Luke's 5th Birthday Party!!

good morning mr. five year old!  

i love decorating after the birthday boy or girl goes to bed. put up a few decorations, (they don't care what it looks like) even if i don't feel like it, i do it anyway. only once a year do you wake up on your BIRTHDAY and i like to make it extra special.  i fill bags with dollar store stuff and candy and quarters, dollar bills....whatever i can pull together!  

 

 On the morning of his birthday we happened to be having our monthly family breakfast, (all 7 of my brothers and sisters and our parents at "The Bird").  Luke came along with some of his cousins that morning and had a chocolate covered donut with a candle in the middle!  He couldn't believe I let him eat the entire thing!

He got some serious cash that morning from his Uncles!!  

A WHOLE HAND FULL!!

To celebrate we had a racin' good party the weekend before his birthday!  The weather was outrageously warm for March so we pulled this together as quickly as possible....fitting for a race car theme I guess!  It was great to have him help plan and prepare for his "big party."  He was so delighted to be part of the action.  Uncle Tom let us borrow his cool "real signs".  Luke shined them up and got them all ready.....he's our worker and finds great joy in details, fulfillment in getting the job done right, (just like his Daddy and his namesake, Uncle Tom)!

Jake made a race track in the yard.  Orange spray paint, a pit stop, a flashing traffic light and the signs placed about.  It was so cool!  We had four battery operated cars that the kids could drive around the track, (or push once the batteries died)!  

Jake has this sign for his business. 

I tweaked it slightly. 

Under the gift tree we had matchbox cars, some books to read and of course lots of gifts.  

AND THEY'RE OFF!!

JOY at 3mph!!!!

Luke helped rip and color an old white t-shirt of his into a checkered flag.  We nailed it onto a broom handle. 

THE CAKE! 

This was a labor of love. 

Grammie made the cake and I decorated it. 

He wanted a "Cars 2 Cake with Finn McMissile in the water and a racetrack."  It was fun creating it...... 

but even more fun presenting it to him!  

TOTAL DELIGHT!! 

e 

I found these stickers online, but instead of ordering them I just printed them out on regular paper and taped them onto skewer sticks. The flags were also found online, (googled different countries flags and printed them out) and then did the same thing, but taping them onto toothpicks instead.  

Normally not one to show his emotions easily, he was a ball of JOY this day!  It was so sweet to be a part of.  We love our Lukie!!

Here he is with his new shirt and car from Aunt Shrish. 

Jake got his air compressor out and blew up rocket balloons for the kids.  That was a hit!  

 "Let's race on our feet Daddy!!"

We ended the night with a road flare.....that thing lasted at least 30 minutes and the kids danced around it, it was one of Luke's favorite things he told us later.  It did look pretty neat as the sun went down!  

 It was still so warm so we watched a movie on the outdoor screen and then called it a day!

“Your birthday is a special time 

to celebrate the gift of 'you' 

to the world.”

~Author Unknown~

Heaven is here

Just finished this book. 

It was all I could do to not read day and night, (which is basically what I did anyway).  I've enjoyed her blog for a few years now and reading her memoir did not disappoint in the least.  So inspiring on many, many levels.  Just wanted to share a few of my favorite quotes and encourage you too to read her story, her journey as well.  

Perhaps it's because I'm pregnant and hormonal, but I was crying from the first quote:

  "The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely." 

~Louisa May Alcott~

SUCH TRUTH.

In speaking on Motherhood she shares, "maturing as a mother is a gradual, but steady process, if we let it unfold.  I can only DO MY BEST, AND THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS.  I'd never let go of the truly important things, but MY CRITERIA for what the important things were often realigned."  

After their plane accident and as her life returned to a new normal, she writes, "I sensed the accident had set into motion eternal lessons for each of us, and we would learn things that ultimately we'd be grateful for.  At least I hoped we would.  I HAD TO BELIEVE THERE WAS A PLAN FOR OUR LIVES, A PURPOSE BEHIND OUR STRUGGLES.  It was at times a thin hope, more an idea than a driving force, but my challenges seemed manageable if I believed their was purpose behind them."

In her epilogue she writes, "...I realized along the way that ultimately nothing they did could make me happy.  I felt comforted by family and my faith, but PEACE WAS DIFFERENT FROM HAPPINESS.  At first I thought stubbornly that the only thing that would make me happy was for life to look like it did before the accident.  But no one could give that to me, and no one else could make me happy.  Happiness was my choice, and THOUGH IT WAS HARD WON, I am the only person who can stand in the way of it.  As I gradually accepted my responsibility to choose happiness every day, I rediscovered the beautiful life I had always wanted.  I still have to remind myself to choose happiness every morning I wake up in pain, and I expect I will need reminding throughout my life, but the amazing thing is THE MORE I MAKE THE CHOICE TO SEE AND FEEL JOY, THE MORE JOY THERE IS TO SEE AND TO FEEL."   

Her thoughts on true beauty are spoken from a well of genuine experience, (having been burned on over 80% of her body). "in that quiet moment the inspiration that I'd come to rely on returned to me like a peaceful whisper.  God was speaking to me.  I felt again how much He loved me. I was reminded that He sees so much more than I do.  In a moment, I felt beautiful again, restored. That peace is always waiting for me after I despair.  IN THE QUIET MOMENTS, INSPIRATION AND COMFORT ALWAYS COME AGAIN. Every time, without fail.  Piece by piece, God puts me back together and I keep moving forward. I know, now, without a doubt that the true source of beauty doesn't come from the outside.  This is the one I wish I could teach everybody---THAT OUR HEARTS MATTER MOST.  It's a beautiful heart, not a perfect body, that leads to A BEAUTIFUL LIFE."

Easter twenty-twelve.

The front of our church was exceptionally beautiful this morning, along with the service.  For the first time a new thought was dropped into my heart.  A thought about the Resurrection of Jesus and how it's not something of the past, but something that He does DAILY in my cold, dark tomb of a soul.  He rolls the stones away and He reveals Himself, makes Himself ALIVE inside us.....or at least His desire is to do that.  Yet even if I don't receive or acknowledge His attempts at "rolling" things away, I know He's working in me, in us: 

 breathing life into death. 

conquering the grave of our mind.

GIVING new life. 

 Paisley danced around as she usually does while they jammed out.  (See that hottie in the background, wearing orange and grey?  He's my easter basket).  

Jake hid the easter eggs and the kids ran around hunting them down. 

I love traditions. 

 Paisley didn't know what to do with herself when she found her basket!  She hid her eyes for awhile and then stood like this,  she was excited as we explained to her earlier on what she was about to do, but when she actually found it, she wasn't sure afterall!  I talked about it with her later on and she said, "I was shy of my basket!"  Bless her sweet heart! 

I had a little fun sprucing up our Easter picture because I'm weird like that. There's nine eggs hidden in the pic, (one for each Easter we've had together so far)!  

"And he departed from our sight
that we might return to our heart, 

and there find Him.  

For He departed, and behold, He is here."  

~St Augustine~