Birthday times 2!

So, Birthday time....  We celebrated David's 7th Birthday with a small family party through the week.  Then on Friday, Dylan came to spend the night.  David was so excited to go with Daniel, Dylan and Dylan's Dad Brian to go see Star Wars in 3D.  He had a blast!  My boy is growing up!

Star Wars 3D Coolness!

3 days later this year, due to a leap year, Molly turned the Big 2!  My parents came over and joined us as we celebrated with a Minnie Mouse theme.

I had more fun with these cupcakes!

Molly of course caught on to the Birthday thing real quick.  She blew out her candle before we were even done singing, and you could hardly keep her away from the "cake cake" or the presents before it was time.  She was super cute!

Molly Mouse

Well, that takes us through the first of March.  Stay tuned for more blogging fun!

Look Whooo's One!!

Today my sweet little Molly turns 1 year old.  We celebrated today with family featuring an owl party.  Here she is getting ready to enjoy her birthday supper!

Then we opened some presents!

Then it was time for some cake!!

She got her very own owl.

She sure did love her cake!!

She is either showing you her age....or warning you to stay away from her cake. I'm not sure which.  :)  Happy Birthday Molly!  We love you!!

Happy 6th Birthday David!!

In 6 years, we have gone from this....

to this....

 

to now...

They sure do grow up fast.  You hear that all the time before you have kids:  to savor each moment, before it's gone.  And I truly think it is much later before you believe or even appreciate this much given advice.  When you're in the trenches of parenthood, sometimes the days can seem like an eternity!  But like one of my favorite songs says::

"It happens in a blink, it happens in a flash, it happens in the time it takes to look back.  I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time, what is it I've done with my life?"

Each day can make a difference.  Each day I have an obligation.... no, a responsibility.... no, it's more than that.  It's a privilege.  A privilege to take the time to show my children more Love.  

To read more books.  

To play more and clean less.  

To take the time and truly listen to every story and every concern they have.  

To correct lovingly.

To uplift and encourage, not tear down. 

To let them play like children should and not worry about clutter.  

To help them to experience new and exciting things.  

To instill a compassion for others, by pouring out compassion on them.  

To show them how to truly Love another.

To show them Jesus.... 

My prayer is that my children don't just know Jesus, but that they SEE Jesus in me.  That they see that my ROCK, my Stronghold, is not a thing or a person, but it's My Savior.  And I think the best way for me to demonstrate His love to them, is to love Him so much and be so filled with Him and His presence, that it just pours out into all that I do.  

I only get a little bit more time to truly make an impact on their future.  And I hope when my time is done, they will look back and remember their Mom as one who Loved them with a Love that could only come from above.

You've got a friend in me...

Can you believe my baby boy is turning 6 in eight days?  I can't either.  We celebrated a little early this year and had a fun party with his friends.  We had to kinda make up for last year.  Last year, he had to celebrate his birthday party in the hospital because a certain little sister who will remain nameless decided to make her entrance a few days early.  Anyway, today we celebrated with a Toy Story 3 theme.  We started out with some games.  Musical chairs was a lot of fun.

Then we played a claw game with the aliens.

And we had a friendly little race on which team could put together the Potato Head fastest.  This was my personal favorite.  Daniel even took pictures of the potato heads they were to build with the pieces available so they had a guide.  Lots of fun!  After present it was time for cake.

Isn't he just the cutest??!

Oh, and David is too.  :)

We had a great time.  David was so happy that all of his friends were able to make it.  Lots of fun was had by all!

Happy early Birthday Buddy!  We love you!!

Mom and Dad came to visit Wednesday and stayed through today.  On Thursday, I was able to get out by myself and just about finish my Christmas shopping.  Then, that night my parents took us out for dinner to celebrate my Birthday at O'Charley's.  When we got home, Daniel surprised me with a cake and I opened some gifts.  David got me a HUGE coffee mug that says : Mom, I love you more each day.  I love it and will use it every morning for my coffee.  Madelyn and Molly got me some adorable Colts earrings.  And my parents surprised me this year with a beautiful cross necklace.  Mom also gave me some towels that she found that were crocheted by my Grandmother.  We had a great visit and I cherished every second.  But the best gift of all was spending it with my family.  I love you all!!

