Sib Visits!

This past week, Scott and I got to see some of our favorite people... our siblings! Kyle and Hannah came to KC for an extended weekend, and I traveled to Northern CA to see Karla (and Matt for a bit). It does our souls well to hug on our siblings and spend some time with them.

Kyle, Hannah & Sienna. She loved seeing these two! She is still talking about them today! She thinks any girl with long, brown hair is Aunt Hannah -- too cute!

Sooooo happy! She was outside playing ball with Kyle, Hannah, Daddy, Pops & Grandma.... heard they all had a great time!

Having fun at dinner with Gramma, Grampa, Kyle, Hannah, Scott & I

I definitely was sad to leave Scott & Sienna to travel to California, but I was excited to have some time with just my sister. I got to see their new town, and we traveled to Sausalito, Muir Woods & Napa Valley. We had such a good time! Nothing is as good as having a sister for your bestie.

Sausalito... insanely beautiful town right across the San Francisco Bay. It really does feel like a little piece of Italy from the shops, to the food, to the scenery (reminded me a little of our time in the Almalfi Coast). We had lunch right on the water & then some shopping.

That's San Fran in the distance.

We drove up to Muir Woods and did a 3 mile hike through the redwood forrest... beautiful & so much fun!

My co-worker lent me her Joby (best invention ever --- definitely want one for my b-day), which allowed us to take so many fun pics together.

Failed picture with the Joby... but you see the fun we had!

At the top of our hike.... we had a gorgeous view of the mountains and of the ocean (right, Karla?).

In Napa.... lots of good wine & good food!

Sentences... and other fun times with our chatterbox

Sienna hit a big milestone this week! She has started putting two words together. Her first two words smashed together were "Mommy Dadda". The video quality is bad (me trying to video on Scott's blackberry while we are driving at night... not a great idea), but the sound quality is awesome. Just tonight, Sienna also said, "I love cookies". We were laughing so hard!!!! Her language development keeps on speeding ahead, and it is so nice to be able to communicate fairly easier with her, especially at such a young age.

(I have to take a moment to brag... Sienna's language development is already at a two year old's level! I think she can say about 100+ words... literally. And our PAT contact said her articulation is better than almost any child she's met at this age. So either she's going to be a writer, editor, speaker, or President of the United States... ha! Okay, thanks for letting me have a proud mommy moment. Isn't it crazy how kids develop so differently?!)

We had friends over to watch the Superbowl last Sunday, and Sienna loved playing the kids (Caden & Aliyah). Sienna followed Aliyah (who is 8 months older) the whole night. When she wasn't in the same room with Aliyah, Sienna would say "Le-la? Le-la?" The kids also played ring-around-the-rosy... we captured their cuteness on video.

Sienna's love of the song Old MacDonald continues. She usually wakes up singing the song in her crib, and she likes to sing it in the car, as well. The below video is of Sienna singing "e-i-o" in the car one night... plus some other colorful commentary from her on the car light, her shoes, etc. :)

This is SUCH a fun age!

Snow days

This week, we've been snowed in (with nearly the rest of the country) thanks to the blizzard of 2011. The snow started coming down on Tuesday, and I didn't make it out of the house for work on Tuesday (my day off, anyhow) or Wednesday. We've had a lot of fun being couped up together as our little family of three. Scott had a trip planned to Chicago that he cancelled, and it's been such a treat to have him home all week! I was a little worried that we'd go stir-crazy not being able to get out of the house, but we've just had to get creative!

Sienna has learned to do head stands! (Well, almost!)

We've watched Toy Story 3 (or "Buzz", as Sienna calls it) every day. Well, at least 20 - 30 minutes of it. Sienna's attention span does not tolerate an entire movie at this point in her life! Her favorite part of the movie is the opening scene, and also she likes to dance to the music during the ending credits.

We also checked out a ton of new books at the library. Sienna's has two favorites. She likes for us to sing, rather than read, "I'm a Little Teapot" with Scott playing along on the piano. Her other fav is "Old MacDonald". The book came with a CD, and she will run over to the CD player and exclaim, "e-i, e-i"! She likes to shake her booty to the song while flipping through the book... quite the multi-tasker!

