Catching Up with Friends

Andrew's friend, Jon, and Jon's girlfriend Lindsey came to visit today. Jon went to the Naval Academy with Andrew. Right now he is stationed Yokosuka Japan where he met Lindsey when she was studying abroad in Tokyo. We had a great time catching up and Sydney had fun getting to know them too. Andrew and I are looking into going to Japan for an EDO tour after grad school so Jon and Lindsey were perfect to ask questions about what it's like to live there. They showed us pictures on Jon's laptop of his apartment building, Yokosuka and other cities they've been to.
I grew up in the DC area and never imagined living so far away from everything I've known. But after a couple of tours under our belt, living overseas is not as scary to me as it used to be. I like the idea of living outside the US and learning about other cultures. Sydney would be starting kindergarten or first grade in Japan depending on if Andrew went to Monterey or MIT for grad school. So many things are up in the air but I am happy with the choices we are facing right now. No upcoming deployments or trying to figure out if we should get out of the Navy or stay in. Right now the plan is to stay in as long as Andrew enjoys being an EDO. It seems like it will be a pretty exciting career.

Little Picasso

My Mom got Sydney a Melissa and Doug easel for Christmas. Sydney loves to "write" letters and draw so this was a great gift. Today she was drawing with chalk while I was making dinner. She would come over to the kitchen and say "Mama I made a picture!" and want me to take a look at her artwork. The easel is really neat because it adjusts to her height. We have it on the shortest setting right now. You can also get the companion pack that has paper, no spill paint cups, brushes, paint and chalk. Those items are also at the Education Works store at the mall which is convenient. I bought a large splat mat that I lay on the floor by the dinning area and put the easel on it. Sydney brings over her little chair from her table and is ready to draw. She'll make scribbles and say "I make an M" or "I make a circle". It will be neat to see how her drawings change as she grows up.

Dinner Out With Family

My Father-In-Law loves Jimmy Buffet so I thought it fitting to go to the Margaritaville restaurant at the Mohegan Sun while everyone was here visiting for Christmas. There were 10 of us total--my mom, brother, sister and sister's boyfriend, Andrew's parents and sister and of course Andrew, Sydney and I. Andrew's parents had been to Margaritaville before and loved the food so I was very excited about trying it out. For appetizers we ordered volcano nacho chips (I wish I had taken a picture!). It was huge pile (about 12 inches tall) of nachos, cheese, sauce, olives and beans. It was delicious. We passed the plate around a couple of times. For our meals I ordered steak fajitas, Andrew got Jambalaya and Sydney had chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce and mashed potatoes. We had a great time except when the balloon man came over on his stilts and costume. He walked over to Sydney and she freaked out. I had hoped for a hat but her head was too small so he made her a sword. She on the other hand did not want anything to do with him and started screaming "No No No!!!" and tried desperately to get out of her high chair. She sat on my lap while she calmed down and the poor guy left to make balloon hats for other patrons. Oh well. She did get her sword and she had fun carrying it as we walked out of the casino after dinner.

Pajama Party!

The Children's Place had matching pajama sets for adults and children this season. I was very excited about this so as soon as they hit the stores Sydney and I went to the Children's Place at Tanger outlets--they weren't at their regular stores yet--and picked out pj's. There were lots of colors to choose from but I went with blue for winter. I got 18 months for Sydney and hoped they would still fit by Christmas (I tried them on her a couple of times between then and now and they fit great, thankfully). On Christmas morning my sister's boyfriend dressed up as Santa Claus and passed out our PJ's to Andrew, Sydney and I. Andrew wasn't in on the surprise and was so excited about wearing matching pj's with Sydney. We put them on tonight and took pictures. They are way to warm to sleep so we wore our usual pj's to bed. But they were so much fun to wear. When I dressed Sydney up in her pj she kept saying "Oh wow, oh thank you Mama!" She beamed when she saw Mama and Dada were wearing the same pajamas she was!

Sydney Angels

Sydney's gift for family this Christmas is handprinted angels. They are simple to make but take a couple days because you have to let the paint dry in between steps. You also have to have a willing toddler to sit and make all of those handprints. We had seven angels to make for grandparents, aunts, uncles and one for us to keep. I used 9x12 inch canvas boards, yellow paint for the body and pink paint for the wings. If I had a boy I would have used blue paint instead. Yesterday I painted Sydney's hand yellow and pressed it in the middle of the board. We did 10 total just in case we had a couple of mess ups along the way. This morning I painted her right hand pink and pressed it on the left side of her yellow handprint for one wing. Tonight I painted her left hand pink and pressed it on the right side for the other wing. After it dried I turned the picture around so the handprints were upside down. I painted a circle between the tops of the pink handprints for the face then added two black dots for eyes and a smile. Then I made a halo with yellow paint above the face. I wrote Sydney's name on top with a black permanent marker. I'm very excited to hear what everyone will say when they see their angels. They turned out so cute and it's a wonderful keepsake.

A snow day...FINALLY!

