and yellow butterfly with purple glitter

All done

What's a street fair without a balloon guy? Syd asked for a purple dog. At lunch she kept making the dog walk on our scorching hot table. Unfortunately he didn't completely make it through lunch. His backside popped before our food came and by the time we got home, the puppy had turned into a snake. :(

Team Lightning

Syd's soccer team, the Lightning, had their very first game! It was quite a bit different from practice for Syd. She was used to dribbling the ball down the field, working on keeping control of the ball and kicking goals. What she wasn't used to was the scrimmage. One ball, herds of kids chasing it and trying to kick it. At first she just kind of followed the pack, but didn't get into the mix. Towards the end of the game, she started to understand and actually got in there and was kicking the ball away. So proud of how much she progressed during the game. Most of all, she had an absolute blast!! Thank goodness we have McKenzie on our team, that girl is amazing (and also a full year older than all the kids). But she scored four goals. First soccer game was a complete success. Can't wait to see how much Syd progresses during the season!

Sydney kicking the ball in. She got to do this several times during the game.

Break time!!

My adorable little soccer girl. Getting words of encouragement from Dad.

Syd and her buddy Kylie

Seamus' Basketball Game

Today we went to go cheer for Seamus and his basketball team over at the Jewish Community Center. It was their second game of the season and the kids all had a blast. Syd made some signs that said "Go Seamus" and we cheered him on pretty loudly. No baskets in this game, but he's a got a few more weeks left to get on the board. His team won, but the score doesn't really mean much. At the end of the game, one of the coaches gave Syd a team shirt. Syd got all excited as we walked to the car and said "I think maybe I can play with them next time" haha.

Seamus practicing before the game

Seamy's Fan Club

Go Seamus!!!!

Free throws

Happy St. Patrick's Day

This year was the first year Sydney really got into St. Patrick's Day. Girl after my own heart. She had been begging me for weeks to let her wear her clothes I bought just for the day. Finally the day came and she put them on...in her own words, she said "This is the best day of my whole life!" Love her. We started off the day with a trip to the salon for Syd to get a mani and pedi with Lala. Nails all decked out in green sparkly polish with rhinestones and shamrocks. She was so excited.

I had asked my parents to host the "Green Party" this year, a day of everything green. It was a good attempt, but I think next year we're going to do it at our house....decorate the whole house green! Gigi and Lala weren't even wearing green. That should be a sin to not wear green on St. Patrick's Day. I tried to talk them into changing and they just weren't budging. My mom made everyone in the family Irish Soda Bread. LOVE! We had a full green and Irish menu with corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes. I have to say that I don't exactly love Irish menu's, but I love everything else. Syd helped me made some green pudding and we took the easy way out with Irish cupcakes from the store, which I have to say were amazing. Delish! Mom and Dad couldn't get too crazy since they're starting the HCG diet in two days. Next photos of them, they might be half the size they are now.

Lala bought Syd some green bagels. She absolutely loved them. How can you go wrong with green bagels?

Some pics of Syd in her St. Patty's Day outfit

At Lala and Papa's I had a treasure hunt for her that the leprechaun left for her. She had to find the shamrocks hidden all over the house in order of the colors of the rainbow. Each shamrock had a cute saying and a hint for the next shamrock.

Listening to Daddy read her shamrock hint

Terrible lighting, but had to get a shot of her treasure that the leprechaun left her

After the hunt, Syd and Chris took a dip in the hot tub

Time to eat! Dad cutting the corned beef

After dinner, Syd helped me put together the cheesecake puddings. We put whipped cream and then she added green sprinkles to the top

The most delicious green cupcakes in the world

The green pudding

Syd eating the yummy desserts. I think she likes it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Soccer Practice

We decided that it was time to take a break from dance class and try a sport. Thinking that she might be a little too young for t-ball, we asked Syd if she wanted to try Soccer and she said "Absolutely!" She had taken some lessons at her last school, but this was her first time on an actual team. One of the best parts is that she's on a team with her friend Kylie and her dad, Shane, is their coach. Even better is that Shane and Ada are good friends of ours, make it all that much more fun. We're still working on Syd paying attention. During practice, there's another team practicing on the same field, plus some kids playing baseball. Needless to say, there are a lot of distractions. Syd will have a ball kicked to her, but she's too busy watching the kids play baseball and the ball goes zipping by her. During "Red Light, Green Light" the mission is to dribble the ball to the other side of the field when the coach says "Green Light" and stop your body and the ball when they say "Red Light!" Syd still likes to kick the ball out far in front of her and when they yell "Red Light" she freezes like a statue as her ball goes rolling down the field. It's pretty funny. Need to work on her control and ability to steer the ball in a straight line versus diagonally heading down the field. She's having a great time and is catching on super fast. First game is next week!

She's kinda camera shy

Water Break

Listening to the assistant coach explain the next drill.

Happy Birthday Poppy!

We were so excited to have Nonnie and Poppy come out to visit. Only problem is that the trips seem to be too short. Especially when everyone is a little under the weather. Nonnie and Poppy had some type of head cold/virus that was getting them down. Chris tweaked his back and well I'm not my usual energetic self with the baby taking all my fuel. As for Syd, well, she wasn't her typical self either. I had this amazing idea to buy her this "hair shadow" from the salon on Friday to put on the ends of her hair. Rather than spray or dye, this is just powder you rub on the hair and it comes out in the wash. About an hour after I put it on her, she developed a red spot under her eye. I thought it was kinda odd, but we kept on moving around with our errands. The next day, she woke up and her entire face, neck and hands were covered in an awful rash and her face was swollen! Needless to say, she's allergic to the hair shadow! Another valuable lesson we learned is that while a child is having an allergic reaction, never let them touch limes or lemons. Apparently they trigger the rash to become about four times worse. It turns into topical eczema, I believe is what the doctor said. All I know is that Syd woke up every night in the middle of the night with the itchiest hands! Poor thing has been living on benedryl. I think (knock on wood) that we're over the hump.

We did have a nice visit with Nonnie and Poppy despite all the sickness. This was the big 69 for Poppy, and he's still beating Chris at golf :) We did get Nonnie hooked on Words With Friends (or as Chris like's to say in his whisper....Words) while she visited. We were all walking around with our iTouches, iPads and Nooks with games going on. Just don't sit next to her when you're in the middle of the game, she puts some massive pressure on you! "Did you go yet? How about now?" :) I'll just say she has some crazy good skills. For her first game, we're neck and neck!

Syd is really big into making cards lately. Especially cards with planets and hearts on them. She was extremely excited to make one for Poppy to add to our present for him. Happy Birthday Poppy!