This post is going to be LONG! Because we did so many things, and I've included her baptism day on this post too!
Alright, start the day with breakfast in bed, Cinnamon rolls with strawberry milk, fruit all delivered to the princess of the day (I didn't take pics because I was slaving away after her, but I did take a short video so I'll see if I can get it on here sometime)
Then we all get pretty for the day because heaven knows Mommy cannot stand the kids to look like street urchins especially when I plan on taking a lot of pictures.
Sydnee insisted that I wear PINK so that we could match
First off....Jamba Juice to get a yummy snack for our next adventure
Painting!
Now would be a good time to document how my kids talk whenever we have a busy day. The car is a spaceship and they have to strap in before launch. And depending on how many stops we make we go to Mars, Jupiter, Venus.... The entire car trip is spent with talk about being in a spaceship. It's really cute, and if I don't play along I don't get to be the pilot (Beckham warned me of that a few weeks ago)
Anyway back to painting....
Beckham painted a spider, yellow and blue
He painted for about 10 min and was ready to leave, luckily this paint place has some couches and books for kids to look at
Sydnee told me she was going to paint her brother, and then found a ceramic monkey
We had a whole day planned, our next stop was going to be to get Corn Dogs and Orange Soda and take a bike ride to the park and have a picnic. Those plans we're destroyed by the cold wind!
So Sydnee decided that she wanted AI Sushi. because they have her favorite teriyaki chicken.
Plus she loves using chopsticks. And she has started loving trying new foods. But when she decides and eats 2 pieces of my Lion King Roll, I have to start rethinking this sharing my food with her
Normally Syd has school on her birthday and I pick her up with balloons. But since she was off school, we all got to go to party city and pick out her 8 balloons!
My kids have this weird habit of wanting to put on masks and hats in stores, they're silly!
Okay, maybe I kinda like it too! (I can't really pull this look off but I imagine my name would be Helga)
Next in the Happy Happy Birthday festivities we ditched the boys and went to our female mothership
PEDICURES!!!!
Oh, and manicures. How's a girl supposed to get baptized if her nails aren't beautiful?
Sydnee chose to go to dinner at On The Border. She LOVES the nachos. Seriously, she always chooses to go there!
But they didn't sing to her?!? :( She was really sad after dinner that the waiters didn't sing Happy Birthday to her.
We almost went back into the restaurant but decided to proceed on with our dessert. iTopit Frozen Yogurt. Where they always have Mint yogurt (Syd's fav) and the whole staff and the customers sang Happy Birthday to her (I got a video of that too)
And finally after the Happiest Birthday Ever (Sydnee's words) we went home to eat our yogurt and snuggle on the couch and watch Lion King on BluRay (Sydnee is in a Lion King play next month so she was studying her character)
2 days later.... After a LOT of cooking, even more stressing and 8 years of dreaming....
Sydnee was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
My sister Klair wore GoGo boots to celebrate
I made a million cupcakes and my best girlie Fawn let me borrow her cupcake tower and made these adorable "8" toppers! I love you FAWN!!!
Sydnee and my Dad (Pop pop)
I told Sydnee that she was allowed to choose who baptized her. There are many good men in her life who would be happy to baptize her. She choose her Daddy.
Notes about Sydnee's baptism...
I cried from the beginning, and of course didn't have a single tissue within sight. So I ended up wiping my eyes on my cashmere scarf. Once it was time for her to be baptized I was standing outside the steps to the font and just started bawling. Leaning against the wall, snorting bawling. So many proud thoughts, sad thoughts, happy thoughts, but mostly just knowing that at that exact moment every person who loves my little girl was sending her love. And I love her so much!
This was shortly followed by Beckham, right after she was baptized into the water, yelling "DO IT AGAIN DADDY!"
I am so proud of my baby girl, this picture was obviously pre snorting, unable to breathe crying
I am so proud of my baby girl, this picture was obviously pre snorting, unable to breathe crying
The morning of the baptism we had a family breakfast at my parent's house.
The weather in Colorado has been in the 70s, the trees have started to change but mostly it is just beautiful weather outside. The morning of Sydnee's baptism it was a blizzard! Luckily enough the streets still had enough heat that the snow didn't ice.