We finally had our first good snowfall of the season. Not the wet stuff, or the inch or two that melts by midday, but several inches of the good, powdery snow. It started around 1:00 in the afternoon and kept going after dark. Sydney woke

up to the snowfall after her nap. Andrew pulled her curtains back in her room and opened the blinds for

her to see snow. She looked out and whispered "ohhhhh...wooooow" taking it all in. We bundled her up to go play in the snow but as soon as it was time to put on her snow boots she refused to put them on. Andrew put on his coat, boots, gloves and hat to show Sydney he was getting ready to play in the snow too. I had to practically push her feet into her boots telling her it was a good thing and she was going to have fun. Andrew held her hand as they stepped out onto the porch and from that point on she was smiling and playing. It was so fun to see her in the snow because it was like she was seeing it for the first time all over again. Andrew showed her how to throw her first snowball and she squealed when he picked up the snow and let it fall on them. While they were playing I took pictures and had cookies baking in the oven (Kris Kringle cookies with dried cranberries, white chocolate chips and chopped pecans--minus the pecans for Sydney). When they came back in they were covered in snow. Sydney's hands were warm but her nose and cheeks were cold and pink. Andrew made her hot cocoa and I gave her a warm cookie. I am so happy we finally had a real snowfall. It will be here for a few days so we'll get to enjoy it again tomorrow.

Family Calendars

I am so excited! We made family calendars for our gift to everyone this Christmas and our order arrived today. They look so BEAUTIFUL! We have been working on them for several weeks and I was worried that we might not even get them finished in time. We created them with IPhoto on our Mac which we just got a couple weeks ago. Before getting the Mac I had been struggling with Shutterfly, Kodak and Walmart trying to find the site with the best colors for borders and the best picture layouts. It was taking forever to pick pictures, upload them to the photo sites and then onto the calendar. During this time our Mac arrived and when Andrew was learning how to use it he found IPhoto. No uploading pictures. Just pick and drag any picture straight into the calendar. It was awesome! That gave me more time to play with pictures because I didn't have to wait for them to upload. We'll save the calendars for the end on Christmas morning and let everyone open them together. That way it's a surprise for everyone. I can't wait!!!

Cinnamon Ornaments

Today Sydney and I made Cinnamon Ornaments. I used to make these with my preschoolers and I was excited that this year I could make them with Sydney. The recipe usually calls for cinnamon, applesauce and Elmer's glue which helps bind the cinnamon and applesauce together. This year I found a recipe from McCormick (I got the site off the cinnamon bottle) that calls for just the cinnamon and applesauce. This worked out great because I didn't have to worry when Sydney would lick her fingers and say "Mmm yummy". I wondered how they would turn out without the glue, if they would crack and break easily but they turned out super. At the top of each one I made a hole with a straw so I could thread ribbon through to hang on our tree. We made gingerbread men, christmas trees, stars and stockings. Sydney poured the ingredients in the bowl and helped push the cookie cutters down into the dough. I followed the directions for the first batch and made them 1/4 inch thick but I thought they looked to thin. So I made a second batch 1/2 inch thick and they look really nice. I also let the dough sit for a couple of hours before handling because it was just too crumbly to cut up right away. The house smelled so good too. I took pictures of Sydney putting one of the ornaments on the tree. She said "more pictures" and tried to pose with her ornament as she smiled at the camera and shook the ornament vigorously. At least she got the smile down :) We put half of the ornaments on our tree and the other half we will give to friends along with the recipe. 

Christy's Birthday Party

Our friends Cathy and Gary had a birthday party today for their daughter Christy who is turning two. Miss Anna, Christy's teacher from her "Music Together" class, came for entertainment. She brought her guitar and sang and danced with the kids (and grownups) for 45 minutes. The kids loved it. Sydney loved jumping, turning, clapping, etc. I hadn't heard most of these songs before as they are "music together" songs which made it even more fun. At the end of the session Miss Anna gave all of the kids two egg shakers to take home from Cathy and Christy. It was a very thoughtful gift.
After the music session we had lunch--macaroni and cheese with croutons and melted swiss cheese on top...so good..., cold pasta in a pesto that Sydney called "green beans", slices of chicken and a salad. Afterward we had cupcakes that Cathy made with the best lemon icing and strawberry filling inside. They were displayed in a Wilton cupcake stand with silicone flower cupcake molds. So pretty. We each got our own little cups of ice cream with vanilla and chocolate to go with the cupcakes. It was great to see Cathy, Gary and Christy. Everyone had a great time!
I put a slide show up to the side of this blog with pictures of the party. The video is of Sydney dancing to Miss Anna's music.

Festival of Lights

This morning I got two nice surprises--Sydney slept in late and Andrew came back from work to stay home for the day. The base lost power early this morning and all subschool classes were cancelled. They were cancelled at 9:00 and the power came back on at 9:30. What a treat! This gave me time to go out and get some errands done while Andrew stayed with Sydney. I set up fingerpaint and paper for them to do together while I was gone. At first I thought it might have been a bad idea to give Andrew fingerpainting duty, but they had fun squishing the paint in their fingers and on the paper. Sydney's been asking to paint for a while and she enjoyed it.

Tonight we went to the Festival of Lights at the Mystic Aquarium. Sydney was very excited to go saying she'd see "dolphins, whales and fish" and saying "Sydney car" because we take the car to get there. We went with our friends the Qin's, the Vanderweeles and the Steeles. Admission was free with the donation of a canned food item. The aquarium was packed with people pushing and squishing past each other. Even the line to get in stretched back all the way to the entrance of the parking lot. It was not at all what we expected as there were no festive lights in the aquarium. Just the normal lights you see all year. They did have a high school band and choir performing and there were Christmas trees all around the aquarium. Near the manta ray and seal exhibits was a table set up for face painting. Sydney and I got candy canes painted on our cheeks. She smiled when she saw mine saying "I like it". Afterward we all went to Friendly's for dinner. It was so much fun. Sydney enjoyed mini burgers, applesauce and steamed broccoli. I haven't been to friendly's in a long time. Andrew and I used to go all the time in college after our Campus Crusade meetings on Thursday nights. That was a very long time ago. Now we have a little one to share new memories with.

