sybrowsky year-end review - january 09

Hi, my name is Mandy, and I am a crafting addict. Especially when it comes to the holidays. I make myself and my family crazy every year. So when I received some wise advice from my boss this year, I decided to take it and try to save Christmas. She said she heard this from husband years ago and took it to heart: "Don't ruin another holiday by sewing!" And I'll add or papercrafting, baking, decorating, etc. So when I caught myself holding my family up for a holiday get-together with friends while I was madly trying to finish their Christmas gifts, I decided then and there to let go. I stood up, turned off my sewing machine (with the project still under the needle), grabbed my coat and left. It felt so good. This is also why I stopped making my Christmas cards about 10 cards into the 60 on my list. Only family and a few close friends got cards this year. The rest of you will have to live with this photo of our card, and our sincere wish for a wonderful new year! And if you're a craft addict like me, decide now not to ruin any holidays for yourself or your family--let it go. It is okay.

So since we didn't get a Christmas letter out this year, and because I've been getting threatening Facebook messages from friends and family about my lack of blogging, I decided to do a Sybrowsky Year-End Review. I'll post 12 entries with pictures and stories from each month of 2009, a tough but rewarding year, full of lots of opportunities for growth. Thank you all for your friendship, love and patience as we adjusted to changes in our lives and schedules. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives. Life is good!

january 09
We returned home from Christmas in Utah for the end of the snowiest winter ever in Seattle. The boys loved playing in the snow!


James was the student of the week at preschool. We made this poster together and he answered some questions about himself:
Favorite food: pizza, quesadillas, and candy
Favorite color: all the colors!
Favorite song: "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash (ha!)
What do you want to be when you grow up: A bone doctor, a basketball player, and a builder


James makes his own book of astronomy. Here's a sample. We were impressed with the detail and accuracy.

sybrowsky quote of the week - noses and elbows

For a while James had a strange obsession with smelling everything he put his hands on. He smelled each fruit snack before he ate it; he'd put his pajama top to his nose before putting it on; he'd even stop to sniff out his Hot Wheels car during the middle of a big race. I thought it was weird, and I didn't want him wiping his nose on everything, but I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Jessica's son who is about the same age was doing the exact same thing, and we would watch them do it and giggle.

Christian, however, got very frustrated with all the smelling and was constantly asking James to stop. My favorite quote from Christian (and this demonstrates his parenting method) is, "James, you may not smell anything ever again!" To which James replied, "I'll never stop smelling." Kid one, Parent zero.

He's mostly stopped with the sniffing game, but he's become very vocal about the various odors he encounters. He has a super-sniffer, which he inherited from either his father or Grandma Holly. Either way, he's not stingy with his super-smelling abilities and is always willing to share with whoever will listen what odors are perturbing his senses. For instance, when we walk into a public restroom, he'll very loudly comment, "It smells stinky in here! Like diarrhea!" Once he went with Christian into Harborview Medical Center on a quick errand, and when they returned to the car, all he could talk about was how stinky the hospital was. So one day while he was talking about how he is going to be a bone doctor just like daddy,

I asked him this:

Me: James, how are you going to work at the hospital if it's too stinky?"

James (without missing a beat): I'll just have to plug my nose and do it with my elbows."

Apparently he'd already thought it through and decided, yes, this is something I can work around.