Generosity

I am always struck at this time of year, more than any other, at people's generosity towards us.  We have many amazing friends and family in our life and around Sydney's birthday when they go out of their way to make her day a little extra special it really touches my heart.

Every year Sydney gets what's going on around her birthday more and more.  We often spend months talking about the theme for her party and specific details that she would like to incorporate into her celebration.

Then comes the gifts discussion.  She'll wonder if someone is going to get her any My Little Pony stuff, or see a toy in the store and ask me if I think someone will give it to her for her birthday.  She loves giving gifts and receiving them equally!

After Syd's party this past weekend we settled on the living room floor and she gleefully ripped through a small mountain of gifts to discover the treasures that her friends had given her.  Watching her reactions was priceless, she gushed over most everything and certainly had favourite gifts that I know will become meaningful toys in the months to come.

Here's a little peek at the amazing bounty she received:

Kaitlyn gave her some owl jammies, a lacing shoe so she can practice learning to tie her shoes, a Fancy Nancy Tea for Two book, some cupcake decoration bits and nail art stickers.  I love how thoughtful this gift was, we have had some pretty amazing playdates with Kaitlyn, one where we did some baking and one where we went for high tea.  Her gift was a nod to our great memories together!

Weston gave her some of her first Lego ever, the Lego friends Adventure Camper!  She has been dying for some Lego and I am excited to see what she does with it!

Emma gave her a beautiful pink sparkly purse stuffed with hairbands and hair accessories.

Marcus gave her a Pink Lego Suitcase filled with Lego bits, I love that it's all self contained in the suitcase!

Jack got her a very special Little Mermaid themed gift, an Ariel stuffed doll, nightie and sparkly slippers all from the Disney store.  She loved them!

Sophie gave Sydney a very special gift all made by her Grandmaman, a hand made apron with little  pockets filled with wooden utensils and measuring spoons and a beautiful sunshine fleece blanket.

Alexis gave her the Playmobil Cafe, her first Playmobil to date and a Tell the Time book, very handy as we've been talking a lot about how to tell time these days.

Myrtle gave Syd a set of magnetic unicorns and a Magnetic dress up doll.  The fridge in Syd's little kitchen is magnetic so she is only too happy to have some new things to stick to the front!

Beatrice gave her the Rainbow Hello Kitty and a new book.  Sydney was thrilled with the new stuffed Hello Kitty, she wrapped her arms around it and gave it a hug immediately!  Loved seeing her reaction to it.

Declan gave Syd the most beautiful handmade skirt!  I absolutely adore it and can't wait to see it on Syd!

Auntie Liane and family got Syd a My Little Pony and the My Little Pony Crystal Palace.  Sydney had been asking for some pony stuff for quite some time and was pretty stoked when she opened Auntie's gift!

Ollie gave her the most beautiful Corolle doll and an extra outfit for her to wear!  I wanted to steal her for myself, she is gorgeous!

William gave her a Strawberry Shortcake hooded towel which she has decided will be her new swimming towel and a Hello Kitty scrapbook which I've promised her we will work on together in the new year.

Aaro gave her a gorgeous princess handmade apron and a book of placemat art where she can colour and design her own placemats.

Zach and Danielle gave her a heap of gorgeous clothes and some Hello Kitty colouring books.

I let Syd open all her gifts at once but then tucked them all away and have been pulling one out at a time so that she can take some time to really enjoy and savour each gift.

We will, without fail, think of each special person that gave us the gift, as we did last year, as we spend time enjoying them in the year to come.

Thank you to everyone for your generosity, you've made my little girl so incredibly happy!

Birthday Weekend

What a fabulous weekend we had celebrating Sydney's 4th birthday!  I still can't quite believe that she is four years old already.  It seems like just a few months ago that I brought her home from the hospital and had a sweet babe in my arms and suddenly I'm looking at this amazing, independent, intelligent, curious four year old who tells me she's ready for college!

Sydney's actual birthday day was on Saturday.  It was a pretty chill day.  She woke up to a couple of special presents from Mom and Dad, a giant stuffed Nemo in keeping with the theme for her party the next day, and Dexter the Digger, a WOW toy that she had been asking for for months.  She was thrilled to finally get it!

