In the Bleak Midwinter...

Oh Chicago winters, I never cease to be amazed!!!  Friday I went out to shovel our driveway as it appeared to be covered with snow from a storm we had the night before.  It was not what I had thought it was, instead of snow, I found ice, three to four inches thick!  Have you ever tried to shovel ice off of a driveway?  This is what it looked like...

I think I hacked away at this for about an hour and a half and only cleared about half of the driveway!  Steve decided to take up where I left off the next day, here is what he accomplished...

The drive to church yesterday was crazy!  Our thermometer read a whopping -5 degrees before we ventured outside, but that doesn't register the wind chill, which was about -25.  The wind was blowing snow over the roads, it looked really cool actually, except when I couldn't see the road because it was so thick.  The sun was shining and the trees looked like they were covered in glass (I wish I would have had my camera with me).  Cold as it was, it was actually really pretty.  Everything is covered in ice and is all glittery in the sun.  

It warmed up today, I think we reached a high of about 8 degrees.  Balmy!  Anyone want to come and visit?

Fashion by Sydney

Is your wardrobe feeling a little hum drum?  Do you have a lot of clothes in your closet, but your just not sure how to coordinate them in the most appealing way? Want to spice it up a bit?  Well we have the solution for you!  Fashion by Sydney is guaranteed to add that sparkle and WOW! to your otherwise boring clothing selection.  And, it comes with no cost to you!  No need to go out and purchase new clothes, Sydney can make anything look good, it just comes down to understanding the art of layering.  Here is Sydney's latest sensation (you can try this at home).

First, find a favorite pair of pajamas.

Next, add a beloved swimming suit (never mind that it is only 10 degrees outside, beauty comes with a cost you know) Oh, and getting the straps a little skewampus is good for the look too.

Now, for the final touch, just add a nice pair of shorts.  

Here is the real secret, don't worry about anything matching.  That old "no stripes and plaids together" thing is out.  Go crazy, mix and match.  If you find this beyond your ability, just call on Sydney, she will help you out!

And for the truly brave, you can try adding a bra to this ensemble (Sydney tried but couldn't figure it out).

Trip to Utah

Yeehah!  A trip out to Utah and it wasn't even summer, and we didn't have to drive!!!  How wonderful to get on a plane in the morning and be with family four hours later!  Sure beats twenty-two (or more) hours in the car!!!

We had such a great time, it was short, but packed with family and good times.  Thanks to Paula for getting married so we could have an excuse to come out that direction!

Thought I would share a few of her wedding photos, we are so excited for her and Jim.  By the way, look at this gorgeous bride...

Here is a picture of my very happy little girl.  She was so excited to be a part of the picture-taking experience as you can see...

Here is Sydney with her much loved cousin Natalie.  Sydney carried Natalie's picture around for a week and kept saying her name.

One of the highlights of our trip was dinner at Brick Oven.  Steve used to work there, and we love the food so we decided to take the kids and introduce them to some of the best pizza and root beer around.  As soon as they found out that Dad used to work there the boys had all kinds of questions and became instantly loyal to Brick Oven.  But, it wasn't just the food that made dinner awesome, it was the super nice college kid that came over to our table and made balloon creatures for our kids!  They were captivated, and are now aspiring to be balloon-creature-makers themselves.  Here are the results...

Sam asked for an elf

Spencer requested an astronaut, which the guy had never made before, but I was pretty impressed with the result.

Tyler wanted Santa Claus, and that is what he got.

Sydney's was by far the very coolest, do I even need to tell you who this is?  You should have seen her face when he handed this to her!  She would not let go of it, and very proudly carried it out of the restaurant.  

What a riot!  We had a great time!

It was so hard to get on that plane to come back home!  I absolutely love spending time like that with my family and Steve's family!  We just don't get enough of it!  

The Days of Snow Pants and Boots

Here we go again... It snowed here and that means we had to pull out all of the snow pants, boots, hats, gloves, long socks... 

That also means, "Mom, can I go out and play?"  

"Okay, lets get all of your snow stuff on."

Ten minutes later and a lot of tugging and pushing and tying and out the door they go.

Five minutes later, "Mom, my glove came off, can you fix it?"

Five minutes later, "Mom, I need to use the bathroom..."

Snow also means this...