Breakfast for Dinner

Growing up I always loved when my Mom would make breakfast at dinner time. It wasn't often, but there was something special about having pancakes for dinner. I whip this up for my family too, usually when I'm overdue for a grocery trip. Tonight was such a night so I opted to make breakfast rather than going out in the freezing downpour we've had all day. I made chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs and canadian bacon. Instead of using the griddle for the pancakes I used my puff pancake pan. Or "baby pancake" pan as Sydney calls them. The pan was a gift from my mother-in-law from Williams-Sonoma. It's pretty neat. You heat the pan right on the burner on your stove. Then make your usual batter and put about a tablespoon of batter in each little cup. Then you add your filling (jam, fruit, ham/cheese, etc) and then flip them over to cook on the other side. It takes about a minute for each puff to cook so it's pretty quick. They were so yummy! Last time I made the puffs I used Nutella but it took so long to get it off the spoon and into the center of the puffs that they started to burn. This time I used chocolate chips. For the last batch I had only enough batter for four puffs. I poured the batter in and when I flipped them I realized I had forgotten the chips. Sydney had the last two puffs which happened to be the plain ones. She took a bite out of one, pouted, took a bite out of the other one, pouted. Then said "Chocolate chips...where aaaaaaare youuuuu???" Andrew and I started laughing. I got extra chips from the bag and added them in her puffs. It wasn't the same but better than plain I guess. .

A Busy Wednesday

This morning we had a playdate at Laura's home. The morning goes by so fast when we're together. I wish so much I had known Laura and Mary better while Andrew was on his IA. But at least now we are friends and we'll have much to do together before moving in May. It's starting to feel a little like the countdown. It will really hit me when we find out where we're moving to.
On our way back home Andrew called saying he was going to Pizza Hut for their Military Appreciation lunch. Sydney and I went last year so I asked if we could tag along again. Andrew, Sydney and I love Pizza Hut's buffet. Sydney ate a garlic breadstick, cinnamon breadstick and ham/pineapple pizza. Their dessert pizza is so yummy too. I split a slice with Sydney but she loved her breadsticks more. It was nice to see Andrew's friends again. Being on shore duty there aren't any get togethers with the subschool command like there were with Andrew's boat during his sea tour. It was very weird to get used to at first. Especially when Andrew was in Liberia there weren't any other wives going through the same thing. I felt like I was kind of in my own little world. On the flip side I could talk to Andrew almost daily where I wouldn't have been able to if he were deployed on a sub. Either way it's tough.
Tonight I will be celebrating my friend/neighbor, Crystal's, birthday. It's actually not until next week but this is the last get together before my friend Jessica leaves for FL to stay with her family while her husband is deployed on his sub. Girl's night out doesn't work as well a night in so we will be celebrating at her home. Can't wait!

Dinner with the Qins

Our friends, Laura and Q, invited us over for dinner tonight at their home. I was very excited to spend the evening with them and their children, Andrew and Ada. Sydney has playdates twice a week with Andrew so they know each other pretty well...for toddlers :) Laura and Q are also Chinese so we were in for a real treat with Laura's authentic Chinese cooking. Andrew and I have always LOVED Chinese food and tonight was no exception. I asked Laura if I could take pictures of her dishes to share and she kindly said yes.

Here are dumplings (pot stickers) with chicken. They were so yummy! Sydney saw Andrew and I try them before dinner and quickly came over saying "some please".

This dish is Ma Po Tofu. I had never had it before. It has cubes of tofu and ground pork in a spicy sauce. Sydney loved this dish. I think it was her favorite along with the white rice.

This is eggplant stir-fry with ground pork. I like eggplant in my mom's ratatouille recipe but I'd never had it in a stir-fry. It was very good.

Sydney and I had made christmas cookies to bring over for dessert, but somehow they burned in the oven. I didn't even leave them long in the oven. I am not a baker or cook I've said this before!!! So we picked up an assorted cheesecake pan at the grocery store. There were four different cakes - chocolate cheesecake, raspberry, walnut, and plain. Everyone enjoyed the slice they picked. I can't wait for my baking pan from Pampered Chef to come in. Then I'll try to make the cookies again.


We all had a great time chatting and getting to know each other better. When I first met Q last Easter, Andrew was in Liberia, and I kept telling him that he and Q would hit it off really well because they have so many similar interests. Andrew is a sci-fi fan and so are Q and Laura so we spent most of the evening chatting about sci-fi books, games and tv shows. I am not a fan but I still had a blast. It was a wonderful evening out with great food and great friends!

Breakfast With Santa

This morning at 8:00 we had breakfast with Santa Claus. The breakfast was held at the Reunions Deli next to the bowling lanes on base. We ate our breakfast first then went to where Santa was sitting for pictures. The breakfast was buffet-style with scrambled eggs, french toast sticks, hash brown stars, sausages, bacon and danishes. Sydney loved her scrambled eggs and french toast sticks. Afterward we went and had our picture taken with Santa. Sydney was afraid to stand with him all by herself but was ok when I posed with her. Santa gave her a little goody bag and a candy cane. She was very excited because we've been reading this book about candy canes "Christmas Candy Canes" at home and now she had her very own candy cane to hold. While waiting for our pictures we walked over to the bowling area where they had set up stations where you could decorate your own gingerbread man. Sydney and I decorate a cookie and brought him home with us. Overall it was a fun morning. It was just $5 each for Andrew and I and our Santa picture was free. It's nice that the military has events like this for families.

