Miss Diva Turns 8!

We had a busy weekend. More on that to come in following posts. But one of our activities yesterday was Miss Sydney's 8th birthday and party. The countdown to her birthday started months ago, so I was relieved to say the least that the day finally arrived. It seems like a blinked and she turned 8. Where does time go? Seriously? When we talked about different ideas for her party, we went back and forth for a while and came up with the idea to shop, eat and go to the movies. What girl doesn't want to do that? So she invited some friends from school and Kaleigh and we went to Johnny Rockets for a yummo lunch at the Shoppes at Chino Hills, then did a little shopping at Limited Too, and then headed over to Harkins to see High School Musical 3 then back for cupcakes and gifts. My neighbor Sonja joined me so I wouldn't be alone, bless her. She and I have been friends since we moved here, but this was the first time we went out together, and we had such a great time. So here are all the pics from yesterday, in no particular order, I didn't feel like arranging them chronologically. Sorry.

Getting out the door, on our adventure.

And here is the end of the night, blowing out candles.

Shopping with their Limited Too bags. They all got bracelets.
In front of the very large Christmas Tree on the promenade.
After the Happy Birthday song was sung. The great servers at Johnny Rockets sang her a great little song. It was so much fun. There was a juke box at each table and each song was only a nickel. The girls loved choosing the songs that came on. At one point they all had to use the restroom, so we moved our party to the potty. We had potty party. It was pretty funny.
They make smiley faces with their ketchup when they hand it too the girls, it was pretty cute.
My cupcake masterpieces. I was really proud of them, and they were very yummy.
So yummy in fact, that the girls liked them on their noses.
Julia and HannahKaleigh & Kaylee
(same name, different spelling)

Julia, Olivia and Syd

Syd and Kaleigh before the girls arrived.

I feel like I gripe alot about the sour things my kids do, especially Sydney so today, I'll brag.

She arrived November 22,2000 a week late when I was 22 and Nick 25. She entered this world weighing 9'4 and 22 1/2 inches long. She had a full head of black hair and was holding up said head by the next day. She was quickly nicknamed china doll by Nick's mom because of her fair skin and dark hair. She wasn't a very happy baby for the first few months of her life. She cried alot, I cried alot, and I think Nick cried alot in private. When she hit the 6 month mark she became a different baby, so happy and loving. We just adored every second we had with her. She grew up so fast. She was crawaling at five months, walking at 9 months, talking at 1 year. She had to do everything early. So much in fact that she started school at 4 and has thrived ever since. She wants to do the right things in her life. She is bright and kind, smart and beautiful. And she amazes me every day with her love and open heart. She gives me great purpose and I love her so very much.

Happy Birthday Miss Diva, I love you!!!!!

Best Buds

This is Nico's best bud Carsen.  Isn't it a little weird how much they look alike? They act the same, have the same personality and play the same games.  They are both #2 of three and are all boy.  Carsen's mom Lisa and I are the room moms for their class, and as we have become friends and talked about the boys, it's eerie how alike they are. Even down to their curly, long hair and even their teeth are alike.  Trust me I've given this some thought.  It's just weird that being so alike in personality they would look alike too.  Every day when we pick them up from school Nico & Carsen get mad at Lisa and I because we didn't plan a play date.  I'm so glad Nico made a great friend this year in school and hope that they remain friends for a long time to come.

Weekend Happenings

We had a busy weekend this last week.   Saturday gave us our last soccer games for the season. Nico is completely done, but Sydney has a tournament at the end of the month. I'm glad to have my Saturday's back.  Nico had a pizza party to end his season and he got his trophy and a fun little goodie bag.   The boys end of the year goodie bag depends on how much goal money the team has collected, and since the boys didn't have a winning season the bags were a little smaller than last year.  They were still thrilled.

After the party for Nico we headed to a family reunion for Mr. G's mom's side of the family.  The Nealeigh side.  We had a great time, the kids loved seeing their cousins, and ate good food.  In the 12 years Mr. G and I have been together I have never met any of these people. So it was nice to put faces to all the stories I heard over the years.

