Butterflies

We celebrated our little Sophia's third birthday today. It is still so hard to believe that my babies are growing up so fast. We have officially exited the baby stage right now. We had a wonderful day with a butterfly themed birthday party. She was thrilled with so many people coming to celebrate her, and she was tremendously blessed by some wonderful presents.
We had such a great day:-)

Papa's Birthday

The man of the hour



My niece welcoming him to the party


Sam and my niece Ava cuddling with Papa


(not the right order) this is when he first arrived


Greeting my nephew Jacob


This is a perfect example of my father in law. Just prior to him walking in the door Sophia got her fingers shut in the hinge side of a door:-( It was terrible, and I was so so thankful that her fingers weren't broken. She desperately wanted her Papa because she knew he would make her feel better, and he did:-)



Sleeping beauty sleeping on her daddy


The cake:-)


Blowing out the candles with his grandchildren's assistance


The photo book we made


The whole Weber family

We also got to celebrate my wonderful father in law this past weekend. This man is truly wonderful and I am so blessed to be a part of his family. He is kind and compassionate, loving, funny, hard working, dedicated, selfless, and most importanly a Godly man.
I can't even begin to tell you how much he has helped us and been there for us through all kinds of things. If he is needed he is there. He has been so helpful with so many household projects, and has also been willing to go to work a few minutes late to help us with childcare several times.
So this weekend we got to celebrate him and his truly amazing "Legacy of Love." Matt's brother Tim and his family along with ours made book for him entitled the legacy of love. It was one of those photo books. He seemed as though he really enjoyed it. I am thankful that I could take part in celebrating him. My sister in law Tracy planned the whole party. She is very talented at organizing and planning (something I am truly terrible at):-) So I was so thankful that she did this whole party, and just let me know what I needed. It went very smoothly and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Thanks Tracy! You did a great job!!!

Sheer Panic and Fear

Yesterday after working all night I took the kids to a birthday party. It was at this great indoor soccer field, and the kids had a blast. They were running all over the place and just enjoying themselves immensely. I was going back and forth between the two since of course they don't stay together:-) And suddenly I couldn't find Sophia! Immediately there were several people looking for her. One of the men there ran outside, and amazingly there were a group of people from our church right outside who also started looking for her (It is such a GOD thing that these people were there)
I was running around like a lunatic looking for her, and then went into the bathroom and there she was:-) She had asked her auntie to take her to the bathroom. Sure she won't go pee pee on the potty for me without me forcing the issue, but she will ask other people to take her. I can't even begin to explain the terror I felt for those few minutes, and then the sheer elation when I knew she was safe, but that got me thinking....
I wonder as we are "lost" in the world of unbelief it that is how God feels. If His heart is breaking, knowing that HE can't force us to be safe (and found). I continue to think about this over the last day. And I am just so thankful to know that my God just loves and cares so deeply, but so saddened by the fact that I hurt Him and disappoint Him.
In those moments, I was so filled with fear, and anxiety, over the what ifs....and just as quickly those thoughts were stripped away as I held her in my arms. And I can't help but think about how once we have come to Christ, if our slipups and disappearing acts (when we kind of walk our own way instead of His) hurt our Maker that same way. And then the joy that He feels as we choose to follow Him. Gosh, the heartache that He must feel, with the way so many denounce Him.
Being a parent has changed the way I think about my faith and about how I feel about God. I don't think I still can grasp the amazing love that He has for me, but I'm getting closer since He has blessed me so wonderfully with these two precious kiddos. I am just so humbled through this experience, that God chooses to love us, dispite the risk of losing us, or of us rejecting Him. How truly amazing is our God?

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
1 John 4:9

Trombetta's Farm

Today Sammy and I went and celebrated Keegan's birthday at a wonderful place called Trombetta's Farm. This place has a woodworking shop where the kids can make little projects, an indoor miniature golf course (18 holes), and a party room where they supply the food, drinks, and ice cream cake with their own homemade icecream. Sammy had never been mini golfing before so he really enjoyed that as well as the woodworking.
He was pretty worn out after the day and fell asleep on the way home. He sounds so congested but is unable to get any of it to drain, regardless of anything we try. Not sure where to go from here. His antibiotics for the sinus infection are finished tomorrow but he is still very congested. And has started pushing his face up against the floor again.

Busy but fun

This weekend was crazy and hectic but so much fun! We had four birthday parties to go to, but only made it to three. We celebrated our niece's birthday on saturday as she turned 3. Sam and Sophia had a great time, and then we went on to celebrate a wonderful friend of mines birthday. A friend who has truly been a constant go to person for all kinds of stuff. She turned 30, and had a huge birthday blast, complete with a bounce house (who many adults bounced in, not me though with the back stuff) and pinata. My kids were in heaven. I thought that between swimming at Ava's party, and then the bounce house at Myriah's that they may sleep for days!!! THey of course didn't but it was nice to sleep past seven this morning.
Today we went to church, which was a little bit crazy. They did not have kid's church today so Sam was with us. Having him there was extremely distracting. But it was a great service. Message was about how being called by God to do something, that you don't always know His timing, and therefore you keep striving to fulfill His will in your life, and He will one day bring you to that thing that He has called you to.
This afternoon we swam at Mom's, then went to another party. The kids again had a great time running around playing. Unfortunately the mosquitos ate Sammy. I am surprised how many bites he got. Poor kid. Sophia and I didn't really get bit, but Sam probably has more than 15!!! They weren't driving him too crazy before he fell asleep, so prayerfully they will be better in the AM.

Sammy's 4th birthday party

I can hardly believe that my little baby boy is just about four years old! We have had such an incredible journey with him. I feel blessed to call him my son, and I can't wait for the wonderful plan that God unfolds in his life. With all the craziness of the upcoming weeks we celebrated his birthday a little early, and as you can see he didn't mind one bit....



When we asked Sammy what type of birthday party he wanted he said that he wanted a monster truck party. I was kind of concerned thinking that we wouldn't really be able to do much with such last minute planning. But a friend of mine from the hospital made this awesome cake, and it tasted good too:-)






Our niece Ava enjoying Sam's cake:-)


Sophia and Daddy enjoying Sam's cake


Sammy liked it too:-)


Blowing out the candles (not sure why these crazy pictures posted in mixed up order)



My dear friend Carol from the hospital who is also our new IVIG nurse:-) As you can see Carol and Sammy have a special bond


Monster Truck Pinata (again not really sure why these pictures posted in the wrong order)





Sammy and his little friend Kaedan. They are both little fish:-)



Julianna with one of the coolest squirt guns ever:-)


Sophia thinking about the pool, but never actually getting in


My beautiful niece Allayna

Davion and Mia's birthday party

Wow it has been a crazy weekend! Yesterday was Chantal and Andrew's wedding and today was Davion and Mia's birthday party: Luau style!!! Sam and Sophia absolutely love spending time with their cousins, and were so thrilled to be here. They had little grass skirts for the girls and hats for the boys. It is so hard to believe how fast Davion is growing up, it seems like just yesterday I was away at college and so sad that I was missing this beautiful little baby growing up. And here we are eight years later, and I still feel like he is growing up so fast. We love you so much Davion and pray that you have a fabulous next year.
This party was bittersweet as my sister, her husband and their kids are planning to move down south to florida this summer. So this unfortunately will be our last time that we are able to spend Davion's birthday with him for a while:-( Denise and Ron we wish you the best and pray that God opens new doors of opportunity for you while you are there