FUN-FUN-FUN for the BIRTHDAY GIRL!

Sydnee’s birthday fell on a Friday this year. She loved that! We had a blast that day with everything we did together & with her friends. The fun didn’t stop there though.. Saturday morning she woke up to a surprise from Marcus. He had put together a special message made from candy and a few odds-n-ends along with a handmade menu for her to make a breakfast order from that he would make and serve for her as a birthday gift!

 The message reads: 

"i never got to say happy birthday. from: mark"

It's kinda funny cuz he never goes by or spells his name "Mark." 

He must have ran out of candies and decided to call it good with "Mark" instead of Marcus.

She chose an egg & cheese toasted breakfast sandwich + O.J. and fruit! Later that day she got to have a play-date with Mary, one of her best friends from school! Mary celebrated with us on Friday too! Two days in a row of fun, fun, fun with Mary!

Sunday, 

we hosted our traditional 

"Grandparents Dinner Party" 

in honor of the 

lucky birthday girl! 

On the Menu:

Chili over Rice 
+ 
Sharp Cheddar and Sour Cream

Dish Rag & All Green Salad 
+ 
Ranch Dressing

Corn Chips

Lemon Glaze “Mess of a Birthday Cake”

(I baked two cakes and they both stuck to the bottom of the pan leaving the decorative top part of the bundt cake less than pretty! The first time I thought ‘Oh it’s okay, I’ve got time and all the ingredients to make another one!’ and ‘after all, I’ve made this cake a gazillion times and never had a problem with it sticking..’ Well the same thing happened to the second one, not as bad.. but it did and I can’t believe how well I handled it! Carefree & Fancy-Free! My attitude at that point was ‘Oh well.. it’ll taste the same goin’ down one way or the other, so let’s adorn it with the cute candles and be happy!’)

I s-t-i-l-l can’t believe she’s 10!

Thursday I journaled...

Spring is trying to come but today it’s stormy and cold… The mountains are covered in snow and the clouds are hanging low. Sometimes I love this type of weather but I’m ready for the warmth of sunny spring days and to see the earth turn green and the trees overflowing with little white & pink blossoms.

McKynlee’s been a little grumpy ever since her surgery last week. It’s to be expected for the first couple of days after as she is trying to recover, but now it’s been over a week and she’s still grumpy. She comes home from school super cranky and tired. She often falls asleep somewhere between five and six and I’m finally relieved because it’s quiet and I don’t have to listen to her whine anymore, but I know with falling asleep that early she’s going to do what she normally does when that happens.. Wake up around midnight hungry and ready to party. She’s done this a lot over the last week and half. Then she takes a while to wind back down and go back to sleep, IF she ever does. Sometimes she doesn’t poop out and go back to sleep until seven in the morning when she’s supposed to be waking up to get ready for school. It becomes a vicious cycle for us and for her. Hopefully today will be better. 

Since surgery she’s only content when whatever is happening is all about her and what she wants to do. If ever I have to stop playing with/entertaining her to go do the dishes, help one of the other kids with something, cook dinner or heaven forbid I take a break to go to the bathroom, she starts to complain instantly. Before surgery she had her moments like that.. but most of the time she understood that there were our play times and then there were times where I had to take a break to do other things and she could entertain herself and wait patiently for when I could come play again. Now, she’s really clingy to me and wants to be doing something with me non-stop. It’s hard, it wears me out emotionally, mentally and physically. I’m hoping we can get back to normal soon.

When she came home today I was cleaning the kitchen and doing the dishes. I brought her out to play in the water as I finished loading the dishwasher and cutting up strawberries. Playing in the water does wonders for her. It even helped her snap out of her crazy tantrum after coming out of surgery and waking up from the anesthesia. Thank goodness! 

 (all drugged up & playing with the water in the hospital bathroom after surgery)

After that I sat her down for a snack of strawberries and homemade bread and jam. She gobbled it up and enjoyed every bite. Then we had to leave and take the boys to guitar & drums. She was okay at first but then all she wanted was chicken nuggets. She complained the entire time we waited for the boys, continuously asking for chicken nuggets. Finally when the boys came out we headed to Wendy’s to get her some chicken nuggets. Again, she gobbled it all up and enjoyed every bite… and then she was happy! She actually played on her own once we got home. It was nice to finally have a break and hear her having fun & being her silly self instead of complaining and crying in the background. Today was a little bit better!

