eight

Scott and I celebrated our eight year wedding anniversary on Tuesday! We dated about 5 years before getting married, so technically we've been together over 13 years - wowsa! Anyhow, we had a great time celebrating, going on a date, and reflecting on our past, present & future. I love walking through life with Scott. We have so much fun!!! (Okay, most days... hee, hee.) Here are a few pics from our anniversary and funny things we've been doing lately with Sienna INSIDE to avoid the heat.

Every year, I put on my wedding dress on our anniversary. I think it's sad to only wear a dress that beautiful one day in your life, so I'm aiming to change that! And I'm proud to say that the dress is loose on me - woo hoo! Sienna liked posing with me but was pretty uninterested in the dress.

Sienna loves making a pile of all her animals and then jumping/laying/rolling/running through the pile.

My mother-in-law and mom bought this outfit from our alma matter on our graduation day... here it is in action nearly 10 years later! (It's a size 18 months... so a little snug! It got lost in her closet. Oops!)

Sienna has been running around our house naked a lot lately for two reasons - 1) it's really hot outside 2) she's been peeing on the potty! Here, she is engrossed in Veggie Tales.... the latest song added to her repertoire.

Look at the waves and volume in her hair.... not even 2 years old yet!!!

22 month Sienna-isms

I am slightly freaking out that Sienna is going to be 2 years old in a couple months... ahhh!!! Anyhow, she has been so stinking cute lately and doing/saying some of the funniest things (Sienna-isms, if you will) that I just have to write down, so we can remember these fleeting moments.

- Her favorite song to sing is "The More We Get Together". She loves to sing this song at the top of her lungs (she accurately sings most of the words) and gallop/skip around in a circle. She will either make her own circle, or she will gallop/skip around an object or a person in the middle of the room. She loves for Scott to play the song on the piano while she dances and sings. "Daddy, play 'More We Get Together'."

- She has learned to jump!! Oh goodness, and she sure is excited to be able to get both her little feet of the ground at once! She's not getting much height in that jump at the moment, but it's precious nonetheless.

- She has started to pick-up some of the slang Scott and I use. Her word this week is 'sure'. So we ask her, "Sienna, do you want yogurt for breakfast?" Her reply - "Yeah, sure." Cracks me up to hear such a casual, grown-up phrase from her little self!

- She wakes up each morning, and she immediately wants to know where everyone is going for the day. "Where we goin'?" She wants to know if it's a work day, a play day, a Kenda (her sitter) day, or a Mommy day. It breaks my heart when it's a work day for both of us, and she says, "No Kenda house. Play Mommy house." Ahhhhh!!!!! Just put a knife through my heart during moments like that! (But then we have other days when I'm not working, and she asks if she can "go play Kenda's house?". Guess I'm not so fun all the time!)

- Her imaginative play has really kicked into gear the past couple months. She LOVES playing with her kitchen set and making Scott and I various food concoctions. She also likes to change her dolly's diaper, take her dolly on a walk in the stroller, and put her dolly to bed.

- We introduced the time out chair a few weeks ago, too. She is definitely testing the boundaries. She obviously does not like time out, but it is effective! It was tough for me to start putting her in time out, but she quickly caught on to the concept and tries to avoid it!

- Sienna understands the concept of being shy. Well, to her, shy means not wanting to talk/touch/recognize a certain person in her midst. She was being 'shy' one night towards my dad.... not letting him hug her, be alone in the same room with her, etc. When we got in the car to go home she said, "Sienna shy PaPa." That little stinker knows what she is doing!!! So we have lots of pep talks on our way to gatherings about not being shy... it seems to work! She will normally say, "Okay, Mommy. Sienna no shy."

Love our little rascal!

Independence Day

We had a great day celebrating our nation's independence with some good friends. We had a BBQ (complete with fantastic watermelon margaritas), let the kids decorate their own cupcakes, went to the pool, and conducted our own mini-fireworks show. Sienna loved playing with her friends, as did Scott & I, but she was not a fan of the fireworks (sireworks, as she calls them) when they were up-close-and-personal. They were just a wee bit too loud for her baby ears. She didn't want to go inside and miss out on the action. She didn't want me to hold her. She wanted her daddy. So he obligingly held and snuggled her close, so she'd feel safe. Because that's what daddies do.

miss independent

ready for the cupcakes!

quickly resorted to just eating the icing out of the can...

smoke bombs and snakes... the best!

cautious, but excited!

how many kiddos can you squeeze in a wagon? and i love the girls curls in this picture.

