Sydney's First Birthday Party (2.60 years and 1 year)

Sydney's party was on Saturday. It was a beautiful sunny day with temperature around 80 degrees. The weather was perfect. The party turned out fabulous!

The week before the party we had a lot the things we needed to do.  Brian finished the swingset two weeks ago so that was finally done, but he did need to sand one last time.  We washed down the house.  We also had to pick up the chairs we ordered from Walmart.  We decided it was better to buy tables and chairs instead of renting them so we will have them for future parties.  We also bought a tent that was great!  The tent was high so people did not hit their heads.  I took Friday off so I could really clean the house and start getting everything set up for the party.  With two little kids, it is hard to keep the house clean.

Saturday morning was extremely busy.  There was so much to do.  We went to the store early and got ice, water, and beer.  Then came home and set up the tent.  My parents came over which was nice to have some help.  Our first job was to set up the tent.  It was fairly easy to set up.  We just needed to make sure Austin did not run away with any of the parts.  It was large so we needed everyone to hold things at times too.  It looked really nice once it was up.

Then we set up the tables, chairs, and things inside the house.  I went to pick up the food at Giant Eagle.  I chose to order the food except my mom made macaroni salad and my dad cut up fruit.  We had chicken, macaroni and cheese, and sandwiches.  I thought it was a good and kid friendly menu.  Once I got home, it was time for the party to start.

Everyone had dinner and socialized for a while.  Then it was time for Sydney to have her cake. Brian's cousin Lauren made her cakes.  They were so beautiful! Sydney's cake was strawberry.  She played with it for a while.  Then we had Austin come in and help her.  They were so cute together.  They would feed each other cake.   Austin would then wipe the icing on Brian.  It was so funny.  Austin only did it to Brian.  Brian was covered in pink icing.  I wish I would have taken pictures of him, but it was great.  Then Sydney tipped her cake off her tray.  Sydney had a great time!

After cake, Sydney opened all of her gifts.  She got so much stuff.  She got a lot of clothes which was great because she really needed new clothes.  She also got a few new toys as well.  The toys were great ones.  Austin and Sydney are really enjoying playing with a tea pot, picnic basket, legos and little people castle.

It was a perfect day!  I am so happy that her party turned out so great.  I think everyone had a wonderful time.   I am so grateful that Brian took so many amazing pictures that day too so we will always have the memories.  It is hard to believe that Sydney is already one year old.  Our babies will never turn one again.  That is kind of sad but we are looking forward to the new milestones they will reach.

Sydney is now able to walk a lot.  She actually prefers to walk rather than crawl now.  She is getting so big.  She weighs 20 pounds and is 30 inches long.  She likes to do everything Austin does.  She can even climb up a ladder without any help.  She is so cute!  Austin is teaching her how to do so many things.  Sydney watches him and then tries it out herself.  We have
two daredevils on our hands!

Happy Birthday Sydney!

Baby Camden's Visit (2.55 years and 11.5 months)

It was so nice to have Melissa and Camden in town for an entire week.  We really enjoyed their visit.  Jonathan was able to come up for a weekend too which is nice because usually he doesn't come up.  We just hung out around the house.  It is amazing looking and holding Camden.  How crazy is it that I really don't remember Austin and Sydney ever being that small.  Time goes by so fast!

Camden is a great baby.  He is really spoiling his parents.  He hardly ever cries.  He drinks milk like Austin did though.  He can down 5-6 oz easily just like Austin did.  Sydney doesn't even drink 4 oz at a time and she only gets milk 5 times a day.

Melissa and Jonathan took Camden to see Grandpa Frack on the anniversary of his death.  We went down with them with the kids.  It was so sad.  It was weird too because Brian and I were not prepared with Austin.  Austin understands most things now but this was a little too much to start to explain to him.  Austin did knock on this grave and we told him maybe Grandpa Frack would come out but sadly he did not.  We still wish he was with us.  He would have loved being a grandpa to the kids.

Melissa and Jonathan had a wedding on Sunday so I watched Camden all day.  It was great spending time with him.  It makes me sad to know he will be so big the next time I see him.  Kids grow so fast - it is amazing.  Camden was so good for me.  I even got to carry him around the block in my baby carrier.  I love that carrier but now Sydney is too big for it.  When I took Camden back to his parents I was sad because I wish I could see him more.  Being an aunt is great because I have him for a little while then bring him back to his parents.  I realized while watching him, I don't think we will be having another baby.  Three kids is A LOT of work!

I'm not sure Sydney was a fan of not being the youngest baby in the house as this photo shows!

Brian has almost finished the swing set.  The only think left is building a ladder and putting on the accessories.  I am so happy he is almost done.  There will be enhancements for next year but he will be done for this year.   He spent so much time on building it.  Austin loved to help him but there were many things he could not help with.  Some things he did help with caused Brian more time to do it.  I give Brian a lot of credit for building this for them.  It is really amazing!  I am glad Brian will be able to help more with the kids now that he will not be building a swing set every day!

Sydney is walking more and more.  She takes about 8 steps before she falls down.  She loves just to stand up alone and try and walk.  I am glad she is starting to walk.  As she is getting bigger her and Austin are playing more and more together.  It is great!  Sydney can also say MaMa, Baba, Dada, and Uh-Oh.  She can also sign the word more.  In preparation for her upcoming 1st year birthday, we took Sydney to get her first haircut too!

Austin's favorite thing right now is Play Doh.  He is obsessed with play-doh.  When he wakes up in the moring he usually gets to watch his kindle for 30 minutes.  He use to watch Micky Mouse club or trash trucks but now he will only watch play doh videos (often advertisements).  Once he's done watching videos he wants to go play with play doh and build pretend sandwiches and other things he saw demonstrated in the videos.  He could play with play doh for hours if I would let him.  I got a play doh table online from my mommy website for $5.  It is worth it because now play doh stays downstairs and my living room carpet will not be ruined.  The downstairs carpet may be but we can replace it once the kids get older and no one really sees the downstairs carpet anyways.

Austin can say anything.  His vocabulary is amazing.  It's great that he can talk and tell us what he wants.  But there is never a quiet time at our house anymore.  Someone is always talking.  Since Sydney can't talk she will scream if she wants something.  It's very annoying so hopefully she will grow out of that soon.  Dinner time is especially loud with screaming.  Sometimes the kids will echo one another - Sydney screams so Austin screams the same, then Sydney, then Austin, etc. The two copy each other.

I have been working on Sydney's birthday party.  I can't believe she will be 1 in less than 2 weeks! This past year has went by so fast it is scary.  I am very excited for her party and hope the weather is nice for it!