Aggie Game

Craig and I went to College Station last month to see our first Aggie game in a loooooong time!!  We met up with some friends from college while we were there so it was fun to see everyone again.  Craig and I went down to the game without tickets figuring that we could just buy them when we get there.  Afterall, the Aggies aren't exactly in high demand this year.  So we went down to Kyle field and sure enough, there were a lot of people selling tickets.  We knew we wanted to be on the Alumni side for sure (on the student side you have to stand up the whole time and let's face it, we're old and 2%ers).  The first person we talked to was selling 4 tickets in the Zone for $200...yea, right.  We moved on.  The next guy we talked to had 2 tickets in the front row of the alumni side in the end zone.  The tickets had a face value of $70 each.  He told Craig to make an offer so Craig offered him $70 total for 2 tickets...and he TOOK IT!  Yay!!  All the rest of our friends were in the third deck of the Zone (opposite end zone from us) and directly facing the sun.  They were miserable!  Guess it pays to wait sometimes!  The first half of the game was a little boring but the second half picked up and the Aggies WON!

Here's how close our seats were to the field.  Lucky for us the Aggies scored every touch down in our end zone!

Kyle Field

The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band

Us!

5 Years!!!

Last Saturday, November 15th, Craig and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary.  It's weird, sometimes I feel like we just got married and sometimes I feel like this is the way it's always been.  I'm so thankful to have him as my husband.   He always knows how to comfort me and make me feel better.  Sometimes I think he knows me better than me!  :)  I love everything about him and can't wait to spend 95 more years together!  Craig is such a good daddy too and Sydney just ADORES him!  She looks forward to him coming home everyday from work.  She'll run to him and give him a big hug...I know it makes his day!

So, to celebrate our anniversary, we kind of had a marathon of dating.  It worked out great because Craig's parents were in town so we had free babysitting and they were able to get some quality time with Miss Sydney.  On Friday night, we went and saw the new James Bond movie...I think it's called Quantum of Solace.  Honestly, the movie wasn't that fantastic...I actually fell asleep!  But, it was still nice to get out with just the two of us and enjoy some alone time.  Then on Saturday night, Craig took me to this Italian restaurant that has live Jazz music called Terilli's.  That was so fun and the food was delicious!!  Then on Tuesday night, Craig surprised me with tickets to see One Republic at the House of Blues in Dallas.  Once upon a time, Craig and I went to concerts all the time so we definitely felt like our young dating selves again that night.  Oh, and to our surprise (because we didn't check until right before the concert) Augustana opened for One Republic and we really like them too.  All in all we had a fantastic 5th anniversary and can't wait to celebrate many more to come!  

October Recap

Okay I realize I'm soooo far behind on posting. Trust me...everyone has let me know. So here's a quick recap of October.

We took Sydney to a pumpkin patch at a church near our house. The funniest thing was that she was the most interested in the gourds and the pumpkins with warts (not sure that's what they are really called but that's what I call them) than she was the regular pumpkins.

Hmmm...which one to choose??















Perfect!! A gourd!














I love these things!














Cheese!














Carefully choosing the perfect pumpkin to take home...














Got it!














Then on Halloween Sydney had another parade at school. Each class "made" their own costumes and Sydney's class was candy corn. It was pretty cute and I still can't figure out how they got her to stay still long enough to get her face painted!






























Then that night we got Sydney dressed up in her Halloween costume and took her to the Fall Festival at church. She was Dorothy this year and absolutely LOVED her costume. She loved her red sparkly shoes most of all!


Checking out her new shoes










































Here are some of the fun games she played:


Fishing





















Sifting for gold--she liked the gold stone more than the candy she won!





















Shopping spree





















Temper tantrum after her turn with the game was over....















Mason aka Tony Romo (love the taped up pinky!)





















Sydney and Madison...BFF's















Time to go home...notice how she's getting the sucker all over daddy's face! :)

Ant bites...OUCH!

