Which dress?

Help please! Christmas photos tomorrow and we're not sure which dress! What do you think? 1, 2 or 3? Please ignore the mess and the shirt/tights she is wearing are not the ones that she'll wear tomorrow.

Dress 1

Dress 2

Dress 3

Santa Claus Parade

Sadie went to her very first Santa Claus parade this weekend! She was totally unimpressed (it was nap time) but we still had fun. Some of it was a little loud but it didn't scare her. Santa came and went with very little fanfare.
There are two parades next weekend. One is the big Toronto Parade which is really good but long and out of control busy. I don't think it would be worth the trip into the city to see it this year. We'll have to see. The other parade is in our town and will be like the one we saw this weekend. We'll be going to that one for sure because all of the events we've done here have been really well put together and people are actually POLITE and friendly. I'm really looking forward to it.

All warm and bundled to go out in the cold

Hi Santa!

Momma and Sadie

Trying to get a close up shot of her eyes because we *think* they may be turning brown!

Birthday Party

Super quick post because I'm not feeling well. I thought I'd share some pics from today's festivities. Don't you love her $15 outfit?

Written by Sadie...

/ lb ikbbbbbbbbbvvvvvvvvvvv,mac c3zs

And then she started to EAT the computer.


Anyway...
Tomorrow we're going to the birthday party that we may not have actually been invited to but got an invite by e-mail on WEDNESDAY. My cousin said that the party was immediate family only but she wanted Sadie to be there. She didn't want to invite her other cousins, etc. I guess that is fair enough.
For the event I bought a cute dress at Once Upon a Child - $15 for dress, shirt and leotards (Gymboree). I am actually very surprised by my recent addiction to buying second hand since I've never done that before. It is so much more fun searching for something special than walking into a store and buying whatever is laid out for you. Not to mention the fact that Sadie will quite literally wear this dress ONCE and at the full price I'm certain this outfit would be at least $100!!

Toys!! Toys!! and more Toys!!

So, my first battle with Sadie's room was organizing her toys! We really need to pack up her "baby" toys. I still have her exersaucer and swing assembled. I also think her floor gym is in the closet. I went for the toys she's currently playing with first and washed them.

Of course, organizing leads to playing and playing leads to mess:

Uh OH! You know what's coming next...

Babyzilla!!!!

The Mess!

But that's OK because playing is FUN! (The Fuzzy on my pants is thanks to our PB Kids carpet which sheds... A LOT... so glad we spent THAT money... grumble grumble)
BTW, My mom bought Sadie a FP doll house for her Birthday. I took the Daddy out and replaced it with another Mommy.
I hope I haven't ruined the surprise! It's been sitting out in the open for a few weeks.

Houston, We have a problem...

Here's hoping SHAME gets me moving on unpacking/setting up Sadie's Playroom. It's scary in there right now! No, we do not actually using this room at the moment and we are not going to be profiled on hoarders, buried alive. At least I hope not!
This room will be done by the end of NEXT week.
I will document as I go!

Long Island - Part 1

This took way too long but my time on an actual computer is few and far between!

Our trip to Long Island and New York City was amazing! We had so much fun with Laurie, Heather and Ryan that we didn't want to come home. I'm even plotting to get away again before the end of the year... we'll have to see!

Our drive was actually pretty good even with rain and traffic. THANK YOU Britax Boulevard! Sadie is so comfortable that she sleeps so easily in the car now. When I compare our last couple of trips with our trip to Quebec (that report is coming too - better late than never) I can really see how big of a difference the car seat makes. Sadie was miserable in her Peg bucket!!

Anyway, our first impression of Long Island was that of surprise. It is *so* weird to drive across Manhattan to get somewhere that is not NYC. It was absolutely mind blowing until we found out that there is another way onto the island.
We love Manhattan and all but going across the city during rush hour in a subcompact amongst native NY drivers and transport trucks was NOT fun. Fortunately our GPS took us the other route on the way home!
The highways on the Island were big, fast and very busy but the area we were staying was almost rural. So. Weird. In the daylight we would find suburban bliss but at night it was almost out of my comfort zone darkness!
Our hotel ended up being in the perfect location but I would still get lost every time I tried to find it myself! It was very close to Laurie and Heather (apparently if you drove the correct way), clean, free breakfast, pool (we didn't get to use it) and around restaurants.
On the first night we met up and went to dinner. Ryan and Sadie hit it off immediately and so did the four of us. The kids ended up being up way too late but they didn't seem to mind.

Playing at the Hotel the first night
The next day was a busy one. We met for Breakfast at the Hotel and abused their free breakfast policy. They had good waffles! Afterward we went to a great aquarium with the kids. They had a blast! Here are some pictures from our first day:

Best Friends from the start!

Having fun while we ate lunch

Beautiful Coral Reef

Wow!