Sarah's birthday

In February, our Sarah Mae turned one. I was devastated. I always get that way. It's so hard to realize how quickly the years go by and that soon all our little chicks will fly the nest. How dare they right!?! I remember my mom threatening us that none of us better move far away from her when we grew up and so far it stuck, none of us have. As my kids grow up I think I'll say the same thing to them.

Here are some great memories of Sarah's first birthday....

Ben and I were gone at the hospital most of the day (Ben has 5 stickers on his shirt, one for every time they couldn't get his IV in) on Sarah's actual birthday. It was a long day and I felt bad for ditching Sarah, but when we got home Dad was well on the way to making it special, he'd made a big tent in the family room. It had two big rooms and was totally great. The kids loved it! What a wonderful dad!

Sorry Jocey, didn't mean to cut you out of that picture before...

Here's the tent from the outside, not as cool looking on the outside as it really was.

Joc had to memorize "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" for school and she practiced on us constantly. We all learned it through and through. I miss it actually, we had fun with it.

Sometimes I think Sarah came to our family when she did for Ben's sake and for mine. It astonishes me how close Ben and Sarah are, how much they love each other and how good it has been for Ben to have his sweet sister only 15 months younger than he is. And as for me, I didn't realize how much I needed her, how much joy she would bring to my life. Her smile truly brightens my day. She is darling. I really don't like having my picture taken. I think I look old and haggard. In my defense it had been a really long day at the hospital. Anyway, I decided I really wanted a picture of Sarah and I on her birthday. I know it's silly, but someday I hope she'll be able to look back and remember how much her mama loves her.

The party was on Sunday, a old fashioned hot air balloon theme.

Sarah happily played waiting for her guests to arrive.

The Cakes...

Super simple but tasty.

Since Sarah didn't head face first into hers, Joc & Aimee did in theirs.

They're so funny!

And Ben found Papa, and his cake. He'd already finished his own!

Sarah was the star of the party though, and she loved it!

Oh my gosh Sarah, you are gorgeous!

Happy Birthday baby girl! We love you!!

Gradually catching up on posts....

Last week Taylor, our niece-Brandon & Amanda's daughter, had her third birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. I have avoided that place like the plague because I still have nightmares from my childhood. The ones I went to in California had black walls, no windows, and creepy puppet creatures that moved in the corners of the rooms. You can imagine why I was traumatized. So our kids have never been, but surprisingly, the restaurant has changed and was much more pleasant than what I remembered. Here are a few pictures...

Taylor, the birthday girl. Can't believe she's three already.

I thought it was funny Amanda was willing to wear Taylor's inflatable crown to

catch more tickets in the little ticket booth. It's expensive to have a birthday there, but they do give you tons of free stuff. When we were leaving I was amazed. Taylor looked like she'd robbed the place she had so much loot!

I feel so badly for Ben. Since we found out he is allergic to all milk products his life has been really un-fun. And Chuck E. Cheese's when you can't eat anything but what mom brought from home and then the party afterward with cake and ice cream and you just get a fruit snack were the last straw. He cried so sadly. Ben did have some fun riding the horse, but most of the time he was either....

distracted watching people eating...

or just plain irritated. Poor kid. This new diet will take a lot of getting used

to for all of us, and we all feel so badly for Ben. We're still waiting to see if he has Celiac Disease too which would mean no gluten products. Then I don't know what we'll feed him!

I mostly held Sarah so we don't have a lot of pictures of her. She didn't like the

rides but the food was top notch in her book. Bring on the breadsticks!

Jocelyn was a good sport and would try almost anything. She wanted to play

air hockey so bad, a girl after my own heart, but the puck was missing.

Aimee had a blast too. It was fun to see the kids just having fun. I worry they

don't get enough of it. And the girls dote on Taylor so much it was great to celebrate with her.

Here's a shot of the kids waiting for the picture of them to pop out

of the machine. Jocelyn has the "please, oh please" look on her face. So cute!

It was a fun night, Taylor had a great birthday I think!

Easter

Well, it's never fun to celebrate a holiday without Cody. He is definitely one of the kids with his boyish enthusiasm. But when he's out of town, or the country in this case, we miss him, but try to have fun anyway.

We did color eggs together. Nothing fancy like in years past, but simple is fun too. Sarah did not think she could possibly get close enough to those eggs.

On Easter Sunday we had Cody's parents, Ken and Gayle, and his brother Tieg and his four boys over for a way yummy breakfast. You know me, I stayed up late baking and we're still eating the leftovers. And believe me, no one's complainin'! (Cody, I thought you'd like this picture of your parents all dressed up for church with us. Wish you were here.)

Here's a random picture of Ben a little overwhelmed with the excitement.

I thought this was a cute one of Sarah and Papa.

He's great with babies-especially loves the girls, and they sure love him too!

I usually never include pictures of myself in my posts, ugh, so Cody it's a sacrifice for you sweetie. We love and miss you! I wish I'd have taken my camera to Laura's house that night for Easter dinner. We had a great time there too and Laura, true to her reputation, did a fabulous job with everything. It was really important to me that Easter was more a "holy day" than a "holiday" and I think it was. It was a really nice day, and was made even better because we spent it with family.