Sunday, October 3, 2010

Happy Birthday Sydney!

We celebrated Sydney's 2nd birthday with a party yesterday. Brian's parents were able to come in from Alabama and we had my sister's family and our friend Christine's family so it was a blast! We went swimming first for an hour and then the party was right at Sydney's nap time so she was kind of quiet during the whole thing.

The beautiful cake Christine made:

Sydney with her pumpkin I helped her decorate. We got small pumpkins and stick-on faces.
Her dad got her this singing balloon. You tap the balloon and it sings to you about your birthday. Sydney got good at singing that song! She also referred to this day as "Happy Day!" all day long!

Sydney with Grandma Tuck.
Sydney thought that some of the cat whiskers from the pumpkin decorations would be better on her face.
Sydney with Grandpa Tuck.
She knew what to do when the lit candle was placed in front of her

The bow on top was made of marshmallow-based fondant and Sydney couldn't resist trying a bite!

Sydney with some of her loot. She loved all her presents. Thank you everyone!

Happy Birthday, sweet Sydney!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Tutoring Job Anyone?

I've been meaning to post about this for a while. As many of you know, I work for Tutor.com. It's been almost 2 years and I love it. It is so flexible. You can schedule hours but I usually float and I get sessions easily. Sessions can last anywhere between 10 minutes and 1 hour so I can usually say, "Oh, I'll just get on for 40 minutes" and do a few sessions and get off.

The reason I bring it up is because they are looking for tutors specifically in these subjects:
Earth Science
Algebra 2
Biology
Geometry
Trigonometry
Physics

They all take English and other Math and Science subjects but the ones I listed are the ones they are really hurting for. You do not have to have a degree in the subject you want to tutor in. It does not even need to be an education degree. They just want you to be a college student or grad with a degree. You will take a test to make sure you are competent in the area you want to tutor in.

Pay: You get paid direct deposit as an Independent Contractor. E-mail me with questions about pay but here is the FAQ section on their site for those interested in tutoring. http://www.tutor.com/apply/tutoring-faq

Setting: Tutoring takes place in a web-based chat room with a whiteboard. Here you can type and draw messages to each other. You can use voice to do sessions but I prefer not to and that's ok.

Please forward this information to anyone you think might be interested. It has really helped for me to have a way to make a little extra income and have flexible hours. Obviously it slows down quite a bit during the summer months but I still got in a few hours a week then, too. Anyone interested can go to this webpage: http://www.tutor.com/apply/application-process
and please say that I referred you/them when applying. If you have any questions, let me know!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Zoo and other pics

Last weekend we went to the zoo ("we" includes my sister and her family). I'm always glad when Sydney can get into places like these for free when she seems to uninterested in the exhibits. She would look at most of the animals but I was so surprised at how excited she was to see the penguins. Liam, her cousin, knows that penguins are my favorite, so when we play there are a lot of penguins and Sydney has been learning how to say it. It comes out more like "pen-yans!" but I get the idea. So, when she saw the penguins swimming at the zoo, we heard "pen-yans! pen-yans!". She was so excited!

And here is a pic of the "crowns" I occasionally make for Liam and Sydney. In case you are wondering what they are, we have a foam mat in the playroom, you know, the colorful squares, some with letters and numbers to take out. These strips are edging pieces so the edge of the mat is straight. The crowns don't stay together for long but Liam and Sydney like them.

And here is my little swimming diva. She is not shy about swimming anymore. In fact, she thinks she's a "pen-yan" and tries to leap out of my arms in the pool. I would get her floaties and let her go at it if it weren't for the fact that she has ear tubes in and is supposed to be wearing ear plugs in the pool. oooops.
We took Sydney to ride on the carousel and I was shocked at how much she enjoyed it because she has only freaked out on those quarter rides in malls.


And here are two videos of Sydney I wanted to share. The first is showing how good she is getting at animal sounds. I love it.




For this one, I blame my sister. My sister and her husband have introduced Sydney to the Queen song, "We Will Rock You". Well, we were sitting on the bed, reading scriptures together, when Sydney starts singing the chorus. I can't stop laughing. So of course, we got out the camera to video tape.



Sunday, September 5, 2010

Photo Shoot

I couldn't wait to post these pictures! I just took these today in our front yard (by our I mean my grandparents' house which I'm staying at) and Sydney actually kept this headband on for a little while which I think brought the cuteness factor up. Here are some of my faves:

And I had to show you this one of Sydney and me. It came out blurry but I used some Photoshop Magic to add some styles to it so that as Brian put it, "It looks like it's supposed to be blurry". I thought it gave it a nice touch.

Before:
After:



I have more but our camera needs batteries so the other stuff will have to wait for another day.

In other news, Brian has had 2 interviews with the local Best Buy so we're praying that he could get that. It might be only part-time in which case he would get another part-time job. In the mean time, he helps my grandparents out around the house, mowing the huge yard, assembling things and other random stuff.

Look at the countdown! I'm 9 weeks away! Yeah!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Life in Louisiana

Hey all! Things have been going fine for Brian and me in Louisiana. Brian still hasn't had luck in finding a job but it's not for lack of trying. Brian and I will be celebrating our 5th anniversary this Friday! It's amazing how the times flies but we are still crazy about each other!First, we decided to get Sydney a toddler bed and give her a few months of trying to adjust to it before her baby brother stills it away. It's sturdy enough for Dad to join her when she gets restless about going to bed.

Sydney loves imitating her cousin Liam as he is learning the letters of the alphabet. I would like to think she really does know that Sydney starts with S.
Sydney likes playing pretend a lot like here she is as a cowgirl!And here she is as a super-hero!

Sydney is getting a lot better at singing and doing the motion to her favorite songs and this is our favorite to sing with her and have her fill-in the blanks with "Beam!"


And here I am at 28 weeks.

I'm feeling fine for the most part. I have trouble getting to sleep at night sometimes and it makes for a long day when I am watching Sydney plus Liam and Scarlett (my nephew and niece) but with Brian home, he often watches the kids while I catch up on the z's. Thanks honey!


Still no decision on the name but after the 3rd ultrasound, we are 100% certain it's a boy. (Don't worry about me jinxing it. If it turned out to be a girl anyways, I wouldn't be crushed :) )

Love to all!
Megs

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Happy Birthday Brian!

I am not amazing with cakes, so don't laugh! It was very moist and tasty though! Brian celebrated his 29th birthday earlier this month. We were able to get my sister Drea to watch Sydney while we went to a movie. It was nice!
Happy Birthday babe!

Visiting my cousin Paula

While in Alabama to visit Brian's folks, we stopped by and visited my cousin Paula who had just had a little baby, Isabella. She is so precious!Paula and her husband John- who's a first-time daddy!

Williams Family Reunion- Part 3

The sisters
The cousins
Happy 4th of July!
Kaylin and Liam
Little Scarlett

Williams Family Reunion- Part 2



The cousins went boating with Grandpa Williams



Williams Family Reunion- Part 1

First pics are of the family at Ralph and Cacoo's- a great southern style restaurant where you can get alligator appetizers (yes, real alligator) and excellent cajun cuisine.


My sister Drea and hubby Ian

My grandparents who are so kindly letting us invade their house.
My parents who were able to come up for a visit.
my sister Tessa who needless to say was having fun driving Brian nuts.

My Aunt Pam with her daughter Tricia
The whole gang