Sydnee had a lot of her favorite relatives come into town. Two of her Aunts and Uncles with 8 cousins, as well as her Grandma and Pa McBride and Grandpa Iannoli
Her favorite cousin Tenille. Along with her whole family, Gina and Nate lived 2 miles away for the first 2 1/2 years of Sydnee's life. She still remembers them vividly and is very close to their family. She constantly asks when we can go visit them.
AnnaMarie, me, and Gina. I love these girls. They are my sisters!
Me and my Annie (just notice the beauty mark on her left cheek for me and keep that in your memory)
Mommy and Becks, This little boy had 2 cousins who he ran around with all day. I literally barely saw him. He and Ezra and Zach slid down the stairs so many times he has a rug burn on his belly. But he had a blast!
Becks, Stitch (Tenille) and Sydnee with their hot chocolate and whipped cream
Klair and I (look pictures just for you)
The story of the Cake. My sister Klair (please see BEEYAAUUTIFULL picture above) decided that she was going to make Sydnee's birthday cake. Then she calls me on Friday crying (please also note that she is PREGNANT and slightly* hormonal)
Sydnee got the Motherload of gifts! I bought her a star necklace that I engraved and reads "love you past the stars"
A gift from Aunt AnnaMarie and Uncle Brandon, she already placed it on her shelf
Her favorite gift, by far, was the iPod Ryan and I got her. This girl is OBSESSED with music. And after months of hearing her singing in her room, I got her a pink shuffle and loaded all her favorite music. The problem now is that she's still singing, but she can't hear me and wants to wear the iPod ALL the time, at the dinner table, in the car. She get's that from her Father. He always did the exact same thing.
Remember the beauty mark I told you to make note of on Annie? And how I had mentioned a few posts ago about how Sydnee got her Iannoli family beauty mark? Well I was talking to my SIL AnnaMarie about it and then she realized that her daughter Adessa had the same one!
Auntie Klair and Uncle Sean
Grandpa Al Iannoli (I'm pretty sure Sydnee's his favorite! Shh, don't tell anyone else)
Noelle, Tenille, Sydnee, Grandpa and Beckham
Grandma and Pa McBride
Believe it or not, there are actually at least 9 other grandchildren missing from this picture!
The whole crew that came, I'm going to write them all so in case once my memory leaves me and my great grandchildren ask who these people are I can tell them I wrote it down so I wouldn't have to remember
I need to write down one of the things I realized this weekend. And that is that Families are Forever. I've had a few insecure moments wondering where I fit in with the people I consider my family. And this weekend I realized that, at least for me, there is no such thing as a broken family. Whether I'm an aunt, sister, mother, wife, daughter or next door neighbor. Once you create a family, you are always a family. I love my family, and all the people who I consider are part of that family. I am so grateful for the restoration of the Church in which families can be together forever. And that I know that the people I love I will be with for the eternities. It gives me more drive to make sure that I am keeping my covenants and to teach my children these values.
And Ryan made the girls a FANTASTIC breakfast (Sydnee, Annie, Dessa, and Stitch)
These girls were hilarious! They created games and had hours of fun.
What this picture made me realize is how much Sydnee is growning up. She was a baby when these girls were 3-5 years old, and they would all run off and play while she was barely sitting up. I loved having girl cousins who were close to my age and I'm really happy that Sydnee will get to have the same!
I just love these girls and how they filled my whole house with laughter!
I was really sad to see everyone go. I may have teared up a little. But I'm hoping to see them soon. I know that Sydnee had an amazing birthday!!!
AnnaMarie, me, and Gina. I love these girls. They are my sisters!
Me and my Annie (just notice the beauty mark on her left cheek for me and keep that in your memory)
Mommy and Becks, This little boy had 2 cousins who he ran around with all day. I literally barely saw him. He and Ezra and Zach slid down the stairs so many times he has a rug burn on his belly. But he had a blast!
Becks, Stitch (Tenille) and Sydnee with their hot chocolate and whipped cream
Klair and I (look pictures just for you)
The story of the Cake. My sister Klair (please see BEEYAAUUTIFULL picture above) decided that she was going to make Sydnee's birthday cake. Then she calls me on Friday crying (please also note that she is PREGNANT and slightly* hormonal)
Kl-"Koren, something horrible happened?"
Ko-"What?"
Kl-"The CAKE" (sobsob sniffle sniffle)
Ko-"What about the cake?"
