Animal House

Sydney really loves animals. She gets so excited everytime she sees one - live or on television. It's too bad we will never own a pet. We bought her a toy puppy dog and she walks around the house all day petting it and saying, "Soft, soft." It is really cute! She also likes to kiss its nose.

She has a book with pictures of animals and their names and she loves to look at it and try to make the sounds. She is quite good with a few of the animals.

Fourth of July

For the Fourth of July we went to my parents' house for a barbecue. My dad made ribs and his famous pulled pork sandwiches. Aside from eating a lot of food, we were able to spend time with family.

My parents put up a couple of kiddie pools in their backyard, and my brother brought over a waterslide. All of the kids stayed outside playing for the majority of the afternoon - only taking small breaks to quickly eat.

Two of my brothers and one sister were out of town with their families (not together though). Donnie's sister and her family came and so we still had about 30 people.

Sydney had a great time in the water, as did my other nieces and nephews. Sydney's favorite part was definitely the slide. She didn't want to get off!



Here are some other shots from the day:

Two moves, a wedding, a funeral, and family gatherings galore!

The moves
Two of my sisters shared a house for about two years, but as both were planning to get married soon, they decided it was time to part ways. Donnie and I spent about two weeks helping pack, move, and clean.

Angela moved into a condo, but Al was moving into a new house and it wasn't ready yet, so we helped move all of her stuff into a storage unit - actually it took three by the time everything was done! She has a lot of stuff...

The wedding
In addition to her big move, Al was preparing for her wedding, June 2. Yeah, I would not recommend scheduling a wedding and a move at the same time, but sometimes that's what you're handed.

Anyway, Al and her fiance Ura were married in an outdoor ceremony. It was nice, and thankfully the weather stayed cool..er. An outdoor wedding in Georgia in June could be disastrously hot, but everything seemed to work out perfectly that day.

I was the matron of honor, which meant Donnie was on baby duty all day. I try to explain that it is not babysitting when you take care of your own child, but that concept still eludes him. Anyway, the hotel was crazy that morning and Sydney did not get a nap, so at about 7:30 she was screaming and ready for bed. We left before the bouquet toss or their grand exit, but at least we were there for the important stuff. Overall, Sydney did really well and had lots of cousins to play with.

Here are a few pictures we took with our camera:

And here is a link to the photographer

The Funeral

After the excitement of the wedding and moves faded away, we learned that a family friend passed away. She had been battling breast cancer for a few years. She had four children and 8 grandchildren. She was a very special person. She was very sweet and caring and it is sad to think she is no longer around. Granted, I have only had limited contact with her over the last 10 years or so, but she was my mom's friend and we all grew up with her children.

I attended the funeral with my parents and my sister Jana. It was a nice service - as far as funerals go. It was also good to see people I haven't seen in like 15 years.

Family Gatherings

Well, my family has never had a problem coming up with an excuse for a get together, but we may have outdone ourselves this month. Even if you take out everything wedding, moving, and funeral related, we still had birthdays and holidays to spend together.

For Memorial Day my parents had a barbecue at their house. It was nice to get together and we had the chance to finally meet Angela's boyfriend and his son. We're Southern, so naturally we are nosy and couldn't wait to meet them!

My Dad turned 61 in June and so we planned a party for him, but then had to postpone it because one of my sisters was in the hospital with pneumonia. We got together (well half of us)that night and had a birthday dinner anyway though.

The next week we got together for Father's Day and to celebrate my Dad's birthday with everyone. Donnie's sister and her family just moved to Atlanta and they were able to come also. It was fun to be together, but two of my brothers were missing. One is in Guam for two years working and the other went to play golf (it was his father's day too). Those of us there had a good time.

I know Donnie is happy to have family around. He loves my family, but its always nice to have your side around too. We're happy that they decided to move here.

We are spending the summer with my grandmother. Sydney has made herself right at home too! She loves the freedom she is enjoying, now that she can walk around with confidence and carry things with her.

Donnie bought her a purse after she kept trying to carry the diaper bag around everywhere - unsuccessfully I might add. She also likes to carry my wallet and cell phone around with her. She pulls out my cards and holds the phone to her ear and "talks." It is so cute...but kind of scarry too. I hope this isn't a glimpse into our future!

On the other hand, she is finally starting to enjoy playing with her toys by herself. She no longer needs me to press buttons or tickle Elmo for her. Most of the time, she gets mad at me if I do it - she's a big girl now ya know.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for...

ICE CREAM! Sydney's favorite treat. It's not very often that she gets to eat junk, but when the chance comes, she enjoys every last minute of it! Unfortunately she is not big enough to clean up after herself yet, so we get stuck with the not-so-fun part of dessert.

