After That

I really have wanted and tried to post this update sooner. Unfortunately, Blogger was the culprit in the delay of this post. Each time I came and tried to post it would let me upload the picture but then I couldn't insert them into the post. It was quite frustrating. Anyway...


Shortly after we got back from Michigan it was Halloween. Sydney had long decided that she wanted to be (don't click, Mom. It's a link to a Flash site and might be a bit much for dial-up. Maybe just Google the name if you're not familiar enough already) Word Girl for Halloween.

Here she is in costume:

 

The longer we live here the bigger our trees seem to get. Weird how that works. But it's not a problem for Sydney. She's loves playing in leaves in the fall.

Before we knew it Christmas time was here. (That was right after Halloween, right?) It was time to take our picture for our Christmas cards. My apologies to those reading this that got a Christmas card from us. You are about to see a duplicate picture.

 

And almost before we got our Christmas cards mailed, Christmas was here! (We're procrastinators, but we did manage to get them out before Christmas.) Sydney got spoiled, as usual, but here are some highlights. (Because they're the only pictures I have of Christmas they become the highlights.)

Like we've done each of the last several years, we had a fun Christmas Eve get together with our friends.Sydney got some very nice kitchen/cooking/baking items. They are real items designed for kids to use in the kitchen, not just play items for use with a kitchen play set.

Before we started opening presents on Christmas morning Sydney wanted her picture taken with all the Christmas stuffed animals. And Penguin, her favorite stuffed animal, of course.

Sydney was very excited about the Word Girl book she got. (She's jumping up and down.) (And notice her very loose front tooth.)

Sydney also got a Leapster Explorer for Christmas. She has had a lot of fun playing many various games on it. And she got a Tinkerbell pillow.

She also got a nice easel. It has a roll of paper on top you can pull down one side for painting or drawing. It has storage bins and lots of storage space. And there is a chalkboard on the side opposite the paper.

The real reason for the above picture is to show you Sydney's gap-toothed smile. She lost that very loose front tooth on Christmas night.

Grandma B's birthday is just past the middle of January. Each Christmas we send along a birthday present for her. Each year she knits us socks for our birthdays. So we pick out yarn we like and send it off to her to be turned into wonderful socks.

This year we didn't do such a good job of picking out yarn. Anne and I picked out yarn that wouldn't make good every day socks. It would wear our too easily. So Anne opted for a scarf. I opted for Grandma B to find some appropriate yarn in a similar color, knit socks in that, and use the other yarn as she saw fit.

Since Sydney's birthday is around the beginning of Spring Grandma B knits her socks a bit earlier so she can wear them while it's still cold and before she outgrows them. She usually sends them shortly after Anne's birthday socks in January.

Sydney picked out some yarn in her favorite color: purple! As it turned out, though, it had some color change in it, hidden in the ball of yarn, so the color changes slightly as it is knit. Grandma, being ever wise and figuring that Sydney would probably think the socks were weird changing color and not being all purple, knit Sydney a scarf. (She got socks, too. Both socks and scarf are in the picture. And she loves them both.)

Not long after all that, Sydney's other front tooth came out.

Look closely and you can see the tooth coming in the spot where the first one was lost.

And here's a last picture as a bonus. This is from my phone and was taken back in June. Our small city has a celebration each June. This past year we went as usual. (Have I ever mentioned the really awesome Italian sausages I get at these types of events throughout the summer? I have? Well, the guy is at this one, too, which is the main reason for going. For me.)

There was a petting zoo there that had camel rides. Sydney wanted to ride. And not long into the ride she discovered that camels smell. But here are Sydney and Anne riding a camel.