Kl-"My friend was making it, and she was on a roll so she decorated it all BY HERSELF!!!"
Everyone gasp with me now
Ko-"Klair, she probably knows how sick you've been and wanted to help you out."
Kl-"But I didn't get to DOOOO IT!!! (more sobbing) Maybe I should just start over."
Ko-"Well does the cake look bad?"
Kl-"NOOOO it looks GOOOD!!!"
Ko-"Klair, just leave it, I'm sure it's fine, and you can tell Sydnee you did it all on your own."
Ladies and Gentlemen.... my sister!
She literally had to drive to and pull her husband out of work so he could calm her down
Sydnee got the Motherload of gifts! I bought her a star necklace that I engraved and reads "love you past the stars"
A gift from Aunt AnnaMarie and Uncle Brandon, she already placed it on her shelf
Her favorite gift, by far, was the iPod Ryan and I got her. This girl is OBSESSED with music. And after months of hearing her singing in her room, I got her a pink shuffle and loaded all her favorite music. The problem now is that she's still singing, but she can't hear me and wants to wear the iPod ALL the time, at the dinner table, in the car. She get's that from her Father. He always did the exact same thing.
Remember the beauty mark I told you to make note of on Annie? And how I had mentioned a few posts ago about how Sydnee got her Iannoli family beauty mark? Well I was talking to my SIL AnnaMarie about it and then she realized that her daughter Adessa had the same one!
And so does Annie! It makes me want to inspect all the girls in this family's faces to see who else might have one. I know Virginia (MIL, Grandma McBride) had one that she had removed from her lip, Gina (SIL, Annie's Mom) has one on her lip, and of course the infamous one that Rex (Sydnee's father) has on his lip. Maybe I need to get some pictures together and see if this is a genetic thing. And they're all on the left side of the face... I think it's beautiful!
LOTS of family!!! LOTS of LOVE!!
Auntie Klair and Uncle Sean
Grandpa Al Iannoli (I'm pretty sure Sydnee's his favorite! Shh, don't tell anyone else)
Noelle, Tenille, Sydnee, Grandpa and Beckham
Grandma and Pa McBride
Believe it or not, there are actually at least 9 other grandchildren missing from this picture!
Top to bottom, Left to Right
Zach, Adam, Julianne, Noelle, Domonic
Adessa, Tenille, Sydnee, Beckham, Ezra
The whole crew that came, I'm going to write them all so in case once my memory leaves me and my great grandchildren ask who these people are I can tell them I wrote it down so I wouldn't have to remember
Top to bottom
Left to Right
Brandon, Al, AnnaMarie, Gina, Virgina, Nate
Domonic, Noelle, Zach, Ezra, Adessa, Adam, Sydnee, Koren, Beckham, Tenille, Julianna
I need to write down one of the things I realized this weekend. And that is that Families are Forever. I've had a few insecure moments wondering where I fit in with the people I consider my family. And this weekend I realized that, at least for me, there is no such thing as a broken family. Whether I'm an aunt, sister, mother, wife, daughter or next door neighbor. Once you create a family, you are always a family. I love my family, and all the people who I consider are part of that family. I am so grateful for the restoration of the Church in which families can be together forever. And that I know that the people I love I will be with for the eternities. It gives me more drive to make sure that I am keeping my covenants and to teach my children these values.
Sydnee got to have a girl cousin sleep over after her baptism.
And Ryan made the girls a FANTASTIC breakfast (Sydnee, Annie, Dessa, and Stitch)
These girls were hilarious! They created games and had hours of fun.
What this picture made me realize is how much Sydnee is growning up. She was a baby when these girls were 3-5 years old, and they would all run off and play while she was barely sitting up. I loved having girl cousins who were close to my age and I'm really happy that Sydnee will get to have the same!
I just love these girls and how they filled my whole house with laughter!
I was really sad to see everyone go. I may have teared up a little. But I'm hoping to see them soon. I know that Sydnee had an amazing birthday!!!
Something good.... I know it sounds cheesy, but how great is Facebook?? I know that is how this family communicates when they need to get an idea or plan something all together. I'm actually grateful to Zuckerwhater and how he has enabled so many families and friends to be connected.
K
It sounds like it was a great time! Wish I was there to give Syd a great big hug! Love you!
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