Sydney's 5th Birthday!

Sydney turns 5!!! I can't believe we have a 5 year old already. The years really do fly by.

She really wanted a "Princess Party" again this year at our house filled with all the little girl princess favorites. We had 8 "Princesses" attend who arrived in dresses and jewelry. We had princess games like digging for treasures in a treasure chest, pin the crown on the princess, and a castle pinata filled with candy and some princess rings.

Of course the favorite thing wound up being simple pink balloons you blow up by yourself. It was a windy day, so the wind was swirling them around the back yard as the girl's chased them until they all popped. They would all belly laugh as the balloons would pop and then they'd run off to chase the next one.

It was really fun to see Sydney with all her friends having such a great time! You know the party is a hit when the girl's don't want to leave.

There was one key missing person at the party though, Jenson. A couple of the mom's I've met recently from Sydney's school asked me where he was... they don't yet know about his disease, that he's on chemo, or what he's been through over the last couple months. So I let them know his immune system is really weak right now because he's on chemo, so we're being extra safe and keeping him away and tried to change the subject as I really wanted the focus of the day to be about Sydney and making her feel extra special. It's no easy task changing the subject once you're mentioned the word "chemo".

Grandparents rotated in and out of Sydney's party to help take care of him so Doug and I could both attend the whole time. We really missed having Jenson at the party, but better safe than sorry.

On a good note, he seems to slowly be getting his strength back. Doug says you also can't feel the lump on his head anymore (it's likely not totally gone, but at least is a LOT better). Praise God for that blessing!

We're excited for next week when our family can be back together again, and Jenson can come home without risk of his compromised immune system not being able to fight off the simple common cold. Thanks for all the prayers for healing and strength for Jenson and our family!

Kristin