Festival of Lights

Tonight we went to a Festival of Lights show on base at the Dealey Plaza. It began at 5:30 with free hot cocoa and cookies and at 6:00 Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus arrived for the lighting of the Christmas Tree. We got there right at 5:30 and stood in the long line outside for our cocoa and cookies. Sydney stood in line with us as we waited for the 50 people or so in front of us to get their treats. There was quite a crowd. We saw our friends, the Vanderweeles, and chatted with them as we tried to stay warm. I gave Sydney a little hand warmer to hold to keep her fingers warm. At 6:00 a procession of police cars and a firetruck drove up to the plaza and out came Mr. and Mrs. Claus. The kids gathered round to give hugs, or just take a peek. Sydney sat on Andrew's shoulders to get a better view. Mr. and Mrs. Claus didn't stay out for long, heading in to the Dealey Center for pictures. We didn't stay to get pictures with Santa only because we would see him tomorrow at the "Breakfast with Santa." We could get pictures when we would be nice and cozy instead of waiting in line outside. After they went inside, an Admiral said a few words then the Christmas tree was lit and the Festival began. It was pretty neat. Sydney pointed out the decorations as we passed. There were snowmen, a choo-choo train, polar bears, etc. We walked around the plaza and then went home. Overall it was pretty fun. The lights were well done and Sydney had a good time.

Thank you Crystal!

My friend Crystal made pumpkin soup a week ago and posted the recipe on her blog. I am always looking for new recipes so I thought I would give it a try. I went to the commissary to get the items and they were out of pumpkin puree so I got canned sweet potatoes instead. I followed Crystal's recipe (I had the laptop on the kitchen counter) and made oven toasted sandwiches to go with it. The soup was delicious. Sooo good! And a delicious meal makes a very obedient child at the dinner table because Sydney finished two bowls of soup only pausing to repeat "yummy" and "I like it...wow". So Crystal thank you so much for a wonderful meal. Andrew loved it too and finished eating way before Sydney and I were done.

A Welcomed Change

In our family, and as is the case in most, I do the cooking. It's not by choice for me but by the fact that I am home more. I can make really tasty meals as long as I have a recipe to follow but if I try to make something on my own it just never turns out right...or good. Before having Sydney Andrew and I took turns cooking for the week. I loved it because he would make dishes I would never think of and it would taste so good. Lately I've gotten into a little cooking rut so last week he offered to cook a couple meals a week to give me a break. Bless him! I said "sure!" and asked him if he could make one meal on a weeknight and one on the weekend. For dinner tonight he made Jambalaya. I've had it once before and really liked it so I was eager to see how it would turn out. Andrew was worried Sydney wouldn't like it because of the sausage and the spices. We put it in a small bowl for her with cut up broccoli and she really liked it. She took the first bite and she looked up thinking about it as she chewed then said "yummy I like it." That was all Andrew needed to hear.
While Andrew was making dinner, Sydney and I worked on Peanut Butter Cup Cookies. The recipe called for a roll of ready made peanut butter cookies with 1 cup M&M mini's mixed into the batter. Then you add reeses cups in the middle of each cookie right after baking. The grocery store was out of the bite size cups so I used the regular size and cut them in quarters. Sydney poured the M&M mini's into a measuring cup and placed the balls of dough onto the cookie sheet. The recipe said to wait three hours after baking for the reeses cups to set. We are not a family that can wait three hours for cookies so we tasted them after our Jambalaya. They were yummy!

It was nice to do something different tonight. Instead of my fussing and Andrew pacing waiting for dinner we were busy with something new. It was much more exciting for Sydney too. This will be a new weekly routine along with our pizza night!

Tis' the Season

Now that we have our Christmas tree up and decorated we are starting to decorate the rest of the house bit by bit. I could have put everything up this past weekend but then all of the fun of decorating would be over. I bought Sydney some foam Christmas stickers from Walmart that she decorated on clear contact paper. She added Santa, reindeer, wreaths, presents, etc. She used to loved sticking one sticker on top of another and another, but now she sees it's much nicer to spread them out so you can see all of them! She was very pleased that she figured out how to pull backing off each individual sticker. She grouped all the presents together and the reindeer together. It's neat to see how your kids like to do certain things. We hung her new picture above her toy shelf.

The weather today was 54 degrees and sunny making it a beautiful day to go outside after the freezing rain we had over the weekend. Sydney and I took a walk up our street and down Orion looking at all the decorations our neighbors have put up. We saw Santa on a motorcycle, colored lights, candy canes and reindeer. Nothing compares, however, to the decorations in Sun City Arizona where Andrew's parents live. It's a senior citizen community and yet each house looks like the headquarters of the North Pole. You can't even decide which street to drive down first because they are all lit up with every decoration imaginable...and unimaginable actually. We just have pre-lit garlands that we'll put in the front of our house. Nothing fancy but still pretty ;)

Pizza Night

When Andrew was in Liberia Sydney and I used to have pizza night one night a week. It was easy and quick to make, Sydney could help and it was one less meal I had to figure out for the week. Since Andrew has been back we haven't had a weekly pizza night but tonight we decided to bring it back. I was trying to plan our meals for the week and nothing I could think of sounded interesting or fun to make. And every meal felt like we had just had it. Andrew thought of making pizza--nothing special but Sydney helped make it so it was well worth it. We made pepperoni pizza. She sprinkled the cheese and added pepperoni. She ate two pepperoni as she placed them on the pizza and thought they were yummy. She doesn't usually like pepperoni so I was surprised but when the pizza was baked and she tried the pepperoni again, she didn't like it all. But she loved the pizza, asking for three triangle slices. She's all into shapes and likes "circle" eggo mini's and "circle" pasta (the pasta shaped like wheels) and triangle cut sandwiches. I told Andrew about our weekly pizza and he liked the idea. The best part of course is that Sydney gets to help.

