I need to finish up Sydney's birthday before Amanda's comes up next week!The day of her birthday, we let her open her gifts from us before school.
We chose these cute clothes together the night we went shopping
(while Dad & B were at Fathers n Sons).
For a year, she has been asking for a doll...Chou Chou, My First Tooth.
I was having flashbacks to when we visited our friends in NC, during Lindsey's 7th birthday. Brad & Daneise had said that is the last doll we are ever going to buy....thinking that Lindsey was past dolls and they couldn't quite grasp the reason behind her wanting another doll.
Ditto for Sydney!
But, like our friends, who we believe are great parents(!), we got Sydney a doll for her birthday. It seems Chou Chou is past her first tooth and has moved on to 'Mommy make me feel better' and since this is the only Chou Chou doll I could find...Sydney gets to play Mommy when her baby is sick. It came with thermometer, band-aids, etc.
At least this doll is much cuter than 'Baby Alive' that she got for Christmas last year.
And I should feel happy that our little girl is still little enough to play dolls. Sydney does have an amazing soft spot for babies and little children.
She is very compassionate with them and loves to see them happy.
So, it's a cute thing she still wants dolls.
Then....the Soiree!
All of Sydney and Abby's fancy friends gathered to celebrate their birthdays. (if you haven't read a Fancy Nancy book....run to your library...or borrow one of ours. Darling)
Abby turns 7 two weeks after Sydney's birthday.
Abby's mom, Rachel, is the Party Mom! She did all the cute invitations, fancy cupcakes, fun activities, gift bags and did all the girl's make-up. I just provided the house and the fixin's for parfaits (that's fancy for ice cream sundaes).
Here are the fancy girls doing a fancy dance!
Everyone twirl! (That's a fancy word for spin around in a circle).
Fancy Halle D, Lucy K, Maddy M, Gracie R, Elise B, Emily B, Abby, Paige N, Lucy O, and Syd
Sydney's fancy parfait.....lots of sprinkles
I did the parfaits while Rachel (background on the right) helped the girls tie fancy ribbons to some flip-flops. We also had Julene R. (background on the left) stop by to see the party and help tie ribbons....Amanda had also made it home from Activity Days by this point and helped, too! Halle and Elise show us their parfaits.
Then we did an accessories race. And then the presents:
Then the girls did a courtsey and said 'merci' to all their guests!
And then, fancy cupcakes with a '7' candle on top! 
Happy Birthday Sydney & Abby!
Immediately, she had to 'adopt' them on the computer and loves, loves, loves them. As a side note (and for journaling purposes), on Saturday night the kids went with my parents to Garrett's first birthday party at Rog & Cozette's. Mike & I went to our high school reunion committee bbq (events will not be posted, but I will tell you about them if you ask!). Thanks for taking our kids GGGib.
Sunday, we had a little family birthday lunch because we had picked up the Backer's cake on Saturday (do to scheduling conflicts). We bbq some steaks, had potatoes and ate cake all before church! (After church we went to Scott & Kellie's for Renae's bday celebration. We have A LOT of family birthdays this week-thanks for a fun evening S&K-and I also took the world's best piece of sheet cake which was a hit).
Monday, we had GG Gib up for dinner and Skookies (we are burned out on cake now). Sydney loves the littlest pet shop animal and immediately had to 'adopt' her on-line, also. We were ok with her playing on the computer because after her SCREAM of joy that left us with minor hearing loss. That girl can scream....
Here she is in mid-scream!
Did I surprise everyone but Grandpa? Thanks for smiling, Papa!
I will post that later as it should be a fabulous event!
1. Sydney's smile! She can light up a room and is a beautiful girl with hair like spun gold!
2. Sydney's kindness. Especially with kids younger than she is. She LOVES babies! And she wants to hold them forever. She was especially good at this when Brandon was an infant. She makes friends fast and loves spending time with them.
3. Sydney's imagination! She makes up the best games and throws great parties! She is a very creative fashion designer with her own portfolio. Ask her, she'll show you. She sleeps with all her stuffed animals on her bed. There is hardly room for her! But, she doesn't want any of them to 'feel bad' so she gives them all a good-night sleep.
4. Sydney's determination: She is strong-willed. But as we have seen her grow-up, we see how that is working to her advantage. She is a great reader, good friend, and works hard at all her activities. I even saw this as she walked to the bus stop in the pouring rain this morning (her older sibling would have been begging for a ride-oh, she actually got one, but that's another story). Sydney gave a talk in Primary this week. Normally, she gets so scared that she only gets through half of her talk, and then breaks down in tears. This week, she gave her whole talk...all by herself and not one tear or nervous thought! Way to go, Syd Syd!
5. Sydney's love for family: Sydney has always been a Mama's girl and I have really come to appreciate it. She LOVES her Daddy and gives him the best hugs! She really loves Amanda and looks up to her (although the sibling fighting is alive and well between them). I know that these sisters will be close forever (Lucky girls). And Brandon is Sydney's baby. She always makes sure he is taken care of. She LOVES her grandparents and cousins!
6. Sydney's Curiosity: Sydney loves to learn new things! I'm sure if she had a better mother, she'd be quite the well-rounded child! She always wants to help me cook....even if she gets to put in just one ingredient. She constantly asks questions and won't settle unless it's a good answer.
7. Sydney's Joy for Life: Sydney loves life. She is always going. She wants to always be with people. She is a very important part of our family and we are so glad she is our girl!
Seems little Brando decided to come to Earth on the same day the last Star Wars movie opened. I just thought it was cute that Daddy had found some cute boy, soft toys that a baby could eventually play with and not poke his eye out. 
May the Force be with You!
Brandon's room...just keeping it real, folks
I still love my china hutch and my beautiful dishes! Actually, I love my dining room although we don't use it every week.
My desk...cleaner than normal.
