Happy Birthday to Them!

Well, hello there Blog Reader Peeps!  Long time, no see.  Or read, rather.  I am SO excited to hopefully have the blog back up and going after some technical difficulties and lots of frustration!  (And another great big thank you to those who helped make it possible!)

We're back up and running just in time for the kids' birthdays!  Well, kinda in time for the kids' birthdays... they were a couple weeks ago and so all the celebration is old news, but I HAVE to acknowledge my babies turning a year older!

February 12th was my dear son's seventh birthday and a short six days later on February 18th was Sarah Rose's fifth birthday. It's been five years celebrating their birthdays together and I'm still not sure if it's a good thing or not.  They don't seem to mind it, but it makes things awfully busy for Mama!  We usually have a small family celebration with just us at noon on their actual birthday day.  They get to choose their birthday meal and a dessert.  Then on the weekend between their birthdays (or on the day if one of their birthdays happen to land on the weekend), we celebrate with Josh's family.  Since my family lives farther away and have their own situations to take into consideration, it really depends on the year (weather, predicaments, etc.) how or if we celebrate with them.  In general, this has been the way we've always done things.

This year was no exception. 

My family joined us a couple days early to start the fun!  We had all-you-can-eat spaghetti, salad and bread.  And then birthday cake!  We always have a fun time when the cousins get together!

The kids' birthday cake this year.  Easy, simple, delicious!  The kids loved it!  I used toys the kiddos already had, a little coconut and voila!  A chore cake!

For his birthday on the 12th, Caleb chose hamburgers and French fries.  And for dessert, he wanted cherry cheesecake pie.  Whenever he chooses dessert for anything, this is what he chooses!

And for her birthday meal, Sarah Rose chose sloppy joes and tater tots.  For her dessert, she wanted more birthday cake.  But I, personally, do not really like birthday cake, and there was still leftover birthday cake sitting on the counter, AND I didn't want to make another cake.  SO, in the days leading up to the big day, I just casually started talking about how good peach cobbler and ice cream would taste and sure enough, within a little bit of time she had changed her mind to peach cobbler and ice cream!

Now, I usually don't really share much detail about gifts and such, but I just have to share a picture of our birthday gift to Sarah Rose:

Just look how excited she is!  I love it!

I am truly blessed by my children!  I am grateful beyond words to our Heavenly Father that he has allowed me to call these two children my own.  I can't imagine life without them and look forward to the many more years to come!