It's that time again...

It was a tradition growing up in my family to put our Christmas tree up during Thanksgiving weekend. I've continued that tradition with my own family and today we put up our tree. We have a pre-lit artificial tree and Andrew set it up while Sydney napped. When she came down the stairs after nap and saw it she said "whoa!" and walked right over to it pointing out the different colored lights. After her snack we started adding ornaments. At first Sydney was happy just holding an ornament and passing it to me to put up in the tree, saying "thank you mama" every time I took an ornament from her hand. Then she started taking the ornaments out of the trays and telling me what color to put up next. After putting up a few I walked Sydney over to the tree and asked her to pick a branch she would like me to put an ornament on. She picked a few different branches and I put an ornament on each. The last two ornaments we saved for her and she added them onto the branches with a little help.
Our neighborhood is starting to look festive with lights, santas and reindeer lighting up the night. We will have to take Sydney on a little stroll so she can see the decorations. Hazel always makes us laugh because she will bark at the reindeer with moving heads. Silly Hazel. I am excited about staying home for Christmas this year. I'm excited about family coming from far to share it with us, I'm excited about Sydney waking up in her own home and finding presents under the tree. I'm also excited about not packing and traveling with a little one during the holidays. Sydney does well on flights, thankfully, but it's still exhausting to do.

A Very Thankful Thanksgiving

This year was the first time I had Thanksgiving at my house. No family, just good friends and hopefully...good food. I was very anxious about how everything would turn out because I had never made any of these classic dishes before...dishes I had eaten my whole life! Sure I chopped some veggies and did simple things growing up but never made these dishes from start to finish. And since Andrew and I have been married we've always been at our families' homes where our contribution was a simple dessert. Today's menu was of course turkey, sweet potato casserole, my mom's stuffing, Andrew's mom's stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, homemade cranberry sauce, my mom's ambrosia salad called "five cup salad", and dinner rolls. I also steamed green beans and corn on the cob. I prepped everything I could the night before and got a hand from Andrew and Sydney today. Andrew made the five cup salad and Sydney crumbled the cornbread in a bowl and added croutons by the handful for my mom's stuffing recipe. Our friends, the Choi's, came over around 2:00 and we ate an hour later. I knew everything turned out well because Andrew finished his plate and was going for seconds before I was halfway finished with my plate. He loved his mom's stuffing more which was fine with me because I loved my mom's stuffing much more. She used to make it every Thanksgiving until the brand of cornbread she used to use was no longer sold. She liked that brand, Aunt Jemima, so much she thought no other brand would taste the same. I just used Jiffy corn muffin mix and it turned out the same way--so Mom, you can start making your stuffing again :) Sandy made pecan pie, my favorite pie, and brought Haggen Daas vanilla ice cream which was so delicious. After dinner we watched WALL-E in the tv room. I love this movie more and more each time I've seen it. It's just so cute.
I have so many things to be thankful for. Things that I do not deserve, but that God has blessed me with year after year. This year I am especially thankful for my family. My Dad's family is Indian and recently my cousin Sabitha and my Aunt and Uncle were in Mumbai...the same city that had the terror attacks this week that has killed more than 100 people. Sabitha was there for six weeks with her work and my aunt and uncle went with her to visit friends and family. They came back to the US last week and are safe and sound, but they were at the Taj Mahal Hotel, one of the places hit, just three weeks ago. I am so thankful they are home. To all of you reading this, relative or friend, everyone one of you is very special to me and I am very blessed God has put you in my life. I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Home Decor Sydney Style

I have lots of Sydney's artwork around the house and today I thought we needed to add some new pictures. So I emptied one of her small bins from her storage shelf, taped a sheet of finger paint paper in it and added paint with two balls inside to do the painting. No paint brushes. Sydney moved, shook and rolled the balls around the bin and as they rolled in the paint they made a beautiful painting. I usually do this activity with a container that has a lid (coffee can, pringles can) just to avoid the balls getting knocked out and rolling on the floor with paint on it (as it happened once today) but I didn't have any empty cans on hand and I thought this would work out just fine. I showed Sydney how to move the bin first to get the hang of it, and once she did she moved the balls around pretty well. I hung one of her new paintings up in the laundry room and it brightens it up nicely. I have footprint art in her bathroom, foam shapes on contact paper in the dining room, a Valentine collage in the kitchen and leaves cut out of construction paper that we decorated with glue/glitter/tissue paper on our back door. She enjoys doing art activities but she does not like to get her hands dirty--at all, which becomes a problem during those dinnertimes when she refuses to use her fork but freaks out that spaghetti sauce is on her fingers--you can't have it all Sydney.