On the road again...

After a lengthy 9-day stint at what was once our home, we were packed up and homeless again. We lived with my sister-in-law and her family for pretty much the last three years, but now we are moving on - and they are selling their house too.

Donnie has an internship in Atlanta this summer with an accounting firm and so we had to move across the country for three months. We knew taking a 15-month-old on a 2000 mile road trip would not be easy, so we prepared by packing lots of candy and movies to entertain her. We drove about 8 hours the first day and she did wonderfully, but about 4 hours in to our 12-hour second-day adventure, she was a little uncomfortable. She never really cried or screamed, she just sort of whimpered. It was very sad to hear. We let her eat lots of suckers and cookies and tried to give her time out of her carseat whenever we stopped for gas, but finally we had to just stop for two hours and let her work it all out of her system.

Day three was the longest day of all and we spent most of it convincing Sydney to "Just go to sleep and it will be better." All-in-all she travelled well and never screamed, but we plan on taking five days or so to go back across the country so we can stop more and check things out.

After spending so many hours stuck in her car seat in a tightly packed car, Sydney finally found a way to be comfortable - she would scrunch up into a little ball and sleep. She looked so funny. She would pull her blanket over her head and conk out. She also worked on her flexibility. She kept putting her foot in her mouth and at one point, even used her foot to move hair out of her eyes. The only thing we will not let her do next time, is eat a Milano cookie. She had chocolate everyhere!

At home...

After nearly a month away, Sydney and I returned home to Donnie. It would have been nice to come home and relax our play - ya know, continue on with our vacation, but it was back to work.

We spent all day, every day packing to move. Everytime I packed something, Sydney would come right behind me and unpack it, so it took a lot longer than it should have! Finally we found something for her to play with - the sticky paper left over from a sheet of stamps.

When that wore off, we let her "pack" herself. She had a great time playing in one of the plastic bins!

After boxing everything up we moved it all into a PODS and we were ready to leave.

Sisters' Trip

For our Sisters' Trip this year we went to the Florida Keys. It was my first time to that part of Florida, so I was really excited. We flew into Miami and then rented a van and drove down to the Keys.

For future reference, volunteering to rent a car and drive six other grown women around Miami is not a good idea. It's one thing if you know where you're going, but when you are relying on the others and all are shouting directions at the same time...well, let's just say it's not a good idea.

Anyway, back to the trip...We found our way to the condo we rented and immediately wanted to hit the beach. Only it wasn't what I expected. Apparently the Keys are a bunch of rock islands and so the "beach" isn't much of a beach. The water was still really pretty though. We were pretty much alone at the condo though, so we took over the pool. The"complex" was pretty small. There were four buildings, each with only two condos. The condos were three stories each with a roof-top deck to hang out on. There was one other couple there. They owned one of the condos and were able to give us some tips on what to do, where to eat, and where to play.

We went to a nearby public beach one day and hung out there - mostly in floats in the water because the sand was a little rocky, but we spent mosst of our time at the pool. Unlike our last trip, no one was horribly sunburned and miserable, so it was a success.

We ate at home most of the time - didn't want to lose precious hours by the pool - but one night we ate at Island Grill. They had two outside dining areas, each with live music. Everyone had seafood - except for me and Jana. I had the best ribs ever!

Our last day in Florida we spent back in Miami at South Beach and then in Coconut Grove. Key Largo was very laid back and not a lot of traffic, but South Beach and the Grove were the complete opposite. It was cool to check out the different shops and restaurants, but I much prefer relaxing climates.

Easter

Sydney and I went to visit my side of the family for Easter this year. Donnie had another obligation and couldn't make the trip, so we had to go it alone. We normally do not travel for Easter, but our mission this time was twofold - 1. Celebrate Easter and collect lots of candy on the egg hunt and 2. Babysit for two weeks after the whole shindig.

One of my brothers (I have 3)is moving to Guam with his family. They will be there for about two years, and it is work related. He and his wife went over to finalize some plans and find a place to live. While they were gone, Sydney and I helped out with their 4 children. They are all older (the youngest is 6 and the oldest is 16) so it was a really easy assignment. We pretty much just provided taxi service and meals.

So on Easter all 30 of us congregated at my brother's house after Church for dinner and the egg hunt. It was nice to see everyone and to spend time with family. Sydney didn't "find" too many eggs though. Once she picked up her first two she refused to let them go and pick up more! She held on to those two little plastic eggs for close to an hour, but it seemed like all day! Some of her cousins pitched in and gave her a few eggs. Of course they were the eggs with the "yucky" candy!