Piano

So, I try to practice the piano b/c I really can't play anymore.....which is sad b/c I used to be half decent. But, much to my dismay, my little ones push my hands away and want to play by themselves!!! They were just so cute today, I had to take a picture. Sydney was singing while she was "playing", but Addyson was just playing. Addyson was so excited at first and then she got more tired and more tired.....as you can see on the progression of pictures, she put her head down finally on the keys.
Poor Addyson is shirtless b/c it was so hot in our house today, I thought she'd be more comfortable without clothes on and then I go and take her picture! She'll love me for that when she's older!! ha ha.

Teasing Sydney

Addyson is starting to tease Sydney, and it's so funny. She'll grab something that Sydney is playing with and run away from her as fast as she can while laughing hysterically. Sydney gets so upset, but I can't help but laughing. Of course Sydney is telling me, "MOM, IT'S NOT FUNNY!" I really need to learn to control my giggles.

Christmas

Yes, it is about time I posted pictures of our Christmas. We went up to southern VA to visit Travis's parents, and were joined by his sister, Tawnya and her family and his brother, Cody, and his two dogs. Tawnya has two little girls, Kayleigh is 6 months older than Sydney and Madison is 2 months younger than Addyson. Madison got a little confused every time I said Addyson, and Addyson vice versa. Travis's Mom, Di, thinks we should call them Virginia and Georgia (Tawnya lives in VA too). We might have to start doing that when we are up there! Sydney and Kayleigh were thick as thieves and had a great time playing with each other. Sydney loved Uncle Cody's dogs, of course, and is still talking about them. She saw a picture of Travis's dog, Major, and wanted to know all about what he was doing in Heaven. She asks us everyday what Major and Heavenly Father are doing. So cute. The only thing Sydney asked for this year was Baby Alive, so she was more than thrilled to open her up on Christmas morning. She was so excited and said..."It's Baby Alive because I've been such a good girl!" She also got a ton of little ponies, princess stuff and a "smart cycle" which she loves to play. Addyson wants to play too, but since she's too little and Sydney doesn't want her to, she just taunts Sydney by turning it on and off. Both girls racked up this year, so I had to secretly put a lot of their old toys into a "goodwill" box one night while they were sleeping. And we still have way too many toys!

Uncle Cody helping Addyson

Addyson was thrilled with her box of balls and wasn't interested in anything else except after Travis opened part of his grill (an empty propane tank) and left a big box full of nothing but Styrofoam peanuts in it. Addyson thought this was fabulous and immediately climbed into it. She was furious with me when I finally took her out b/c she started eating the peanuts.

Sydney and Kayleigh had a great time making and leaving cookies for Santa and sprinkling reindeer food out out on the lawn on Christmas eve. They were thrilled to be able to have a "sleepover" with each other and sleep in their little mermaid sleeping bag/air beds.

Opening presents tired everyone out!

My girls were thrilled to get home and see that Santa had made a visit to our house as well and filled their stockings and left a big red Santa bag full of gifts for them under the tree. Annie and Poppy had also been over and left a darling pottery barn table and chairs for them as well.

It was time to clean up Christmas and Sydney did better than I expected about not being too upset, but was very disappointed when "Soley Doley" her "elf on the shelf" had to fly back to be with his wife and Santa until next year.

I was bummed, as always, to have to put up the decorations because the house just looks so empty without them! No, however, I actually can decorate my new house for real b/c since we've moved in we've had holiday decorations (Halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas).

Happy New Year!

