Valentine's Day

I've written before about how having Sydney makes literally every holiday and celebration that much better.  It is no more true than of Valentine's Day, a day that would otherwise slip by with a thoughtful card or gift, maybe a dinner out but little pomp.  Not this year!  We did Valentine's Day up in style!

Sydney's class had a Valentine's party on Friday.  All of the girls got to wear pink or red dresses and bring a special snack to share for the party.  Sydney insisted that she wanted me to make chocolate covered strawberries for her to take to the party, a fusion of her two favourite foods: strawberries and chocolate.

Sydney put on her prettiest party dress and off to school we went for the day.  She had such a fun day celebrating with her friends and came home with an envelope stuffed full of Valentine's cards and treats from all of her classmates!  She was very excited!

Yesterday morning Sydney woke up to a few gifts from Mom and Dad, a new Valentine's plate and cup and a Frozen slides game which we played a round of even before breakfast that morning.  Sydney had asked me if I would do a 'Valentine's Advent Calender' with her this year so in the days leading up to Valentine's Day I left a little gift wrapped for her on the kitchen counter for her to find in the morning.  I think a new tradition has been born...

This afternoon we had seven of her girlfriends over for a very special Valentine's Day high tea party.  We set the table with the fancy china and silverware and made some very special treats for the day.

The girls had such fun having tea together as did the Moms who sat and chatted over lunch and tea.

The highlight of the party was the arrival of Elsa, something that I had long promised to make happen for Sydney.  I love that several of the girls arrived to the party in their Elsa costumes!

Elsa lovingly read the Frozen story to the girls, played games with them, did some colouring, did their makeup and watched them put on a show for her before taking the girls outside on the front porch to sprinkle wishing dust all around and make a wish before she left.

It was magical to say the least!

Before Elsa left she gave Sydney a very special gift, a snowflake ornament.

I am always blown away by how generous our friends are and today was no exception, everyone brought something lovely for us.

Erin and Bea gave me the most beautiful bouquet of orange tulips and Sydney a single stem white rose, perfection!

Julia gave Sydney the most awesome heart shirt.

Addison, Sienna and Amanda brought the yummiest cheddar chive scones and a huge bouquet of white tulips.

Noa, Gretchen and Maytal brought cottage cheese muffins and a bouquet that Noa hand picked just for me with all purple flowers, so sweet!

Sarah and Emma brought a ton of treats for Sydney and a beautiful bottle of chocolate truffles for me!

Jen and Emmy brought Sydney a Frozen stationary set which I could barely even get a picture of because Sydney was too busy ripping the package open to use it!  They certainly know what she loves!

And Liz, Kaitlyn and Luke brought a gorgeous photo album and some hair clips for Sydney with a lovely note letting her know that she can put photos of today in the album.  It will be something we will treasure forever!

What a wonderful Valentine's Day and one that we won't soon forget.

We've had a couple of other wonderful celebrations the past few days.  Sydney's brother Zach turned 29 this past week and we met up with he and some friends and family at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club for dinner on Friday night to celebrate his birthday.

This morning we headed to the Adventure Zone at Granville Island to celebrate the birthday of two of the girls in Sydney's class, Elizabeth Y and Emma.

The girls had a great time playing in the arcade and ball room and sharing snacks and treats together.  Sydney left the party with the most beautiful pink rose and a helium balloon with a lovely organza bag tied to the bottom with some treats for the kids to take home.  So girly and fun!

I am pooped after all the fun times over the past few days....now to put away all those dishes from the tea party....