Done: 2010

2010 was a pretty decent year for the Sipos family.

Katie learned to walk and turned 1 all in the same month. Over the next 9 months, she learned how to climb on almost everything in our house. She also started saying words and formed her first sentence when she was just 19 months old. It was "I want a snack now!". She got her first pair of glasses in May and started to wear them consistently in December, as it was quite a battle to get her to understand that they would help her see better.

Michael has continued to learn so many new things. He finished up his first year of preschool and is attending 5 mornings a week in his second year. I can't believe he will be in kindergarten in 2011. We have been working with him on learning how to write his name and he is getting there. He played his first organized sport, soccer, this fall, and loved it.

We took our first trip as a family to Disney World. Michael had a blast but Katie may have been a bit too young. She was a real trooper and let us cart her around to all of the parks. As long as she had something to eat she was happy! We also went on our annual trip to Johns Hopkins for doctor's appointments for Todd and Michael.

Todd accepted a new position at work this fall, which was a bit unexpected, but will be a great opportunity for his career. I am fortunate enough to continue to stay at home with the kids and am enjoying my time with them!

Here's hoping that 2011 is at least as good as 2010.

Wordless Wednesday - Glasses Success

Almost a White Christmas

According to weather reports, it started snowing here around 1am on December 26. That means we missed having a white Christmas by about an hour. The weather reports were calling for snow but I didn't believe it. It had rained a bit on Christmas though. Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to see the lawn covered in snow. Thankfully it wasn't sticking to the roads and tapered off early afternoon.

We didn't take the kids outside into the snow this time. I didn't want Katie to get cold and Michael just doesn't like to be cold and lets me know that. In fact, I didn't even ask him if he wanted to go out and play in it. We did go to the store this afternoon and he got to run in the falling snow. That seemed to be enough for him!

I did get a picture of the front of our house showing the snow that had fallen.

Christmas Card 2010

Snowy Berry Tree Christmas Card

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Christmas Cookies

Every year, I bake cookies to give to friends and family for Christmas. Todd always takes some to give to his co-workers too. I always try at least one new recipe and this year it was Oreo truffles. They were delicious but extremely rich. I think they would be better with a white chocolate coating.

I participated in a cookie exchange earlier this month for the first time. It was something that I had been wanting to do for a while but never knew enough people who were interested in participating. I really like getting a variety of cookies that I had never tried before.

I made chocolate crinkles, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip meringues, and chocolate peanut butter bars....are you sensing a theme here? It was not intentional. We always take the leftover cookies to our family gatherings and everyone enjoys them there. If we don't eat them first....

Happy Birthday Todd

Happy birthday to my wonderful, loving husband. I am so thankful for him every day. He is the perfect husband and father for our family. I know that he wished he felt better today as he is sick with a cold.

We look forward to spending another year together as a family. The kids are so lucky to have him, as am I. It's so much fun to watch Katie interacting with Todd now like Michael does and see the joy in Todd's face. Michael even signed his own name on Todd's card and wrote "Daddy" on the envelope.

We all love him very much!

Michael's Christmas Program

Michael's class at preschool had their program yesterday and sang for the other 4 year old class program today. It was so cute to watch the kids sing songs and play their roles.

The teachers let each child choose what they wanted to be. The only roles that were assigned were Mary and Joseph. Michael chose to be a sheep. We were sitting in the audience watching him come in and noticed that his costume didn't look like a sheep at all. When they were getting dressed, he saw another costume in the box and wanted to be that instead. It was a goat.

As the narrator told the story of the birth of the baby Jesus, Michael was sitting on stage in front of Mary and Joseph. Apparently he wasn't too fond of the tail on his costume as he tried to get it out from under him. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen and so adorable at the same time. He finally realized that it was attached to his costume and just sat on it.

After the show was over, we went to the hall for some cookies and drinks. Michael got to leave school early as they were done for the day after the program. Today Katie and I went to watch him sing for the other class. It was one of the first times that he actually sang and participated in the program.

Here are a few pictures of him from yesterday's show:





Wearing his sweatshirt after singing today



Katie waiting for the show to start

The Holiday Season

With all of the hustling and bustling that we have been doing this December, there seems to be very little time to catch up with blogging. We have been getting ready for Christmas by shopping, baking and decorating. Michael has his Christmas program at school tomorrow and his class will be singing for the other classes' programs on Wednesday.

The annual cookie baking when I make several different kids of cookies will most likely take place this week. I still have to finish my Christmas cards but I should be able to get them out by the end of the week. Shopping is about halfway finished but I don't feel that stressed out about it this year for some reason. And that's a good thing.

We will go to see the lights at the zoo but not sure if we will make it there before Christmas or not. We also will drive around our neighborhood to look at the decorations on different houses. I love this time of the year because there is so much to see and do!

Eye Doctor Update

Yesterday Michael had his semi-annual checkup with the opthalmologist. He did well on the vision tests but his vision has gotten a little worse. He has become more near-sighted since the last appointment. It has been a year since he got a new pair of glasses so the doctor wrote a new prescription. The good news is that his lenses haven't moved and the dislocation is the same as last time.

And I was finally able to get Katie and Michael on the same schedule for their appointments. At the next 6 month checkup, Katie and Michael will be seen on the same day. This is such a relief because we are always at the appointments for at least 2 hours. Trying to keep 2 kids entertained for that amount of time in a small area can be quite difficult. Michael is pretty cooperative now but I spend most of the time chasing Katie around the waiting area and up and down the hallways.

Todd also had his second follow-up appointment from his second eye surgery to remove his lens. Everything looks good and his vision is 20/30 in the right eye with glasses, which is better than it has ever been before. He was having some problems with dry eye in his left eye but that has almost resolved itself with the use of eye drops. He will have another appointment in 3 months to see if his vision has changed any further.

Visit with Santa

We decided that we would take Katie and Michael to see Santa at the mall tonight. Michael has been asking about going to see him as he already has his list ready. We went right after Santa got back from his break to minimize the wait time. There were only 3 or 4 people in line in front of us. Tonight was also pet night so we were taking turns with people who had brought their pets to see Santa!

When it was our turn, Michael walked right up to Santa and sat in his lap. Katie didn't realize what was going on at first. She was OK until she looked at Santa and realized that we wanted her to sit with him. I picked her up to put her on his lap and she pushed him away. I offered a piece of candy to her if she would sit with him. She wanted candy but still wouldn't sit with Santa. We finally got her to stand in front of him with the candy in her cheek.

After we gave up on getting her to sit on Santa's lap, Michael sat with Santa and told him what he wanted for Christmas. We got a picture of the two of them together.

We were able to get one shot of Katie, Michael and Santa. Pictures like these are the ones that memories are made of!

Show Me the Mommy

This picture is from our trip to Florida 2 months ago. It makes me realize that I really need to take more pictures of myself!