I did venture out with Sam for a little snowball fight, but I can't say that I lasted very long, brrr!  You gotta watch out for that boy, he has a pretty good arm!

Then it is time to come inside.  That means cold puddles of water on the floor, as well as a pile of wet snow pants, boots, hats, gloves and coats.  

I think Sam went out to play on our first snow day at least three times!  I don't know how they do it!  It's really cold out there!

So, while I feel like grumbling about snow and cold, I have to think back and remember how much I loved playing outside in the snow.  I can remember making snow caves where the snow piled up by Mom and Dad's rocks in the front yard.  I can remember staying out until I could hardly see anymore because it was so dark, and I don't remember feeling very cold, or at least the cold didn't matter!  Then I would come in and curl up inside, maybe drink hot chocolate, and feeling all happy and cozy.  I don't remember Mom complaining about snow stuff and puddles of water on the floor, but then, I don't really remember her complaining about much of anything at all!  I guess what I am saying is, I better bite my tongue and let my kids have their day, and hope it is as good has mine was!  

P.S.  Steve and I were remembering Moon Boots the other day.  Steve was reminiscing about putting bread bags on his feet because Moon Boots didn't keep out the water.  I think I may have done something like that... anyone else have fond memories of Moon Boots?  Maybe that is why Steve has such an affinity to Napolean Dynamite...

For Dad

I just got these pictures from Julie and Rich, I thought Mom and Dad might like them!

Here are some others I thought were fun, like the boat race between team Steve/Spencer and team Ann/Kelli...

I'll have you know that Ann and I won, see how tired I look? 

 That is some seriously good exercise. 

And here is Sam in a boat with Paula, all that boy wanted to do was row around the lake, he loved it!

And here is Spencer's fish.  I gotta hand it to them, the Gordon's sure do know how to have fun!  This is only a very small sampling of all the pictures of hikes, snowball fights on glaciers, fishing, four-wheeling, boat races and lots of other fun!  

And the Winner is...

You all thought I was joking when I asked you to guess what Sydney was singing!  However, one of our lucky contestants did actually get the song right, and that was Grandma!  If you go back and listen you may be able to hear Sydney singing, "I love Grandma, she loves me..."  Congratulations Grandma, you are the winner of the ten points, not sure what you will do with those, but you can be proud! Now tell me Grandma, did you know that is what she was singing, or was it just a lucky guess?

A Conversation With Sam

Sam: "Guess what, Mom?"

Me: "What Sam?"

Sam: Did you know that our brains look like spaghetti?

Me:  Really, where did you learn that?

Sam: At school.  We watched a movie, and they look like spaghetti.

Me: That is very interesting.

Sam: I wonder how big yours is.

Me:  How big do you think it is?

Sam holds up his hands, about a foot apart.  "About this big"

Me:  You think so?

Sam:  Yeah, your smart.

Me: Really?

Sam: Yeah, whats eight plus eight?

Me: Sixteen.

Sam: What's six plus five?

Me: Eleven.

Sam:  See, you're smart.

Looking back now I wonder, when he was telling me how big my brains were, did he mean a whole big mass of spaghetti that's about a foot big, or a single strand of spaghetti stretched out to be about a foot long?  I can tell you which one I think it is!

Our Musical Prodigy

I finally got my video to work!  Here is Sydney's musical debut, ten points to whoever can recognize the song she is singing...

     

Clothing and My Little Girl

As you heard about in a recent post, my little girl has an aversion to clothing it seems.  When I finally had a girl I got very excited about dressing her in cute little girl things, but she won't leave them on!  I get her dressed and then next time I see her she is down to her onesie (at least she leaves that on).  I must give her credit for one thing though.  When I go searching for her clothes so I can re-dress her, I can almost always find them in the laundry basket!  I didn't experience this undressing thing with any of my boys, please, someone tell me that she will outgrow this!!

I decided to try out some rollers the other night.  I have memories of this spongy little things myself.  I think these are way too big for her little amount of hair, but it was fun anyway, everybody's favorite part was the curlers, not the end result, Sydney was very proud of them and wouldn't let the boys touch them.  

P.S.  All of you seasoned bloggers, any ideas on why I can't upload any videos?  I try and it just tells me that there was a problem uploading my movie.  

I am Thankful for...

