The Balloons Made me Cry

You won't believe what we are celebrating this weekend????

Can you believe it???? Nate is turning 1!!!

I've been mentally busy planning our weekend and preparing a little get-to-together for his birthday...I stress little because I really don't want to be overwhelmed... I just want to enjoy this sweet 1st birthday moment!!

But in all the thinking/planning/rethinking and preparing, it really hadn't dawned on my emotionally that...

NATE is turning 1!!!! When did my whole year of a snuggly baby go???

Picking up some balloons, it finally hit me. I looked up at the balloons and I thought to myself,"These are for Nate!! He's 1!!"


The emotion overwhelmed me as I'm pushing 9 balloons into my minivan, I had tears welling up (and then again when I asked Brian to take my pic!).

Maybe it's because he's my baby... not for much longer.
Maybe it's because he's probably our last baby... maybe :)
Maybe it's because he was a sweet answer to much, much tearful prayer.

Who knows?

I just know I am blessed to have such sweet kids and we are really looking forward to simply celebrating Nate's 1st year!

Our 1-Day Spring Break:)

We aren't officially breaking for Spring! With Daddy still working we thought we'd just keep at it too;) SO exciting to see the end of another year of school approaching;)

But on the Monday after Easter we did sneak away for a mini Spring Break. We went to visit Grammie and Pey. With Pey's doctor's appointments and sleepiness/tiredness we snuck off to a local aquarium for a few hours... dragging (lol... he actually asked to go with us!!) Uncle Eric with us!

As you can see, I STINK at taking Aquarium pics ;(

But I had to capture all the fun the kids had at the touch tanks:)

At first only Chris and Lydia (my adventurous ones) attempted to touch the rays....
love Anna helping them to be still, but not trying to touch them herself

But then she got brave:)

Even Nate wanted to touch... or splash:)

At the second touch tank, the kids were eager to begin touching more animals;)
The volunteer was a great source of information and was soo patient with the kids.

He even listened and answered some of their questions;)

They thought it was super funny when the volunteer showed them
how ticklish the horseshoe crab is.

And then they were back to touching, again.

We went to the aqaurium during our regular naptime (the aqaurium is always soo nice at that time!), the kids did awesome;) Even Nate loved it... he had plenty of run around time.
One of the best parts of the day were spent with Pey! Being a couple of hours from them and only getting information during phone conversations and not being able to visit more often has been harder than I thought. So it was nice just to sit and talk to him.
I've asked you to pray... thank you!!

and I'll ask you to continue. Pey received his port in today (thurs) and is hoping to be healed up and ready to receive his 1st chemo treatment on Monday. Our prayers are for his stamina, his body to heal from the port and that he would respond well to the chemo!!

A great day.... even if it was only one.

This Little Light

Last night we had some friends over for dinner. In between finishing dinner and serving dessert the power went out!!

No lights.... 6 kids;) LOL!!


It was hard to look at the candles in our DARK rooms and NOT think of the little song "This Little Light of Mine".




And this was the cool shadows the light from our Lite Brite made on the ceiling.


The simple things when there isn't any power. Like chatting around dessert and watching candles dance and make shadows.

And thanks to the Gilbreaths for a fun and memorable evening:)

You can find some more Wordless Wednesday at
5 Minutes for Mom,
Go Graham Go,
To Be Thode
and any other linkys I find !!!

They Call it Macaroni

My two oldest have started to LOVE pepperoni!!! This is a very special treat in our milk-free house since we don't regularly eat pizza (we've had it more since discovering vegan cheeses).

But they NEVER get the name right!!

Chris is constantly calling it "Macaroni"!! And it always takes me a minute to figure out what he's asking for; especially when he asks at the store standing in front of the lunchmeat selections:)

So recently as Chris made his pepperoni and butter sandwich he started asking me questions about where "macaroni" came from.

I figured it came from Italy, like most Italian food;)

And that's when he asked "Will the emperor of Italy be mad?"

LOL!! Mad that we took his food;)

By the way... love this pic:) It's Chris and his sandwich (with some extra meat on the side). But his face is classic.... "Mom! DO you really need a picture of my sandwich?"

**********************************************************
Chris' most recent prayer as we traveled.

Dear God,
I hope we have a good trip.
And I hope we can go to the zaaazam (aka museum, but really the aquarium!!).
And I hope the sting rays will splash me.
Amen!