Well, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. We were visiting Craig's parents on Saturday and Sydney was playing with her cousins in the yard while we were sitting on the porch. She was having a ball! When she came up on the porch, I noticed her scratch the back of her neck so I looked at it and noticed there was an ant. I brushed that ant off and started inspecting her and sure enough they were ALL OVER her shirt. So as quick as I could I stripped her down and made sure we got all the ants off of her. Most of the bites are on her hands and just a couple on her shoulder and foot. The craziest part of all is that she never cried or alerted us that there were ants biting her. I'm just glad I saw them when I did! Poor thing! Luckily they don't seem to bother her. We've been keeping her on benedryl to control any itchiness but other than that she pretty much just ignores them. I hope they go away quickly!

Dallas Cowboys Parade

Last Friday, Sydney's school had a parade to cheer for the Dallas Cowboys. Every kid was supposed to dress up in their Cowboys gear. We were told probably 3 weeks in advance so I had time to find the perfect outfit for her. Check out our little cheerleader!

Craig and I got to the school a little early...the parade was supposed to start at 3pm and our local ABC news station was coming to film the festivities. I've been to one of these "parades" before. It's pretty funny actually. The kids come out class by class and literally walk in a 20X20 foot square. Then they all sat down and said a couple of cheers for the Cowboys and that was it. I mean, you can't expect much more from a class of one-year olds. Sydney looked so confused when she first came out. Almost like she was thinking "what are ALL these people doing here?"

Here she is walking out with the assistant director looking pretty confused.

Here is when we finally got her attention...now she's confused as to why mommy and daddy are here too... Sitting with her class and teachers...I swear she never sits this still at home.

State Fair of Texas

We took Sydney to the State Fair of Texas this year. There's still not a whole lot that she can do but she still had fun. We went on the carousel, to the car show, the petting zoo and walked through the Midway where they have all the games.

Sydney and Mommy in front of the Ferris Wheel

On the carousel She waved the whole time...like a princess on a float in a parade...it was hilarious

In front of flowers in the shape of the Texas flag

Better picture of the Texas Flag In front of Big Tex
Me feeding an ostrich...I hate ostriches...they scare me to death so this was a big deal. I was trying not act scared in front of Sydney but look at that thing...looks like it might attack me. Sydney checking out the piggies...apparently the baby piggies were pretty hungry while we were there.

18 months old

Really? Can she really be 18 months old already?? I swear she just turned one...and now we've somehow catapulted half way to her second birthday. Okay, enough with the denial. Sydney is so amazing. Craig and I say that everyday. She really does amaze and surprise us...with what she says, what she does, & what she understands. We went to her 18 month checkup on Friday. Everything went great. She weighed 24 lbs 10oz (48%) and was 32" tall (52%). She got 3 shots and took them pretty well. Our pediatrician said that Sydney was hitting all of her milestones and was doing very well on her verbal skills. She asked us if Sydney could say 8 words other than mama and dada...we said that she could probably say between 40-50 words right now. She seriously picks up at least one or two new ones each day. We call her our little parrot because she'll repeat everything we say right now. (gotta be careful!) She's started handing out kisses to everyone and everything. She'll kiss me, she'll kiss daddy, she'll kiss her baby doll, her food, her toys, the blinds at the doctor's office...like I said, EVERYTHING. It's so cute and so sweet. I can't believe how much she looks like a little girl now. She's so not a baby anymore. We are having so much fun with her and love watching her grow up everyday (even though I know I complain about it sometimes!)

Playing by her swingset...she has learned how to go up the stairs and down the slide all by herself now

PJ's and sunglasses...what more can you need before bed?

Chillin' with her sippy cup in hand...

This is what we call the "fake cheese" smile

What a precious face...

She's discovered that she can walk around on her knees now...it's pretty funny to watch

AW....

Plano Balloon Festival

Yes, I know...I'm soooo late posting about this!! We went to the balloon festival again this year and it was quite different with Sydney than last year. She was an absolute wild child running around the whole time. We met up with our friends the Mizell's, Leach's, Olson's, and Kampen's. We had such a great time watching the hot air balloon take off, the sky divers fly in and the big balloons blow up for the glow at night. This time Sydney was pretty beat before the glow so we didn't get to stay for that. Here are some pics from our evening there.

All the balloons taking off

Craig and I

Mommy and Sydney

Madi looking up high to see the balloons

Jack Olson

All the girls and babies

Brooke holding Sydney, me holding Madi