Davison Luke's First Birthday Party

Here are the pictures from D's party.  Lots of family came and we had a great time, and Davis LOVED his cake :)

the invite

the decor

monster tables

monster cups

monster hats 

monster pops

cool monster cakes, by grandma

and the little monster!

big brother

and big sister

can't believe he's one!

so excited about his cake

this is all for me???

skyping with Daddy

my 3 littles

meow wore a party hat too!

he loves being a big boy, doing what all the other kids are doing!

Cousin Ruby and Nora

Little D was exhausted by the end of the party, we opened gifts later that evening....not that he knew what to do.  He just wanted to eat the bows and climb on the boxes

The Cake Smash

you saw the other pictures we had taken, but i saved all the cake smash pics for a different post.  

We did a cake smash with the twins when they turned one and i loved those pictures (click here to see one), so of course we wanted to do it again with Davis.  Nora and Holden had never eaten cake before and honestly didn't know what to do with it.  With Davis being our second time around, things are a bit different.  He knows what cake is, and ice cream, and cookies...haha.  I would honestly prefer not to sugar him up so much, but with his siblings eating it all around him, there really isn't much to be done...and lets be honest, its not hurting the kid. 

Anyway, the main story that goes with this day really happened the day before.  I had the cake made and picked it up on Friday afternoon because our photo session was at 9am the next morning.  Holden went with me to get it while Nora and Davis stayed with our friend Hillary.  Upon getting home everyone went straight down for nap and Nora never did know anything about the cake.  Fast forward to later that evening,  i was running around like a crazy person trying to get us all fed, dressed and out of the house for a women's event at church that evening.  I had the twins ready and supposedly standing at the front door (as they always do) waiting for me.  The front door is right near the kitchen--and the counter with the cake.  I am in the master bedroom, just down the hallway from them when i hear "hey sister,  wanna see Davis' cake?"  In a split second, one high-heeled shoe on and one off, i raced to the kitchen just in time to see Holden standing the cake box on it's side--you know the kind, flimsy cardboard with cellophane on top so you can see the cake -- teetering on the edge of the counter.  I have no idea how that 2 layered cake did not slide apart and crash all over the floor--but thank the good Lord it didn't.  Still the shock of the situation caused for a few tense minutes between me and my children as i checked the cake and eventually my attitude.  I totally realize Holden was just being a child, trying to show Nora the cool cake--but of course all i was thinking at the time was how would i have replaced a cake before the morning? Thankfully it was in one piece--quite a bit lopsided, but it's not like Davis wasn't going to decimate it the next day anyway. 

Below is a picture, before Davis touched it.  While no one else would probably ever have noticed, the lopsided cake will always be the first thing i see...a funny memory now, and hopefully a reminder to watch out for my "unglued moments"--kids will be kids, and lopsided cakes should never be a reason for me to compromise my integrity with my children. 

So anyway, there's the story...and now to the cute pictures.  

This child LOVED his cake--and he definitely knew what to do with it!

 and i just love this one...

how he felt when we took the cake away!

Sequence Saturday

**getting her ears "pinched"**

Mike and I left the decision to get her ears pierced up to Nora.  She has been interested in earrings for a while now, but when we explained what she needed to do to get them she said she didn't want to do it.  Then on our beach trip with Nana, Nora spent the week interested in all of Nana's pretty, dangly earrings and decided she wanted some too.  So we talked about it for a week, just to make sure, and when Nana came back down to see us, we took her to get her ears pinched--as Nora called it. 

She was so excited to do it and she did a great job.  Here's the sequence of pictures...from happy to nervous to sad...and then happy once again.  We chose some pearls...with a little nudge from her mommy :) gotta train my Meredith Girl early, right?  She's so happy with her earrings now and shows EVERYONE she comes into contact with.  

BEFORE

spectator brothers

a little nervous

"the pinch"

the tears

sad girl...this picture kinda breaks my heart.  for a minute i thought, crap...we shouldn't have done it. 

but then i asked her if she wanted to see her new earrings, and through her tears, she looked at herself in the mirror and told me she liked them. such a sweet girl.

later that night, all was well and she was so proud of her new pearls!

2 more fun facts: 

1. Nora got her ears pierced on her Daddy's 33rd birthday

2.  My mom and grandma took me to get my first ear piercing...and now my mom and I were there to be with Nora...maybe it's a tradition now?

Month.Two

It's been two months and three days since Mike left.  I said it last month, and i'm gonna have to say it again, but its been another long month.  We're still living moment to moment--i just put one foot in front of the other, tell myself to breathe, get the task done, breathe again and move forward.  It's all I can do right now.  

We've been super busy.  I guess September is a busy time for everyone.  Everything has started back--school, dance, awana, mops, bible study, and story time. We've had vacation, birthdays, and play dates.  The weather has been gorgeous and i'm trying to take them out and enjoy it as much as i can.  I don't think we've had a day this month that we haven't had something to do.  Sometimes being busy can be a bit overwhelming for us, but right now it's more of a coping mechanism.  Staying busy keeps our mind off of Daddy not being here. For now, that's what I need. 

I'm happy to report, there have been much fewer tears all around.  We are adjusting to life without Mike and finding our new rhythm.    The kids still ask about him often--Nora more than Holden.  Nora is still obsessed with people leaving.  You can tell she's trying to make sense of it all--there are still some nights she goes to bed sad and talking about her Daddy.  I understand.  There's days i go to bed sad too.  What else can i say, but that "i miss him too" and "it's okay, we'll get thru it"?  Holden doesn't say much about it anymore.  This month he told me that he didn't want to sleep with his daddy doll, when i asked why, he said "i love my daddy, but i don't love my daddy doll".  I had to laugh.  He can be such a serious little guy, 

We have been talking to Mike pretty regularly still.  I'm so thankful for skype.  I'm also thankful for a husband who will wake up at any time of night to talk to his family when it's convenient for us.  We probably call him at 3-4 am, his time, most days.  He always wakes right up and has a smile on his face, ready to hear whatever his littles want to tell him.  He's a good daddy--even from halfway around the world. 

So 2 months down,  7 to go.  We just gotta keep going. 

  Mail from Daddy

 another sweet surprise mail for us from Auntie Kim

 Davis' last night before he turning one.