Dancing to Old MacDonald while holding onto her 'colors'.

We've also had fun playing dress up with my jewelry. Sienna calls my necklaces 'pretties', and she loves to wear them around her neck, and on her arms. She loves to put on the necklaces, and then go 'show' Scott.

Eating snow & wearing her 'pretties'.

On our second snow day, we really had to start getting creative. So, I gave Sienna some chocolate pudding, and let her 'paint' the bathtub walls. I saw this on a TV show once (think it was John & Kate Plus 8), and it looked like fun. Sienna loved it! I think she ended up eating more than painting, but who can blame her!

Just getting started...

Decided that eating the pudding was better than painting with it!

Figured out she could lick the pudding off the tub!

Finished with the pudding, back to her bath toys!

That same day, we built a tent out of bed sheets in our living room. Sienna loved to take her basket of plastic food underneath, dump it out, fill it up, dump it out... you get the picture. She also thought it was hilarious when Maddie would get under the tent.

Sienna was intent on getting a taste of snow each time Scott or I would go out to shovel the driveway. The girl loves to eat snow! (Also, Sienna had a lot of her other favorite snack, 'cracky' (a.k.a. saltine cracker), this week. Why does being cooped up inside all day make you want to eat more?!?

She was so excited to go outside!

We got about 12" of snow.

We also did a lot of playing chase, playing with her 'dino' (Sienna's gigantic plastic T-Rex), coloring, going down the slide in our basement, stacking blocks to make 'castles', and playing 'Ring Around the Rosy' ('ashes', as Sienna calls it).

All in all, it has been a fantastic week. Lots of family fun time! Hope you all are staying warm -- it was -6 degrees here this morning! Burrrrrrrrrrrr............

Bye-bye sugar

Nope, not saying goodbye to anyone. Just to sugar.
Accountability. My favorite love/hate word. I am diverting from my usual blog posts about our family (lacking, lately, I know) to insert some accountability into my life about what I eat for the next 2 weeks.
What's your food addiction? Mine is sugar. Processed sugar... in the form of baked goods, candy, and 'protein' bars, especially. For the next 2 weeks (I started on Monday), I am detoxing from processed sugars. In all seriousness, my body needs a sugar detox. I literally crave sweets, and it's a scary place where you feel like you HAVE TO HAVE something sweet or you can't focus on anything else.
I am attempting to write down what I eat and put it on here each day. (Plus, I try to drink 60 - 80 oz. of water each day & exercise 2 - 3 days/week.) So if you're not interested, tune back in a couple weeks for life as usual on the blog. (I really need to put together a Christmas post on here...) If you want to join me, please do!! I could use the team support!

Monday:
Don't remember most of what I ate, but I was pretty good. Two slip-ups - 1) At 9 AM, I ate half a tootsie roll before I remembered I wasn't supposed to be eating sugar. 2) I ate too many SunChips when I got home.

Tuesday:
Small bowl of Kashi Go Lean
Coffee
1/2 sandwich
Handful of SunChips
Apple
3 crackers (had to have some while Sienna was having her favorite 'cracky' snack, too)
Spinach-Chicken enchilada (healthy version - no cheese sauce!) & black beans
Fruit
SunChips (I really wanted a protein bar, instead. I think I need to get these chips out of my house....)
Coke Zero

Wednesday (so far):
Coffee w/skim milk
salmon fillet
sweet potato
fruit
went out for dinner... had chips & salsa (not too many) and chicken fajitas. Turned down sopapillas!
looked for vacation places on-line at home & munched on too many pretzels

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Dave and Susan started an awesome tradition this year. Each year around Christmas, they are throwing a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party for all their grandchildren. They are keeping the kids overnight, making Jesus a birthday cake, and doing lots of fun activities. Sienna is the only grandchild thus far, but I know Pops & Grandma are looking forward to more munchkins joining this event. For now, they will just have to spoil Sienna! She had such a great time, and Scott and I enjoyed a date night to finish up our Christmas shopping.

Sienna LOVES Grandma's manger

Tracing her hand... heard this took a few tries!

They used her hand tracing to make a Christmas tree. Grandma then helped her finger paint ornaments. Such a good keepsake!

Stirring the cake mix

Tasting the cake mix!

