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!

Spring

Lots of stuff going on, as usual.  Kate followed in her big sister's footsteps and got ear tubes.  She did great and was actually a whole new baby until the teething hit!  She's been super fussy and when she's not cranky she is getting into everything.  The only time she's content for a moment is when she's stuffing rice crackers or a puff into her mouth.  She's refusing pureed baby food & I'm started giving her tiny pieces of table food which she loves.  She's so cute and silly.  When I tell her to clap she gets really excited and furiously claps her chubby little hands.  I love this stage but it's also frustrating.  I am looking forward to getting her into her own bed.  It will happen one day.  I hope! 

Sydney is definitely going through lots of developmental changes.  Her communication skills grow stronger everyday.  Along with all the exciting changes comes lots of extremes.  She will be so happy & giddy and then something will set off a crying spell.  Today she cried because her balloon flew away, and because her shoe fell off, and because Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ended, and because she couldn't find a ball, oh and there were several meltdowns at the park.  Tomorrow will be much of the same, I am sure.  I've heard that 3 is more challenging then 2, and here we are.  Despite the ups & downs, I really do love this stage best.  She is so much fun.  Tonight, I laid down with her at bedtime and we were chatting about different things.  She's so excited for her upcoming birthday party.  We've been working on lots of decorations and she even helped put the invitations together.  The afternoons spent gardening or sitting on the new stone wall in our backyard are the best. 

Here are some photos of my favorite place in the whole world.  Our Garden of Weedin'.  It's always a work in progress...

Sydney's garden is in bloom.  I harvested the nasturtium seeds last year and I have them growing all over the yard.

 Sydney helped plant these pots...and a sneak preview of some decor for her strawberry party.

 Strawberries galore!

 I made this little fairy garden. :)

 My veggie garden

 Geraniums and sunflowers

 Hummingbird house

 The very 1st bloom of my Eden climbing rose. 

Nasturtium


I planted a watermelon, pumpkin and sunflower patch for the girls.  I'll take some photos once things start growing.