TODAY I JOURNALED...

My prayers were answered. 


McKynlee's been doing better & better each day. She's been happier and so am I. She got to go on a fun little field trip on Friday to Fat Cats Bowling Alley and had lunch at the Costa Vida. I'd love to see if she knocked down any pins without any sight! I'm sure she had fun none the less. She loves her teacher and the other kids in her class. 


Saturday Andres had to work so the kids and I spent the day at my parents house having lunch, watching movies and playing games. It was fun, we hadn't been up there to just hang out in a long time since they've been down south for the winter until just recently. Kynlee loves it when ever she gets to play with grandma and grandpa, she chased my Mom around in circles trying to catch her and giggled all the while!!!


It's still stormy & cold... but it's supposed to get warm & sunny later this week! Until then I'll just keep singing "green--- acres is the place to be!"

she's double digits now!

Sydnee's 10th Birthday 

was every kind of extraordinarily awesome all wrapped up into one special day,

from the second she woke up.. to the second she finally fell asleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First, she was excited because it fell on a FRIDAY!

..and Friday's early out day, YAY!!!

We tried out a fun new hair-do!

Ate a yummy breakfast!

Andres & I brought Pigwit and made a special birthday visit and delivery of the biggest birthday balloon ever and three boxes of donuts!!! The scholars all thought Pigwit was so cute... and her teacher did too!

The teacher read off some interesting & fun facts about Sydnee to the class!

Sydnee got to choose a game to play and who would be her helpers,

she chose "Heads Up Seven Up!"

She chose Mary to help her pass out all the birthday treats!

..and she picked Mater's Tall Tales Tokyo 

to watch while the class ate their lunches & donuts!

Donuts first!

 

School let out at 12:30 and Gabi got to come home with us. The plan was to take the family up town to see Disney on Ice and out to dinner, but the day before Marcus & Chandler said they didn't want to go to Disney on Ice so that left us with two tickets. I decided to call two of her closest friends from school and invite them to come with us! I'm so glad that they were both free and able to come, Sydnee had so much fun with them!

We got home and they changed their clothes to get ready for Disney on Ice. Not long after, I told Sydnee she should take Gabi and show her the room downstairs that she's gonna move into after we finish the new trim & painting.. that's when she found her birthday present from us. All the new bedding & a lamp for her room makeover in the new color scheme!

 

 She was so excited!!!

 

OH! ..and some press-on nails!

After that Mary came. The girls wanted Sydnee to open the presents before leaving so I gave them the camera to take some pictures while I finished getting ready. These are all the silly, cute pictures they took!

Sydnee & Mary were bustin' a gut because the pink gorilla webkinz that she gave Sydnee has boobs! They couldn't get over how dang funny it was. Hence, they named the pink gorilla webkinz "Booby!"

 DISNEY ON ICE!

 

Neither of the girls had ever been to Disney on Ice so it ended up being a really fun & new experience for them! After the show we were gonna go out to dinner up town but it was really busy so we decided to head south and go to the Mayan! Another place neither of the girls had been too and is a lot of fun! The atmosphere alone is great, plus they have cliff divers and more...


Along the way we took a little detour.. Gabi hadn't been feeling well (I didn't know this though) until she suddenly threw up in the car on our way to the Mayan. Luckily it wasn't very chuncky.. gross, I know... and it totally didn't smell like throw up, it smelt kinda like peanut butter. LOL I know it was that way for a reason because I.DO.NOT.DO.WELL.AROUND.BARF and somehow.. well mainly because it didn't smell like acidic sour puke.. and I felt bad for her, I was able to help her clean herself off enough to get out of the car at the gas station we pulled off to. Andres stayed and cleaned out the car while I took the girls in the bathroom. Gabi stripped down in the stall and waited there for at least 25-30 minutes while I washed her jacket, pants & shirt out at the sink. We washed her hair out and arms off too. After Andres was done with the car and I was still working on washing the clothes off in the bathroom he took Sydnee & Mary to the D.I. and picked out a new outfit for Gabi to put on. I was worried that we might need to take her home and not be able to go to the Mayan but she said she was okay and wanted to go so we did. Thank goodness she never threw up again.. she didn't eat very much at dinner but she still seemed to have a good time!

 -These three are so silly-