The Sandbox

One of Sydney's favorite things to do is go see our wonderful neighbors. For the neighbors with kiddos (or grandkids), she knows exactly where the toys are stored and even has favorites. (Yes, she does have toys at home, but other toys are always so much more interesting than your own). Anyway, T & M's sandbox has been one of her very favorites for several months.
Trace is really handy around the house and loves a good project (or....as he puts it "another item on the honey-do list"). We have actually been researching swingsets because we think it is about time for her to have her very own playland in the back yard....but after researching it a while and observing her with our neighbors swingsets, we decided we can wait one more year on the swingset AS long as she has her own sandbox this year.
Long story short, after lots of time, effort and trips to Home Depot, a sandbox is now on our back patio! Here's a link to DIY Networkhttp://www.diynetwork.com/diy/gr_lawns_landscaping/article/0,2029,DIY_13852_5871990,00.html in case you are inspired to do this yourself! Trace went all out! Our sandbox has a place to store toys, benches for the grown ups, it's cedar wood and is stained to go with our house...and it's on wheels, so this sandtrap o' fun can be moved easily. Have I mentioned lately that he could just be the best Daddy (and husband) in the world?!
Also, my Mom saw colored sand in a trip to Wally-E-World one day and so we HAD to get the fabulous colored sand for our sandbox too. We have green, blue and purple (plus regular light sand colored) and it's like a mardi-gras mix, but mostly it looks blue (and it's pretty fun). Go Crayolahttp://www.crayola.com/products/splash/additional/toys-games.cfm for thinking out of the box! The corporate part of my brain is thinking...I bet their corporate brainstorming meetings are fun. Oh...and some pictures of the cute kid in the sandbox!
I still need to get a final picture now that it's finished (the final version includes seats, staining, etc.), but for now...here's the post on the sandbox! :)

April-May09 pics

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And here's a cute video of my Dad swinging Syd on the back patio. She loves it.

More updates from April & May, but in June --Family visits

Sydney loves to see her family. In April, some of our family came to visit! We saw other relatives in NC when Granny & Pa came up from Florida. It was so awesome to see Sydney remember and interact with everyone. Even though she may go a few weeks (or even months in some cases) without seeing everyone, she remembers and knows they are special to her. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people we call family. Here are some of our favorite times from April.
Highlights in the photo album include:
*Visit from Sydney's Grandma Dotty & Pappa Quayle + brunch w/ Becky & Aubrey at one of my Sunday morning favorites, Downtown Grill & Brewery. http://www.downtownbrewery.com/
*Trip to NC to see Granny & Pa, who were up from Florida. We got in lots of fun play time with some of Sydney's cousins: Clay, Levi, Faith & Audrey.
*Visits from Frank, Dad & Melody. Frank is actually Sydney's uncle. He's so great with her. He had spark some of the most hearty giggles and high pitched squeals from our little girl. It's hard to believe my little bro is already 9 years old. Last time he and Melody were here, we went to Bayou Bay. Trace is always telling him, it's time to try some frog leg pizza or eat Gator bites, so this is exactly the kind of fare we ate :).http://traceandrobin.blogspot.com/2009/06/april-may09-pics.htmlAnd a fun pic of Sydney with one of her favorite things in our house, a giraffe. You can't see it here, but there's also a lovely "baby giraffe" that now lives in Syd's room (removed from the office).
She's now a pro at taking pictures. Here she sheds a big grin (yes, as she stand on my car) before church one day. (she's saying CHEEZ!!!).

2 year pictures

Sydney will be turning 2 in 3 weeks! Can you believe it? Where did my little girl go? We went to the UT Gardens http://utgardens.tennessee.edu/ for this photo shoot. Here's a sneak peak at the photos by Simply Southern Photography. Check it out.http://www.simplysouthernphotography.com/blog/?p=2092

First Tricycle, First Scar

So, we thought it was time to get Sydney some "wheels", so off we went to get something fun for her to ride. Little did I know that trip to Target would be so eventful. I think we were both excited to be in the toy section looking at tricycles. We found one (see pictures) a Dora tricyle that even had Dora's voice, so as you may guess, once this was spotted, no more research was needed. We put the enormous box in the buggy and then we knew we needed more.....we still needed a horn! What kiddo doesn't need a horn for their tricycle? So, we played with a few and then she found the one that was a must have! And with an enthusiasm she RAN to put her pink horn in the cart, her head hit the card and hit at just such an angle so that her alligator-clip hairbow went into her head. There were some tears and she told me to kiss her forehead and then she seemed better. Then, I actually saw the red streaky mess that was all in her hair. My baby was actually hurt. We went to the bathroom (yes, though the entire store with a kiddo bleeding from her head) and washed it off, left the store (yes, we did buy the tricycle) and went to see Trace. He called a friend of ours who is a nurse (Miss Anita) and she assured us all was well and no stitches were needed. None were needed, but two months later, there's still a scar, her first scar. Here's a picture of the tricycle, which ironically, was just a little big for her, so Trace ended up getting her another tricycle for use this summer. She's ready to go for next year though :).