Sydney's Birthday Week

A few weeks ago, Sydney came home from school and said, "Mama, do you know my birthday is soon? I think I will have a party at House of Boom." I was a little surprised because a) we hadn't really talked about her birthday, b) I actually hadn't planned on having a party, and c)there was no way we were doing anything at House of Boom!

So, I threw together a party last minute. And, by last minute, I mean I invited my neighbors on Tuesday...for a Sunday party! Ha! Since the weather looked good, I asked the guy who provided Madeline's inflatable if he had anything left for the weekend. Since it was last minute, he cut me a small deal on a nice blow-up.

That morning, some other girls from the neighborhood walked over to see the blow-up and Sydney invited them to her birthday party (hang with me, this is relevant to the story!) so, with our neighbors (who all have a million kids) and our cousins and grandparents, we had a decent little get together.

We had a piñata!

The two older girls who Sydney invited the morning of came and brought presents. Ellie brought 2 things of Playdoh (used) that she found in her room and Greta brought her a size 8 dress from her mom's gift closet. Sydney opened the dress, held it up in the air and VERY excitedly announced: IT'S A SLEEPING BAG!

It was a total riot. We did think it was sweet that the girls felt compelled to bring something to the party. :)

The girls always love playing with their cousins!

After the party, we went to Gustavo's with our neighbors. Sydney asked the server at least 3x to sing to her. And then they did...

And she kind of liked it, until they threw whip cream on her face. And she was five shades of angry and mean-mugged all of the singers until they left.

The four adults were laughing so hard we were crying. Girlfriend was so mad!

On Wednesday we had dinner just the four of us at Hometown Pizza on Syd's actual birthday. She also got to have a small party at school with her class. 

Then, on Thursday we celebrated AGAIN at my parent's house. Tia made this awesome birthday cake with an ice cream sandwich border and layer of fudge and Oreos. #yesplease

The day of her birthday, Sydney officially moved up to Pre-K at her school. So far, it seems like she's taking it pretty seriously...

And, with that, we wrapped up Sydney's birthday week. We have a four year old!

On your last night of being three...

Sweet Sydney Marie,

You turn four tomorrow. I can hardly believe it. 

I laid in bed with you tonight and you said, "Mom, you said you would only read three pages and you read the whole book!" I told you it was because it was your birthday-eve. And really, I was feeling a little nostalgic about it being your birthday and wanted to soak up my three year old. 

Four years ago, my water broke 3 weeks early. And I was terrified. We didn't even have the car seat out of the basement! 

You were a total game changer. 

You never stopped moving! 

And, when you started eating, you always wanted Chik Fil A or Macaroni (and still do!)

You didn't start talking until you were 2 1/2 and you immediately started calling me mom, never mommy. I tried so hard to get you to call me mommy, but it didn't really work. 

You were bald until close to 3 years old and now, you have the best bed head of anyone I've ever met!

At 3, your doctor told us we needed to find an outlet for you. 

You tried dance but moved to gymnastics.

This summer, you became a water bug. You swam almost every day!

You say the sweetest things! Every now and then you will tell me you love me, completely unprompted. I love those moments.

You love the color blue (which you call blue blue) and Finding Dory. 

It is such a joy for us to have our Friday's together. We run errands, we do puzzles, we play games, we bake, we have FUN.

You are competitive and strong-willed, just like your big sister. 

 You are so spunky and make me laugh every single day. You are the most carefree person in our family! You are a good reminder to me to not take things so seriously.

Sometimes I let you get away with more than I should because you are my last baby, and because I'm usually trying not to laugh!

Happy 4th birthday, Sydney Marie. We love you! 

Long Weekend Fun!

Happy Labor Day! We had a fun long weekend!

Sydney was needing some extra snuggles on Friday morning. I left her on the couch to make her breakfast and then found her in the ottoman. No clue why.

Then, she wanted to go upstairs and dress herself. Maddie has been doing this lately (waking up, getting dresses, brushing her teeth and hair, all before coming downstairs in the morning) and Sydney was trying to be a big girl. Except...

