Happy Birthday Gram

94 years ago today, the world was made a better place with the birth of this wonderful woman.

Oh how we miss you.

13 Days of Madness

We've all heard of the 12 Days of Christmas... but have you ever heard of the 13 Days of Madness? Let me tell you all about it.
There were 13 days beginning October 26 ending November 7 that were filled with birthdays, sugar, parties, Halloween, sugar, craziness, H1N1, and of course, more sugar!
Let's start at Day 1:

Day 1 {October 26}
Olivia's 13th Birthday
Can we celebrate? No. Why not?? She, Christian and myself are down with the swine flu. DOWN with the swine flu. It hit hard. And ugly. Not a fun way to spend a 13th birthday.
But several dear people in our lives took pity on Olivia and delivered cakes, cupcakes, Popsicles & balloons and made her day so very very special.
{Thank you Jenn, Andy & Cindy, and Cathlena!}







We crawled out of bed to eat dinner which Daddy so graciously prepared {frozen lasagna and garlic bread} and sing Happy Birthday to our teenager. The best was when it came time to blow out candles and she waved them out instead so she didn't spread the piggy germs! Thanks Lu!




Day 4 {October 29}
Morgan's 11th Birthday
Feeling better, I took DQ ice cream sandwiches to her classroom to celebrate her big day... dragging Christian and Delaney along.
We gathered up the energy that night to attend Olivia's school Harvest Party. They served a free dinner and lots of games and prizes. We thought it would be a fun activity on Mo's birthday since her big party was that weekend. By the time we got home, my energy was zapped.



How pretty is that 11 year old smile?!



DQ provided her cake as well... and we added the police paraphernalia in honor of her Fashion Police Halloween costume. We sucked up our Duck pride and decorated for our lone {H} Beaver fan. Grandpa Clyde would be proud!



Day 5 {October 30}
Friday night we dressed up - got all gussied up - and went to the church Trunk or Treat/Halloween Party. I've already posted pics of costumes, but I just gotta put this one on again - just for giggles! :)



Day 6 {October 31}
HALLOWEEN AND the girls' birthday party at the skating rink! AACK!
The girls had a combined birthday party and invited many friends. Much fun was had by all... lots of cake and ice cream... costumes worn... loud music... crazy friends...
Carly and Mom came down. Martin left early to go to the Duck game. Paula showed up for a quick hug! {YAY}
It was a busy busy fun day.





We headed home to get better shoes and coats on to go out Trick or Treating only to have Morgan tell us she doesn't feel good enough to go and to go without her with the little ones. WHAT!?!?! Morgan miss out on Trick or Treating???? Something was very wrong with this picture. So we let her rest with her birthday gifts and were gone around the neighborhood for a bit only to get back and find her temp up over 102°!! NO! Our pediatrician had told us when we took Olivia and Christian in that if anyone else spiked a fever in the near future, it too would be H1N1. Ugh.


Day 7 {November 1}
At some point in the wee hours of the morning, Delaney decided to also spike a fever. After a call into the doctor, Tamiflu was prescribed for D because of her age {high risk group}. Luckily her symptoms were very short lived.

Days 8 - 10
Morgan was down the entire week and missed school. Luckily for her it wasn't a big deal - she's such a smarty pants!

Day 11 {November 5}
Christian turned 4!! But we didn't tell him LOL. His party was scheduled for Saturday, so we just pretended it was any other normal day and that Saturday was his big day.
Still nursing Morgan and Delaney back to health...

Day 13 {November 7}
The end has come! Last day of the madness!!
Christian celebrated his 4th birthday at the pizza parlor with Papa, Zach and Grandma {H}. Sadly, NONE of his little friends were able to come due to fevers. That swine flu was horrid around here. Christian was oblivious to the fact that his friends weren't there. He was thrilled with cake and video games and new toys! {Transformers}



I couldn't love this little man any more. He is the apple of my eye, for sure!



Because I love my monkey man so much, I spent the entire day Friday baking and decorating his Lightning McQueen cake. At one point during the process Christian came in and said to me, "Mommy. I like you that you make my cake." ♥



Zach helps Christian figure out the Transformer.


Our sweet Papa with Delaney... Delaney's face pretty much sums up the Ducks' performance that day against Stanford. Boo.

As one can imagine, by the end of these two weeks, we were pooped. But you know what they say: No rest for the weary! Thanksgiving was just around the corner... to be hosted at OUR HOUSE!

I Can Count How Old I Am on One Finger!

Wasn't it just yesterday that this little 1 year old princess looked like this:

Please tell me how this happened... and how it happened so FAST?!?!

We celebrated today with family and friends: Grandma Sally, Papa, Auntie Carly, Grandma and Grandpa H, Aunt Margaret, Cousins Lauren and Bennett, Jennifer, Lonnie, Ryker, Julianna, Lillie and Kylie Rose. Thank you all for coming and celebrating the first year of Delaney's life.

I spent the last two days slaving over the birthday cake and the cake she'd demolish. Morgan and Olivia came up with the awesome idea - Morgan came up with the bed from The Princess & The Pea fairy tale... then Olivia came up with the idea of having Delaney's very own special cake be a pea. Here are the end results:

Oh it was alot of work, but oh so worth it. I found it ironic that April 17 of last year, the night before I checked into the hospital, Martin and I stayed up way too late cleaning the house and preparing for our new addition and the family that would be staying in our home. One year later to that very day, we stayed up WAY too late also in preparation for this little muffin and her birthday celebration. What we do for our babies, right?

