Blake Turns 3!

On Tuesday, Blake celebrated his 3rd birthday.  He had his party last week Friday, which I will post pictures of hopefully soon.  I’m very happy that there are more boy toys in the house now, which he is LOVING!  We didn’t have very many before.  He got a very noisy loader truck, a fire truck, a car that shoots off a stick by air power, each kid got a Nerf gun and Blake got tool set from us which has a noisy drill in it.  Now he doesn’t have to play with ponies and toy food all the time, ha ha! 

Here’s a look back at how much he has grown:

1st birthday

I saved this suit that he wore on his first birthday to my sister-in-law’s wedding and put it in his memory box.  I think it is one of the most adorable boy outfits ever!

2nd birthday

3rd birthday (haven’t gotten his professional photos back yet)

He adds so much laughter to our family with his crazy facial expressions, dance moves and his part “New York” accent and part “Filipino” accent, as he can’t say his “r’s” or his “l’s.”  I’m SO thankful that I have the privilege of raising a son and that God chose him for our family.  Happy 3rd birthday, Blake!

Kiera’s Birthday Party

This was the first year where I had a “drop off your kids” party.  In the past, I have always done combined birthdays parties for Kiera + Blake, since their birthdays are 8 days apart, and then I’ve invited all the kids of a family + their Moms.  I went to town on the streamers.  I always do balloons, so I wanted to try streamers this year, since I am really bad at tying balloons.  I found out that streamers are a lot more work!

Opening presents

I wanted Kiera to wear her nice new Christmas dress (which I found in the States for $22…sweet!) so she did

I was going to say “all the pretty girls” but then I realized Blake was in there, too

Haley liked the presents as well

I found this tablecloth either at Target or Wal-Mart when I was in the States on my birthday week-end

Once again, I made a gluten-free chocolate cake (love that cake mix) with buttercream icing and it tasted good!  Kiera wanted a frog and a sun, so that wasn’t too hard.  It wouldn’t win any awards, but I was happy with the finished product.

I made candy apples instead of doing goody bags.  Very good but very sticky!

It turned out well.  Sometimes I feel bad that I don’t do theme parties, but I sort of had a color scheme with the decorations + cake, so I figured that was good enough.  They had fun, so it was a success.  Hats off to all you Moms who do fabulous theme parties and are great at decorating cakes!  My giftings are different and I’m realizing that’s ok! :)

Kiera Turns 5!

Yesterday marked Kiera’s 5th birthday.  I’ve been thinking back through the years we’ve had her and the many experiences we’ve had so far.

The first year brought us colic, toothless grins, teething and this funny shake she would do whenever she was excited and it always made us laugh!

The second year brought us scooting, walking, tantrums and many first words.

The third year brought us Blake, which changed things a lot.  That year brought us sibling rivalry, more laughter, advancements in speech, the “why” stage and the start of very special bond between her and Blake.

The fourth year brought us Haley, adding another new dynamic to our family.  That year brought out a more helpful side of Kiera, a new sibling to pick on at times, Kiera asking Jesus into her heart (one of the best moments of my life) and the beginning of a bond between two sisters, which I always dreamed of!

The fifth year brought us chaos with 3 kids 4 and under, increased desire for learning and watching t.v. shows, playing piano by ear, and close to the end of it, starting dance and school!

I could have put many other things on those lists, but those are a few that stand out to me.  I am blessed beyond measure to have Kiera as my firstborn.  I love watching her learn and grow and I’m so incredibly thankful that God chose her to be my daughter.  Happy 5th birthday, Kiera!

1-Year Photos

I know this is WAAAAAAY overdue, as these pictures were taken 2 1/2 months ago.  I was waiting for our new computer to arrive and I didn’t want to put pictures onto our old one in the meantime, and then after it arrived, I kept forgetting to put the pictures on.  Now I finally did and I’m having a tough time narrowing them down as to which ones to put on my blog.  I always think that the pictures aren’t going to turn out because my kids don’t sit still for the camera, but they always turn out amazing!  Thanks again, Mom June!  Here’s Haley in all of her cute sweetness:

I baked cupcakes especially for this photo shoot

Hilarious expression

Happy to dive in

She was being way too neat, so June actually had to smear some icing onto her

The hat stayed on for all of 1.5 seconds before Haley flung it off, which apparently was enough time to get a picture.

This is one of my favorites and we have it framed.

