Sydney's Birthday

Miss Sydney has definitely learned how to party! Her second birthday was no exception. On Thursday night, we had a small dinner celebration with our family and the Sells' (Sydney's godparents). It was perfect. Sydney had a great time, and so did the rest of us. :) 

Here's our big birthday girl! 

Sydney and Miss Madi! 

And, of course, the birthday cupcakes! 

Cameron picked out a very special gift for Sydney's birthday this year, a Princess Sophia tiara, necklace and earrings. They were a huge hit. (Although, Cameron desperately wanted to play with them too, so we had a little bit of a battle going on for awhile.) 

Sydney got new Minnie Mouse slippers and thought it was really fun to jump in them, ha! 

On Friday, Sydney's actually birthday, we got to spend the day with Granne. We went to the inside park at the Rec Center by Superpop and Granne's house, which is one of the girls favorites, then we got hamburgers for lunch with Superpop and Granne. After lunch we went to a fall party at one of Granne's friends houses. Auntie Jenna came with us.

The girls got their faces painted.

Got to do pumpkin bowling.

And got to rice on on the teeter-totter. It was great fun. 

When we left the party each kid got to pick a book and a little beanie baby toy to bring home. Sydney picked a book about spiders and a spider toy. WHAT??! That interest definitely does not come from me.

Happy Birthday Sydney Kate!! 

We love you little munchkin! 

TWO YEARS OLD!

This sweet, sassy little girl is TWO YEARS OLD!!!

I can NOT believe it. I seriously look at this kid and can't believe what a big girl she is becoming. I'll be honest, it makes me a little sad that time is melting away so quickly. But at the same time, every single day is an adventure being the mommy of such a fun, crazy little girl.

We had Sydney's 2 year checkup and she is a healthy little girl. Her stats were not surprising at all, but it's always interesting to see exactly where she lines up with other kids her age. Weight 30 pounds (91st percentile) and Height 35.5 inches (88th percentile). Side note on the doctors appointment, Cameron loves Doc McStuffins, so she is totally obsessed with "checkups". So in the middle of Sydney's checkup she asked daddy if she could have a checkup too. Dr. Rosquist was so sweet and humored her! Thank goodness for Doc McStuffins...we could very easily have girls fighting us to go to the doctor, but now they love it!

So Miss Sydney, what things are you doing now that you're two?

• You are a really funny little kid. You know how to work it just right to get people to laugh and keep laughing. 
• You love your big sister "Ren" and love playing with her whenever you can. You get sad when she is away. The first thing you usually do when you wake up is ask where Ren is. However, you never hesitate to pester her when the opportunity arises. 
• You still have a paci, which for some reason you call your "rice", no idea where that came from. 
• You love your purple blanket that Auntie Jenna made for you and you always cuddle with it. You also love baby dolls, especially the one you got (stole) from Gabby. 
• You are a great little runner and you love to jump and bounce around. 
• You are obsessed with shoes, and your all time favorite right now are your little flip flops (which is starting to become a problem now that it's getting cold outside). 
• You are a solid, tough girl and not much can phase you. 
• You are extremely opinionated about what you wear. You usually insist on picking out your own outfits, which most of the time include shorts or pants. 
• You like to do things by your self, so I hear "No me" a lot. 
• You are very sweet and like to cuddle. 
• You like to read books.
• You are really good about saying "Thanks" when someone gives you something or helps you out. 
• Every night when you say your prayers you thank God for your friend Otto. So cute and so sweet. 
• You are so sweet and so fun! Your daddy and I love you SO, SO much. We are so thankful that God has given us our little Sydney. 

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!! 

Chicago

A couple times a year I get to travel for work. At the beginning of October was one of those times, and this time I got to go to Chicago. The original plan was to have Ryan come with so we could enjoy the city together for a few days before the meeting. But that didn't end up working out, so I went by myself. This was my first time in Chicago, so I have to admit, I was kind of excited.

The first day I was there was a little bit of a free day, so I spent several hours just walking around the city. I went for a run along the river running path, visited Navy Pier and the giant bean thingy. It was amazing! The weather was perfect and I had a great time even though I was all by myself.

Then as part of our meeting we had dinner at Willis Tower (a.k.a. Sears Tower) and we got to go up to the SkyDeck right at sunset! It was so cool. We had amazing views of the city. I even stood in the glass box hanging over the edge of the building. I'm not going to lie, it was a little scary! (I was too cheap to buy the actual photo, so I just did a screen shot, thus the PROOF all over it).

The last night we were there our group went to a traditional "Chicago Pizza" place. It was pretty yummy. We ended up having a ton of extra food, so I got the bright idea of brining this bad boy home with me on the airplane to reward my hubby for taking care of the kiddos for a couple days all by himself. Yes, I know, I'm a little crazy! But I managed to get it all wrapped up and home successfully!

I would have to say, I'm definitely a fan of Chicago! I really liked the city and hope to go back some day for a true vacation with the hubby.

Big Girl Bed!

We moved Sydney into her big girl bed a couple of weeks ago and she has done GREAT! I'm not even kidding when I say we haven't had a single issue with the move. She's still sleeping great, even for naps. I was so thrilled!

This is the first night she was in her bed.

And the first morning she woke up in her big girl bed. She was so proud of herself!

More Soccer Fun

More game day pictures! This was on picture day so I had to snap a few of our little twinkle toes. Haven't gotten the professional photos back yet, but as soon as I do I'll post them. 

And speaking of soccer, this little one is getting pumped to be able to play!

Birthdays Galore

Last weekend (Ok, actually two weekends about, I'm so behind!) we had some serious birthday action going on. We had three birthday parties! The girls are really starting to figure out why birthdays are fun now, especially Cameron, so they were in hog heaven. 

Cameron was so excited about the idea of birthdays asked me about 100 times when we could celebrate her birthday. I informed her that after Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas we would celebrate her birthday. So now she's been asking me pretty much daily if Christmas is tomorrow. HA It's going to be a long couple of months for that little girl. 

Anyway, Friday was Auntie Jenna's birthday. We had birthday hats and balloons and everything! Super fun. 

Then on Saturday we had Bella's birthday party. Bella and Cameron are kindred spirits. She prays for Bella every night before she goest to bed. At Bella's party they rented a big jumpy castle for all they kids. None of the pictures I took of the bouncy castle turned out, but trust me, those kids had a BLAST! 

Check out how cool my husband is...yep, he's holding a sippy cup! Yay baby. :) 

Then on Sunday we had Ian's birthday party. Ian is another one of Cameron's all time best buddies. Actually, she has decided she is going to marry Ian when she gets bigger! She tells me all the time, "Mommy, can we go outside and find Ian so we can talk to him about getting married?" Or one time it was, "Mommy, some day Ian's going to buy me a ring like your 'married' ring!" (I think we need to band this girl from from princess movies! She's getting way too boy crazy already! HA) 

Anyway, Ian's birthday was Sunday so we had another fun party day. Ian's mommy is amazingly crafty and she made the coolest birthday "cake"for him. Check out the picture below. The cupcakes are boulders, then there's crumbled cookies for dirt and, of course, a bulldozer! 

Now we get to gear up for a few more birthdays...Sydney's is next, then Granne's, Mommy's and Daddy's. Geeze!