Busy Bees

Sydney's birthday twin Jackson. Hilarious. She grabbed onto him and was hugging and kissing him and he just stood there looking quite shocked.
Trying to be a big girl like the 2 year olds.

This is the birthday girl Sybil!

Wow, we have been really busy with school, work, travel and birthday parties. I haven't been great about taking my camera with me, because sometimes I just want to enjoy hanging out without trying to capture the moment for the perfect blog post! However, I did get a couple of cute ones from one of the 2 birthday parties we went to this weekend (happy birthday Sybil and Patterson!). Forgive my random thoughts, but here is a quick update on us. We have been loving the cooler weather and have been playing outside every day after school. I had the great idea to get TCBY and go eat and play at the park. I underestimated how messy melting ice cream is when you forget the diaper bag and wipes and underestimated how much dirt will actually stick to ice cream hands. It was a nice thought though :). Work is going really well and I am loving the kiddos on my case load this year. Today I had a client of mine ask me if I knew his dad. I said no and he replied "Well, he is tall and really hairy, even on his butt." His mother would die! Oh, and Welcome October! We are looking forward to watching the Razorbacks defeat Ole Miss (PLEASE Lord, PLEEEEEEASE!!!), going to the state fair, finding a new pumpkin patch because ours was flooded :(, Boo at the Zoo, and hopefully spending John Austin's first Halloween showing him the ropes of trick or treating. I will be going to the Arkansas Speech Language Hearing Association Conference in Hot Springs next week and Brent will be holding down the fort alone for a couple of days. He is an equal partner in the Walker house, so I am not worried (OK maybe just a little that Sydney will walk around the house yelling "Mommy" because she is lost without me). That is life in a nut shell. I need to move the laundry over, balance the check book, clean up the kitchen and playroom, and try to get in bed on time. Happy October 1st!!!

Fayetteville Weekend

Mimi and Sydney
Calling the Hogs in her Cheerleader Uniform (please notice the belly overhanging ;) )

Mimi kept Sydney while we went to the game (fun but ouch on the score!)

Aunt Sherri singing "Little Bunny Foo Foo"

Playing in the Boyd's new playroom

We had a great weekend in Fayetteville. I love that my grandmother lives there now because we get to stay with her and she can spend lots of quality time with Sydney. Brent and I made the game with Jeff and Caroline and I will leave other blogs to discuss the state of Razorback football. Saturday night I managed to squeeze in a little shopping time with Keri and her mom while the husbands were left to manage all the little girls. Sydney is pretty exhausted and needy after such a busy weekend (and so I am now that I think about it!) but we had a great weekend and will probably be repeating it all over again in 2 weeks for the Florida game!

Happy Birthday Elli!

The Birthday Girl Elli
Who is having more fun- Daddy or Sydney?

We celebrated Elli's 2nd birthday at the Wonder Place with tons of their family and friends. I must say, we love the Wonder Place more every time we go. Sydney was way more mobile this trip and tried to see everything. Of course, she LOVED the cupcake (and asked for a 2nd one ;) ) and was not entertained when Mr. Scott asked for a bite. Happy Birthday Sweet Elli!

Our baby girl is 1 and 1/2!!!

Oh, my sweet Sydney girl! I can't believe that you are one and 1/2 now. I am finding myself saying that instead of a month for the first time when people ask how old you are. You are so full of energy and personality. We had a checkup at your ENT yesterday, and your ears looked better than ever. Both of your tubes are still in and doing exactly what they need to. Let's keep our fingers crossed for this winter and cold season. You wouldn't have anything to do with Dr. Garder, and actually is alot of times showing some initial fear of men. I guess it is just a stage. Your official 18-month check up will be next Monday, so I will post your official size information next week. Right now, you wake up around 7:00 ready to eat breakfast (current favorite is a waffle and a banana or strawberries and milk). You are in to everything around the house, but you love: the music table, fisher price house, taking care of babies, rocking in your little chair, dancing around, talking on the phone, bubbles, putting your "pretties" on (either chap stick rolled down or Mom's makeup brushes), eating ;), taking a bath, sliding or swinging outside, taking wagon rides, playing with play dough... whew no wonder I am exhausted at the end of the day! You are not eating too much meat, but I keep offering it. You will always eat fruit of all kinds, cereal bars, yogurt, applesauce and basically any carb. Speaking of eating, you are really trying to exert your Independence with a spoon. You will refuse to eat unless you are holding the spoon/fork and the food is in front of you on the tray. We are keeping Spray-n-wash in business! You LOVE going to school and your teachers are so fabulous with you. You are learning so much already, like colors, shapes, songs, following directions, sharing, being kind to others, and your current favorite- the pledge of allegiance. I am not kidding! They have a flag holder every day and Sydney is very serious about it! My favorite school story from last week: Sydney feel down and was very upset and sobbing. Ms. Shannon came over and said "Uh Oh Spaghetti-Ohs!" and Sydney immediately stopped crying, stood up and said "Eat eat??". Drama Queen!!! She is understanding practically everything we say and following directions like "go and find your shoes" and "put this in the trash please". Let me think about some of the things she is saying spontaneously... Momma, Dada, hi, nana, apple, uh oh, bye bye, Gigi, dog, bubbles, Misty, eat eat, bite, row-row (for boat), book, Izzy (Erin's dog), night night, Sydney (did-knee) please (peas) and thank you (dan to). Oh, and our 2 new favorite words to answer for everything: no and yep (especially no). She trys to imitate a lot of things, especially people's names when we are saying bye bye, like "bye bye Izzy" and often says "bye bye Daddy" when I hang up the phone. Once, my mom was leaving our house and Sydney said "Momma, bye bye Gigi" trying to tell me to say bye to my mom. Adorable.

Sydney, we are so blessed to be your parents. We love you more than words could ever say!!!

Leopard Shoe Day

On our way out of the door this morning I had to document the first "Leopard Shoe Day" of the '08-09 school year. Please tell me the rain will end soon or I will be wearing my rain boots every day. I just realized that Syd is chatting it up on my cell phone in this picture.

What a cutie!!!!!

Good Bye Summer!

If you know me well at all, you know how much I love the summer. And not just because I work a teacher's schedule, I grew up a "lake rat" and I love everything about the summer. So I can admit it is with a slightly heavy heart I am saying good bye to it. But we will see you on the flip side of this school year, and I am already focusing on: Razorback football games, pumpkin bread, boots, Sydney's little butt in jeans, Halloween costumes, pumpkin patch visits, enjoying the changing leaves, park visits without sweating, making sugar cookies with Sydney, Christmas music, the smell of a Christmas tree as I walk in the door, and much more!

We heart the lake!

Henry Hamra is SUCH a great dog!
Sydney checking out the lake from the back porch

Waving at all the boats with Julia

Sleeping beauty on the boat.

Thanks so much to Julie and Ryan for having us (and Aunt Erin) over to the lake this weekend. It was so relaxing and fun. Sydney had a blast playing with Henry and boating on the lake. Looking forward to many more trips together, especially if Ryan is cooking!