Kyle is 1!

This past weekend, I took my Syddles and flew to the frozen tundra of a state called Wisconsin -- for Kyle's first birthday party!  It was an adventure.  Every leg of our flight there and back was delayed due to this polar vortex nonsense, but we didn't actually have any real problems.  Well, there may have been an issue with Syd screaming the majority of the first flight, but meh, we'll never see that poor guy (who sat next to us) again.  I was not going to miss seeing this big boy celebrate his first birthday!!

Have I mentioned it was cold up there?  Little pink bear

Yay, we made it! Hi, Kyle!

He is hilarious.  Sooooo happy and such a hoot.  He has a million different expressions.

Friday night, we may have had some wine while making the birthday cake and cupcakes for the party.  Miss this girl.

Syd would like to request this ball pit be added to her bday wish list ;)

beep beep!

look at our beautiful offspring...

The party had a Little Blue Truck theme, and everything was adorable!  Good job, Midge.

Nana!  I adore Jamie's mother.

BFF love

Kyle did a smashing job on the cake

Then he slowly sunk into a zombie state brought on by all the sugar...

Before we left, Kyle & Syd broke in his new bday gift with a little game of chicken

Back to the airport on Sunday...Syd did amazing and slept a lot.  I think the weekend wore her out.  Unfortunately, she picked up a little virus from the airport, but she is already on the mend.  Well worth it to see our friends!  How many people do you think stopped me to say how cute she was in this carrier?! :)

John & Millie had the best weekend together.  They had a lunch date and went for donuts Saturday morning...I'm sure he had to play a lot of chase, draw a lot of whales, and pretend to drink a lot of "coffee", which is her favorite pretend move of the moment.  He did say that she asked multiple times where we were throughout the weekend, so I guess she's now at the age where she is going to notice if I'm gone.  Or maybe it was just that I had taken Syd with me.  Either way, she was very excited to have us home with her on Monday.  As luck would have it, it was a snow day, so she didn't have school and the three of us got to snuggle all day.

Happy New Year!

Goodbye holidays and hello fresh start!  I love starting a new year.  Nothing makes me feel more inspired to get back on the healthy track than spending two months baking and indulging...over and over again.  It felt great to kick off the new year with a walk/jog outside today...fresh air and sunshine.  I hope to see more of this sunshine in the weeks to come...

Resolutions for the new year:

1. Clean up my potty mouth (every year)
2. Use more sunscreen, especially on the kiddos
3. Learn how to make a good homemade pizza
4. Run two 5Ks...not one, but two!  Not on the same day though.
5. Wear summer shoes that aren't flip flops.  I'm an adult.  I should really figure out some sort of footwear for the summer that isn't a flip flop.  Those things wreck my feet.
6. Eat more fish (every year)
7. Learn to use a real camera - 2014 is the year of no more blurry pics!
8. Stick to a budget
9. Use less paper towels
10. Be active more days out of each month than not...and keep track

Who needs just one resolution?!  I've got ten very realistic goals.  Feel free to shame me if you hear a bad word coming out of my mouth or if you see me wearing flip flops.  Feel free to hold your tongue if you see more blurry pics. ;)

Christmas at Papa's

As mentioned in the previous post, we also went to see my dad and his crew on Saturday for one last Christmas celebration.  Unfortunately, napping in the car has never really worked well for us, so Millie was not her usual, silly self.  Although I don't want my kids to grow up any faster than they already are, I'm looking forward to the day when naps don't rule our world. :)  Anyhoo, we had a good time and some good food...we enjoyed seeing everyone, just wish it could have been for longer!

didn't take long for Mills to go outside with Papa

Syd + bow = happy

Maya, Jocelynn, & Sheridan

beautiful butterfly wings!

when Millie is tired, she won't let go of her milk cup

Whitney and Zak

Grandma Tricia & smiley Syddles

my aunt TJ (dad's sister) was there!

chaos and kids everywhere :)

daddy duty

Jocelynn and Tricia

pops

Millie liked checking out their tree

kiddos in their pajamas and ready to head home...Millie's getting that glazed over look

 bye bye, Papa & Gma Tricia...come see us soon!

Christmas with Nana

Nana came to visit!  She got here the day after Christmas and just left yesterday...always thankful for her visits.  I miss my momma.

First time for pig tails!!

Friday, we took Nana to Little Giggles to get out of the house for a bit...it was fun!

Amanda, Cayden, and Beckham met us there.  They were in the process of packing up their house, so they also needed some play time.

Millie really loves this stage...born performer.

nice enough for a wagon ride

fresh air!

Nana got Syddles this red car for Christmas, but Millie won't let her anywhere near it.

I'm pretty sure this is the last time Syd got to play with it. ;)

Saying goodbye to Nana yesterday...Millie was a bit of a brat by this point.  I think all of the company and presents and being on the go so much has taken its toll.  She's craves routine and this past month has not been routine at all.  Hello new year, goodbye holidays...

As is always the case, the girls hit a couple of milestones while Nana was here.  1) as pictured above, Millie's hair finally fits into pig tails.  I love it! 2) we lowered Syd's bed on Sunday.  She's doing the lunge from sitting to crawling position now, and she can also stand by herself if holding on to something...not quite crawling or pulling up on stuff yet, but it will be any day now. 3) Millie fell down the stairs. Complete heart attack for her parents.  I was walking down behind her and she wasn't paying attention and barrel rolled down sideways all the way to the landing.  I think it scared her, but probably not as much as us.  She was fine...this time.  Yeesh.

Saturday, we drove over to Tulsa for the day.  We were able to have lunch with Mimi, Pa, and other Sanders family.  Then we went to Papa and Grandma Tricia's for the afternoon and stayed for dinner (separate blog post).  It was a full day, but I'm so glad it worked out where we got to see both sides of my family!

Now for the creative pose pics...sorry, Mimi, for the shoulder block!

four generations <3