Christmas thoughts

Christmas is supposed to be about Christ. Oh...is that why we all push truck loads of toys at children Christmas morning?? I don't know why this is bugging me so bad but I hate the thought of Sydney being surrounded by tons of gifts on Christmas. Birthdays? Sure. Go all out on Birthdays. But how am I teaching her that Christmas is about Jesus when she's surrounded by tons of toys and gifts? It's never bothered me until now. Probably because it's my first Christmas as a parent. I don't get how kids making Christmas lists and thinking about toys for themselves is celebrating the Christmas spirit. Sure, it celebrates the commercialized Christmas spirit but not the actual true meaning of Christmas. The cool part is that we are our own family and we can create whatever traditions we want. We can do Christmas the way society does it or we can do it the way we feel is best. I'm grateful for that. At the same time though, we live in society. It's discouraging to realize that even when you do things the way you feel best for your family, you're still fighting against so much of society. And it's everywhere.

I turned my back for 2 seconds...

Pie making yesterday got a little messier than I had planned :) LOVE this little girl.

The Twilight thing...

OK, I'm tired of being the only one who isn't going crazy over these Twilight books/movies. I have to admit.... the movie previews??? I think they're CREEPY! and WEIRD!! I just don't get it. Anyone else out there like me?

Travis got the job!

We have received an offer letter! Travis will be starting work sometime mid November at Autotrader.com working for their advertising team. We are so excited. We were getting to be really discouraged for a while. It seemed like everybody and their mom was on a hiring freeze. What a blessing! We are really excited about the opportunity with AutoTrader. Travis was very impressed with the company when he went in for the first interview. They have grown a lot in the past few years. The job comes with some great benefits, too which is really nice. They do some tuition reimbursement so Trav is really excited about the possibility of continuing schooling while working at the same time. So now we're just throwing around ideas of where to begin looking for homes. What's the best move for us? Do we rent? Do we buy? The office building is just north of Atlanta so homes in that area are very expensive. But do we really want to be commuting 45 min -hour a day?? We've been creating spreadsheets like crazy trying to look at the numbers. Hmmmm....time and more research will tell.

Sydney is at an awesome age. She can entertain herself for periods of time, she is a pro sleeper and she knows how to give me just the right look to melt my heart. This stage is so fun. She is getting to be so interactive. I love it. The other day I was playing with Sydney and it hit me that I really enjoyed being around her. I got to thinking really about why it was so nice to be around Sydney when she can't even carry on a conversation with me or anything else like that and I realized that I liked being around her because babies are themselves. They aren't worried about what other people think about them. Babies don't even know HOW to be worried about what other people think of them. They are just themselves. They aren't afraid to try new things. They are just so genuine. When she laughs, I know she means it. She's never fake. She is so trusting. She isn't afraid to try things and look dumb. She's just trying to learn and explore. There are so many qualities this little girl has that I wish I had more of. OK, now Sydney's throwing a fit... (one of her not so good qualities I wish not acquire more of. I do enough of that on my own :) better run!

Sick

A few days ago Sydney came down with a horribly runny nose. I mean, I literally had to crawl around behind her with a box of tissues. Her nose was like a faucet! She started to feel better and the next night I just couldn't sleep. I had a headache, body aches and of course, Sydney's runny nose! She was feeling better but I had definitely caught whatever she had. It seemed to effect/affect (I can never get those right...) me way more than it did her but secretly, deep down....i LOVE it haha. I love the excuse it gives me to lay in bed and eat soup or soak in the tub and read a book allllll daaaay looooong :) So on that note.... I'm off to start a bubble bath. I'm sick. *cough cough* ;)

Another mass update

I still have yet to get the hang of consistent blogging so for now here's another 3 month catch up :)

Before we left Idaho we made one last Yellowstone trip.....

How cool is that? I love this place

I can't believe THIS day actually came!

I never thought I'd be, but I was so sad to leave the good ol' west. Sydney and I flew from Jackson Hole and Trav drove our things across the country! An entire 30+ hours. What a man! And what a gorgeous landscape to say goodbye to! This wasn't too hard to come home to though:)
She's a natural.... beach bum runs through her veins

Ahh! I LOVE it! West coast beaches do NOT compare!!

View from the condo

Our taco stand tradition on the beach!

Braves game with the Kovalskys!

We've started solids and booooy are things messier since:)

We are also starting driving lessons young.... :)

She's now officially a CRAWLER!

And beginning to get into everything.... oh life:)

Cooking?? No way

Warning: This is a complaint post.

It is HOT!! I mean sweaty knee pits hot. Plus there's no air conditioner in our building. I thought about making dinner tonight and then I walked into our apt. I don't know exactly what temperature it is but I can tell you that it is hotter than 200 degrees in here. There's no way I'm cooking tonight. Everybody keeps saying "aren't you form Georgia? It's always hot there". The only difference is that everyone and their dog has an air conditioner. How do people not put air conditioners in buildings?? This is ridiculous. I'm sweating just sitting here. Looks like I'm going to be spending the rest of the evening outside until the apt becomes livable and I can re-enter my home.