... the people who touch my children's lives for good.  Therefore, I am thankful for Spencer's after-school art teacher.  She doesn't only teach art, she creates a place where Spencer feels confident, talented and happy.  When Spencer comes home from art he is the happiest I see him all week.  I know this class was a direct blessing for a little boy who needed it.  So, I guess I am not only thankful for the people who touch my children's lives, but also the evidence of the love  his Father in Heaven has for him. (Here is one of my favorite of Spencer's works of art, it hangs in my living room.)

I am Thankful for...

...these shoes.  Why? Because they make me laugh.  See, Sydney is a lover of shoes, as many little (and big) girls are.  She loves all sizes, shapes and colors, but these shoes are her favorite.  She finds that they go well with anything, or nothing at all.  For example, the other morning as I was helping the boys get ready for school (usually a crazy time at our house) in walks Sydney, bare naked, except for these shoes.  Quite a fashion statement, and a great laugh for all!

Here are some pictures from Halloween.  We had two Clone Troopers (I don't even know if they are good guys or bad guys-the boys tell me they are good, I'm not much of a Star Wars Buff).  

We also had a bat.  Most people thought he was Batman, but no, he is just a bat with a cool mask.  Unfortunately his picture didn't turn out too great, but you get the idea.



We had some friends join us for Trick-or-treating.  I love when Halloween is on a Friday night, you can actually have some fun and not worry about school in the morning.  The kids had a great time, came home with way too much candy, and bounced off the walls just like they should.
Here is Sydney with here cute friend Kaylee who has now moved to Kansas City.  We are all very sad about this!  We will miss them tons!
Sydney showing off her cute self.

Marketing Trends

Last night Steve was explaining to me a little bit about marketing trends.  He is in the spice business and every year he has to "forecast" what the coming year will bring.  "How many spices will we sell in the next year and how much should we produce?"  He looks at the buying habits of customers and trends in past years and then determines what will happen in the following year. He considers peaks in sales, for example, with spices there is a large peak in sales during the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines).  This makes sense.  There are many products that have a peak during a certain time of the year.  But there are other products that I would think would be pretty steady throughout the year, like toilet paper.  That is what I would have thought up until today.

Today I was imagining managers from companies like Kimberly-Clark or Proctor and Gamble (companies who sell toilet paper among other things) sitting in their stuffy executive board rooms, in their nice double-breasted suits talking about toilet paper sales and puzzling over why there is a strange and unexpected spike in toilet paper sales that comes around the end of October.  Why the run on toilet paper all of the sudden?  I think I will become a sales consultant for them and have them pay me lots of money because I have discovered the secret...

I went to two class parties today, and witnessed at least 20 rolls of toilet paper wrapped around students and teachers.  A friend of mine used 18 rolls in her class party.  At our ward Trunk or Treat the other night there were probably 30 rolls used for the same purpose.  That is 68 rolls of toilet paper and only 4 parties.  It may be interesting to sit down and do the math.  How many rolls of toilet paper does the average American household use in a year?  How many Halloween parties wrapped unsuspecting teachers in rolls and rolls of toilet paper??  I would be really interested to see the numbers from some toilet paper company and see if I am right about their "peak season".  They may be puzzled as to why it happens,  but I don't imagine they are complaining about it.

Cinnamon Apple Cake... Delicious!!!

Here is something truly delightful for you to try.  To me this is a perfect "warm and cozy" fall-time treat.  (No, I am not trying to advertise for my husband, this recipe just happens to come from his website. :))

Funny Face

We got a little silly the other night, and here is the result.  Isn't it great what big brothers can teach their little sisters?

I know what you are thinking.  More baby pictures??!!  Well, I started something and now I have to finish it.  In honor of Sydney's birthday, here is her cute little life in review.  If you have no interest in sweet, little baby pictures then you don't have to look. :)

This was not staged, I found them just like this, I promise!

This little girl is adored by her brothers, and Spencer has been a very sweet and helpful big brother. He once told his Dad, "Whenever I'm sad, Sydney just makes everything right-side up again."

Sydney loves to dance, and when Tyler taught her the chicken dance, it became the favorite!  Here she is flapping her wings.

This is a classic Sydney face...

I am still amazed that we got a little girl, and so grateful!  What a blessing she is!