Here we are singing Happy Birthday to Baby D. She sure loves her Papa!

And here she is with full reign on her sugar. At least she wasn't scared of the colored frosting like her brother was on his first birthday!

Big brother trying to help:

When Christian was feeding her, it reminded Carly, Mom and I of this video - one of our favorites!! Christian was lucky "Charlie didn't bite his finger".

The cameras and the flashes on this little beauty were hilarious! She seriously had a crowd of paparazzi swarming her every move.

When all was said and done, here was what her cake looked like. Poor little pea.

We even sang 'Happy Birthday' to Grandma Sally and Papa whose birthdays are Monday and Thursday. We sure love you guys and hope you have wonderful birthdays... especially Papa who's turning SIXTY!! WOOHOO!

One of our tables... The cool kid table! (notice how my mom & Carly are at this table!! It's 'cuz they're cool kids!)

Delaney got so many neat gifts... here she is opening her new "lovey", a baby doll from Grandma & Grandpa H. Thank you all for your creativity and generosity.

I love this baby.

I can't imagine life without her.

My mom made a comment today that it feels like Delaney has been a part of our family for much longer than a year.

And it does feel like that.

And she HAS.

She's been ours forever and will be ours forever and for that, I couldn't be happier.

As my fourth child and possibly last, I am trying to cherish each and every moment with her - even those middle of the night wakings on occasion. (Yes, she's sleeping through the night most nights!!). But those nights that she doesn't, I just hold her and rock her and soak up those special moments.

Oh the joy she brings into our home.

Happy Happy Birthday, Baby D!

For a look back on the beginning of Delaney's life, go here.

I Have a Boyfriend

His name is Christian.

He's turning 3 TODAY!

We celebrated Saturday with pizza, cake, ice cream, family and friends.

Christian had a BLAST!

He loved that it was his day, especially after watching the girls have their turn twice each the week before (actual birthdays and friends parties).

He woke up last Wednesday - Morgan's birthday - and I told him it was her birthday. He said, "No. It's MY birthday. Morgan already had one."

So to celebrate HIM was such a treat for my sweet little boyfriend.

We had a Shouka birthday cake because Christian absolutely loves watching our video footage of Shouka the whale from Six Flags a couple summers ago.

Devils Food Chocolate with Melissa's Buttercream Frosting. YUM!

This was the absolute sweetest: When we sang Happy Birthday to Christian, he sang along... but instead of singing the lyrics, "Happy Birthday to you...", he replaced "you" with "me". Watch his lips. It's the cutest thing. I sure love this little boy. (Can you tell?)

Christian and Tyson cracking up over something very funny.

Since it was his special day, I smiled and took photos of him sticking his finger into the frosting and licking it... repeatedly. After his friends started doing the same (which I thought was dang cute and got a video of) Martin decided it probably wasn't the best idea since we'd be serving the cake to our guests within minutes. Party Pooper!

Aunt Carly and Grandma Sally came down to celebrate, too! We sure loved having you guys here. The party was a PARTY because you were there.

Time for presents. I love how intent Christian and Tyson are.

YAY! A tractor from Grandpa Clyde!

Never seeing this dog before, he opened it up and exclaimed, "MY DOGGY!!" as if his long lost friend had returned. Thank you Kylie Rose and family. He loves his new pal!

Christian and Mr. Bennett - Cute Cousins that could really pass as brothers, if you ask me.

Morgan and Julianna

So Lillie absolutely loves my sister. It is soooo funny how much she loves her. She even coerced Carly into playing "Troll" in the playground. Carly, you made such a lovely Troll.

Paige, Lauren and Liv

The gang!

Aunt Margaret with Baby D

Shouka Cake

Thank You Carly!

Christian turns 3 tomorrow (how can that be??) and we celebrated last Saturday with friends and family. I will post pictures from that celebration tomorrow... But for now, a big Thank You to Aunt Carly for the gift that came in the mail today for our little man. He was delighted! I have two videos for you, Jenae. But the video where he opens the package isn't loading right. Here's the one where he first crawls through the tunnel then thanks you. He's a silly one.

(I'll keep trying to upload the first video...)

My Morgan Turns 10

Happy 10th Birthday Dear Morgan!

My little Miss Morgan turned 10 years old yesterday... a whole decade old!

Morgan is our spark plug, our little spitfire, our FUN! She brings such energy to our home and without her, we'd be so boring and dull. We love our MoMo!

Morgan began her day by opening one gift then heading off to school where I later brought Dairy Queen ice cream sandwiches for her classroom birthday treat. The class sang 'Happy Birthday' to my bashful girl - it was so cute!

Morgan loves Funfetti cake and wanted blue frosting. It was a crazy night trying to pull it all together (dinner, cake, presents, afternoon movie with her girlfriends...) but I think it all worked out in the end.

Morgan is my expressive child.

Olivia's gift to her little sister was to share her DS any time Morgan wanted.

WOW.

That actually is a very, very, very generous gift considering.





The highlight of Morgan's birthday was inviting two of her girlfriends to see High School Musical 3. It was a darling movie - even Delaney sat through all of it!

Morgan, Rosie, and Haley