Sydney is 3!

                                     

We spent Sydney's birthday (for the 2nd year in a row) at Disneyland.  We had so much fun at Breakfast with Minnie & Friends and exploring the park.  The only snafu was that we discovered Sydney is not fond of boats.  Once we learned what rides to avoid we had a fabulous time.  Sydney loved every moment & Kate was mesmerized by the sights and sounds.  Both girls were so happy and well behaved.  Our little family of four ended the evening at home with pizza & ice cream sundaes.  It was a wonderful way to celebrate Our Sydney. 

Here are a few photos of our Disneyland adventure.

 I'm 3!

 Who's behind me?

 Starstruck!

 Nice to meet you Chip!

 Minnie's biggest fan!

 Kate meets Minnie. 

 Teacups with daddy.

Syd & Daddy

Sydney's 3rd Birthday Party

A Berry Sweet Birthday!

We celebrated Sydney's birthday on a beautiful, sunny day in the park.  The weather couldn't have been more pleasant and the company was even better.  The hubby bbqed hamburgers & hot dogs and my mother-in-law made enough sides to feed an army.  There were sweets galore and strawberries, strawberries, everywhere!  It was a fun day.  We even got some huge smiles out of my shy, little shortcake.  She loved the bounce house and dressing up in her party dress.  I can't believe in a few short days, she will be 3.

Anyway, I'll let the photos tell the story of the day. 

Sydney & Kate in thier Sweet Stuff Creations shirts.  Thanks Wendi!

These were super simple to make.  I dipped some mini wafer cookies in hot pink candy melts & added the sugar cube strawberry.  Yum!

Strawberry cookies by Sydney's request.  She helped by adding sprinkles & by eating the broken cookies. :)

   

 The jumping bean & the jumper!

Ribbon & fabric garland.

I made these centerpieces for about $3 each.  I got the baskets 2/$1 at Dollar Tree.  I added some ribbon and the little strawberry plant 6/$3.  I made the tall signs with a free download I got here.

 The setup

Ribbon mobile.  This was so fun to make & the photo does not do it justice.  I want to make these for my Etsy store when I'm ambitious enough to reopen it.  Someday soon I will have more time to get it going again.

Painted rocks.  Sydney and I had fun painting these and they now reside in her garden.

The marshmallow pops were a hit!

My sweet girls rocking out.
 

My mom made this banner for Sydney's 1st birthday & we've hung it up every year since.  I love it!

My mom made this sweet little crown.  I measured Sydney's head while she slept the night before the party & I didn't do a good job.  The crown was a little too small but we managed to clip it on with a hair bow.  You can't tell by the photo, but she loved her "pwincess hat".

 Sydney in her party dress

Stephen and Sydney picked out this silly guy.  I ordered a strawberry pinata from Party City but when it arrived Stephen thought it was too small.  (Pinatas are serious business in his family. LOL!)  Anyway, he took Sydney to pick out a new (gigantic) one.  This is what they came home with!  haha!  Stephen loved that he threw a wrench into the "theme".  The laugh is on him though because I manged to make it work. ;-)

 Here is the photo of Mister Froggy being decapitated.

Sydney waiting patiently for the candy to hit the ground.



Me & my girl

 Present time

                                                                   It was a great day!

Happy 11 months

My beauty!

Sydney is walking! She started walking 2 days before she turned 11 months old and a week after her bottom teeth broke through. The last couple of weeks have been full of amazing milestones. She gets more beautiful everyday. She is such a sweet, loving, feisty little thing. Walking is bittersweet...It's exciting but yet she is moving closer & closer to toddlerhood.

All these milestones have wreaked havoc on Sydney's sleep schedule. She has been fighting her naps & waking up many times throughout the night. The nighttime routine is the same. I go in & comfort her, rearrange blankets, give her her paci and hand her Roo. Then she falls immediately back to sleep, I get back in bed, start to fall asleep and it happens all over again. This happens up to 7 times a night. Every time I hear her cry out I can feel my blood pressure rise. It's been physically and mentally draining. I can't really let her cry because Stephen wakes at 4am for work. I think this weekend we're going to have to try sleep training again. I have really put my own well being on the back burner lately and things are about to change. I have changed my diet, started to exercise and hopefully a peaceful night's sleep will follow. I have 20 lbs to lose and I am motivated by more then just vanity now. I really need to get healthy. Follow me on this journey. I weighed in this past Tuesday and I'll post weekly updates here.

In my quest to nurture my creative self, I photographed the newest member of our family. My niece, Alexis Sunshine. Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure.

Isn't she cute?

P.S. Despite the sadness of Sydney becoming a toddler...I am so excited for her 1st birthday party. I went to Micheal's & Dollar Tree yesterday and bought craft stuff to make Zoo themed decorations. I can't wait to give you all a "preview". Eek! I'm excited! Did I already say that?