This week my Baby Girl turns 9.
9 😳.
In honour of SBean’s birthday I narrowed down a LONG list and would like to share 9 things that make SydneyBean SO special.
1. The way she shows emotion. I used to have a magnet that my Mom bought me that said, “when I’m good I’m very very good but when I’m bad at even better.” That is SydneyBean! She is an emoter and when she is happy, oh boy is she happy! She will light up the room with her excitement and pure joy. When she is upset… Run! 😂
2. Her love of being upside down. SBean wanted to learn how to do flips, so she did. She loves acro and gymnastics and for the past year she has been practising her handstands, walking on her hands, front flips and splits! She is definitely dedicated to spending as much time as she can, upside down.
3. She is cautious. Some might say she is a scaredy-cat or a chicken 😆 but she likes to say she is, cautious. Even when she watches her sister sliding down a 72 foot waterslide, she doesn’t feel pressured to do anything that she does not want to do. I hope she stays like that throughout her teenage years!
4. She is social. I gave her my old iPhone to play with around the house and she uses it… As a phone! That is so rare these days 😂 every day after school she is on kids messenger talking with her friends, having group chats, playing Roblox with her cousin or just replying to messages from friends and family. She loves having play dates, loves entertaining, and loves having sleepovers! Since her cousin moved to Kelowna this summer, they are inseparable. They talk almost every day and tell each other their fears and their dreams. Listening to them chat makes my heart full 💛.
5. She is super musical! She loves to dance, but not like HBear. Last year her ballet teacher told her that she goofed off a bit too much during ballet class. SBean explained to me that she is not HBear and the teacher shouldn’t expect her to be like her big sister. I was so worried that her confidence would be crushed when they held her back but she took it in stride! She said in no uncertain terms, “Mom I love to dance! I love jazz, musical theatre, acro, and hip-hop but I hate ballet and I hate tap.” So we dropped them! With 4 hours less of dance a week, she has been able to focus on her piano lessons with Daddy and she blows my mind! She picks up the music so quickly! Of course, it’s a fight to get her to practice but once she is going, it’s hard to get her to stop!
6. She can entertain herself. Whether she is watching YouTube to learn how to draw a new character, painting, colouring, playing LOL’s, or doing Lego she is always busy doing some thing. She loves to plan for the next exciting holiday or event and can spend weeks making lists and plans to make everything perfect.
7. Her excitement is contagious. Sometimes it worries me that she is so excited for an event that she can’t sleep or think of anything else up until that event and then once it happens… She didn’t fully capture the whole experience. She will have to learn how to live in the moment but until then, she certainly lives for the moment!
8. She loves to bake. She doesn’t just like to bake from a recipe, oh no 😂 SBean likes to create her own recipes and get us all to be her taste testers!
9. She is funny. She has a wonderful sense of humour and prefers books like Dog Man and funny TV shows like The Simpsons. She likes to make silly faces, she likes to tricky dance all around the house, she likes to annoy her big sister 😂, she likes to change Daddy’s screensaver and she loves to pull pranks!
SydneyBean, you were not the first. You didn’t make me a mother but you made me a better one. Sometimes it’s hard to look at you without seeing my childhood pass before my eyes. I do hope that I can learn from my past mistakes and guide you in your learning process. We are kindred spirits you and I.
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #251: Personal Assistance HERE! This week, we get ready for “the gauntlet”! Topics: radio station, illness, flooding, another roadside incident, survival skills, new glasses, Hallmark & the Big Leap.
Italian Pasta Bake
Adapted from Reluctant Entertainer
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 bag pasta, cooked according to directions
3 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
Fresh basil, thinly sliced or chopped
In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until no longer pink.
Stir in spaghetti sauce, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain, but do not rinse the pasta.
Add pasta to beef mixture and gently stir in fresh tomatoes.
Transfer the pasta mixture to the baking dish or if your pan is oven proof, keep it in there like I did! Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. With a spoon, gently mix in the cheese, but not all the way, leaving some on top.
What a week! The stores are still feeling the affect of hoarders so Ninja brightened up the house with beautiful flowers! I continued my daily yoga routine, and we enjoyed ALL that Mother Nature threw at us this week! From Torrential rain, to crazy windstorms, to pretty rainbows to snow, we saw it all this week! SBean was home from school with a slight cold so she missed hot chocolate/cookie day. I took her to Starbucks for a treat instead but they were out of milk and basically everything else, all we could order was black coffee and a cake pop, so we had to make do. This weekend, I made beef stew and SBean made jumbo chocolate chip banana muffins. SBean also had a sleepover with her Besty who lives behind us while HBear had Christmas dance rehearsal. I got a quick but much needed coffee date in with my MBesty and finally got out my Hallmark watching sweater and began watching all the Xmas movies I have PVRing for the past few weeks! Let the Season begin!
