Party time

This has been one of the most hectic weeks of my life. Highlights include a birthday party and Father's Day celebrations last weekend, two large media events at work, with a significant communications crisis thrown in for good measure, three nights of kids' sporting events, a groundbreaking for our community's new sports facilities and a birthday celebration for Sydney on the big day. (And let's not forget about a little thing called a half-marathon tomorrow, followed by an out of town trip for an extended family gathering.)

But despite heavy rains overnight (that fell eerily on the anniversary of last year's flood) my basement is dry. I'm counting my blessings.

One of those blessings, of course, is my amazing six year old.

The birthday celebrations began, as mentioned last Saturday with family and gifts. AJ happily volunteered to help Sydney read her cards, until I reminded both kids that Sydney (with a little help) probably could do that herself now.

Cousin Zane was excited to show Sydney the present he'd help pick out. He also helpfully explained, as Sydney looked at the birthday card, which included small stickers, "My dad says girls like to put stickers like that on their toe nails."

New Lego girls sets, clothes for her favorite doll and for her, and fun gear to help in the kitchen. What a perfect day!

And there was cake (the story of the Barbie doll cake will have to wait for another day.)

Of course, the big day was actually yesterday. I felt bad leaving for work in the morning while my birthday girl was still sleeping, but figured Sydney, who is not a morning person, probably wouldn't appreciate being woken up just for a birthday greeting. I did tell the babysitter to feel free to spoil her for me. When I got home last night, Sydney asked, "Is it my birthday today?"

"It is," I confirmed. "You've been six ALL DAY."

Oh, boy, did that make her smile.

A plus side to the heavy rain yesterday was that AJ's baseball game was cancelled, which freed us up to go out to dinner. Sydney, who loves Texas Roadhouse and dancing with the servers there, totally shocked me by choosing instead the Osaka Grill for her birthday meal.

Apparently she felt a need to prove her new-found bravery now that she's six. The hibachi grill cooks, as part of the show, send flames high into the air, which usually sends Sydney diving under the table in fear.

But now she's six, so, oh yeah, she can handle it.

Or maybe not.

The look of relief on her face when it was done was awesome. She'd done it! And that left only good things to come: eating (she loves the food!) and the disco ball. The restaurant flashes brightly colored lights while piping in the happy birthday song and presenting the celebrant with a dough-wrapped ice cream treat.

Oh, yeah, It's all good!

When we got home, we let her open the gifts we'd gotten here. But the party hasn't stopped yet. Sydney's been saying for weeks that she wants breakfast in bed for her birthday. So if she ever decides to wake up (I told you she's not a  morning person), I'll be putting together something for her. Plus, she's still got a party for friends - we'll be rollerskating - next weekend.