Christmas & Birthday Celebrations

As of the date of this post Sydney is 2 years and 2 days old.

The month of December could probably be renamed The Month of Sydney. Sydney definitely thinks December is all about her. Between Chanukah celebrations, Christmas celebrations, and then her birthday, it sure does seem fitting that it is the month of Sydney.

We had a great time being able to celebrate with family and some friends throughout the month. We are blessed with wonderful people in our lives who make these moments all the more special.

Christmas Eve had us celebrating with the Herold Clan. Sydney and her two little cousins had such fun opening up lots of presents from the grandparents, aunts & uncles, and even from each other. One of the gifts we treasure most is a picture of the 3 little girls together in a frame that says "cousins forever". We really do hope that all of the girls grow up to be close and good friends.

Christmas morning had Scott, Sydney, and I celebrating by ourselves and it was a prefect way to start the morning. We were able to take our time, have a liesurely breakfast and just really enjoy the moment.

Christmas dinner was super yummy and lots of fun with the grandparents all there to share in the memories and the moments. Sydney is indeed lucky as she would say I have TWO pop-pops, as loud as she possibly can. Followed up with 1 Ga-ga, and 1 mom-mom. She loves her grandparents so much.

Then came her birthday which was such a great day of fun. All about that sweet little girl turning two. Scott and I made sure to take down all the Christmas decorations and just put up birthday decorations as it's important to us that she feel her birthday is separate from Christmas. She loved the balloons and had such a good time playing with them. As did her cousins.

We made her an elmo cake and had family over for dinner and dessert. She and her cousins played with the many new toys that she got over the holidays and the night was a success. We are so thankful to all those who were able to share in that special day with us and we missed those who live too far away to be here.

Here are some pictures from the holidays and birthday for your enjoyment.

Holidays 2009 - Slideshow Maker

Chanukkah Celebrations...

In this post Sydney is 1 year,11 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days old.

This past week has been filled with lots of Chanukkah celebrations in our house. We have celebrated with Sydney each night of Chanukkah by lighting candles, singing songs, and she gets a present each night. She is LOVING that part!

Then on Saturday night of this past week we were fortunate to be able to celebrate with Sydney's Aunt Cassie & Uncle Scott, and her 2 little cousins, Alissa and Taryn. They came over for a pizza party, candle lighting, present exchange, and then we capped off the evening with a trip to our local zoo for the light spectacular. It was a cold but fun night out.

Sunday had Mom-mom & Pop-pop and Aunt Anita over for another Chanukkah celebration. Sydney loved it! She ate lots of latkes and other yummy foods. She was blessed with all that she received in the way of presents. It was crazy! so many new toys and such to look at that she didn't know which direction to turn first or what to play with first. I think she is going to feel like that for quite awhile. Each day she is gravitating toward a different new toy. It's fun to watch her discover a new toy and how it works. Some of her favorites so far are the little tykes etch a sketch (Aunt Martha & Uncle Saul sent up from NC), her Dora doll & stroller from her Mom-mom & Pop-pop, and the remote control car that Aunt Anita gave her. I am not sure who likes the remote control zoo car more though, Sydney or her Daddy!!

Then last night Ga-ga and Pop-pop came over for dinner and Chanukkah celebration and we had lots of fun visiting with them as well. More candles were lit, more toys were given. And the hit of the evening was the Cozy Coupe Car. Sydney could barely wait for her Daddy to put it together. she just wanted to ride in it from the moment the pieces came out of the box. For now she will have to be satisfied riding in it in the house until the weather changes a bit.

Today she "parked" it in the center of the family room, got her sippy cup, her fruit snack, and sat in it with her feet up on the dash watching her Dora DVD on the TV. I think she thought she was at the drive in movies! Such fun.

We still have a few more Chanukkah celebrations left before the holiday is over. Sydney sure is one lucky girl.

Here are a few pictures from the festivities:

A Special Thank you

We also wanted to say a separate and special thank you to our friend Darby. She designed this beautiful banner for us, and her and Michael are just special people in our lives. Now if only you lived closer. We miss you!!

Big Doings in the Herold Household....

In this post Sydney is 1 year, 11 months, 1 week, and 6 days old.

Just like last time, life seems to be moving so quickly that I am horrible about updating our blog. One of my new year's resolutions is to try and update weekly. We will see how long that actually lasts, but I am hoping it will last for the entire year, as I would really like to capture more of our memories on here.

But for now -- we have big goings on in the Herold household. Baby #2 is on the way!! We are half way through what feels like a VERY long pregnancy (for all of us), and we were able to confirm this past Tuesday that we are expecting another baby girl in April 2010. We are very excited. The baby is doing fantastically so far, and one of these days my morning sickness might even subside. I can hope right?

Sydney is going to be 2 years old at the end of this month and I am forever amazed at how quickly time is going. She is such a joy and the light of our life. Every day she makes us laugh and smile, and sometimes makes us want to pull our hair out!

She is doing a ton of pretend play, loves her "guys" as she calls them (refering to all of her stuffed animals, baby dolls, and assorted other friends) and is talking up a storm (just like her mama!). She likes to play with her ABC toys, and she counts okay... her favorite right now is to go 1, 2, 8. We have no idea why 1,2,8. But 2 is still her favorite number.

She keeps growing taller and needing new shoes, but I guess that is to be expected when you feed them. LOL

Sydney is really excited about the upcoming few weeks. With 2 Chanukah celebrations, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and her Birthday -- there is much going on. She has learned to say Happy Chanukah, although it sounds like happy hada, but that's okay we understand what she is saying. and Merry Christmas comes out sounding like Mer Mer Ca Ca.

We really feel blessed with the life that we have. Scott and I are both well and Sydney is happy and healthy, so really we couldn't ask for more.

A few holiday pictures of sweet Sydney. Hope you enjoy! I hope we get to see many of you over the holidays but for those we won't get to see, please have a safe and fun holiday season.