We spent the morning wandering through Oakridge doing a bit of shopping for Daddy then headed to the Lyceum for our book club.  It was nice to be cozied up there on a rainy, cold November day.  We made a very cute mouse pumpkin craft.

Christina brought Sydney a special cupcake to celebrate too.

On our way home from the Lyceum we stopped by at Sydney's cousin Tybie's house to pick up a very special present, a stuffed toy that Syd can colour herself!  She loved it!

At Sydney's request we went to Whitespot for dinner so that she could get herself a Pirate Pak.  As a special birthday treat she had the chocolate sundae for dessert which she was most excited about!

Sunday morning we were invited to celebrate Alexis' 4th birthday at Phoenix Gymnastics.  The kids had such fun playing in the gym, Sydney especially loved the foam pit, spent most of her time jumping into it and playing around with the blocks.

She managed to squeeze in some time on the rope swing and trampoline too before we headed into the party room for lunch and cupcakes.

Alexis loves Disney princesses so she had a princess cake and cupcakes and each of the cupcakes had a princess ring on top which the kids were pretty excited about!

We had a few hours to relax after Alexis' party before we headed off to Sydney's long awaited Nemo Birthday Party at UBC Gymnastics.

We had fifteen of our closest friends come to the party to play in the gym.  I loved watching them all find they were most interested in, the balance beam, the even bars, the climbing wall, the trampoline, a bucket of bean bags and just play and have fun together.

We did a parachute game together and then had a long time of free play before we headed upstairs to the party room which was decked out Nemo style.

I am feeling rather proud of myself as I managed to actually make Sydney's birthday cake this year along with some help from my amazing friend Michelle.  I baked and iced the cake and Michelle used her unbelievable talents with fondant to make all of the decorations.  She came over late Saturday night after we had put the kids to bed and we stayed up until well past midnight decorating the cake together.

In the end this is how it looked:

I loved it and so did Sydney.  The look on her face the next morning when she came downstairs and saw it was worth every bit of work!

We enjoyed a visit and some snacks before saying goodbye to everyone and sending them on their way with a Nemo cup filled with homemade chocolate shells (thank you again Michelle!) and a loot box.

Sydney was so happy to have all of her friends there to celebrate and for all of her special requests to be met: a number "4" candle on her cake, Nemo themed decorations, party hats and a "Birthday Girl" ribbon to wear.

We came home with another mountain of presents and enjoyed watching her open them all and marvel at all of the incredible gifts that our generous friends and family gave her.

It was a wonderful, wonderful day!

The Candy Fairy Strikes Again

After a fun and sugar-filled day yesterday, Sydney woke up to find that, magically overnight, all of the candy in the house had disappeared at the hands of the Candy Fairy once again and in it's place was a plush Abby Caddaby doll resting in her Halloween bucket.

Sydney had been anticipating the Candy Fairy's arrival and had chosen a small handful of her favourite treats from her bucket and put them in a little bowl stashed away so that the Candy Fairy couldn't find them.  Well she did find them, and graciously left them along with the present for Sydney to enjoy.  She's a kind hearted gal that Candy Fairy.

Abby Caddaby came with Syd to school today, she was only too thrilled to tell everyone there all about the Candy Fairy who had visited her house overnight.  I have the feeling that she'll be visiting a few more households next year as a result of Sydney's advertising!

Today at preschool we celebrated Sydney's birthday in class with a special celebration and cupcakes for all the children.  Sydney specifically asked me if she could have a "Number 4" candle for on top of her cupcake!

She was so thrilled to hear everyone sing Happy Birthday to her in both English and Hebrew.  It was a very special time!

After the celebration we headed upstairs to the library to have Shabbat with the seniors.  Another very special time spent together. 

I love how Sydney had her eyes covered for the blessing after she had brought in the light from the candles.

Syd's buddy Jack came over to play for a few hours this afternoon.  The kids had a great time painting, playing in the playroom and snacking.  They are so comfortable together, almost like brother and sister, it's very cool!

Looking forward to a wonderful weekend ahead with Sydney's birthday party and celebrations all around!