His Presence in the Pain

There’s a lot on my heart and mind, but there are a lot of things I can’t share, which is why I’ve been hesitant to blog this week.  I will share the things I’m comfortable sharing, though.  Last week, the painful situation in my life got worse.  It’s something that I never thought I would have to face and I don’t wish it on anybody.  The day after I got this heartbreaking news, our church’s Spirit Alive conference began, which was 4 sessions throughout the week-end with 3 men speaking that all focused on the Holy Spirit.  God knew that was EXACTLY what I needed!  I wasn’t even intending to be at any of the sessions, except to play on the worship team, and I ended up being at every session, except for teaching Sunday School on Sunday morning.  I came thirsty and got filled and refreshed!  On Friday night, people were invited up to the front who wanted more of the Holy Spirit and wanted to be prayed for.  I went up and got prayed for.  One of the men speaking prayed for me and said, “God wants you to know that he has heard your prayers.  You have been crying out for something and He wants you to know that He hears you.”  I just started crying because that was bang on!  I was super encouraged.

On Saturday morning, I learned that all of our lives are either controlled by a Person (the Holy Spirit) or a passion (sinful nature).  That really stood out to me.  On Saturday evening, I was sitting at the back, just enjoying God’s presence while people were up at the front getting prayed for after the message.  My friend came to me and asked, “Do you want to go up to the front?”  I said, “I don’t know.”  She said, “Ya you do,” and dragged me up to the front.  When I got there, the presence of the Holy Spirit was so thick, it was almost tangible.  I couldn’t even stay standing!  I stayed there for a while, just enjoying His presence and not wanting to leave!  I’ve never felt it that deeply before and it was sweeter than the sweetest dessert.  I felt totally + completely satisfied, in spite of the difficult circumstances in my life.  I felt supernatural emotional strength and deep, unexplainable joy!  I can walk in peace through this trial and it is all because of Jesus and His Spirit living inside of me!  God is just SOOO GOOD!

A Piece of Advice That’s Sinking In

I’ve been told many times before, “Enjoy your kids now as they grow up very fast.”  I was talking with two of my cousins at our Thanksgiving family gathering this past week-end and I was saying how I was looking forward to my 30’s because we will be out of the baby stage, the diaper stage and my other kids will be starting school.  It will be an easier stage of life in many ways.  She said, “Yes, but I hope you’re enjoying your kids now.  They really do grow up so quickly.  My oldest is turning 10!”  I remember clearly when I came back from Europe the first time I went and she met me at the airport with a newborn baby in her arms.  Almost 10 years?!  How could that be?  For some reason, it just really started to sink in that yes, I should be enjoying my kids NOW instead of always focusing on the future and what might be better then.  So, I’ve been making more of an effort to spend time with them and just be thankful for the stages that they’re in.  No, I don’t enjoy their fighting, their whining, the poopy diapers, etc. but I can still enjoy them as people.  They each have these amazing, unique personalities and every day they make me smile + laugh.  In some ways, it’s been a hard week as both Haley + I have coughs and have been up in the night every night.  I’m tired but really enjoying them at the same time.  I actually missed them a bit when we went to Community Group (aka Bible Study group or cell group) because I’ve been taking the time to really appreciate them.  It’s a time of life that I only get to do once, so I want to do it well and not wish it away.  Those are today’s thoughts on life with kids.  Any other thoughts?  I would love to hear them!

First Day of School

On Friday, September 7, Kiera began her school journey.  I was mostly very excited for her, as I could see that she was getting bored at home and needed to be out and interact with other kids and learn.  Of course, I was a little bit sad as I had to let go of her more than I have in the past almost 5 years and she is now in an environment that I have no control over.  It’s only 2 hours and 45 minutes every day, so it’s good. 

Here she was all ready to go

This is the expression she gave me when I told her to smile.

We all walked together as a family, which I was SO thankful for!

She grabbed his hand, which was very sweet.

Arriving at school

Waiting for the bell to ring

As I posted on Facebook, I didn’t get to see Kiera walk into her classroom as Blake took off on us (aka, we lost him), so I had to go look for him on the playground among the 100 other kids who were playing outside.  By the time I found him, Kiera was already inside.  So, I took my camera along on Day 2 of Kindergarten and took a picture of her in the line.  Her teacher is standing on the left.

School is going incredibly well.  Kiera already knows all the names of her classmates (I think there are about 18), she learned the whole national anthem and then figured it all out on the piano, with a little bit of help from me.  She is already getting much better at drawing people and she brings home a book of children's poems that we work on every day to help prepare her for learning how to read.  I’m volunteering in her classroom in 2 weeks, so then I’ll get to see more of what she does every day!  I praise God for this new chapter in our lives!