Party princess

Birthdays are a big deal when you're five (or about to turn five.)

After looking at the pictures I took of Sydney at her party this past weekend, I'm tempted to rephrase that to say birthdays are serious business. Or serious... something.

Here she is looking seriously patient waiting to open her first gift while her brother read aloud the birthday card.

And here she is looking serious while wearing a new tiara (note the one below is different than the one she started out wearing) and checking out a gift she really loved. Really. (Check back in coming days for some awesome shots of her and the squirt gun in action. We ended up buying two more... and probably need a fourth so that the entire family can be be armed.)

And here she is again... seriously concentrating as she unwrapped a cool tiara-making kit. She smiled plenty while making and modeling just about everything in the kit... just not while unwrapping it.

At least she's smiling here:

There it is! The smile that lights up my little princess' face:

Sydney was so excited to have grandparents and uncles and aunts and cousins come to her house. After all that fun, her actual birthday - tomorrow - may seem like a let down. We'll have to see if we can get her to smile anyway.