Daddy's Day at the Aquarium

My husband has been saying this week that he wants to take Sydney to the aquarium. I just took Sydney to the aquarium about a week ago, but Andrew hasn't gone with us since the summer. We have a family membership that ends in February so we should use it as much as possible, plus visiting the aquarium is fun! So after breakfast we got ready and headed out to Mystic. First let me say today was FREEZING!!! I practically raced us from the car to the ticket counter and into the pavillion. I was not really interested standing outside and seeing the Beluga whales get fed but Andrew wanted to watch with Sydney so we watched for about five minutes and then I shooed everyone inside. It's weird after having visited so many times to actually see the animals growing up. The seal lion pup doesn't look like a pup anymore and the Beluga whale that came from the Point Defiance zoo in Washington for breeding now has an offspring nine months old. It's always nice during off peak times (early in the morning and in the colder weather) because there is hardly anyone there. We walk from exhibit to exhibit as many times as we want. I'm surprised at how much I enjoy living here in CT. I was worried when we got our orders about moving to "rotten groton" but it hasn't been so bad. There is so much to do with Sydney. For couples without children, yes, it would definitely be boring as it was when Andrew was here for subschool. But with Sydney there are so many choices that we always keep pretty busy.

Dance class for Sydney, Girls' night for Mom

Sydney had dance class this morning and she is really loving it. All week we were singing over and over "Roly Poly", "Shake About", "Happy Feet" and on and on. The "See Saw" song was stuck in my head, but I could not remember any other words in the song than "see saw". So I was humming "see saw, see saw, da da da da da" when Sydney chimed in "see saw, see saw, up and down da go" which translates to "up and down we go". Wow Sydney, thank you. I knew she was right because she remembers everything and sure enough at music class today the see saw song played and I knew the second line. It was a very strange feeling to have learned something from my child, but she's not a baby anymore and this won't be the last time. We have one more class before this session is over and I will be signing her up for the next session. I also want to sign her up for tumbling again since she isn't constantly putting her fingers in her mouth anymore but I am debating between that and the Time for Two's class at the library. We did Wee Ones and Babies and Books so I feel like I should continue. Sydney enjoys all of the classes so I can't really go wrong. Either way, we'll be dancing with Ms. Joy into springtime.
Tonight was girls' night at my friend Jessica's house. I was excited all week about getting the chance to be out of the house past Sydney's bedtime and chat with friends. We did just that until 1 am and we only stopped because we knew we'd be so tired the next day, but we could have talked until the sun came up. It was great to laugh and talk about anything and everything and just be together. We see each other for playdates and potlucks but it's not quite the same as having time just for us to share. I can only share and vent to my poor husband so much! Being in the military you build very strong friendships quickly with other wives, and just like Andrew will be friends for life with his Naval Academy buddies and friends he's made through the pipeline, I have also made very dear friendships that will always be a part of me. It gets hard as people move away but we are so lucky to have the technology to email or have facebook and keep up with everyone like they never left.

Family Outing to IKEA

Andrew has had a pretty light week teaching only a couple of classes, so since he had duty on Sunday he was given today off. Pretty nice huh? So we decided to drive out to IKEA in New Haven since we hadn't been there since before Andrew's IA. I love IKEA...I love strolling through all of the show rooms and playing with all of the knick knacks. We are also in the process of looking for a bed for Sydney so we wanted to see what they had. She enjoyed walking along with us from room to room trying out the kids tables, even getting herself paper and markers (luckily none of them were working) and trying to draw a picture. IKEA is super kid friendly. In the kids' section there is a small play area with toys/furniture from their showrooms. Sydney played on the rocking chairs, toy tunnel, etc. as Andrew and I took turns looking around. There was a tent designed like an igloo for only $9.99 that we picked up for Sydney and a night light in the shape of a moon for her room. We looked at the kids beds but there was nothing that really stood out to us. We had lunch there which I also love because their meatball/mashed potato/cranberry sauce dish is so yummy. Sydney had pasta served from the same bowl set that I picked for her as well. It was a fun way to spend the morning. We set up her igloo in the living room. She spent the first 20 minutes just dancing and jumping around in it. Here is a video.

What a pretty smile!

Here are my new favorite pictures of Sydney. She has learned how to smile for the camera. If you ask her to smile she'll instead stick out her tongue as far as possible (I don't know where she got that from) but if you ask her to show her teeth, she'll give the prettiest smile. I was looking at pictures of her that I took while Andrew was on his IA and I couldn't believe how little she looked then. And at the time I thought she was so big! It's neat to see how her best friends, Will, Andrew and Christy have grown up too this past year. They play so well together too. Andrew loves to push Sydney on his car around Laura's kitchen and when Will found the middle part of the letter "O" from the puzzle mat and showed Mary, Sydney found the same piece and showed Mary too.

It has gotten so cold here over the last few days and it looks like it's here to stay. We took Sydney to the playground yesterday but only stayed about 10 minutes. She has a routine...little swing, little slide, little see saw, big swing with Mom or Dad and big slide. This time we didn't get to the big slide. She started to protest but was over it when she found a dandelion full of seeds to blow.

Her favorite thing to do now is "write" and "draw". She loves to scribble letters and shapes like she sees Andrew and I do. She has a magna doodle that she plays with everyday. It stays downstairs. While she was in her room this morning she took the pen from her toy fax machine (it's super cute...she can record short messages on it) and she used the pen to "pretend" scribble everywhere in the room. It's not a real pen, it just works on the toy, but it doesn't matter to her. So I fished out the Magna Doodle I used in my preschool class and gave it to her. I left the room to take Hazel out potty and I heard over the monitor "Thank you Mama!"