We have to work on matching a bit more!!

I let her keep the top but we swapped the skirt and bow before heading to our usual.  

 Sydney ALWAYS picks Chik Fil A so we now know pretty much all of the Friday workers. 

And they spoil her rotten. 

We got the big girls off the bus and played some Wii Dance Dance Revolution.

On Saturday a dog wandered into our garage to play with Stella. We walked her back home (found her owners quickly through Facebook!) and then Madeline walked Sydney back home. It was a riot.

On Saturday, we took the girls to Old Spaghetti Factory, and got one of the three tables in the train. 

They loved it!

And the spumoni ice cream!

On Monday, we went with Kyle and Danielle to Familypalooza for a petting zoo, bounce houses, water slides and more!

We had a snow cone break and Hudson and Madeline went off on their own. They are so cute!

Before we left, we got our faces painted and our hair sprayed. Sydney got green polka dots...

And Madeline opted for red stripes.

 (Two days later, Maddie's hair is still tinted auburn...)

We tried to get a pic of all the kids looking and smiling.

 Nope.

And, we came home and Chris went to lay Sydney down except...

He didn't make it out of the room. Ha!!

Next up: Sydney girl turns 4. I'm happy and I'm sad and all kinds of emotions!

Getting into the groove...

We are about 2 weeks into school and are settling into a nice routine. 

Early to bed, painfully early to rise. We were 4 days into the year when Maddie got her first reprimand for talking. She and Claire were talking "on the carpet" and got separated. I was laying with Maddie in bed and the conversation went like this:

Me: Maddie, have you gotten in trouble yet for talking?

Maddie (in the most offended voice she can muster): NO!!!! 

(silent pause)

Maddie: Well, one time. Today, actually. On carpet. Claire and I got separated.

I laughed so hard. Ms. Canady did let me know that Maddie and Claire's friendship is more matured than any other in the class (because they came in already friends) so they have been a little chatty. I actually had a call with the teacher tonight and she let me know Maddie was just a very social child. 

I have no idea where she gets it from...

But, other than that, we're full steam ahead for first grade. 

We had our back to school bash and had such a fun time.

Girl talk.

Sydney straight up tried to win a dance contest against a bunch of older kids. It was a riot. She didn't win (I'm actually not sure the judge could see her tiny body) but all of us parents got a kick out of her. 

Maddie, Rayne, Murphy and little sis.

There was a bubble car so there were bubbles everywhere!

We watched the solar eclipse! I went to school to help chaperone and mainly to make sure my child didn't go blind.

(Sydney's preschool covered the windows and didn't attempt to take the littles out, thank goodness.)

Maddie got invited to a great birthday party at the Mega Cavern. Tia came with us and we went up on the course with Madeline.

It was a blast. I can't wait to have Maddie's party there. We are going to wait at least another year though because we want Sydney to be big enough to do it.

Speaking of Syd...

There are three certain things in life. Death. Taxes. And Sydney getting croup when the weather changes. 

Poor little peach. I was up with her half the night with her terrible seal cough. We took a hot steam shower at 4 in the morning. We sat outside at 5 in the morning trying to breathe in cool air. Since there was no stridor, we didn't have to go the emergency room. We made it until 7 and got the first appointment at the pet's office. They gave her steroids and a sucker (the medicine is pretty nasty so it helps with the aftertaste.) There was a new nurse who just kept talking about how well behaved Sydney was because she sat still for all of the vital checks and took the medicine without complaining. Unfortunately, when you get croup 4 -5 times a year, you're used to the process. 

Sydney goes for her 4 year well check in 2 weeks and we will likely talk long term preventative planning. It's likely that she has asthma. While I really hope she doesn't, we'll manage if that's her diagnosis.

We continue with gymnastics. Girls are getting stronger and better at each element.

Sydney and I have resumed our CHik Fil A Friday lunches.

And my busy busy BUSY season is upon me for my travel job. I've got a ton of clients leaving in Sept and Oct for Disney so I'm headed to the post office pretty frequently the next few weeks!