Sydney's Birthday Morning

Sydney turned 4 years old today!! We told her the night before she could open her presents when she woke up in the morning. Guess what time she woke up? At 5am she came into our room full of energy asking "can I open my presents now?". She settled for just touching the presents and went back to sleep for a little while. At 6:48am she woke up again. We told her she had to go back to sleep for 12 more minutes. At 7:00am she sat up in bed and asked "can I open them now?" She was so excited!!

This present is one that she has been asking for since our Yosemite trip in May. Her friend Sienna had these boots and she was in love with them. She was so surprised and excited to open these!

Another present she was even more excited for! Sienna also had a camelback that Sydney talked about all the time. We have camelbacks, too, and wear them on our bike rides. So Sydney has been wanting one of her own for awhile now. We go to REI a lot and we found one (this one) that she just fell in love with. She wore the camelback all around REI and told people that she wasn't getting it that day but she really wanted it for her birthday. She kept reminding Alvin and I about it, too. She'd say "Do you remember the pink camelback at REI I want for my birthday, Mommy?" Grammy and Papa got this for her and she was so happy!! Thank you Grammy and Papa!

That morning she packed her backpack full of snacks and Alvin filled up her water pack for her.

Off to the Bay Area for Sydney's birthday safari! (The backpack is right next to her so she can drink her water if she needs it.)

Sydney wanted to take a picture of the picture on her Costco receipt.

She took this picture of me holding the Costco receipt. Whenever we go to Costco she asks the person at the door to draw a picture on her receipt. Today she got a flower with a smiley face.

Talking to Taylor on the phone - so excited to see her cousin for her birthday!

Sydney's Day with Grandma and Aunt Tracy

Sydney got to spend the weekend with Grandma, Pops and Aunt Tee-Cee while Alvin and I enjoyed our Anniversary weekend. She had a lot of fun! Thank you for watching our little Bug Bug!

Sydney got her face painted at the circus!





Being a fierce tiger with Grandma...

Time to make dinner - pizza!! Sydney loves to help make dinner in the kitchen.

And she loves the camera...

Sydney has some of the most hilarious "looks". Here she's trying to give her stern look but I think she's having trouble keeping a straight face!

When I look at this picture I have one of those moments of realization that my little girl has grown up a little more and she's getting farther and farther away from the little baby I held just 4 years ago. She looks so grown-up to me in this picture!

So proud of her dinner creations!

And after a long day of fun with Grandma and Aunt Tracy ("Tee-Cee"), our little Sleeping Beauty goes to bed.

Discovery Kingdom

Sydney LOVES going on the rides at Discovery Kingdom! This ride goes up then drops down over and over again.



Ready to get her seatbelt on!

Going up...

Next up - playing in the water! After a little while Sydney was running under all the pouring water and cooling off on a very hot day.

Going on a jeep safari ride with Daddy.

Hanging out at the end of the day with Daddy.

Posing in front of the sharks.

 

Fourth of July Sparklers

Sydney picked out a special outfit for Grammy's visit.



Her first time with sparklers!  We talked a lot about the Fourth of July and why we celebrate it. We went to the library to check out a book about it and in the weeks leading up to the holiday Sydney had a lot of fun finding American Flags wherever we went. We even learned the song "I'm proud to be an American".  She was excited to have her own flag and get to do sparklers this year! She's watching Daddy light them up right now.

Sydney's turn!

We even made an American Flag dessert!

Proud little Love Bug.

After all the sparkler fun she decided our plants needed a little watering. We just planted some new peppers and herbs to go with our tomato plant. She loves watering the plants in the yard!

And making sure the leaves get some water, too.

And when she's done she even knows how to put the hose back in the storage box.

Going to the Park with Baby

Sydney puts Baby in her stroller for a walk to the park.

Taking Baby out for a picture for Mommy.

And making sure Baby is safe in her stroller.

Hanging from the bars at the park! Such a big girl!

My pretty girl posing for the camera.

Sydney's other favorite pose is her silly face. Daddy came and picked her up on the bike and she wanted to make silly faces with him.

And here's a pretty picture.

Ready to ride her own bike!!

Sydney's First Job

Sydney is helping save electricity at home.  Her title is "Light Supervisor".  Her responsibility is to make sure no empty room has a light on.  She is hilarious about her job and always makes sure she is the one turning off the light if we tell her a rogue light is on.  When we leave for school in the morning she makes sure her nightlight is off and that Daddy's office light is off if he's not in the office.  This morning I told her the nightlight and office light were on.  From the other room I heard her little grown-up voice say "I'll get it!".  She goes into Daddy's office and after turning off his light says she's going to turn off his computer too and save more electricity!  We stopped her in time!  Good little Light Supervisor.

My Little Heart

If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much.

~Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
~Elizabeth Stone

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.
~Hodding Carter, Jr.

Best Day Ever!

If you ask Sydney what my favorite part of the Tangled movie is, she knows. That's because she's my best friend. That little love bug really is my heart walking around which is both beautiful and scary. I told a friend once that Sydney wants to be just like me which makes me so proud. It is a big responsibility that I know I will miss if she someday finds another woman to look up to as she spends years establishing who she is in this world. In my scramble to get through these challenging weeks of law school I lost sight of how important it is to be a role model. I had the opportunity to regain some perspective today when Sydney had to stay home sick. In a last minute decision I decided to stay home with her and I am so glad I did.


Sydney had a terrible fever but when the medicine kicked in she was still able to play with me. I was wearing an old grey cover-up and she asked if she could wear one too, just like me. She wanted to wear blue pants like me, too. She didn't have blue pants but we both had brown ones so I changed my pants to match hers. Then she picked out a pink shirt for both of us to wear. It was the cutest moment I've had with her in awhile. She proudly walked me into Daddy's office by the hand and said "Look Daddy, we're wearing the same clothes!"

Later we were talking about working and I asked where she wanted to work when she grew up. She said "I want to work at McGeorge." I couldn't hug her enough today. She reminded me how important my role is as a mother and someday as a friend. Even though it took Sydney being sick I'm so glad she was and that we had the best day ever together. Cherish every moment because they mean so much, and so much more to our little love bugs.