Then Lydia pipes in
And I pray we have a good trip.
And that Pey is having a good day.
Amen!

We did have a good day. Pey did well with all the kids and visits and doctor's appts. And we did meet up with some rays;)

**pics of the trip will be tomorrow, after we all REST!**

Easter 2011 & Gifts #141 - 160

Thankful for our beautiful Easter weekend.

And the ways we were able to celebrate together:)


141. colorful Easter treats
142. friends mindful of our food allergies and going out of their way for us
143. counting down to Easter with Bible stories and kids' pictures
144. Nate's 1st egg hunt
145. getting help from Daddy
146. an egg found
147. contentment
148. little chubby fingers that explore
149. finding an expected treat
150. early sunrise worship
151. an empty tomb
152. a Savior that greets us (Luke 24: 13 - 49)
153. worshiping together
154. stillness of the morning
155. blossoms of spring
156. simple nontraditional Easter meals... aka, leftovers so Momma wasn't stuck in the kitchen
157. afternoon in the yard playing, hunting eggs
158. an attempt at a family Easter pic :) (sorry Anna!)

159. a new quiet place for study found
160. everyone sleeping through the night:)

Where Isn't Nate??

I've already posted pics of Nate climbing on Wednesday! But this week it seems like he has been climbing everything....

not sure where I'm going to find him next!

***We didn't help him into any of these places!
And have been even more diligent about keeping him in sight this week!! ***

getting a paci off the dresser

This is the ONE place he'll stay for a few seconds...
LOL!! He'll watch the numbers stop and then step off;)

Except when he's asleep:)

Please keep in prayer a sweet blogging family we have grown to love!! They have 2 sweet boys, the youngest only days younger than Nate. They are in the l.o.n.g. process of diagnosing their youngest son Carsyn. They had his MRI last week and are finding out the results this weeK!Thanks!

And my dad is home, we still don't know what his chemo treaments will start or be like. Chris prayed the other morning that "Pey would have no cancer!" Thank you!

Silliness of a Day & Praying for Pey

I was hoping to share pictures of our field trip today:) I just LOVE the families and ladies I have met through our homeschooling group and always look forward to seeing them and field trip-ing together...

But today it RAINED on US!!!!

It was really an outdoor function (with a quick indoor presentation) and it rained!!! The kids who normally ask to go outside in the rain, were looking for things to cover-up with, Anna used my nursing cover ... would have been a great pic!

SO no pics... didn't want to risk getting the camera wet:(

And I was busy keeping up with our group and 4 wet kiddos ... thankfully we did preserve and get to enjoy lunch with a couple of other families that braved the rain and have a fun time on the playground...

Here are some pics of what a normal afternoon at the park can look like (on a sunny day)!

(cup stealing)

None of these were posed..... I mean I tried to pose some of them!! But then I get the girls with their crazy faces or Chris sticking his cup over his head???

So thankful I can smile and enjoy the moments!!
And thankful I had the moments to enjoy!!

***Please continue to pray for my (step) dad, otherwise known on the blog as Pey:) He has officially been diagnosed with cancer and my parents are decided how to treat it with the advice of doctors' wisdom and experience.

We are Shocked. Saddened. Hopeful. Pushing for Normal days.

Wanting to be patient with knowing all the details, but know that soo many details are still unknown.

Thank you for your prayers!

Stuck Between Girls!

Chris is stuck in the middle of two typical little girls... both love helping, dressing up and playing "baby & mommy". He's even starting to call the girls ** "boring". LOL!!!

I guess "baby & mommy" isn't really adventurous enough for my all-boy boy???

But I've got to hand it to my girlie (and very tough) girls, they can play Chris' games, too!!




While Chris was busy dueling Anna, Lydia was loading his "dart" gun!! And she got him from behind;) LOL!!

I just love all the smiles and energy in these pics! Even the last with Chris being blurry, I love Lydia's proud little smile as she surprised Chris with a "dart"!!

We have just LOVED being outside this week!!! It's hard NOT to migrate outside after a morning hitting the books and stay outside;) Loving this Spring Weather;)



***just to clarify... we do often correct Chris about calling his awesome sisters names:)
So even though he is corrected we still often understand his situation/feelings right now!!

Scaling New Heights to the...

goal!! Sister's water cup:)

You can find some more Wordless Wednesday at
5 Minutes for Mom,
Go Graham Go,
To Be Thode
and any other linkys I find !!!