Soccer Sydney strikes again and she turns 7!

We didn't think she'd want to play again, since she didn't seem to enjoy it much last year, but she wanted to do it, and she's much more into it this year. And that's all I can really ask for. Here she is, warming up pre-game.

She's #4

Go Sydney! Kick that ball!

Sydney turned 7 on Monday, the 9th. Her party isn't until later today (the 15th), so Chris and I took her to the park to ride her bike and out to eat at a new yummy restaurant. And we found this bear carved in a tree. I've been to this park a million times and have never seen this. So, I'm not sure if it's new, or I'm just that unobservant.

Here she is enjoying her push pop after dinner.

My precious little baby is turning into a big girl. While on one hand that's sad, she is more and more fun to talk to and hang out with the older she gets because we can have real conversations with each other. So, today is a pool party followed up with dinner with family, so there will be more pics coming!

Easter 2011

Where did my baby girl go and who is this nearly grown child in her place?

She found the silver egg in the church's easter egg hunt so she got special prizes!

Then we went to my parent's house where we found this tiny baby bird hopping around. He was under my grandparent's car when I took this picture. So cute!

Sydney had to hunt easter eggs inside at mom and dads because of all the rain we've had.

Then my parents sent my nieces on a scavenger hunt to find their prize!

The pretty egg with money inside has been found!

Sydney fell asleep on the way home...with her blanket on her head.

Then she came inside and crashed. All that egg hunting wore her out!

Birds

I've gotten a couple of complaints about the fact that it's been a month since I posted anything on here. Well, I sincerely apologize. I just realized that I never posted these pics to the blog, just to facebook, so here we go. At girl scouts, Sydney made a bird house that attaches to the window and has a clear back so you can see inside the house and watch the birds and hopefully, see some baby birds. When we got home, Sydney had to write "birds only" on the house, incase there was any confusion...

It's now been attached to her bedroom window for about a month now. No bird yet...

HOWEVER...the birds did decide to build a nest outside my bedroom window. I noticed yesterday that there was some stray...nest making material just gathered out there on the ledge. I looked again today and the nest is now complete! So, even though they chose not to nest inside Syd's house, at least she gets to experience the whole process anyway. She's excited for some "hatchlings."

Pottery and the Aquarium

So, it's been a while since I posted and we've done 2 fun things since then, so I'll combine them into one post. Every once in a while, we like to have what we call "Sydney fun day." This time, Sydney wanted to go roller skating. But we were going through the week and the skating rink can be a bit of a rough place, so I suggested we go paint some pottery. She was a little disappointed, but she loves arts and crafts, so she was on board. Above, you can see that Chris even decided to paint something. He chose an egg with a chick popping out.

Sydney chose an egg and a cat.

Daddy's finished egg (before firing, so it's a little dull)

And the finished cat

Here are all the projects (including one of my eggs) after firing.

And then, we decided to go to the aquarium (not for Sydney fun day, this was later). They had a special going on that you could get 2 kids in for free with the purchase of 1 adult ticket. So, we picked up Addison and Cali and headed out!

I just though this picture was neat.

This might look like a moss covered rock, but it's a gigantic snapping turtle!

This menacing looking shark was swimming around in the petting pond of sharks. I would not want to try to pet him! Fortunately, there were some smaller, more docile ones at the edge of the bay to pet. This was what Sydney was waiting for through the whole trip! She just wanted to pet a shark!

Doing the 2 finger touch.

Look at this girl! I just love her so much! She was too scared to actually pet a shark, but I'm sure she had fun just the same.

Tubing

This is the big time, right here! We went to a somewhat nearby ski/tubing facility to try out tubing. Chris's mom and dad, me, Sydney, and Addison all went. We met up with some friends once there.

She appears to be smiling in this picture, but she's really crying. She was a little scared.

Poor little baby!

However, Addison is all smiles and ready to go! Sydney cried the first two times down, and then she was fine. We went down together every time except the last, when she went on her own. Now she wants to go again, but next time, I think I'll sit out. It's too fast for me and you get turned around backwards, and I don't like not being able to see where I'm going.

Sledding

Sydney stayed at mom and dad's today because school was out again and they have a good yard for sledding. She didn't want to do the big hill because there's a creek at the bottom and she was afraid she'd end up in it. But the 2 smaller hills worked out perfectly. Her and my dad had a good time.

The expressions on her face are priceless!

Now my dad gets in on the fun.

Sydney's snow angel.

Let's hope they're back in school tomorrow!

Girl Scout Overnight

This weekend, we went to a local girl scout campground for an Overnight where they can earn some patches (and have fun!) When they arrived, they realized they could run, then slide across the wood floor on their knees.

Well, this is how the sleeping arrangements started out, but by the time everyone fell asleep some had switched beds and it seemed like there was no room to walk, just mattresses everywhere!

They made their own pizzas, which was fun, and really tasty. It has inspired me to make a pizza this week.

Their was a little loft they were all fascinated with, you had to climb a ladder attached to the wall to get up there. Here are all the girls!

And we (and when I say we, I mean me) made these no sew pillows. Very cute and easy. I might move on to a blanket as my next project!

Miss Amanda making them s'mores in the fireplace.

mmmmmmmm

In the morning, they had pancakes and fresh strawberries, then we cleaned up and headed home. All to take naps, since no one got much good sleep. The kids had a great time and it was a good time for the moms to bond as well.