 David wanted a picture of him and I kissing.  I thought it was so sweet and was happy to oblige.  However, lightning fast kisses only for my boy and I couldn't get the picture snapped quite fast enough.  :)

And of course, whatever David does, Madelyn has to do too.  Just love them!!

1/2 a year!!

On Wednesday, Molly hit the 6 month mark!  I can't believe she is that old already!

Let's see....she can roll over tummy to back and back to tummy, sit assisted, she sleeps through the night and has for a long time, she loves to put things in her mouth, she has 2 teeth on the bottom, she jabbers A LOT, she smiles all the time and is such a happy baby, BUT she will not get up on all 4's in a crawling position and she's sucking away Mommy's and Daddy's fortune in formula because she will not eat ANY solids.  Oh well.... according to the following photos, she is cute, happy and satisfied!   And those cheeks tell me she hasn't missed too many meals.  :)

With the sign Daddy made her:  6 months old today!

Happy 5th Birthday David!!

5 years ago today at 2:15am, the sweetest little boy slipped into my heart. Today we celebrated as a family.

Madelyn got David some Bakugan's. I so do not understand these little things, but David loves them. Of course, knowing my daughter we did not tell her what she had gotten him until we were ready to wrap it at the last possible minute. Why? Because it is impossible for her to keep a secret. Within 5 minutes, she had let the cat out of the bag.

You can just call her "Big Mouth".

And here's David with his new bike.

This afternoon, David and Madelyn also got to go to Chuck E Cheese with Daddy and play. We were supposed to have the grandparents and cousins over for a party, but Momma has been sick the last couple days so we've rescheduled that for another day. I think David had a fun day. It's hard to believe he is 5 years old. Time flies by so quickly. He has started to act so grown up to me in the last few weeks. I am so proud to be his Momma!

Birthday Celebrations!!

Today marked my 32nd birthday. It started out with a special pancake breakfast made by my husband. Then I had a visitor mid morning to wish me happy birthday and drop off some gifts. (Thanks Heidi!). At noon, we had lunch and a birthday party with cake and presents.

The kids ready for the party!

Love the Snowman cake! I had one for one of my birthday's when I was a kid and I think it was one of my favorite cakes Mom ever made!! Brought back some good memories!


Madelyn post-cake. Notice the blue lips!

After lunch I took a nap and then we headed to Steak n' Shake for supper and Christmas at the Zoo. I had to laugh because we stood in line for Santa for about 15 minutes, and both kids got extremely bored. They decided they didn't want to see Santa, they just wanted to ride the train. You didn't have to tell us twice, so off we went to another line to wait for the train. It was a good time!

I had a great day spending time with my family. They made me feel very special. Thank you Daniel, David and Madelyn! Love you!!

What Christmas is all about...

Happy Birthday Emily!?

Lately, I've had a lot of fun listening to the kids play. They have really gotten into pretend play. They like to play house. David's usually the Dad, or the big brother. Madelyn's the Mom or the little sister. Today I even heard Madelyn play the little brother! :) Also lately, I've heard a lot of pretend birthday parties for Emily the train. They give her a pretend cupcake, and she blows out her pretend candle. They even give her pretend presents. Well, I decided it would be fun to throw Emily a real birthday party.

Every party needs a cupcake, candle and special party plates and napkins.


Party hats are a must too.

Guests have to arrive....

Presents have to be wrapped...

and opened....


Cake has to be eaten and a mess has to be made....

And of course we have to show off our new gift!

I've never seen 2 kids get more excited about a party in my life! They helped prepare the cupcakes and got to pick out the party theme. And of course we sang Happy Birthday! Have I further warped David's sense of reality on the trains? Probably......but he'll just have to work that out with his therapist later. ;)