First Hair Cut

After two years and a few days, we finally took Sylvia for her first haircut. We got the appt. right after breakfast time, so her mood going into the hair place was ok, but that quickly changed to shy kid after she figured out what we were doing.

The before picture...

We tried all the tricks, including an Elmo cartoon on the TV, but she did not want to sit by herself. Sylvia and Dad sat on the barber's chair and the stylist started her work...

About two minutes into the haircut... Notice Sylvia is holding onto her first haircut locks.

The finished hairstyle. Moses, Mary, and Baby Jesus all give it two thumbs up!

Fun with Shaylan

Last weekend cousin Shaylan came up to Woodbury to spend some quality time with Sylvia. The weather was great (except for the one storm that quickly blew through) and the kids were both in a great mood.


Grandpa Dan was the Lifeguard on Duty while to two played in the frog pool.

The kids were playing 'fast food' as Shaylan took grandpa's order. He ate hamburgers, fries, and spaghetti with meatballs. Yummy!

After all the playtime, it was dinner time. The kids both sat at the picnic table and ate their sandwiches.

Until the next installment...

Where's Adam?

Sylvia has acquired quite a few stuffed animals from her mom and dad as well as from gifts from others. From time to time, she loves to take them all out of the cradle, put them on the couch, and them put then back in the cradle. Yesterday morning took a slight turn as she decided to bury dad with the stuffed animals. When that was done, it was time to include Lucy in the fun.

For some reason, Sylvia felt that Lucy needed a quilt over her. Maybe she wanted Lucy to hide? Maybe to blend in? Who knows... At any rate, Lucy doesn't really like blankets on her...

So Lucy's best defense, the tongue! She came straight at Sylvia with the tongue fully extended. As Sylvia surprisingly backed away (this time not embarrassing the kiss of the dog), the two seemed to come to an understanding.

No blanket over the head = hugs for Sylvia and Lucy!

Elmo Art

Two loves of Sylvia are Elmo and art... Why not combine them for a lovely afternoon session of Elmo Art.

As you can see by the attached below, the Elmo portrait is a great representation of the model who was posing. The red for his body, the orange for his nose, and apparently the yellow is for Elmo's friend Big Bird who made a cameo appearance for this portrait.


Sylvia loves her Elmo and her art... More installments to come!

Bubbles

Like most kids, Sylvia loves bubbles. She was given a 'bubble machine' last year as a gift and when we used it last year, she would watch the bubbles and chase after them. Now that she is an independent, "I can do everything" two-year old, she can handle her own bubble maker.

She enjoys bubbles in the yard...
Bubbles in her house....
Bubbles by the wheelbarrow...
And even bubbles around the firepit (unlit of course!)

I thank the inventor of the 'no-spill' bubbles. Those things are fantastic. Now if the bubble machine had a 10 gallon bubble tank, we would have hours on non-stop fun.

Happy Birthday Sylvia!

Sylvia turns two today and to celebrate we wanted to share some pictures of her...

First off, Sylvia is peddling away on her new tricycle (yes - we are the nerdy parents who make her wear a helmet on the bike / trike - and unfortunately means that mom and dad also have to wear a helmet when riding their bikes, YUK!)
Not much else to report on today, since we don't have much time between work and bedtime, especially when you put a 45 minute dinner and sitting on the potty chair (doing nothing I might add) for another 45 minutes...

Since the weather, and Sylvia's mood, cooperated yesterday, we were able to make it over to the old neighborhood for a photo shoot with Missy. Here is just a small sampling of the great pictures we got yesterday.

Another shameless plug for Missy. If you would like to contact her about setting up a photo shoot on your own, please feel free to contact her at:

melissarosephotography@gmail.com

Weekend Fun

We had some fun snapshots from the day after our July 4th party and they were too good not to share...

Grandma and Grandpa did some cleaning in the garage attic and pulled down the toy tractor I had when I was a child. Sylvia's legs are about 10 inches too short, but she still enjoyed going for a ride with Grandma.

The new wheelbarrow. 550# capacity, so I think Sylvia and all the chalk in the world would be safe in this thing.
For those that didn't notice, the holding tank was nearing capacity, so to conserve on water going into the tank, Sylvia enjoyed her bath in a Rubbermaid tote. It worked out surprisingly well. Sure will be nice when you can flush the toilet and not worry about overflowing!
Since the toy tractor wasn't enough, Sylvia had to take a turn driving the big boy tractor. She did a decent job holding on and stearing, but I think it will be a few more years until she can handle this one on her own...

Two years ago tonight Jamie was really starting to rethink this parenthood think (aka labor stinks), but I think the effort was all worth it...

4th of July

This past weekend we enjoyed our 8th annual 4th of July Celbration. This was the second year at Cokato Lake and while the group continues to grow with little ones, we continue to make things work.

Since the weather forecasters (aka Doom and Gloom) forecasted thunderstorms on the 4th, we planned for the worst and set up a small circus tent. It ended up being a great shade maker for the young and old alike.

Since the weather was warm, we enjoyed the water, and even a ride or two on the Jet-Ski

A 14 day old Reagan taking some time out on the dock bench, while Liz and Zach check out the action on the lake.

Oasis Island made it out for another go round

Time for some shade

A look out at the lake from under the big top

Dinner time under the big top...

Sylvia's 2nd birthday cake. It was so cute when everyone started to sing "Happy Birthday", Sylvia buried her head into her hands... while initially I thought she was crying, she was just hiding due to embarrassment.

With a little help from Kasey, Sylvia was able to blow out the candle.

Sylvia trying to put on her Elmo hat

Aaron and Jen sporting their matching 5th Annual Celbration T-shirts. (Thanks for your help on the grill Gramps)

The boys checking out the see-saw. This swing set was my moms when she was growing up and with some replaced wood seats and rubber swing it is just like new.

It is present time!!!

Tats, need we say more?

Until next year....

Jimmy John's

07/02/2010, originally uploaded by umddog.

One of the great things about our new home is the close proximity to a Jimmy John's. If you haven't been there, they are a Subway type restaurant with a slightly different twist. Anyway, they sell "day old bread" for 50 cents a loaf. Personally I don't think this really is day old bread, but even so, it is great for Sylvia sandwiches. Last week after daycare we stopped to pick up a loaf of said bread. Sylvia is trained now to know that this bread is for her and sure enough she dug right into the loaf of bread. Not captured on photo was her sticking the loaf into her face, but maybe that is for the better anyway...