New Friends

The past few weeks we've seen some new friends in our neighborhood. They are pretty cute. I know it's kind of mean, but people tell us we shouldn't go outside and play with this new family that's been living down the street. I finally was able to get a couple great pictures of our new friends. See for yourself. You probably wouldn't want to run outside and have your kids play with this family either.

Camp Out

Last Friday night Sydney went on her first overnight camp out with another father and daughter friend. To say she was excited would be an understatement. She loved packing her backpack and watching us pack the car with camping essentials. I stayed home with Jordyn and Levi. Jeff told me that throughout the whole night Sydney's enthusiasm stayed intact as she watched Jeff pitch the tent. She was also elated to sit in the back of the truck to get firewood, roast marshmallows, hike by the river, read a book in the tent and sleep in it, and hike again Saturday morning.


Later that Saturday Sydney and Jordyn attended a Daddy/Daughter Princess Ball. All got dressed in their best attire and went to the royal family's house where girls and their dads danced the night away and snacked on some food. It was such a fun weekend for Sydney and Jeff.

All the other princesses.

Pig Tails

Why are pig tails the cutest thing on little girls? I love pig tails and I LOVE them on Jordyn too. It's cute too that her hair has natural curl to it. What looks like I spent time curling her hair didn't take me any time at all--that's my kind of hairstyle. This girl makes me want to smooch her all the time and squeeze those cute cheeks.



But then there are times when she IS crazy and she makes ME crazy. Here is one of those times. As you can see she pulled the stuffing out of that couch pillow behind her while I was feeding Levi. I knew something was wrong when it was so quiet. And look that expression: "yeah mom I did it. whatcha gonna do about it." She is also guilty of painting our blue van with brown paint she found in our garage.....NICE!!!! Then there is always that fun time when she called me upstairs to wipe her dirty bottom only to find that she was at the bottom of the stairs and had scooted herself down each step leaving a brown trail of skids on each step.

she's krafty

Whenever I do anything crafty, I think of the Beastie Boys song, "She's Krafty." I'm sure they intended it to mean something else besides a mom of young kids doing crafts, but I rarely pay attention to lyrics I just like to dance to the beat of music. Back to the point of this post....I've been tapping into my creative side. I bought mod podge and had some fun. I turned some ordinary shoes into a hipper look and turned a boring stool into a hip and colorful stool. See pictures below. Sydney helped me create the funky stool picking out the color of paper and sayings and stuff. It was a fun project to do with her. I've also started to teach myself to crochet. I made a headband for Sydney and want to learn how to crochet a fun little flower to put on the headband. I like to crochet. I like to make a project and see results immediately. Yes, I wouldn't call myself a patient person so I tend to do projects that I can do in a small amount of time.
Before

After


Before

After

Levi is 2 months (5/10/10)

Levi turned two months on Monday. He is getting big. He now has leg chub. So cute! I love rolls--not on me of course, but on babies it is too cute. He has better head control. He also started smiling and just the other day I finally caught a smile on camera. So with that said, I'd like to introduce a smiling Levi Shaw with his first debut of an official smile to the cyber world.

I'm not big on stuffed animals. With Levi, I didn't do it w/ my girls, I am taking a picture of him next to a stuffed animal (bunny) every month until he is a year. Then I will put the pictures of him next to this bunny each month in an album to see how much he has grown every month. I wish I had a bigger stuffed animal but this was the best I could find. I found it shortly after Easter, thus the bunny. Thought I would explain that to you.

*keep scrolling down I've added 3 other posts from this week. We've had an eventful week.

Pictures from Syd's recital

On the way to her dance recital

Great pictures during her performance. She said that at first she was shy but then wasn't when she started dancing her routine.

Syd's preK graduation (5/13/10)

Thursday morning Sydney graduated from preschool. She attended Play, Dance, and Learn. Her teachers were Ms. Cori and Ms. Brittany. She loved going every T/TH morning. Sydney loves school. She loves her friends (Luke, Bella, Ryder, and Elizabeth-these are who she talks most about). She loves show-n-tell, doing crafts, and playing musical mats. It's been a great experience for her and for me to see her excitement of learning grow. However she DOES have to repeat preK again. She's getting held back. haha. These are pictures from her graduation. We're so proud! It was funny to see all parents with their video cameras and still cameras shooting away, us included. All the kids looked so cute in their cap and gown. The graduates watching a DVD of the things they did throughout the year.

The picture below is of Sydney holding a picture of what she wants to be when she is older. She said she wants to be a "police officer girl."

A picture of Jordyn watching the graduation.

Alaska beauty (5/15/10)

Yesterday it was sunny and in the 50's so we set out to see some outdoor beauty Alaska has to offer. When it's sunny and in the 50's you better get outside because you never know what the weather could be this summer. Last summer was very warm and little rain. The summer before (I hear) rained everyday. We drove about an hour to get to Hatchers Pass, it's in between Palmer and Wasilla. There was still snow up there and the temperature dropped to the low 40's. We walked around a bit, took pictures, and had snacks.


On our way home we drove to Eklutna Lake which is about 1/2 hour from our house.
It was so nice to get outside and see the trees blooming again. It was a gorgeous day as you can tell.

Syd's 1st dance recital

Currently

Currently my kids are going through some phases. With Sydney she is starting to ask a ton of questions. Whenever Jeff and I are talking to her or each other she is constantly asking, "What does that mean?" She also has taken the role of "Boss" or "Mom" telling Jordyn what she's doing wrong and giving her consequences if she doesn't obey her. She also wants to help Jordyn get dressed. When they are well rested they play well; as the day goes on and crabby-ness sets in they start pushing one another's buttons. Sydney is also starting to tell time. Last week she said, "Mom it's 4 0'clock" and she was right. Now I'm trying to teach her to read a clock on the hour and half hour. Yesterday Sydney showed me she skips. A couple weeks ago I tried to teach her how to skip. It was hard to explain it. She wasn't getting it and then out of nowhere she got it. This Saturday she has a dance recital at Univ. of Anchorage that she is performing in. In a couple weeks she'll start soccer. Sydney is pure joy to have around. She is such a big help to me and I hope we can always be close.

Currently Jordyn is becoming more independent. With that independence her inner diva comes out. She speaks her mind and you always know how she is feeling. WIth her 2 year old attitude she is spending more time in time-out. She is learning to count and thinks she knows the alphabet. She knows her colors and I guess I should start teaching some shapes too. She likes books and watching movies. She likes to pray and her language is developing well. Her language has come a long way in just six months. Some of her famous sayings are, "I miss you daddy or I love you Mom." She is very affectionate with us and I love that about her. If I ever need some attention during the day I can go to Jordyn and she'll cuddle with me and give me kisses.

Currently Levi is growing and growing. This past Monday church friends had a shower for me. Levi got a lot of new clothes. At his rate of growing he'll be wearing most these clothes in a blink of an eye. He's almost 2 months now. He's starting to coo/talk and he smiles alot, although I can't catch it on camera. He still has clentched fists that I adore. He wears size 2 diapers now. We all adore Levi and when he smiles our household stops and gawks at his cuteness.

Jeff is back to work. We're planning a family vacation to Maui in September and look forward to basking in the sun. We are both working out more and have high hopes of running a 1/2 marathon this summer. This summer Jeff's sister is staying with us and working as a Nanny. We are so excited for summer to be here. The snow has melted, the sun is out longer and so we're spending more time outside playing. This summer we want to visit Denali, Fairbanks, Kenai, and Homer. We'll hike, fish, and camp and have some family visit. It should be a fun summer. This is our backyard view at 10pm.