I can't imagine what our life will be like in about 6 months. Will we be in Massachusettes or California? I prefer Massachusettes, but the warmer weather of California is very tempting, especially now. Except I hear that Monterey weather is a lot like Seattle weather, rainy and cloudy. We spent months talking over the pros and cons of each school, Monterey and MIT, and MIT is the better choice for what Andrew wants to do as an EDO and afterwards when he is out of the Navy. As for me I miss teaching sooo much but I couldn't give that up right now. I am loving the time I have everyday with Sydney and I wouldn't want it any other way.

21 Questions...

I enjoyed reading Jessica's and Heather's answers, now it's my turn to share...

1. What is your husband's name? Andrew Jamie Privette
2. Who eats more? Him, I wish I could enjoy extra helpings as often as he does!
3. Who said, "I love you" first? He did.
4. Who is taller? Andrew
5. Who is smarter? He is without question.
6. Who is more sensitive? Me
7. Who does the laundry? Me
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does
9. Who pays the bills? He makes the money, I take care of the bills.
10. Who cooks more? Me but not by choice, I'm just home more
11. Who is more stubborn? We take turns...
12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? I think we both do.
13. Who has more siblings? I do
14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? We both do but we're each better at some things than others.
15. What do you like to do together? Watch tv/movies, travel, play with Sydney and Hazel, visit Family, play Wii and Wii Fit
16. Who eats more sweets? Me
17. How did you meet? Sophomore year in college (George Mason University) with Campus Crusade for Christ.
18. Who asked whom out first? We were on a mission trip during our spring break in Panama City FL. We were already very close friends and he tried to ask me out but instead asked how I felt about him...so I told him...and that was that!
19. Who kissed who first? I kissed him.
20. Who proposed? He did, in front of the Washington Monument in DC.
21. His best features and qualities? His patience, intelligence, his love for our family, his love for me, his dedication to his work and himself to be the best person he can be.

I'd love to see Mary and Laura's responses!

Back Online

Today is Monday which means a playdate with Laura and Mary. The kids had fun playing with toys, marching to Barney songs and sharing each others snacks. Watching them eat snack together is just hilarious because Mary, Laura and I will split our child's snack with everyone and they still reach over to everyone else's plate. They never fuss either they just share and ask for more when their plate is empty. Too cute.
Andrew was able to come home early from work today since he is not teaching any classes this week. Right now they are transitioning to a new session of students coming in as another session graduates so it's been pretty quiet. He didn't get to stay home though because he had to take our computer to a repair shop in Shelton. On Saturday he was downloading updates from Toshiba's website and when he rebooted the computer it asked for a password. We've never put on a password so there was nothing we could do. Andrew called Toshiba's customer service and they said it would cost $425 to fix it. For what??? Why should we have to pay it since the update was taken from Toshiba's own website? That's almost the price we paid for the laptop in the first place so I don't even know how they came up with that number. They said they wouldn't charge us but we had to take the computer to Shelton. It was fixed in about a half hour and they also told Andrew how to fix it if it happened again. He knew how to do it but he worried that if he messed with it and it didn't work we would be out of luck and would have to pay the fee. Now the laptop is working fine and I am blogging again. It was hard not being able to access the Internet for two days. Even Sydney was affected, asking for songs I've downloaded on ITunes that I couldn't play. She'll be happy to hear "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" tomorrow morning!

Duty Day

Today was a pretty quiet day for Sydney and I. Andrew has duty on base so it's just her and I until Andrew comes home tomorrow. Whenever Andrew has duty I bring dinner over and we all eat together in his office. Today we went to the pool on base during their family swim time. Duty for Andrew right now is nothing like it was on his boat. His makes his rounds from building to building checking up on everything and is on call for questions and problems for the base. It sounds overwhelming but it's pretty laid back compared to what duty used to be in Washington. Anyway, Sydney and I met up with Andrew after her nap. She was very excited since Andrew has taken her to family swim before for father-daughter bonding. She loves standing on the steps because she can sit and stand all by herself. We brought a ball and played catch. She loved it, squealing and giggling the whole time. The water was warm, but not warm enough and after about 20 minutes Sydney's little lips started to turn purple so she and I took a warm shower in the locker room. She enjoyed that very much!
In the morning I took her to Petsmart, for no other reason than she just enjoys watching the birds, guinea pigs and fish. We had been playing with her farm puzzles and it was way too cold and windy to go to Alice Acres or anywhere else outside. So I thought Petsmart was the next best thing. She knows where the birds are and always makes a bee line for them. She likes the blue and green finches and will watch them move about. Then we watched the guinea pigs for a bit. I had a guinea pig when I taught Kindergarten that really became my pet more than the classrooms because I took him home every night. His name was Clifford, the kids named him, but Andrew and I later found out when we bought a second male guinea pig that Clifford was actually a girl. She was labeled "male" at Petco and labeled "male" by the vet when she needed paper work saying she was healthy to fly all the way to Washington state when Andrew and I were married--like I said she really became my pet. So as I was standing at Petsmart with all those guinea pigs the thought had crossed my mind to get a new one for Sydney since I still have all of the equipment, but that I not something I want on my plate right now. Plus we are moving in a few months and I don't want to worry about another pet. Maybe after we move we might get fish. We'll see. At least Sydney's not asking...and I'm not going to ask her either :)
Tonight the Redskins played the Cowboys and I was on the edge of my seat. This was a really exciting game. I am a Redskins' fan, born and raised in the DC Area, so I will continue to root for them no matter where I live. They beat the Cowboys earlier this season, but sadly not tonight. It was a great game, but they couldn't keep up with the Cowboys' running back Marion Barber...he is amazing! Andrew won his fantasy football game this week and is back in first place. Good job Andrew!!!

A Busy Friday...