Reading a book with Grandma before bed. (Notice the picture of Sienna from last Christmas in the background!)

Watching a video with Aunt Anne (home from college & got to join in on the party) before bed.

Making a pine cone bird feeder with Pops. Sienna LOVES to watch the birds with Pops.

Music lesson from Pops. Love both of their expressions.

Jesus' finished birthday cake!

So magical through her eyes

As many of you parents know, the Christmas holiday is so magical seen through a child's eyes. We've loved watching Sienna soak in all the sights and sounds of the season this year.

When Christmas lights were first turned on around our neighborhood, she said "whoa!" every time we drove past some one's house with lights. For the first few nights, she would stand by the front door and insist on going outside to see the neighborhood Christmas lights before bedtime. So Scott would oblige, and he'd put her shoes on over her footie pajama's for a stroll around the neighborhood. Those nights are such precious memories.

We've had fun taking her down to the Plaza for dinner a couple of nights. She likes the lights, but she loves the horses giving carriage rides the best.

We've also had fun teaching Sienna a few Christmas songs. Some of her favorites are Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, and Silent Night. After we sang Jingle Bells to Sienna a few times, she quickly caught on to the part of the song she could participate in. Check out the video to see Sienna's part. (And sorry in advance for our over-excited singing voices!)

Since we're on the subject of Sienna learning to talk, we've been asking her to repeat several words after us. I'd estimate that she can say somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 words pretty distinctly. She has down the m, d, b, t, a, l, n, and p sounds. The newest word she has learned is "NO"! It is so cute to hear her say it! We know we shouldn't encourage it, but it's so stinking cute to hear her little voice be assertive. :)

In other news, Sienna suffered her first injury a week ago. We were at the park, and she tripped while on some playground equipment. It took me about an hour to figure out that her unwillingness to play and her fussiness probably meant that her little trip produced more than a little ouch. (Her blood-curdling cry when I made her stand on her own was my first clue. So sad.) We went to the doctor and took some x-rays. What we thought was a fracture ended up only being a really bad sprain. So Sienna resorted back to crawling for a few days. Other than seeming annoyed by being slowed down by the crawling, she did remarkably well. I just felt horrible! Luckily the sprain healed quickly, and she is back to running around like the energizer-bunny we all know & love.

All dressed up for dinner with mom & dad on the Plaza. (Her cute onesie is designed by Squeaks & Beeps, which is one of my co-workers fabulous children's clothing line.)

What do you do to keep a toddler entertained at the dinner table? Why, you let them pick your nose! (Okay, gross, we know. But Sienna has just discovered you can stick things in your nose, and we think it's funny.)

Or, you can read books... our favorite thing to do while dining out.

Sienna's first bunny ears pic!

Seriously!?!? Love this face!

"Writing" a letter to Santa while waiting in line to visit Mr. Claus.

Dancing on a chair & showing off her cute outfit - complete with jingle bell necklace that I wore as a kid.

Finally gets to sit on Santa's lap! She wasn't so sure of Santa... no tears, but no smiles.

Aunt Kitty is in town! Yea!

Thanksgiving

Of all the things we are grateful for, our family and friends top the list. This Thanksgiving week, we got to spend time with some of our favorite people. We're so grateful for all the love we have in our lives, and we're excited for the start of the holiday season! We are very much looking forward to watching Sienna experience this time of year. (She already LOVES the Christmas lights. She says, "Whoa!" every time we see lights on a house/building/tree, etc.)

Four generations of Williams'

Sienna laughing with Great Granny and Great G

The girl loves her pumpkins

Cutie pic of Sienna.... not sure about the rest of us! : )

Gathered around the illegal fire pit, trying to stay warm!

Fun times

Sienna started feeding herself with the spoon this evening. She LOVED Pops' chili!

Such a happy, messy, little girl!

Rubbing her chili stained hands together in satisfaction

Watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving with Aunt Jenny

Preston, Cosette & Sienna posing in front of the Christmas trees at Union Station. They loved looking at the trees and the trains.

Playing with the blocks at Union Station

They are all getting so big!!

Sienna and I looking at the 50' Christmas tree in Crown Center square. It's beautiful!

Sienna was entranced by the fountains and lights.