Sun in Night

Sydney's life has become a musical lately. I'm suprised how many songs she's learned at pre-school and primary. She tries to sing like Ariel on The Little Mermaid and she makes up songs about whatever she is doing. Today she was singing "Silent Night" for me. She only knows the first line and sings it like this: "Su-un in Night, Su-un in Night." I can imagine these are kind of confusing lyrics to her, but I'm not fixing it because it's so cute. I'm sure she'll learn the right words next year.

Snow day in Oakley

Yesterday we went up to Aunt Jenny's family cabin in Oakley for a day to play in the snow. It's a really fun tradition we do every year. I should have taken a picture of the cabin because it is the coolest cabin I've ever seen. Sydney has been really into playing in the snow this year. Her older cousins are so great to take her on their sleds with them.

Here's a picture of Sydney and her cousin James. James has gotta be the best big brother a kids could have. He even made a point of telling me how much fun he had sledding with her later that day.

Here's a picture of Sydney and her cousin Ally waking back up the hill. And a picture of just Ally because she's so darn photogenic and thought this picture was really cute.

I haven't written anything about my littlest children in quite some time. They did a bit of sleeping during this event. Tanner and Natalie have great party manners. They are always so quiet and well behaved when we go out in public. I suppose they must get pretty bored and tired of being at home so much. If they are not being quiet they are often singing. That's been their thing lately. Natalie's sometimes sounds like a high-pitched garbage disposal, but its still music to my ears. Tanner sings his dada song. It goes like this: "Dadadadadadadadada." We've been working on a mama song, but no luck yet.

Merry Christmas

Well Christmas day was a lot of fun for our family. It started off a little rocky. Natalie got sick Christmas Eve and threw up a few times. She slept well at night with no problems but when I nursed her in the morning she threw up all over her and me. Tanner somehow managed to stay clean through that. So she had a bath, I had a shower, and by the time we were all ready Sydney was up and ready to see what Santa brought her.

Sydney finally understood the Santa thing this year and was very excited. We actually had to go see Santa at the mall twice this year because the first time she was so excited and nervous she forgot what she wanted to ask him for for Christmas. She's really been wanting a big ball with Dora on it. So the first time she saw Santa she only said she wanted "presents". That afternoon all she would talk about was how she forgot to tell Santa about the Dora ball. So the next week we were at the mall again and made another more successful stop to Santa. Anyways, Santa did get her the Dora ball. She was very excited about it.

Josh sent me on a video scavenger hunt that morning for my present. He has been so excited about my present this year and with good reason. He got me a Nikon D40 digital camera! So now I can take some AWESOME pictures! I spent most of Christmas day trying to figure out how to use it. It's going to take me some time to figure out all the features.

After the unveiling of all our gifts Grandma and Grandpa Moore came over to visit. It was so nice of them to drive all the way out to us and Sydney loved showing them all the things she got.

We went out to my parents' home that afternoon. My mom had a special surprise planned for all of us. She gave each family gift bags and made us all wait to open them at the same time. Inside them were marshmallow shooters for each family member and a bag of mini marshmallows. And the war began! It was hilarious. Josh wants to build a snow fort in the front yard and shoot the neighbors that go by.

Sydney also got a box of princess dress-up clothes for Christmas. I think I may have a hard time getting her to wear anything else for a while. Natalie will have a lot of hand-me-downs in practically new condition.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Well we made it! The big number 5. I'm not sure why 5 years seems like such a big deal to me. Especially when you look at people married for 50 years. I guess I just thought this day was SO far away 5 years ago. When you get married and the longest you've dated anyone is about 5 months it's hard to imagine lasting years and years with the same person. But it's been a great half-decade! I'm the luckiest girl in the world to be married to the sweetest, funnest, smartest, most patient guy in the world!

We don't have huge plans for our anniversary. We're going to dinner and a movie. But really it doesn't matter what we do, a night out with just the two of us is fabulous no matter what. Thanks mom and dad for babysitting! Josh got me this beautiful watch and matching bracelet from Brighton Collectibles. I love their stuff! And he's so smart to get a bracelet with the watch so the babies can slobber all over that instead of ruining the watch. Very clever.

I was pretty proud of my gift idea for Josh this year. Since he's so into astronomy lately I found an online store that will print out what the night sky looked like on any given night at any given location. So I gave him a picture of the night sky over Salt Lake City on our wedding night. The sky that night was actually covered in clouds because it was snowing, but had there been no clouds this his what it would have looked like. We noticed this morning that the moon, saturn and jupiter were all lined up which looks pretty cool.

My little copycat

Sydney is growing up a little faster than I like. Yesterday, she was being an especially big copycat of everything I do. After I walked on the treadmill in the morning she got on her "gym shoes" (a.k.a. slippers) and walked for a few minutes and then went to get us both some "gym water" (sippy cups with water). After I put on make-up she also put on make-up and looked like she had a black eye the rest of the day. I tried to wash it off and I wish I'd taken a picture. That girl is going to be a make-up artist for horror films some day.
Later that day I saw her dragging my enormous nursing pillow into the family room with her baby doll. My mom gave her a baby doll a couple years ago for Christmas I think and it's become part of the family. Sydney announces to me, "I'm the best mommy!" A few minutes later she says "All done!" I look over at her and she's got the nursing pillow around her with her baby and her shirt all unbuttoned. She really is the best mommy!
I took all the kids to Sam's Club that afternoon to pick up Christmas cards and groceries. They were all being so good. The twins especially love to go shopping because there is so much to look at. I was taking my time and enjoying the absence of crying. Sydney likes to talk about everything she sees at the store. Then she says, "Okay mommy, you pick ONE more thing and then it's time to go home." Well I was actually all done but the whole way up to the checkout she's reminding me, "ONE more thing mommy, just ONE more and then we're all done." She gave me quite a few good laughs for one day!

First Snow

Well we got our first big snow of the year last weekend! I'm so glad we did not need to leave the house that day. It was an all day thing. Sydney played outside with her friend McCoy while Josh shoveled the driveway in the morning. I painted the bathroom while the babies slept and in the afternoon I went out to play in the snow with Sydney. We started what could have been a very cool snow fort. But Sydney started to get really cold so we had to come in. I guess the boots I bought her are not waterproof. Neither are her gloves. It was fun to get outside and play like a kid again. The best part is coming inside and taking a warm shower and having hot chocolate.