Happy Birthday Sydney!

Can't quite believe that Sydney is two!! She can't either...if I call her my "big girl" she corrects me very quickly and says "NO! I'm a baaaaby" Bless her heart!

We decided to not do a real party for her this year. She is just so shy and wouldn't enjoy it, so we had a little party with the five of us. We bought pink balloons, Disney princess cups, gold forks/plates/napkins (Jack thought they were fancy), and Transformer party hats. Poptart insisted that we MUST all wear party hats, and all Walmart had were Transformers.

Jack and Poptart "bought" her sidewalk chalk and a pool floatie, and Clint and I got her some luggage. Yes, we are very boring/practical.

At two years old, Sydney:

- is talking more and more every day! Sometimes we can't believe some of the things she says. Yesterday on our way home from soccer games, she took her socks and shoes off, stuck her feet in Jack's face and said, "Smell my feet!!!" It was so funny!

- is becoming more brave with climbing and being adventurous. Last week Robin kept her for the day and texted me to say that Sydney and Luke climbed to the top bunk to play! She has never attempted that at home, so I'm assuming Luke had a daring effect on her :)

- loves her daddy. It's planting season, so Clint has been working a lot the past few weeks. When he is around, Sydney must have him. If she senses that he is going to run an errand without her she screams " I GO! I GO IN TRUCK!!" She also wakes up very early the mornings he is home so she can eat oatmeal/ talk incessantly during his quiet time!

- wearing 18-24 mo. clothing. Our chunky baby has really slimmed up (some)!

- Learning colors. She knows blue, green, red, and yellow somewhat well. Depends on the day :)

- Makes me so thankful every day for such a sweet, wonderful girl!

Jump!

On Friday, Jack's school participated in the Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser. All the kids had been practicing jump-roping in PE all week and were so excited to show off their skills!

The event kicked off with a gym full of pre-K and 6th grade students. The gym teacher played a hip-hop(ish) song called "Dynamite" and the sixth graders just went crazy dancing to the song. They have learned the motions their entire time at Phoenix, and they loved to show the Pre-K kiddos how it's done. Jack (being the typical Iles man that he is), stood very still with one hand on his hip and tapped his foot to the beat. No dancing, no real rhythm, just steady tapping. I saw a group of sixth-grade girls gather around him and try to teach him the moves. He just grinned at the girls and kept on tapping. Love him!!

Funny story: We bought Jack a pair of light-up shoes the weekend before (you would have thought I bought him the moon), but he didn't want to wear them to school this week. He only wanted to wear his old shoes. I prodded him a few times about wearing his new shoes, but he just kept repeating that he loved them, but didn't want to wear them. Thursday morning Clint tried to talk him into wearing the light-up shoes, and finally Jack's eyes welled up with tears and exclaimed, "I just don't want to mess them up!!" The playground has been so muddy lately with all the rain, and poor Jack didn't want his precious new shoes to get dirty. Well, Friday morning we were getting him all pumped up for Jump Rope for Heart and I convinced him that it would be a good idea to wear his light up shoes since he would be jumping so much. He agreed and was SO proud of his shoes at school. Oh, it won't be long until $14.88 light-up shoes will be old hat and he will want iphones and who knows what else!!