What a day...I didn't sleep so well last night because I forgot to turn on the ceiling fan in the great room before heading to bed--a must if you have a great room because all of the heat of the house goes up to the second floor making the first floor feel like a freezer and the second floor like a sauna. Having the fan on pushes all that hot air down making the house more comfortable. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking "It is so HOT in this room!" I tiptoed downstairs to turn the fan on and immediately I felt the difference but it took me some time to go back to sleep.
Sydney and I left the house early so we could get the flu mist at the clinic on base. We got there right at 8:00 to avoid the crazy lines. I brought Sydney's breakfast (eggo mini's, a banana and milk) that she ate while we waited. Andrew came with us which Sydney thought was a real treat. I didn't prep Sydney for what was about to happen, partly because she wouldn't understand and also because I wasn't really sure what to expect. I've only ever gotten the shot so this was a first for me too. Well it was super quick. We were called in and the nurse asked that Sydney sit on the exam table. Another nurse gave her a Winnie the Pooh sticker that Sydney accepted but not without a look of suspicion..."what is this for? what's going on?" Again I felt bad I hadn't mentioned what would be happening. We laid her on the table, and she started to panic, but I held her hand and kept her head still while Andrew held her other hand and the nurse sprayed the mist in each nostril. Done. Phew! We hung out in the lobby afterwards for the usual 15 minutes after a shot and Sydney finished her breakfast.
Afterwards we went to her dance class. This time when we did the parachute activity Sydney went under it and let the parachute move up and down above her. It happened by accident, Sydney prefers holding the handles and moving the parachute up and down while the kids run wild under it. She was holding it today when she lost her grip and was all of a sudden under the bright colorful parachute. There were not as many kids today and only two were under with her so it wasn't as scary. She stayed under for about a minute then came back out next to me and held the handle again. Go Sydney!
We then ran a couple of errands and on the way home Sydney fell asleep in the car. When she falls asleep in the car her long three hour nap turns into a short 30 minute nap. She didn't wake up when I brought her into the house but about a half hour later she stirred and realized she wasn't in the car anymore...and nap was over. She played with her Magna Doodle, water pens and ABC magnets the whole afternoon. She loves to scribble letters and sing over and over what sound each letter makes. Here is a video of her playing in the kitchen with her letter magnets.

My Poor Baby

And I'm not talking about Sydney. Andrew has come down with a cold this week that has him feeling pretty crummy. I thought I was coming down with it too when I had a sore throat most of Wednesday but it didn't get any worse than that. His sore throat started on Monday and by today he was coughing, sneezing and going through tissue boxes. Poor sweetie. And he's holding his kisses back from Sydney which is even worse. I made a run to the grocery store and picked him up some Sudafed which is helping. I just hope it clears up soon. He hasn't been working out at the gym so he's been sleeping in a little and coming home a little earlier. And Sydney has been commenting on all of Daddy's movements in the house. Like this morning during breakfast she pointed out "Dada sleeping upstairs, OK?" I explained that Dada was at work and that his jeep is gone. That's how she knows for sure that Andrew is gone, when she looks out the window and his jeep isn't there. When he came home this afternoon he went upstairs to take a hot shower. Sydney was having snack and pointed out "Dada in shower". Then she changed her mind and said "Dada sleeping". She shook her head when I asked if he was sleeping in the shower but nodded when I asked if he was sleeping the in bed so at least we have that figured out. I made Dal for dinner, an Indian puree made with lentils, peas, or beans--I used yellow split peas. As the peas were cooking with tumeric, cumin seeds and onions, Andrew could not smell it when he was standing in the kitchen...Indian food has a very strong aroma so I was surprised. He went to bed early tonight to give himself time to fall asleep. That's the best thing he can do. Hopefully this cold will be gone before Sydney or I have a chance to catch it.

Apple Cake

It's been a couple weeks since we finished eating the apples we picked at the apple orchard and I was still craving more apple desserts. So I today I made an Apple Cake. I LOVE this cake. It's actually called "Gigi's Apple Cake" and I got it from Rachel Ray's magazine. The magazine had asked readers to send in favorite family recipes and this person sent this one in, saying her grandmother used to make it every Christmas. When I made it the first time it also reminded me of cakes that my grandmother used to make. She loved using apples in cakes, crepes, tarts, you name it. And it was all sooo good. The recipe calls for six sliced apples so the batter looks like it's just apples with a little bit of batter. It bakes in a bundt pan but I decided to make loaves instead and share two of them with my friends Mary and Laura who I will see at our playdate tomorrow. Sydney had never had this cake before and I was excited to see if she would like it. She loved it!!! I think it actually spoiled her dinner a little as she hardly touched her spaghetti--a favorite.

Andrew had the day off for Veteran's Day. It was just great to have him home. Usually Sydney will ask where he is when we first get downstairs in the morning or say "Dada work." Today Andrew got to sleep in (which is still earlier than when I got up this morning) and I got Sydney when she woke up at 7:45. For breakfast I made pancakes and blueberry syrup. It was yummy. In the afternoon Andrew took Hazel to the park. He said there were about 20 other dogs there. Their owners must have had the day off too. It was good for Hazel just to socialize and play. She was wiped out when they got back home.

Here are a couple pictures of Andrew and Sydney coloring with water pens. It's been so long since I brought the pens and pictures out that Sydney was surprised all over again at what the water does to the pictures. She played with them all the time while Andrew was in Liberia and she played with them all evening tonight. I have them on her little table downstairs so she can play with them tomorrow.