Easter/Birthday at Lala & Papa's

I tried to warn you that there were a lot of birthday festivities, maybe you just didn't believe me. Since we did Syd's first kid birthday party this year, we spared Lala, Papa and Gigi from having to be around a room of screaming kids for a day. They opted for a nice BBQ birthday celebration over at there house where the girls could swim if they wanted to. The girls had a blast, Syd received some extremely generous gifts and Sarah and I had some fun drinking the wine of the house.

Check out the new sticker earrings Syd got for her birthday :)



Making sure Neil got the earrings in his photo of her.



The idea of Syd's perfect birthday meal: chicken fingers, pickle, fresh fruit and applesauce.



Perfection. Look at this girl. Anyone would look like a complete dufus sitting next to her and her oozing prettiness. I need to start wearing my pretty clothes when I'm with her, or I suppose if I just stopped dressing like a hobo I would be fine. :)



Aaaah Salute to "out with the old and in with the new" :)



Enjoying her floaties for one of the last times before swim lessons start up again!



Livin' the good life...with her new shades from Lala. The girl has more sunglasses than anyone I know...even Sarah!



Then it was time for the Birthday song and candles.



Big wishes and dreams



After being such a good girl throughout Syd's long birthday weekend, it was finally time for Savannah to have a turn! :)

My Best Friend

Best Friends are something that I completely cherish. While at St. Peters, I had Tricia Wahl, who we did everything together, even hunting gnomes in the trails around her house (don't ask). Then come junior high, I had Tiff, one of my closest and dearest friends. The girl I could always be 100% my true self with. We decided to tell the world we didn't care what it thought about us, we had each other and oh my goodness, did we have fun. Whether it was completely inflating small things to reassure the other that the boy they liked felt the same in return. Or whether covering her little brother in red lipstick to videotape a school project on heat stroke. I truly cherish those memories.

Being a mom and moving to a new city, where I knew no one and had this baby who was a complete (and still is) handful. I've had Sarah. The friend who is there every day (hour and minute) for me to harass on blackberry messenger. The one who I can come crying to during my losses and the one I secretly tell about my happy news when I refuse to tell anyone else for fear of jinxing it. The friend who completely shocked me with balloons, streamers, decorations, presents and goodies in my hotel room on my birthday. The friend who sat at the table for hours helping me cut out labels and tie ribbons and tags onto my daughter's birthday favors. The one who followed my lead to bet on horses while we should've been getting ready for the Polar Express :) So many stories, so many adventures. Friends like these are hard to find and I'm so extremely thankful to have you in my life. Thank you for always being there, letting me tell you about the good, the bad and the gross. I love you.

Easter Family Photo

Before heading off to church, we just took a few quick family shots. Not very often are we all in the same shot together, so had to take advantage of having Neil and Sarah there to take some photos of us before we left!

Easter Morning & Syd's REAL Birthday

Talk about having a birthday weekend, Syd truly did! The girls woke up to seeing that the Easter Bunny had left them two huge Easter Baskets! Ok, so we went completely non-traditional because we didn't want to give the girls any candy. Not sure what's worse, more toys or candy. I vote that candy is worse, Syd's teeth with thank me one day. The girls tore through their baskets and then it was game on for a huge Easter egg hunt!

It's a little blurry, but here's Syd coming out of her room and seeing all the streamers and such around the house for her birthday. So cute!



The Easter baskets



The girls walked into the kitchen together and then spotted what the Easter Bunny left them....



....Easter baskets!!



Oh my! I think the Easter Bunny did good with choosing Easter basket goodies.



After they finished tearing through their baskets, it was time for the Easter egg hunt! I could barely get the words out of my mouth and they girls took off searching everywhere.



They found every single egg hidden, even the tricky ones.



After the hunt, it was time for Syd to open her presents from Chris, myself and his family.



Lots of Hello Kitty earring, rings, sticker books.





Savannah and Neil watching Syd open more presents. Absolutely the most well-behaved child ever. I want to clone her!

Present Overload

Sydney officially went into present overload. This was our first kid birthday party, so it was almost overwhelming (for Chris and I) how many gifts she received! Syd thought it was the most amazing thing every, Savannah wondered when it would be her turn for a gift and I just wanted it all to stop. The good news was that the girls absolutely pooped themselves out at Pump It Up earlier in the day, so they were pretty tired come bed time. Plus the fact that we told them that the faster they pass out, the sooner the Easter Bunny would come!

Happy Fourth Birthday Syd!

Sydney's 4th Birthday {Pump It Up}

This year we planned Sydney's first kid birthday party, location of choice, Pump It Up. The fabulous thing about this place is that you literally show up ten minutes before all the guests and they set it all up for you. We went with a rainbow theme this year, so rainbow balloons, cupcakes of several colors, rainbow goldfish snacks, basically a lot of color all over the place. The kids had an absolute blast running all around and getting sweaty. Then it was off to the party room for pizza and cupcakes! A huge thank you to Sarah for helping me tie all the bags, cut tags and all the millions of small things I had to do before the party. Then another enormous thank you to Neil for helping me capture photos of Syd's party that are absolutely amazing. Love you guys.

The kids listening to the rules and guidelines of Pump It Up :)



Time to line up to head into the party roooom!!



Syd jumping around with her boyfriend Dominic



Me and my baby girl





Oh my gosh, I love this slide :)



The Party Room











Syd and her big cousin, Megan. The two were inseparable



A little air hockey before it was time to eat, which Syd was really good at. Sadly, she also enjoyed to score into her own goal when she got bored. Sigh



Group shot!



Pizza



How cute are these two? Syd was sitting in her throne and came up to me to tell me she wanted to sit by Dominic. They're just the most adorable little couple ever.



Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Sydney!



Making wishes



Happy Birthday Sydney Reese. Hope all your dreams come true the way you've made mine.