Anna Maria Island

We took our first family vacation to Anna Maria Island, Florida last week. We had such a good time doing nothing but hanging out, relaxing and enjoying the sunshine together. Scott & I loved sharing the beach and ocean with Sienna. We are a beach-loving couple, so it was time to indoctrinate her. :) We rented a house 2 blocks from the beach. So each day, we'd wake up, watch cartoons in our bed, eat breakfast outside on our covered patio, pack up the beach wagon and walk to the beach. We'd play in the ocean and sand for a couple hours, and then we'd head back to our house to have lunch & swim in the pool. Sienna would take a nap (most days), while Scott & I enjoyed the pool. After naps, we'd swim in the pool some more, go to dinner, and then catch the sunset on the beach. The next day - repeat. It was bliss! We took about 200 pictures, so I am going to have to post a couple of different times with pictures.

Sienna LOVED swimming in the ocean and in our pool. She is our water baby. When we were all swimming in the ocean, Sienna would serenade us with whatever song was on her mind. She would sing literally the entire time we were in the ocean. So precious! She loved it when Scott tossed her up in the air, and she wanted to play 'motor boat' all the time. She was pretty unsure about the sand sticking to her feet, legs, arms, etc. on the first day at the beach. She finally came around to the sand the second and third days. She never really liked the fact that it was sticking to her, though.

The island was teeming with wildlife. Every morning, we saw a manatee or a dolphin swim by the beach. We found a starfish in the ocean, as well. Sienna was enamored with the pelicans and sea gulls. (Although, she frequently commented, 'birdies really loud'.) The sea turtles were nesting, so we got to see several nests on the beach.

Waiting for the plane

Looking out the window of the airplane. She did GREAT on the plane... all 3 hours!

Day 1 on the beach. "Dad, I do NOT like the sand!"

The infamous Nemo chair! This chair went everywhere with Sienna -- on the beach, in the pool, in the house, in the wagon, and even on the couch! Notice her feet are not touching the sand. Hee!

We found this stuffed squid in our house... another kid must have left it. Sienna carried him around everywhere, and she called him 'skib'.

Dinner at one of the piers... yummy grouper!

Day 2... She decided it was okay to sit on the sand!

She wanted to show me all her toys in her sand bucket

First sunset family picture.... many more to come!

This one melts my heart

And so does this one

Aren't her eyes as blue as the ocean? This is Sienna's, 'mom, stop taking pictures of me' look. Yes, she already has this look down.

A Sienna sunset

Another sunset... just had to capture this moment with her paci in mouth, drawing in the sand

We did venture off the beach one day to the Mote Aquarium in Sarasota. Sienna loved this baby manatee statue!

Dinner on the marina overlooking the bay

During dinner, three dolphins swam right past our table

Playing a fun game during dinner at the Beach House. This restaurant served pina colada bread - a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

Sienna's favorite color is blue. And her favorite food is ice cream. She was in heaven.

Last sunset

And just b/c I'm on a roll...

Here's a super cute video of Sienna singing some of her favorite songs, reading some of her favorite books, and playing the "Woody" song on the piano. The girl is OBSESSED with Toy Story 3.

(And... I think 4 posts in one night is going to be my PR.)

Omaha

This past weekend, we went to Omaha with the Miller fam --- such a fun weekend!! We had such a great time; I think we're both planning a return trip this summer. Everyone says the Omaha zoo is good, but man, they are underselling it. That place is AWESOME! The kids loved it, and so did the adults, which is a rarity. This trip totally took me back to my childhood days. Don't you remember when you'd get to stay at a hotel, and it was such a fun & exciting thing? You'd get giddy thinking about jumping on the beds and having a swimming pool right down the hall? We did all those things, and more! Fun, fun time. And bonus - the kids slept great and were an absolute joy!

The whole crew enjoying dinner in the Old Market on our first night, complete with balloons for the kiddos. After we stuffed ourselves here, we just had to go for ice cream. :)

Sienna in her cover-up after our late night swim. Ordering room service, of course.

"Baby Sienna" and Caden at breakfast.

On the swinging bridge inside the jungle exhibit. Sienna was not walking by herself across this bridge for all the cookies in the world!

With Daddy inside the jungle.

The most unique animal we saw at the zoo - a tapir. Looked like a cross between an anteater and a giant pig.

Getting a good look at the ducks.

Aliyah (Lee-La, as Sienna calls her) and Sienna. These two are buds. And I love it.

In the shark tank!

One of the silver back gorillas. Daniel had a stare down contest with this gorilla. After a few minutes, the gorilla beat his chest and attacked the glass. Intense and fun!

All the kiddos

No trip to the zoo is complete without a ride on the carousel, especially on the cheetah. :)

Our last day, Sienna was very into imitating me. So precious!

Wearing my shoes

Trying on my jacket

Using my flat iron (not turned on, don't worry!)