Mr. G, his brothers, and all his cousins.

Jayme, Natalie & Marlie, myself and Marissa & Ace

My wonderful sisters-in-law. Poor baby Ace was getting his breathing treatment for his asthma, hence the contraption on the table.  My favorite part of this picture is all the STUFF we had scattered all over the table.

All of us.  It is virtually impossible to get this many people to take a good picture.  So here's the best  we could do.

Stephen, Try, Mr. G, Tyler & Tommy

Mr. G, his brothers, and his cousins.

Funny Enough to blog about

Here is another little quip from my son>  

Sunday night at the dinner table.

Cameron, my brother was over for dinner and telling me about our sister, Megan's new boyfriend.  

Cameron: So Megan has a new boyfriend.

Me: a WHAT? No one told me, where have I been.  (seriously megan?)  

Cameron: Yeah his name is Mitch.

Nico: Mitch, (pause)....... (and under his breath he starts mumbling, and then blurts loudly)  Hey Mitch rhymes with bitch.   

Nick and I look at each other, and though I should clearly tell him that's a bad word and help him find another word to rhyme, we all start dying laughing.  

I'm proud of him for listening to the rhyming sounds, that means he's learned something in kindergarten and maybe we could work on some more.

dear president-elect obama

I will wait and hold judgement until I see what you do with your new found power.  Will you use is for good? I hope so.  I hope that you want to make this country a better place for your girls to grow up in.  You sounded very well spoken and charasmatic during your acceptance speech, and perhaps you made me a little optimistic that you might do good things for us.  But that remains to be seen.  I congratulate you, I support you as our president and hope that you can do wonderful things for our endangered country.  Good luck!

A Garces Flavored Halloween

On thursday nite we took the kids to a pumpkin patch, Sophie freaked out over the pumpkins, the kids rode rides and we spent way to much money.  What patches are all about.  Friday evening we took the kids to our ward party.  We ate chilli and went trunk o treating.  Good times.  

Oh Sydney

I realize I'm airing a little laundry by posting this but someday Sydney will come to me and say "Mom, why didn't you tell me girls were sooo hard? I wasn't this bad." And I will reply, "oh sydney dear, YES YOU WERE. Do you want proof? Bust open mom's blog book and check it out. "
In what seems to be a never ending stream of tantrums, day after day, I am still praying there is hope at the end of this 18+ year tunnel. Please don't take my next comments to mean anything harsh. I LOVE my daughter with all I have. She is smart, talented, gorgeous and soo much more. But OUR relationship, the mother/daughter thing, is strained. Every day is like going to war starting at 6:00am and ending at the latest 8:00pm. That is, if she didn't get sent to bed early, which usually is the case. I know this is the nature of mothers and daughters, I can remember battling my mom, but was it this bad. I asked my mom, she said Sydney is hard.

EVERY LITTLE THING, is a battle. What I put in her lunch, the clothes she wears, (down to the kind of socks I bought her), homework and snacks when she gets home, play time, clean the room time, reading time, dinner time. I am lost for how to deal. I am trying ever so hard to keep my cool, not explode, but sometimes the anger boils over and I do explode. It never helps the situation and I don't feel better, but I don't know where to channel it. We've tried reward charts, date nights, (here's an example of how that goes, "mom, i want to go see the HSM3 movie, can we go this weekend?" "ok, syd keep your room cleaned up until the weekend and we'll go." screaming in hysterics "that's toooo hard, why do you make everything soooo hard? I guess I won't ever get to see HSM3!" "ok, if you say so.")

Yes I am having a pity party here, but I also am journaling this so Sydney does realize she isn't the only one. Someday she will look back and say "mom, I'm sorry i was soo rotten, I totally get it."
And when that day comes, I will say to her "it was all totally worth every terrible minute" because it is. I gripe and complain and lose it sometimes, but my life if full and blessed. I am blessed to have Sydney as my daughter. She has taught me some amazing life lessons. There was a reason she came first. And someday soon I will write about the testimony building things she has taught me. Until then I will try to stay calm and remember she's all mine.