Is it really 2008????? Wha???
Okay, so I'm late on getting my Christmas post done b/c I need to download my Christmas pictures. It's coming, but not today. New Year's Eve was fun. We got to try out a Wii for the first time. Travis fell in love with the guitar game. He was very hesitant to try it, but then was a super star and we couldn't get him off it. He did look mighty hot playing the guitar, though. (even if it was fake). I kicked butt on my first song, "Hit me with your best shot" and then got booed of the stage (from computer fans) on a Poison song of all things...How can that happen to me? One of their biggest fans?? :) So, Travis decided to "show me how it's done". ha ha. I, however, liked the tennis game the best myself, but I kept turning around to talk when it was my turn, so I had to start focusing and then I kicked some booty. A Wii will definitely be on our Christmas list next year. Travis had to get up early this morning for wrestling practice, so we didn't stay up late. We watched the ball drop and headed for bed! We are getting old! I don't even think we made it to midnight last year!
Another Sydney funny for ya...there are just too many to write down, so I just do the ones I remember at the moment....I was singing a song...who knows what it was, but she told me that Scooby didn't like it (she was pretending her Clifford dog was Scooby) and said "Mom, Scooby doesn't like that song" and I said, well, I do and I'm going to sing it, so she said, "but mom...NOW it's stuck in his head!" I had to giggle at that one. She is not only addicted to Scooby Doo, but loves to sing "Shake your Boooooty" while she's shaking hers. Very cute and cuter when Addyson joins her and tries to shake her little booty. It's so fun having a little 14 month old around!
2007 was a great year for the Jarrard Jokers (that's us), and I hope that 2008 just gets better. If it follows the trend, then it will b/c, so far, every year has gotten better. I hope that it's awesome for everyone (even the 2 or 3 people who ever read my blog!!...thanks by the way for reading...it makes me feel good that someone is interested!)

Cheers! and God Bless!

Baby Alive

Sydney only asked Santa for one thing this year and it was Baby Alive. Of course, she was a good girl and got the eating/pooping/peeing doll. She actually is very good at taking care of her, and is having a lot of fun with her. The doll, however, does entail work from me....making her food, helping change her diaper, cleaning her up, etc. Sydney helps, but mostly it's me.
Sydney decided that she was Baby Alive's mommy and that she needed a daddy. So, she asked Travis if he would be Baby Alive's daddy. He said he would be. So, today, after the doll eats, she poops, and Sydney is attempting to change her diaper when she starts saying how yucky and stinky the poopy diaper is (it really doesn't smell at all) and tells Travis that he needs to finish changing her diaper. Travis says, no, you need to finish doing it and Sydney immediately says...."you are baby-alive's daddy and you need to change her diaper. That's how it works". Of course I am so proud of my example setting! ha ha!!! So, Travis decides that he doesn't want to be baby-Alive's daddy anymore and I then suggest that Grayson be her daddy. Sydney says "mmmm, I guess that will work". Then after a few minutes she said "And if Grayson doesn't want to be Baby-Alive's daddy, then Gavin (Grayson's younger brother) can be because he is so good to me." How old is she??? It's not over yet. After thinking for a bit, she then says, Gavin is little, though, so maybe big Aidan (Kudlas) can be Baby-Alive's daddy". So funny. The only thing he has to do is change the poopy diapers. ha ha. Good luck with that one Sydney. :) Actually, she's learned from Travis that daddy's change the poopy diapers when they are home from work. I'm a good teacher. :)

Nativity

The Cast/ Mary and Joseph


My friend, Andrea, and I started a new tradition with our families. This year, however, it consisted of all her family and just me and Sydney. Travis was coaching and Addyson was sick, so my parents were watching her. We've exchanged gifts the past 3 years and have had our kids take pictures with Santa together, but we wanted to add something else. So, I came up with an idea that has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. We had dinner and then we read the Nativity story out of John and Matthew and "acted" it out. Sydney was very excited about it and wanted to be Mary, which was fine. She also wanted Grayson to be Joseph, Miss Andrea to be the angel and of all things...she wanted me to be the donkey. I guess I know how she feels about me!! ha ha. It ended up being Sydney as Mary, Aaron (15 years old) was Joseph b/c Grayson wanted to be the star, Andrea was the angel, Edward (Andrea's husband) was a king, Jordyn (12) was a Shepard, Gavin (2) was a Shepard, Alayna (7 months) was baby Jesus and I was the narrator. It was fun, but I was a little unprepared, as it was kind of last minute. We plan on doing it every year and hopefully I'll be a little more prepared. We then took pictures then opened gifts. It was a great start to a great tradition I think. Oh, we also sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. It was Edward's idea and I thought it was great b/c the kids loved it, and it helped them remember why we even give gifts at Christmas.

Grayson and Sydney opening presents. Giving Grayson a big squeeze.

FYI

So, I've been trying my experiment of saying Merry Christmas to everyone (cashiers, bank teller, sales people, etc.) and it's been GREAT. EVERYONE has been a little surprised when I said it, but gave me a big smile back and has said "Merry Christmas to you" back to me. So, unlike my friend Andrea, my response has been nothing but positive, so I'm looking forward to wishing as many people a Merry Christmas as I can before the big day comes. I'll just have to be reminded to take it off of my blog title when Christmas is over!!